Tom's Been Thinking

Build more prisons?

2011-01-29T23:36:00.000-05:00

Our federal government wants to build or expand prisons and put more Canadians in them for longer. The Church Council on Justice and Corrections is made up of the following denominations:
The Anglican Church of Canada,
Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec,
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops,
Christian Reformed Churches of North America,
Disciples of Christ in Canada,
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (my church)
Mennonite Central Committee Canada,
The Presbyterian Church in Canada,
Religious Society of Friends (Quakers),
The Salvation Army in Canada,
The United Church of Canada

The Council has sent the following letter to our Prime Minister and I sent a similar letter to my Member of Parliament.

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

The Church Council on Justice and Corrections (CCJC) is most concerned that in this time of financial cuts to important services you and the government of Canada are prepared to significantly increase investment in the building of new prisons.

Proposed new federal laws will ensure that more Canadians are sent to prison for longer periods, a strategy that has been repeatedly proven neither to reduce crime nor to assist victims. Your policy is applying a costly prison response to people involved in the courts who are non-violent offenders, or to repeat offenders who are mentally ill and/or addicted, the majority of whom are not classified as high risk. These offenders are disproportionately poor, ill-equipped to learn, from the most disadvantaged and marginalized groups. They require treatment, health services, educational, employment and housing interventions, all less expensive and more humane than incarceration.

The Canadian government has regretfully embraced a belief in punishment-for-crime that first requires us to isolate and separate the offender from the rest of us, in our minds as well as in our prisons. That separation makes what happens later easier to ignore: by increasing the number of people in jail for lengthier sentences you are decreasing their chance of success upon release into the community.

The vision of justice we find in Scripture is profound and radically different from that which your government is proposing. We are called to be a people in relationship with each other through our conflicts and sins, with the ingenious creativity of God’s Spirit to find our way back into covenant community. How can that be if we automatically exclude and cut ourselves off from all those we label “criminal”?

Increasing levels of incarceration of marginalized people is counter-productive and undermines human dignity in our society. By contrast, well supervised probation or release, bail options, reporting centres, practical assistance, supportive housing, programs that promote accountability, respect and reparation: these measures have all been well-established, but they are underfunded. Their outcomes have proven to be the same or better in terms of re-offence rates, at a fraction of the cost and with much less human damage.

Public safety is enhanced through healthy communities that support individuals and families. We, therefore, respectfully ask you to modify your government’s policy taking into consideration the impact it will have on the most disadvantaged, its lack of effectiveness, and its serious budgetary implications.

Poverty History?

2011-01-22T09:38:00.000-05:00

I've been a participant in the Make Poverty History campaign since the Live8 concerts. I get updates on the campaign and I send emails to our Prime Minister and my Member of Parliament at certain times when asked to by the campaign organizers. This was the latest email that I sent to our Finance Minister, copied to my MP. Our country has signed on to the Millenium Development Goals but we conveniently forget about them when something else comes up. The government will soon be bringing forth a new budget and we're pitifully behind in reaching our target of foreign aid to alleviate poverty.

Dear Mr. Flaherty,

It’s not fair to rely for 25% of your deficit reduction plans on freezing the aid budget. Canada is not even half way to achieving the 0.7% of national income aid target that we promised to give. The impacts of the global economic crisis, the food crisis and climate change are threatening to reverse the progress that has been made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Now is not the time to slack off. Rather we need to re-double our efforts to end global poverty.

The new Conservative government in the UK continues to increase their aid and has re-committed to achieving the 0.7% aid target by 2013, despite dealing with a much larger deficit than Canada. Canada ranks only 14th out of 23 donor countries. We can do better.

Priority needs to be given to fighting poverty, both globally and in Canada, and taking action on climate change over buying expensive new fighter aircraft, building more prison cells or continuing to subsidize fossil fuels.

Please do the right thing in your 2011 federal budget and bring in a budget that would help to make poverty history.

I have also copied my Member of Parliament on this letter so they can be aware of the views of their constituents and ask that they do their best to represent my concerns.

Thank you for considering these heart-felt requests.

the greatest story

2011-01-22T09:30:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted. I wrote this column for yesterday's newspaper.

I’ve made a New Year’s resolution. I’m going to read my Bible more. Shocking isn’t it? A pastor who needs to read his Bible more. I read the Bible plenty, but it’s for work. I read the Bible when I’m preparing a sermon or a confirmation class lesson and we read from the Bible in worship, but I don’t very often just read the Bible for me. So that’s what I’ve resolved to do.

So it’s a few weeks into the New Year. How am I doing with my resolution? I don’t read the Bible every day, but I do more than I did before. I’m not beating myself up about it. Just because you slip doesn’t mean you give up. You can start over and over again and I intend to keep on keeping on.

The Bible is an amazing book, written and assembled by many different people over hundreds of years. It contains ancient mythologies, histories, laws, teachings, prayers, liturgies, love poetry, wisdom literature, prophetic messages, letters, strange visions. There’s a whole lot of variety in the various parts of the Bible.

Some people actually find the Bible frightening and intimidating. That’s understandable. The Bible is an old book written by people living in times and places very different from our own. The language and images used aren’t contemporary so it can be hard to understand. That’s okay, though. You don’t have to be an expert to start reading. It’s okay to have questions, to be confused by some things.

In our church we’ve just started a course called “the greatest story.” It’s an introduction and big-picture overview of the Bible, its story, and how that story connects to our own personal stories and lives. From now until early June we’re going to discover what this strange, sometimes frightening and intimidating book is all about.

I’ve studied the Bible quite a bit over the years, some parts of it more than others, and I always find it fascinating. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not a history book like the ones you might read in a history class, it’s not a science textbook like the ones you’d read in a biology class. The Bible is a book of faith. It’s a book written by human beings about the relationship between God and humanity, about God’s experiences with the Jewish and Christian communities.

I’ve also come to the conclusion that the Bible is a living book. A good book can be life changing, any good book. The words in the Bible are the living word of God that is life changing and life saving. Martin Luther taught that the Bible is like the manger that held the baby Jesus in Bethlehem. The scriptures hold Christ, the living word, God’s address to us.

The Bible holds the living Christ who, as the scriptures are read and proclaimed, lives as God’s address to us. As we read and hear the words of scripture the Holy Spirit opens our ears and our hearts to help us believe the living word and illusions are shattered, old ways are rejected, new life is born, enemies are reconciled, a family is created, and disciples heed the call to follow Jesus.

That’s amazing. It really is the greatest story. I just have to keep reminding myself of that and it’ll be a lot easier to stick to that New Year’s resolution.

Videos I Like

2010-11-22T22:15:00.001-05:00

These are a couple of videos that "moved" me. The one in the mall food court happened near where I live. I'm sorry I wasn't there. The other one just made me think. $10 billion versus $450 billion. Wow!

... about October

2010-10-21T11:15:00.000-04:00

I wrote this for tomorrow's newspaper.

This is a good month for me. Last week I celebrated my 44th birthday. Next week my wife and I will celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. A few days before my birthday we celebrated Thanksgiving. A few days after our anniversary the neighbourhood streets will be teeming with costumed kiddies out for trick-or-treating and I'll be able to sneak some of my favourites out of my kids' bags as well as snacking on the leftovers that we don't give out. There are a lot of good things about October.

But as I write this and look out the window it's grey and overcast. It's been raining on and off all day. I'm wearing a sweatshirt for the first time in months. We've had the furnace running for a couple of weeks. The leaves are falling from the trees. Gardens that were very recently lush and green with a splash of colour here and there are getting kind of wilty and drab and dingy looking.

September still had hints of summer but now it's fall. I'm not saying fall is bad but I'm already missing the warmth of summer, a season that is just too short up here. And I know that a long winter is around the corner. Not that winter is all bad but I could do with a lot less of it.

I guess I just have to learn to take the good with the bad in any season and any month. In the summer I do complain about the humidity when it gets so oppressive that I can't sleep and the slightest physical activity gets me so sweaty. As long and cold as the winter is, there is real beauty in a landscape coated with a newly fallen snow, the kids having a ball playing in the snow, and winter does have Christmas after all.

We have to take the good with the bad. Lutheran theology often talks about tension and paradox, about two "words" required to proclaim truth. We are saint and sinner. Creation is good and fallen. The Word of God is law and gospel. Jesus is human and divine. We live in and with these paradoxes.

I know I'm a sinner. Even though I'm a Christian, even though I'm made right with God by God's grace, I'm still a sinner. And no matter how hard I try I'll never stop being a sinner. But that's okay because God's love and mercy and forgiveness are big enough to deal with my sin and because of that God accepts me and I am also a saint. Saint and sinner, both at the same time.

Maybe that's what some people don't get. The people who see a church full of hypocrites. There may be some, but the hypocrites are the ones who go around sinning yet they deny that they're sinners. They're only fooling themselves because everybody else knows they're sinners.

We've got a sign out in front of the church. One side lets people know what time church is on Sundays. On the other side I put a message. I try not to be too cutesy or clever, instead trying to put up something inspirational. Once the sign said FOR SINNERS ONLY. Okay, so that borders on the cutesy, but those three words contain a profound truth. The church isn't for perfect people. If it was then there would be even fewer people in the pews than there already are.

No, the church isn't for perfect people, it's for sinners. It's for people who need saving. It's for people who need blessing. It's for people who need forgiveness. It's for people who know hurt and need healing. It's for people who need a welcoming and accepting community of faith, a community of other sinners looking for the same thing.

The church is not for perfect people. The church is for people who desire a relationship with a perfect Saviour. Just as any month or any season is a mixture of good and bad, in the same way people who are being saved are a mixture of good and bad, saint and sinner. That goes for me. That goes for you. That goes for my church and your church and the church across town. So I thank God that his love and mercy and forgiveness are big enough for all of us.

Aunt Hetty Died

2010-09-22T23:31:00.000-04:00

It's very sad, Jackie Burroughs died today. The only thing I've ever seen her in is the TV series Road to Avonlea. When my wife and I were dating, engaged, and just after we were married that show was a Sunday night ritual at her parents' house with her two younger sisters. Wow, that was 20 years ago!

Hetty King was a crusty character who you couldn't help but love. The episode when her niece, Sarah, wins a writing contest about why you have the best mother, when she wrote about her Aunt Hetty who was raising her, and won the contest, it made me want to cheer while I had a lump in my throat.

Now we're parents of four kids aged 17, 15, 12, and 8 and we've bought the Road to Avonlea series on DVD and Sunday nights are RTA nights. It's one of the few shows that all six of us want to watch together, that we'll shut off the Xbox, close the laptop, and turn off the ipod to watch.

We'll always have Aunt Hetty with us, unfortunately Jackie Burroughs isn't. She died today of stomach cancer. Lord, now you let your servant go in peace.

...about Homecoming

2010-09-02T16:12:00.000-04:00

"I love it here. You can sing as loud as you want. That dude wails on the organ. That dude up there tells stories. It's almost a religious experience!"

-- Leo, That 70s Show

I love church, and not because I'm a pastor. I loved church long before I even thought of being a pastor. It probably doesn't hurt that I grew up in the church. I was baptized when I was about 2 1/2 months old. I grew up going to Sunday School, learning the stories of our faith. As a teenager I participated in the activities of the church youth group. That's where I met the girl who would become my wife.

The people in the church are my extended family. The church is home to me. Now my children are growing up in the church and I pray they will come to think of it as their home and family too.

This weekend marks the unofficial end to summer. That's kind of a drag. There's a laid back feel to summer, a good feeling. Schedules aren't as strict. You can go with the flow. A lot of people take vacation time to get away from the everyday. I like it a lot.

But the end of summer is also a homecoming. We come back to a routine, a routine that can be very comfortable. One thing that I appreciate when I come home from a vacation is my bed. No bed in any hotel or in our trailer can compare to my bed. I don't think I ever sleep as well as I do in my own bedroom. There are other comforts at home. I have everything I need or know where to get it because inevitably, on any vacation, either I forget to pack something or I don't have the space to take something along that I might want.

In our church we have Homecoming Sunday every year on the Sunday after Labour Day. People have come back from vacation, kids are back to school, and we invite everyone back to their church home. Some may have been away for a little while. Some may have been away from their church home for a long time, maybe years. Some may not have a church home at all. All are welcome.

Our Homecoming Sunday has turned into a Homecoming Weekend because on the Saturday we're having a pig roast dinner followed by a movie after the sun goes down, all of it out on the church lawn weather permitting.

Everyone is welcome. Now I'm not telling you about this to solicit people away from other churches. If you have a church home I encourage you to go there. If you've been away for a while, go back to your church home. If you've been away for a long time, maybe years, go back to your church home. If you don't have a church home think about finding one. Maybe a friend or neighbour has a church home and would take you with them if you asked.

If you are part of a church family and have a church home, think about those people who haven't been to their church home for a while, or a long time, maybe years. Think about those people, friends, family, co-workers, neighbours, who don't have a church home. Pray for them and invite them to your church home.

As Leo said, "It's almost a religious experience." In a church home, with a church family, we hear about the love of God in Jesus Christ. As we find our home in God and God's church we grow in faith and love. Come home.

Congrats Spain

2010-07-12T13:17:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to La Roja, the Spanish national football team for winning the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Congratulations for winning a terrible game. The ref in this one, Howard Webb of England, really ruined it. He gave out a gazillion yellow cards and just spoiled any pace that the game might have. Once the players knew he was calling it so tight they made the most of even the slightest fouls by flopping about on the grass and clutching at ankles and shins.

This isn't sour grapes. I was cheering for Germany but, as I wrote in an earlier post, Spain outplayed them to get to the final. This final was just a boring game. There weren't many good chances for either team. I am glad that it ended with a goal and not with a shootout.

It's also kind of a letdown that the World Cup is over. A month of soccer on TV was fun. And an international tournament with all these national teams is just so much better than a late night replay of a Toronto FC game. That's about all we get to see around here normally.

...about Vuvuzelas

2010-07-12T13:03:00.000-04:00

I wrote this for the local paper and it appeared on Friday.

I'm one of the few people I know who likes the sound of the Vuvuzela. Anyone who has been watching the World Cup soccer games from South Africa will be familiar with the buzzing, honking sound that the fans make with their plastic horns. That's the sound of the Vuvuzela.

Some find it annoying or disturbing. After the first few games of the World Cup there were calls to ban the Vuvuzela. Broadcasters have tried to filter the sound somewhat. I'm glad it wasn't banned and I'm glad that I can still hear the tooting of the horns as I watch the games. The Vuvuzela is part of South Africa's soccer culture. It's a part of the fans' enthusiasm as they cheer on their favourite teams.

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Eastern Synod Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. It was a convention attended by about 300 members of churches from Sault Ste. Marie to Halifax. I submitted a motion at the convention "that the Ministry Director for Worship Ministries investigate the possible liturgical and musical uses of the Vuvuzela and communicate her findings to the wider church."

Okay, it was a joke, and I submitted it to inject a bit of levity into what can sometimes be pretty serious and boring business meetings. One pastor got up to propose an amendment to the motion, suggesting that it be for "outdoor" uses because if it's blown indoors the Vuvuzela can damage your hearing. He also gave a few reasons why it might be a good instrument to be used in churches.

The Vuvuzela can be played by anyone so it's a very inclusive instrument and in the church we want to be inclusive and welcoming to everyone. Also, the Vuvuzela plays only one note which can be a symbol of Christian unity. You'll find all kinds of different churches throughout our city and the world. We worship in different ways and we might understand and express our relationship with God in different ways. But something we do share is our faith in Jesus Christ.

The Vuvuzela can be seen as a symbol of inclusiveness and unity. We sing a hymn in our church written by Marty Haugen that says:
"Let us build a house where love can dwell
and all can safely live,
a place where saints and children tell
how hearts learn to forgive.
Built of hopes and dreams and visions,
rock of faith and vault of grace,
here the love of Christ shall end divisions:
All are welcome, all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place."
The Good News of Jesus Christ tells us that divisions are removed. The love of Jesus can transform our lives and bring about reconciliation between ourselves and God and between each other. The divisions that would include some and exclude others are abolished by the grace of God. St. Paul wrote to the churches in Galatia, "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus" (Gal 3:28).

We are also united in Christ. In the Bible the letter to the Ephesian church says, "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all" (Eph 4:4-6). Our unity doesn't mean we're all the same. It means we share something in common, our faith in Jesus Christ.

So I'm going to try to get my hands on a Vuvuzela or two. And I'll blow it (outside) and think of how that buzzing tone reminds me of the inclusiveness and unity of our faith in Jesus Christ.

Rats

2010-07-07T16:40:00.000-04:00

So much for making fun of England for getting knocked out of the World Cup finals. My team, Germany, Die Mannschaft, Die DFB-Elf just lost to Spain, La Roja. Spain deserved to win this game. They seemed to dominate the possession of the ball and just wouldn't let Germany in with any good chances. I'm disappointed. I'll have to take the German flag off my van and put in into storage until the European Championships in two years.

Rats.

Germany beats England

2010-06-27T22:02:00.000-04:00

What's the difference between the English soccer team and a tea bag?

A tea bag stays in the cup longer.

Green Season

2010-06-16T10:39:00.001-04:00

I'm not what you would call an "outdoorsman." I take my family on a camping trip every summer but we like our conveniences. We sleep in a trailer with comfortable mattresses and even an electric heater if the nights should get cold. It's only a short walk from the trailer to the campground's washrooms and showers. We bring along a small refrigerator and a hotplate for cooking.

A few years ago my kids were so disappointed and I felt like such a failure because I couldn't get a decent campfire going. Not that we needed it for cooking, just for the evening atmosphere and coziness of sitting around the fire together. Now I make use of any of the fire starters that they sell in the camp store.

I'm not an outdoorsman but I like to be outdoors. I enjoy the warmer weather when we can eat dinner out on the patio, when I can while away a weekend afternoon lying in the shade of the big maple tree in our backyard. My wife is an avid gardener so our surroundings are so much more beautiful thanks to her efforts with the many plants and flowers that she tends.

My favourite colour has always been blue. Just the other evening I sat staring into a clear blue sky as just a few whispy clouds floated past. But more and more I'm coming to appreciate green.

Hildegard of Bingen, a twelfth-century monastic theologian and horticulturalist, spoke of God's greening power evident in summer's trees laden with growing fruit, the birth of a child, the Eucharistic bread and wine; the planet, humanity and Christ united in a trinity of living, breathing, potent life. God's greatest desire, she suggested, was to bring "green-ness" to all things that could readily fall into graceless aridity and barrenness. To say the least, summer was—for this medieval nun—a time marked by the natural grace of warmth and growth. The gardener in many of us might agree.

The summer isn't all perfect. The sometimes stifling heat and sometimes increased levels of smog can be hard on people's breathing. It's hard for those who can't afford air conditioning or don't have money for vacations to find some respite from the heat. Summer also brings hurricane season to the south Atlantic and tornado season to the Midwest.

In Lutheran theology we often talk about tension and paradox, about two "words" required to proclaim truth. We are saint and sinner. Creation is good and fallen. The Word of God is law and gospel. Jesus is human and divine. It would seem appropriate to recognize that we need two "words" to speak the full truth of the summer season as well. We give thanks for the growth and greening of nature and we plead for mercy when some find it a struggle just to survive.

During this "green" season we can grow in faith as we hear the stories of Jesus' ministry, his daily life and teaching that comfort and challenge. We hear stories of God's favour for the lowly—a widow's only son, a woman called a sinner, a man possessed by demons, people on the margins of life who received new life through Jesus. We also hear stories about the difficulty of discipleship, about disciples who can't follow Jesus wholeheartedly and turn back and about the disciples sent out with the reminder that they may be accepted or rejected.

May our faith be nurtured, may it grow, may it bear fruit as we live in the tensions and paradoxes of life. And may God bless us all.

...about forgiveness

2010-05-14T11:33:00.000-04:00

I wrote this for the local paper and it was in today's edition.

One of the few things that various world religions have in common is the idea of sin. It may not be expressed with that term but most religions would describe some ideal for life and would agree that humans don’t live up to that ideal. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam believe that sin creates a barrier between humans and God. Relationship is broken and somehow people need to be saved and have a relationship with God restored.

How that happens differs between religions. Even within a religion there can be different beliefs as to how this restoration can take place. I’m no expert on other religions and I can’t even claim to be totally versed on the subtle differences within Christianity. But I feel pretty safe in saying that a common belief in all branches of Christianity is a belief in God’s forgiveness.

I remember when I was still a seminary student on my internship. I was teaching a confirmation class, a group of twelve and thirteen year olds who weren’t all that interested in what I had to say to them. I asked, “What does God do when we mess up?” and I don’t think most of them even heard me ask the question. Most of the time I didn’t even expect an attempt at an answer but from the noise made by the boys horsing around one of the girls piped up with an answer. She wasn’t all that sure of herself so the answer sounded more like a question. She said, “Forgives(?)”

She was absolutely right. What does God do when we mess up? What does God do with our sin? What does God do to restore our broken relationship? God forgives. The Bible says, “If we say that we have not sinned, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth isn’t in our hearts. But if we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away” (1 John 1:8-9).

Not only does God forgive us, we are also commanded to forgive others. In the prayer Jesus taught to his disciples we pray, “Forgive us for doing wrong, as we forgive others” (Matthew 6:12). There was also a time when one of Jesus’ disciples asked just how often he should forgive. “‘How many times should I forgive someone who does something wrong to me? Is seven times enough?’ Jesus answered: ‘Not just seven times, but seventy-seven times!’” (Matthew 18:21-22). Jesus wasn’t just giving him a higher number, he was telling him to stop keeping score. Just forgive!

I don’t think we realize the power of forgiveness. The word has become kind of bland. It has become a “Yeah, whatever. No sweat. Just don’t do it again.” But the concept of forgiveness in the Bible is a life-changing thing. It’s a creative act. New life springs from forgiveness. “Put up with each other, and forgive anyone who does you wrong, just as Christ has forgiven you. Love is more important than anything else. It is what ties everything completely together” (Colossians 3:13-14).

That can be hard for some of us to take. Some things might be easier to forgive than others. Some things might seem totally unforgivable. In 2006 a gunman took hostage and then shot and killed five young girls before taking his own life in an Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania. One would think that such an evil act would be unforgivable but the families, the parents of those children, forgave the killer. Those who know about Amish life and culture and faith explained that their willingness to forgive does not undo the tragedy or pardon the wrong, but rather constitutes a first step toward a future that is more hopeful.

There’s an important point in there. Forgiveness does not say the action was not wrong. Forgiveness does not dismiss the fact that evil exists and happens. Forgiveness does not mean there are no consequences. Forgiveness doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try to right the wrongs we have done. Forgiveness allows for reconciliation and a future that is more hopeful.

Recently there has been frequent attention in the media to sinful actions in parts of the Christian Church. The alleged sins of certain members of the clergy were kept quiet, or ignored, or overlooked. These acts were evil, perpetrated by people who held positions of power and trust against the innocent and vulnerable. Does that mean those actions are unforgivable? No. Does that mean those actions should not be punished? No. The consequences of sin remain and certain punishments are required by law.

But forgiveness of our sins is a foundation of the Christian faith. We confess it in our worship when we confess our faith by reciting the creeds of the church. The heart of the Christian message of salvation is reconciliation. “God was in Christ, offering peace and forgiveness to the people of this world. And he has given us the work of sharing his message about peace” (2 Corinthians 5:19).

We are made right with God and given new life, a life and future that are hopeful, by God’s grace and mercy. Our actions will have consequences and may deserve punishment. Relationships become broken. But by God’s grace relationships can be mended. Reconciliation can take place. Forgiveness can lead to new life and a future with hope.

Post-Easter Post

2010-04-06T16:48:00.000-04:00

It's something, how a dreary and rainy day can change your mood. Or maybe it's just a letdown after the emotion of Easter. What a weekend!

You go through such a range of emotion through the Three Days. The Maundy Thursday liturgy includes the laying on of hands with individual absolution which always kind of gets me. The words I say are "In obedience to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins." It's entirely biblical and it's right and good to do this but I kind of feel, like, Wow! I forgive you all your sins(?)

Then there's the foot washing. I don't wash the whole congregation's feet or even a representative twelve. I ask one person ahead of time if they'll allow me to wash their feet. Again, it's moving. I take off my chasuble and stole while the person takes his/her shoes and socks off and I kneel down and take one foot at a time, pour water over it, and dry it. Then I get myself dressed again while s/he puts socks and shoes back on. I kind of have a sense of embarassment, certainly humility, so that it's hard even to look up into the person's face.

Then we share the Lord's Supper which isn't really anything out of the ordinary. After that we strip the altar and worship space. The way we do it, I pick up the various items and paraments all around the chancel and any altar guild members who is present comes forward to receive them and take them out of the sanctuary. Our organist normally chants Psalm 22 a capella and I sit down until he is done and then leave in silence.

I've tried more and more to remind myself and others that Good Friday is not necessarily a sad or somber occasion, just a subdued or austere day. It is, after all the "triumph of the cross" that we proclaim and celebrate. We read the passion from John's Gospel in which Jesus does not suffer, does not cry out, does not feel foresaken by God. It is, after all, called "Good" Friday. Our organist chose ELWorship 350 as the Hymn of the Day. "They crucified my Lord, and he never said a mumbalin' word; not a word, not a word, not a word." I normally like something like "Ah, Holy Jesus" or "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded" but the African American spiritual was very fitting. We prayed the bidding prayer, and did the procession of the cross. I always mean to get a more substantial cross. The one we have, that was here before I came here, is made out of 2 x 3s and looks nothing like something on which anyone could be crucified. Then I read the solemn reproaches to which we responded each time with the Trisagion (ELWorship 161) by Mark Mummert. Then we sang 803, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" and then left in silence after reverencing the cross.

We don't do an Easter Vigil service. We did the first few years I was here together with the Anglican Church. I enjoyed the service but I honestly don't miss it. The weekend is so full anyway.

But we do worship at dawn (or slightly after). We have a sunrise service on Easter Sunday out at our cemetery. I proposed it for my first Easter here and the Worship Committee said, "You can do it, but I don't know who's going to come." That first year (2003) 28 people came and since then it has become a tradition that many people don't want to miss. This year we were 61 gathered there. We start at 7 a.m. so the sun had been up for a little less than half and hour. We bring a table and I bake bread on Saturday and we have Holy Communion together.

After that service we come back home and our kids search around the living and dining rooms to see what the Easter Bunny left them. Then at 9 a.m. we go to the church for breakfast. Then we have worship in the church at 10:30 a.m. It's amazing what a difference the registration on the organ and the bright tunes of the Easter hymns will do to change the mood from Thursday and Friday's services. And the alleluias just lift my spirit after having disappeared all during Lent. We changed to setting 1 of the liturgy from ELWorship and the canticle of praise "This is the feast..." is just awesome in my opinion. The alleluia in the third verse goes up to a high E-flat so that you can pretty much shout it out. We ended with 382, "Christ Is Risen! Alleluia!" which has been transposed in ELWorship so that the refrain only goes up to an E-flat instead of an F as it did in LBW, but it's still a joyful noise.

Yesterday was a day of rest. We slept in. We rented some movies (Sherlock Holmes, Planet 51, Blindside) and just vegged on the couch in front of the TV. After a four day weekend the kids weren't eager to go to bed and see the weekend end. Then today we woke up to a grey sky and showers through the day.

But it's still Easter. I've got to try to remember that. Maybe I have to go home and greet the family with "Alleluia! Christ is risen!" to get myself and all of us back into that frame of mind. As I look outside there are crocuses and daffodils blooming, and the first tulip. The grass is really green. I don't know if it was like this a week ago. New light is streaming. Er ist wahrhaftig auferstanden! Il est vraiment ressuscite! Alethos Aneste! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Easter Gospel

2010-04-03T11:11:00.000-04:00

The previous post made mention of my uncle who has cancer. When he was diagnosed last fall he was told he might have 11 months to live. The past few weeks had been looking pretty grim as the tumor was affecting his ability to eat and drink so he wasn't getting any nourishment and getting weak and thin. He had intestinal surgery to relieve the problem he was having and the surgeon thinks that now he could possibly have up to 2 or 3 years. He also said that a positive attitude can have a remarkable effect on the length and quality of life he has left. I don't know if the surgeon is aware of the effect that faith and prayer is having and will have on my uncles life as well.

This news has just lifted my spirits so dramatically. When I heard this news yesterday it was just like, WOW!

Happy Easter.

Holy Week

2010-03-31T11:03:00.002-04:00

It's Holy Week, the most sacred time of the church year, when we remember Jesus' sacrifice of his life, celebrate Christ's life-giving passion, our Passover with Christ from darkness to light, from bondage to freedom, from death to life.

Holy Week. Maybe Hectic Week or Harried Week would be more appropriate for clergy. Yesterday was the birthday of one of my daughters. We went out for dinner and the restaurant she chose was over an hour's drive away. I was happy to take her there. I think we fall just short of spoiling our kids and a birthday should be special. But my wife asked a few times if something was wrong because I was very quiet and didn't seem to be into the birthday celebration. I said maybe I was just tired.

Now that I look back on it, and consider how I'm feeling today as well, I think maybe I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed about how busy this week will be. In addition to four sermons to write (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter 7 a.m., Easter 10:30 a.m.) there are a whole lot of logistics that I have to try to remember. Ask someone if they'll let me wash their feet on Thursday evening. Get the cross out of the basement for Good Friday. Arrange for everything we'll need out at the cemetery for the sunrise service. Bake bread for the Easter services and maybe for Thursday as well. Did I mention four sermons to write?

When I finally get to the worship services, assuming everything has been remembered and/or has fallen into place, I do get into the moment and they can be moving and they do mean something for my faith. But by the time I sit down to Easter lunch I'm exhausted. As much as I liked the Easter Vigil service the first few years I was here I don't miss it since we haven't done it for a few years now.

As exhausting as this week can be I wouldn't want to miss it. I actually look forward to it. I grew up going to all the services in Holy Week and I can't understand the people who miss any of them. Liturgists will tell you that the worship services of the Three Days are all of one piece. There's no blessing at the end of the Maundy Thursday services because it continues on Good Friday. We leave in silence on Good Friday, again without a blessing, because we conclude our observance on Easter when the bells will ring again and the organist will pull out all the stops and blast us up out of our seats (Auferstehung).

I have an uncle who is dying of cancer. I visited him last week and he says he's ready to die. He's my godfather and a faithful Christian man. He may have a few months left. His doctors are doing what they can to give him more time and to give his life as much quality as they can in the time he has left. Tears are shed in our family as we think of losing him. His birthday (I believe 72) will be on Good Friday. This week is what our faith is all about. "'Death has been swallowed up in victory.' 'Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?' Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor 15.54-56).

So, maybe once in a while, for the sake of our faith, I'll be exhausted by the celebration of our Lord's Passover. Now back to writing sermons. Blessed Holy Week and Happy Easter.

