September 28 - Flow

Flow

September 28 / 14

Exodus 17: 1-7                                                 

This was moving week – and I thought that I was prepared for this –  I have moved many times before and this move, thanks to you, is easily handled because it is part of the United Church compensation package.  I thought that everything was well in hand – because the movers were doing the packing and taking care of the carting from one house and to the other all I had to do was tell them what stays and what goes– so when Wednesday came – packing day, and they were to arrive between 9 and 9:30, plenty of time thought I – although I had a presbytery meeting the night before, and did not get home from the drive until after 11 – But I got a good night sleep and I got up in good time.  I  got the girls off to school, Erica off to daycare, was back by 8:45 to have my breakfast and my tea and then time to prepare myself  – but just when I sat down the doorbell rang – it was the movers- they were there, early, and  from that moment on everything felt like it went out of control, the rest of the week has felt like I have been rushing to catch up – I am not sure what I am trying to catch up too – but there has been this sense of not being fully ready and not at all prepared for what our family is doing.  And there has been this niggling feeling all week that if I had just had the 15 or twenty minutes to myself – to prepare myself for what was coming - then I would have handled it better.  If only the movers had not been early then I would have been ready, and the last few days of tremendous stress and chaos would have been calmer and had more flow…

I wonder if that is how the Hebrew people felt this morning, out of control and stress out.  They had thought that they wanted to be free from slavery to the Egyptians -  they had thought that they knew what they were getting into – but it all happened so quickly – one minute they were in Egypt and the next Moses hastened them along, getting them to hurry up – because the hard hearted Pharaoh had finally changed his mind and let them go – maybe if they had had more time to prepare, more time to get ready – that when they came to the place where they were today – according to one scholar – only about three months into the journey, would they have been able to handle it better?  They may have been less threatening to Moses, and more understanding when they began to get very thirsty. 

Old Testament Professor Nancy DeClasse Walford writes:  Thus, a weary and downtrodden people left a life of oppression--but a life of familiarity--and journeyed into the Sinai desert led by a man they hardly knew. They hoped to arrive safely in the land that had been promised to their ancestors, a land they had never seen. Each step took them further away from the known and deeper into the desert unknown--men, women, children, and livestock.

The Egyptians pursued; the water was too bitter to drink; food was scarce; the water ran out altogether. Doubt set in; fear overtook, and the people complained and quarreled. In each instance, God provided: deliverance, sweet water, food, water from the rock. These were the early days of the wilderness wanderings, and God persistently guided the people and provided for them.[1]

Doubt set in – fear overtook…., they weren’t ready – but could they have been?  I think the thing of it is that life is not something that you can be ready for – I was not prepared for the emotions I experienced when I watched all our belonging being packed up and moved from a beloved home and treasured location.  The Hebrew people were not ready for the hardships of the dessert and were also not ready to trust in God whom they had not seen for a long long time – for they had not witnessed God like Moses had and were forced to trust Moses, a man whom they barely knew with their lives, and the lives of their children.  It is no wonder, when there was no water that fear set in and doubt overtook….and they started to complain, and to threaten and to regret their decision. 

We have all been there – that place where life is not what we had anticipated.  Where the direction we are headed is not what we signed up for.  Life has a way of handing us curve balls – and unanticipated problems and sometimes outright tragedy.  We have all been so thirsty we cannot think straight –

·       we could be thirsty for love,

·       or withered by grief,

·       we could be parched in despair

·       or desperate for security or safety

·       we could be dried out inside, feeling lost and alone

·       or dehydrated from years of neglect

But God was there, and God heard, and God responded – God was in that desert with the Hebrew people and out of a rock – water flowed and thirst was assuaged and the people drank until they could drink no more.  God came and saved them yet again.  Water flowed from a rock – and the Hebrew people drank and were thirsty no more – at least no more that day.

Sometimes the hardest thing we have to do is remember who we are and whose we are.  It is easy to forget when the thirst gets deep and hard that we are not alone in the desert that God is with us, just as he was with the Hebrews. It’s hard in the midst of fear and doubt to trust that God will provide and that water will come, even from the most unlikely of places.

