Just Ask

A few days ago LutheranChik did this so I thought I'd try it too. I don't know if anybody actually reads this thing but if you do and you're curious about the guy writing then fire off a question. I just might answer. What do you want to know? Already know everything there is to know about me? Come and know me better.

Shalom

Commemorations This Week

Wednesday, January 25
Conversion of Paul
End of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
Today the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity comes to an end. The church remembers how a man of Tarsus named Saul, a former persecutor of the early Christian church, was led by God’s grace to become one of its chief preachers. The risen Christ appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus and called him to proclaim the gospel. The narratives describing Paul’s conversion in the Acts of the Apostles, Galatians, and 1 Corinthians inspire this commemoration, which was first celebrated among the Christians of Gaul.
The entire Week of Prayer for Christian Unity gives us a chance to consider our calling in light of Paul’s words in Galatians that all are one in Christ.

Thursday, January 26
Timothy, Titus, and Silas, missionaries
On the two days following the celebration of the Conversion of Paul, his companions are remembered. Timothy, Titus, and Silas were missionary coworkers with Paul. Timothy accompanied Paul on his second missionary journey and was commissioned by Paul to go to Ephesus, where he served as bishop and overseer of the church. Titus was a traveling companion of Paul, accompanied him on the trip to the council of Jerusalem, and became the first bishop of Crete. Silas traveled with Paul through Asia Minor and Greece and was imprisoned with him at Philippi, where they were delivered by an earthquake.

This festival invites the church to remember Christian leaders, bishops, pastors, and teachers—both men and women—who have been influential in the lives of individual members as gospel signs of the light of Epiphany.

Friday, January 27
Lydia, Dorcas, and Phoebe, witnesses to the faith
On this day the church remembers three women who were companions in Paul’s ministry. Lydia was Paul’s first convert at Philippi in Macedonia. She was a merchant of purple-dyed goods, and because purple dye was extremely expensive, it is likely that Lydia was a woman of some wealth. Lydia and her household were baptized by Paul and for a time her home was a base for Paul’s missionary work. Dorcas is remembered for her charitable works, particularly making clothing for needy widows. Phoebe was a diakonos, a deaconess in the church at Cenchrae, near Corinth. Paul praises her as one who, through her service, looked after many people.

Today provides an opportunity for congregations to reflect on the ministry of women, ordained and lay, wealthy and poor, who have given of themselves in service to the church and to the ministry of the gospel in their congregations.

Saturday, January 28
Thomas Aquinas, teacher (c. 1225-1274)
Thomas Aquinas was a brilliant and creative theologian of the thirteenth century. He was first and foremost a student of the Bible and profoundly concerned with the theological formation of the church’s ordained ministers. As a member of the Order or Preachers (Dominicans), he worked to correlate scripture with the philosophy of Aristotle, which was having a renaissance in Aquinas’s day. Some students of Aristotle’s philosophy found in it an alternative to Christianity. But Aquinas immersed himself in the thought of Aristotle and worked to explain Christian beliefs in the philosophical culture of the day. The contemporary worship cultural studies done by the Lutheran World Federation resonate with Aquinas’s method.

THE HORROR! (Just kidding)

So, Canada’s 39th General Election is over. We have a new party in power and a new Prime Minister. Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada will form a minority government. The election results were as follows:

Conservative..........124 seats..........36.2% of popular vote
Liberal..........103..........30.2%
BQ..........51..........10.5%
NDP..........29..........17.5%
Ind..........1..........0.5%

The national voter turnout was 64.9% of registered voters.

In the riding where I live (Welland) the incumbent Liberal member of parliament was re-elected. Those results were:

Liberal..........20,238 votes..........35.5%
NDP..........17,484..........30.7%
Conservative..........16,665..........29.2%
Green..........1,960..........3.4%
Christian Heritage..........536..........0.9%
Marxist-Leninist..........112..........0.2%

We beat the national average for voter turnout. In this riding we had 67.9% show up.

I’m not exactly happy that we’ve got a Conservative government. Although I don't think we're entering the heart of darkness the results don't strike me as shiny and bright either. I’m not totally disappointed that the incumbent won in my riding. I guess we’ll see what this government brings.

Election Day

Today is Federal Election Day. I'm going to walk to the Senior's Centre soon and cast my ballot. I don't know who's going to win in my riding. The Liberal incumbent is a very popular guy and unless people are lumping him in with the entire party for the blame which they seem to be catching for the Sponsorship Scandal corruption I would think he'd have a good chance to be reelected. I've seen a lot more NDP signs around town than I did in the last election. I didn't see a whole lot of Conservative signs but people might just jump on the bandwagon and vote for the winning team according to the polls.

Last week after a Week of Prayer for Christian Unity service one local pastor gave me a couple of posters and asked me to post them and to encourage the people in our church to vote for a "Marriage Friendly" candidate. By that I'm pretty sure he meant hetero-marriage friendly, not friendly to gays and lesbians who want to marry. I took the posters and didn't get into an argument with the guy but I didn't post them nor did I encourage people to vote based on certain issues.