Holy Week Concert

2010-03-22T15:22:00.001-04:00

I sing in a chamber choir called Choralis Camerata made up of singers from the Niagara Region. This weekend we're performing twice:

Choralis Camerata

with the

Ensemble Camerata

presents

Vivaldi—"Gloria"

Stainer—"Crucifixion"

Saturday, March 27 — 7:30 p.m.

Lundy's Lane United Church, 5825 Lowell Ave., Niagara Falls

Sunday, March 28 — 2:30 p.m.

First Grantham United Church, 415 Linwell Rd., St. Catharines

Soloists:

Soprano: Jennifer McKillop; Alto: Vicki St. Pierre;
Tenor: David Holler; Bass: Dane Wendell

Adults $25; Seniors $22

It's been fun learning these pieces and I imagine they'll sound beautiful. And they'll be a wonderful meditation on the events we'll be observing and commemorating in the coming weeks. If you're in the area and wish to attend you can get tickets at the door.

...about language

2010-03-10T16:42:00.000-05:00

I wrote this for our local paper. It should appear on Friday.

In last week's federal throne speech, the governor general made mention of the government considering a change to some words in our national anthem. There were a few reactions to the proposal.

Some jumped on it as another instance of political correctness gone too far. Some welcomed the debate or discussion in an effort to make a symbol of our nation more inclusive. Some thought it was a red herring thrown in by the government to deflect some attention from other more delicate and possibly embarrassing issues. If that was the intention then I think it worked for a time because it resulted in numerous news stories and editorials.

It got me to thinking about language, and the power or language. A song by the Police back in the '80s had a line that went "Poets, priests and politicians / Have words to thank for their positions." But it's more than that, everything depends on our language and how we're able to communicate things.

I found early in my career as a pastor that the way I say things is very important because if I'm not clear then people can take things in the wrong way, take them in a way that I never intended. I think we all learn at one time or another, in one situation or another, that you have to be careful what you say and how you say it.

In the case of our national anthem, some people take issue with the line "True patriot love in all thy sons command." In the original English words, written in 1908, that line said "True patriot love thou dost in us command." Those words are more inclusive, but nobody talks like that anymore. Language changes over time. The use of "sons" to refer to all Canadians and the use of "man" to refer to all of humankind regardless of gender was at one time commonplace and implicit. It's not strictly the case anymore. Language changes over time.

In the church there are often objections to newer, more modern translations of the Bible. The King James Version was produced in the year 1611 and portions of that version are well known, not only in church but in society. That version has a very poetic and majestic quality to it. But people don't talk that way anymore and language has changed over the past 400 years.

Some words have just gone out of use. Who would know that 'gins' actually means 'traps' or 'wist' actually means 'knew'? Other words have changed their meaning like 'carriage' which sounds like something that would be drawn by horses but used to mean 'baggage.' Or 'prevent' which sounds like you're keeping something from happening but which used to mean 'precede.'

Similarly, the word 'men' used to be used to refer to all people whether male or female and for many people it still does so they don't see a problem in using it that way (though not when it's a sign on a door). But for more and more people the word 'men' refers specifically and only to males and it's not a matter of them being stubborn and refusing to let the word refer to all people, it's a matter of language changing.

Now, in the case of changing a lyric in O Canada maybe the timing of this latest proposal is suspect. But I disagree with people who say it's a non-issue. For them it might be a non-issue but for some it is an issue about how they know and see themselves. We can't discard the issue by saying "oh, they're just words." Words have power. The childhood saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me" is just wrong. Words have the power to hurt and words have the power to heal.

Just think about the effects on someone who repeatedly hears things like: "you're worthless," "you're ugly," "you're stupid," "nobody loves you," "you disgust me." And then think about the effect on someone who gets to hear things like: "I love you," "you have a beautiful smile," "I'm proud of you," "well done," "I'm blessed to know you." They're not just words. They can be weapons used against the soul and they can be an ointment to soothe the soul.

In the church we believe that words can work miracles. "Faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17). We believe that hearing the Good News about Jesus Christ produces faith and faith is what makes us right with God. Words matter. Words have power. Words heal the soul and give life.

May we all use words carefully, respectfully, and honourably. And may the way we use our words show love for all of our human family.

God's Valentine

2010-02-11T10:22:00.000-05:00

This certainly isn't original from me. It's one of those things that circulates from time to time, especially at this time of the year. I'm using it in my children's chat this Sunday and giving a copy to each of the kids, cut out in a heart shape and glued on a red construction paper heart.

For God so loVed the world
    that he gAve
       his onLy Son,
   so that evEryone who
   believes iN him
       may noT
          perIsh but may
    have eterNal
          lifE.

        John 3:16

Happy Valentine's Day this Sunday.

Why God?

2010-01-20T11:59:00.000-05:00

When a tragedy like last week's earthquake and today's large aftershock in Haiti happens people invariably as how God could let something like that happen. This is not a refutation of Pat Robertson's drivel. I don't think his statements deserve any attention. But I was thinking about God letting something like this happen.

The first thing I thought about was, just how much would we appreciate God's intervention in our lives? Do we really want God to stop every poor choice we make? Is some mysterious force supposed to prevent humans from settling in any part of the world that might be prone to a natural disaster? What natural forces would we expect God to prevent? We don't even know how tectonic movements, volcanic activity, and weather phenomena act together with countless other natural forces to keep our world merrily spinning and humming and working.

Then, specifically with Haiti, what exactly is God responsible for in the current situation? How much less severe would the devastation and loss of life be if the people of Haiti hadn't suffered from decades of deplorable government under dictators and other incompetent rule? How many of the buildings that collapsed might have survived, saving hundreds or thousands of lives, if better building codes and practices would have been in effect and in place? How would the lives of the people in Haiti be better if their plight and poverty hadn't been ignored for so long by those in the world who are so much more fortunate?

And if God is supposed to take the blame for this tragedy, does he receive the credit for all the lives that weren't lost? Does God receive the credit for the help that is now on the way to save lives and help rebuild and give the people of Haiti a new start?

So, where is God in all this?

Well, if we look for God then we have to look to the cross. It's on the cross where God meets us. God makes himself present hidden in weakness, vulnerable, suffering, forsaken, dying. Because of Jesus we see God weeping where there is pain and alienation, rejoicing where there is wholeness and love. In Jesus God has entered the darkness of our existence to gather us into his reign of wholeness, unity, and peace.

If the world was ignoring the plight of the people of Haiti at this time it would be a double tragedy. I believe the heart of God breaks as the people of Haiti suffer and die and mourn. I also believe that the heart of God rejoices as so many around the world unite in this effort to show our love, compassion, concern, and help to that country at this time.

There are many worthy organizations helping in the relief efforts at this time. One that I hold up and support is Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR) who are combining their efforts and resources with other churches in the organization Action by Churches Together (ACT) to provide relief and rehabilitation in Haiti. The Canadian government is matching donations made by individual Canadians by February 12, 2010. Contributions to the Haiti appeal may be made in the following ways:

1. Online at www.clwr.org/donate. In the process of completing the form, you will come across a pull-down menu that allows you to designate a specific project. Choose Haiti Earthquake.
2. By calling CLWR's toll-free number: 1.800.661.2597. If you do not need to use a toll-free line or are calling locally from the Winnipeg area, you can reach CLWR at 204.694.5602.
3. By sending a cheque made payable to CLWR to: CLWR, 302-393 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3B 3H6. Please indicate in your correspondence that you wish to contribute to the Haiti Earthquake Appeal.
4. Through ELCIC and LCC congregations by giving an offering designated to the Haiti Earthquake appeal.

...about my alarm clock

2010-01-12T17:02:00.002-05:00

I've been thinking about getting back into the swing of things. The holidays are over which leaves me in a somewhat melancholy mood.

Even though I might sometimes decry the commercialism of the season something about the decorations in the stores, even when they go up right after Hallowe'en, got me into the spirit of Christmas.

The season brought with it the obligation to get together with grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins and all of the rest of the relations, but I looked forward to that.

For me, a pastor, the season brought with it some extra work and extra worship services and extra sermons to preach, but I enjoyed that.

And then there were the presents. I enjoyed going out or going online to shop, to try to think of something that my wife or my kids would like to find under the tree. And even though I'm 43 years old, I still enjoy getting presents the way I did when I was seven.

As much as we, in the church, like to emphasize that the Christmas season doesn't end on December 25 it still feels that way. We left the tree and the decorations and the poinsettias to decorate the church, we even sang Christmas carols on the two Sundays after Christmas, because the twelve days of Christmas begin on Christmas Day and run into January.

But for some reason it didn't feel like Christmas anymore. The TV channels stopped playing Christmas specials and movies. The radio stopped playing Christmas music. And somehow I wasn't able to maintain that Christmas spirit in my own heart and mind.

Then the kids went back to school this week, I had to start setting my alarm again in the mornings and getting up earlier than I ever did the past two weeks. It's back to the old routine. It's kind of a drag.

But then I remembered a song that I haven't heard in many years. As a kid I had a Sesame Street Christmas record. It's certainly not a religious song but I think it can have religious significance. It's called "Keep Christmas with You All Through the Year." The message of Christmas is that God became one of us and came to be with us.

And that Sesame Street song is significant because that Christmas miracle is not something that happens on one night of the year or for twelve days of the year or even for one month a year. It's not a message that only rings true as long as there's a fir tree standing in your living room or as long as Christmas carols play on the radio.

We believe that Christ comes among us whenever his followers gather to worship. We believe that Christ comes among us whenever we hear his word proclaimed. We believe that Christ comes among us whenever we share in his holy meal. We believe that Christ comes among us whenever we show love to our neighbours.

So I'll look forward to hearing those carols again next December. And I'll try to remember that the miracle of Christmas, of God coming to be with us and among us, happens all year long. But I don't have to enjoy getting up with the alarm again.

Happy 2010

2010-01-01T00:47:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!!!

We went down to the canal to see the fireworks at midnight. I expected a bigger crowd but the people who showed up got a good show. It was a 10 minute fireworks show and really impressive.

I hope 2010 is a better year than 2009. Last year wasn't all bad. There was the trip to New York in February and the trip to Florida including M & Rs wedding in September/October.

But there were some really sad diagnoses in the extended family. I presided at the funeral of a soldier killed in Afghanistan. I wish the damned war would end. Just the day before yesterday four more Canadian soldiers and a newspaper reporter were killed. I'm sick of it.

I've got a good life and a great family, there's just a lot of crap going on in the world. Here's hoping 2010 will have more good news. God bless us, everyone.

The Reason for the Season

2009-12-21T15:49:00.002-05:00

I wrote this for our church newsletter that went out last week.

I’m sure we’ve probably all heard the saying that “Jesus is the reason for the season.” It’s a nice sentiment I guess, but sometimes I wonder what’s behind it. Lately I think some Christians have been getting a little defensive over what has been happening to “our” holiday.

I don’t see it a lot anymore but I remember when I was younger people got upset over the use of Xmas and the popular saying was “Put Christ back in Christmas.” (Actually X is the first letter of Christ in Greek but the people using Xmas probably didn’t know that.) More recently there has been a backlash over what people call “political correctness” and Christian people get upset over the use of “Happy Holidays” and “Season’s Greetings” in place of “Merry Christmas.”

I certainly wish people a Merry Christmas at this time of year but I don’t get upset if someone wishes me Happy Holidays or Season’s Greetings. And there are some people, perhaps relatively few but some, who celebrate other holidays during this season or who might have no celebrations at all.

I don’t feel threatened. So far there’s no law that says I can’t put up a Christmas tree in my home and call it a Christmas tree. Nothing says I can’t come to church on Christmas Eve to celebrate the birth of Christ, my Saviour and Lord. If the schools shy away from an overt observance of Christ’s birth there’s nothing stopping me from teaching my children the true message and reason for the season.

And speaking of the reason for the season as my title says, what is the reason for the season? As I said at the outset, the saying goes that Jesus is the reason for the season but is that really the case? I once caught my children off guard when I suggested that Christmas is really all about presents. They tried to argue with me, giving the expected Sunday School or Children’s Chat answer that Christmas is really about the birth of Jesus.

I couldn’t really fault them. Their answer was correct. But I think I was right too. Christmas is all about presents. What is the greatest gift that we’ve been given? It’s the life and salvation we have in Jesus Christ. God loved this mixed up and messed up world so much that he gave his only Son, “so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” Christmas is about the greatest gift.

And the reason for the season is US. God sent his Son for YOU and for ME. But not only for us who call ourselves Christians. Jesus came for the ones who replace Christ with an X. Jesus came for the ones who celebrate Hanukkah. Jesus came for the ones who celebrate Kwanzaa instead of or in addition to Christmas. Jesus came for the ones being politically correct by wishing you Happy Holidays or Season’s Greetings.

Jesus came and showed us the love of God. So, this Christmas season, rather than becoming angry or defensive when someone wishes us Happy Holidays let us show love to our neighbours. Let us be open and invite family, friends, neighbours, and even strangers to know the love of Jesus that came down as the greatest gift of all.

May your Holidays be Happy, your Greetings Seasoned, and most of all your Christmas be Merry.

Messiah

2009-12-08T15:11:00.002-05:00

This past fall I joined a choir. I've been singing with our little church choir for seven years and with my previous church choir for probably about 20 years before that. This year I joined a chamber choir called Choralis Camerata which is Latin for chamber choir.

It has been fun. It's more challenging than our church choir. There are something like 35 or 36 voices in this choir. I brought the number of tenors up to five. Our first concerts took place this past weekend. We performed Handel's Messiah. It was tough but it was fun. The orchestra that accompanied us was the Niagara-on-the-Lake Sinfonia.

The tenor parts that I'm used to singing with our church choir generally go up to an E, occasionally to an F and on rare occasions up to a G. In Messiah there are probably six to eight places where I had to hit an A. I managed it the first few times but when it got to the Amen chorus at the end of the piece and we were supposed to hit the A eight bars from the end or the entire oratorio I couldn't do it except by going falsetto.

We performed Messiah three times. On Friday, December 4 we were at St. Mark's Anglican Church in Niagara-on-the-Lake. On Saturday, December 5 we were at First Grantham United Church in St. Catharines. On Sunday, December 6 we were at St. Alexander's Roman Catholic Church in Fonthill. Three very different spaces. I felt like our best performance was on Saturday, at least I think my best singing happened then. People raved about us. I think we got the most smiles from our conductor on Saturday. And all three concerts were, if not SRO, at least full. There were no big gaps or spaces in the pews.

Many of the choristers were singing Messiah for at least the second time, some even more. It was my first time and I have to confess that I wasn't prepared enough. I should have practiced a lot more and known the pieces better. I was counting and reading way too much and making mistakes too often. This choir performs Messiah every two years so if I stick with them that long I'll do a lot better the next time around.

But it was still fun, and very moving. If you don't know Handel's Messiah, it's about Jesus. The text is completely from the Bible, starting with Old Testament prophecy that has come to be associated with Jesus, through to his birth, death, resurrection, and then praises to our Lord and King from the book of Revelation. If you've never heard anything else from Messiah you've certainly heard the Hallelujah chorus.

Our next concerts will be in February when we will sing some Gospel/Spiritual pieces in observance of Black History Month. I can't wait to sing some more.

Where's Baby Jesus?

2009-11-29T22:22:00.004-05:00

Well, this morning in church the absolutely sweetest thing ever happened. I'll never forget it.

A little girl, maybe around 4 years old, has been coming to church with her grandmother for 3 or 4 weeks now. I baptized her a few years ago, I'll be baptizing her baby brother on the Sunday after Christmas. As I was making my announcements before the service started she made her way up the aisle and when I was finished she was standing in front of me and asked "Where's Baby Jesus?" I said he'd be coming in a few weeks, meaning when we decorate the church for Christmas and get out the ceramic nativity. I thought later, what a perfect question. I don't know if her question was that profound but how many people do come to church looking to find Jesus? And in our scripture readings, hymns, sermons, and meal, do they find him?

Well, that wasn't the sweetest thing yet. A few minutes later, after singing the gathering hymn, lighting the first candle on the Advent wreath, praying a prayer of blessing and the prayer of the day, I sat down on the chancel steps and called the children forward. The same little girl sat right in front of me, maybe four feet away from me. I was trying to talk to them about today's gospel reading, about being prepared, ready, anticipating, expecting the coming of Jesus and how we might find him in some very ordinary everyday things. I used examples of doing something nice for a friend, sticking up for someone on the playground when they're being picked on, or the love we get from our parents when they hug us, kiss us, and tuck us into bed. In those ordinary instances, I said God is there.

While I'm talking she keeps whispering, *pastor,* *pastor.* I tried to ignore her and finish my talk, figuring I'd see what she wants when I'm done, before I send them off to Sunday School. Well, she wouldn't be ignored and all of a sudden she was standing in front of me. So I stopped and asked what she wanted and she leaned in and kissed me on the forehead. Everyone who could see couldn't help but say "Awwwwww!" I was so touched, so flabberghasted, I lost my place, must have blushed profusely, it was so totally unexpected. When I got back to what I was talking about I said that in just that kind of action, God is there and if we're on the lookout then we'll notice God's presence in loving acts.

I haven't been able to forget that moment. All day long it has come back to mind. It was a wonderful, unexpected, sweet and touching moment that I'll really never forget.

HAPPY BOBUNK!!

2009-11-12T11:37:00.000-05:00

Tonight we’ll be celebrating Bobunk. What is Bobunk you ask? It’s the holiday that disappeared.

In an episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch she has no Christmas spirit and she inadvertently does away with Christmas. People wonder why anyone would cut down a perfectly good tree to stand it up indoors. It seems nobody has any recollection of Christmas at all. Her cat, Salem, tells her that the same thing happened to Bobunk. "What’s Bobunk?" she asks. "See!"

I won’t ruin the ending by telling you whether she manages to save Christmas or not. I’m sure you’re in suspense now.

Anyway, our family designated November 12 as Bobunk. We’ll have a Bobunk cake and watch that episode of Sabrina tonight. The boys have a day off school tomorrow so they can stay up late and everything. The girls still have school so they’ll have to get up at the usual 6:30 a.m. to catch the bus at 7:09.

So again, Happy Bobunk!

...about faith and fear

2009-11-09T14:01:00.002-05:00

It seems we can’t look at a newspaper or turn on a TV or radio without hearing about the H1N1 flu. For the most part the media has presented a fairly consistent message. Beyond simply reporting the facts and statistics of the number of people becoming ill and some even dying from this flu, they are doing a good job of pointing out the risks and providing information about how to protect yourself and your loved ones.

But then you start talking with friends and neighbours and colleagues and you get a whole different picture. Some people are concerned about the safety and long term effects of vaccines. Some figure this will be no worse than a regular seasonal flu. Some see a conspiracy between drug manufacturers and governments. Some think the whole saturation of the media is just hype or that we’re not getting the whole story.

It can all be very confusing. And then when you hear about people dying including children, some who were otherwise normal and healthy, it can all be very frightening. So what do you do? Do you give in to the fear? Do you cower behind closed doors, never to venture out into public again? Or on the other end of the spectrum, do you ignore or disbelieve the risks and go on as if nothing is wrong and nothing harmful is out there?

I would suggest living our lives with common sense and faith. The medical community have told us what the best practices are to reduce the risk. Wash your hands frequently. Don’t touch your face more than necessary. Cough or sneeze into your sleeve. If you are sick, stay home so that you don’t spread germs to others.

Even in church we’re encouraging people to stay away if they are sick. When we share the peace we are telling people that it’s perfectly acceptable to speak the words of blessing with a nod or another gesture and they may refrain from shaking hands. For those concerned with drinking wine at communion from the same cup as others people we offer the option of individual glasses that are filled from a pouring chalice, or people are free to receive just the bread. We also have hand sanitizer pumps in a few locations in the church.

That’s the common sense part, but what about the faith part? We believe and teach and trust in the grace and love of God. In baptism we are sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked forever with the cross of Christ, who is health and salvation for the whole world. That doesn’t mean we’re magically or mystically protected from all illness or even death. It does mean that God is present with strength and comfort in time of suffering.

Does this mean that Christians are never afraid? No way! What it means is that in the midst of confusion, doubt, and fear we can live in faith, trusting in God’s promise to always be with us. It means we can depend on God to bring us through times of difficulty. It means that we are part of a community of faith that walks with us in good times and bad. It means that even when illness leads to death, God accompanies us and our loved ones, holding us in his loving embrace no matter what.

So, my prayer is that we can live and walk and perhaps even struggle through this flu pandemic with faith and common sense. God be with all of you.

...about bread

2009-09-16T09:36:00.002-04:00

I wrote this and it appeared in our local paper last week.

Our church, and some other denominations as well, follow the Revised Common Lectionary. It's a schedule of scripture readings suggested for use in worship each week. This summer, from July 26 through August 23, the gospel readings on those Sundays came from the sixth chapter of the Gospel according to John. They all dealt, in one way or another, with bread.

The series of readings began with the story of Jesus miraculously feeding thousands of people with five barley loaves and two fish. The readings continued with Jesus speaking of himself as "the bread of life," speaking of eating his flesh and drinking his blood, with his hearers being confused and upset by his words, and ended with his core group of followers making a renewed commitment to him.

As a preacher it can be tricky to come up with fresh ideas about bread for five weeks in a row and here I am writing a newspaper column about bread. But it has been on my mind.

When my family sits down to eat, we give thanks for the food we eat by saying grace. We have a few prayers to choose from. We even sing some of them. Probably our most common table grace goes like this:
Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest,
and let these gifts to us be blessed.
Blessed be God who is our bread.
May all the world be clothed and fed.

In our world bread is a staple. Obviously we use it to make sandwiches of all kinds. And when we eat the ever popular but not always healthy burger, it comes on a bun. A hotdog or sausage is laid in a bun. Some restaurants will give you a roll with your meal, or place a basket of rolls on the table before your meal arrives. If you have a taste for certain ethnic foods they might come on, or wrapped in, other kinds of bread like pitas or tortillas.

Except for some with dietary issues, for most of us bread is the stuff of life. We would hardly go a day without it. The same goes for our relationship with God. As the readings from John, chapter six discussed and as our table grace says, God in Jesus Christ is our bread.

You could debate whether Jesus was speaking metaphorically or literally. I think rather than either/or, in this case it's both/and. In my church's tradition we share in the weekly celebration of the Lord's Supper where we receive the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine. Different Christian traditions differ on what happens in that meal and how it happens but I think we all agree that when we gather, Jesus is there.

Being a Christian, having faith in Jesus Christ, is about living with him in your life. It's also about the last line in our table grace. Living a life of faith isn't just about "me and Jesus." A life of faith is also about serving all people, following the example of Jesus, and striving for justice and peace in all the earth. "May all the world be clothed and fed" is our prayer and also our duty.

As long as there are hungry people in our community and in our world, people without the bread that gives them physical life, we ought to be doing all we can to provide that bread. Another of Jesus' stories says that when we refuse to provide for the hungry we are refusing him.

We need Jesus, the bread of life, in our lives. And our Lord uses us in his mission to bless and save and feed the world. Blessed be God who is our bread. May all the world be clothed and fed.

Church Sign

2009-08-19T17:16:00.002-04:00

I changed the message on our sign last week. The kids laughed when they saw it. It's not something I came up with myself. I'd read it somewhere before. This is what it says:

SIGN BROKEN

COME IN ON SUNDAY

FOR MESSAGE

R and R

2009-08-06T11:55:00.002-04:00

So, I'm in the middle of my first week back at work after two weeks of vacation. We went back for the seventh year in a row to our favourite campground in the Finger Lakes region of New York. We did all the stuff we usually do, went on the day trips around the area that we like to make, spent time with friends and family who came to stay for a while.

But it wasn't the same as other years. It wasn't as good as other years. We were there for two weeks and I think there were a whole two days when it didn't rain. Not that it rained and rained for hours and days on end. Sometimes the morning would be rainy and the afternoon would turn out fairly decent. Sometimes the day would seem okay but cloud over in the afternoon and then rain in the evening or overnight.

And the temperatures were cool. There have been years when I haven't had to break out the jeans at all during our stay. This time around there were only a few days when I was comfortable in shorts. I'm usually not one for hot and humid weather, something we normally get a whole lot of during the summer. But when we're at the campground and can sit under the shade of an umbrella by the poolside, reading a book, working on some Sudoku puzzles, and then just jumping into the water to cool down when the need or the mood strikes me, then I can take the heat. But we didn't have that this year. There were a few days when it was nice enough to spend some time at the pool. The kids swam a lot. I swam a few times.

It was time away from the ordinary. It was time for some relaxation. It just didn't seem as enjoyable for me as other years. The fact that my oldest daughter and I caught colds during the second week of the trip didn't help either.

We've got a Florida trip planned for the fall. The kids are counting down the days already. I hope it's more of a vacation, some real enjoyable rest and relaxation, than this summer holiday was.

Best Practices

2009-07-08T10:19:00.000-04:00

I’m part of a liturgy discussion group and a recent thread has begun talking about vestments. Our seminary education regarding the mechanics of worship and liturgy were somewhat lacking since our instructor was in the process of being fired when I was in my first year there. We also only had half a term of required instruction in liturgics.

Someone asked what others do and know as far as how we vest ourselves. One question was whether the stole is worn over or under the chasuble. Apparently there’s a rule for this and I almost always break the rule. My chasubles are almost all plain, that is they have no decoration on them. But the stoles are almost all decorated. So I wear the stole over the chasuble. One chasuble, the white one which the church owns (I don’t have my own white chasuble yet), is decorated and the stole is plain so I wear it the other way around. So only during Christmas and Easter and on Baptism of Our Lord, Transfiguration, Christ the King and other white festivals am I vested properly.

I also used to wear a pectoral cross over my chasuble (except the white one because it would hang over the decoration). The "vestment police" once informed me that it was only a bishop’s prerogative to wear a pectoral cross. I continued to wear it anyway. I haven’t worn it for some time because the chain broke and I haven’t replaced it but I do intend to wear it again.

I wrote about this on the discussion site and one pastor responded rather vehemently decrying my lackadaisical practice. He intimated that anything less than BEST PRACTICE was akin to irreverence in worship. As if someone seeing me with a pectoral cross showing would mistake me for a bishop and that would confuse them to such a degree as to distract them from their worship. As if wearing my stole over my chasuble would be so off-putting that it would hinder the proclamation of the gospel.

I responded to his criticism. Regarding the pectoral cross, most people are unaware that it might be a symbol of a bishop’s office and that’s not high on my list of things that need to be taught to my congregation. But in baptism we are marked with the cross of Christ forever and rather than an invisible mark on our foreheads Christians might choose to wear a visible cross on the chest.

And talking about symbols of office then an argument can be made for wearing the stole over the chasuble rather than hiding a symbol of the pastoral office. I don’t find anything irreverent about wearing alb, chasuble, stole, and pectoral cross when presiding at worship. At the beginning of worship I begin with announcements (another no-no according to the liturgy police) and when I conclude them I say, "Let’s have a brief time of silence to prepare our hearts to worship God" and I sit down and pray. Part of my prayer is "May our words become your Word and may the things we say and do proclaim your love and grace." That’s what I believe worship is about. It’s about joyful worship and praise and proclaiming the gospel. I don’t think following some legalistic rules about the order of my vestments does anything to further that. Failing to follow them to some contrived letter doesn’t detract from that either.

...School's Out!

2009-07-02T12:42:00.001-04:00

This is scheduled to appear in our local newspaper tomorrow.

I’ve always loved summer holidays. I was always a pretty good student but I still preferred being out of school to being in school. There may be some who prefer it the other way around but I’m pretty sure they’re in the minority.

Now that my kids don’t have to get up for school I don’t have to set my alarm. I don’t have to get up and make them breakfast. I don’t have to hurry them through their morning routine (sometimes by yelling at them) so that they get to school on time. In the evening when I come home and want to play Rock Band or Guitar Hero with them or watch a movie together I don’t have to think about whether they’ve done their homework.

For ten weeks life will be much more relaxed in our household. We’ll go away camping for a couple of weeks, something we’ve been looking forward to since the winter. We might go for a picnic in the park, maybe a day at the beach, swimming in a friend’s pool, an evening at the drive in.

For a couple of months life will be different. The regular routine of the rest of the year takes a break. We have the flexibility to do some different things, to be more spontaneous, to experience something out-of-the-ordinary. The summer holidays are a time when we can enjoy surprises and not be thrown for a loop by the unexpected, when we can be more relaxed and take things in stride because life is less regimented and we won’t be thrown off when things are out of the ordinary.

The readings and stories that we will hear in the Bible often bring us images and ideas that are out of the ordinary, that are surprising, that are unexpected. Jesus says that when God rules in our lives we’re in a strange place. The way we usually think of things, the way the world works, our normal ideas of power and glory, are turned upside down. The regular routine is disrupted.

A poor widow’s coin is valued more than the riches of the wealthy. Children are welcomed and the important and wealthy are humbled. The greatest of all is the servant of all. The one who has power over the wind and the waves empties himself of that power and follows a path in life that will lead to his death on a cross. It seems backward. It seems upside down. It’s out-of-the-ordinary.

The biblical story can seem an odd story. But for people of faith, people for whom the biblical story becomes their story, it becomes a life giving story. I enjoy the summer holidays. I enjoy the break from the routine. I enjoy the spontaneous interruptions. I enjoy the time to experience the out-of-the-ordinary. John Lennon wrote, and sang, that "Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans." It’s the unexpected and unplanned that is often the most life giving and joy filled.

The story of the Bible, like many of our summer experiences, is not necessarily what we expect, not what we’re used to. But the story of the Bible teaches us that a relationship with God is fulfilling, that Jesus came to give abundant life, that his love makes us new. May our summer experiences give us renewal and refreshment. May the stories of our faith and our life in God do the same.

An acceptable time ... a day of salvation

2009-06-24T14:41:00.002-04:00

Our church's spring newsletter was published last week. This was my cover article.

Has the gospel changed your life? Are you a different person because of God’s grace, because of the love and mercy and forgiveness and generosity of God? I mean, are you a different person from the person you would be if Jesus hadn’t become a part of your life?

Most of us were baptized as infants, some of us as toddlers or even older children, maybe even a few of us as adults. What does that mean? We say that in baptism God sets us free from sin and death and that after baptism we grow in faith, love, and obedience to the will of God. We are raised to new life and joined with Christians throughout the world in God’s mission for the life of the world. How has that been working for you?

On the Third Sunday after Pentecost, in the second reading, St. Paul quotes the prophet Isaiah and then puts a new spin on those words. In Isaiah 49:8 we read:
“In a time of favour I have answered you,
on a day of salvation I have helped you.”
This was part of a prophecy about God delivering the people of Israel from exile in Babylon and wherever they are scattered in the world. God promises to bring them back to their home, back to the promised land.

