a sermon for October 19

The Gift of Hindsight

October 19, 2014

When I was a little girl I had a very strange bedtime prayer ritual – I am not sure how it evolved or even how I came to understand God in such a way but for a few months, before I went to sleep, I would perform this strange little ceremony.

Now remember that I am only eight or nine at the time, so judge the story accordingly– my mom would come and kiss me good night, tuck me in, and tell me she loved me, turn off the light and I would be alone in my room.  I would wait until I could hear that she was in the living room and then I would get up and stand next to the wall and I would pray – different words each night depending on what went on in my day but at the end of the prayer, I would kiss the wall representing a kiss for all the people I loved, I would kiss the wall for God, and for my parents, and sister I would kiss the wall for my grandparents, I would kiss the wall for the dogs … and when I had kissed the wall for as many people or pets I could think of that evening I would then take my Koala bear stuffed animal, and kiss it and place it under the bed and make yet one more plea with God that over the night the bear could be turned into a real baby.  Then I would get back into bed and go to sleep.  During that time in my life, this strange ritual made me feel closer to God.  It was a turbulent time in my life; we had just moved yet again, I was already going to my third school, my Grandma Davies who had lived with our family all of my life had just died.  I was probably lonely and afraid and confused and looking for a deeper relationship with God to take away my fears and confusion although I was totally unable to express that as an nine year old child, when I kissed the wall I was, I think I actually believing that I was kissing God goodnight, like I kissed my mom and dad. 

Longing for intimacy with God is a very common thing, ever since there have been human beings on this earth, we have been searching for finding ways to interact with our gods, through rituals and ceremonies, prayers songs and sacrifices.  There is something inherently human to want to know our God deeply and intimately. 

Moses is seeking God presence in the Exodus passage this morning.  He is longing for a intimate relationship with his Creator.  As the leader of the Hebrew people, Moses knew that their survival depended on God’s presence, and the identity of the people was found in God, God was their unifying force, their sense of purpose, their identity – for is they were not the people of God what were they?  A group of escaped slaves lost in a desert – it was God who gave them co-hesion, it was God who gave them purpose, it was God who gave the a sense of who they were. So Moses request to see and feel and experience the presence of God on that mountain was also spoken on behalf of the people

And, as is no surprise,  God responds in a selfless way. God extends grace, mercy, and assures the promise of a holy presence and a commitment to the Hebrew community.

So, God takes Moses, and he puts him in a little crack in a rock atop a mountain. God was going to pass by Moses, and God wanted to let Moses catch a glimpse of Him.

So God passed by – but Moses wasn’t allowed to look yet. He wasn’t able to look until God had already passed. And then… Moses was able to see the place… Where God had just been.

Our English texts usually say that Moses could “see his back,” but that’s an inaccurate translation. Moses caught no sight of the “body” of God.

He saw the place where God just was.

(this is) how I often experience God. In the busyness of life, I’m not anywhere near aware or awake enough to see God’s Presence. I’m answering emails, making visits, writing sermons, picking up kids from school, washing the dishes, spending time with a friend, sitting on a park bench watching the leaves fall down…

But, when I look back over my day, with intention, I can see God’s Presence so much easier. When I am in the thick of things, I am focused on what is going on around me, that the presence of God goes unnoticed, but when I take the time at the end of the day to reflect on my day, often God is found.  What is it about hindsight that makes everything so much clearer?  But this is one of the ways that we get to see God, and feel God’s presence – through hindsight

Have you heard of the prayer practice called an examin?  An Examin is a prayer, usually prayed at the end of a day, where you intentionally recall your day, and all of the events that happened, your part in it as well as the emotions you experienced, and how you handled things it often includes your failures, but also always it includes God’s little gifts of grace through the day. It is amazing to me that every day when examined through the lens of an examen – through hindsight – God’s presence is revealed.