Here's what I did say in my announcements:
"This week I attended some services during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and preached at one of them. After one of the services a pastor from another church gave me a couple of posters that are meant to encourage people in our churches to vote, but they also encourage people to vote in a certain way based on certain issues. So I decided not to post those posters and not to talk about specific issues when it comes to this election. I will encourage you to vote if you are eligible. The only thing I will say is to remember that if we are Christians, we are Christians in the voting booth as well. By saying that I’m not endorsing any party or candidate. I only want to say that Christ calls us to love God with all that we are and to love our neighbours as ourselves. We can do that as we vote as well."

So, we'll see how things go today. If you're one of the Canadians who reads this, go and vote. If you don't know who to vote for then spoil your ballot. At least that shows you care about the process and that you're not completely apathetic.

Commemorations this week

There are a whole bunch of church commemorations this week. I think it’s interesting to read/hear about these ancestors in faith. "May their faith and witness inspire us to see the things prepared for those who answer God’s call" and "May our faith be invigorated by the witness of all who followed Christ."

Sunday, January 15
Martin Luther King Jr., renewer of society, martyr (1929-1968)
Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered as an American prophet of justice among races and nations, a Christian whose faith undergirded his advocacy of vigorous yet nonviolent action for racial equality. A pastor of churches in Montgomery, Alabama, and Atlanta, Georgia, his witness was taken to the streets in such other places as Birmingham, Alabama, where he was arrested and jailed while protesting against segregation. He preached nonviolence and demanded that love be returned for hate. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, he was killed by an assassin on April 4, 1968. Though most commemorations are held on the date of the person’s death, many churches hold commemorations near Dr. King’s birth date of January 15, in conjunction with the American civil holiday honouring him. An alternate date for the commemoration would be his death date, April 4.

Tuesday, January 17
Antony of Egypt, renewer of the church (251-356)
Antony was born in Qemen-al-Arous, Upper Egypt, and was one of the earliest Egyptian desert fathers. Born to Christian parents from whom he inherited a large estate, he took personally Jesus’ message to sell all that you have, give to the poor, and follow Christ. After making arrangements to provide for the care of his sister, he gave away his inheritance and became a hermit. Later, he became the head of a group of monks that lived in a cluster of huts and devoted themselves to communal prayer, worship, and manual labour under Antony’s direction. The money they earned from their work was distributed as alms. Antony and his monks also preached and counseled those who sought them out. Antony and the desert fathers serve as a reminder that certain times and circumstances call Christians to stand apart from the surrounding culture and renounce the world in service to Christ.

Tuesday, January 17
Pachomius, renewer of the church (c. 290-346)
Another of the desert fathers, Pachomius (puh-KOME-ee-us) was born in Egypt about 290. He became a Christian during his service as a soldier. In 320 he went to live as a hermit in Upper Egypt, where other hermits lived nearby. Pachomius organized them into a religious community in which the members prayed together and held their goods in common. His rule for monasteries influenced both Eastern and Western monasticism through the Rule of Basil and the Rule of Benedict, respectively.

Wednesday, January 18
Confession of Peter
Beginning of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is framed by two commemorations, the Confession of Peter (a relatively recent addition to the calendar) and the older Conversion of Paul. Both are remembered together on June 29, but these two days give us an opportunity to focus on key events in each of their lives. Today we remember that Peter was led by God’s grace to acknowledge Jesus as "the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Mt 16:16). This confession is the common confession that unites us with Peter and with all Christians of every time and place.

Saturday, January 21
Agnes, martyr (c. 291-304)
Agnes was a girl of about thirteen living in Rome who had chosen a life of service to Christ as a virgin, despite the Roman emperor Diocletian’s ruling that had outlawed all Christian activity. The details of her martyrdom are not clear, but she gave witness to her faith and was put to death as a result, most likely by the sword. Since her death, the church has honoured her as one of the chief martyrs of her time.

Merry Epiphany

According to Sundays & Seasons:

In the East three great epiphanies are celebrated on this day: the magi's adoration of the Christ child, Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River, and his first miracle, in which he changes water into wine. Epiphany celebrates Christ being made known, or made "manifest," to all nations.

The sacraments are for us the great epiphany of God's grace, in which we behold the mystery of God among us. The magi offered gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Having seen the light of Christ, we offer the gift of ourselves, our time, and our possessions -- that others may also know the epiphany of God's mercy and love.

Almighty and ever-living God, you revealed the incarnation of your Son by the brilliant shining of a star. Shine the light of your justice always in our hearts and over all lands, and accept our lives as the treasure we offer in your praise and for your service, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord, whom with you and the Holy Spirit we worship and priase, one God, now and forever. Amen

The Twelfth Day of Christmas

On the twelfth day of Christmas,

my true love sent to me

Twelve drummers drumming,

Eleven pipers piping,

Ten lords a-leaping,

Nine ladies dancing,

Eight maids a-milking,

Seven swans a-swimming,

Six geese a-laying,

Five golden rings,

Four calling birds,

Three French hens,

Two turtle doves,

And a partridge in a pear tree!