When Paul reads this prophecy he finds new meaning in those words and in the promise. Because of his faith in Jesus Christ he understands the prophecy in a new way. It’s no longer just about captives being set free to return to their homes. In this prophecy, and in the death and resurrection of Jesus, he sees a new homecoming and a new restoration. Now when Paul reads about “a time of favour” and “a day of salvation” he sees a restored relationship with God. So instead of “a time” and “a day” Paul writes:
“See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!” (2 Cor 6:2).

Paul also urges his readers not to take this for granted. The preceding verse says, “we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain” (2 Cor 6:1). God has given us a marvellous gift. The good news is that through Jesus Christ we are reconciled to God. In him there is grace and help. God’s anger and wrath at our sinfulness is turned away. Instead we receive love and generosity and good. We receive forgiveness of sins and mercy and reconciliation.

Just as Isaiah announced that God would set the people of Israel free, we are set free from sin and death and all that would separate us from God. Martin Luther wrote a document titled Christian Liberty. In it he wrote about the freedom that we have in Christ but he goes further than simply writing about what we are set free from. He also writes about what we are set free for.
“I will therefore give myself as a Christ to my neighbour, just as Christ offered himself to me; I will do nothing in this life except what I see as necessary, profitable, and salutary to my neighbour, since through faith I have an abundance of all good things in Christ.
“Behold, from faith thus flow forth love and joy in the Lord, and from love a joyful, willing, and free mind that serves one’s neighbour willingly.”

When Jesus meets us and the good news of God’s grace impacts our lives we are set free and changed and now our lives aren’t about US anymore. Now we live for others and for what we can do to make a difference in the world, for what we can do as gospel people, spreading the good news of God’s love and mercy.

“See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation.” The time and the day are here for us to worship, learn, witness, serve, and share. The time and the day are here to make a difference in the world. The time and the day are here to be and do and live for others just as Christ was and did and does for us. How will that be working for you?

Wascally Wabbits

2009-06-23T12:02:00.002-04:00

So, after posting links to the newspaper articles that refer to our church vegetable garden I wonder just what we'll be able to harvest.

The beans we planted came up quickly. The sprouts appeared about a week after we planted them. They pushed up and put out a couple of leaves on each stem. Now more than half of them are just stems, with the leaves stripped off by a rabbit or rabbits in the neighbourhood.

A few years ago they took off the leaves of the pepper plants we planted. I asked an old woman who lived next door (she died a couple of years ago) who always had a beautiful vegetable garden if she ever had trouble with rabbits. She answered, "Oh, you vouldn't believe how many rabbits I've killed over ze years!"

I don't want to start killing anything and I don't want to spend the money on an electric fence so I'll have to do some research into how to discourage the rabbits from destroying our garden.

Rose

2009-06-22T10:52:00.002-04:00

I know I'm kind of blowing my own horn, but after the article in the paper on Thursday, on Friday the editorial page did it's weekly "Roses and Thorns" about the week's news and we received the first rose. You can read it here.

Loving our neighbours

2009-06-18T11:25:00.001-04:00

My wife and I are in the paper today. They did a story on our church's vegetable garden from which we take the produce to the food bank. You can read it here.

Too nice outside

2009-06-16T14:34:00.002-04:00

I just can't get into work this week. My oldest daughter has her last exam and is done grade 10 at the end of this week. The other three kids are done a week from tomorrow. After a pretty cool spring it's finally looking and feeling summery out there. And I'm in the office working on items for the newsletter and putting off working on my sermon. I'd rather be at home, out in the backyard, either relaxing or even actually doing some yard work. I'm planning to repaint and rebuild part of the picket fence, build a new gate at the side yard. Or I could be out at a golf course somewhere just eating up the glorious weather.

I'm searching for inspiration for my front page newsletter article. I haven't even thought about my sermon yet and I like to have them done by the end of Thursday so that I can take Friday and Saturday off. Five weeks from now we'll be camping. Three-and-a-half months from now we'll be at Disney World. I like my job but lately I've been pining a lot more for the not-job stuff.

Ho hum. I guess I better get at it.

7

2009-06-10T15:32:00.003-04:00

So yesterday, June 9, it was seven years since I first presided at worship as pastor of this congregation. I commented to my secretary on some of the changes over seven years, citing as an example the members of our congregational council. As I run down the list I think there are currently only three or four who were members of council back then. Four of the council members weren't even members of our congregation back then. Five of the council members had either been inactive church members or had moved away and since come back.

On Monday I had a funeral which makes a total of 73 funerals since I've been here. They were not all active members but some were.

A couple of Sundays ago we had confirmation which makes a total of 20 kids that have made an affirmation of their baptism while I've been pastor here. About six of them still come to church on any kind of a regular basis. Another two come maybe once or thrice a year.

I've baptized 28 babies and children and one adult. About five of them come to church and Sunday School.

Some of that might sound like complaining, but I'm really happy here. There is a good spirit in this church. There is love for one another, wonderful fellowship, a welcoming atmosphere. Sure there's room for growth. Not just in numbers (quite a bit of room for that) but growth in faithfulness and service and witness to our community. But I think that's coming.

This Sunday's gospel reading describes the growth of a seed without the farmer knowing how it grows. It's like St. Paul writes, that it's "only God who gives the growth" (1 Cor 3:7). The Holy Spirit is present in this faith community and if we continue to be a gospel people then God will give the growth.

Wow! Seven years! I'm hoping for a lot more. I love this place. I love these people. I'm not getting itchy feet or any desire to move on from here.

Busy, Fun, Weekend

2009-06-08T14:55:00.002-04:00

So, as I wrote below, last week was my daughter's birthday. Well, yesterday was my wife's birthday.

Being a pastor and working on Sundays, I take Friday and Saturday as my weekend. Most Sundays I'm home and done for the day by about 1 p.m. so it's almost like I have a 2 1/2 day weekend.

Anyway, on Friday my wife and I walked the kids to school then continued downtown to go to the market and buy some perogies from Maria and some Kettle Corn from the Kettle Corn guy. When we got home I had a sore back so I sat down and watched TV and played solitaire on the laptop while my wife went downstairs and watched her taped General Hospital episode. After the Advil and the ice pack took care of the sore back I went out to mow the lawn and she did some gardening next door at the church. After I finished mowing the lawn it was lunch time so I set up a little table in the shade of our maple tree and went to get some take out fish and chips from the fry truck a few blocks away. Then I called her over for lunch. She was surprised and very happy with the treat. After lunch I got out the patio furniture (for which we haven't had appropriate weather because of a pretty cool spring) in anticipation of a nice day on Sunday.

On Saturday we spent the day cleaning the house for the guests (family) who were coming on Sunday to celebrate both birthdays. The kids were actually helpful because we had planned a surprise party for mom that evening. We spent much of the afternoon gardening and planted our church vegetable garden, the produce from which we take to the food bank. Finally it was just after 5 p.m. and my wife wanted to do more gardening when I said, "NO! Get inside and have a shower and get dressed again in case your family wants to do something with you this evening." She later said that she figured we might take her out for dinner and a movie. Instead we did a little last minute decorating and preparation for the surprise party.

Two couples who are friends of ours and whose kids are friends of our kids came over and showed up at the door surprising my wife. It was a lovely evening so we could sit out on the patio. Our oldest daughter and I got out some snacks and appetizers, made some punch, we had some cheese cake (thawed, from a box) and had a really nice visit together. She had no idea we planned anything. Again, surprised and very happy.

Yesterday after church my brother came (his wife wasn't feeling well) then my parents-in-law, two sisters-in-law and one of them's boyfriend came. We barbecued lunch, sat on the patio for a while, they opened presents, we went inside where some of us played video games, others did other stuff, then we had cake, sat and chatted, and had a relaxing nice time.

It was a good weekend. Nobody got on anybody's nerves. Surprised worked out. The weather cooperated. It was just really nice.

Sweet 16

2009-06-03T14:26:00.002-04:00

My oldest daughter, my oldest child, is 16 years old today. I'm so proud of all of my kids and love them so much. I don't feel like an old man, I don't think I'm an old man, but holy smokes I have a 16 year old daughter!

We let her take the day off school today. They weren't having classes, just some kind of school spirit day with games and activities and then an awards assembly. When I was home for lunch we watched an episode of Quantum Leap while we ate then went downstairs and played some Rockband. My parents and inlaws are coming over this afternoon and then we'll go out for dinner together.

She's so grown up, a real young woman, and I can still remember the little girl she used to be. It's kind of sad that she's not that little girl anymore, but I'm proud of, and thankful for, the woman she has become and is becoming.

Thank you God.

Serenity Prayer (in full)

2009-06-02T15:22:00.004-04:00

I came across "The Serenity Prayer," attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr, in its entirety. You see plenty of bookmarks and wall plaques with the first four lines. I guess the whole thing's too long to stitch on a sampler. Here's the whole thing.

God, grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change,

courage to change the things I can,

and the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time,

enjoying one moment at a time,

accepting hardship as the pathway to peace;

taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is,

not as I would have it;

trusting that He will make all things right

if I surrender to His will;

that I may be reasonably happy in this life,

and supremely happy with Him forever

in the next.

In reading that again, my hope is that I don't resign myself too quickly to line 2. It's easy to give up because we're convinced there's nothing that can be done to change things for the better. Sure, there's such thing as banging your head against a brick wall, but if your head's hard enough maybe you'll make a dent and with others' help you might just get through.

I do like lines 5 and 6, about living and enjoying life as it comes, as best you can. And lines 7, 8, and 9 tell me that there is crap in the world that we have to deal with and struggle through, but I know we don't go it alone. And I don't just mean that God is there with us, perhaps carrying us like the sappy "footprints" poem says. We have each other, families, friends, faith communities who accompany us, and we accompany others in their times of need.

I pray that I have the trust of line 10. I believe I do, and that God gives me that faith. Line 11 tends to be a tough one. Surrendering just doesn't seem to be part of the human DNA, at least not mine. Am I right or wrong? Don't we fight for our independence, to do it "My Way"? To try to discern "His will" and to surrender and follow is hard. Again, I pray that God gives me the will and the way to do that.

I wonder about lines 12, 13, and 14. It might be semantics, but I think there's a whole lot to the meaning. What I'm getting at is the difference between this world and the next. Sure, we believe and hope in a "new heaven and new earth." But isn't being in a faith relationship with God about rebirth and a start to the "supremely happy" part already now in this life? I don't mean that we're guaranteed "happy, happy, joy, joy" our whole lives long, that we have to put on a brave face and smile in all kinds of adversity. But I think that living in the trust and hope that we have an eternity with God can give us glimpses of that supreme happiness already. I don't buy the idea that God's grace saves us for something someday somewhere out there. I believe we're saved and given new life and new joy for this life now, to continue in eternity.

Pentecost

2009-05-28T10:54:00.002-04:00

Each Sunday the Sunday School children begin worship with us in the sanctuary. After the Gathering rite and before the scripture readings I sit down with them on the chancel steps and talk to them, usually about the scripture reading they'll be focusing on in their Sunday School lesson, then I say a prayer with them and send them off to Sunday School. Here's my Children's Chat for this Sunday, the Day of Pentecost

Who paid attention and knows what day it is today? It’s Pentecost.

Pentecost means 50, and today it’s 50 days after Easter. Easter doesn’t seem that long ago to me. The Jewish people celebrated Pentecost long before Jesus, long before there were Christian churches. For them it wasn’t 50 days after Easter, but 50 days after Passover, another festival when the Jews remembered and gave thanks to God for setting their ancestors free from slavery. The Pentecost celebration had two meanings for them. It was a celebration of the harvest, kind of like our thanksgiving. It was also a celebration of the gift of the laws and teachings that God gave the people through Moses, like the Ten Commandments, the laws that teach us how to live together with God and with each other.

Well, at the Pentecost festival in Jerusalem there were people gathered and celebrating who had come from far away, from Jewish communities all over the world. On that day, Jesus’ disciples were gathered together, probably to worship and pray, when all of a sudden something strange and wonderful happened. There was a sound, a noise from heaven like the sound of a mighty wind! It filled the house where they were meeting. Then they saw what looked like flames of fire moving in all directions, and a flame settled on each person there. This was God’s Holy Spirit coming to the people, just like Jesus had promised. He said he’d send them the Spirit to be with them always after he was gone.

It’s interesting that the Holy Spirit came like wind and fire. At the very beginning of the Bible where we read about God creating the world, it says "the Spirit of God moved over the water." But some Bibles say "a wind from God swept over the waters." Still others say, "the breath of God moved over the water." Why the different words? Spirit, wind, breath? Well, in both of the original languages of the Bible, the Hebrew and the Greek, the word for Spirit, wind, and breath are the same. And in the Pentecost story we read about the sound of a mighty wind, and it’s the Holy Spirit coming.

What about the fire? Well, in the story of the Exodus, of God’s people being set free from slavery, we read that they traveled and camped in the wilderness for 40 years before the arrived in the land God promised them. And while they traveled and camped God showed them that he was with them by appearing as a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire during the night. That’s what the Holy Spirit is for us, the presence of God with us always. So in the Pentecost story we read about flames of fire settling on each person, that’s the Holy Spirit coming to them.

There was something else that happened on that Pentecost day. All of a sudden, the disciples had courage and received the ability to share the news of God’s love with all who were there. And there were people from all over the world there for the celebration and they all heard the message in their own languages. The Holy Spirit might not make us speak other languages, but the Holy Spirit does give us the power to share God’s love with others.

We believe that the Holy Spirit comes to us in baptism. When I baptize someone, besides pouring water on them do you remember what else I do? I put my hands on their head and pray for the Holy Spirit to be with them, then I dip my thumb in oil and mark a cross on their forehead as a sign that God is with them.

So, instead of us saying a prayer together, I’m going to have you line up on your way down to Sunday School and I’ll place my hand on your head, say a prayer of blessing, and mark a cross on your forehead as a reminder and sign that God is always with you, just like God’s word promises in baptism.

Child of God, you have been marked with the cross + of Christ forever, and sealed by the Holy Spirit, you have the power to share God’s love with the rest of the world. Amen

Confirmation Sunday

2009-05-25T12:22:00.003-04:00

Yesterday we had Confirmation Sunday in our church. Four young women and one young man made an affirmation of their baptism in our worship service. One of the young women was my daughter #2. She had been so excited in the time leading up to the day.

Maybe a little because of the presents she'd be receiving.
Maybe a little because grandparents and aunts and uncles were going to be there.
Maybe a little because we were going for a special lunch in a private room at the County Club.
Maybe a little because it was a special day focused on her (and her fellow confirmands, but for her family it was focused on her).
Maybe a little because the day before confirmation she was using the gift certificate she got on her birthday to get a haircut and manicure.
Maybe a little because there are no more confirmation classes.

I hope a little because she is a young woman of faith and this meant something to her.

I got choked up as I read the verse that I chose for her (1 Corinthians 13:13) and as I laid my hands on her head to pray the blessing.

I liked these five kids. I don't always like teaching confirmation classes but I like hanging out with the kids. Unfortunately and sadly I think that I'll rarely, maybe never, see three of the five kids in church anymore.

It was a really nice day. It was a really nice service. I'm proud of all of my kids, and yesterday I was especially proud of my daughter.

Ascension of Our Lord

2009-05-21T14:34:00.003-04:00

Today is the festival of the Ascension of Our Lord. This evening at church we're having a pot-luck supper, followed by a worship service of Holy Communion, after which we'll be going down to the park by the lake and flying kites so that we can "gaze up toward heaven" (Acts 1.10).

The Ascension of Our Lord is a fairly new festival for me. The church I grew up in didn't observe this festival. I remember my mother going to worship at one of the other Lutheran churches in the same city that had an Ascension service every year during the day.

When I came here as pastor, nearly 7 years ago, I started having an Ascension Day service on the Thursday evening 40 days after Easter. We didn't get a huge crowd. The choir was there because we'd practice after worship. Then a few years ago we started having a pot-luck before the service which boosted our numbers somewhat.

But I think it's also a difficult festival to understand. We're modern now and we have a hard time believing some story about Jesus being lifted up by a cloud into some heaven "up there." The Hubble telescope was repaired this week by a space shuttle crew. They say now it will work better than when it was brand new. But I don't think it's going to find heaven hidden behind some planet or star, or in some undiscovered galaxy, or through some black hole.

So what do we do with the Ascension of Our Lord? I think what we do with it, is what the two men in white robes suggested. They said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven" (Acts 1.11). They didn't tell the disciples what they should be doing, but I think they told them what they shouldn't be doing.

Don't waste your time staring off into space. Don't waste your time thinking there's something better to be found somewhere out there, up, up and away from here. What Jesus said, just before he ascended, was "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1.8).

There's a saying about being too heavenly minded to be any earthly good. It's one of those sayings that's a little too cute and trite for my liking. But I think there's some truth to it, especially on Ascension Day. Don't stare off into space. Get to work spreading the good news and working to make our world a better place. Get to work making yourself and the world the person and the place God intended.

Maybe we look up and away, somewhere out there, because everything and everyone down here is so messed up. But this is the world we've been given, and we are the people God has tasked with caring for each messed up other and this messed up world. The good news is that we're not really left alone to do it. We have each other, and in our midst is the promised Holy Spirit who enables us to be the witnesses and stewards that Jesus wants us to be.

Happy Ascension Day

Astonishing

2009-05-20T16:39:00.002-04:00

I just came across a little book that we read in our Intro. Church History course in seminary. It's The Astonished Heart: Reclaiming the Good News from the Lost-and-Found of Church History by Robert Farrar Capon. It contains one of my favourite quotes. It's actually a whole paragraph so here it is.

To begin with, Christianity is not a religion; it's the proclamation of the end of religion. Religion is a human activity dedicated to the job of reconciling God to humanity and humanity to itself. The Gospel, however—the Good News of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ—is the astonishing announcement that God has done the whole work of reconciliation without a scrap of human assistance. It is the bizarre proclamation that religion is over, period. All the efforts of the human race to straighten up the mess of history by plausible religious devices—all the chicken sacrifices, all the fasts, all the mysticism, all the moral exhortations, all the threats—have been canceled by God for lack of saving interest. More astonishingly still, their purpose has been fulfilled, once for all and free for nothing, by the totally non-religious death and resurrection of a Galilean nobody. Admittedly, Christians may use the forms of religion—but only because the church is the sign to the world of God's accomplishment of what religion tried (and failed) to do, not because any of the church's devices can actually get the job done. The church, therefore, must always be on its guard against giving the impression that its rites, ceremonies, and requirements have any religious efficacy in and of themselves. All such things are simply sacraments—real presences under particular signs—of the indiscriminate gift of grace that God in Christ has given everybody.

Good Shepherd Sunday

2009-05-01T12:50:00.002-04:00

Here's my sermon for this Sunday.

Fourth Sunday of Easter
May 3, 2009
John 10.11-18
Thomas Arth

In this age of email,
every so often you receive messages
that are forwarded from one person to another to another
and they make the rounds through vast networks
of friends, family, and acquaintances.
Sometimes you have to be careful
because the things being sent sound believable
when in actual fact they are fabrications or hoaxes.
At other times the stories that are sent around
contain the basics of a true story but then
there are embellishments and additions that distort the truth.
A lot of these stories can be like urban myths,
and sometimes you read,
"I heard this from a friend of a friend of my cousin's husband,
so it must be true."

Well, one of these forwarded emails that I've seen a few times
has to do with an interview with Anne Graham Lotz,
the daughter of the well-known evangelist Billy Graham.
I did some research to find the actual truth to the story,
without any embellishment
and this is what I found.

The interview took place on CBS's "The Early Show"
on Thursday, September 13, 2001, 2 days after the terrorist attacks
on the World Trade Center in New York.
Jane Clayson, conducted the interview with Anne Graham Lotz.

According to the transcript of the broadcast, Clayson asked,
"I've heard people say,
those who are religious, those who are not,
if God is good, how could God let this happen?
To that, you say?"

Lotz replied,
"I say God is also angry when he sees something like this.
I would say also for several years now Americans in a sense
have shaken their fist at God and said,
‘God, we want you out of our schools, our government,
our business, we want you out of our marketplace.'
And God, who is a gentleman,
has just quietly backed out of our national and political life,
our public life.
Removing his hand of blessing and protection.
We need to turn to God first of all and say,
‘God, we're sorry we have treated you this way
and we invite you now to come into our national life.
We put our trust in you.'
We have our trust in God on our coins, we need to practice it."

That's what was actually said,
but as the email made the rounds
some things were changed and some things were added,
the basics were still there.
And a lot of people have taken Mrs. Graham Lotz's words to heart,
thinking "Maybe she was right."
We've said, you can't pray or talk about God in the schools,
or in congress or parliament, or in public life in general
so maybe this is what happens
when we don't want God in our lives,
God steps back and says, "Okay, I'm outta here."
So this email comes across your computer screen and you think,
"You know, I think she's got something here!"
and you send it to your friends who send it to their friends,
and so on, and so on.

But is that what God is really like?
As Christians we believe that the best picture we have
of what God is really like
comes through Jesus.
And in today's gospel reading we hear Jesus say,
"I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
The hired hand,
who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep,
sees the wolf coming
and leaves the sheep and runs away."
So how does Jesus portray himself, portray God?
Is he the supposed gentleman who quietly backs out of our lives,
removing his hand of blessing and protection?
That sounds more like the hired hand.
Jesus makes a very clear contrast
between the good shepherd and the hired hand.

I've said before,
that we don't know much about sheep and shepherds around here.
As I travel around the countryside
I don't often see flocks of sheep.
Oh, there's the warm and wonderful wool farm out in Wellandport
and there are some Alpaca farms in the area,
but neither of these require shepherds.
When I was in Jordan and Israel a year-and-a-half ago
we would drive through what looked like totally inhospitable land
and now and then you'd see bedouin camps.
Their tents didn't look anything like what we'd call a tent.
They seemed to be long, rectangular structures
covered by big brown blankets.
There might be a small pick-up truck parked nearby,
maybe a camel or two,
and there were almost always flocks of sheep and/or goats around.
It was hard to see what they might have grazed on.
In a lot of places the countryside
looked like nothing but sand and dust and rocks.
But those bedouins were shepherds.
And their livelihood depended on them finding pasture land
and still waters,
to safely guide them along right pathways.
Another thing I saw here and there in the Middle East were dogs,
stray dogs.
I don't know what breed these dogs were.
You'd probably have to go a long way back in their family tree
to find any dog that resembled any breed
that would be recognized by a kennel club.
The dogs I saw were usually lying lazily in some shade to beat the heat.
But I'd expect in the cool of the evening of night
they could be pretty dangerous to a flock of sheep.
This would be a time and a situation
where you wouldn't want the shepherd to act like a gentleman
and quietly back out of the lives of the sheep. \
If you're one of those sheep,
you want a good shepherd who will keep you safe.

That still begs the question,
where was the protection of the good shepherd
on September 11, 2001 in New York City,
or on Boxing Day, 2004 when the tsunami killed so many
and caused such destruction along the Indian Ocean coast,
or on August 29, 2005
when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast,
or last month when an earthquake hit L'Aquila, Italy?
It's a question that's really hard to answer.
People will try to answer
and their answers might satisfy some hearts and minds,
but not others.
I may have told the story before,
about when I was a seminary student
taking my Clinical Pastoral Education course
and serving as a hospital chaplain.
I was on call one weekend, and my pager went off.
I was called to the ICU at Hamilton General Hospital.
The night before, the car that three teens were driving in
was hit by a driver who ran through a stop sign.
Two of the teens were killed
and the third was lying in a bed paralyzed.
I came into that young man's room, scared to death,
and he asked me "Why did this happen?"
What can you possibly say to that?
What kind of answer can you give?
Do you tell the kid
that we're not allowed to pray in our schools anymore,
that people don't go to church much anymore,
that we've put God out of our lives so much
that God has quietly backed out of our lives
and removed his hand of blessing and protection?
Sorry, but that's not the picture of God
that I find in my reading of the Bible.
What do you say to that kid?
Well, I'll tell you what I said.
When he asked, "Why did this happen?"
I said, "I don't know."

So where was God?
I hope God was with a nervous and frightened young chaplain
who didn't have any answers but came anyway
to try to provide some comfort
to a hurting boy and his family.
Where was God?
God was cradling the boy and girl who were killed in that crash.
Where was God?
God was with the nurse who called me and said,
"These people really need someone right now."

Bob Kelly, one of my professors at Seminary wrote:
"Genocide and starvation!
Nuclear destruction!
Poison and pollution!
Is it any wonder that people ask, ‘Where is God?
Why does God not act?
Why does God not end the slaughter and destruction?
Where can God possibly be?'
The Gospel is that God answers our question in a still, small voice:
‘Here I am, dying on this cross.'
"God's own response to all our sound and fury
is to remain the crucified God.
The crucified God is not a god who can be called upon
to bless economic systems, Christian schools,
military forces, or political powers.
The crucified God is the God who died at the hands of the Romans,
in the gas chambers of Auschwitz,
under the bomb at Hiroshima,
of starvation and AIDS in the Sub-Sahara,
in the streets of El Salvador,
in the deserts of Iraq and Afghanistan—
and the God who lives now as Lord
and will put an end to all gas chambers, all bombs,
all hunger, all death squads.
The crucified God does not try to explain our evil;
the crucified God suffers and dies as a victim of our evil,
and precisely in suffering and dying overcomes evil."

We may not know much about shepherds and sheep.
But I think we can imagine, pretty well,
what a good shepherd is like.
A good shepherd doesn't back out of our lives
and leave us to ourselves.
The Good Shepherd leaves 99 sheep who are safe
and relentlessly pursues the one that is lost.
A good shepherd doesn't remove his hand of blessing and protection
or pout because we've treated him badly.
The Good Shepherd shows the extent of his love
by laying down his life for the sheep.
The Good Shepherd shepherds us
"beyond our wants, beyond our fears, from death into life."
May we live in faith,
trusting in the presence and the love of the Lord Jesus Christ,
our Good Shepherd.
Amen

...about Organized Religion

2009-05-01T12:48:00.001-04:00

I wrote the following for today's local paper, the InPort News.

I recently got back in touch with an old university friend who I'd lost touch with for 20 years. I was not always a pastor. I got to know this friend when we were studying Civil Engineering, which was my line of work before becoming a pastor. We exchanged long emails telling about our lives and families and work and what we've been up to over the past 20 years. He remembered that I was a church-goer but was a little surprised that I was not a pastor. One comment in his email was that he "had problems with organized religion" and something about the hypocrisy he so often sees among religious people.

I know that church and religion aren't everybody's thing and I'm okay with that. But my friend's comment got me thinking about the term "organized religion" and the way it's often used. I could always come back with the joke that says "If you knew my church you'd find out we're not that organized" but I know that's not what people are getting at when they use that phrase. I've always been a part of "organized religion" so I don't know exactly what they are getting at.

Some may be atheists who have, or claim to have, absolutely no faith in God. Some may be agnostic, who aren't sure about faith and God, but can't or don't want to find answers in a church. Some might claim that they can't find God in church, in "organized religion," and that religious experience can be better found communing with nature. Some may think that religion is the cause of too much strife in the world (and they may have a valid point). Some will say that you can be a good person without belonging to a church. I'm sure you can. And some will have a problem with hypocrisy among religious people, those who don't practice what they preach.

There are likely many more reasons why people have a problem with "organized religion." That list is just some of the reasons that I thought of off the top of my head. Now, the hypocrisy thing, I get that. The church and the Bible call people to live a certain way and to act a certain way toward others and the world, the whole "golden rule" thing, and we're not always that good at following through. But there's more to our religion and our faith than following rules.

One of the phrases that comes out of my Lutheran tradition is a Latin phrase that says Christians are simul iustus et peccator. It means we are simultaneously righteous and sinful. Being a Christian or belonging to a church or even trying really hard to be good doesn't make you perfect. Being sinful is part of being human. Being righteous is part of being saved. And that's what the church, what "organized religion" is about. We're not perfect. I don't think any church would claim that they are.

There are plenty of social service clubs that do a lot of the same things that churches do, maybe even do them better than churches. They might offer support groups, soup kitchens, services to the elderly, food pantries, counseling hot lines, etc. But what the community of believers provides that those other agencies can't replace is called salvation.

We gather on a Sunday morning, to hear God's word of love for all, the promise of forgiveness of sins, encouragement to live a righteous life. We gather to meet a God who has promised to be there. We pray together for the church, the world, and all in need. We sing together, whether we're any good or not. We share a ritual meal in which God promises to come to us with love and forgiveness. We gather with others to give each other love and support and fellowship and together we work to spread the good news of God's love in Jesus Christ and to do what we can to make our world a better place. And every one receives a blessing, just for showing up.

That's what "organized religion," at least in the Christian tradition to which I belong, ought to be about. As I said, we're not perfect and we don't always live up to the standards others set for us or that we set for ourselves. But as a community of faith we encounter God together and we work together, support, and encourage one another as we muddle through and struggle along in this life.

...about violence

2009-01-14T14:11:00.003-05:00

This is something I wrote 2 weeks ago and just got into our local newspaper today. And it's not even old.

I like to play. Most of the time I try to be a mature and responsible 42-year-old but once in a while the real me shows through and in many ways I'm still a 10-year-old kid. I have fun playing. Some of my favourite things to play are video games. Last year I gathered together with some of the youth from our church and one of them made a video recording of me playing Dance Dance Revolution. Thankfully he hasn't made that video widely available. It could be quite embarrassing.

Other video games I like to play are Guitar Hero and now Rock Band. I always did want to be a rock star but my life took a different turn. Anyway, knowing how much I like to play video games someone gave me one for Christmas thinking I might like it as well. But this game is one of the type of which I'm not a fan. I haven't even opened the package. I think I'm going to trade it for a different title (the gift giver is okay with that).

There are many video games available out there that are very violent in nature. This was one of those, rated ‘M' for "Mature" because of the simulated violence. I'm not a violent person. I don't think I would enjoy playing at something that is violent. I don't even want to try it and find out that something in me might enjoy it.

There's too much violence in our world. This past week in the news we heard of more Canadian soldiers being killed in Afghanistan. In the Gaza Strip along the Mediterranean Sea between Israel and Egypt people are dying, bombs and rockets are flying. By the time this appears in print I don't know if things will have escalated there or if some kind of cease-fire or calming of tensions will have occurred.

This kind of news deeply saddens me. Just over a year ago I took part in a tour of Egypt, Jordan, and Israel. While we were nowhere near any fighting the evidence of the tensions in the middle east were evident. In all three countries armed soldiers were in evidence all over the place. Traveling in the Golan Heights near the border of Israel with Syria there were signs on the fences along the road warning not to cross the fences since there were land mines in the fields. At one border crossing, while waiting for our tour bus to pick us up, a member of our tour was writing in his journal and a soldier came to see what he was writing.

