Wednesday, June 28, 2017

                When we lived in Brantford, it was the Canada Day family tradition to drive down to the Grand River and join the throngs in anticipation of the fireworks. We would get there early enough to find a good spot on the berm that overlooked the river. We would bring a blanket for everyone to sit on and then try to keep everybody happy for 30 minutes or so while we waited for it to get dark and the fireworks to begin. There was a small sandbank out in the river which was where they prepared and lit the fireworks. The around 10:00 p.m. – boom! It would start. And for all of ten minutes the sky would come alive with an amazing light show.

                I am not sure I understand our human fascination and appreciation of loud and showy fireworks. But it always seems worth fighting the mosquitos, jostling with the crowds, and waiting it out to go “ooh” and “aaah” as we inevitably do.

                One of our absolute favourite Canada Day experiences happened in Port Lorne, a tiny village on the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, a few years back.  People began setting out their lawn chairs near the road on a beautiful, sunny Canada Day morning.  It seemed rather peculiar, but hey, this is Nova Scotia. To our surprise later in the day they had their own Canada Day parade, right through Port Lorne. There may have been 5 or 6 floats, some suspiciously looking like they were re-modelled Christmas parade floats. It took the parade about five minutes to get through the whole town, if that. But all the villagers had come out to watch and celebrate. It was so Canadian.

                Later that night they had set up a huge bonfire on the shore line. All the locals came out and had a picnic. And then sure enough, there were fireworks to end the festivities. We could watch it all from our front veranda. Best Canada Day ever, eh!

                God’s attempt to make Israel into a great nation was often a frustrating and near futile endeavour, full of setbacks, defeats and the people’s proclivity for idolatry, disobedience and rebellion. It always seemed one step forwards, and two steps backward. (I have pastored churches like that!) But God’s original intent stayed steady: “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing,” (Genesis 12:2).

God’s nation building was not about amassing great power, military might, world domination in the usual way we might use that term, making conquests or having elite liberties or privileged prosperity that others could not have. At it best this God-created nation was to be a “light to the nations”, an inspiration, a hope for justice, freedom, and the ideal of a people touched and shaped by the love and grace of God, to be blessed, for sure, but just as importantly, to be a blessing to other peoples.

                “Observe them [i.e. the covenantal laws] carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people,’” (Deuteronomy 4:6).

                I think we could use a strong dose of world leaders using wisdom and understanding these days. But it is also the critical need among the common folk, those of us who wish to build better neighbourhoods, communities, cities and our little nooks of the world.

                Perhaps we may not be a firework bursting in the night, but “Jesus bids us shine, with a pure clear light, Like a little candle burning in the night; In this world of darkness we must shine, You in your small corner and I in mine.” (Susan Warner)

                Have a bright, safe and happy Canada Day!

Dale

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

                My mother was an itsy-bitsy woman living in an itsy-bitsy room.  But when we cleaned out her room last week, it was amazing how much stuff she had packed into such close, living quarters. We filled several bags with just her clothes. It took a large box to carry all her photos of grandchildren and great grandchildren.  I found her stash of chocolates, cookies, crackers, and other goodies. Everywhere I turned there was another knick-knack to pack away.  I found enough hearing-aid batteries to open my own store. I found her contraband, nasal spray deep in a bottom drawer.  We were ruthless about what we threw away; but, even so, our living room is still half-full of her stuff. And we gave away what little furniture she had in her room.

                For example, we found report cards for myself and my siblings from our elementary days. Now there is a reminder of ancient history that I didn’t need!  She had the deeds from the farm that my parents owned over 60 some years ago.

                Yet, this is the woman who threw out my now-valuable, baseball cards and my brother’s also-valuable, old, comic books. Go figure!

                I think that all the stuff we keep defines us, and it tells a story about who and what matters. These curios, mementos, old photos, memorabilia and the like connect us to the past, often helping us to recall the “good ol’ days”, even if they weren’t always. Whereas these bits and pieces have no outward value, they are priceless to the one who hangs on to them. These shards of our past awaken nostalgia, memories, and are emotional gold.

