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December 2, 2019 1st Week of Advent – Day Two of the Advent Alphabet

B is for Bethlehem. There are at least 2 Bethlehems. The one we know best is a fairly romanticized place, the setting for pageants and Christmas specials. The other is where Israelis and Palestinians live as uneasy neighbours, under the watchful gaze of religious tourists and other visitors from around the world. This prayer was written a few years ago by the Very Reverend David Giuliano, former Moderator of the United Church of Canada.

Bethlehem Prayer

O Mystery as grand as the universe

O Mighty Force of all creation,

O Power beyond all our power,

You have come to us as an infant.

Vulnerable, fragile, beautiful.

You have come to us

in the midst of poverty,

powerlessness and longing.

Come again, O Promiser of Peace.

Come again, to the city of your birth

mired in fear, oppression and injustice.

Come again, where bullet holes

still pock the walls of Sanctuary.

Come again, where Children dream

of homes they have never seen.

Come again, where a single key

or the number 194 cry out again

of forced journey to Bethlehem.

Be born again in the camps.

Be born again in stables and homes.

Be born again in many cities and languages.

Be born again among nations.

Be born again in places of injustice.

Be born again a promise of hope,

a sign of love and joy to the world.

Be born again in our hearts,

that we too might be called

Makers of peace

and Children of God. Amen

Notes:

Bethlehem is now walled off from Jerusalem and is home to three Palestinian refugee camps. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_West_Bank_barrier

The “single key” refers to the many Palestinians in Bethlehem who still have keys to homes from which they fled in 1948.

The number 194 appears in many places in Bethlehem, and refers to United Nations Resolution #194 granting Palestinian refugees the “right of return” to their home villages.

The Church of the Nativity is still pocked by Israeli bullets that ended a 42-day siege in 2002 after Palestinian soldiers had taken refuge there.

The Advent Alphabet is a ministry offering from Rev. Darrow Woods, pastor at the United Church in Harrow, Ontario. Each day in Advent, a different letter of the English Alphabet will be a jumping off place for a reflection. These reflections will be sent out via email to those who have asked to be on the mailing list, and will also be posted to Rev. Darrow’s Facebook page.

One year ago, on the Sunday of Labour Day weekend, I began service as the pastor of Harrow United Church, in Harrow, a town of around 4000 souls, half an hour from Windsor, Ontario. The first worship service I took part in was the Community Worship held on the Sunday of the Harrow Agricultural Fair. After the service I was treated to dessert (before lunch!) at the United Church pie tent.

One year later, I was the preacher for the Community Worship at the Fair, and afterwards, bought my own pie. Actually, I rode the pie-mobile back to the church and picked out the two whole pies I bought to take home. We then picked up a load of pies to replenish the dwindling supply at the tent.

Each year the Colchester South and Harrow Agricultural Society chooses a theme for the fair. http://harrowfair.com/

The local ministerial has charge of the community worship service, and makes an effort to tie in the theme.

When I heard that our theme was “Diamonds and Denim”, I chose a story about Abraham and Sarah from Genesis 18, in which the founding couple of the people of Israel offer hospitality to 3 strangers, to learn later they were God’s messengers. A group of young people from St. Mark Evangelical Church in Colchester performed a dramatic reading of the story.  They did great!

Here is what I said, when I followed them:

It was great to have the actors from Saint Mark’s bring the bible story to life. That’s what we are meant to do-bring the Good News to life-with our actions and attitudes.

Keeping the custom of their faith and culture, Abraham and Sarah extended hospitality to 3 total strangers, and only later learned they were God’s messengers. The Letter to the Hebrews reminds us: “Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”

We don’t know who might actually be an angel for us, bringing a holy word. You can’t always tell from the outside, what’s on the inside. Don’t judge a book by its cover. Don’t judge a person by the colour of their skin, or the length of their hair, or the way they dress. Don’t judge a person by who they love, or where they live, or the vehicle they use to get around.

Be kind with everyone you meet, you don’t know what they might be going through. Think of the people in your own life. If you didn’t know them, could you tell, just by looking at them, what their life has been like, and what they deal with on a daily basis? Many carry heavy, but invisible burdens.

We all have problems. I have a small one today!

Last year was Christmas at the Fair, and it was easy to pick up that theme in the Community Church Service. We sang Christmas Carols, and heard about the birth of Jesus. This year it’s Diamonds and Denim. There are a few references to diamonds in the Bible. It’s much harder to find anything about denim. There aren’t even stories in the Bible about people wearing pants, because none of them did.

I definitely heard about blue jeans growing up, because I was not allowed to wear them to church. Jeans weren’t dressed up enough. Blue jeans were invented by Jacob David and Levi Strauss, who sold them as work clothes to miners and cowboys. They were made to stand up to rough use.

After World War Two, jeans became the trousers of choice of motorcycle riders, and greasers. Later they were part of hippie culture, and as time went on, the non-uniform of punk rockers and metal heads. These are all sub-cultures that tend towards rebellion and the questioning of authority.

Not only were my blue jeans not fancy enough, they were symbols of disobedience and rebelliousness, not qualities my home church encouraged.

These days, some folks spend hundreds of dollars for jeans. Some of the most expensive are distressed, strategically ripped and torn, to look like they’ve seen better days. Wearing jeans does not really mean you are a rebel, or an outsider. You can’t tell a person by their pants.

Things are not always as they seem.

Diamonds are thought of as rare, and special, and therefore incredibly expensive. But for many years the supply of diamonds was strictly limited, to artificially inflate the market value. The people who kept a tight grip on the world’s supply also hired advertising firms to convince us diamonds are forever, they’re a girl’s best friend, and you can’t possibly get engaged unless you are ready to plunk down several months salary to buy a diamond ring. These are modern ideas, with little basis in history or tradition. Someone made it all up, to get us buying.