One of the most disturbing sights was what Israel calls a "Security Fence" and the Palestinians call an "Apartheid Wall" between Israel and the West Bank. We had to pass through this barrier as we traveled from Jerusalem into Bethlehem. I understand the desire for safety and security but am saddened by the failure of people in that region to find a way to live in peace. The barrier is a symbol of our inability to live at peace.

This past Christmas we heard scripture readings in church about the song of the angels to the shepherds in the fields near Bethlehem on the night of the birth of Jesus our Lord. They sang, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among people" (Luke 2:14). Another reading speaks of Israel's hope for a king who will redeem them from enemy oppression and Christians have seen in Jesus a fulfilment of that hope. One of the titles given to this hoped for king is "Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6).

As followers of this "Prince of Peace" I believe that Christians should do all they can for the cause of peace. Violence is not the answer to ending violence, it only perpetuates a cycle that begets more violence. Our goals should be the healing of society and a commitment to justice and to the well-being of every person. I'm not talking about wearing wreaths of flowers in our hair and standing in a circle holding hands and singing Kum ba yah. Jesus did command us to love our enemies and return good for evil (Luke 6:27).

The moment we undertake to fight violence with violence, we compromise our commitment to the good news of peace and have lowered ourselves to the level of the adversary. I will endeavour, in this new year, to live peacefully in my own life and in my interactions with others. I'll start by trading in a violent video game for something peaceful and maybe even silly to play with my kids. I want to have a part, even a small part, in building a world of peace for them to grow up in.

...about elections

2008-12-15T11:29:00.003-05:00

I know it's old news, but I wrote this for the local paper just after we, and our neighbour to the south, had their big elections. As I had temporarily forgotten about this blog and didn't post it I figured I'd put it up now in case anybody cares.

I don't know if you could help but get caught up in the happenings of the election campaigns of the past few months, both here in Canada and in the United States. Last week Barak Obama made history by being the first black man elected president. There were also many younger voters who seem to have been influenced by Obama's message of hope and change. Hope-fully the changes he talked about and promised will come about and the people who were engaged by his message won't be disappointed.

Only a month ago we were in the midst of our own election campaign. I voted at one of the early polls because I was on vacation with my family on election day. We were in Florida and on the day after our election I surfed the channels through all the news programs trying to hear something about the results of Canada's election. I didn't hear a single thing. I had to phone my parents to find out what happened up here. What I heard was that nothing really changed.

Sure, we have a new member of parliament from a different party representing our riding. A few more women MPs have been elected and are now serving in cabinet. The number of seats held by each party shifted a little here and there. But the overall picture didn't change much. The parties are in the same places in parliament. The governing party is still a minority government. We went through those weeks of campaigning, the parties and Elections Canada spent millions of dollars on this election, and nothing really changed.

It's frustrating for me, to see the vast sums of money that are spent on certain things, in this case on election campaigns, when there is so much need in our world and in our own communities. Shortly before the American election Barak Obama spent millions of dollars on a half hour television spot in prime time that was almost like an info-mercial. I couldn't help but wonder how many poor, hungry people could be fed with that money. How much medication could be sent to help the sick and suffering in the developing world.

I realize there are always trade-offs. These days you have to spend large sums of money to get elected, at least in the American presidential campaigns. For a politician to have influence and get elected and have the opportunity to do good for the poor he or she needs to spend a lot of money just to get into that position, money that could do a lot of good if spent in other ways.

In the Bible the prophets were often very critical of those in power who didn't care for the poor. A king was often described as a shepherd who was to care for his flock, the people he was ruling. There were very few "good" shepherds of the people. Eventually Jesus came, God's chosen one, to show the world what God's good rule looked like. He was the Good Shepherd who went so far as to give his life for the sheep, for every one of us.

In our church we pray, almost every Sunday, for the world's leaders and those in power. An example of such a prayer says, "God of every nation, you enfold all peoples, tribes, and languages in your care. Give your grace to all who govern, that peace would prevail among all of earth's inhabitants." Another says, "Righteous God, you call us to reflect your righteousness in all our living. Give to the leaders of the nations that right judgment in all things, that they may govern fairly and justly all people of the earth." Our prayers aren't just wishful thinking. We pray that God's will be done and we trust that it will happen. We continue to pray but we don't just sit back and wait. We participate in God's work in the world. We work for peace. We strive for justice. We advocate for fairness. And many people of faith participate in government and work to make the world a better place.

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, bless the public servants in the government, that they may do their work win a spirit of wisdom, charity, and justice. Help them use their authority to serve faithfully and to promote our common life; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Sleep in Heavenly Peace

2008-12-11T12:12:00.002-05:00

This is what I hurriedly put together yesterday for our newsletter. It's not like I don't know we put out a newsletter but I always seem to leave it to the last minute.

God comes down. Christ arrives. He enters creation as every human ever has. It's a common thing. It happens all the time. But anyone who has ever given birth, or been present at the birth of a child, knows that there's nothing common about it. But this birth is even more uncommon because here is God.

But this baby is still a baby. He's born in a stable. He's laid in a manger. And who on this earth knows that there's anything special about this child? Mary knows, and Joseph, those who heard and believed the promises. And I know, and you. By faith we are present at the birth of our Lord and Saviour.

Tradition tells us that Mary was a very young mother. Finding no room in the village inn they are forced to bed down in a stable. Joseph scoops up some clean straw and makes a bed for Mary, as comfortable a bed as he can, stretching out a blanket for her to lay on. The time comes for her to deliver her child. The sounds and the pain of giving birth are the same as for any child. Joseph with his rough, thick carpenters hands becomes the midwife.

The pain of giving life ebbs and flows for Mary and suddenly there is release. Joseph's breathing checks in his throat as tears come to his eyes. He wipes baby Jesus clean and gives him to his mother. She wraps the swaddling cloths around his body as she kisses his face. She is tired. Jesus is tired. She lays him on clean straw using a rough feeding trough for a cradle. She strokes his cheek with the back of one finger. Then she lays back down, closes her eyes, and sleeps.

It's easy to romanticize the scene. The nativity scenes that we set up in our homes and churches are usually very beautiful but probably not very realistic. What would the situation be like in our day?

A young couple arrives in town. They don't have much money. The motel they could afford has the NO VACANCY sign lit. They ask if there's any place they might stay. The only option is a corner of the parking garage. The husband finds some cardboard boxes and old sheets of plywood in the alley that he props up to give them some privacy. The wife is pregnant and goes into labour. They don't know where the hospital is, and it's too late anyway. The baby is born in the parking garage. The father takes his best white shirt out of his suitcase to wrap up the newborn baby. They lay him in a cardboard box, pillowed by some towels. Mother and child fall asleep while father stays up through the night protecting them.

It's not quite the sanitized picture of our manger scenes and children's storybooks. But it might not be far from the mark. The cantata that the choir will sing on Christmas Eve includes a piece titled "No Candle Was There." No candle was there and no fire, in the stable where Jesus was born, in the stall where our Savour was laid ‘til the rosy red breaking of morn; for the Christchild and Saviour no light, and never a candle to burn.

This is how our God came down. He didn't tear open the sky and reveal his splendour and might. That would have likely been terrifying. Instead he appeared as a baby, a poor baby at that, and was laid in a manger. It was hardly an auspicious beginning. But this baby boy came to save the world, to liberate us and establish everlasting justice and mercy. Angels sang. All of creation rejoiced. Lowly shepherds were the first to hear the news. In this baby the creator of the universe was present. And Mary and Joseph named him Jesus meaning "the one who saves."

And now we gather each Christmas to celebrate. We pull out all the stops, ring the chimes, sing at the top of our voices. Because the one who came down all those years ago still comes down. We remember, and we give thanks. We join the song of the angels. And we witness again the miracle of grace that slept on a bed of straw in a lowly manger, and we pray for that same heavenly peace.

Silent night, holy night!
All is calm, all is bright
round yon virgin mother and child.
Holy Infant, so tender and mild,

sleep in heavenly peace,
sleep in heavenly peace.

I'm Back

2008-12-11T12:04:00.002-05:00

Okay. So at least one person is reading this blog. Here's a MEME I found at LutherPunk's blog.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? paper
2. Real tree or Artificial? Real. We always go and cut one at a tree farm on the Saturday of Advent 3. That's this Saturday!
3. When do you put up the tree? See #2. We decorate the house (well mostly my wife decorates the house) for the beginning of Advent of December 1, whichever comes first.
4. When do you take the tree down? After Epiphany.
5. Do you like eggnog? I can take it or leave it. It's not something I crave or have to buy when I see it in the store.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I don't even recall specific gifts that I received as a child, but I was always happy.
7. Hardest person to buy for? My wife.
8. Easiest person to buy for? Any of my kids.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes. A few actually.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Don't really do the card thing.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I don't mind clothes and my tastes in clothing aren't too picky, but sometimes you've got to wonder, "What was s/he thinking?"
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? That's a tough one. We've got so many Christmas movies that it's hard to fit them all in during Advent and the 12 days of Christmas. We've got 4 favourites that we reserve for the 4 Sundays in Advent: Going My Way, The Bells of St. Mary's, It's a Wonderful Life, and White Christmas.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually late November. My wife does most of the Christmas shopping and sometimes she'll start in January.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? The Christmas cookies that my wife and mother bake that you just don't get at any other time of year.
16. Lights on the tree? I really don't understand the question. What's the alternative?
17. Favorite Christmas song? My grade school music teacher taught us a distinction between Christmas carols (religious theme) and Christmas songs (non-religious). So my favourite Christmas song would probably be "The Christmas Song" (Chestnuts roasting...) and it would have to be Nat "King" Cole's version.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Family is all within about an hour's drive. I don't call that travel.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner (or Donder), Blitzen, and of course Rudy.
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Neither. We put a Spitze on (one of those pointy things with a couple of balls at the base)
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Eve. Santa brings the presents while we're at church. We come home, open all our presents, relax a bit before we have to go back to church for the late service.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? It's too busy. With parties, family obligations, extra church functions, children's concerts and pageants at school, etc., there's hardly a quiet moment at home with family.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? We look for a new "I Love Lucy" ornament every year for my wife. They're kind of fun.
24. Favorite food for Christmas dinner? I never get tired of the big turkey. And the gravy my wife makes from the pan drippings and white wine is yummy.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? No special wishes. I still like getting toys, so a good video game or two would be fun.

If you're actually reading this and feel like doing this, consider yourself tagged.

WOW!

2008-12-08T15:07:00.002-05:00

It's been a long time since I blogged here. It's not a surprise. I know I haven't been posting. I've been wondering if I should give up entirely. I don't want to take the time to blog frequently. I don't know if I should continue my infrequent posting or not. I'm not even sure if anyone reads this thing. If they did they probably quit since I haven't posted in over 3 months.

Oh well.

...about the Lord's Day

2008-08-28T11:08:00.001-04:00

I didn't get yesterday's paper but this was supposed to be in it.

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.
What does this mean?
We are to fear and love God, so that we do not despise preaching or God's word, but instead keep that word holy and gladly hear and learn it.

Those are words that I had to memorize in confirmation classes in my early teens. They come from Martin Luther's Small Catechism, a booklet he wrote in 1529 for families to use in their daily devotions to teach their children and remind themselves of some of the teachings in the Bible. The quotation above comes from his explanations of the Ten Commandments.

Now, I'm not a proponent of erecting a monument to the Ten Commandments on a courthouse lawn, nor of posting them on a public school classroom wall. I think the teaching of the Ten Commandments, and other biblical teachings, belongs in the church, the synagogue, and the homes of believers. At the same time, a just and orderly society probably shouldn't have any quarrel with most of the commandments.

The commandments are a gift from God that describe the blessed way we can live because God loves us, sets us free, and promises to be with us. A few of the commandments deal with our relationship with God. The majority deal with our relationships with one another. So, does the commandment about setting apart a day of rest deal with our relationship with God, or with one another? Maybe both.

Daniel Erlander writes about the gift of Sabbath. He calls it "God's gift of time—time for resting, playing, singing, frolicking, feasting, praying, storytelling, and time for savouring friendships with God and others and nature." God let's us know that "the world will not fall apart if we don't work all the time (Exodus 20:8-11, 23:12). It doesn't even fall apart when God takes a day off (Genesis 2:1-3)."

God intends for us to rest some of the time. It's a gift! But it's a gift that so few of us use.

I was rather disappointed when I heard that we'd be having a second market day on Sundays. I get it. Some people have to work Friday mornings and can't go to the market. Well, from Port Colborne City Hall to Welland's Saturday market is a 14 km drive that should take about 17 minutes.

I also read that our Sunday market allows for an extra day of sales for a certain restaurant that had been otherwise closed on Sundays. So who has to give up their Sunday off to work the market now?

Another point I read was that with the Sunday market Port Colborne can expect the community to be more closely-knit. Why can't people knit themselves closer to one another at church on Sunday morning? If church isn't somebody's thing then why can't they brew some extra coffee and visit with their neighbour on the front porch?

We've been told that it'll only cost us about $1,100 for the remainder of 2008. I think it's costing us a lot more. Sunday is becoming no different from any other day of the week. How many establishments went under in the old days because they weren't open on Sunday, because people set that day apart as a day of rest? Now we're convinced that wide open shopping 7 days a week is a necessity. How long will it be until we're convinced that our city can't function without a Sunday market?

I love our Friday market. My wife and I go as often as we can and we enjoy meeting friends and getting to know the vendors and supporting our local farmers. I won't be going to the Sunday market. I'll be in church in the morning and spending the afternoon with my family. I will strive to keep Sunday as a day of rest, setting it apart, keeping it holy. I'll try to leave the spending of my money for the other 6 days of the week.

Two books I didn't mention

2008-08-19T10:08:00.002-04:00

When I wrote about the books I've read recently I forgot a couple. I've read Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom a couple of times and have seen the movie 3 times over the years. Well, on our camping holiday I read his 2003 book The Five People You Meet in Heaven and his 2006 book For One More Day.

I like what he writes. It's not overtly Christian, probably not Christian at all. But it's spiritual, it makes you think, and while death is behind the subject of all three of those books I find them uplifting. There's good news there.

We read and watched Tuesdays with Morrie in seminary in our Grief Crises and Pastoral Care course (commonly referred to as "Death and Dying"). We also watched the movie as part of the didactic sessions of the CPE unit I was in.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven is an interesting take on what happens after you die. He proposes, in this book, that you meet five people in heaven who help you make sense out of what happened to you during your life. It's kind of neat to think that you might get some answers to questions like "Why did this or that happen to me?" "Did anything I did in life make a difference to someone else?"

For One More Day is about a guy who's given up on life but first spends a day with his mother who has already been dead for 8 years. He realizes how he took her for granted during her life and just what she did for him in his life. That "one more day" is a gift to him that changes the way he lives the rest of his life.

More Books I've Read

2008-08-12T16:25:00.002-04:00

It's been a while since I shared about some of what I've been reading. I might be forgetting some but way back during Lent I was reading:

The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I think this is simply called "Discipleship" in its newest translation. That's what its original German title was, simply Nachfolge which I guess literally means "following."

Anyway, I read the version copyrighted in 1959. I wonder if the newer translation is an easier read. I've heard from a few people how reading this book changed their lives. I just found it so dense, so hard to read. I could only read a few pages a day because I was getting lost. I've read quotes now and then from this book and I think they were picking out some highlights because I just couldn't wrap my head around it very well. Maybe I'm the one who's dense.

Reclaiming the "E" Word: Waking Up to Our Evangelical Identity by Kelly A. Fryer

I'm a pretty big fan of Kelly Fryer. When I read her stuff I get excited about the possibilities for the church. Sometimes the trick is translating that excitement into action or spreading that excitement to the rest of the church.

Kelly can be pretty critical about the church, which can be a good thing, but I'm starting to think she's going overboard. Kelly's writing is starting to sound like the church can do nothing right and that we ought to scrap the whole deal and start from scratch. I believe, as she does, that the church needs to be focused outward, but when I read her now I'm not sure what, if anything, the church should be doing "in here."

I get frustrated by what goes on in the local church (I guess more by what doesn't go on) and by what does and doesn't go on in the wider church. I'm wondering if Kelly has become too frustrated. Is it because the church body she belongs to has said that someone like her can't be a pastor in that denomination?

There's still a lot of good stuff in this book. The term "Evangelical" has been hijacked and we need to wake up and reclaim it in its older and fuller meaning. Maybe she was more challenging than I was ready for when I first read it. It's a short book so I'll have to read it again and see if I see it differently.

Crazy Talk: A Not-So-Stuffy Dictionary of Theological Terms edited by Rolf A. Jacobson

This was a book written by professional theologians for ordinary folk. I guess I can be considered one of the former but I see myself more as one of the latter. And it doesn't shy away from taking a few digs. For instance:

Rapture \RAP-chuhr\ n.
Now you see it, now you don't—because the teaching is not biblical.

In this not-going-to-happen event, all truly faithful Christians would be beamed from the earth directly to heaven so that they could avoid Satan's seven-year reign before Christ's return at the end of the world. In reality the biblical support for such an event simply does not exist. Kind of like Frankenstein, this monstrous false doctrine was pieced together from bits of 1 Thessalonians, Matthew, Daniel, and Revelation—and popularized by a series of pseudo-interpretational novels. (p. 139)

Some definitions just made me think of things in a new way or understand them more clearly. For example:

Means of Grace \MEENZ-uhv-GRAS\ n.

The simplest stuff of every day through which the most profound event of eternity happens to you.

Have you ever smelled cold or hot? Have you ever felt a scream? How can a person see that which is invisible or hold that which has not substance in one's hands? That is what the means of grace are all about. God's grace—God's Redeeming Actions Concerning Everyone—is an event that frees us, forgives us, empowers us. But how does it come to us? In the simplest of everyday things: words, water, bread, wine, community. In the Word of God, in the sacraments of baptism and Communion, in the community of the church, God's grace can be smelled, felt, seen, heard, held, and tasted. (p. 113)

I really liked this book.

Lutheran Questions, Lutheran Answers: Exploring Christian Faith by Martin E. Marty

Apparently Martin Marty has written more than fifty books and I think this is the first one I've ever read. I've certainly heard of him and read quotations from his writings and maybe read articles by him, but this was my first book. It was very good. It answers a lot of theological questions from a Lutheran perspective. That's very helpful because I think a lot of people have conflated so much from the fundamentalist end of the spectrum and so much decision theology into Lutheranism.

Now it may seem that I read only theological books, but I make time for fiction. I read:

The Secret Mitzvah of Lucio Burke by Steven Hayward

This book was about three families living side by side in row houses, sharing a connected front porch, in Toronto in 1933. Two families are Jewish and one is Italian. Part of the book is a love story, part about friendships, part about baseball, and part about anti-Semitism. It culminates in a riot that takes place after an amateur baseball playoff game between the anti-Semitic Swastika Club and a predominantly Jewish baseball team and their fans (the Italians were their allies). The riot really did take place 75 years ago this month. Good book.

Playing for Pizza by John Grisham

A third-string NFL quarterback gets into the conference final game and really blows it. He's got some skill but nobody wants him on their team anymore. His agent finds him a job as starting quarterback for the Parma Panthers in the Italian NFL. It's funny. There's some romance. And the description of the football games is even exciting. It's not Moby Dick or To Kill a Mockingbird, but for sitting on the beach or by the pool or at your campsite it's enjoyable, at least it was for me.

Long Winded?

2008-07-22T13:14:00.002-04:00

I always thought I kept my funeral services pretty short. Not that shorter is necessarily better but I figure that people aren't necessarily in a frame of mind to listen to a long sermon. So, I use the funeral liturgy in Evangelical Lutheran Worship and preach a sermon that is probably about half the length of one of my Sunday sermons.

This morning I had a funeral and after I was done preaching and prayed the prayers I asked the people to be seated for the Commendation and I hear the widow tell one of her sons "he could wrap it up by now." I smiled to myself and prayed the commendation and then we made our way to the cemetery.

I decided on the way that I'd make it short out at the cemetery. As we gathered under the tent I again heard the widow remark "I hope this doesn't take too long." So I skipped the scripture that I usually read at the Committal and just said the prayers.

I wasn't offended by her comments. I think it was probably the funniest funeral I've ever done.

Assembly 2008

2008-07-17T12:35:00.001-04:00

Well, last week at this time I was into the full swing of this year's Synod Assembly. On the whole it was pretty painless. It was also neat because my oldest daughter attended as our conference youth delegate. Each of our synod's eight conferences is entitled to send a youth delegate with full voice and vote. T is quite shy and I wondered how she'd fare. She was ready to go home on the second day but stuck it out, making friends with the other youth delegates and staying up until 2 a.m. a couple of nights and 4:30 a.m. the last night.

We actually got through the business of the assembly early. If you cut out some of the add-ons we could have probably been finished by Friday evening, Saturday morning at the latest, instead of running from Wednesday afternoon until Sunday morning. The agenda went something like this:
Wednesday afternoon: business session 1
Wednesday evening: opening service of Holy Communion
Thursday morning: business session 2 (including guest speaker)
Thursday afternoon: business session 3
Thursday evening: business session 4 (including guest speaker part 2)
Friday morning: business session 5 (including guest speaker part 3)
Friday afternoon: educational/informational forums
Friday evening: ordination service
Saturday morning: business session 6
Saturday afternoon: business session 7 (including guest speaker part 4)
Saturday evening: banquet
Sunday morning: closing service of Holy Communion

I figure if we left out the guest speaker, left out the Friday afternoon forums, left out the banquet, and maybe even left out the ordination service (made it separate from the assembly) then we could have been done way sooner, saved a lot of cost, and been away from home for much less time.

It's always good to catch up with old friends at these things. I didn't see much of some but was able to spend a bit of time with others. Next year will be the first break I get from these assemblies. Our Synod Assembly is every other year (even numbered years) and our national church convention happens in the odd numbered years. I attended the ‘05 and ‘07 national conventions so I'm not eligible to attend the ‘09 convention. It figures too. The last two were in Winnipeg (maybe a nice place but not one I'd automatically choose to visit). Next year's convention will be in Vancouver, a much more desirable place to visit in most opinions I'd think.

Every convention/assembly I've attended since the one at which I was ordained in 2002 has dealt with some controversy, always to do with how the church includes the participation of and ministry to homosexuals. This one had a bit of that but it wasn't the big issue that it has been at previous assemblies. This time it had to do with a congregation that chose to call and ordain a gay married man. At this point in time the ELCIC's constitutions, bylaws, and enactments to not allow such an ordination. The congregation chose to go ahead without the bishop's approval. Several pastors of our synod vested and/or participated in the rite of laying on of hands. The bishop stated that neither the ELCIC nor any of our Full Communion partners will recognize the validity of this irregular rite and the pastor is not recognized as being on the roster of ministers of this church.

The bishop also stated that he is obliged to carry out disciplinary action. One possible disciplinary consequence available is public censure and admonition and he chose to do so in the case of the clerics who participated in this unauthorized act as well as the congregation. He will also appoint an investigative committee to examine the situation and report and bring recommendations to the Synod Council regarding further disciplinary action toward the congregation.

The bishop also noted his commitment "to working toward ending practices that preclude full participation of all God's people in the life of the church, regardless of sexual orientation." He said that civil disobedience can play a significant role in the process of political change but that such actions are only warranted when legislative mechanisms to achieve change are either unavailable or so corrupted as to be ineffective. That's not the case within the ELCIC.

Later in the convention a motion came in the Report of the Committee on Reference and Counsel encouraging the bishop and Synod Council to exercise restraint in disciplining congregations, pastors, and members who call pastors who are "self-declared and practicing homosexuals" as well as pastors who bless or marry same-gendered couples in compliance with provincial law. That motion received a good amount of discussion and then was passed by the assembly.

I think, though, that this assembly won't be seen as a "one issue" assembly like many of the past few have. Here are the gists of some of the other motions:
- encouraging Canada and the Provinces to adopt the "U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples."
- encouraging the synod and her congregations to stand in solidarity with the Anglican Church of Canada and our Aboriginal brothers and sisters as they implement and live out From Truth to Reconciliation: Transforming the Legacy of Residential Schools.
- calling on Federal and Provincial governments to implement concrete Poverty Reduction Strategies.
- calling upon governments to prohibit uranium exploration and mining on Indigenous lands without the approval of local communities and a full comprehensive independent environmental assessment; a comprehensive review of the Ontario Mining Act in consultation with Aboriginal peoples and affected stakeholders; develop effective regulatory measures to safeguard Ontario's water resources and exercise responsible stewardship in developing a socially and ecologically sustainable future for future generations.
- encouraging deeper theological study and ethical reflection by the church concerning the urgent crisis posed by climate change.
- asking synod council to explore the possibility of forgiving, in whole or in part, a $500,000 loan that was made to Waterloo Lutheran Seminary.
- giving the option of receiving electronic rather than paper copies of assembly documents for future assemblies.
- reporting the mandate and guidelines for the investigating committee involving the extraordinary ordination that took place.
- encouraging churches to participate in and respond to the ELCIC Sexuality Study that is underway.
- asking the synod to review and study the Kirby Report on a Canadian Mental Health strategy with a view to encouraging Federal and Provincial governments to develop a national mental health strategy.
- providing an optional service/servant event during, or a day prior to, future synod assemblies.

I suggested that cutting the guest speaker would have shortened the duration of the assembly. I have to admit, I thought she was very good. It was Tana Kjos of A.R.E.: A Renewal Enterprise who spoke about the six mission priorities of our synod's vision for mission. Those priorities are:
1. We want to be a synod that is passionate about our relationship with God, in Christ.
2. We want to be a synod that nurtures leaders who encourage and equip other leaders.
3. We want to be a synod that works in partnership with others.
4. We want to be a synod that reflects the diversity of our society.
5. We want to be a synod that is generous.
6. We want to be a synod that is engaged by challenging questions.
Tana is very good at holding up an outward looking missional focus, and at pointing out that business as usual doesn't really cut it anymore.

...about kids growing up.

2008-07-14T12:02:00.002-04:00

The column below appeared last week in our local paper. It was a week late so the reference to my son's birthday was a week late. But here it is:

My wife and I find that there's not a whole lot on TV these days that's appropriate for family viewing. Reality programming has all but pushed sitcoms off the air. The sitcoms that are still being made might be funny to me but often the subject matter isn't exactly family friendly. So, over the years we've been buying DVD collections of the sitcoms we used to like watching.

Recently we watched an episode of The Cosby Show where the oldest daughter Sondra is having twins and her husband Elvin is terrified about not knowing how to handle and raise newborn babies.

It took me back to when we had our first child. I wasn't totally prepared but I was a fast learner. I discovered that you figure things out, you do the best you can, you pray a lot, and things turn out okay. By the time we had our fourth child we were so laid back, he's pretty much raising himself.

But a cute part of the Cosby episode had Cliff using a doll to teach Elvin how to properly pick up a baby. And I recalled picking up my own babies and holding them. They were so small that I could cradle them in the crook of one arm.

Then I looked around the room a my four children. The oldest has just finished her first year of high school. I bet I could still pick her up but she's a woman now, taller than my wife. The second became a teenager this spring and is nearly as tall as her older sister. So far neither of these girls has shown me any cause to dread the teenage years.

The third hit double digits this spring, 10 years old already and he impressed me recently on a long bike ride where he had to pedal twice as much as I did because his bike's a lot smaller than mine, but he pushed on and did it. And our youngest will be 6 this week. Last week he jumped over the line at his Kindergarten classroom door and will be going to school full days in the fall in grade 1.

Sometimes it seems like forever since I was changing diapers on these kids, pushing them around in strollers, lifting them in and out of their cribs. Other times it seems like just yesterday.

You can read in different places in the Bible about raising children. I wouldn't exactly call the Bible a guide book to child rearing. It was written centuries ago in a different time and a different culture. Everything might not be applicable to raising a child in the internet age. But some lessons might be learned there.

Early on in the Bible Moses tells God's people, "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise" (Deuteronomy 6:5-7). I think Moses is telling the people that spiritual matters aren't just a Sunday morning thing, and don't leave the teaching of the "God stuff" to the pastor and Sunday School teachers. Make room for God in your family's every day life.

In the book of Proverbs there's a familiar saying (familiar to me anyway) that goes, "Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray" (Proverbs 22:6). Now I don't know that you can take that as a guarantee. Children have their own minds and you can't say that if you do this and this and this then they'll turn out exactly the way they should or the way you want them to. But parents can try to present a good example, they can try to impart the teachings of the love of God to them, they can pray for them, bring them to church, nurture them in faith. Then, with the help of God, children may learn to trust God and live a life of faith.

I think the most important thing we can do for our growing children is love them and pray for them. When I think of the way I used to cradle the tiny babies that my children once were, I'm reminded of a hymn by Michael Joncas that paraphrases Psalm 91. The refrain says:
And he will raise you up on eagle's wings,
bear you on the breath of dawn,
make you to shine like the sun,
and hold you in the palm of his hand.
Whatever else we do as parents, whatever we might do right in raising our children or the mistakes we so often make, we can trust that God holds them, and us, in the palm of his hand.

That's my prayer and my trust for my own children. May it be for yours as well.

Personal DNA

2008-07-08T13:07:00.002-04:00

Considerate Analyst

Peter and Paul

2008-06-26T12:17:00.002-04:00

Here's my sermon for this Sunday with some ideas borrowed from Wiley Stephens.

Peter and Paul, Apostles
June 29, 2008
John 21.15-19
Thomas Arth

This week I’m taking my two daughters, and a friend of theirs,
and joining the youth from St. James & St. Brendan Anglican Church
on a three day retreat up north of Minden.
We’re looking forward to our retreat
and just the thought of it takes me back to my teenage years
and my camping trips and retreats with our youth group.
We had two annual retreats that we’d go on.
In mid-February we’d rent a winterized cabin at Camp Edgewood,
our synod’s camp and retreat centre outside of Guelph.
From Friday night until Sunday afternoon we’d spend time,
perhaps in Bible Study or discussion of faith topics,
we’d hike in the snow, we’d have a talent show,
we’d sing and play, we’d hardly sleep a wink,
but we’d have such a wonderful time
in the company of some of our best friends,
and we usually didn’t want to come home.