I hate when Christmas ends. The build up is so exciting. In our house the decorations come out at the beginning of Advent, the tree goes up one to two weeks before the day, we play Christmas music on the stereo and the piano. It's such a warm, wonderful, exciting time of anticipation.

We try to stretch that feeling out over the twelve days of Christmas but it's hard to do. The all Christmas music radio stations return to their normal programming on Boxing Day. The decorations start coming down around town. It seems like we're trying to hang on to something when everyone else has already given up. It's hard to keep the spirit alive.

Today is the last day of Christmas. This weekend the decorations will start to come down in the house and outside. The tree will be stripped of its decorations and tossed to the curb to be mulched. The videos and DVDs of Christmas movies, the CDs of Christmas music will be packed away for another year. I'm telling you, I can get into a real deep blue funk at this time of year.

To compound it, we haven't had snow on the ground since before Christmas. It's been raining on and off for most of the past week. We saw the sun for a few hours the other afternoon. It really sucks! Writing about it makes it even worse. Why did I do this?

Johann Konrad Wilhelm Loehe

The message of the cross doesn't make any sense to lost people. But for those of us who are being saved, it is God's power at work (1 Cor 1.18).

Some Lutheran churches commemorate Johann Konrad Wilhelm Loehe, renewer of the church (1808-1872) on January 2.

Wilhelm Loehe was born at Fuerth, Germany, in 1808. When he was eight years old his father died. Young Loehe studied in Erlangen, there discovering the Lutheran Confessions. In 1837 he became pastor in a small village, Neuendettelsau. His efforts at getting a city parish were unavailing, and he remained there the rest of his life. He was a model parish pastor. He founded the Neuendettelsau Foreign Mission Society.

From the small town of Neuendettelsau, he sent pastors to North America, Australia, New Guinea, Brazil, and the Ukraine. He assisted in the founding of the Missouri Synod. His work for a clear confessional basis within the Bavarian church sometimes led to conflict with the ecclesiastical bureaucracy. Loehe's chief concern was that a parish finds its life in the eucharist, and from that source evangelism and social ministries would flow. He founded the Society for Inner Missions and established a deaconess motherhouse at Neuendettelsau that had widespread influence. Many Lutheran congregations in Michigan, Ohio, and Iowa were either founded or influenced by missionaries sent by Loehe. The chapel at Wartburg Theological Seminary is named in his honour.

Loehe's vision to see the eucharist at the center of parish life can lead us on to think about ways that the incarnate presence of Christ in holy communion sends us out on a life of ministry and mission.

Christ chose some of us to be apostles, prophets, missionaries, pastors, and teachers, so that his people would learn to serve and his body would grow strong. This will continue until we are united by our faith and by our understanding of the Son of God (Eph 4.11-13).

What's in a name?

Name of Jesus
January 1, 2005
Luke 2.15-21
Thomas Arth

"What’s in a name?"
That was Juliet’s question as she stood on her balcony.
That evening she had met Romeo
and fallen head over heels in love,
and the feeling was mutual.
The only problem,
the obstacle standing in the way of their love,
was the hate their families had for each other.
Capulets and Montagues didn’t get along in Verona.
Everyone knows the famous line,
"wherefore art thou Romeo?"
A lot of people think she’s calling for him,
"where are you?"
but her question is why not where.
Why did I have to fall in love with my father’s enemy?
But Juliet asks, "What’s in a name?"
"‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy. . . .
O, be some other name. . . .
That which we call a rose,
by any other name would smell as sweet."

What’s in a name?
If you’re familiar with the Harry Potter series of books and movies
you might know "the name which must not be spoken."
Few people speak the name of Lord Voldemort,
a powerful and evil wizard.
Those who do speak his name, like Harry,
seem less vulnerable to Voldemort’s evil powers.

What’s in a name?
Isaiah writes, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.
Look, the young woman is with child
and shall bear a son,
and shall name him Immanuel."
Is that friend or foe?
It means "God with us."
But can we be sure what’s in that name?
Is "God with us" our friend or enemy?
Is it God-with-us to destroy or God-with-us to save?

What’s in a name?
Names don’t have the same significance in our culture
as they once did.
The closest thing we might get to assigning power to a name
is when we talk about identity theft.
With your name, social insurance number, credit card numbers,
someone can gain some power over you—
even become you.
The ancient Jewish community
had several names and descriptions of God.
El was the common word for deity in the Semitic languages.
In some of the Old Testament traditions
El is sometimes combined with the word Shaddai
meaning Almighty so that you had God Almighty.
When Moses met God at the burning bush
he asked for God’s name and God replied
I AM WHO I AM or I AM WHAT I AM
or I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE.
The divine name is connected with the verb "to be."
Some scholars propose that the name means
"He brings into being whatever comes into being"
designating God as creator.
The name is now pronounced Yahweh by scholars
but the correct pronunciation has been lost.
The commandment
"You shall not make wrongful use
of the name of the Lord your God"
was taken so seriously by the people of Israel that,
in order not to abuse God’s name
it wasn’t used at all.
Whenever the Jews came across the name for God in their scriptures,
it was carefully punctuated
so that they would substitute the word ADONAI
which means Lord.
In some English Bibles, particularly some earlier translations,
the name of God was mistakenly written as Jehovah.
This error came about because the Hebrew language has no vowels
so the Hebrew Bible was written with only consonants.
Later, Hebrew scholars included markings,
certain symbols like dots and squiggles,
to indicate the vowel sounds.
But for the name of God they put in the vowel markings
for the word Adonai, or Lord.
So, early translators took the consonants from Yahweh
with the vowels from Adonai
and came up with the hybrid Jehovah.
The name is still considered holy in Judaism
and they still refer to God in Hebrew as either Adonai,
meaning Lord,
or as Hashem meaning simply "the name."