Here’s the thing, though: if I don’t take the time to look, I almost always miss it. If I want to know where God is in my life I must find that little crack in a rock, and sit in it. Open my eyes, and see the place in my life where God just was.”[1]

So how do we hear the voice of God? Our Ignition brothers give us four answers to that question, First we perceive the Divine in Creation, in the rock and the trees and skies and the seas, in the majesty of a mountain vista and the intricacies of a 1000 legged centipede.  Second, we hear God’s voice in the Scriptures, in this book we call “the word of God.” We hear it in the stories of people just like us who struggle to live well in the world, and in the moments when God intervened in their lives.  Third, we hear God in our faith communities – where a group of people gather to pray together, work together for the kindom, share their faith stories, support each other and intentionally listen to the voice of God, all in an accountable and committed environment, this is the living tradition of our believing community. Finally, we hear God by attending to our experience, and interpreting it in the light of all those other ways of hearing the divine voice–through creation, the Bible, and the living tradition of the community.  This is hindsight – when we live through something, take a look back and then say – ohhhhh, there is where we saw the presence of God, and didn’t our hearts burn…., when we spent time with a friend, or reading a story goodnight, or hearing the sound of the rain on the roof, or in that long line of traffic when someone stopped to let you in so that you could get to where you were going …you get the idea, those moments that in and of themselves that are ordinary, but something happened and when they are re-examined and the ordinary becomes extraordinary and the mundane becomes sacred, and God got into our lives when we were least expecting it.

The people the Jesus story today are doing the same thing, they are looking for God, trying to find that place where God gets in, the problem seems to be that their egos and ways of seeing God are not open enough to recognize that right in front of them they have a new way, a different understanding, that does not threaten who they are and what they believe but instead enhances it.  For the Pharisees and the Herodians, their notions of who God is and how God comes, is restricted and they are unable or unwilling to see in Jesus and his teachings anything of God.

So, Jesus is in the temple courtyard, teaching:  A quick refresher on the time line.  The day before, Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey with psalms waving and shouts of Hosanna.  He went to the temple and drove out the money changers, saying “my house shall be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers!”  Then he left Jerusalem to spend the night in Bethany.  The next morning, Jesus returns to Jerusalem to the temple, where the scribes and Pharisees are waiting for an explanation on just who Jesus thinks he is and where he gets off upsetting the temple commerce.

The debate ensues.

Jesus asks them first to tell him if John the Baptizer was acting on God’s authority.  They decline to answer and Jesus tells them the parable of two sons, one who told his father he would work and didn’t and the other who said no to the father, but then went out to work.  Then Jesus told the parable of the wicked tenants who would not give the produce to the landowner and killed his son.  Finally, Jesus tells the parable of the wedding banquet, where the ones who were invited refused to attend and the banquet was opened up to everyone.

Our gospel readings for the last 3 weeks and today are all part of this one conversation – it’s no wonder the powers that be want to trap Jesus.  He is making them feel very uncomfortable – and they are looking very silly and inept in front of the people.

So they come to him with a ‘gotcha’ question.  This is a no-win for Jesus.  If he says, yes it’s lawful to pay taxes, he can be labeled a Roman collaborator and the crowds will hate him.  If he says, no, you shouldn’t pay taxes to Caesar, then he can be accused of treason and hauled off to Pilate.  Either way, their problem is solved.

David Lose helps us understand a little better from his blog, In the Meantime and he writes:  “A little background will help. We should be clear, it’s not simply taxes in general that are up for debate here, but a particular tax. Jews in first century Palestine, you see, paid numerous taxes: Temple taxes, land taxes, and customs taxes, just to name three. The tax in question was a particular – and particularly onerous – one. It was the Imperial tax paid as tribute to Rome to support the Roman occupation of Israel. That’s right: first-century Jews were required to pay their oppressors a denarius a year to support their own oppression.