Our other retreat time was a camping trip
when we’d go to some Provincial Park,
usually on the first weekend in July.
I remember going on trips to The Pinery,
on the shore of Lake Huron, west of London;
or we went to Killbear
on the Georgian Bay shore near Parry Sound;
or we went to Cypress Lake
on the other side of Georgian Bay, up near Tobermory;
once we went to Algonquin Park;
and I remember Sandbanks,
on the north shore of Lake Ontario near Belleville.
Some time in June we’d haul out these ancient canvas tents
that the boy scouts in our church had long since stopped using,
we’d set them up on a sunny afternoon and make sure
that all the poles and stakes and strings were still there.
We’d try to dry some of the damp and mildew out
from the previous year’s trip,
we’d spray some waterproofing on
because it was bound to rain
on one of the days or nights we were camping.
Once we got to our destination and set up camp we’d hike and swim,
we’d sing around the campfire,
we’d worship and have devotional time,
we wouldn’t sleep much.
Some budding teenage romances would start up
while others might end.
It was such a wonderful time.
And again we wouldn’t want to go home
because that experience would end,
we’d be back to our daily routine.
The camping trip also meant
that we wouldn’t be getting together as a youth group again
until school started in September.

Just thinking about those times brings back such great memories.
If I could ever describe anything as a mountaintop experience
those retreats would be it.
I never wanted them to end.
The experience of love, of friendship, of God.
Those were God moments, when we could sing Christian songs,
worship together, talk about what God meant in our lives.
And it didn’t sound or feel strange or weird or un-cool.
It felt right, and perfect.
We were shut off from the rest of the world,
from the cares of life that might assail us.
We felt safe, we felt loved,
we felt close to each other and to God.

I don’t know if you’ve ever had that kind of feeling or experience,
if what I’m talking about makes any sense to you.
They were some of the greatest times of my life.
It might not have been a youth group, or even a church group.
I still get that kind of feeling when I take my family camping,
as I will in a few weeks.
I wish it could last forever, that it would never end,
that the real world and all it’s problems would just fade away
and I could keep on feeling what, to me,
is as close to perfect as it can be.

But life isn’t all mountaintop experiences.
You can’t live your life closed off from all of the cares of life.
After Jesus’ death and resurrection,
the disciples’ lives must have been in some kind of turmoil.
They had followed Jesus, they learned from him,
they saw the kinds of things he could do.
Peter declared, "You are the Messiah, the Son of God."
Then Jesus was arrested, taken away, tried, crucified.
Surely he could have saved himself. Why didn’t he?
After his death they were lost, but then came Easter.
He was alive again. He even appeared to them.
Thomas was given the opportunity to touch his wounds
to prove to himself that this was truly his Lord and his God. But what now?
This is just too much.
It’ll make your head spin.
Your emotions keep flipping,
you’re up, you’re down, you’re up again,
you’re not sure whether you’re up or down.

The disciples, in the midst of their confusion and turmoil,
went on a retreat.
A retreat for the sake of refreshment and renewal is a good thing.
But they were going to escape, to hide.
They were headed for a safe harbour.
The Sea of Galilee represented that for them.
They went fishing.
It was what they knew.
It was their livelihood for years
before Jesus came and called them to follow him.
But Jesus had showed them more.
He called them to drop their nets and follow him and fish for people.
As they followed they became witnesses to miracles
as the lame picked up their beds and walked,
the blind could see,
the deaf could hear,
the hungry were filled.
He opened the scriptures to them,
gave them a proper understanding of God’s word.
And they witnessed the chains of death broken.
Simon became Peter,
the rock on which Jesus would build the church.
But Simon Peter was anything but a rock
when he denied Jesus three times.
But in today’s gospel reading,
Peter is given the gift of another day, another chance,
the gift of forgiveness and new life yet again,
the gift of becoming that rock all over again.

The grace of a new day, of a fresh start,
is not just about saying what we’ll do.
It’s about starting to live a life molded by our faith.
It wasn’t enough for Peter to say, "I love you."
Jesus wanted more than a declaration of love,
he wants more from us than our weekly worship.
Jesus says, if you love me
"Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep."
But so often we’re more comfortable in our safe harbours.
We like to go on retreat, not for refreshment and renewal,
but for escape.
Imagine Peter saying, "Let someone else feed your lambs,
let it be enough that I say ‘I love you.’"
But the grace of another day,
the grace of forgiveness and a new start
brings with it a challenge to change.
Peter couldn’t remain in the comfort of his old fishing business.
The journey he set out on when Jesus called him to follow
wasn’t over, there was a long way to go.

Imagine Jesus standing on the shore of that lake,
looking out and seeing Peter and the others back at their fishing.
What must he have felt?
I wonder if he was heartbroken.
There on that boat were the heart of the team
he had spent the last three years or so assembling and training.
There on that boat was the community he formed
to be his body on earth.
There on that boat was his plan to spread the word
in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.
And what happened to his team, his community, his plan?
They spent the night on a boat fishing.
But had they caught anything?
No.
There was no success and no faithfulness in their escape.
Once they listened to Jesus,
and cast their nets on the other side of the boat
they pulled up 153 large fish.
And they came up on shore and Jesus had breakfast waiting for them.
The boat was their safe harbour,
their retreat to escape
from the turmoil and confusion of the world.
It was their life before they met Jesus.
Now they were being confronted by Jesus.
"Do you love me?"
"Of course," Peter replied.
And all three times Jesus said, "Then show it."
"Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep."

The last words of today’s gospel reading
were the same words that got Peter and all the others
started on this journey of discipleship and faith.
"Follow me."
Jesus was giving Peter the gracious gift of another day to be faithful,
another chance to follow.
Peter would become the fiery preacher of Pentecost,
he would confront the high priest, the elders and the scribes
as they assembled,
he would reach out to the Gentile Cornelius,
he would be arrested and delivered from prison,
and according to tradition, he would be martyred at Rome.

We’re challenged to believe and change,
to change ourselves and the world
with the message of God’s love,
God’s forgiveness,
God’s grace.
We’re called to follow Jesus,
to continue in the covenant God made with us in holy baptism.
We ask these things of our young confirmands,
offering them a new day, a new start,
God’s gracious call.
But it’s a call that we can all respond to. Will you:
live among God’s faithful people,
hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s supper,
proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed,
serve all people, following the example of Jesus,
and strive for justice and peace in all the earth?
Will you?

The youth group I belonged to as a teenager
consisted of anywhere from 20 to 40 people.
As memorable and as wonderful as those retreats and camping trips were,
if we had stayed there, hidden from the world,
escaped from the every day,
then 30 or so young Christian men and women
would not have gone into the world
and lived out their faith.
You would not have had Peter Fischer or myself as your pastors.
Those retreats did serve to create wonderful memories
but also to nourish us in our faith
and give us a new day to follow Jesus.
God gives each one of you the same opportunity to follow,
again and again.
Will you?

I'm Sorry Too

2008-06-12T10:21:00.002-04:00

Yesterday our Prime Minister issued an historic apology to our First Nations people. A black mark in our nation's history was the forcible removal of aboriginal children from their homes and communities and placement in residential school run by churches in the 19th and 20th centuries. The idea was to educate them, assimilate them, and pretty much drive their cultural heritage out of them. The Gradual Enfranchisement Act of 1869 assumed the inherent superiority of British ways, and the need for Indians to become English-speakers, Christians and farmers. Many were subjected to emotional, physical, and often sexual abuse in these residential schools.

Overcrowding of the schools led to increased incidence of disease and a high mortality rate among students. The schools were severely underfunded and the schools relied on the forced labour of their students.

Prime Minister Harper's apology yesterday was made in front of an audience of First Nations delegates and broadcast nationally. He apologized not only for the known excesses of the residential school system, but for the creation of the system itself meant to "kill the Indian in the child."

I thank God that our government, on behalf of all Canadians, has issued a formal apology to our First Nations sisters and brothers. We have also begun paying financial restitution for the pain and suffering that was inflicted on them by this government policy. I pray that this might help to bring about healing, forgiveness and reconciliation and that we can live in a spirit of renewed harmony.

Many of our First Peoples still live in poverty, a disproportionate number of them compared to our nation as a whole. A private members bill is stalled in our Senate. It's an agreement that has been negotiated between several levels of government — federal, provincial and First Nations — that would be a great step toward closing the gap in living standards between First Nations people and the rest of Canada. If you're a Canadian reader of this blog (I don't know if anybody reads this thing) then you can write a letter to the Prime Minister and your local Member of Parliament with help here (http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca/en/sorry/take-action). It's a way for yesterday's apology to mean even more.

First Trip Away from Us

2008-05-27T10:02:00.000-04:00

Our second daughter, the 13 year old, left this morning for a school trip to Quebec City. We had to get her to school at 5:30 a.m. for a 6:00 a.m. departure. It’s J’s first time away from us on her own. She’s gone for 4 days. She’s been kind of excited but underneath you could kind of sense her nervousness. The excitement was heightened last night when she talked to my parents on the phone and they said they’re giving her $50 spending money.

"Really?!? REALLY?!? Thank you sooo much!"

We saw her off this morning, came back home to where our oldest daughter was just getting up. She went off to school, we walked the two boys to school, got home and found J’s retainer. She’s supposed to wear it 12 hours a day. She’s so tired of that thing. We’re constantly reminding her to wear it. I don’t think she forgot it on purpose. But there it was.

So, I called the tour company to get the name and address of the hotel in Quebec City. Then we went to the UPS Store and are having it couriered to the hotel. We stuck a chocolate bar in the envelope with the retainer as a treat when she gets it. It’ll be there by noon tomorrow.

Our Bunny Story

2008-05-26T11:32:00.001-04:00

We grow a vegetable garden on the church property out behind the parsonage yard and we take our harvest to the local food bank. This will be our 4th or 5th year doing this. Mr. B and Mr. T were coming last Thursday night to roto-till the garden so my wife went out Thursday afternoon to pull up some of the bigger weeds so that they wouldn’t get tilled back into the ground and come up even more weeds.

As she was out there she saw a mound of furry type stuff and hoped that she wasn’t going to find something dead. She gingerly started to push the shovel into the ground and suddenly there was a squealing and a rabbit went running away, my wife running the other way. That evening when Mr. B and Mr. T showed up they found a little burrow with 6 baby bunnies in it. They already had their fur and were moving around. They gathered them up and put them in a shoe box and put the box in the tall grass at the back of the property hoping that the mom might come back for them.

Thursday night was getting pretty chilly and there was some concern that the bunnies would get cold. We found out the next morning that Mr. B had come and picked them up and took them home. He tried feeding them some milk from a dropper with no success. He got up early the next morning to try to feed them again before work, again with no success.

Friday morning on his way to work Mr. B brought the bunnies back and put them in the tall grass again, tipping the shoe box on its side so that they could get out if they needed to, again hoping their mother would come back.

Friday evening we got a call from Mr. T’s oldest son saying they have 6 new furry friends staying at their place. They came and gathered them up, they bought some bunny formula and are getting some into them. They’re big enough to be eating greens. The kids pick the leaves from some wild strawberry’s they have growing around the property and the bunnies chow down on them.

Yesterday afternoon we went by to take our kids to see the bunnies. They are sooooo adorable. If you put a red ribbon around their neck they could be the Lindt chocolate bunnies in the gold foil that you get at Easter time.

The T family lives out in the country, they back onto some bush area so they plan to raise the bunnies until their bigger and then let them go. They’ve done some research on orphaned rabbits and apparently when they get to be about 6" long they’re ready to take off on their own.

Coincidentally, yesterday’s gospel reading mentioned God caring for the birds of the air and the grass of the field and one of the petitions in the prayers that we use from Sundays & Seasons (Augsburg Fortress, 2007) said:

Preserve the health of all newborn creatures in hospitals, homes, fields, and trees. Ease their entry into this world by your loving care. Hear us, O God;
your mercy is great.

Finally

2008-05-20T11:28:00.003-04:00

My brother got married this past Friday. We are so incredibly happy for him and his bride. It was a beautiful day. He's found a wonderful woman to share the rest of his life with. My whole family got to participate in the wedding service. My wife read the first lesson. My oldest daughter played piano, accompanying my younger daughter as she sang a solo. My oldest son was a greeter, passing out bulletins as people arrived. My youngest son was the ring bearer (and looking sooooo adorable in his tux). And I was honoured to preside at their wedding which took place in his church, the church where we grew up. Here's my sermon from that day.

Marriage of JPA and SLT
May 16, 2008
1 Corinthians 13.1-13; Matthew 19.4-6
Thomas Arth

Finally! At last!
We’ve come to the day and the moment of your wedding.
You have come here
and invited this congregation of people here as witnesses
as you make promises to each other about your future together.
You have found each other, fallen in love,
and you will be stating in front of these gathered witnesses
and in front of God,
that you will be faithful to each other
for the rest of your lives.

In the old green worship book that we used to use
there were three sentences
that were read during the marriage service
that are pretty much a summary
of the church’s teaching about marriage.
The first sentence reads:
"The Lord God in his goodness created us male and female,
and by the gift of marriage founded human community
in a joy that begins now
and is brought to perfection in the life to come."

Marriage is God’s gift to you.
God created people to live in community,
various kinds of community.
In the gospel reading Jesus quotes from the Bible’s creation story.
He says "in the beginning the Creator made a man and a woman.
That’s why a man leaves his father and mother
and gets married.
He becomes like one person with his wife."
It’s not good for us to be alone.
We have various kinds of friendships, family relationships,
working relationships, and other relationship
so that we’re not alone.
God has given the two of you
the gift of the most intimate kind of relationship,
a relationship in marriage.
God’s intention for your marriage
is that it be filled with joy in good times and in bad times,
a joy that comes in committing yourselves to each other.
We pray that God would bless your marriage
with good gifts, with love, and with joy.

But we’re all human and that’s where the second sentence
of the church’s teaching about marriage comes in.
"Because of sin, our age-old rebellion,
the gladness of marriage can be overcast
and the gift of family can become a burden."
I’ve given a guarantee with every wedding at which I’ve presided
and I’ll give you the same guarantee.
I guarantee you that your marriage will not always be perfect.
You’ll each do things and say things that can get on the other’s nerves.
It may get to the point
that you become really angry with your spouse.
"In the close contact of married life
this mutual antagonism may flare into a serious disagreement."
The root of the difficulties that arise in any marriage
is that old word that we often use in church, sin.
I can guarantee that your marriage won’t be perfect
because each of you, every human being, is so far from perfect.
The shadow of sin can darken the gladness
which God intends for us.
The community that God wishes for us can,
and often does, end up broken.

But there’s good news.
That brokenness does not have to be the end.
God’s intention for joy remains.
The final sentence of that summary
of the church’s teaching about marriage says:
"Because God, who established marriage,
continues still to bless it
with his abundant and ever-present support,
we can be sustained in our weariness
and have our joy restored."
God is always present with help for every one of us.
Even when we turn from the good that God intends for us,
when our self-centred sinfulness shatters that joy
that God intends for our marriage,
God is there to restore our joy.
The Lord God established marriage in joy;
our self-centred sinfulness shatters it;
God restores our joy.

The reading we heard from First Corinthians is a familiar one
especially for weddings.
I think it’s entirely appropriate for a wedding ceremony
but St. Paul didn’t write it with weddings in mind.
In fact the reading says nothing about marriage at all.
He was writing a letter to a divided church community,
a community in deep conflict.
The community that God gave to those people
was being shattered by their sinfulness
and Paul was trying to help get them back on track.
He said, "I want you to desire the best gifts."
He told them that even if you’re
the most spiritual person in the world,
the most gifted person in the world,
the most self-sacrificing person in the world,
you’d be nothing, you’d gain nothing,
unless you loved others.
He went on listing many things that love is:
kind, patient, supportive, loyal, hopeful, trusting.
And he listed many things that love isn’t:
jealous, boastful, proud, rude, selfish, quick tempered.
And he concluded by saying "Love never fails!
For now there are faith, hope, and love.
But of these three, the greatest is love."
I hope you can see how his advice
to a church community so many centuries ago
can also apply to a couple in their life together in this century.

That love that restores our joy,
that enables us to forgive one another,
that sustains us through good times and bad,
is a gift from God.
It’s pure grace.
It’s God’s gift to every one of us,
and it’s God’s gift to your marriage.
May you live in the love and joy that comes only from God
through your whole life together.
Amen

...about Fruit

2008-05-06T11:51:00.002-04:00

Wow! It's been a long time since I've posted. This is scheduled to appear in the local paper tomorrow.

Now, the very religious might think I’m going to write about the fruit of the Spirit. I’m not. But for those who are now curious or don’t remember the list, the Bible says "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Galatians 5:22).

I’m not writing about that fruit. I’ve been thinking about peaches and pears.

As a pastor I’m asked to pray from time to time. A few years ago at a funeral reception I was asked to say grace before we ate. I thanked God for the food we were about to eat and for those who prepared it for us. Afterward a farmer came to me and asked, "Why do you pastors always thank those who prepared the food but never those who grew it?" It was a good question and now I try to remember those farmers in my prayers as well.

No doubt you’ve read, heard, and seen the news the last few weeks about the impending and now apparently inevitable closure of a cannery in St. David’s. A number of area fruit growers depended on this cannery to buy their fruit.

I haven’t heard what these growers are going to do now. I’m guessing there’s only so much they can sell as fresh fruit to grocery stores and at farmers’ markets. I’m guessing at least some of them might go out of business.

But do we care? I don’t usually give much thought to where my food comes from. When I go to the store I don’t look at the label to see where the food was grown, if the label even tells me. When I go to my favourite fast-food outlet, or occasionally to a better restaurant, I don’t know and don’t much care about who raised the cattle, what they were fed, or how they were treated, before they became the burgers that I so enjoy.

But when I heard the news about the local cannery that is, and the local farmers that may go out of business I started to care. There are always a lot of factors behind this kind of thing. I’m no economist and can’t pretend to know about it all. But part of the reason is that farm workers here get paid something like $10 an hour to pick fruit. Not as much as I make as a pastor but a lot more than the farm workers in Central and South America who work for $3 a day.

Eating locally grown and raised food supports farmers struggling to maintain their livelihood. If local farmers go out of business it won’t be long until we’re paving over their land and planting acres of subdivision housing. One study found that a regional diet consumes 17 times less gasoline than its equivalent shipped from across the country or around the world.

Maybe it’s time to start caring more about what we’re eating. Where does it come from? Who and what is affected in the web of production and supply that brings food to our tables?

When we make decisions about what we eat and how we spend our grocery money we are making decisions about how we love our neighbours and how we love our planet, God’s creation. The news from St. David’s has been a bit of a wake-up call for me. I think it will cause me to think more and to care more. And I’ll pray for those farmers, farm workers, and cannery workers.

My Easter Posting

2008-03-25T10:25:00.003-04:00

So, it's Tuesday and I'm back at work. Funerals behind me (they went pretty well) and Holy Week services over (they were awesome). During Holy Communion on Sunday I chose one of the modern praise choruses that made it into Evangelical Lutheran Worship to be sung. My teenage girls liked singing it. Here it is.

Lord, I Lift Your Name on High

Lord, I lift your name on high;
Lord, I love to sing your praises.
I'm so glad you're in my life,
I'm so glad you came to save us.

You came from heaven to earth to show the way,
from the earth to the cross, my debt to pay,
from the cross to the grave,
from the grave to the sky;
Lord, I lift your name on high.

by Rick Founds

Alleluia. Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us keep the feast. Alleluia. (1 Cor 5:7, 8)

Good Friday

2008-03-20T15:45:00.002-04:00

I won't be blogging this weekend so I thought I'd post the words to one of my all time favourite hymns in advance.

O Sacred Head, Now Wounded

O sacred head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down,
now scornfully surrounded with thorns, thine only crown;
O sacred head, what glory, what bliss till now was thine!
Yet, though despised and gory, I joy to call thee mine.

How pale thou art with anguish, with sore abuse and scorn;
how does thy face now languish, which once was bright as morn!
Thy grief and bitter passion were all for sinners' gain;
mine, mine was the transgression, but thine the deadly pain.

What language shall I borrow to thank thee, dearest friend,
for this thy dying sorrow, thy pity without end?
Oh, make me thine forever, and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to thee.

Lord, be my consolation; shield me when I must die;
remind me of thy passion when my last hour draws nigh.
These eyes, new faith receiving, from thee shall never move;
for all who die believing die safely in thy love.

Text: Paul Gerhardt, 1607-1676,

based on Arnulf of Louvain, d. 1250;

tr. composite

Look to Jesus, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb 12.2).

Holy Week

2008-03-18T22:22:00.003-04:00

I love this week. I love the services of this week. But this year it's a bit of a drag. Not only do I have extra sermons to write. Not only am I down on myself because I haven't visited many of our shut in members for a while and won't get to it this week either. Now I've got a funeral on Thursday afternoon. I don't know how I'm going to get everything done.

Revision:

I got a call from the funeral home after I posted this. I thought there might be some changes for the Thursday funeral. Nope. Now I've got another funeral on Saturday. I hope nobody attends both funerals or else they'll be hearing a couple of very similar sermons.

I Bind unto Myself Today

2008-03-17T15:03:00.003-04:00

I've never been big into St. Patrick's Day. I'm of German descent so that might have something to do with it. I've got nothing against the Irish showing some pride in their heritage today but there's often a whole lot of foolishness that goes along with that and way to much drinking.

At sixteen, Patrick was kidnapped by Irish pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland. He himself admitted that up to this point he cared little for God. He escaped after six years, returned to his family in southwest Britain, and began to prepare for ordained ministry. He later returned to Ireland, this time to serve as a bishop and missionary. He made his base in the north of Ireland and from there made many missionary journeys with much success. In his autobiography he denounced the slave trade, perhaps from his own experience as a slave. Patrick's famous baptismal hymn to the Trinity, "I Bind unto Myself Today," can be used as a meditation on Lent's call to return to our baptism.

from Sundays & Seasons, Augsburg Fortress, 2007.

I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity
by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this day to me forever, by pow'r of faith, Christ's incarnation,
his baptism in the Jordan River, his cross of death for my salvation,
his bursting from the spiced tomb, his riding up the heav'nly way,
his coming at the day of doom, I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself today the virtues of the starlit heaven,
the glorious sun's lifegiving ray, the whiteness of the moon at even,
the flashing of the lightning free, the whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
the stable earth, the deep salt sea, around the old eternal rocks.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the name, the strong name of the Trinity
by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three,
of whom all nature has creation, eternal Father, Spirit, Word.
Praise to the Lord of my salvation; salvation is of Christ the Lord!

attr. Patrick, 372-466

para. Cecil Frances Alexander, 1823-1895

Spicy Me

2008-03-14T10:03:00.001-04:00

You Are Oregano

You have are charming, funny, witty, and smart.

You love to party - and people love to party with you.

You are always friendly and warm. You are able to help people get along.

What Spice Are You?

Snow, Snow Everywhere

2008-03-11T14:06:00.002-04:00

I wrote this last week to appear in tomorrow's paper and wouldn't you know it, we were hit with a 36 hour snow storm on Friday and Saturday which makes my pining for snow sound ridiculous this week. Oh well.

...about Snow Days

I remember the snow days we used to get when I was a kid. Maybe I’ve just got a selective memory but it seemed we used to get a lot more snow back in my grade school days in the ‘70s. I grew up in Burlington, only an hour away from here, but it seemed to me that there would be snow on the ground all winter long. And you could probably count on three or four big storms that would shut down the schools.

We’ve had snow this winter but not the up-to-your-knees kinds of snowfalls that I remember from my childhood. (Granted, my knees were closer to the ground back then.) When it snowed here this winter it might have stayed on the ground for a week before we saw the brown grass again. And those snow days when the school would be shut down didn’t happen at all. I think the school was closed once this winter and not because of a heavy snowfall but because of the threat of freezing rain.

I like winter to be winter. It should be cold and there should be snow. This is Canada after all. If I were in charge of the weather we’d have a blanket of snow a week or two before Christmas (because Irving Berlin has taught us all to dream of a White Christmas), it would last through the March Break so that kids could play in the snow on their week off, and we’d have 3 or 4 storms evenly spaced in between that would give kids the much-loved snow days off of school.

Having said all that, I’m ready for spring. I wrote this a week ago as snow was falling. It’s March Break now and I don’t know if there’s any snow on the ground as you read this. But now I’m looking forward to spring. Spring brings with it new life as the snow melts, the ground thaws, and nature begins to green up. The days have been getting longer and with the clocks springing forward this past weekend we get even more daylight in the evening.

In the church we’re approaching the end of the season of Lent. Lent is a springtime for the soul. It’s a time of renewal. In our church, before we hear the reading of the Gospel, we sing "Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love" (Joel 2:13). It’s a time for our spirit’s to be refreshed as we anticipate Holy Week and Easter.

During Lent we journey with Christ toward the cross. The cross looms before us and its shadow falls on our path as we journey. But for Christians the cross does not loom ominously. We see hope in the cross. We see glory and triumph as Jesus willingly gives himself for us. And on Easter that hope is realized in the new life that Jesus promises to all.

Life after death. Springtime following winter. May the grace of Christ warm you and give you new life as we move into the warmth of a new season.

Spring Newsletter Items

2008-03-06T13:50:00.004-05:00

The following are a couple of articles I compiled for our Spring Newsletter.

The Way of the Cross

In November I was in Jerusalem. It was the end of two-and-a-half weeks of touring through Egypt, Jordan, and Israel. I was getting tired of traveling on buses, living out of a suitcase in a series of hotels, eating hotel food, and mostly I was missing my wife and kids and home. So the sites and experiences of Jerusalem didn't have the same kind of impact they might have had if it had been the first stop on our tour or if the tour hadn't been quite as long.

One of the things we saw and did in Jerusalem, something that every Christian pilgrim to that holy city probably does, is walk the Via Dolorosa, the ancient "Way of Sorrows" walked by Jesus on his way to his Crucifixion. The streets through which we walked are lined with small shops and stalls like any other market street. The streets through which Jesus walked were likely very similar.

Now the route is marked out by 14 "Stations of the Cross," linked with events that occurred on Christ's last, fateful walk. Some of the Stations are commemorated only by wall plaques which can be difficult to spot among the market and souvenir stalls. Others are located inside buildings or commemorated by small chapels. The last five stations are all within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre built around what is believed to be the site of Christ's Crucifixion, burial and Resurrection.

The 14 Stations of the Cross are not all biblical. Some have been added by Christian tradition over the centuries. But one Lutheran resource I have provides a liturgy with prayers and readings and suggested hymns for the 8 stations that are mentioned in the Bible. It's traditional to meditate on these events in the last day of Jesus' life on the Fridays in Lent and especially on Good Friday. I obviously won't put the entire liturgy in this newsletter but I will list the 8 stations and the biblical references to them and perhaps on Good Friday you might read them and ponder just what our Lord went through on that holy day.

First Station: Jesus is Condemned to Death

Mark 15:1, 12-15

Second Station: Jesus Takes Up His Cross

John 19:17; Hebrews 5:8; Isaiah 53:7b; Revelation 5:12

Third Station: The Cross is Laid on Simon of Cyrene

Luke 23:26; Matthew 16:24; 11:29a, 30

Fourth Station: Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem

Luke 23:27-28

Fifth Station: Jesus is Stripped of His Garments

Matthew 27:33-35; John 19:24b

Sixth Station: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

Luke 23:33; Isaiah 53:12b

Seventh Station: Jesus Dies on the Cross

John 19:26-27a, 30

Eighth Station: Jesus is Laid in the Tomb

Matthew 27:57-60

As we approach the joy of Easter let us not ignore or skip over the sorrow of Good Friday. Good Friday reminds us that God's love for us came at a great price. But there is Good News on Good Friday. Jesus is our triumphant king who reigns from the cross. It is not a day of mourning but a day to celebrate the sacrifice of Jesus that give us life. His death transformed the cross from an instrument of death and torture into the tree of life.

God bless you this Holy Week and Easter Season.

Pastor Tom

Easter Dogma (not a scary word)

To begin with, a joke.

A Lutheran gentleman died and approached the pearly gates to heaven. St. Peter met him there and refused him entry to paradise, pointing instead to a long staircase going down. The man descended the stairs and at the bottom of the stairs his worst fears were realized as he arrived in hell.

As he entered hell he saw many other Lutherans, people he knew from his congregation. He asked them "What’s going on? Why are we all here?" All they did was point to another set of stairs.

He climbed down another flight of stairs and found a gathering of Lutheran pastors and bishops, some of which he also knew. He asked them "What’s going on? Why are we all here?" All they did was point to another set of stairs.

He climbed down another flight of stairs and saw another group of men. He recognized one of them as Martin Luther. The others were Luther’s fellow reformers. He asked them "What’s going on? Why are we all here?" All they did was point to another set of stairs.

He climbed down another flight of stairs and met St. Paul. He asked the apostle "What’s going on? Why are we all here?" St. Paul shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Maybe it was works."

Now, most people who aren’t Christians wouldn’t understand this joke. Even many Christians might not get it unless they were Lutheran. But I’m guessing that there might be some Lutherans who don’t even get the punchline. What it comes down to is dogma. Dogma is not a scary word. Dogma is, simply defined, a set of principles that we believe to be true.

For Lutherans the single great proposed dogma is "justification by grace alone through faith alone, without the works of law." The Lutheran reformers proclaimed this as the doctrine by which the church "stands or falls." We are made right with God
- by grace alone, a pure gift that we did nothing to deserve, that we can do nothing to deserve.
- through faith alone, the utter and unmixed dependence on God.
- without the works of the law, not by keeping the commandments, not even by choosing to believe or by accepting God’s gracious gift.

This is the gospel in a nutshell. The gospel, rightly spoken, involves no ifs, ands, buts, or maybes of any sort. It does not say, "If you do your best to live a good life, God will fulfill that life," or, "If you fight on the right side of the great issues of your time...," or, "If you repent...," or, "If you believe...." It does not even say, "If you want to do good/repent/believe...," or, "If you are sorry for not wanting to do good/repent/believe...." The gospel says, "Because the Crucified lives as Lord, your destiny is good."

How is this Easter dogma? Jesus’ life and ministry embodied self-giving love. To those who were seen as nothing, the last, the least, the lost, he demonstrated love and caring even though they did nothing to deserve it. Pure grace. But this association and identification with lepers, prostitutes, tax collectors, cripples, and all the other dregs of society incurred the wrath of the religious and political powers. Jesus’ death demonstrated that this kind of life could never be excused or justified.

But then came Easter. By all social and religious standards Jesus got what he deserved. By the rules of society Jesus ought to have been eternally damned, but instead God raised him from the dead. If Jesus had not been raised then the obvious would be proven: Fools who give themselves to the poor get what they deserve. But he didn’t. Because of the resurrection we can no longer see him as just a good person, just a prophet, just a radical advocate of the poor. We can’t even think of him as just a sacrifice for our evil.

Jesus Christ, the crucified one, is alive! He is present today and his presence is for us. Faith is the real presence of Christ. Christ is really present in his body the church, in the feast of Holy Communion, and in his disciples. Christ continues to be crucified whenever opposition to his gospel and his witness tries to snuff out love and liberation. But Christ continues to be resurrected. Crucifixion is the beginning of new growth and new energy in the Spirit. In the end, death will have done its worst and be defeated utterly. The hymn of all creation will ring out: Death is swallowed up! Where, O Death, your victory? Where, O Death, your sting? Worthy is Christ, the Lamb who was slain, Lord of all creation!