I wonder what a diamond would be worth, if all the diamonds that have been dug up hit the market at the same time.

Things are not always as they seem.

Matthew’s Gospel has a story about a king who separates goats from sheep, and faithful followers from those who did not do so well. The faithful are those who feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, care for the sick, visit those in prison, and extend hospitality to strangers. Those who do all those things found out they would be rewarded, because they did them for Jesus.

This reminds me of another story:

There was an old monastery, in the midst of a beautiful forest, that fell on hard times.  Once it had been busy and thriving, with the monks doing good works, praying, and training the next generation to carry on their mission.

As sometimes happens with churches, and boards, and service clubs, over time, there were fewer and fewer members struggling to do all the work, and every year, less new people appeared with a desire to follow in their feeble footsteps.

There came to be just five monks left, the abbot and four others. The youngest was in their 70’s.

Deep in the same forest was a hut the local rabbi used for personal retreats.  One day, the abbot visited to see if the rabbi had any wisdom. The rabbi welcomed the abbot and listened with care to his plight.

“I know how it is,” he said, “the spirit has gone out of the people.  Almost no-one comes to the synagogue anymore.”

The old rabbi and the old abbot sympathized with each other, and wept together.  They read portions of the Hebrew Scriptures together, and prayed, and spoke quietly of deep things.

The time came when the abbot needed to get back. The abbot and the rabbi embraced.

“It has been wonderful being with you,” said the abbot, “Before I leave, have you any advice that might save the monastery?”

The rabbi shook his head. “No advice, except to tell you that the messiah is one of you.”

When the abbot returned to his fellow monks, he shared the rabbi’s confusing words. They pondered what the rabbi meant.

“The messiah is one of us?  Do you suppose he means the abbot, our faithful leader for so long?  On the other hand, it might be Brother Thomas, who certainly prays a lot.  Or maybe Brother Elrod, who is very grumpy, but also quite wise.  I don’t think he meant Brother Phillip, he’s too passive, but then again, he’s always there when you need him.  It can’t be Brother George. Surely the messiah would not have bad breath!”

Each monk thought to themselves, “The rabbi didn’t mean me, did he?  What if he did?”

As they considered the possibilities, the monks began to treat each other, and themselves with grace and respect, just in case one of them was the messiah.

Because the forest surrounding the monastery was so beautiful, people occasionally came to visit. They’d have picnics or wander along the old paths, most of which led to the beautiful, but broken down old chapel.  They sensed the extraordinary respect that surrounded the five old monks. It permeated the atmosphere.

People began to visit more frequently, and brought friends.  Visitors began to engage in conversation with the monks. After a while, one asked if he could join them.  Then one more, and another after that. Thanks to the rabbi’s wisdom, in a few years the monastery was thriving again.

What if we treated every person we meet, regardless of their appearance, or reputation, as valuable diamonds in the rough, who are actually messengers from God?

What if we treated every member of our group, our family, our club, our faith community, as if they might be just the person we need in our lives?

 

 

I never asked her if it was part of a secret plan. On the late August afternoon I arrived to check out a home in the suburbs of Saskatoon where I might be able to board, during my first year of seminary.

Mrs. Poettker had been baking bread. I knocked on the front door. Three little blond-haired kids tumbled toward the screen door, pushed it open, surrounded me, and pulled me in the house.

The kids asked, “Do you like cats?” and “Do you know Joe, he lived here last year.”

“Are you really going to be a minister? Daddy says ministers are okay, but they never get their hands dirty?’

“Are your hands clean?”

“You’ll have to wash your hands, we’re going to have bread and jam.”

And we did. Mrs. Poettker shushed the kids, two little boys, and their slightly bossy big sister and sent them to wash their hands, and then sat me down at the kitchen table. She’d been slicing a loaf of home-made bread, and laying out plates, and little pots of jam, and butter.

There is still almost nothing I like better, even at this stage of life where I am reminded to watch my intake of carbs. White bread, sliced thick, warm out of the oven, slathered with salted butter and jam, is one of my favourite things to eat. (I have a lot of favourites!)

That day there was home-made strawberry jam, and saskatoon jam. Not blueberry. Hand-picked saskatoons from the family farm. I knew I was going to say yes to boarding there, if they’d have me, even before I saw my room in the basement.

That was a decision made with strong input from my stomach. In this case, it was a great decision, one that I never had a reason to regret. The welcome from the kids, as well as the smell, and the taste of bread fresh out of the oven had told me all I needed to know.

Gluttony is defined simply as over-indulgence, usually of food. It is thought to be particularly sinful if my excessive desire for food causes others to go hungry. That is something our whole culture needs to examine. How much food goes to waste in our part of the world, while many go hungry? How often do we eat more than we actually need? Do we consider the needs of others, and the impact on our world, economically, ecologically, of the food we consume, and often over-consume?

Gregory the Great, who was the Pope for 14 years beginning in the year 590, prepared a list of particular aspects of gluttony. He included eating ahead of meal-time, just for the taste, and seeking delicacies and a better quality of food, again, just for the taste. He pointed to seeking to stimulate the palate with elaborately prepared foods with luxurious sauces and seasonings. Not surprisingly, he also listed eating more than we need. More intriguing was the inclusion of a warning against eating with too much eagerness, even if the food is plain and simple, because it might indicate an attachment to the pleasure of eating, rather than to the necessary nourishment.

I can only guess what Pope Gregory would have thought of Mrs. Poettker’s bread, butter and jam.

Gluttony is on the list of the “Seven Deadly Sins”, part of the heritage of Classical Christianity.

The others are Pride, Envy, Greed, Lust, Sloth, and Wrath.

Each of these can be considered as a distortion, or disorientation of love.

We can each do our own moral inventory to note whether we have been prideful or envious or greedy, lustful, lazy, angry, or gluttonous. But then what? Where do go from there?