Not that everyone saw it this way, however. Those put in power by the Romans, represented in this passage by the Herodians, advocated supporting Roman “governance” of Israel. Nationalists opposed to Rome, perhaps comprising much of the crowd, found the tax offensive as it was a constant reminder of their humiliation. And the religiously devout, represented by the disciples of the Pharisees, had to pay the tax with a coin engraved with a picture of Caesar Tiberius and a proclamation of his divinity, forcing them to break the first two Commandments,” [2]

  You shall have no other gods before Me.

  You shall not make idols.

It is a no win question, so Jesus refuses to play their game.  He makes a simple request – let’s see the money.  And with that request, he changes everything.

Give to Caesar what is Caesar and give to God what is Gods.”

Jesus just changed the rules.  This is not about taxes or politics.  No, this is not even about religion, it is about relationship with God.  It’s about who God is and who you name as God, and what that means for you.  It is about what you value, and what is important in your life.  It is about what occupies your heart and mind.  It is about an up close and personal examination of where your loyalties lie.

The emperor’s image is on the coin and the implication is that the coin belongs to the emperor.  So the question becomes what then bears the image of God?  And the answer - We do.

Therein lies the connection to our first reading – this divine presence witnessed by Moses from the crevice – this God that was willing to pass by and be fully present to Moses – this God that was willing to forgive the Hebrew people for the golden calf debacle and uphold the covenant, and continue the journey with the people - this God that was willing to dwell among us and share our human story, even the parts of the human story that are most painful as we witnessed in the Good Friday story where God entered our pain and loss and death so deeply and took all of it into God’s own self so that we might know who God really is.

“Jesus raises important questions here, but notice that he doesn’t give pat answers. There are elements of our lives that are, indeed, part of the world order and should be “rendered to Caesar.” But those are elements – our deepest person and self is God’s, and if we remember that, all of life takes on greater focus and meaning. And when I say that – that our deepest self is God’s – I actually don’t mean that in the sense of putting more obligations on us: behave yourself, God is watching! Rather, I mean that as a reminder that no matter what we may do or say, no matter where we may go, no matter what may happen to us, yet we are first, foremost, and forever God’s own beloved child. And that identity will, in turn, shape our behavior, urging and aiding us to be the persons we have been called to be.[3]  We are first and foremost God’s beloved children – and the water that we poured onto Clara’s forehead a few minutes ago reminds us of that, we all belong to God, our God is a God of intimate relationship revealing Godself in so many ways – being present to us in our times of joy and times of sorrow, walking with us in our challenges and waiting patiently for us when we wander away – our God, Moses God, Jesus God, Clara’s God, your God longs to love you beloved child….Amen.

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[1] Rick Morley:  A Garden Path:  Crevice - http://www.rickmorley.com/archives/3186

[2] David Lose:  In the Meantime

[3] David Lose:  Money, Politics and Religion:  www.davidlose.net

Thanksgiving Sunday Sermon - The Golden Calf

Idols and Anxiety

October 12, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving everyone – what a beautiful day, what a wonderful moment we do indeed have much to be thankful for – unless we don’t – some of us in this moment may be thinking wait – my life is not a series of blessings in this time, I am sad, there is illness, I am worried about my husband, sister, son or granddaughter – I am struggling financially – I am not feeling much of anything at all.  For some this morning – thanksgiving is a painful word that only draws attention to what others have and what they do not.  There was a wonderful article is this month’s Observer written by colleague Rev. David Giuliano, called “THANKSGVING:  What does it mean to be grateful amid suffering”.  His article reminded me that sometimes in our lives counting our blessings comes up in negative numbers, and sometimes life is difficult and challenging and downright painful – and when a holiday such as this weekend falls in the midst of our suffering, it is almost like a slap in the face – so I want to begin this sermon letting you all know that the thankfulness that is expressed in this morning’s worship is not to make you feel bad if your life is troubled and terrible right now – nor is it to make you feel guilty because you are aware that blessings surround us in the manner of beauty and resources and caring people and loving friends, and yet do not feel the warmth of the blessing and some are angry with God for tragedies and pain that they have experienced in their lives.  We are thankful this morning because of God’s presence with us – not only in the good times but also in the bad, God presence in the sorrow and in the joy – God’s love in the times of doubt and times of assurance.  We are thankful for God’s presence in our anxiety – not taking it away but standing with us, in the dark times, even when we can’t feel it. –