I am grateful for this opportunity today to celebrate with you the lives of three people whom have been in the past contributing members of this congregation.  I know that for some of you it especially hard today, as your grief is re-awakened.  But what a great example of God’s love enacted here, that these precious lives that have touched so many here continue with their gifts to bring life to the church – like water from a rock – a bench by the labyrinth offers rest and restoration – and a defribulator may give life to someone whose heart has stopped and in the music, which opens us up in profound ways and God is able to break down barriers so we can get a little bit closer to our Creator.  Thank you, families of Rick, Fern and Steven, may we honour your loved ones by using their gifts well.

God cares deeply for each of us and helps move us from places of fear and doubt to places of trust. God provides for us and reveals Godself to us, and then God asks us to trust when the good provision doesn't come as quickly or in quite the form as we would like. Look back, remember the provision of God in the past journey; it will come again in future journeys. For "I am the LORD your God." And I am with you and you shall be my people and I will be your God – Thanks be…Amen 

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[1] Nancy DeClasse-Walford:  Working Preacher.org,  http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=160

Community Building - A Sermon for Pentecost 15

Community Building

September 21/14

Years ago I when I was serving in my first pastoral charge in Blind River, an Anglican Church in Sault Ste. Marie had biblical scholar, author and priest Herb O’Driscoll up in our area to lead a workshop on the future of the Christian church.  We in the United Church were able to piggy back onto his time in the Sault, and have a one day workshop of our own, tacked on to the end of his time with the Anglicans.  A group of enthusiastic United Church ministers gathered in the Sanctuary of Willowgrove United Church, to gain insight from this learned leader.  What struck me then and stays with me until this day is how he talked about ministry of the future – this was in the late nineties, the church had begun to loose members, with shrinking budgets and smaller Sunday Schools – but still the idea that if we do what we did 10 or 20 years ago just tried a bit harder than all would be well and we could fill up our pews, and collection plates.  We still believed that we could just tweek what was happening in our congregations and life as we knew it would return to the glory days of 60’ and 70’s.  I also think that most of us also felt that if we were just the right type of preacher or the most amazing pastoral visitor, or a fabulous community development specialist than we could single handed turn our declining congregations around and the people would return in droves with their hands full of dollar bills just aching to be placed on our collection plates. 

How naive we were!  Herb O’Driscoll quickly put our minds on other things - he was good to remind us that our ministry was not actually our ministry – we were called to serve our Creator

·       called to serve the church and called to serve God with the example of Jesus Christ as our guide.  He also reminded us that we were the one’s

·       called into this present time, not the glory days of the past,

·       called to serve as a servant leader not as a supreme being or a flawless head honcho

·       called to be one of God’s people set apart for leadership yet still apart of the congregations were we were leaders.  

Moses he said was our example.  And he said that Moses was our best biblical example because the times that we were about to go into – actually the times that we were in presently were in although we were not fully acknowledging yet that we were there – these times were wilderness times – and we were desert wanderers, roaming around in a desert with no real path to follow, not real direction to go in – just hoping that were we were going would eventually lead us to the promise land - putting in time until we were ready to go into the promise land – He then reminded us that throughout the wanderings, God was there – and not only that, God also was our guide – our guardian through the desert – and we as leaders need to trust and rely on that presence.  But then he said – and here the part that I carry with me – he said that the leadership we were called into was one of walking with – walking with

·       not out front shouting directions – four paces left – turn to your right – come on everyone – follow me this way!

·       not at the back herding the people like sheep, with dogs nipping at their heels and corralling the people into pens at night

·       not distance and aloof – like an army general making directional plans from the safety of the bunker while the masses go out to check to see if the strategy is sound.

·       And certainly not like the Pharaoh or the kings ruled the people, oblivious to their needs, and separate from them by fortified walls and guilded chambers

No – O’Driscoll said – church leadership in the 21^st century required its leaders to be fully immersed in the community, walking with, experiencing the ups and the downs, willing to put yourself out there to try new things and to have them fail – able to walk with assuredness when the anxiety of the group was high – able to be in relationship with all of the people, in their brokenness and fears, their wisdom and their beauty, their anxiety and their sacredness.