The list of sins emerged from a group of teachers, who lived in the 3^rd and 4^th centuries after the earthly life of Jesus- so fairly early in the history of the Christian movement. These teachers were amongst the first Christian monks, men and women of prayer who went out into the wilderness, a desert in Egypt, where they lived in solitude. They were ascetics, which meant they worked to strip away all the excesses and extras of life, to devote themselves to prayer, studying scripture, and growing closer to God.

Not long after these hermits, both men and women, established themselves in the desert, other spiritual pilgrims began to travel out to see them, seeking instruction on how to live the spiritual life.

Those who came out to the desert to simplify their lives, found pretty quickly, that they could leave behind the externals, the things around them- they could trade their homes and possessions and familiar surroundings, for a mat on the hard floor of a cave, or simple monk’s cell, but their insides- their thoughts and feelings and way of seeing the world, and interacting with it had remained. They were the same people, just in a different place.

Once the novelty of the new place wore off, they would find themselves alone in the cave, with themselves.

As the title character Buckaroo Banzai said, in a very obscure movie that I love, from 1984, “No matter where you go, there you are.”

The desert monks, with the wisdom that came from years of prayer and study and contemplation, realized that how we see the world, or basic attitude, or perspective, makes all the difference.

The desert mothers and fathers taught those who came to them for wisdom, to look within themselves, and pay attention to what they found, both the positive, and the negative. To know and love ourselves is to accept the parts we are proud of, and the parts we would rather not admit to having.

The 7 deadly sins, or inclinations, are tendencies we all have, that are worth watching for. If we notice that one or more of them is rising up within us, claiming our mood, our attention, we then have the opportunity to deal with it. Rather than saying to ourselves, oh, I should not be feeling this way, it’s a sin, perhaps we could ask ourselves, why do I feel this way?

If I recognize that I am envious of the success of another person, I can look at that. What does it mean? What’s underneath it? Do I wish I was as successful as my neighbour? Why? Is it because I require more money? Or do I wish to be noticed and praised? Why would I need that? Am I feeling insecure?

If I am gluttonous, always grasping for more food, what does that tell me, about myself?

The desert teachers would suggest that our gluttony may be a sign, a symptom telling us we need to learn, or re-learn to trust in the providence of God.

If we were out in the desert, in the 4^th century, trying to deal with gluttony, one of the teachers might prescribe a period of fasting. This would be a time of interruption to our regular eating routine. We might live on bread and water, or just water, for a period of time.

Ancient Christianity built the idea of fasting into the calendar of the church year, with the 40 day period of Lent, before Easter. Sadly, the emphasis was put on the “giving up” part, and not so much on the re-boot, or re-orienting as the deeper purpose.

Have you ever undertaken a spiritual fast? For most people, after a day or two, the physical sensation of hunger subsides. They are freed up from thinking, or over-thinking about their next meal, about the taste of one special food or another, because they have committed to living for a time, without food. Unless a person has particular medical issues, the majority of us can actually go for weeks or days without eating.

For some people, the period of a fast provides a time to look more deeply into themselves, and maybe get a sense of what is the spiritual hole they were trying to fill with the second sandwich, or the taste of pudding.

At the end of fast, especially if it has been a few days, it may be very important to pay attention to what may be the first thing you eat, the breakfast, or break-fast food. It should be nutritious, but not overly rich and heavy.

The first taste, chew, swallow can be surprisingly pleasing, and cause a deep sense of gratitude to arise within, along with the heightened awareness of our deep dependence upon God for all that we really need to live. Amen

This past Sunday I had the privilege of teaching at Harrow Mennonite Church, during a joint worship service with Harrow United Church. It was part of a seven week series called “Snakes and Ladders” which invites us to take a close look at the “Seven Deadly Sins” of Classical Christianity, and seven corresponding Virtues.

I worked with a story from Ancient Israel, about the exploitation of a woman named Bathesheba, to talk about Lust.

King David was hungry, for something. Maybe he was bored. Maybe he was sad. Maybe he was lost, or lonely. He may not even have known what was really happening inside him. But he wanted… something. Maybe just an escape from feeling what he felt, whatever that was.

We all have times when we are uncomfortable in our own skin, and may feel tempted, to do something, even something ultimately cruel or unwise, if it will give us even temporary relief from the thing we don’t want to feel.

From the roof of his big house, David looked out over the capital city of the country he ruled, saw a beautiful woman bathing, and decided he wanted her. He called a servant, and ordered Bathsheba delivered to him, the way we might order a pizza, or shop online.

David must have had Ancient Israel’s version of Amazon Prime, because before we could say free shipping, his package had arrived. It is perfectly horrid to talk about a person, with her own life, in terms of goods bought and paid for, but that was the harsh truth of it.

David did not know this woman, whom he wanted to know, in a biblical sense. He could not have wanted Bathsheba in his life as a person, because he didn’t know her as a person. He had to ask his servants who she was. This was separate from relationship, separate from love, separate even from rational thought. What was this powerful urge, this itch that David was driven to scratch? Classical Christianity would call it lust.

Wikipedia says, “Lust is a psychological force producing intense wanting or longing for an object, or circumstance fulfilling the emotion. Lust can take any form such as the lust for sexuality, love, money or power.”

 This is not the same thing as romantic love, or sexual desire. This is a distortion, a selfish misdirection of the powerful energies at work inside of us.

For a lot of its history, Christianity has given sexuality a bad rap. We have failed to make the needed distinction between sexual feelings and desires, which are natural, human, God-given, and “Lust”, which can drive us towards acting out in inappropriate ways that cause harm to others.

Bathsheba was literally objectified. She was treated as an appliance, a device David used to satisfy his lust. He saw a “thing” he decided he wanted, he ordered it, and used it.