Thankful is not what the Hebrew people are feeling this morning – more like ungrateful, unhappy, anxious people unable to feel the presence of God, instead feeling the absence of God – ever since Moses went up the mountain – the people have been troubled, and their anxiety has risen and risen.  This is not really unusual behaviour, when our leaders disappear, even if we know where they are – organizations, communities and individuals become anxious…

And when we become anxious we often jump into behaviour unhelpful or otherwise that tries to bring the situation back to status quo and try to remove the anxiety and fear as hastily as possible. 

Leanne, a college of mine puts it this way:  “Now, being on this side of the story, and having the whole narrative written out for us, we know where Moses went (he went up the Mountain), what he was doing there (he was receiving direction and instruction directly from God), and how long he was going to be gone (40 days and 40 nights)...but for the Israelites, all they knew was that their leader, the man who promised them that he was going to guide them to the promised land, up and disappeared on them, and was gone for over a month...all while they sat waiting in camp.

And they waited. And they waited for direction. And they waited for purpose. And they waited because they did not know what their next step was…They waited and waited for this life that they had been promised, in the middle of nowhere, while doing nothing, while going nowhere fast.  And while they waited…..the hope and the purpose that had driven their exodus out of Egypt began to fade and the memory of the hardship of their past life started to seem less hard as the reality of their present life anxiety grew…and still they waited.  So they began to wonder...is Moses ever going to come back?  Is what we are living now – better than what we were living then?  Is this life...this life of sitting and waiting and doing nothing but keeping time...is this life really better than what we left? Is sitting in this desert waiting for a man to come down from a mountain is it really better than what we walked away from?

While they waited, they began to look for purpose in their lives. They began to look for direction. They began to look around for something to hold on to, something that would define who they were and what they were about. They sought to assuage their anxiety – to calm their fears, to relieve their concerns –
    And so, looking for something tangible that they could recognize as real, they looked back at the only life that they had ever known, the only reality that they could claim made some sense to them, and looked to it for direction and answers. And so they took the remains and the symbols of that life, the earrings that they wore that were a mark of their role as slaves in Egypt, the golden figurines of the Egyptian gods, and used those objects and melted them together to form a golden calf as an object of worship.

They thought that they were taking control of their lives. They thought that they were seeking a way to harness their own destiny, a way to direct and define who they were and who they were going to be.”  They thought that to do this, to do anything would remove their fear and anxiety and return to them a sense of purpose – and more importantly – control.

There is nothing so disempowering as making a huge decision to radically change your life and to discover half way into it that you may have a mistake – that this was not what you signed on for – or you wish you could take it all back and return to what you know – That moment – or “oh, my goodness what have we done or what are we suppose to do?”  This is exactly where the Hebrew people are right now.

We have all been there- in the midst of an ‘oh my goodness’ moment.  Oh my goodness, what can we do – my life is not what I want it to be – oh my goodness, this road that I am on is harder than I thought it would be.  O my goodness, my life feels like it is careening out of control- O my goodness…help – what can I do to relive my anxiety – what can I do to bring some control back – what can I do to make this fear go away – I don’t like this feeling – what can I do?   ….I can do what I know – I can return to what I know – even though they may be destructive instead of constructive, but maybe the anxiety will subside, at least I am doing something!

And like the Hebrew people, this seems to be a typical reaction of people in the face of great anxiety and fear...we want to control it...and we are afraid of what we cannot control so if we take our gold and turn it into cute little animals, this makes the moment not so frightening – if we take our jewellery and melt it into a small god, a controllable god, we can make God manageable, we can make a god that will not abandon us, we can make a god that will do what we want and take away our fear and anxiety – and we can feel good again…

And so the Hebrew people bowed down, and worshiped this new god that they had created, the god of their old lives and their old selves. A god that represented who they used to be, the god of the past of where they had been, the god of been there done that, but at least we know what to expect... Probably for them, for a moment, it felt empowering.