Todays’ Old Testament lesson is a great example of that type of leadership in the midst of an anxious and fearful community.  The Hebrew people have been on the move for a while now and the store sthat they have brought with them from Egypt have reached the end.  Stomachs are grumbling, children are crying, fear is beginning to take hold – the fear that they will not have enough food to sustain them and that they will perish out in this wilderness.  What a few days ago felt like freedom and new life in the desert now with a food scarcity crisis – now it feels like a prison, a place that confines and restricts and may be a place of death instead of life?  You know – it is understandable – this high anxiety – these freaked out people lamenting what they lost – because even though they were slaves, even though they their lives were limited and controlled by the Egyptians – at least they had food, at least they had bread!  But no more – now they can not count on the Egyptians to feed them – now they have to rely on someone else – on something else – on something else entirely – now they have to rely on God – rely and blame God!

Moses, Moses – what do you think you are doing – bringing us out here in the desert, out here to starve – we would have been better to die in Egypt at least we would have bread In our stomachs.  How dare you lead us to our destruction – how dare you kill us all with hunger. 

 

You know one of the hardest things about being in community is blame game – we think that there is something going wrong – so let’s look around to find someone to blame – because it we do that then there is no need for us to take responsibility for whatever the problem is – nor is there any need to try and find a new solution because someone else is responsible.

Moses is living in the midst of the blame game in today’s reading –

·       let’s blame Moses because we think God leading us to our death from starvation –

·       let’s not look around and see what abundance actually surrounds us –

·       let’s us not see whether there is another way to find food or another possibility for substance and of course

·       let us blame God  for denying us what we feel we justly deserve

the blame game, the game where we forget who we are and whose we are….

Paul in the letter to Romans today has a message for the Hebrew community– hope – for in hope we are saved – and he reminds us that hope is about what is not seen – what we can not see yet – hope is about God and what God can do and trusting that God will do something, and that something is going to save.   - When the Hebrew people’s bellies began to rumble they let go of hope and started to grumble…

I think that this might be a good time to wonder about how much we too, like the Hebrew people when things start to get tough and the community around us begins to rumble we too loose hope and start to grumble….

And I bet you we do not need to look far or long to find examples of this within our own community – 

·       times when things were tough and tough got going – often walking out the doors never to be seen or heard from again

·       times when things got heated and people got burned and went away to nurse their wounds

·       times when decisions were made that not all agreed with at some took their ball and went home

·       times when things were dull and malaise set in and people drifted away

·       times when leaders made mistakes or said the wrong thing or offended

·       times when more attention was paid to this cause and less paid to that one

good times, bad times, and times in between. - This community of faith has been through it all and this community of faith has increased and decreased as the blame game is played.

Grumble, grumble, grumble – Moses we are hungry – what has God done to us now! 

In hope we are saved writes Paul:  and hope is what is not seen – we belong to God, a great and abundant and incredible Creator that is not restricted by our small vision and lack of imagination!  We belong to God, our community belongs to God and it is in whose name this community was created, in whose purpose we the people of God gather – it is God who gives this community hope, and meaning, determination and vision – it God in Jesus and the Spirit – Paul writes that is interceding with sighs too deep for words --- I love that line --- sighs to deep for words

God knows – God knows our grumbles – God hears our sighs

·       we are hungry

·       we are lost

·       we are frightened

·       w are anxious

·       we don’t know what to do next

·       we are afraid

God hears – God knows – God is here walking with us, in our midst on this wilderness wanderings that our community is going on right here – right now – God is with us, we are not alone – we are never alone!

And we will be fed – maybe the food will be unlike any food we have had in the past –

Maybe the food will only come each day, and there will be not enough to gather and keep but just enough to assuage our hunger for the day and then…we will have to trust once more that tomorrow will take care of its own.

And maybe we will be found – that the journey that we are on will begin to feel familiar – and even if we do not see our destination – even if the road ahead is not clear – because we walk with God, we will trust that the way will be clear and pathway unobstructed – or if we find an obstruction between us all we will find a way to clear the path, knowing that God is in the midst of this community

And maybe our fear will diminish and we will be able to live in the present unknown reality where tomorrow is a mystery but today is okay, and all we need for that day is with us.