David did not consider Bathsheba’s feelings, or wants, or needs. He was all about himself. Those who treat others so poorly should be held accountable, no matter who they are, or how much power they wield. Too often, people we know and love, men and women, boys and girls are hurt. Used and tossed aside.

Tibetan Buddhists have an image they use in their teaching and meditation they call the Wheel of Life. They teach that existence is cyclic, it goes round and around, and there are layers, or realms. We work our way up a ladder of the realms, learning the lessons we need to learn, until we achieve enlightenment. We don’t have to take the image literally, to learn from it.

Two steps below the human realm, is the Realm of the Hungry Ghosts. Hungry Ghosts are desperate, phantom-like creatures. They are shaped like big tear drops, with tiny heads, very thin necks, and huge bloated stomachs. They are described as having mouths the size of a needle’s eye and a stomach the size of a mountain. The tiny mouth and thin neck makes eating and drinking incredibly painful, but they have these huge bellies to fill, so they are always hungry.

These creatures are metaphors for a miserable, grasping existence. Their insatiable hunger represents deep unmet needs, that can never be satisified, no matter how much food and drink is painfully forced down. There is something, or several somethings, these creatures needed in their life, and did not get, and they endlessly seek gratification to fill a hole left empty long ago. The huge bloated stomachs do not represent feeling comfortably full, but rather, achingly empty.

I first heard about the Hungry Ghosts when I listened to an interview with Gabor Mate’, a physician in Vancouver. He works at a harm reduction facility and supervised safe-injection site for drug addicts. He wrote about addiction in his book, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. He says the metaphor “speaks to a part of us that we all have, where we want satisfaction from the outside, where we’re empty, where we want to be soothed by something in the short term, but we can never feel that or fulfill that insatiety from the outside. “

Mate’ went on to say “addicts are in that realm all the time. Most of us are in that realm some of the time.” He makes the challenging assertion that there’s no clear distinction between the identified addict and the rest of us. There’s just a continuum in which we all may be found. They’re on it, because they’ve suffered a lot more than most of us. “

Mate’ thinks the capacity for addiction is born when crucial emotional needs are not met. The drug addict that seems to chase high after high is also seeking relief from inner pain. He looked at the stories of his patients, and noted the conditions of poverty, of physical and sexual abuse, and of emotional deprivation that made up their backgrounds.

Mate’ looks unflinchingly at his own addictions, to work, and success, and to shopping. He says that “Addiction is a poor substitution for love.” Mate’ grew up in Holocaust-era Budapest, and most of his family died in Nazi work camps. His mother survived to raise him, but they were physically starving, and in life-threatening situations until they escaped and emigrated to Canada. His mother suffered, understandably with depression, and was incapable of meeting his basic needs for love, and approval, and security.

As a physician, Mate’ says the parts of the brain circuitry involved with addiction respond to endorphins, the “brain’s feel good, reward, pleasure and pain relief chemicals. They also happen to be the love chemicals that connect us to the universe and to one another.”

 I find it fascinating, that researchers have identified the brain chemistry at work when we feel love, and one-ness with the created universe. People become addicted to drugs like caffeine and heroin and alcohol and nicotine, and activities like acting out sexually, or gambling, or shopping, or taking part in extreme sports. These all produce dopamine in the brain, which in turn creates pleasure feelings that are a poor substitute for what we really need- which is love.

An overall theme for our summer services is that the “Vices” represent a distortion or disorientation of love. It makes me think of the old country song about looking for love in all the wrong places.  https://vimeo.com/42747574

The corresponding “Virtue” offered this week is “Chastity”, or “Self-Control”. Chastity does not mean an absence of desire, or denying the part of ourselves that has longings. It means taking a breath, pausing long enough to ask ourselves, seriously, deeply, what are we really looking for, and is this the right place to look, the right way towards what we actually need.

The lust that many of us try to satisfy with the wrong things, is actually a spiritual hunger. It is our deep human need to experience love, and to truly be connected to a reality beyond ourselves, and beyond our own selfish desires. What we really need, even if we do not always remember it, is to be connected to God.

Take a few minutes to listen to these three songs, all performed by great Canadian recording artists:

I heard an interview on Thursday with some members of Bare Naked Ladies. The interviewer Tom Power, offered his own take on the million dollars song. He said despite its upbeat tune, and goofy lyrics about kraft dinner, chesterfields and tree-houses, he hears it as a very sad song.

The song’s narrator talks about extravagant things he could do with a million dollars, but the sad thing is all he really wants is love. The guys from the band congratulated him, and told him he heard it right. It’s a song about unrequited romantic love.

We then hear Michael Buble’s take on the Beatles song, which says it clearly. We already know this, if we think about it. You can’t buy real love.

The video is Canadian jazz singer Sophie Milman doing the old Cole Porter song, ”Love for Sale”, which even though it sounds sultry and compelling, is actually quite cringey, when you think about it- the character in that story song is singing about selling herself.

We will have a special guest speaker joining us at Trinity on Sunday, February 11. The Rev. Jennifer Potter will talk to us about human trafficking, and the sex trade in Oakville, Burlington, Mississauga and beyond. It is a billion dollar industry that uses and abuses people.

There is nothing romantic about prostitution. It preys on the weak and vulnerable, and it appeals to the lowest, worst parts of human nature. It takes the normal, healthy desire for human intimacy, for love, and reduces it to a poor and unwholesome substitute, and a commodity to be bought and sold. The Beatles had it right. You can’t buy love.

You can buy substitutes, but like John Merrick’s elephant bones or Dijon ketchup, they are not what we really need. And they won’t fill the emptiness of a hungry heart.

We are born with the appetite for real love. We don’t all get it in the purest form or quantity we really need. We discover other things that seem almost as good. The culture we live in, and the economy we are surrounded by thrives on selling us the substitutes.