But, in reality, what they were worshiping was the very opposite of empowering. Yes, they were worshiping a god that represented who they were and what they had been...but they were worshiping the symbols of the very thing that they had escaped from: a life lived in enslavement.  They were worshiping a god of bondage. They held onto and worshiped the symbols of their slavery because it was what they knew. It gave them definition and direction, it told them who they were and what they were about, and so they worshiped that way of life, even though it beat them down and destroyed them...

On our end of it, we can look at what they did and recognize that in choosing to worship a way of life that was destructive and life-killing over worshiping a God that would lead them into a way of life that was life-affirming and empowering was a poor choice. But, at the same time, we tend to make that decisions ourselves, time and again.

How do we unlike the folks of Moses time – not react in our anxiety – how do we not seek to take the symbols of our past and throw them in a melting pot and create an idol of them – I think the story of Moses gives us a clue – because while the Hebrew people are getting more and more anxious, Moses is up the mountain going deeper into his relationship with God, and this God that Moses is getting to know, is about trust and hope and life and future – opposite to the god of gold which is about fear and control and image and anxiety. 

Moses has learned that God is not a distant, vengeful being but is a God who invites involvement and who invokes love and compassion before condemnation.

·       God is a God of relationships.

·       A God who is prepared to listen as well as to speak.

·       A God who is moved by the plight of people.

·       This is what Moses has learned on the mountain.

·       And Moses knows how short memories can be – as he .

And like the Hebrew people we too need to be reminded of the goodness of God and of God’s faithfulness over and over and over especially when our anxiety runs high.

It was strength and love and an strong relationship that allowed Moses to plead with God to stick with the Hebrew people and love them back onto the right path no matter how far they strayed. 

We need to remember that even for Moses, the one so close to God, these are lessons that are not learned once and for all, these are lessons that are gleaned from relationship that is nurtured and nurturing.

So we learn about the nature of God by nurturing our relationship with God.

And, every day, we can learn a little bit more – sometimes we learn more of the same, for we constantly need reminding about the nature of God, and God at work in the world – and sometimes, God reveals new things.

That’s a wonderful thing – no matter how long we journey with God, still there is more to learn, still there are more and wonderful facets of God to be revealed.  When we remember who we are and whose we are, we get countless opportunities to nurture our relationship with our Creator.

Today is thanksgiving – today we give thanks for who we have been, where we are and where we are going – we give thanks for the journey we are on with our Creator.  Part of the gift of this day or tomorrow or whenever it is that your family will gather it is a moment steeped in the past but also as a movement toward the future.  I always appreciate the moment my family takes going around the table sharing what we are thankful for – because every year it is different and it changes and transform like our journey with God.  And every year I am able to find at least one thing to be thankful for – and so I might add does everyone around the table.

And yes, it’s sometimes it is scary to let go of our lives as we know them and venture forth on the journey with God – and sometimes we are required to wait, and wait and wait until the direction becomes clear and the leadership returns. It takes guts to step out of the box that we have found ourselves placed in, and to embrace the unknown fullness of life that God has promised.

So let’s let go of the gods of this world that we have created and trust that our God who journeys with us through our ups and our downs, our joys and our sorrows, our hopes and our fears, this God that Moses met on the mountain top, this God, our God…   May we have the courage to fully let go of our anxieties, to release our idols and to trust that God is with us, we are never alone…Thanks be to God.   Amen.

Commandments and Communion

Commandments and Communion

World Wide Communion Sunday - October 2 / 2012

When I was a little girl we always ate dinner at the dining room table.  Breakfast and lunch were served on the kitchen table, but dinner was at the dining room table.  Most of the time it wasn’t fancy, we used our everyday dishes, but eating at the dining room table put the meal in a different class.  Here we had to use our knife and fork properly – we had rules – 

·       no singing at the table,

·       no chewing with your mouth open,

·       if you would like something you must say “please pass the potatoes” 

·       no elbows on the table,

·       you must wait for everyone to finish before you can have dessert  

·       you must finish your first course if you expect to have dessert!