Jeff Healey Dead

2008-03-04T12:37:00.000-05:00

Jeff Healey died on Sunday. He was such an awesome guitar player. I serenaded my wife with an a capella version of his song Angel Eyes before I proposed to her and then it was our first dance at our wedding reception. Only 41 years old. My age. Too young. Now he can See the Light.

Third Sunday in Lent

2008-02-25T15:14:00.002-05:00

3rd Sunday in Lent
February 24, 2008
John 4:5-42
Thomas Arth

Neil Alexander, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta,
tells a story about something that happened to him one day
as he was walking down the street in New York City.
"It was early on a weekday morning
and even though spring was just around the corner,
the night had been cold and the morning air still had a bite to it.
As I was walking to the church
to get there in time for an early morning celebration of the Eucharist,
I encountered a homeless man who had slept the night
on an old piece of cardboard.
He made his bed over a sidewalk grate
near the steam exhaust of an apartment building.
"It was the best he could do.
He was still shivering from the cold;
his clothes were thin.
He had no gloves, no hat, no topcoat.
I suspect he had not eaten in several days.
As I passed him on the sidewalk, our eyes met,
and when they did, I knew I would have to stop for a moment
to speak to him and ask if there was anything I could do.
He didn't ask for much.
He didn't want a coat or a better place to stay.
He didn't even ask if I had any food vouchers
from one of the neighborhood delis.
I reached in my pocket,
thinking I would give him a couple of quarters for a hot cup of coffee.
But he seemed not to want anything
that might make his life more comfortable
on this cold morning on the streets of the city.

"‘No, Father,' he said,
‘all I need for you to do is to give me a blessing.'
‘Give you a blessing?' I asked,
somewhat surprised by his request.
‘Yes, that's all,' he said, ‘a blessing.'
So I knelt down beside him on the sidewalk,
said a prayer with him and laid my hands upon his head
and gave him a blessing.
With a peaceful look upon his face,
like he had received a gift that he had been waiting for
for a very long time, he picked up his cardboard bed
and a little bag of belongings
and walked haltingly down the street in the opposite direction."

It wasn't a chilly early New York morning,
instead it was noontime under a hot sun.
Jesus sat near a well just outside a Samaritan town.
Noon on a hot day is no time to be out and about in that part of the world.
If you're going for water,
which meant lugging some heavy jars back and forth,
then you go in the cool hours of the morning.
That's what everybody does.
You meet all your neighbours around the well,
catch up on the latest news.
But at noon, you don't want to be doing that kind of hard work
not at that time of day.
That's the time for a siesta somewhere out of the sun.
At noontime on this day there are only two people at the well.
Jesus has been walking and he sits to rest while the disciples go
to replenish their provisions for the journey.
And there's a woman.
Why is she coming at noon?
Maybe she's tired of the way people talk to her
and talk about her when she approaches.
She'd rather suffer through the noonday heat
than suffer through their insults anymore.
Maybe she's not welcome in the circles of conversation
around the well in the morning.
We hear in the gospel reading that she's had five husbands already
and the guy she's hanging with now isn't her husband at all.
Ashamed. Shunned. It's just her and Jesus this day.

She wouldn't be too surprised if he avoided her like all the rest.
You see, because of certain Jewish purity laws most men and women
didn't have much contact with each other,
and certainly not if they were strangers.
Women of a certain age were considered unclean
for about 7 days out of a month
and if a man came into contact with her during that time
he'd become unclean.
The woman who came to the well was a Samaritan
and Jewish men considered Samaritan women unclean
the whole month long, their whole lives long.
Also, this man was a rabbi
and women weren't considered worthy of any sort of discussion
with a learned man like him.
But Jesus doesn't shun her, doesn't avoid her,
he asks her for a drink of water.
"You're a Jew," she replied, "and I'm a Samaritan.
How can you ask me for a drink of water
when Jews and Samaritans
won't have anything to do with each other."
Then this Jewish rabbi starts a theological discussion
with this Samaritan woman.
"You don't know what God wants to give you,
and you don't know who's asking you for a drink.
If you did,
you'd ask me for the water that gives life."

The disciples come back from their shopping
and find Jesus talking with this woman
and are surprised.
They don't say anything but surely they're thinking,
"This isn't right."
"What's he doing?"
But Jesus is always surprising them.
Does he surprise us anymore,
or do we have Jesus all figured out?

Pastor Kevin Powell who's a friend of mine
wrote this on his weblog this week:
I've met the woman at the well, several times.
Once, it was a woman in a dirty, smoke-filled apartment.
She had called the church for help and I went to go see her
armed with a bag of groceries.
As I was leaving she said,
"I want to go to church, can I come to your church?"
Those were her words but that wasn't what she was asking.
What she was really asking was
"Will someone like me be welcome in your church?"
I pictured her in our pews,
her gray greasy hair, her yellowed fingers, soiled skirt,
and her booze and nicotine stained breath,
mingling with men in ties and suit jackets,
women in dresses and children in jeans.
Nice, middle-class folks.
Nothing wrong with that.
It's who we are.
And I thought that like the woman at the well was to the disciples,
she'd be a challenge to our congregation.
But a challenge our congregation would definitely step up to.
"Yes," I told her,
"we'd love to have you worship with us."

That's what that pastor wrote about his congregation.
Could we say the same for ours?
When I came here, nearly 6 years ago, I couldn't have asked
for a warmer welcome from the people of this church
and so far nobody is showing me the door.
But the reception a new pastor and his family receives
isn't always the same one
that another person coming into the church might receive.
In the meantime we've welcomed a few new people into our church family
and I've heard from some of them
that they felt just as warmly welcomed
by the people of this congregation
as I felt when I came here.
But when you look at our congregation
they're not all that distinguishable from the rest of us.
"Nice middle-class folks,"
as Pastor Kevin described his congregation.
But what if the woman at the well came among us?

Who might the woman at the well be for us?
Might it be the guy with the wild hair
who passes you on the street talking to himself?
You think to yourself, "What does he want here anyway?"
And since you've grown up in the same town
and know the kind of things he's been involved in
during his life you also know
that he's not the kind of person
that we normally get in this place.
Would he really fit in?
Maybe this is the only time he'll come here.
He'll soon see that this isn't the place for him.

Who might the woman at the well be for us?
Might it be the teenager who's never been in a church,
who doesn't understand the order of service
the way it's printed in our bulletin,
and who fidgets through the entire service
disturbing the people sitting behind her?
She probably didn't know that we have a traditional style of worship.
Maybe she was thinking this is one of those churches
with drums and a praise band.
Surely that's what she's looking for in a church.
She won't be back.

Who might the woman at the well be for us?
Might it be the gay couple who try to be inconspicuous,
but everyone can tell?
They've been shut out or have been made to feel totally unwelcome
in some of the other churches they've tried.
They're hoping that this church might accept them.
What do they want with our church anyway?
They're just going to stir things up and anyway,
their kind make a lot of people uncomfortable,
and the Bible is very clear that their lifestyle is sinful.
If we give them the cold shoulder
they'll move on soon enough.

Who might the woman at the well be for us?
Might it be the woman of questionable morals?
The last one out of the bar on many a night.
The one who's not too choosy about who shares her bed.
The one whose skirt is too short, whose blouse is too tight,
whose make-up is too bright, whose jewelry is too flashy.
This is no place for her.
She'll soon be back to sleeping in on Sunday morning.

Who might the woman at the well be for us?
Might it be the kid who's been suspended from school a few times
for bullying?
He's got no manners, doesn't respect his elders,
always talking back to teachers.
Do we want a kid like that in Sunday School with our sweet kids?
What kind of influence will he be
when we're trying so hard to raise good and polite children?

Who is the woman at the well for you?
How do you look at her?
Jesus could have seen a woman, an unclean woman,
a woman unworthy of conversation with a rabbi,
and left it at that.
But he didn't.
He saw a daughter of God.
He saw a troubled soul.
And he couldn't help but share living water with her.
"No one who drinks the water I give will ever be thirsty again.
The water I give is like a flowing fountain that gives eternal life."
After her conversation with Jesus
the Samaritan woman forgot what she even came for.
She left her jar by the well and ran back to her village
and told everyone about this Jesus.
This Jesus who didn't just follow rules.
This Jesus who showed love, showed compassion.
This Jesus who had the gift of eternal life to give,
to give even to a sinful Samaritan woman.

Bishop Alexander was on his way,
on that cold spring morning,
to serve as a priest, to preach the gospel,
to give Holy Communion to the people.
On his way a homeless man asked him for a blessing.
That's what priests do. It seemed so normal.
But the priest discovered that he was the one who received the blessing.
Instead of a well in Samaria, it was a steam grate in New York City,
but there the priest met Jesus who quenched his thirst
and gave him a taste of eternity.
Who is your woman at the well?
Could it be you?
Maybe you're the sinner
and maybe Jesus is the man with the wild hair,
the teenager who's never been to church,
the gay couple,
the woman in the short skirt,
the schoolyard bully.
When you think you've got Jesus figured out, think again.
He might just surprise you.
Jesus comes to us, Jesus meets us, and our lives are changed.
Then we might say,
along with the people from that Samaritan village,
"We have faith in Jesus because we have heard him ourselves,
and we are certain that he is the Saviour of the world!"
Amen

Tagged

2008-02-25T15:03:00.001-05:00

Kevin tagged me for this meme:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five other people.

The nearest book is one I bought simply because the title intrigued me and it was in the bargain bin. I haven't read it yet. It's called The Christian and the Pharisee: Two Outspoken Religious Leaders Debate the Road to Heaven by Dr. R.T. Kendall and Rabbi David Rosen. Here it goes.

"Most of them became either universalists, annihilationists, existentialists, or all the above. Some of them left the ministry they had come to train for since they came to regard the Bible as a faulty and unreliable document and saw no reason to uphold the faith they once thought they believed. I was exposed to the same evidence they had examined, I read the same books they read and explored the same higher criticism of the biblical documents that so many of my friends took on board."

Now, who to tag...
LutheranChik, Andy, Kelly, Beth, and Melissa, you're it!

Books I've Read

2008-02-13T10:14:00.005-05:00

So, Kevin listed all the books he read last year. I don’t read that much but I thought I’d share about the books I’ve read so far this year.

The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs

This book must have received a lot of media hype last year because I ended up with 3 copies of it. I was at a local discount shop, a place that gets a lot of one-off stuff, remaindered stuff, stuff with a torn box but the contents are perfectly good. I’ve noticed a lot of Costco stuff in that store. And they sell it at a great price. It’s our favourite store in town. But I digress.

Just before Christmas we were in there and I saw this book, read the jacket, and it looked interesting to me so I bought it. Well, it’s true that you shouldn’t buy yourself anything just before Christmas because I got it as a present from a sister-in-law, explained that I already had it, and passed it on to my brother-in-law. Then, just after Christmas, at a 12th Night Party a parishioner gave it to me as well. I explained that it was now my third copy and passed it on to someone else at the party and said she could just pass it on when she finished with it.

It’s a really neat book. It’s interesting. It’s funny. It makes you think. Jacobs admits that he’s an agnostic but it started to sound like he was discovering something profound as the year went on. The Holy Spirit? I noticed it the most when he wrote about prayer. He prayed because it was commanded but his praying seemed to change the way he thought about people and things. It’s like if you pray for someone you can’t help but start to feel godly toward them.

Living Lutheran: Renewing your Congregation by Dave Daubert

I find this to be a very practical book. Daubert is now part of the A.R.E. (A Renewal Enterprise) team of Kelly Fryer and Tana Kjos. If you read Fryer’s Reclaiming the "L" Word: Renewing the Church from Its Lutheran Core then you might remember the "Five Guiding Principles" that she and her congregation came up with during their renewal.

Daubert writes about developing and using a Purpose Statement as well as developing Guiding Principles to help with congregational renewal. He even gives a sample day-long retreat agenda for developing the statement and principles. I’m hoping/planning to do this in my congregation.
An example that I found enlightening and (hopefully) encouraging refers to an ELCA study that found that after a decade-long churchwide evangelism strategy, membership and attendance overall had declined. The study found that declining and growing congregations had tried some of the same evangelism techniques and tactics but the growing congregations were almost always clear about two things. "First, they were clear about their purpose or their vision for ministry. They had an understanding of what God was doing and how they could be a part of that. It was known and shared by the membership. It was as important to many in the pews as it was to the pastors in the pulpit. Second, these vibrant congregations showed an openness to change in order to be faithful. ‘We’ve never done it that way before,’ was replaced with, ‘What do we need to do to be effective for God?’" (p. 15).

When I mentioned this to our council earlier this month I was greeted mostly by silence but at least no opposition.

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards

I received this book from another sister-in-law who got it used herself and then passed it on after reading it. I really liked it. It’s rather sad at times, but there is redemption as well.

This is a screwed up family because of one decision that turned into a secret that snowballed into an unhappy marriage, an unhappy family. The truth does finally come out in a way but it doesn’t make everything better all of a sudden. It’s realistic. Even though it doesn’t end "happily ever after" I found it to be a happy ending.

Reclaiming the "C" Word: Daring to be Church Again by Kelly Fryer

This was a re-read. I love the stuff Kelly Fryer writes. I’m a regular visitor to her blog. Her next "reclaiming" book is supposed to come out this week, Reclaiming the "E" Word: Waking Up to Our Evangelical Identity. I look forward to getting it and reading it. Fryer is challenging to me. I get excited by the possibilities that I see for our churches. But I like some of what the church is and does and sometimes she says, or implies, that what we’re doing is holding us back from being all that we can in God’s mission.

I’m kind of a fan of the vestments, the ceremony, the liturgy, the organ, the old hymns. Can’t we keep that as we renew the church, as we dare to be church again? It might take a while for me to let go of some things and take others up.

Crappy TV

2008-02-12T23:31:00.002-05:00

We've become more and more disappointed with what's on TV. I admit that I'm something of a TV junky. But there used to be much better stuff on the tube. What ever happened to sitcoms? There used to be stuff on there that you could watch with your kids. There are still sitcoms on TV but very little that I'd consider suitable for watching as a family. Most of them seem to be about sex. I find some of them funny but only watch them once the kids are in bed.

The problem is all of the "reality" shows. You don't have to pay actors. You don't need very talented writers. You just need some idiots who want to make fools of themselves by singing badly, by locking themselves into a house with a bunch of strangers, by doing stupid stunts

A few years ago we started buying some of our old favourite programs on DVD. We've got the entire series of M*A*S*H, we've got some seasons of Home Improvement, some seasons of I Love Lucy, some Happy Days, some Cosby, some of the britcoms like Vicar of Dibley, Bless Me Father, As Time Goes By, Ballykissangel, All Creatures Great and Small.

What's annoying is that we bought the first three seasons of Boy Meets World and the first season of Murphy Brown and now we've found that they're not releasing any more of either of those series because sales were less than they hoped for the ones they did release. AAARRRGGGHHH!

If I Were American

2008-02-11T12:16:00.000-05:00

I took a quiz here and it told me how closely I agree with the different presidential candidates in the U.S. It turns out I’m a Hillary fan. Here’s how the numbers came out for me.

Clinton — 90.31%
Obama — 88.02%
Huckabee — 70.69%
Romney — 68.10%
McCain — 67.19%
Paul — 64.57%

I know I’m on the left side of the political spectrum. I haven’t followed the races in the U.S. very closely so I didn’t really know who I favoured based on issues or personalities. This quiz puts only 2.29% between Clinton and Obama when it comes to my agreement with them.

I find it very strange how different candidates seem to get support from different segments of society. For instance one gets more hispanic/latino support, another black support, another women’s support, another union support, then the various religious factions and their support. Then it often hinges on personalities and endorsements by various politicians and celebrities.

I wish elections were held, and people's votes were cast, based on a real platform and real issues rather than soundbites and fragmenting the population into various interest groups. Tell me what you're going to do for me, for my country, for my planet. But more importantly tell me what you're going to do for those who can't speak up for themselves, for the ones who need a lot more help than I need, for future generations.

Lent?

2008-02-06T14:22:00.000-05:00

The season after Epiphany was too short. Now it's Lent already. Lent is supposed to mean spring. But Lent will end just as spring starts.

So, what do I give up for Lent? In years past I've tried giving up pop and chips. I managed to do it but was miserable about it. Is that the point of fasting from something?

This year I decided that instead of giving anything up I'll take up a few things. I'll be more intentional about reading the Bible (other than what I have to read to prepare a sermon), setting aside time for prayer (besides the anytime, anywhere prayers), and I'll add some physical activity into my routine. So:

I'll read the daily scripture readings suggested in my desk calendar.
I'll pray the Great Litany (LBW p. 168 or ELW 238).
I'll get out the skipping rope and get my heart rate up and try to gradually increase the time I spend at it.

How does that stack up to the discipline of Lent that contends against evil and resists whatever leads us away from love of God and neighbour? Self-examination and repentance, prayer and fasting, sacrificial giving and works of love? Maybe part of that is in there.

I'm preaching tonight about alms-giving, fasting, and prayer (Matthew 6.1-6, 16-21). Really I'm quoting a lot from Walter Wangerin Jr.'s Whole Prayer: Speaking and Listening to God where he talks a bit about those disciplines. Maybe I'll slip some fasting into my lenten discipline. I don't know how, yet, or when. But I'll have to find some way to do it without it making me miserable.

Have a blessed Lent everyone.

Sick Sucks

2008-01-30T14:23:00.000-05:00

I have been sick for a week and a half. It started after church on the Second Sunday after Epiphany (Jan. 20). I just couldn't keep warm so I wore my coat through the soup lunch that our Evangelical Lutheran Women served and through the annual congregational meeting that followed. After the meeting I went home and fell asleep on the couch under a blanket. I woke a couple of hours later and went up to bed. That evening I had a fever of 103 ("hot blooded, check it and see").

That week our local ministerial was having services for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and I was scheduled to preach on the Tuesday (Jan. 22). I dragged myself out of bed to preach there and then got back in bed for the rest of the week. I started feeling better by the weekend but didn't have time to write a sermon so I downloaded one from textweek.com that I thought was pretty good. I wasn't as impressed on Sunday when I read it from the pulpit. Sunday morning I was having sweats again so I didn't shake hands with anyone and asked someone else to distribute Holy Communion in my place.

This week I'm a bit better but somehow not 100%. I don't know what I had or have. It's not really a cold, not really flu either. It was a fever that came and went, I'd alternate between chills and sweats, I'd have a headachy, light-headed feeling at times that I'd take Tylenol for. This week I wake up feeling fine but as the day progresses I feel more and more crappy.

Now I'm trying to catch up on things I didn't do last week. I started a 7 week Bible Study series on Monday night. I have a council meeting tonight. I have a funeral tomorrow. I'm driving 3 kids to the Seminary Youth Day two hours away on Saturday. And next week Lent starts which isn't really a reduced workload. I hope I get some of my energy back by then.

John Calvin?

2008-01-14T17:17:00.000-05:00

Which theologian are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as John Calvin

Much of what is now called Calvinism had more to do with his followers than Calvin himself, and so you may or may not be committed to TULIP, though God's sovereignty is all important.

John Calvin

87%

Jürgen Moltmann

80%

Anselm

60%

Karl Barth

53%

Martin Luther

47%

Paul Tillich

40%

Charles Finney

33%

Augustine

27%

Jonathan Edwards

20%

Friedrich Schleiermacher

20%

...about Nine Ladies Dancing

2008-01-06T00:31:00.000-05:00

I wrote this for the local newspaper and it appeared this past Wednesday.

Today is the ninth day of Christmas, thus the reference to Nine Ladies Dancing. By now many of the gifts from last week’s Christmas celebrations might be put away, some forgotten, some maybe even broken. You might be tired of leftover turkey. Hopefully you’ve recovered from New Year’s Eve celebrations. Now you might have credit card statements to look forward to, more likely to dread. You think you spent a lot on Christmas gifts? Think about the bill for the gifts the “True Love” gave in the song.

12 Partridges in Pear Trees
22 Turtle Doves
30 French Hens
36 Calling Birds
40 Golden Rings
42 Geese a-Laying
42 Swans a-Swimming
40 Maids a-Milking
36 Ladies Dancing
30 Lords a-Leaping
22 Pipers Piping
12 Drummers Drumming

It’s not exactly a list you’d consult when you need a gift idea for your true love (except maybe the golden rings). And I think this gift giver went a little overboard.

Now I’m not one of those who constantly complains about the commercialism and materialism of Christmas. I do think that some people do go overboard, not necessarily with 42 Swans a-Swimming etc., but by spending way beyond their limit or by not setting a limit at all.

I like giving gifts at Christmas and I like getting gifts as well. I’ve been through 42 Christmases and I still like getting frivolous toys like some new video games and DVDs to mindlessly while away the hours in front of the TV. Sometimes a bit of escape can be a really good thing.

I guess you’d expect a pastor to come up with the good Sunday School answer that Christmas isn’t really about the giving and getting of presents. Or maybe the next best thing might be something about the “spirit of giving.” But this year I told my own kids that Christmas is really all about getting.

If you really think about it that’s what Christmas is about. Not primarily about the fat man in the red suit, although that’s part of it too. Christmas is about the greatest gift ever, given to all people. That’s the message the angel had for the shepherds on the first Christmas. “I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).

See, Christmas is all about getting. And this “spirit of getting” lasts all year. Salvation isn’t restricted to the 12 days from December 25 to January 5. It’s a gift “for all the people” all year round and their whole lives long. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May the peace of Christ rule in your hea

Nativity of Our Lord 2007

2008-01-02T17:02:00.000-05:00

Nativity of Our Lord — Christmas Eve
December 24, 2007
Luke 2.1-14 [15-20]
Thomas Arth

The hills are bare at Bethlehem,
No future for the world they show;
Yet here new life begins to grow,
From earth's old dust a greenwood stem.

The hills are cold at Bethlehem,
No warmth for those beneath the sky;
Yet here the radiant angels fly,
And joy burns new, a fiery gem.

The heart is tired at Bethlehem,
No human dream unbroken stands;
Yet here God comes to mortal hands,
And hope renewed cries out: "Amen!"
Royce J. Sherf

Many of you know, but some may not know,
that a couple of months ago I participated in a tour
called a Bible Lands Discovery Tour.
We were a group of 25 people from B.C., Alberta,
Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario and
we started our tour in Egypt, traveling on to Jordan,
and ending up in Israel.
While in Israel we visited some of the sites
where some of the events in the life of Jesus took place,
or may have taken place,
and one of those places was Bethlehem.

I was looking forward to visiting Bethlehem.
I wanted to see Christmas Town.
Not the place up at the North Pole
where Santa and his elves make preparations for tonight's deliveries.
I was looking forward to seeing the first Christmas town.
The place where Mary delivered to us a Saviour.
The place where shepherds heard the angels' hymn of praise
and a message of good news of great joy for all people.
Someone on the tour who had been to the Holy Land 10 years ago
warned me that I'd probably be disappointed,
but I didn't want to hear that so I ignored it
and continued to look forward to visiting Bethlehem.

Well, it wasn't what I expected.
Oh, I knew I wouldn't be seeing the Bethlehem
of our Christmas Greeting Cards.
I knew it wouldn't be a tiny village
that had a few inns with stables out back.
Maybe if I'd done a bit more research
I would have known what to expect.
What I found was a big city, a fairly busy city,
with lots of traffic in the streets.
It was also a somewhat poor looking place.
It was quite a contrast to the parts of Jerusalem
that we had come through on our way to Bethlehem.
The impression of Bethlehem that stays in my mind the most
is the wall.
You see, Bethlehem is in the West Bank, that portion of Israel
that had been a part of the country of Jordan from 1948 to 1967.
The population of the West Bank is mostly Palestinian
and the Israeli government
has approved the construction of a barrier.
The name of the barrier depends on who you're asking.
The Israeli government calls it a "security fence"
and Palestinians call it an "apartheid wall."
To avoid either of these political connotations the BBC, for one,
uses the terms "barrier," "separation barrier,"
or "West Bank barrier" as generic descriptions.
The total length when finished will be about 700 kilometres,
90% of which will be a network of fences and trenches
and 10 % of which will be 8 metre high concrete walls.
I'm not going to get into the pros and cons and the politics of the barrier.
The reason I'm making mention of it
is that I was rather disturbed by it when I was there.
To get into Bethlehem from Jerusalem,
our tour bus had to pass through a check-point on the way in
and again on the way out,
and the barrier in this place is the concrete wall,
a huge imposing wall, 8 metres high (that's 26 feet).
Just on the outskirts of Bethlehem we looked down into a quiet valley
that could have been the kind of place
where the shepherds might have watched their flocks
on the night of Jesus' birth,
and we were told that the barrier wall
will go down the centre of that valley.

It was disturbing to me because it's so unfamiliar to me.
We live in a relatively peaceful part of the world.
We don't see soldiers standing on every street corner.
My travels didn't take me anywhere near any current conflict
but the evidence was there.
The wall, the check-points,
the metal detectors on the way into every hotel and mall.
As we drove up in the Golan Heights we passed fields that were fenced
and signs on the fences that warned of landmines in those fields.
We saw soldiers all over the place.
Military service is required there and I saw young women,
to me they were still girls,
in uniform with rifles slung over their shoulders.
Some tourist areas and hotels had soldiers stationed out front.
It was disturbing and it was sad
that there isn't peace in the birthplace of the Prince of Peace.
But then I had to think that it's nothing new.
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem
the land was under occupation by Rome.
Beginning during the reign of Augustus Caesar
there was a relative peace in the Roman Empire
but it was a peace enforced by the military,
a peace filled with tension and resentment.
Israel was a place where uprisings
had to frequently be put down by force.
It would be easy to understand how someone might express
the sentiment described in the hymn I sang.
The hills are bare at Bethlehem,
No future for the world they show;
But into that place and time of unrest and seeming hopelessness
a couple of poor travelers make a journey
from Nazareth to Bethlehem.
And they know something the rest of the world hasn't yet heard.
Yet here new life begins to grow,
From earth's old dust a greenwood stem.
Mary had received the promise.
"Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.
Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God.
And now, you will conceive in your womb
and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.
He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne
of his ancestor David.
He will reign over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his kingdom there will be no end."
Joseph also received the promise.
"Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife,
for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus,
for he will save his people from their sins."

In the Egyptian portion of our Bible Lands Tour we visited Mount Sinai,
the place where tradition says Moses brought the liberated Israelites
and received the Ten Commandments.
We were given the opportunity to climb the mountain.
We started out at 12:30 in the middle of the night
so that we would be at the top to watch the sunrise.
As we headed toward our climb
we could pick out the small fires of Bedouin guides in the cold night.
Some of them would be our guides as we climbed.
As I saw the men huddled around their fires
with their camels lying nearby
I could imagine the shepherds
on the hillsides around Bethlehem
trying to find some warmth
as they kept watch over their sheep.
The hills are cold at Bethlehem,
No warmth for those beneath the sky;
But out in those fields on the sides of those hills
they would hear God's words of promise as well.
They would hear a choir concert like no one had ever heard
or has heard since.
Those shepherds on the hills outside of Bethlehem
weren't in any position to afford expensive concert tickets.
They were the working poor.
But then an angel appeared.
"Do not be afraid;
for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people:
to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour,
who is the Messiah, the Lord.
This will be a sign for you:
you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth
and lying in a manger."
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host,
praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favours!"
Yet here the radiant angels fly,
And joy burns new, a fiery gem.
The shepherds went to see for themselves what the angel had told them
and returned, glorifying and praising God
for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Who was that good news for?
We hear the readings for this night,
especially the Gospel reading, the familiar story of Jesus' birth.
"In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus ..."
and right away our minds go into history mode.
Emperor Augustus ... the first registration ...
while Quirinius was governor of Syria ...."
We think of quaint pastoral scenes,
the way I might have been imagining Bethlehem
before I actually went there.
But the promises that Mary, Joseph, and the Shepherds heard
were not only given to them,
and they were not only given for that time and that place.
This night when we gather here
and sing some favourite carols and hear some familiar stories
is not only about those days.
The promises are for us and for our time and place
just as much as they were for those people way back when.
And this night isn't only about those days
but for these days as well.
The heart is tired at Bethlehem,
No human dream unbroken stands;
We need to hear the words of the angels
as much as Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds,
or anyone else who heard them
and witnessed the miracles of that night did.
The promises come for a tired heart
that is disturbed by the violence, the tension, the un-peace.
The promises come for the broken human dreams
that leave us without hope.
Yet here God comes to mortal hands,
And hope renewed cries out: "Amen!"
More than taking us to Bethlehem,
the Word of this night comes to where we are.
Without these angelic words of promise
we'd be better off somewhere else doing something else tonight.
But I believe we are better off here, doing this, worshiping God
and hearing these words that are meant for us.

God came to Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds so long ago and so far away.
But God comes to us tonight, right here.
In a few moments we will hear the words
"given for you ... shed for you."
Christ was born all those years ago and the promises came true
that Mary, Joseph, and the Shepherds heard.
Christ comes again to us tonight,
not in some historic words about something that happened long ago,
but in a real way in this holy moment.
"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
on them light has shined."
"The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not overcome it."
May the light of Christ shine in your heart this night and always,
and may we bear that divine light to all the world.
Yet here God comes to mortal hands,
And hope renewed cries out: "Amen!

What a Concert

2007-12-11T12:50:00.001-05:00

This past Saturday was the premiere performance by the Chorus Niagara Children's Choir. I was there because one of my daughters is one of the members of this new choir. Chorus Niagara is a premiere choir in these parts, maybe even in all of Ontario. They established a children's choir under their umbrella this year. There are almost 50 voices in this children's choir and they sound terrific.

Saturday night was a concert of both the adult chorus and the children's choir with some pieces being sung together and others separately. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as they sang. It was just beautiful. The concert was held in the Cathedral of St. Catherine of Alexandria in St. Catharines, Ontario.

My favourite piece that the children sang was a Hebrew language song called "Al Shlosha D'varim." The words go like this:
Al shlosha d'varim haolam kayam,
al haemet v'al hadin v'al hashalom.

Translated it means:
The world is sustained by three things,
by truth, by justice, and by peace.

I can't wait to hear them again. I was so proud.

Here's a review in the paper.

Advent Already -- Christmas Soon

2007-12-06T15:00:00.000-05:00

This is my article for the current church newsletter coming out this Sunday.

Boy, Advent has snuck up on me. I’m sitting down to write this on November 26. In a month Christmas will be over. Well actually it won’t be over, it will only have just started, but it will feel like it’s over. We have such a build up through the month of December leading up to Christmas and then when the day is past, when all the bits of wrapping paper have been picked up, when the dishes have been washed and the leftovers are in various plastic containers in the back of the fridge, then it feels like Christmas is over.