What’s in a name?
"Name him Jesus," the angel instructs Joseph,
"for he will save his people from their sins."
Now we know.
God-with-us Immanuel does not come to us to destroy but to save.
Jesus’ name has a meaning.
We get the name Jesus from iesous,
the Greek form of Yeshua
which is a later form of Yehoshua.
The name was very common in New Testament times
and means "Yahweh is salvation."
One pastor writes,
"It is that Jesus is named at all that is striking.
It reminds us how committed God is to us, to our existence,
that God would choose to become human, vulnerable,
one of us.
This is not a distant God.
This is not a terrible God
who strikes only fear in the hearts of humans.
This is God loving us at face value
and allowing us to know a name, a face, a life lived among us.
This is God expressing divinity
within the confines of what it means to be human,
within the limits of our existence.
When God chooses a name,
God is choosing to limit how we see
and how we understand who God is."

Now, some would rather keep God distant,
would rather that God was other than us.
I read about a discussion at a conference
gathering people from a number of the major world religions.
One Islamic woman took issue
with the Judeo-Christian understanding of a God
who "rested" on the seventh day,
saying that a God that needs to rest
can’t possibly be God.
A Lutheran theologian offered the answer
that God doesn’t rest because God needs a break,
but rather because God knows that we need to rest.
In a similar way, God doesn’t choose to be named
because of God’s need to have a human face.
Instead, God chooses to be named
because we need to know God face to face,
to have physical contact with God’s love.
God came down to be one of us.
He was a baby lying in a manger,
soiling his diapers,
crying for hunger,
learning to walk and falling down in the process,
scraping his knee
when he was playing with the neighbourhood kids,
mourning the loss of a step-father, a grandmother, a friend.
God chose to be vulnerable
so that we could see the limits of our existence
not as something to resist,
but rather as something that God also knows
and has hallowed.

What’s in Jesus’ name?
Death is in his name. Our deaths.
God-with-us-to-save means he faces the same fate we all face.
Still, he is with us not only to empathize,
which would make him nothing more than a gravedigger God.
Our death—and life—is in his name.
Jesus leaves death behind in his grave.
He rises to new life.
Salvation is in Jesus’ name,
and friendship with God,
and more.

We are in Jesus’ name.
We are baptized into Christ.
We are in Jesus.
We bear his name.
We are called by the name "Christian."
We are in Christ’s death and in his resurrected life.
And more.

Jesus is the name we bear into the world.
The name of hope, love, friendship, confidence, courage;
the name of life that will prevail, that has prevailed.
"God gave him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father."
Amen

What'd you get?

Well, the unwrapping is done. It can be pretty overwhelming. I'm trying to think of everything I received. I don't think I even know where it all is anymore. After a few rounds of cleaning up the house stuff gets put away here and there and if you're not the put-awayer then it might take a while to find it all.

Here's some of what I got:

CD - THE Essential CLASH (listening to it right now)

CD - The Essential BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

CD - George Strait (his second Christmas CD)

a couple of books (don't recall any title right now)

a couple of pairs of pyjamas

a sweatshirt (wearing it now)

Season 8 of M*A*S*H on DVD

a 2450 piece Mega-Blok (like LEGO) submarine

a beautiful multicoloured stole bought at Ten Thousand Villages (Guatemalan I think)

Lord Of The Rings Trivial Pursuit

extended version of The Fellowship of the Ring on DVD

a couple of crossword books

a music book of Disney Theme Park music

an insulated picnic backpack

a generous monetary gift to invest in an RRSP

I'm sure I've forgotten some gifts but that's the list I can remember from here in my office. My favourite is probably the stole. No offense to the other givers but it's absolutely gorgeous.