When I was a child these rules seemed ridiculous, and I remember lots of times when my mother or father would correct our behaviour.  I used to resent it, and often wondered why we just couldn’t eat in the kitchen where the rules were not so strict – I also noticed that sometimes in other people’s homes they did not have to worry about how they held their fork or if they chewed with their mouth open.  My son Ethan shared a story about a co-worker of his who chews with his mouth open and when it was mentioned to him that it was kind of offensive – he responded that ‘it makes his food taste better to eat that way’.  I have grown to appreciate my parent’s instructions – I know how to eat politely at any dinner table – my manners and the way I hold my knife and fork, have stood me well over the past decades.  I have not embarrassed myself or others with rude behaviour at a dinner table.  The structure and norms taught to me by my parents, has made eating politely just something I do.  They ended up being rules / structure that gave me freedom instead of restrictions.  

We have been following the Israelites on their journey in the desert – on their journey between slavery and freedom – through the desert, and through their places of struggle and disenchantment with their new life.  Remember where we have been – people crying out to God to release them from slavery – and Moses comes forth to lead them out of the land of Egypt – toward the promise land – but after they cross the sea, after they have been in the desert for a month or two the excitement has worn off and the reality of what it means to become something else – someone else – no longer a slave but now a citizen off to find the promise land – but also no longer have food, shelter, schedule, purpose provided to you by your master – when the Hebrew people begin to understand the price of freedom – the begin to understand just how hard change is and that to be transformed from slave to free is a painful process.  We are hungry Moses, give us food – we are thirsty Moses – where is the water – we need organization we need a structure for how to live - this is what is happening in the reading today – as the people get more and more ancy – God comes to them once more and gives them ‘the law’ –  in the shape of two stone tablets bearing the words that we call ‘the ten commandments’

Moses brings a different type of grace to the people this morning – as he meets God on the mountain and receives the next gift – the ultimate gift – the gift the keeps on giving as the words have become timeless and have meaning and are as relevant for Hebrew people in the middle of the desert as they are for us right here at St. James ~Rosemount in the middle of Kitchener.

These words are our words too – these words

·       this framework /this set of rules /these policies and guidelines /these laws

The ten commandments have become sacred to generation after generation right back to the Hebrew people journeying in the desert and right forward to here and now, in this time and in this place.  These words of God, given to Moses, presented to the Hebrew people have been used to set laws in nations, have been used to determine guidelines of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, have been used to place judgement on some people choices, have been used and reuses and used again in so many times and my so many generations that I wonder if we can even appreciate what these words would have sounded like to the first hearers – the question becomes how much baggage do we bring to these sacred words that they are distorted by our interpretations.  When we listened to the scripture story this morning how many of us instead of feeling the gift and blessing and grace these commandments offered instead feel the heaviness of law and judgement and condemnation that these words pull up from inside us instead.  

What if the 10 commandments is not a list of regulations but instead a series of supportive instructions about how to live on this earth in a way that not only honours God but also our neighbour, honour our selves and also the earth and all living creatures.  What if the ten commandments is not a list of rules that God uses against us and tick – tick – tick – tick when any of us covet or use the Lord’s name in vain or dishonour one of our parents or head on out after church to do some grocery shopping.  What if God had in mind way back then – and still has in mind for us today – was a framework – a filter which offers a way to live in the world which respects God, and others and self and Creation.  What if what God was doing was offering a life giving framework of respect and love, much like my parents instilling in me table manners?