And maybe the way to what is next will be provided, as in idea or an inspiration or thoughts that comes in the night – and this community will be able to hear the voice of God through the inspiration and creativeness of those in our midst – maybe we will need to learn a new language, the language of art and poetry of children’s voices and musical notes…

And maybe we will learn to trust, and learn to let go of our fear, and to know deep-  deep within us that God has not left the building, that we are part of the community of faith, and that the people who walked with Moses, and the people to whom Paul was writing to – that they are all part of this one community of God’s people where all things work together for good  for those who love God. 

We are a community of faith – each and every one of us sitting in these pews today – each and every one of us written down on our membership lists, each and  every one of us who call this church their own – we are God’s people on a journey, walking together through this time and this place where all the food all the sustenance that we need for living a godly life will be provided and all the hope that we need – especially the hope of things unseen is here – we are pilgrims on a journey – with our God to the promise land.  Thanks be…Amen.

Welcome.Blessing.Belonging - A Baptism Sermon

Welcoming . Blessing . Belonging

September 14, 2014    Exodus 14

Welcome everyone – it is so good to look out over the pews this morning from my position behind the lectern, which is located in the nave, in the midst of the sanctuary, situated in the chancel with the choir – with a view to the narthex, behind the sacristy – whew! what a bunch of words – words we use to describe the different parts of the church building and its uses – did they make sense to you – the words themselves were created hundreds of years ago in the midst of the glory building of European Cathedrals and I wonder whether or not the words that we use are actually better left back a few hundred years ago instead of in our church today, especially if these words cause alienation instead of inclusion?

One of my favorite examples of a church being exclusive and totally disregarding the call to welcome is from the one and only Mr Bean – imagine if you will – a little orange car pulling up  to a church parking area one Sunday morning but finding no place to park – except very far away – and then when he goes into church, the congregation is standing and singing and there is no room except at the front, and when he joins the man in the front pew – no room is made for him – he has to ask to see the hymn book the man is holding, and as he is about to join in with the song, the hymn is over – everyone sits down – except of course Mr. Bean , and then of course he gets so bored with what is going on that he falls asleep in a way that only Mr Bean can.   – And then there is another time where he is back in church trying again and this time the man who is beside him, will not share his hymn book – and as the congregation sing “All People of Our God and King”  Mr Bean can only join in with the ‘Hallelujah’s” and each time a little late and a lot off key.  Again not knowing when to sit down, when to stand up – and getting no help whatsoever from his seat mate – a cold and unwelcoming place – and 50 oblivious people who all are in the know – ignoring him.

What is it about this going to church business that sometimes instead of being a place that welcomes and makes people feel at home and comfortable – instead makes people feel uncomfortable and left out? We use language that confuses, rituals that often little sense, we hold up our scripture sometimes as something that everyone is familiar and comfortable with – we appear to makes assumptions that we all believe the same thing, we all practice the same way and the way that we do it is the right way.  If we did any of those things this morning, and you are feeling a little lost and left out – I would like to apologize right now – I am sorry, I am sorry because sometimes I forget that that I have been part of this institution for such a long time and I am familiar with the ritual and the rules – spoken and unspoken – that my behaviour could alienate instead of welcome – 

I am sorry because if any other message besides the message of welcome and belonging is heard during this time of worship, than we have not been faithful to our duty this morning – for today above all else , is a day of welcome and making sure that everyone who has joined us here in this time feels that they are supposed to be here,  and that we value you and the time you have taken to share in this worship this morning – especially Alison, Nolan and Mason – these three precious babies – their parents, their grandparents and friends and family – I hope you feel welcome….and more importantly – I hope you feel blessed.

This ritual that we just participated in, the ritual of Baptism is a ritual of blessing.  I think the United Church worship book says it best:  

“Baptism celebrates God’s initiative and our response. It is God’s “Yes” to us, and our “Yes” to God. It is a sign of the Divine-human covenant. Baptism flows from God’s unmerited grace and pours out in lives of gratitude and commitment. As initiation into the Church, the Body of Christ, it is an act of welcoming, blessing, and belonging. …(moreover)  Baptism for infants and young children proclaims the unconditional grace and love of God. It is also a reminder of the wonder, blessing, and new responsibilities that come with a new life.”[1]

Blessings and new responsibilities that come with new life… The events that happened to the Hebrew people this morning is also a encounter with God that is about blessing and belonging and new life– although it may be hard to see it at first glance for the water in this story is not as gentle as the water in the font that was poured on the precious babies foreheads earlier.  No the water of blessing today is a great big sea full of power with the potential for death and life, struggle and suffering – and ultimately having to trust in God while walking into the complete unknown. 