But I’m getting way ahead of myself. As I write this Christmas is just a month away and I feel totally unprepared. I haven’t bought any presents yet (although my wife does most of the Christmas shopping and she’s got most of it done and wrapped already). Many of you know that I returned recently (on November 15) from an 19 day tour of the Holy Land, through parts of Egypt, Jordan, and Israel. Now I’m barely back to work and Advent and the busy month of December and the Christmas season are here.

Some radio stations are playing 24 hours of Christmas songs and carols. The stores are decorated. Our homes are being decorated. We’re making our lists and checking them twice, just like Santa Claus. The sounds of Christmas are rising in a crescendo that I feel somewhat ambivalent about. I love Christmas music, in fact I’m bending and breaking my household rule about playing Christmas music. It’s starting earlier every year. I’ve got my radio in the house and in the car tuned to the all Christmas music station. I like seeing the decorations out. I’m hoping for a somewhat warm day without rain so that I can get the lights and decorations put up outside the house.

But, on the other hand, I have this feeling that we’re rushing toward Christmas. We’re going to get there too soon. I want to hold off just a little longer. For that side of me I’m glad we have the season of Advent. Advent is a time of waiting. And Advent is a time of silence amid much noise. Advent is a time to think about another way, a different way.

During Advent we hear two words. On the Sundays in Advent we will hear readings from Isaiah where weapons of death are transformed into tools for cultivation (Isa 2:4). The ravenous wolf will no longer be a predator and the lamb will sleep soundly and securely through the night (Isa 11:6). The earth itself will no longer be barren or spoiled (Isa 35:1). The weak will be made strong (Isa 35:3). This is the word of comfort for the afflicted.

That’s not the only image we see nor the only news we hear during Advent. There is a sound of alarm and warnings to be ready. Wake up! (Rom 13:11) Stay awake! (Mt 24:42) Repent! (Mt 3:2) A thief is coming! (Mt 24:42-43) The judge is standing at the doors! (Jas 5:9). This is the word of affliction for the comfortable. Advent, if we really take the time and pay attention to what God is saying to us through the Word, asks us to step back and think differently about things. Advent asks us to consider what we do and why we do it and to give God a place in all that we do.

When we finally get to Christmas, the silence of Advent will have prepared us for joyful celebration. There are two words at Christmas as well as in Advent. There is the word of the gift of a baby born in a stable in Bethlehem, the word of hope that is born in each of our hearts as we hear the message of peace that the angels sing. It’s the image of a "baby-Jesus-for-me." But Christmas also brings another word presenting a "Jesus-who-is-for-us" and a "Jesus-who-frees-people." On the same night that we hear of the birth of the babe in Bethlehem, we also hear the words of the adult Christ who is broken and poured out in bread and wine. When we see the wooden manger we can’t forget the wooden cross.

Our hymns don’t let us forget these two words of Christmas. We sing "Silent night, holy night! All is calm, all is bright round yon virgin mother and child." But another favourite is "What Child Is This" where the second verse says "Nails, spear shall pierce him through, the cross be borne for me, for you; hail, hail the Word made flesh, the babe, the son of Mary!"

I’m not a party-pooper. I will soon get caught up in the festivities of the season. But I’ll try to keep some silence during Advent to think about what we’re really waiting for and preparing for. And between the opening of gifts, the visiting of friends and family, and the feasting that will inevitably be a joyful part of Christmas I’ll try to set aside some time to ponder the sacrifice God made by coming down to be one of us. Maybe you can too.

Merry Christmas,
Pastor Tom

Days 15 and 16

2007-12-05T10:30:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, November 13
Today we started by going to Jericho. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho is almost all downhill. Jerusalem is above sea level and Jericho is down below sea level just north of the Dead Sea. This is the road where Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan takes place. The area on the way down is like desert wilderness. Nomadic Bedouins in very poor shacks and tents live in the valleys and on the hillsides off to the side of the highway where their flocks of goats and sheep live off of what appears to be very little grass growing here or there.

Jericho is like a ghost town. It’s part of the Palestinian territory of the West Bank and very poor. There are nice looking farms around but Samir says they can’t sell their produce outside of town and definitely not in Israeli territory. In town we saw an old sycamore tree like the one Zacchaeus climbed to get a better view of Jesus as he was walking through town. We also went to the Mount of Temptation where Jesus might have spent his 40 days after his baptism. There is a monastery built into the cliff walls where pilgrims come to spend their 40 days of Lent. We stopped in town at a store that sells glassware, china/stone ware, and Dead Sea cosmetic products.

From Jericho we went to the district along the Dead Sea, first to Qumran to see some ruins of the Essene village and the cave where the first Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Samir was telling us some cock-a-mamie stories about the Essenes following Jesus around recording stories of his life and ministry, another story about some Jews in Ethiopia preserving some identical scrolls to the ones found at Qumran. I’m finding him harder and harder to believe and to understand just what he’s trying to get at sometimes.

From Qumran we drove to Masada. I slept all the way and missed most of Samir’s theories that the whole Masada story as related by Josephus is a lie, sham, hoax, cover-up, etc. He doesn’t believe one bit of the story about the Zealots’ suicides after the lengthy siege by the Romans. His stories are just loonie if you ask me.

From Masada we drove up to Ein Gedi on the shore of the Dead Sea. It’s a spa with a beach. I went first down to the beach. The water level has gone down so much that you have to take a tram about a kilometre or more to get to the sea. It’s not a sand beach but salt, and sharp prickly salt on your bare feet. But floating in the Sea is the most amazing and weird sensation. You just can’t sink! There is no way. You can sit and just float, lie and just float. The water was nice and warm but when you rubbed your skin it felt kind of oily. After taking the tram back up to the spa some of us put mud on ourselves. I don’t know where the mud comes from or what it’s supposed to do but I smeared it on and then showered it off. After changing we drove back to the hotel. Tonight I did some re-packing in preparation for tomorrow night when we won’t sleep much before we head home. I can’t wait. Tomorrow we see Old Jerusalem, our last day of touring. I want to see that but I’m all toured out.

Wednesday, November 14
Last day. Today we did Jerusalem. We started at the western wall, the wailing wall, the wall is not part of the temple but part of the retaining wall that held up the whole temple complex at the time of Jesus. We had to go through metal detectors, then the men had a section separate from the women, and we could go up to the wall. I had my picture taken in front of it and touched it. There were hundreds and thousands of slips of paper with prayers on them tucked into the cracks between the stones.

After that we went to the temple mount itself after passing through another security check-point. The temple hasn’t stood there since 70 AD. Now a couple of mosques stand there as it is also a holy place for Muslims. The big golden dome is over a large slab of rock where Abraham nearly sacrificed Isaac (or Ishmael, it depends on whose story you hear).

From there we walked down to the Old City, saw the Bethesda pools where Jesus healed a paralytic and right next to them is the place Mary might have been born(?). From there we started on the Via Dolorosa seeing the stations of the cross. This is so totally hokey. This is probably not the route Jesus took to Golgotha. We don’t really know exactly where Golgotha is. Apparently the route has changed over the centuries. But along the way are these arbitrary stations with a chapel here,a sign or a sculpture there, and some people (our guide included) seem to take this all as fact.

At the end we came to the church of the Holy Sepulchre which is worse than a circus. There are crowds, noisy crowds, and line-ups of people to see the rock that was part of the hill where Jesus was crucified, the slab of stone where he was taken down from the cross and wrapped, and then a marble slab under which is the stone where his body was laid. Absolutely ridiculous.

Next came one of the better parts of the day when I shared a bagel with Doug. This was some bagel, oval shaped and over a foot long, and really yummy. Some of the others who bought bagels couldn’t finish theirs and gave me their leftovers.

After this bite to eat we went to the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer which is very close to the Sepulchre. The church seems to have services in German and Arabic. We didn’t climb the steeple but you can see it from all around. It must have a great view.

Next we went to see the (an) upper room. It’s so ridiculous to believe they ate the last supper there. Downstairs in the same building we went into King David’s tomb. Silly. Next to that building is the Church of Mary’s Dormition where she is supposed to have lived after Jesus’ Ascension and from where she was taken up into heaven without dying.

From there we drove to the Garden Tomb which is on the other side of the Old City from the Sepulchre. It’s a garden owned by some British that contains a tomb and has a skull shaped cliff where they think it might be just as likely, if not more likely, that Jesus was crucified and buried. It’s a much prettier place than the Sepulchre and they provide the opportunity for groups to have a communion service, which we did, which people liked, and which was the end of our tour itinerary.

For dinner the local tour company took us for a special dinner at a restaurant in Bethlehem. We almost didn’t get into Bethlehem because they didn’t want to let our tour guide through. We finally did get through with him and had a dinner of stuffed lamb (lamb stuffed with rice). It was delicious.

We came back to the hotel and I tried to take a nap before our 12:30 a.m. wake-up call. Then we’ll drive to the airport in Tel Aviv and head home. Yay!!!

Days 13 and 14

2007-12-04T13:49:00.000-05:00

Sunday, November 11
Today was a very strange day for me. It started out pretty much like a lot of our days with packing up, having breakfast, and heading out on the bus.

Our first stop was Megiddo which is also known as Armageddon. It's a city at an important crossroads through the area. There were anywhere from 20 to 25 different cities and fortifications built on this site through history. Solomon and Ahab built fortress cities there. A really interesting feature is a shaft and tunnel leading to a spring outside the city. We walked down through and out the other end where the bus picked us up.

From there we drove to Caesarea by the sea. There was a large theatre, a harbour, a hippodrome, and an aqueduct built by Herod the Great. It was impressive. The Mediterranean was very choppy from a lot of wind. Some of us walked on the beach. A few were surprised by some waves and got wet shoes.

From there we drove through Tel Aviv, through Jerusalem, and into Bethlehem. We were just going for lunch and to a store. I was quite disturbed seeing "the wall." I'd seen some pictures and heard reports in the news but didn't know if we'd see it. Bethlehem is in the Palestinian Authority's area of the West Bank and a concrete wall about 30 feet high separates the Palestinian and Israeli areas to keep them each on their respective sides. Within the city of Bethlehem is "Rachel's Tomb," a special site for Israelis, so a wall surrounds it as well. We passed through an Israeli checkpoint first, and then a Palestinian checkpoint, and then went for lunch. It was such a strange juxtaposition. After lunch we went to a souvenir shop right across the street from the wall surrounding Rachel's Tomb. Our guide had been talking about this shop since we met him 3 days ago. Only thing was this was no mere souvenir shop. Here they were selling antiquities, jewelry, and olive wood carvings that were very pricey. I couldn't get in the mindset of spending one or two hundred dollars on pretty things with that wall across the street still on my mind so I wandered around with my hands in my pockets.

I'm getting tired. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the "supposed" sites where things happened in the life of Jesus but I'm tired of riding the bus, tired of living out of my suitcase, tired of being herded from one place to the next, especially tired of being away from my family, tired of eating hotel food. I can't wait to go home.

Monday, November 12
Today we did some touring in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. It's so hard not to be cynical about a lot of this. We started from a hill that overlooks the old city of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, then we drove around to the Mount of Olives. This is an important place in Jesus' life. He would always come from the Mount of Olives when he came to Jerusalem, the Garden of Gethsemane is at or near its base, and his Ascension happened there.

We started at the church of the Ascension, actually a Mosque, where, believe it or not, his footprint can be seen. I took a picture but there were a whole bunch of women down on their knees kissing the rock. From there we headed down a road that may have been part of the procession of palms or the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. Along the way we stopped at the church of the "Pater Noster." Now Matthew says Jesus taught the Lord's Prayer in the Sermon on the Mount in Galilee but in Luke it comes after a visit to Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in Bethany which is just over the Mount of Olives. So the story is that Jesus would come to a cave within the property of this church to pray and once the disciples asked him to teach them to pray. This church has panels with the Lord's Prayer in dozens, maybe over 100, different languages on various walls inside and outside the church and in the courtyard. I took numerous pictures but didn't get inside the cave. It was too crowded.

From there we continued down the Mount to the "Dominus Flevit" (The Lord Wept) Chapel. Supposedly here Jesus wept over the fate of Jerusalem. We walked further down to the Church of All Nations also known as the Church of the Agony because in front of the altar is the exposed rock on which Jesus prayed on the night of his arrest. Outside is a remnant of the Garden of Gethsemane with some really old olive trees, centuries old. Samir claimed that at least one was there when Jesus was. I have my doubts.

Next we did something completely different. We went to "Yad Vashem," named after a Hebrew phrase from Isaiah 56:5 that means "a name and a place" or "a monument and a name." It is a Holocaust memorial and museum. It's a huge complex, a modern complex, and it is beautifully and well done. You could spend a whole day there. I took my time going through and didn't have time to see everything in the main section and there were other areas I didn't even see. It was very sad but also ironic. There were descriptions of the Jewish ghettoes where they were walled in and denied their freedom to move from place to place or make a living. Now Israel is doing something similar to Palestine. Certainly not along the lines of a Holocaust or genocide but I saw some parallels.

From Yad Vashem we went to Bethlehem. I was really looking forward to visiting the "Christmas town," but someone said I'll be disappointed and I was. It's certainly not "O Little Town of Bethlehem." It's a crowded and busy city. A lot of the churches we've visited so far have been quite beautiful. The church over the supposed birthplace of the Saviour of the world is a dingy kind of decrepit looking place. It's very old, very empty, not particularly beautiful. We climbed down some steps to a little room under the main chancel where, under an altar, is a silver star set in a marble slab with a hole in the middle that reveals the rock where Jesus was born. We saw more caves/grottoes and heard some preposterous stories from Samir about what they were supposed to be that I don't even want to mention anything about it. Oh, and up in the Church of the Nativity, to add to the ugliness and cheesiness, there were tacky Christmas balls hanging from all of the lights and chandeliers.

From there we went to the "Shepherds' Field." We saw some caves where the shepherds were apparently watching their sheep when the angels appeared. One couple who toured the Holy Land 10 years ago said they're different fields and caves then they saw back then.

People always want to shop and so we went to another store just like the one yesterday. I was hoping to get a little something more but this place didn't have anything I wanted.

Tonight some people went to a music and dancing show of local Israeli and Palestinian folk music and dancing. I stayed behind in the hotel room and watched TV.

Days 11 and 12

2007-12-03T11:04:00.000-05:00

Friday, November 9
Today was a busy day with a number of sights to see. We started by going to Hazor where an excavation has revealed the remains of a fortress built by Solomon and enlarged by Ahab to help secure the northern frontier of Israel. From there we drove to Banias, also known as Caesarea Philippi, where a lot of pagan worship took place and where Jesus asked the disciples "Who do people say that I am?" and "Who do you say that I am?" There Peter made his famous confession: "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Banias is "a" or "the" main source of the Jordan River. There was also a ruin of a temple dedicated to Caesar Augustus who was consider a son of the gods. In a place where people worship Caesar, a son of the gods, Peter confessed the Jesus was the Son of the living God. Driving up to Banias we passed by wire fences along the roadside with small yellow signs all along warning to stay out because of landmines. This is in the Golan Heights, a part of Israel that was taken from Syria.

From there we headed back down to the Sea of Galilee and were taken to a restaurant that served "St. Peter's fish" (Tilapia) that came with head and tail and fins all intact. The people who had it liked it but many were unimpressed with the high price and the poor (rude at times) service and the limited selection of food there.

After lunch we made a brief stop (I felt like our tour guide was rushing us) on a kibbutz where they found, have preserved, and are displaying, a boat that was found in the mud near the shore of the Sea of Galilee during a time of drought in 1986. It's likely a fishing boat dated to the first century BC or first century AD. The type of boat Jesus and the disciples might have sailed in on that very lake.

From there we went to the site (?) of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. There are churches built over all of these places and this one has a rock under the altar where Jesus supposedly sat when he blessed and distributed the bread and fish to the multitude.

From there we rode the bus what seemed like a few hundred metres to the Church of the Primacy of Peter where, again supposedly, Jesus cooked breakfast on the shore for the disciples who were fishing. This was after the resurrection when Jesus asked Peter 3 times "do you love me" and told him to feed and tend his sheep. In this church there's a huge are of an outcropping of rock where, I guess, Jesus sat and cooked breakfast.

From there we went to Capernaum which really only exists in the excavated ruins. There is what is believed may be Peter's house over which a number of churches have been built. They were all octagonal shaped and a new modern church, also octagonally shaped, has been built over the site, but suspended on 8 columns around the outside with a window in the centre of the floor looking down on the ruins. There are also the remains of a residential area and the partial reconstruction of a 4th century AD synagogue.

From Capernaum we rode a boat across the lake back to our hotel in Tiberias. And wouldn't you know, the sky got cloudy and the wind picked up. People were asking if Doug and I had any prayers for calming the sea.

The lake is what strikes me most about this place. A lot of the traditions about these sites are so bogus but this is the lake where the disciples fished, where Jesus went out in the boat and preached, where he walked on the water and calmed the storm. We had morning devotions, before we set out today, overlooking the lake. Samir made a good point about the lake. All the water it receives it gives away at the other end and it is a living and life-giving lake. The Dead Sea, that receives water from the Jordan but has no outlet, is just that, dead.

On the boat ride they were playing some Christian music which included: "Put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water. Put your hand in the hand of the man who calmed the sea.

After supper Doug and I walked through the town of Tiberias. You could have fired a cannon through there and not hit anyone. The Sabbath began at sundown so everything was closed except for a few corner cafes that hardly had anyone in them. We saw maybe a few more than a dozen people on our walk, probably all tourists.

Tomorrow we end up in Nazareth.

Saturday, November 10
Today we left Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee. Some of the places we visited around there weren't exactly stirring to me but the lake made an impression on me.

We drove up through the town of Tiberias and went to Sepphoris, a short distance from Nazareth, to see some ruins of the former city there. Sepphoris, or Tsipori, is the supposed birthplace of Mary. There are some truly amazing mosiacs that were uncovered there. We climbed to the top of a Crusader citadel and could see Nazareth, Cana, and the Mediterranean Sea. This is also the place where the Mishnah (the first written record of the Oral teachings of the Jewish people) was written down c. 200 AD.

From there we drove to Akko. My guidebook to Jerusalem and the Holy Land describes it as "the most complete and charming old town in all of the Holy Land ... outside of Jerusalem." Our Rostad tour booklet said we'd get to walk through the town but we drove all the way there and walked up some stairs to the top of the old wall overlooking the Mediterranean, then got back on the bus and drove to Nazareth. Going to Akko turned out to be a complete waste of time. We ended up at our hotel, finished with our day, at 3 p.m. We could have easily spent an hour or more there. But before we ended up in our hotel we toured Nazareth.

Nazareth had no charm or historic atmosphere as far as I'm concerned. It's just a big city. First we stopped for a bite of lunch for those who wanted some. He took us to a falafel and shawerma place. That's Middle Eastern fast food. A few had some. A bunch of us went to a little variety store a few doors down. I bought a Coke and a can of Pringles.

After eating we went to the Basilica of the Annunciation. It's a neat place. On the main level are the remains of the original Byzantine church and the later Crusader church as well as the cave where the angel Gabriel is said to have appeared to Mary. Up above is the new/current church and all around the walls are huge artistic representations of Mary donated from different countries. It's a pretty new church (1969) but in my view very beautiful.

We exited a side door and walked through a courtyard. In this courtyard is a really neat baptistry that says "Germania" so I'm guessing it was given by Germany. Through the courtyard is the small St. Joseph's church (1914) built over the site of Joseph's home and carpentry shop. From there we walked through the "souk" a narrow winding marketplace to a church built on the site of what may have been the synagogue in Jesus' time.

We walked back through the souk to our bus and I thought we were going to our hotel but we made another stop at an Orthodox church that contained a running spring where the owners of this church suppose the Annunciation took place. From there we drove to our hotel.

The traffic in Nazareth is horrendous. There are all these huge tourist buses squeezing through fairly small streets with all kinds of private cares trying to get through as well.

I'm really getting sick of Samir's commentary. He's talking as if these things happened in these exact sites, no question about it. I was getting hints of some anti-Judaism coming through his "sermons" and today I was hearing more. He's spoiling some things for me. Doug, Joanne, and I are going to sit with him before supper to clarify our schedule for the rest of the tour because he keeps switching things around on us.

I found it interesting that at supper they wouldn't serve coffee. The reason, I think, is that people might put milk or cream in their coffee. The dining room is kosher and there was meat being served at dinner which can't be mixed or combined with any dairy according to kosher rules. At breakfast there was no meat so they could serve coffee and other dairy products. I also noticed that one of the elevators was a "Sabbath Elevator." I asked about it and found out that on the Sabbath it goes up and down, stopping at every floor, so that you don't have to press the buttons. Building is forbidden on the Sabbath and by pressing an elevator button you are completing a circuit which is building something.

Days 9 and 10

2007-11-29T10:36:00.001-05:00

Wednesday, November 7
Today was a long day of driving and sight seeing fro Petra to Amman in Jordan. After leaving Petra the itinerary said we were supposed to go to Kerak to a crusader castle there. Our guide took us, instead, to another crusader castle called Shobak, or Shawback. He said Kerak would be overrun with tourists, plus it’s situated in the middle of a town, whereas Shobak is perched atop a hill called Montréal (yes that’s right) sort of in the middle of nowhere. Much of this castle is in ruin but is being restored by archaeologists. A good bit was still standing. These castles were a line of castles built by the crusaders in the 1100s to guard the road from Egypt to Damascus. There are Arabic inscriptions on some of the stones dating to the 14th century restoration by the Mamelukes but when the Turks rebuilt it later they got the stones rearranged in the wrong order so it doesn’t really say anything now. It was quite impressive and the view all around was incredible.

From there we headed north to Madaba. On the way we had to cross Wadi al-Mujib which was called Arnon in the Old Testament. It is a huge and deep valley where we had to drive back and forth on switch back, hairpin turns down and back up the other side. At the bottom is a dam creating a lake for irrigation and for water supply to Amman.

At Madaba there are the remains of a huge mosaic map on the floor of a church depicting the Holy Land from Lebanon to Egypt dating back to the reign of Emperor Justinian (527-565 AD).

From there we went to Mount Nebo where Moses is said to have looked over the promised land but could not enter it. The view wasn’t too good because it was very cloudy and misty. You could see the Dead Sea 1,000m below. There’s a church up there with some ruins, a monument erected for a visit by Pope John Paul II.

On the way back from Mount Nebo as we headed to Amman we stopped at a studio and store where handicapped/disabled/differently-abled people make mosaics. They are really beautiful and I would have loved to buy one but they were too expensive for me.

We got to Amman just around dusk. It’s a city of 2 million. Our hotel is, again, gorgeous, maybe the fanciest we’ve been in. As in Aqaba we had to have our carrying luggage x-rayed and as at every hotel we had to walk through a metal detector. I don’t know what it is about me but I’m the only one who had to open my backpack at the Israeli border on Sunday and the only one they had to check with a wand after walking through the metal detector even though everyone made it beep. Maybe it’s my beard.

Tomorrow Israel.

Thursday, November 8
This morning we drove from Amman to Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan where tradition says John the Baptist baptized and where Jesus was baptized. It was neat to be there. It’s not a huge river, more like a large creek. We got to put our hands in the water and we had a Re-Affirmation of Baptism service. While we were walking down and putting our hands in the river a soldier with a rifle over his shoulder was keeping an eye on us.

While we were having our service just up the bank from the river, a mother and her daughter went down to the (muddy) water to be baptized by their pastor. Later when we were driving in Israel where the Jordan River comes out of the Sea of Galilee we saw hundreds of people lined up going down to the river, all dressed in white robes, to be baptized. (Later we saw that Benny Hinn Ministries had a huge tour in the Holy Land with lots of buses and after I came home I was flipping channels and saw Benny and a crowd of people at the Jordan River so we just might have seen him baptizing all those people).

On our way from Amman down to the Jordan I realized I had left the tube with the papyrus I bought back at our hotel. I went and told Mohammed, our guide, and he called the hotel and arranged for someone to drive it down to us so when we left the river and headed north to the border crossing we picked it up along the way.

When we came through Israeli customs I was the only one in the group to have my bags x-rayed and opened and searched. The rest of our tour were waiting for me and laughing at me. When one of the inspectors saw my Keffiyeh in my suitcase he asked where I got it, why, for who, and how much I paid. When I told him at Petra, as a souvenir, for myself, and $20 he nearly laughed. The people from our tour who heard started to laugh and he said "they should laugh."

Finally we were on our way. We’re on a smaller bus. It doesn’t have as many empty seats for us to spread out in back. We drove to Bet-Shean, one of the cities of the Decapolis at the time of Jesus. It also figures in the story of King Saul and Jonathan and their deaths in battle.

We were a little early actually so we got something in that was scheduled for another day. We went to the Mount of Beatitudes where Jesus may have given the Sermon on the Mount. There is a pretty nice church up there financed by Mussolini. There are windows, stained glass windows, with each of the Beatitudes written in Latin around the top of the church just below the dome. You can look down on the Sea of Galilee from there as well.

We came to our hotel which is quite a step down from the places we’ve been staying so far. Supper was disappointing. I did a bit of laundry again sine we’re here two nights. Our guide is a Palestinian Christian and gives us mini-sermons wherever we stop. It could get tiresome if he’s too over-the-top for our entire tour of Israel. We were spoiled by our first guide in Egypt, Reham, who was great. In Jordan, Mohammed really knew his stuff and was a good guy but didn’t have the personality of Reham. Time will tell how I like Samir for our tour of Israel.

Days 7 and 8

2007-11-28T14:21:00.001-05:00

Monday, November 5
We had a relaxing morning and left Aqaba after 11 a.m. We drove about an hour to Wadi Rum. T.E. Lawrence and his Arab allies had their home base there. It seems a harsh place. We arrived at a camp from where we loaded into Land Cruiser trucks. Most sat on benches on the backs of the pick-ups. The one I rode in had a back seat so I rode inside. We drove through the desert. It was a breathtaking landscape with flat stretches of where sometimes we were driving on soft sand and other times on hard rock-like surface. And then here and there, all over the place, sheer rocky mountains would rise from the desert floor.

From there we drove about 2 hours to Petra. Not the ancient city of Petra but to a hotel in the newer town of Petra. Along the way we periodically saw Bedouin tents. It’s almost hard to believe that people are still living in tents, still living a nomadic lifestyle. I don’t know why but I automatically assumed that people in the modern world would be settled down somewhere in a permanent home.

We’re spending two nights at this hotel so it gave me a chance to do some hand-washing and let it hang to be dry before we move on. The pool at this hotel isn’t heated so I didn’t go swimming today.

Tuesday, November 6
Today we went to Petra. That’s an incredible place. It’s hidden in a canyon and valley. It was the capital of the Nabbatean people who were there from the 3rd century BC to 106 AD when the Romans took over. To get there you have to walk down through a deep canyon called a "Siq" which opens at the end to a building carved into the rock called the "Treasury." This is the place you see in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where he goes inside to get the Holy Grail ("This is the cup of a carpenter"). It’s called the Treasury but it was really a temple and tomb. The whole canyon as you continue past the treasury has numerous tombs carved into the rock walls. There’s also a huge Roman theatre carved into the canyon wall. It’s really beautiful. It’s mostly reddish-pinkish coloured sandstone. There is so much to see there and too much to describe and the pictures I took don’t do it justice.

Apparently Bedouins used to live in the caves and former tombs of Petra until 1980 when the government forcibly removed them to a modern village just outside the valley. They still come every day to set up their stalls and coffee shops and sell all kinds of things. They also lead people in and out of the canyon on horses, donkeys, camels, and horse drawn buggies.

It was quite hot (30 or 31 deg. C) today but I used sunscreen and wore my hat, but we had to do a lot of walking and the heat, which isn’t a humid heat, still really tires you out. Coming out of the "Siq" you can take a horse for the last 900m to the bus parking area. I rode the horse because it was all uphill and I was beat.

Back at the hotel some of us met on the terrace to watch the sunset behind the mountains. It was very nice but once the sun was gone it became quite cool. After sitting outside in shorts and a t-shirt and freezing I put on jeans and a sweatshirt before going down for supper.

Doug led evening prayer in the hotel theatre for us after which they were showing the Indiana Jones movie. Something I forgot to mention, on a nearby mountaintop that we passed on the way down to Petra there is a shrine commemorating where Aaron, the brother of Moses, is said to have been buried. Our guide Mohammed said it’s called Mount Hor but my guide book says Jabel Haroun.

Who'd have thunk?

2007-11-27T12:00:00.000-05:00

I'm a proud Canadian but I don't hide my German roots. I'm not much of a drinker either. These quizzes are crap sometimes. I do like to watch Ballykissangel though.

Your Inner European is Irish!

Sprited and boisterous!You drink everyone under the table.

Who's" Your Inner European?

Days 5 and 6

2007-11-27T11:46:00.000-05:00

Saturday, November 3
Talk about a looooonnnng day. Last night we turned the lights out at 9:45 and someone was coming to wake me at midnight to start climbing Mount Sinai. Well I couldn’t sleep. Partly because of excitement about what we were about to do, partly from cats fighting outside our room, and a whole lot because of all the mosquitoes. I think I might have slept from 10:45 to 11:15. After the knock on the door at 12:00 I brushed my teeth and got dressed. I dressed as warmly as I could: jeans, t-shirt, sweat-shirt, golf jacket. But I had my doubts about how cold it would be. We met in the courtyard of the monastery guest house and it wasn’t really that cold.

Around 12:30 we started walking. Just a little ways outside the monastery the Bedouins were waiting with their camels. 10 from our group were going up on camels and 3 of us, the three youngest, were walking all the way. I figured "Moses did it, so will I." If I ever get there again I’m taking a camel.

We had a Bedouin guide lead us. I could never remember his name and had to keep asking what it was. He and Ahmed, one of our tour guides, said we should just call him Suleiman (Arabic for Solomon). He led us up the mountain. It took us about 2 hours to walk up to the base of the 750 rugged stone steps. The ones on camels did it in about 1½ hours. My thighs were already sore from climbing inside the great pyramid two days earlier. They were burning and aching by the time we reached the rest of the group. Along the way up the mountain path you periodically come across some crude shacks built of stone where Bedouins sell coffee, tea, pop, water, chocolate bars, flash lights etc. There was also a Bedouin following us for a long while with his camel trying to get one of us to ride up. All along the way, up and down the mountain, there were Bedouins with their camels offering rides. "Camel? Camel? Camel good!"

It was a long hard climb. It wasn’t as steep as it could be. It zigged and zagged with lots of switch backs. It was totally dark. When we started out the moon hadn’t risen yet and there were a zillion stars out. Then we saw the moon. It was neat because, where at home a crescent moon is like a C or a backward C, here near the equator it was like a U. I also realized that when we see mosques at home the crescent moon on top of the minaret is like a C but in Egypt they all had the crescent lying down like a U.