Nativity of Our Lord

Nativity of Our Lord
December 24, 2005
Luke 2.1-14 [15-20]
Thomas Arth

I’ve sometimes heard the saying
that Christmas is for children.
Now I don’t think that’s entirely true,
but I can see where the people who make that statement
are coming from.
I have to admit that the excitement and wonder and joy
that children show at Christmas
can be infectious.
The decorations start to come out,
Santa Claus appears in the malls,
you start hearing Christmas carols and songs,
seeing Christmas specials on TV,
and you can’t miss the advertising
that tells you what you really have to buy
to make your loved ones happy.
It’s not just kids that get caught up in the frenzy of Christmas.
The kids don’t have much money to spend.
But when they know Christmas is coming
they start making their lists.
The song says that Santa Claus is making a list and checking it twice,
but that’s the naughty and nice list.
The kids start writing their "I want" lists.
They can start to get kind of greedy
and some parents start to think
they have to get them everything on their list.
I don’t see any harm in giving and receiving presents at Christmas
except when it starts to go overboard
and people allow themselves to get into more and more debt.
That ends up missing the point, the reason,
and the spirit of Christmas entirely.

There’s a popular song
that has been recorded by a number of artists
called "My Grownup Christmas List."
The words go like this:

Do you remember me
I sat upon your knee
I wrote to you
With childhood fantasies

Well, I’m all grown up now
And still need help somehow
I’m not a child
But my heart still can dream

So here’s my lifelong wish
My grown up Christmas list
Not for myself
But for a world in need.

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown up Christmas list.

As children we believed
The grandest sight to see
Was something lovely
Wrapped beneath our tree

Well heaven only knows
That packages and bows
Can never heal
A hurting human soul

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown up Christmas list.

What is this illusion called the innocence of youth?
Maybe only in our blind belief can we ever find the truth
(there’d be)

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end, oh,
This is my grown up Christmas list.

Maybe some of those things are on our grown up Christmas lists
instead of video games or doll houses.
I read a story recently where a scrooge-like character hated Christmas
and complained that "it was simply ‘Outrageous and overdone.’
It was ‘Too commercial.’
It avoided ‘The real issues of life.’
It led to ‘Extravagance’
and caused ‘Jealousy and anger.’
There was ‘No peace on earth, or good will to anyone.’
Even at family gatherings.
To top it all off, Christmas had been celebrated for centuries
and there were still ‘Wars, poverty,
violence and injustice’ happening all around."

There’s some truth to all of that.
And no matter that our grown up Christmas list asks
for no more lives torn apart, that wars would never start, etc.
we don’t seem to get what we’re wishing for.

When we see what human beings can do to one another,
when we see the effects of our broken lives on our relationships
and even on our planet,
it can bring sadness.
It’s not only we who are sad,
but God is saddened by it too.
We were created to live in friendship with God,
with each other,
and with all creation,
but we decided we could find joy in other ways.
Daniel Erlander writes:
"God groaned. Planet Earth groaned. All living things groaned.
The whole universe, its harmony disrupted
by the egoism of the human species, wept.
Sorrow filled the cosmos.
God thought about destroying Planet Earth
or at least snuffing out the humans.
However, when considering the destruction of the human race,
God wept and said, ‘I will not!
Can a mother destroy her child, her delight, her joy?’
God thought of another way.
The Creator said, ‘I’ll open the sky and reveal my splendor.
I’ll terrorize the human species into submission!’
God thought for a while and then cried out, ‘I will not! I cannot!
Then I would use their method—acting like a big deal.
I do not want groveling subjects!’
The Creator, in passionate love, decided on another way.
It is a long story—
a story of friendship, passion, promise, disappointment,
hope, and self-giving love."

Our grown up Christmas list
has been the wish of some throughout history.
God hears our cries and comes down to us.
It happened on the first Christmas night
and it happens to us over and over.
Mary gave birth while she and Joseph, her fiancé,
were lodged in a stable.
She held her newborn in her arms
and repeated the song she had sung
when the child was conceived:
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my savior;
You have routed the arrogant.
You have cast down the mighty from their thrones
and have lifted up the lowly!
Mary placed the little baby in a feedbox.
Angels sang.
Animals smiled.
The trees clapped their hands,
and all creation rejoiced.
Lowly shepherds, informed by angels,
came and found the child in the feedbox.
God smiled.
In this baby the creator of the universe was present—
with creation, with the poor, one of the poor,
good news to the poor!
Because of this child God’s dream would come true,
a society where people lived in relationship with God,
with each other, and with all creation.

We’re not there yet so we still cry out with our grown up Christmas lists.

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end.

On that first Christmas night our Lord came to us
in the form of a baby.
Every time we celebrate Holy Communion
he comes to us again in a very real way,
present in, with, and under the form of bread and wine.
In that wafer of bread on our tongues
and that sip of wine on our lips
we have a foretaste of the fulfillment
of our Christmas wishes.

We’ve come to this night. The time is fulfilled.
The baby is born and with him
a whole new world and a whole new life for us.
It is the birth of hope, the birth of promise.
God has come into our midst and the world won’t be the same.
Jesus came to bring reconciliation,
to bring peace,
to bring new life.
It’s the beginning of fulfilment of our grown up Christmas list.
It is time now for the celebrations to begin.
Put aside restraint.
Mound up the wrapping paper from ravished presents.
Put out the best food on your finest china.
Use your best manners.
Enjoy the relatives.
Sing the carols, hear the story, light the candles,
eat the bread, drink the wine—
bearing to us the fleshy presence of the infant Lord.
Amen

Queenie Died

We had an early Christmas celebration yesterday afternoon at my parents’ place with my aunts, uncles, cousins, and their families from my dad’s side of the family. It was good seeing everyone again. Some of them I only see once a year.