There was a disease sailors used to get on long voyages. It didn’t matter how much they ate while at sea. If they did not get fruits and vegetables, they’d end up suffering with swollen gums, teeth falling out, bulging eyes, dry and scaly skin, and slow-healing wounds and bruises.

Material goods. Money. Fame. Security. Power. Attention. Flattery. Influence. The assurance we are right. Control. These all feed us something. They are not all bad in themselves. But if what we need is Vitamin C, and what we get is cotton candy, eventually we will have scurvy.

I was out with a friend this weekend. His wife was out with their oldest daughter, who I will call Cynthia, shopping for prom dresses. I took him with me to IKEA, to help me buy a sink and vanity, and plumbing fixtures. We had a lot of fun, and I got what I needed for my bathroom.

When we got back to his house Cynthia was practically glowing, she was so excited. She’d found “the dress”. But Cynthia was actually far more excited about the experience at the dress shop. She described donning each prospective prom dress, then stepping into heels, and then up onto a podium, that was lit from above with spotlights, and surrounded on three sides by mirrors.

Cynthia’s mother watched as she modelled the dress, taking direction from the sales assistant about turning, and putting her hands on her hips, and “working it”. I asked if was like being on the cable television show “Say Yes to the Dress”. She was not surprised I know the show, because Cynthia is friends with my daughter Naomi, who loves it.

Cynthia told me that they had not yet bought the dress, because they needed to look at some more options- but if they go back, she will get to put the dress on again, and stand on the lit podium. If she says “yes” to that dress, the sales assistant will press a button to lower a special background behind her, and the salon photographer will come in, and take her glamour shots, modelling the dress. These are the pictures Cynthia would then post on social media, to let her girl-friends know what she will be wearing on prom night. This is so that no one in her circle of friends will say yes to the same dress.

Cynthia is so excited. My guess is that this really is “the dress”, and the buying experience she will end up with. I know her Dad pretty well, and he is a softy. It is actually quite wonderful to see his daughter that happy.

As a relatively objective observer I wonder how much the salon experience adds to the figure charged against my friend’s credit card. How much is steak, and how much is sizzle?

I also want step back from this a bit, and compare it to what Jesus saw going on in the Temple. Pilgrims from all over Israel would come to Jerusalem at the High Holidays, to make their visit to the Temple. Part of a visit to the Temple was to make a ritual sacrifice, to have a pure, unblemished animal killed, and parts of it burned on the altar, to send the aroma, the smoke heavenward, as an offering to God. This was considered part of what it meant to be faithful, and to be in right relationship with God. It was part of religious duty.

Out of town visitors to Jerusalem would find it difficult to bring a live animal on their journey, so they would buy one at one of the many convenient shops within the temple walls. If they brought their own, the animal inspector might find a fault or blemish that would disqualify their goat or lamb, or doves, and they would have brought them all that way for nothing. So much easier to shop on the spot.

But wait, if they wanted to buy the animal at the Temple, they couldn’t use any Roman coins. Roman coins bore the engraved image of Caesar, and were considered unclean. Fortunately, right beside the animal sellers there were money-changers, who would, for a fee, trade your dirty Roman money for nice clean Jewish shekels.

Then you could wait in line to buy your sacrificial animal, have it inspected, then wait in line again to have it presented for slaughter, and ritual burning at the altar. Only certain parts of the animal would be burned. The rest would be available for purchase, at the shops in the temple courtyard.  After all, if you were in town for Passover, you might need to put on a meal, to feed your family and friends.

This all operated with the smoothness and regularity of a well-oiled machine. It could create the impression that management really did know what they were doing, and all the fancy hocus-pocus, flames and smoke and special coins were necessary parts of praying, or connecting to God.

According to one of my favourite authors, Anne Lamott, the basic prayers of humans who are seeking God’s attention, reassurance, peace, and love, boil down to three simple words.  Help! Thanks! Wow!

Do we really need all the sizzle? Can’t we just talk to God, and listen for God? For his second sign in John’s Gospel, Jesus challenges the smoke and flame and shiny money show at the Jerusalem temple, the centre of Jewish ritual and religion. He messes up the spiritual shopping mall, and reminds the Temple officials they do not have an exclusive franchise on the mystery of God.

God is at work in the world. God is in your heart, and my heart, and in the hearts of all of our friends, and our enemies. God is in, and around, and beneath, and above and beside all of us. The notion that we have to pay for God’s love, or purchase access to God so that we can pray, is as ridiculous as Dijon ketchup. Amen

 

 

 

This July, Lexie and I celebrate our 25^th wedding anniversary. (We each needed special permission to be married, since we were 12 years old at the time.)

We were married at one of the churches where Lexie was the minister, in southern Manitoba. Lexie had friends and parishioners in at least 3 or 4 little towns. I lived and worked about 5 hours north and west, and had friends and parishioners in as many communities.

Rather than make a list of who to invite, and who not to invite, and risk hurting the feelings of folks in the churches we served, we took ads out in local newspapers, in which we published the day and time of our wedding service, and the evening party, and made a general invitation.

There was no way we could afford to put on a big dinner for heaven knows how many might turn up.  We held a catered lunch for our family and closest friends, most of whom had travelled from other provinces and countries. After we ate, we posed for photos. Which explains why my suit looks snug in the wedding pictures.

After that, we went to the largest of Lexie’s churches, in the little village of Baldur, Manitoba. One of Lexie’s close friends from seminary was the officiant, and one of my minister friends came back from doctoral studies in Boston to be the preacher. They were both great.

After the ceremony, we were toured around the village in a convertible, and little kids from Lexie’s church took turns riding in the back seat with us as we were driven around. Those little kids are all grown up now! Then we snuck back to Lexie’s manse in the neighbouring town of Belmont, and relaxed for a few hours before the evening party.