Imagine what it would have been like to be  a person in this morning’s bible story – let not pretend to be Moses – he has an unfair advantage in this morning story – he has been waking with God for a long time now and he has learned to trust  and he knows that that God has the peoples best interest at heart – But what would it have been like to be one of the nameless people, the ones where were the slaves, who had lived in Egypt all their lives, knew no other way – imagine yourself back there – as a slave in Egypt – living a life of subsistence often with very little hope that things would change – but then hearing about Moses, going to the Pharaoh and demanding your freedom.  Do you think you would have appreciated his interference – we think when we read the story that the people appreciated Moses efforts for them – but what they didn’t – what if they didn’t mind their lives – they knew who they were, they knew their place in the scheme of things, they knew they had food at the end of the day – shelter, water, the essentials of life.  

But then come the plagues – you could not have lived in Egypt and not been effected by the blights that came upon the land – frogs, crickets, rivers running with blood – cattle dying in the fields – and finally – the death of the first born – even with the blood over the mantle protecting their children, the Hebrew people were there to hear the cries of the Egyptian parents and their children died in the final plague – how awful for them.  Would the price of freedom feel fair in the midst of the great grief over the land.

And finally being able to leave – but quickly – packing only what they could carry – and leaving as soon as possible just in case – just in case Pharaoh changes his mind – which of course he did – sending out an army complete with chariot’s and riders to round up the Hebrews and bring them back to their lives of slavery.

And they go – and they flee – flee for their life – their new life – protected by a pillar of cloud in the day  and pillar of fire in the night – God is close at hand as the Hebrews escape their chains of slavery, but so are the Egyptian soldiers and just as they are closing in – they come to what seems like the end of their journey as they reach the banks of the sea.  Camp out at night – the pillar still protecting them, but knowing that the soldiers where close – just beyond …what fear they must have been experiencing.  But in the night – God comes:

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided.

And then into the newly dried, sea bed the Hebrew people walked – with the water on their left and the water on their right – they walked away from the shore line where they had been slaves, they walked deep into the sea, leaving behind their life of slavery, leaving behind everything they have ever known, leaving behind any chance they would ever have to return – deep deep into the sea they go – into the land of unknown and unfamiliar.  And when they reach the other side of the water; there is no going back – they stepped out of the sea bed as a new people, no longer bound to the Egyptians, they step out as free Hebrew people whatever that now means.  

The parted waters of the sea baptized the Hebrew people into their new life as God’s covenant people – on a journey to the promise land – and although the next few years will not be easy, although the journey is fraught with peril and danger, it is also paved with promise and blessing, and God walks with them – throughout it all!

When we baptized those three beautiful little babies a few minutes ago they too were  changed by the water, they too begin their life as God’s covenant people – just as you are – their parents  made decisions for them today that will shape their new life – for one thing they are now part of this congregation and the these people who sit in these pews have committed to care and pray for these children and that means something and that matters – and no matter how long St. James is here these children will have a place here – a connection to us because of the water placed on their foreheads a few minutes ago, but more than that – for these babies have a place in the whole people of God, and the water of Baptism connects them to every other baptism that has ever happened – and to every other person who walks the journey to the promise land with God as their guide and companion.  

“The covenant of baptism celebrates the fullness of God’s grace throughout the story of salvation: in creation and in exodus, in wilderness and in exile, in birth and in death. In his baptism, Jesus received the Holy Spirit and was declared God’s beloved, he opened himself to repentance and forgiveness, and marked a new beginning in his ministry. In our baptism we are similarly claimed, called, and commissioned. “[2]

We are claimed as God’s, we are called to be in this world as God’s people loving and caring fo r all of God’s children, and we are commissioned ot live in this world knowing that the kingdom is coming and the the promise land is just at the end of a journey.  We are God’s beloved children; welcomed, blessed and we belong to God – thanks be. Amen.

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[1] Celebrate God Presence:  United Church Worship Resource Book pg 321

[2] Celebrate God’s Presence:  The United Church of Canada’s Worship Resource Book - Baptism pg 321