When we got home, my wife went upstairs to change and then called me because one of our cockatiels was lying dead in the bottom of the cage. Both King and Queenie are pretty old. Cockatiels only live for about 15 years and that’s about how old Queenie was. We got her shortly after we got married 15 years ago. King is probably about a year younger so he’s an old man too. Well, "J," our 10 year old daughter took it hard. She cried and cried. Later she said she was worried that if she like this to the loss of a pet bird, how would she handle it if she lost one of her parents or grandparents?

I have to admit, I don’t get how people get so emotionally attached to pets. I’m not unfeeling or emotionally cold but losing my pet cockatiel of nearly 15 years didn’t make me particularly sad. I feel for people who do take the loss of a pet hard, as I did for my daughter. My wife did most of the consoling but I plan to tell "J" that it’s okay to be sad, and when she eventually does lose a grandparent or a parent (hopefully not for a very long time) she’ll feel even more sadness and it will last a long time. I serve a church with many old people and I’ve done a lot of funerals in my 3½ years here (31). Now she’ll have, in a small way, an idea of what they’re going through.

I’m not looking forward to when King goes.

Mein Doppelgänger

I Googled my name last week and found a few places on church sites that had my name, a lot of items on an American football player who plays on some European NFL team in England. Then I found a guy in Germany who has a computer business. I sent him an email introducing myself and some of my family background. He wrote back and thinks we might be related somehow. His father’s family is from Yugoslavia like mine. My dad thinks a possible connection might be that my grandfather and this German guy’s great-grandfather were cousins. I’m going to keep in touch with the other me and try to work out if and/or how we might be related.

December 6, 1989

In our house, December 6 is St. Nicholas Day. During the night St. Nicholas comes and leaves a plate of chocolates under everyone’s bed for us to find in the morning.

For years now I’ve always remembered that December 6 is also the anniversary of the Montréal Massacre. This year I forgot until I was reminded by the nightly news before I went to bed. On December 6, 1989 a man walked into an engineering classroom, separated the men from the women, then opened fire on the women saying he hates feminists. 27 people were shot, 13 survived leaving 14 dead. Year after year we hear the name of the murderer on the news. It’s good that the media continues to remember the massacre but we rarely, if ever, hear the names of the dead women.

I’m not going to mention the murderer’s name but I want to remember the women who died that day.

Anne St-Arneault, 23
Geneviève Bergeron, 21
Hélène Colgan, 23
Nathalie Croteau, 23
Barbara Daigneault, 22
Anne-Marie Edward, 21
Maud Haviernick, 29
Barbara Klueznick, 31
Maryse Laganière, 25
Maryse Leclair, 23
Anne-Marie Lemay, 22
Sonia Pelletier, 23
Michèle Richard, 21
Annie Turcotte, 21

Heeeere's Tom

Does this look at all like me? I picked the most appropriate (IMO) choices for my appearance. The workstation in the background isn't nearly messy enough. I keep meaning to eventually put a picture of myself in my profile but we always download our pictures onto the kids' computer at home and I forget to bring one to the office.

Stereotypes

They're stereotypes, sure, but funny IMO.

A worldwide survey was conducted by the UN. The only question asked was: "Would you please give your honest opinion about solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world?"

The survey was a huge failure.

In South America they didn't know what "please" meant.

In Eastern Europe they didn't know what "honest" meant.

In China they didn't know what "opinion" meant.

In the Middle East they didn't know what "solution" meant.

In Africa they didn't know what "food" meant.

In Western Europe they didn't know what "shortage" meant.

And in the USA they didn't know what "the rest of the world" meant.

Birthday Gospel

LutheranChik gave me this idea. Give it a try. See what the four gospels say in your birth month chapter and birth day verse. Here're mine.

Matthew 10.14 "If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town."

Mark 10.14 "But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, 'Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.'"

Luke 10.14 "But at the judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you."

John 10.14 "I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me."

Advent and Christmas Message

A scripture reading in Advent cries out "O that you would tear open the heavens and come down!" (Isa 64:1). It sounds kind of impatient. At this time of year many children are feeling just like that about Christmas. "O that Christmas morning would just get here!"

During Advent we in the church put our brakes on, we try not to rush to Christmas morning the way much of the world does. We often lament the commercialization of Christmas. It seems that many stores hang the Christmas decorations and start playing the Christmas music earlier every year. I heard a news report this year that said some retailers were getting an early start on the Christmas season to get us out spending our money before we're shocked by the expected increase in our heating bills.

Isaiah's cry was that God would come down, that we would see God's powerful presence, that God would appear and we would mend our sinful ways. When we look at the state of our world, at wars happening in numerous places, at corrupt governments causing their people to suffer, when we see people hungry, people dying from preventable diseases, sometimes we want to call God down to straighten the whole mess out.