J Ellisworth Callas wrote a book called – “  The 10 Commandments from the Backside” it is about reframing the 10 commandments – instead of a negative list of all the ways not to be, and not to act and not to behave, what he does is shift from a negative to a positive focus and, for me this reframing speaks more authentically of what I believe is God’s desire for us as humans beings living on this earth.  They cause me to rethink what God is really asking of me living my life on this earth in the midst of all of God’s creation.  So, instead of

You shall have no other God before me // God shall have all of you

You shall not make yourself an idol // you shall adore the mystery that is beyond comprehension

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.// you shall enter into God’s name

Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy // the Sabbath will keep you

Honour your father and mother // you shall accept the blessings of the past so that you can have a future

You shall not murder // you shall embrace life

You shall not commit adultery // you shall cherish the sacredness of your mate

You shall not steal //you shall become a larger person

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour // you shall bless and be blest by truth

You shall not covet your neighbours’ house, wife, slaves, ox or donkey // you shall rejoice in your neighbours having.

When we reframe and hear these life giving words from the positive instead of the negative – we are given a glimpse of the kingdom – we are given an opportunity to see what God really had in mind for this world and it’s people and creation  embracing life, accepting the blessings, cherishing sacredness, rejoicing in the having of another – the kingdom of God – which we are blessed to live in

This Sunday is the closest this year to the Jewish celebration of Yom Kipper the day of Atonement for those of the Jewish faith– Friday was the Kol Nidre service which is the prayer said before the service begins.  On this day the community asks and receives forgiveness from God.   – a fellow preacher was sharing that she attended such a service Friday evening – ‘at the beginning of the service a number of members of the congregation were invited to the bima to hold the Torah scrolls while the prayer was sung.  She was overwhelmed by the looks of joy on the faces of those holding the scrolls and the notes of longing and faithfulness in the voice of the cantor.  She then reflected on how it powerfully reminded her that the commandments that are so often reduced to a list with all the excitement of a section of civil code they are in fact an expression of God’s deep and abiding love for us and God’s desire for us to remain in this covenant as a living, dynamic, reciprocal relationship. These commandments are about a reciprocal relationship – that gives as well as receives – much like the meal that we are about to partake – it declares that our relationship with God it is living and dynamic and reciprocal.

And in Christian communities this morning all over the world, people just like us are participating in a practice that reminds us that we are living in God’s  vineyard – and that we are not the owner, but the owner wishes to be in intimate relationship with us – the owner care and loves us and desires us to embrace life, to cherish sacredness, to rejoice in our neighbours having and to belong to God, adorning the mystery that is beyond comprehension. 

This act of communion is about re-membering – re-membering who we are and whose we are .. we are God’s people…re-membering where we live and who is the owner .. the earth is God’s vineyard  …and re-membering that we are all part of a continuum of creation from our brothers and sisters in the desert, experiencing first the life giving words to the men and the woman around the table in the upper room sharing the simple meal with Jesus to us sitting in these pews this morning about to partake of breads baked or bought by members of this congregation, sharing their heritage.  We re-member that God is with us here and now – and God will be with us and our children and our children’s children, children. This meal unites us as one people – first individually – unites us with Jesus as we recall how he to shared this meal and from that place went to Golgotha – and unites us to each other- each of us in this building, the babies in the nursery to the 90 year olds in the pews as we re-member that we are all in this together – this church – this congregation – this denomination – this Christian community – this meal reminds us that we are united in more than name, this meal unites us with others in other churches and other denominations, in other countries, in other languagues and cultures and in other faith groups – this meal unites us with God – re-membering that we are one people, one human species that all live in the vineyard of God…. 

Jan Richardson writes:  “World Communion Sunday reminds us that Christ calls us to a table where the welcome is wide. He offers us a space with bread and wine in abundance to give solace to our sorrow and to stir our joy. Even as Christ invites us to this table, he does not mean for us to linger here forever. He gives us sustenance in order to send us forth, carrying a space of welcome within us, called to offer it to those we meet”[1]  come to the table and remember who you are and whose you are – come to the table and find nourishment and hope – come to the table as you are for you are all welcome…..Amen   

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[1] Jan Richardson:  The Solace of Other Tables:  The Painted Prayerbook.com