We’d rented the community hall in Belmont for the dance, and hired a local country band. We also had my old friends from Swan River, Lloyd and Linda, who are champion square dance callers, teach the crowd, and lead them in square dancing. It was a hoot. Lloyd and Linda’s daughter Jodi, was here last summer, and came to Trinity for worship.

At around 10:30-11:00 pm we followed a prairie tradition, and offered a “night lunch”, of cold cuts, cheese and buns,vegetables and fruit, and baking, catered by a group of Sunday School teachers.

When we booked the hall for the wedding dance, we did not get a liquor license- for two reasons. One was you had to put a number on the form of how many people would be at the party, and we had no idea. The other was we figured if it was a dry wedding, more families would bring their kids. They did, and it was wonderful.

There was no worry about running out of wine, and there was more than enough food and drink for all who came.

Our gospel story today describes Jesus and his mother at a wedding where the host ran out of wine. The celebration of a wedding in Jesus’ time would go on for about a week, and involve many gatherings, and meals. The social customs of the time required the host to invite not only the family and friends, but the whole community- all the neighbours. Rich and poor, well dressed and those in rags, popular and unpopular, all would receive hospitality.

That does not mean they would all receive the same hospitality. Favoured guests got the best seats at the banquets, were served the finest food and drink, and were served first. The hangers on, the neighbours and distant relations and common folk would be served last, in many cases literally being served the dregs, and leftovers from the good tables.

Some of the “guests” would not even be in the building, but would gather around the back door of the kitchen. It was an accepted form of charity to feed the poor the crumbs from the tables of the rich. An early expression of trickle-down economics. Make sure the wealthy are well fed, so there can be good leftovers. Makes me wonder if the kitchen staff and servers were paid minimum wage! Could they support their families on what they earned, or would they be waiting for a handout at the end of their shift, of some crusts to bring home for the kids?

The story in John’s Gospel reads like a parable, except the parable is about Jesus, instead of being told by him. It doesn’t give a lot of details. We can’t tell where Jesus, his disciples and his mother were seated, or if they were even at a table. Since they were essentially homeless wanderers, I doubt they were sitting with the bigwigs.

We hear that Jesus’ mother, who is not named in this story, told Jesus there was a problem with the wine. The problem was it was running out. My guess is this would not be a problem if they were sitting in first class.

Jesus said, “Is that any of our business, Mother—yours or mine? This isn’t my time. Don’t push me.”

She went ahead anyway, telling the servants, “Whatever he tells you, do it.”

The story then describes Jesus asking the servants to fill 6 big stoneware water pots with water, and then to fill the wine pitchers. When the pitchers are brought to the host of the party, he calls out to the bridegroom,

“Everybody I know begins with their finest wines and after the guests have had their fill brings in the cheap stuff. But you’ve saved the best till now!”

The editor/author of John’s Gospel includes this story as the first of what are called “signs”, that point to the identity and character of Jesus. This suggests the miracle, the wondrous turning of water into wine is not the focus of the story.

John begins his chronicle with this story, that involved Jesus, and his mother, and water and wine. The original audience would already know another story about Jesus and his mother, and water and wine. They would hear the wedding story, but remember the story of the crucifixion. Jesus was hung on a Roman cross. His side was pierced with a sword, and water poured out. A sponge was raised to his mouth that had been soaked in cheap, bitter wine. And his mother was there watching.

Once this is pointed out, it’s hard to read about the wedding, without thinking of Good Friday.

I feel that way when I watch videos of Martin Luther King Jr. Especially the famous “I have a dream” speech. When I hear King’s powerful voice say, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”, I cannot help but imagine the sound of a single gunshot, ringing out five years later.

King was not “whining” about the state of things in his country, and to be honest, in ours as well. He was holding up a vision of something better. A vision of how things are meant to be.

King’s speech at the march on Washington solidified for many the message, the promise, and depending on your perspective, the threat represented by the faith-based, non-violent civil rights movement. People were marching for a better, different world. They were crashing the party, and in a calm and dignified manner, asking, to borrow an image from the Jesus story “Where’s our wine?”

When Jesus acts to provide wine for the guests, the good news for the host is that there is more wine. Was it also good news for the bridegroom, and his special guests, that the last to be served were now getting the best wine? How would that news be received by the big-wigs?

When Jesus took over the catering, and did a better job than the host, he was not so subtly pointing out that things were not the way they should be. Should certain people get the best seats, the freshest food, the best wine, while others wait outside the back door?

This is not just a story about wine at a wedding. It is a story about a world in which every person, every child of God, is treated with respect, and dignity, and kindness, and no one has to beg.

In 1960, at a conference hosted by then vice president Richard Nixon, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was invited to speak on the role religion should have in correcting discrimination and injustice in hiring and employment practices. He spoke powerfully about the nature and purpose of religion:

“Religion operates not only on the vertical plane but also on the horizontal. It seeks not only to integrate men with God, but to integrate men with men and each man with himself. This means, at bottom, that true religion is a two-way road. On the one hand it seeks to change the souls of men, and thereby unite them with God; on the other hand it seeks to change the environmental conditions of men so that the soul will have a chance after it is changed. Any religion that professes to be concerned with the souls of men and is not concerned with the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them, and the social conditions that cripple them, is a spiritually moribund religion in need of new blood.”  Amen

Have you seen the old Pixar movie, “Toy Story 2”?

Woody, the Cowboy, is toy-napped by a collector, who plans to sell him to a museum. The collector locked Woody into a room which contained other valuable toys. As soon as the collector left, Woody sprang into action, looking for a way to escape. Woody met some new friends: Bullseye the horse, Jesse the cowgirl, and the old prospector, Stinky Pete.

View clip:

https://youtu.be/flOjdPZh4p0

 Stinky Pete is my favourite. He showed Woody great compassion when he states, “He doesn’t know who he is!”

Most stories are built around a lead character, a hero or heroine. We watch as they face challenges, have adventures, and grow into an understanding of who they are, and what they are about.