Anyway, we climbed in the dark by the light of our flashlights. At one of the tea huts I had a Snickers bar and a Coke. We made lots of rest stops and finally joined the rest of the group. It was still pretty early so we rested at the tea hut at the base of the stairs. Then we set out to climb the 750 steps to the top of the mountain. Those are really rough steps and hard to climb. One couple who rode the camels didn’t even attempt climbing the stairs. A short while later an older fellow from our tour (68 years old) was really struggling and panting as we climbed the steps. I said, "You’re making me a little nervous and soon I’ll be a lot nervous. Are you sure you should be climbing these steps?" He decided he better go back down so Suleiman took him back to the tea hut with the others who stayed behind. Later I found out that this guy has had bypass surgery and has a heart murmur. I don’t know why he tried the climb in the first place. Soon after that another couple was having trouble and Ahmed had to take them back. We waited for him and then continued up the steps taking numerous rests (every 50 steps or so). We reached the summit at 4:30 or so while it was still very dark.

I read Exodus 19 and 20 to our group, and whoever else up there was listening in. I said a few words about the grace of God in the delivering of the slaves and choosing to be their God, and choosing them to be his people, then I read some prayers. Before I finished praying a Muslim on the mountain with us started chanting the call to prayers. There is a Greek Orthodox chapel and a Muslim Mosque at the summit of the mountain.

I said I was skeptical about the cold. It was freezing! We had sweated from our climb so we were chilled even more. There were Bedouins walking around up there renting out blankets for $2 or $4 depending on the size. Some of the women in our group got some. One of our guys did too and after a while he saw me shivering and gave his blanket to me.

We waited for the sunrise, and waited, and waited. The sky was getting brighter and you could start to see the mountains all around us. It was absolutely, stunningly, beautiful. My pictures won’t do the views justice. God was saying good morning in the eastern sky. There was some cloud and/or haze in that direction but finally the sun broke through.

Then it was time to go back down. By the way, there were hundreds of people up there and after the sunrise we all started back down. Down certainly wasn’t as tiring as up but it still hurt, and it seemed to take a really long time. On the way down we could see the mountains that were all around us but that we couldn’t see on our way up.

We eventually got back to St. Catherine, I had a shower, packed up, and went for breakfast. Then we had a short tour inside the monastery where apparently Jethro’s well where Moses met his wife, and the burning bush, a tree from a stalk of the original bush, are. Oh yeah. Then we left St. Catherine, continued east through the Sinai desert to the east coast and the up to Taba. I fell asleep on the drive.

We stayed at a gorgeous, posh resort on the Gulf of Aqaba, the Intercontinental Taba Resort. I swam in the Gulf (an arm of the Red Sea), and in the two swimming pools. We all had dinner together and had to say goodbye to Reham. She was a fabulous guide. She was intelligent, informative, had a good sense of humour, and was pretty easy on the eyes. She says she’s a descendant of the ancient Egyptians. It’s a shame we couldn’t have her for the entire trip but her expertise is Egyptology. She has a passion and love for her country and its history and culture and she was a big part of what made our trip, our tour of Egypt, so awesome.

I phoned home from Taba. It was good to hear my wife’s voice. I wish that she (they, the kids would like this too) could be here to experience all this with me.

Sunday, November 4
So, today was a day of border crossings. We left the beautiful resort in Taba, our last stop in Egypt. Ahmed took us as far as he could go. We were taken to the border by Ibrahim, our bus driver for our whole time in Egypt. We left that bus that we had been traveling in for 6 days and had to drag all our belongings through Egyptian customs and security, then about 200m down the road was Israeli customs and security. I was coming up the rear and when my backpack went through the x-ray machine they looked and looked, finally they put it through and asked me to open it. They took everything out and put it all back in again. I don’t know what in it looked suspicious.

When we were finally in Israel our bus wasn’t there to meet us. Apparently we were early. So we waited. One man in our group sat on a bench and wrote in his journal. A soldier saw him and came over and wanted to see what he was writing. I guess journaling at the Israeli border crossing is a no-no.

When our bus finally came we were driven through Eilat, Israel’s only Red Sea port and resort town. It only took about 15 minutes to get to the Jordanian border. There we got off the Israeli bus and again dragged our belongings through customs and then a much longer walk to Jordan’s customs and security. There Doug had a bit of trouble because they wanted to know the name of our tour company in Jordan. We only had the name of a company in Jerusalem that was arranging the Jordanian and Israeli parts of our tour. They finally called the company in Jerusalem who put him in touch with the guy whose name we have, who was with another tour group up in Amman. Just about then our guide, Mohammed, showed up and cleared things up.

We were brought to the Moevenpick hotel in Aqaba and most of us got 2 bedroom apartments to stay in. I didn’t go into the sea to swim today, just the pool and hot tub. We had a lovely supper under the stars on a warm but comfortable (not humid) night. During supper a man from our group became quite unwell, was taken back to his room in a wheelchair, and a doctor came to see him. We don’t know exactly what’s wrong with him but have a few suspicions. We’re hoping he can continue on the tour.

After supper 7 of us walked through downtown Aqaba. It’s neat to see a city with such a different culture from what we’re used to in Canada. When we got back Doug and I went to one of the hotel’s cafes on the rooftop in the open air and had Moevenpick ice cream sundaes overlooking the city lights on a beautiful warm night. Doug’s a great guy and a good friend but it would have been way better with my wife there.

I forgot to say that before we left Taba we gathered together in an empty section of the hotel bar and had a Sunday worship service using the Morning Prayer service and singing a couple of hymns. It was lovely and a lot of people really appreciated it. I led the liturgy and Doug read the story of Hagar and Ishmael being sent away by Abraham and Sarah and talked about the roots of the Jewish and Arab people and how God has cared for all of them.

While we were swimming in Aqaba we heard the call to prayer coming from the numerous mosques around the city. I though we could learn something about devotion and prayer from them. Even Christians in a Muslim land could use those 5 daily reminders to pray themselves.

Days 3 and 4

2007-11-26T11:11:00.000-05:00

Thursday, November 1
What a cool day! Not the temperature, the stuff we did. First thing was the pyramids. These enormous things that you learn about in Social Studies in grade school? We were there! I climbed inside the great pyramid, on of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World. It’s not for the claustrophobic or if you have a bad back. Part of the way up you have to walk bent over and you come down the same way. It’s very narrow in parts as well and there’s only one way in and one way out so people are passing each other bent over. It was really hot and stuffy inside there too.
Four of us took a camel ride as well. Joanne rode on "Charlie," Anne Marie was on "Moses," Clarence rode "Mickey," and I was on "Columbus." I had to do both of those things just for the experience. Now I can say "I was at the Pyramids, I climbed up to Cheops’ burial chamber, and I rode in the desert on a camel.

After that we drove down to the Sphinx to take some pictures. Then we went back to the fast food place where we were yesterday for lunch. I didn’t have any this time. It didn’t make me sick yesterday (although one or two of our people weren’t well after eating there yesterday) but I didn’t enjoy it enough to want another one. From there our guide took us to a store that sells cotton and linen products (it’s called Funky Bros.) and from there we headed to Sakkara.

At Sakkara there is the very first pyramid tomb known as the "step pyramid." Rather than the conventional rectangular shaped tomb, the Pharaoh Djoser decided his tomb would have them stacked up on top of each other. His actual burial chamber was dug into the bedrock underneath the pyramid. We also went into the Mastaba, the rectangular tomb, of Mereruka who was Djoser’s Minister of Finance and his son-in-law. I was amazed that we could actually walk into that tomb and touch, actually see and feel, the carvings on the wall that still have some paint on them after over 4000 years.

After returning to Giza we stopped at a place called "Relax Perfume Center" where they manufacture and sell "Essential Oils," the oils they extract from various flowers. This is done a lot in Egypt and much is exported for making perfumes but the oils are more concentrated then perfumes and colognes. We got back to the hotel in mid afternoon and were able to relax a bit before supper.

This touring can get tiring and I’m only 41. I can’t imagine how some of the septuagenarian are handling it.

Friday, November 2
We left Cairo today, had our last view of the pyramids as we drove away, crossed the Nile for the last time, and went downtown to the citadel. It was built by crusaders and captured by Saladin. Within the citadel is the Mosque of Mohammed Ali (not the boxer). Ali was an Albanian who became the first king of Egypt after claiming independence from Ottoman rule.

After that we headed east out of Cairo toward Sinai. You don’t have to go far from the Nile until you’re in total desert. There is some development in desert areas, probably confined to areas near the highways. We came to the Suez Canal and passed under a tunnel at the south end of the canal. Once on the other side of the canal we were in Sinai.

Shortly after turning south along the Gulf of Suez we stopped at Ain Musa, the Spring of Moses. I’ve heard conflicting reports about what this is supposed to be. What I read, and what would make the most sense to me according to its location, is that this was Marra where the Hebrews found bitter water. God told Moses to throw a branch from a certain tree into the water and it would become sweet. We saw a dirty well with some garbage in it. And, as everywhere we’be been, people tried to sell us cheap trinkets and junk. And little kids were all around us begging. They were really adorable but you’d go broke helping all the poor and adorable people here. They have no social assistance here so people do what they can. All around the pyramids, the Citadel/Mosque, any tourist area, they’re trying to sell you postcards, pens, cheap necklaces, fake papyrus pictures, bookmarks, books. It’s the same stuff everywhere. Some are very persistent, more often with women and older people. I just say "no, no" and they usually leave me alone. Maybe I’m big and scary.

After Ain Musa we traveled a little further south and came to Banana Beach, a restor that seems, for the most part, to be abandoned. It seems very broken down. You can tell that it was, and could be, gorgeous but maybe they overestimated how many people might come there and then went bust. The tour guide claims that most are condos owned by people from Cairo who really only come in summer. I don’t know about that. It looked pretty rundown to think anyone used it and there were more resorts like it up and down the shore. The one thing that was open and looked pretty good was the restaurant where we had lunch. Not terrible.

From there we headed the rest of the way to St. Catherine, the town and monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai. We arrived in the dark, had supper, and I wrote this in my journal just before going to bed at 9:37 p.m. They’ll be getting those of us who are climbing the mountain up at midnight so I won’t sleep much. Maybe not at all since we have a few mosquitoes in the room.

Days 1 and 2

2007-11-22T09:56:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Arrived in Milan at 6:45 a.m. after flying 6617 km from Toronto. I don't fly much so being on a plane is always an exciting adventure. They showed 2 movies on the way over, "The Waitress" and "Shrek the 3rd." I slept through the Shrek movie. We got supper and breakfast on the plane. It was not great. Not even very good. It didn't seem like they cleaned the plane when it was turned around in Toronto. The washroom was dirty and there was garbage in the pocket in front of the seat. After a stopover in Milan we're flying on to Cairo.

It's so awesome to be in Egypt. Our guide tells us the population of the country is 70 million. The population of Cairo is 18 million, swelling to 20 million each day with commuters coming into the city to work. Almost everything is brown. I've never been to a desert before. Cairo is huge and boy is it different. Traffic is crazy and you have to drive with one hand on the horn. People totally ignore lane markers. There was a pick-up truck driving with 15 to 20 guys STANDING in the back. Another truck was piled high with bags of I-don't-know-what, as high as the bus, and two guys were lying on top of the bags. There were flocks of sheep in the middle of the city, a few goats on someone's roof, and a LOT of really poor housing. One place called the "City of the Dead" is blocks and blocks of cemeteries in and around buildings and the poor have made their homes among them, some with satellite dishes.

Then through the fog (or smog) you see the outline, the forms, of the pyramids. It's just amazing. Awesome!

We're in a pretty nice hotel (with a metal detector on the way in). Our guide suggested a change to our itinerary. We were going to see the pyramids on Wednesday and the Egyptian Museum on Thursday but she thinks that seeing the museum first will give us a better grounding about what we'll see at the pyramids. It's been a long couple of days of travel, leaving Toronto on Monday evening and ending up in Cairo on Tuesday afternoon/evening. After supper we gathered with our guide who gave us a run-down of our next few days and then we headed to our rooms at about 9 p.m. and I thought, "the kids won't even be out of school for another half hour, and I'm so beat. I slept on both flights so I'm not as tired as I could be.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Our tour guide, Reham, is an Egyptologist with a Master's degree, working on her PhD so we're getting a lot of good information as she guides us through Cairo. We cross the Nile as we drive into and out of downtown. This river is the only source of water for this country and the only source of irrigation so every possible bit of land is farmed.

Our first stop on this day is the Egyptian Museum. That was wicked! We saw the treasures of King Tut, the mask, the coffins, many of the artifacts that were found in his tomb. It's the stuff you always see in books and magazines but we got to see it up close and in person. We saw lots of mummies, even Ramses II who tradition says may have been the pharaoh at the time of Moses. Reham is an excellent guide who really knows her stuff. Someone who had been to the museum before said she's way better than her previous guide.

Next we headed to Old Cairo. We saw what they call the "hanging church" because it's suspended over some old Roman towers from an old Roman fortress. We also saw the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus built over a cave where tradition says the Holy Family lived while in exile in Egypt.

For lunch we stopped at a typical Egyptian fast food place where they served felafels and shawermas. For the shawermas you had the choice of chicken of "meat." I'm guessing the "meat" was lamb or goat but they didn't say. I had a "meat" shawerma and a Coke.

Next we went to a Papyrus institute and gift shop. I saw a number of these places around. The salesmen are good talkers. I wanted to buy a certain papyrus with a picture on it from the back of one of King Tut's thrones. I had the one I wanted picked out (although the salesman was trying to talk me into 3) and then he took me over to see the same one only in a bigger size. I ended up buying it for my wife.

It's just so freaky driving around this part of the city and seeing these huge pyramids looming above everything. We had a short (1 ½ hour) break at the hotel and then went to the Sound & Light show at the pyramids. They tell some of the story of Egypt's history and of the pharaoh's who built the pyramids along with music and lights and lasers. On the way in there was a group of musicians dressed as pharaoh's playing drums and, of all things, bagpipes. On the way out they were playing again and actually played "Amazing Grace." We got back to our hotel, had supper, and went to our rooms and to bed since we were to have an early start the next morning.

Holy Communion

2007-11-21T14:06:00.000-05:00

Eucharistic theology
created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Luther

You are Martin Luther. You'll stick with the words of Scripture, and defend this with earthy expressions. You believe this is a necessary consequence of an orthodox Christology. You believe that the bread and wine are the Body and Blood of Christ, but aren't too sure about where he goes after the meal, and so you don't accept reservation of the Blessed Sacrament or Eucharistic devotions.

Luther

75%

Orthodox

69%

Calvin

56%

Catholic

38%

Zwingli

19%

Unitarian

... about family

2007-11-21T13:55:00.000-05:00

I realized I didn't share the last column I wrote for the paper. It appeared a couple of weeks after our Canadian Thanksgiving. I guess it's still timely since tomorrow is Thanksgiving for any American readers. Here it is.

A couple of weeks ago was Thanksgiving. It's not uncommon at Thanksgiving dinner to go around the table and have each person tell about something they're thankful for.

We did something like that in church on the day before Thanksgiving. We set up a thanksgiving tree. It was a cross made of a couple of rough two-by-fours set into a Christmas tree stand with some dry, bare branches tied to it. We distributed coloured paper leaves with a string attached to every person in church that day and they were asked to write something they were thankful for on the leaf.

When the people came forward for Holy Communion, our church family meal, they were asked to hang their thanksgiving leaf on the tree and by the end of the worship service we had a colourful thanksgiving tree decorated with the things we're thankful for.

It was interesting to read, after worship, what some of the people had written on their leaves. Along with things like "turkey" and "cheese" (there were a few kids in church that day) there were leaves that gave thanks for health, friends, a happy marriage, God's abundant love and gifts, and a whole lot of people gave thanks for family.

I know just what they're talking about. I'm a happily married father of four children, two daughters aged 14 and 12, and two sons aged 9 and 5. I am so thankful for my family. They are a gift from God, a great blessing. The wisdom of the Hebrew scriptures mentions the blessing of the family. "Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their parents" (Proverbs 17:6).

Giving thanks for my family makes me think of all the other unnecessary concerns I have in my life. Of course we all want to be able to provide for our families so we might sometimes be worried about the security of our jobs or how much we earn. That's an important part of any life.

But there are so many other things that occupy our thoughts, like what kind of house you live in, what kind of car you drive or how old it is, how big and new your TV is. I read a statistic that said the average cost of a luxury kitchen remodel costs $10,000 more than it costs to build a typical Habitat for Humanity home. Since 1950 the average new house has increased by 1,247 square feet while the size of the average family has shrunk by one person.

Unfortunately many of our concerns and worries are caused by greed. But when it comes right down to it, the things we're most thankful for can't be bought with any amount of money. "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions" (Luke 12:15).

Think about what you're most thankful for. Is it a car, a TV, a big expensive house? Or are you thankful for your health, a sufficient roof over your head, and the blessing of a happy marriage and family? Thanksgiving is over but giving thanks for all the good things God has given to us doesn't have to be confined to the second Monday of October. "O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever" (Psalm 106:1).

I'm Back

2007-11-21T13:44:00.000-05:00

Hello readers.

Wow, it's been a long time since I've blogged. I was away for a while on a tour of Egypt, Jordan, and Israel from October 29 to November 15. In the coming days or weeks I'll transcribe some of the notes I took and journaling I did while on the tour. It was an amazing experience, one I'll never forget. There were some eye opening things I saw and did while there.

It's good to be back home though. I missed my family. 18 days away was the longest I've been away from them ever. By the end of the tour I was missing them terribly plus I was getting really tired of living out of a suitcase, eating nothing but hotel food, riding on a bus day after day, and I'd had enough of ruins and churches. The itinerary was really full so there wasn't much down time.

We had a good group for the tour though, no real trouble makers, nobody I couldn't get along with. I was the youngest in the group. The average age of the people on the tour was 64, ranging from me at 41 to a lady who was 79. I'm not in the greatest shape but I was pretty beat by the end of things. I don't know how those folks, an average of 23 years older than me, could do it all.

Anyway, I hope you look forward to reading about my trip. If you don't then I guess you'll just have to ignore my blog. It's easy to do since I so rarely blog anyway.

Shalom

Danket dem Herrn!

2007-09-24T16:21:00.000-04:00

There’s a German song that my family would sometimes sing as a table grace when I was growing up.

Danket dem Herrn!
Wir danken dem Herrn,
denn er ist freundlich
und seine Güte währet ewiglich.

I know that doesn’t mean much to many of you readers. It comes from a number of places in the Old Testament. You can find it at Psalm 106:1; 107:1; 118:1, 29; 136:1; 1 Chronicles 16:34; 2 Chronicles 5:13; 7:3; 20:21; Ezra 3:11; Jeremiah 33:11. What it says is:

O give thanks to the LORD,
for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever.

We are coming again to Thanksgiving Day. Various days of thanksgiving have been observed in Canada since the explorer Martin Frobisher and his party held a ceremony to give thanks for surviving a long journey of exploration in 1578. Over time different days of thanksgiving were observed at different times. Starting in 1879 Thanksgiving Day was observed every year but the date or time of year could change from year to year. Finally in 1957 the Canadian Parliament proclaimed: "A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed ... to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October."

But giving thanks is not confined to one day nor is it a recent phenomenon. The table grace above is a few thousand years old and appears in a number of places in the Bible. The Jews observed, and many still observe, the Festival of Succoth which is a seven day harvest festival that falls roughly during our month of October.

Beyond specific festivals of thanksgiving we can give thanks to God every day of our lives. The berakah is the simplest and among the oldest of prayers: "Blessed are you, O Lord our God, maker of all things, for you..." It is essentially a single sentence of praise and thanks to God, and adult Jews are enjoined to pray a prescribed number of berakoth every day. An ancient berakah is the model for Jesus’ prayer at the Last Supper, and indeed the model of our Great Prayer of Thanksgiving over bread and cup. In the berakah, prayer simultaneously becomes proclamation, since God’s mercies are recounted while others listen in. And that is the pattern as well for our discipleship, is it not? Christians live their lives in the hope and expectation that others are listening in!

As we live our lives with an attitude of thanksgiving for all that God has done for us and given to us others listen in. They hear our thankful words or notice our thankful attitude and they might recognize our faith in God. O give thanks to the LORD. Our prayers, which are often filled with asking for things from God, out to be filled with at least as much, if not more, thanksgiving. What exactly are we thankful for? Well, each of us can only speak for ourselves, but we can thank God for forgiving the sins that we confess. Some people actually list things for which they are thankful and use that list in prayer. Mark Allan Powell writes: "You might list big-ticket items that we tend to take for granted (that I am alive, that I am healthy, that I live in a country where I am allowed to be free, that I have a job, that I have a house to live in, that I have a bed to sleep in at night), or smaller matters that we simply tend to overlook (that song on the radio, the taste of red wine, the feeling of my toes digging in wet sand, the sound of my cat’s purr, the pleasure of a good night’s sleep, the smell of burning wood)."

All good gifts around us are sent from heav’n above.
We thank you, Lord, we thank you, Lord, for all your love.

Pentecost 15

2007-09-10T10:14:00.000-04:00

Okay, I don’t think I’ve ever had the kind of response to a sermon that I had yesterday. I got some ideas from a sermon by Samuel Zumwalt, some from Sundays & Seasons, some from Kelly Fryer, and some might have come from other sources. Here’s the sermon.

15th Sunday after Pentecost
September 9, 2007
Luke 14.25-33
Thomas Arth

Welcome home. For the second year in a row
we’re calling this Sunday after Labour Day, Homecoming Sunday.
Our intention is to welcome people home.
Sunday School has been on a break since the end of May
and now the kids are back.
Some people have been on summer vacations and holidays
and now they’re back.
The calendars on our walls say that the new year starts on January 1.
The church marks time a little differently,
saying a new year begins on the First Sunday of Advent.
But for a whole lot of us we make a fresh start, we start a new year,
in September when all the kids and the teachers go back to school.
It’s a lot like that in church too.
The choir started practicing again this week after the summer off.
Church council met again this week
after not meeting in July or August.
We get back to some kind of routine.
We come back home.

Our hope for Homecoming Sunday is also
that some people who were away from the church
for a short while or a long while for any number of reasons,
might find their way back home again.
Our hope is also that people who don’t have a church home
might possibly find a home here with us.
So, with those intentions about Homecoming Sunday,
when I came around to reading the gospel lesson for today
I thought, “Oh swell!”
“You can’t be my disciple
unless you love me more than you love your family
or even your own life.
You can’t be my disciple
unless you give away everything you own.”
Not exactly the best way to market the church, is it?
There was a church in Welland a couple of years ago
that gave away Blue Jays baseball tickets
to the first hundred people through the door
on a certain Sunday.
Come to church and get free baseball tickets
or come to church and hear Jesus tell you
to give away everything you own.
Swell.

The thing is, here in this church
we’re not about marketing strategies and giveaways
to convince, entice or bribe people
to come through those doors and maybe even stay.
Here in this church we’re about worshiping, following, changing.
We’re here to worship God
because we believe in a God who deserves to be worshiped.
And we’re here to support and encourage one another,
to hear God’s word, to learn how to follow Jesus.
And we’re here to be changed.
Yes, believe it or not, we’re here to be changed.
It’s not about hearing “I’m okay. You’re okay.”
I’m not. Neither are you.
God wants more from me and God wants more from you.
We want to see more people in church.
We want to be spreading the good news
about God’s love for the world
and what he has done for us through Jesus Christ.
That’s what Jesus calls us to do in the great commission.
“Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples.
Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit, and teach them
to do everything I have told you.”
We have a message of love to share
and it’s a message that changes people.
When you’ve heard and experienced the love of God
you won’t be the same.
When the Holy Spirit touches you and works within you
things are going to change.
Some churches go about this in a different way,
and I think it’s a wrong headed way.
Jack Handey wrote a comedy book of Deep Thoughts
that included this:
“If a kid asks where rain comes from,
I think a cute thing to tell him is ‘God is crying.’
And if he asks why God is crying,
another cute thing to tell him is
‘Probably because of something you did.’”
A gigantic billboard had a picture of flames shooting up from the bottom
and a message that simply said NO GOD = NO FUTURE.
Both of those examples take the approach that you change people
by just scaring the heck out of them.
I think they mean well but they don’t get the point
that it’s God’s love that makes a difference for people.
It’s God’s love that changes people.

We Lutherans like to think we’ve got it all figure out right.
Who knows, maybe we do,
but we don’t do a very good job of showing it and telling it.
We talk about grace, the free gift of grace.
Pastor Samuel Zumwalt says
we can quote Martin Luther’s Small Catechism
saying that the Holy Spirit does what we cannot naturally do.
Working in the church we say the Holy Spirit creates faith in us
through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We say the Holy Spirit teaches us through the Gospel
to trust that we are made right with God
through no effort or merit of our own.
We say that as God baptizes us
into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ,
we are claimed by grace
as God’s beloved daughters and sons.
We say that we are reborn again and again
as we return to our baptism, confess our brokenness,
and approach God’s throne of grace with empty hands.
We say that we are responding to God’s goodness and mercy
by offering up our lives as a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.
Pressed for an answer many Lutheran Christians
can give a fairly simple answer to the question,
“What is the Good News of Jesus Christ?”
“Why grace is a free gift!”
We can say what the good news is
but we don’t seem to know about what the Gospel does.
We don’t get that Jesus is trying to do something with us
here and now.

In today’s gospel reading Jesus is telling us that following him,
being his disciple,
is going to change us.
It’s going to cost us something.
The German pastor and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a book
that attacked a lazy Christian attitude.
Writing in his book The Cost of Discipleship
he took aim at Lutheran Christians
who lived a caricature of the Christian life.
He was attacking a crossless Christianity.
He was attacking us for singing “Take My Life and Let Me Be.”
He was attacking the old sinner in each of us
that wants to stay old—
that old unredeemed part of each of us
that wants to stay unredeemed, unclaimed, and unwashed.
Bonhoeffer was sending us back to Jesus,
to what he says in the gospels.
Jesus makes clear that God’s love changes us.
The old sinner in us cannot remain.
I can’t be God’s dear possession
when most of me is still hanging on to my possessions for dear life.
I can’t love the Lord with all my heart
if most of my heart is engaged
in making my child a better soccer player.
I can’t love the Lord with all my heart
if most of my heart is occupied
with how to make somebody love me like I want to be loved.
I can’t love the Lord with all my heart
if most of my heart and most of my wallet is tied up
with whatever it is in this world that delights me.
I can’t love the Lord with my all if most of my heart, soul, and mind
is consumed by ambition or control or the arts
or fundraising or church-building or politics
or whatever it is to which my heart is clinging.

Preachers listen to Jesus selectively.
We read or hear a gospel lesson and think
“that’s a good text for a stewardship sermon
or an evangelism sermon.
That’s a good text to grow the church.”
Too many of us preachers fail to see or believe
that the Gospel actually transforms lives.
But lay people listen to Jesus selectively too.
Maybe you read or hear today’s gospel lesson and think
“Jesus doesn’t want me to hate my family.
He just wants me to put God first.
He just wants me to be a little nicer
and a little more forgiving
and a little more active in my congregation
and a little more generous.”
None or us, preachers or lay people,
want to admit that following Jesus means changing our lives.

I came across this joke.
How many Lutherans does it take to change a lightbulb?
Twelve. One to change it, and the other eleven
to say how much they liked the old lightbulb better.
But that’s assuming you find one who is willing
to climb the ladder and change the bulb.
I’ve heard the joke told a little differently.
How many Lutherans does it take to change a lightbulb?
Change?!?
We can laugh at ourselves.
We can laugh about change.
But will we actually change?

Jesus tells us, in today’s gospel reading, to carry a cross.
“You cannot be my disciple
unless you carry your own cross and come with me.”
That’s serious stuff.
A convicted criminal sentenced to crucifixion
was required to carry the crossbar of his cross
to the place of execution.
When Jesus tells us to carry a cross he’s asking us to die.
That’s the gospel to which we say “Praise to you, O Christ.”
But wait a minute.
Are we ready to die?
Are we willing to set aside what we want
and do what God wants?

God’s Son Jesus had to die for us,
because we didn’t want to die to ourselves.
And we still don’t want to die to ourselves.
It cost God everything to save us from ourselves.
It cost God everything to free us
from the power of sin, death, and evil.
God so loved us that he did for us what we can’t do for ourselves.
It’s not that God somehow changed his mind about sin.
Rather God didn’t give us what we deserve.
In Jesus Christ, God gave us what we didn’t deserve.
Mercy. Forgiveness. Love. Himself.
There’s a story about a mother who once approached Napoleon
seeking a pardon for her son.
The emperor replied that the young man
had committed a certain offense twice
and justice demanded death.
“But I don’t ask for justice,” the mother explained.
“I plead for mercy.”
“But your son does not deserve mercy,” Napoleon replied.
“Sir,” the woman cried,
“it would not be mercy if he deserved it,
and mercy is all I ask for.”
“Well, then,” the emperor said,
“I will have mercy.”
And he spared the woman’s son.
That’s what God did for us when we deserved punishment for our sin.
God showed us mercy.
God gave us what we didn’t deserve.

That giving, that mercy, that forgiveness starts at our baptism
when we die to our old sinful self
and rise again to Jesus’ righteousness.
It’s the beginning of a pattern that isn’t complete
until our body finally dies
and we live with God forever.
Until then, in the meantime,
in the time between our first washing
and the day we breathe our last,
we die and rise.
Die and rise. Die and rise. Die and rise. Die and rise.
Disciples of Jesus do die and rise.
We follow the Master, at times as well as we can,
at other times not well at all.
But as we follow we die and rise, we change.
“You cannot be my disciple unless you love me
more than you love your father and mother,
your wife and children, and your brothers and sisters.
You cannot come with me unless you love me
more than you love your own life.
You cannot be my disciple
unless you carry your own cross and come with me.
You cannot be my disciple
unless you give away everything you own.”
Jesus is talking about not being satisfied
with our brokenness and sinfulness.
He’s talking about loving God and following Jesus
with all that we are.
He’s talking about putting the old sinner to death,
letting go of our possessions,
setting our hearts and wallets free
from any other delight, ambition, or control.
We can’t do it alone.
We come here for the support of a community of others
who are also being changed.
We can’t do it alone.
The Holy Spirit molds us to be what God wants
rather than what we might intend.
We can’t do it alone.
We do it with Jesus by our side
as we die to ourselves
and rise to become more of what God intends for us.

The Christian life is not just talking and singing about Jesus.
It’s not dabbling in God while we cling to the things of this world.
The cost of discipleship is the death of Jesus.
Those of us who follow him will die too.
And when we die in Christ God gives us new life,
life as we could never imagine it.
Amen