In Advent we look forward to God coming down. We look forward to the celebration of Christmas when the Son of God emptied himself and was born as one of us, as a poor baby without much of a roof over his head. Not exactly shock and awe, not exactly a powerful presence forcing us to mend our sinful ways.

We await the child in the manger and we await the glorious Son of God returning at the end of time. The first coming was a gift that reconciled us to God and each other. The second coming will restore all that we've messed up. That's not to say we sit back now and wait. We, who have been saved by God's grace, ought to communicate that Good News far and wide and work for the health and well being of our community and our world.

The Advent season is a time of anticipation but we're not waiting for something unknown. We know that for Christians the expectations of the prophets were fulfilled in the manger. We know how Advent ends but we always greet Christmas and greet Christ with amazement and delight. We also know that Christmas is a beginning, not an ending. We sing "Christ, the Saviour, is born!" and we proclaim "Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again." The anticipation continues.

God bless your Advent and may you have a Merry Christmas.

Christ the King

Christ the King
November 20, 2005
Matthew 25.31-46

I read about a party game.
I’ve never played it but reading about it
I can imagine how it might play out.
The setting could be any kind of party,
maybe a pot-luck,
maybe one of the many Christmas parties
that will be happening in the next month.
To play the game, you set up for a party
with punch bowls, finger foods, hors d’oeuvres, and so on.
Every person in the room gets a sign taped to his or her back,
reading "monarch," "courtier," "servant," or "beggar."
Once everyone has their sign you start the party.
The game is to try to guess what sign is on your back,
and try to help others guess what’s on their backs,
by treating each other
as you think someone of their status should be treated.
It also depends on what you think might be on your back.
If your sign says "monarch,"
the vast majority of guests are going to flatter you
and offer you treats.
If the sign on your back says "beggar,"
you’re probably going to be treated like trash—
especially if you have the nerve to act
as if you were equal to others with higher status.
It’s a game that can also teach you something.
You can discuss how it felt to be treated a certain way,
or how it felt having to treat others
according to the signs on their backs.

But what would it be like to live in a community,
to live in a world, where everyone,
even the beggars
who get spit on by the high and mighty in our world,
everyone were treated
as if the sign on their back said "monarch."

Today, on Christ the King Sunday,
we hear this strange and difficult parable-like story
of the final judgment.
It’s a story that can make us uncomfortable.
According to Jesus, one day we will stand
before the King of the Universe
and hear his judgment on our lives.
He’ll sort us into two groups—goats to the left and sheep to the right,
the goats to be punished forever
and the sheep to have eternal life.
What do we do with a story like that?
Do we review our lists?
Read it carefully.
You need at least one hungry person, one thirsty one,
one stranger, one naked person,
one sick person, and one prisoner
so that you can supply food, drink,
a warm welcome, some clothes,
a hospital visit, and a prison visit.
So does that mean that you’ll be one of the sheep
and not one of the goats?

I have a book called Good Goats.
In it the writer relates the following:
A few years ago, we made a presentation
to a group of elderly retired Roman Catholic nuns.
One sister raised her hand and asked,
"What about the story of the sheep and the goats?
It says right there that the sheep go to heaven
and the goats go to hell."

The presenter responded by asking the whole group,
"How many of you, even once in your life,
have done what Jesus asks at the beginning of that passage
and fed a hungry person, clothed a naked person
or visited a person in prison?"
All the sisters raised their hands.
He said, "That’s wonderful! You’re all sheep."
Then he asked, "How many of you, even once in your life,
have walked by a hungry person,
failed to clothe a naked person,
or not visited someone in prison?"
Slowly, all the sisters raised their hands.
He said, "That’s too bad. You’re all goats."

The sisters looked worried and perplexed.
Then suddenly one very old sister’s hand shot up.
She blurted out, "I get it! We’re all good goats!"

If you listen carefully to the sheep and the goats in the gospel reading
you’ll discover something. Listen to the sheep:
"When did we give you something to eat or drink?
When did we welcome you as a stranger
or give you clothes to wear
or visit you while you were sick or in jail?"
And listen to the goats:
"Lord, when did we fail to help you
when you were hungry or thirsty or a stranger
or naked or sick or in jail?"
Do you notice that both the sheep and the goats
are surprised to hear
that they did or didn’t do those things for Jesus?
It’s not about checking off one hungry person, one thirsty one,
one sick one, and one in prison as if it’s a scavenger hunt list.
It’s not about tossing a quarter or a loonie into a panhandler’s cup
and calling it done.
"There! There’s my good deed for the day,
my ticket to eternity with the sheep!"
That would be using people for your own gain.
And then what about those days when you walk by,
maybe because you’re in a hurry
or because you don’t have any change
or because you’re in a foul mood
and don’t feel like helping.
Then do you end up being a goat?
Are you back at square one?