Woody’s journey to learn who he is, and what he is about, is helped along by his new friends, who reveal things he did not know about himself.

Woody the Cowboy was a famous television star. He finds himself in a room filled with Woody memorabilia- that give him clues to just how big a star he was, and give the movie audience the background we need to understand why Woody would have been toy-napped in the first place.

Toy Story 2 is a sequel. Successful sequels remind the viewers of what they liked about the first movie, but also go beyond the familiar. Sometimes the writers do this by offering the next episode in the hero’s life. Another way is to provide back-story- to show things that happened to the characters before we met them in the first place. This seems to work best if we actually like the characters, or are at least curious about them.

For a story to be compelling, the hero has to do more than simply have an adventure. They also need to solve a problem, to learn something, and to be in some way transformed, changed by the experience.

The learning and transforming happens as the hero interacts with other characters. They offer clues to the mystery.  Jesse and Stinky Pete are there to let Woody know that his story is much bigger than he ever imagined.

This morning we heard part of the story from Luke of the day that Jesus went to the Jordan River, to the place where people were being baptized by John the Baptizer.

People were lined up to hear John as he preached about the Kingdom of God. He invited his listeners to see that beyond their individual lives, they are each part of a much bigger story- the story of God’s plan for the people of Israel, and God’s plan for the whole world. John also called people to repent- to turn away from their selfishness, to live faithfully, according to the teachings of the Jewish religion.

Jesus was interested in the story John told about God’s Kingdom. He watched John invite people to begin a new chapter in their lives. When it was Jesus’ turn to stand in the river water, and be baptised, John did for Jesus what Jesse and Stinky Pete did for Woody. John showed Jesus that he is part of a much bigger story.

When we gather as a community of faith, we become reminders to each other that we are part of a bigger story- the ongoing story of God at work in the world, loving us, and calling us to turn our lives around. Each of us has a part to play in this big story about God’s love.

This morning we will use parts of a re-covenanting service that originates with John Wesley. Wesley was a priest in the Church of England who saw that people needed help to be able to bring faith out of the sanctuary, and into the everyday. He did not limit his preaching to the pulpit, but took it to the streets, and spoke to thousands of people who would never set foot in a church. He organized new believers into societies, small groups that met regularly so that the members could encourage each other, and challenge each other, and help each other live out their faith. They helped each other stay on track, and make changes in direction as needed.

The leader of the group would ask each member in turn, “How is it with your soul?” and the whole group would listen to each member. They studied scripture together, prayed together, and worked together on projects to help others. They talked about how their faith changed and shaped their lives.

The movement Wesley started was called Methodism. At first the name was a put down, by those who made fun of the strict, methodical program Wesley and his followers taught. Over time, the movement grew into a new branch of the Christian Church. The Methodist Church was one of the three denominations that joined together to form the United Church of Canada in 1925.

Wesley taught that our baptism, and later our confirmation as members of a church are outward signs of the covenant between each of us and God. God has promised to be our God, and love us, and strengthen and guide us, and help us. In return, our covenant calls us to learn and grow in our faith, and to live it in all parts of our lives.

Wesley thought it was helpful to offer people the opportunity to re-new their covenant relationship with God, and with their fellow believers. Wesley tended to have these covenant services around New Year’s- it seemed like a good time to make a fresh start.

This morning we will all have the opportunity to renew our faith commitments.  After we make the prayers, you will all be invited to come forward to receive communion. Once you have done that, you are also invited to go to the baptismal font, dip your fingers into the water, and make the sign of the cross on your forehead. This is not a baptism- but a symbol of your faith, or at least your desire to believe. This is a chance to say to ourselves, to God, and to each other, that we are continuing on our journey of faith. Amen

 

Every year Mrs. Cynthia Valleau, an 8^th grade teacher at Hurricane Middle School in West Virginia puts up a Christmas tree in her classroom, and decorates it with angels. Each angel represents a child in need. Early this December, her homeroom class took an angel from the tree that represented a little girl who asked for a bike and clothes. The kids in the class decided to bring in $2 each to buy clothes, having agreed the bicycle was more than they could do.

A day or two later one of her students came in when no one else was around, and anonymously left a brand new bike for the little girl. This little story appeared on Yahoo Online early in December, was picked up by several other websites, to be viewed and shared by millions of people.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/boy-heart-gold-buys-little-girl-bike-christmas-211258692.html

You may have seen this news story, about something that happened on Christmas Day, on the Canadian prairie. As someone who lived and worked for years in rural Manitoba, not far from this small Saskatchewan town. I can imagine the scene, and the willingness of folks to be of help.

 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/via-rail-stranded-spy-hill-1.4464542

These are good news stories, and it does our heart good to hear them.

The Gospel story for today describes the day the infant Jesus was brought to the Jerusalem temple by Mary and Joseph. They followed the religious law and custom of the time, and made a sacrifice of a pair of doves or pigeons, and had the child blessed.

Simeon, a faithful and prayerful man was in the Temple that day. The story says the Holy Spirit had shown him he would see the Messiah of God before he died. When he saw Jesus, he took him in his arms, and said,

 “God, you can now release your servant;     release me in peace as you promised. With my own eyes I’ve seen your salvation;     it’s now out in the open for everyone to see: A God-revealing light to the non-Jewish nations,     and of glory for your people Israel.”

The story goes on: “Anna the prophetess was also there, a daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher. She was by now a very old woman. She had been married seven years and a widow for eighty-four. She never left the Temple area, worshiping night and day with her fastings and prayers. At the very time Simeon was praying, she showed up, broke into an anthem of praise to God, and talked about the child to all who were waiting expectantly for the freeing of Jerusalem.”

Anna and Simeon each had a hunger, a thirst, a craving for Good News, of tangible reasons for hope. A newborn child often has that effect.

We were at the annual Chamberlain Christmas this week. It’s a gathering of my wife’s sisters, their father, and their families. The star of the show was our niece’s son Evan, who is about 3, and full of energy, and smiles, and enthusiasm for tearing wrapping paper, running in circles, cheesies, and climbing.

Anna and Simeon, when they encounter Good News, in the living form of the newborn Jesus, see cause for hope, and want to share it. Passing it along may be even more important than hearing it in the first place.

When we share Good News, it gives an opportunity to bring light and love and hope to another person. This can be incredibly healing and inspiring to the giver, as well as to the receiver.

Our saint for today is Nicholas of Myra. He was born in the 3^rd century in a village in what is now the southern coast of Turkey. He was born into wealth and privilege, but sadness struck when his parents died in an epidemic while he was still young. They had raised him as a devout Christian, and their influence lived on in him, in a powerful way.

Obeying Jesus’ words to “sell what you own and give the money to the poor,” Nicholas used his whole inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. He dedicated his life to serving God and was made Bishop of Myra while still a young man.

Perhaps the most famous story about Nicholas is about a poor man with three daughters. In those days a young woman’s father had to offer prospective husbands something of value—a dowry. The larger the dowry, the better the chance that a young woman would find a good husband. Without a dowry, a woman was unlikely to marry.

This poor man’s daughters, without dowries, were therefore destined to be sold into slavery. Mysteriously, on three different occasions, a bag of gold appeared in their home-providing the needed dowries. The bags of gold, tossed through an open window, are said to have landed in stockings or shoes left before the fire to dry.

This led to the custom of children hanging stockings or putting out shoes, eagerly awaiting gifts from Saint Nicholas. Sometimes the story is told with gold balls instead of bags of gold. That is why three gold balls, sometimes represented as oranges, are one of the symbols for St. Nicholas.

Anybody get an orange in their stocking this Christmas?

Through the centuries St. Nicholas has continued to be venerated by Catholics and Orthodox and honored by Protestants. By his example of generosity to those in need, especially children, St. Nicholas continues to be a model for the compassionate life.

Our next hymn, “I am the light of the world”, has its origins in a poem by Howard Thurman, an American philosopher, theologian, teacher, and civil rights activist. Thurman taught a theology of radical nonviolence that influenced and shaped a generation of civil rights activists, and he was a key mentor to leaders within the movement, including Martin Luther King, Jr. Thurman was also one of the founders of the first intentionally inter-racial church in the United States, called The Church for The Fellowship of All Peoples, which had its inaugural service on October 8, 1944.

Here is the original poem by Howard Thurman:

The Work of Christmas

When the song of the angels is stilled,

When the star in the sky is gone,

When the kings and the princes are home,

When the shepherds are back with their flock,

The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,

To heal the broken,

To feed the hungry,

To release the prisoner,

To rebuild the nations,

To bring peace among brothers,

To make music in the heart.

 At this time of year people put energy into creating resolutions for the New Year. Eat better, quit smoking, get to the gym more often. Resolutions are often about self-improvement. I would like to suggest a different kind of commitment for the coming year.

What if in the coming year we made a concerted effort to not only pass on Good News, but to make Good News happen in people’s lives? This needn’t be about giving them material things or money. You can pass on Good News with a kind word, or lifting a hand to help, or inviting a lonely person for a meal, or taking the risk to speak to someone who looks like they need a listening ear.

Take some today to think about what you might do. Howard Thurman, whose poem I read earlier offered some good advice. He said,

Don’t ask what the world needs.

Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it.

Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.  Amen

Z is for Zoroastrian. Do know this word? Some scholars suggest the Magi who appear in Matthew’s Gospel as visitors to Jesus were Zoroastrian priests. The word Magi derives from an Old Persian word “magus”, an occupational title for members of the priestly caste of the Zoroastrian religion. The Zoroastrians were interested in the stars, and had a highly developed “science” of astrology. Their reputation as astrologers led to the term Magi being used in connection with the occult, and this led to the development of the English word “magic”.

The Zoroastrian religion survives to this day. While it was once the dominant religious force in Iran, now it survives there only in an underground fashion, because of the radical Islamic fundamentalism that considers it to be a heretical religion.

The largest number of Zoroastrians are found in India and Pakistan. In India they are called “Parsis”.

Historians of religion credit Zoroastrianism as one of the oldest to have a credal basis- meaning that it has written statements of belief. The religion was founded by the prophet Zoroaster, also called Zarathustra, who codified religious ideas and practices that already existed, and added to them his own world-view. Zoroastrianism is one of the earliest “monotheistic” faiths, meaning they recognize only one God. Zoroaster is typically depicted as dressed in white, in garb that is very much like what modern Zoroastrian priests wear. His poetic writings form the basis of the religion, and its liturgy (prayer and ritual for worship).

Zoroastrianism had a powerful influence on the development of the world’s major monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (often called the Abrahamic faiths because they all trace their histories back to Abraham).

Some basic Zoroastrian beliefs:

-there is one God, called Ahura Mazda, the one Uncreated Creator

-there is a conflict in the universe between order and chaos, and humanity has a role to play

-Zoroastrianism’s moral code  is summed up as: “Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds

-the religion teaches the equality of all, regardless of race, sex or social position

-Zoroastrians are urged to preserve and protect the environment

-Zoroastrian religion teaches that fire and water are to be used for ceremonies in which a person is made ritually clean. Prayer takes place in the presence of some form of fire, which is considered to be evident in any source of light.

There are active Zoroastrian faith communities in Canada, the largest being in Toronto and Vancouver. The Zoroastrian Society of Ontario is based at its community centre on Bayview Avenue, and is an active participant in Mosaic Interfaith, which is a group that promotes peace and religious tolerance.

The Advent Alphabet has  been a ministry offering from Rev. Darrow Woods of Trinity United Church, Oakville.