I don’t know if this story was meant to scare us,
to make us worry about which side we’ll be on.
Are we sheep or are we goats?
Are we going to be sent away to eternal punishment
or to eternal life?
Well, the story might scare us or make us worry
but there’s good news in the story too.
Jesus is here.
How many of you have ever met a king or a queen,
a prime minister or a president?
Whatever we might think of our leaders,
I think it would be an honour.
How many of you have ever met the King of kings,
the Son of God?
Well, he’s with you every day.
Jesus is present in every single person whose path crosses ours,
and particularly in the least ones, the lost ones,
the last ones we would ever have expected.
So how do we live, knowing that?
Now maybe that makes us more afraid
or more worried than before.
Some Christians talk about
"a personal relationship with your Lord and Saviour."
Well, where do we find a relationship like that?
Jesus is so present with us,
that we’ve got unlimited opportunities
to have a relationship like that,
opportunities to meet him and to serve him.
We forget, or maybe we don’t even understand,
that everything we do or don’t do
affects our relationship with our Lord.

Barbara Brown Taylor writes:
"The only way to tell if they are really Jesus’ eyes
is to look into them,
to risk that moment of recognition that may break your heart,
or change your mind, or make you mad,
or make you amend your life.
Whatever effect it has on you,
that seems to be one thing the sheep know how to do
that the goats have never tried:
to look, to see, to seek Christ
in the last, the lost, the least.
The food, the drink, the welcome, the visit—
all those things will follow in their own good time.
They are necessary for life;
they are not optional,
but by themselves they are just quarters in a cup.
Charity is no substitute for kinship.
We are not called to be philanthropists or social workers,
but brothers and sisters.
We are called into relationship,
even when that relationship is unlikely, momentary, or sad.
We are called to look at each other and see Christ,
who promises to be there where our eyes meet,
and in that glance
to teach us something we need to know."

What we need to do is look, look into the eyes of Jesus.
Why are the goats in this story condemned?
They’re not condemned for doing bad things, remember,
but for doing nothing.
They didn’t kick the beggar in the street.
They didn’t spit on the lonely stranger.
They didn’t curse at the homeless person.
They simply didn’t see any relationship between their lives
and the lives of the least.
If we have faith, if we are people of faith
then we claim to have a relationship with our Lord and Saviour.
It’s up to us to decide what we’re going to do about it.

If we look into the eyes of Christ in our neighbour,
in the eyes of the least,
then we might just find out that we are one of them.
We all have a sign on our backs that says "beggar."
Our problem is when we see "beggar" on someone else’s back
and we assume our sign says "courtier" or "monarch"
and we feel like we’re at some higher station than they are.
If we truly look into the eyes of Christ in our neighbour
we’ll see that they’re not so different from us,
or rather, that we’re not so different from them.
Martin Luther’s last written words were
"It’s true. We’re beggars."

But our gospel reading today teaches us another thing.
They ask "When did we give you something to eat or drink?
When did we welcome you as a stranger
or give you clothes to wear
or visit you while you were sick or in jail?"
The king will answer,
"When ever you did it for any of my people,
no matter how unimportant they seemed,
you did it for me."
All those beggars out there,
including you and me,
we all have a "monarch" sign taped to our backs.
When we look into the eyes of our neighbour in need
we see our Lord, our King.

We’ve come to the end of our church year,
a cycle we’ll begin again next Sunday.
Throughout the year we’ve found God in a manger,
among lepers and the blind,
in strange stories with unexpected twists,
hanging on a cross,
and missing from a vacated tomb!
"When did we see you Lord?"
Squint hard and stare
at the most God-forsaken person you can find.
Then offer a cup of water,
a gentle and assuring pat on the back,
a handshake of welcome.
Greet your hidden Lord!
Amen

Baby It's Cold Outside

Last night we had our first dusting of snow for this winter. We had rain off and on during the day and then after dark it turned to snow. The grass, the cars, the roofs were all white but the roads and sidewalks were clear.

This morning was the first time this season that the temperature has been below freezing as I walked the kids to school. They like crunching the ice that forms over puddles. They race each other to be the first one to crunch the ice. I'm not dressing for the cold yet. I'm still wearing a ball cap instead of a toque and I don't even know if I've got a pair of gloves around. It was less than a month ago that we left Florida and now there's snow and ice on the ground.

And in church I'm starting to plan and think about Advent and Christmas. In church I try to let Advent be Advent and not jump the gun toward Christmas but at home I can't help it. I've already started to play carols on the piano. I had a rule about not playing any Christmas music until the First Sunday in Advent or December 1, whichever comes first, but I've broken it for a few years now. My wife was wrapping some presents last night and put a Christmas episode of Vicar of Dibley on the TV to get into the mood. The older I get the less I'm enjoying winter but I like the feel of the cold air, and hopefully the crunch of snow under my feet when Christmas comes.

On the First Sunday in Advent we're doing Advent lessons and carols in church. The Friday after that the Fellowship Group is planning an intergenerational potluck supper and Christmas caroling after that. This Sunday afternoon is Toronto's Santa Claus Parade and we've got a family tradition of watching it on TV with the in-laws. It's all come so fast and just as quickly it'll be over, the earth will be wobbling back on its axis so that the northern hemisphere will be tilted back toward the sun, but for now, well, it's cold outside but I like it.