                One of my favourite TV shows is American Pickers.  Two antique dealers crisscross America and go through junk yards, collectors’ homes and hoarders junk piles, looking for treasures. A lot of the stuff they go through is heaped up carelessly in barns and sheds, some of it in poor condition, broken, covered up by dirt and dust and other junk, seemingly forgotten and long neglected.  Yet, when the guys offer to buy something, it is amazing how often the owner refuses to sell. Suddenly, it becomes valuable and important. In one show, recently, the old, junk-yard man told the guys to put it back exactly where they had found it, which had been under a pile of other rusty junk and debris.

                "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:19 – 21)

                Now, I don’t think that Jesus is too worried about old photos, keepsakes and a box full or two of old mementos. But I do think he is reminding us that life has more value than any thing we might try to hoard and store up in terms of material things and wealth. We really can’t take it with us. We can enjoy it, but a good life is not measured by our wealth, or what we own, or how many cars we have, or how big our house is or how important our job is.

                I will never forget the homeless man who had just eaten a big Christmas dinner at The Mission in Ottawa. He had also received a small gift of men’s toiletries. At the end of it all, he got up with a big smile on his face and told us all what a lucky man he was that day. He had a roof over his head and a warm bed at The Mission, a full stomach, sharing a Christmas meal with friends, and a Christmas gift in hand. He ended up by saying that he wished everybody there could feel as blessed as he was feeling.

                “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

Dale

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

                Although it seems strange to put into words, I am facing a world today without my mother. Our mom passed away – rather suddenly – on Monday. Carol Soble was in her 95^th year. One knew this day was coming, sooner than later, but I grapple for words now that she has left us. I’ll need to find those words when I speak at her funeral on Friday.  You know that old joke asking where were you born? Reply: In the hospital; I wanted to be near my mother. Well, Mom has been a critical part of the lives of my older siblings and myself for our lifetimes. She was a hard woman to get away from!

                When your parents are gone (Dad has been gone for over 30 years), one becomes aware that the generational cycle bumps up a notch. We’re the oldest in the family now. We are supposed to be the sage voices of experience and wisdom. We are the grandparents who go and visit our adult children and attend the concerts, graduations, and birthdays of our grandchildren. We are the ones who travel for Christmas.  We are the ones who scratch our heads about young people and whether the world is a safe place for them. We are the ones who have to ask our adult children for help when the technology is too complex or there is furniture to lift. We are the ones about whom the kids mutter and shake their heads and worry about our health and sanity. “Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away,” (Psalm 90:10).

                The one thing about retirement has been to have the time to really savour the time that I am living.  “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days,” (Psalm 90:14). I may not be skydiving, climbing Mount Everest, learning Chinese, riding a motorcycle across Canada, leaping tall buildings in a single bound, but I am discovering a new side of joy, hope, satisfaction, peace, patience, and appreciation in an abundance of small things. It can be the sight of chickadees playing in the tree in our front yard. It may be in the smile of a grandson. It may be sitting in the same room with Susan, she watching TV and me watching baseball on the computer. It may be having brunch with our friends, Ron and Nola. It may be in the fonder, recalled memories about Mom.

                What’s ahead? I’ve not a clue. Perhaps it is just as well that I don’t. As Jesus said, “So do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will bring worries of its own,” (Matthew 5:34). Today, the sun is shining; it is a beautiful day. The coffee is hot. There is nothing too pressing on my calendar today, aside writing this which I enjoy doing. Kramer, one of our dogs wants out, and that just may be my exercise for the day. I may choose to seize the day, carpe diem and all that, but I don’t need to strangle it to death.

                “And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, ‘Today - at the latest, tomorrow - we're off to such and such a city for the year. We're going to start a business and make a lot of money.’ You don't know the first thing about tomorrow. You're nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing.  Instead, make it a habit to say, ‘If the Master wills it and we're still alive, we'll do this or that.’” (James 4: 13 – 15)

                Lord willing and the creek don’t rise!

Dale

Wednesday, June 7, 2017 

                On Sunday, June 18, we will be attending our grandson’s (Spencer) baptism. He is ten months old. Although infant baptism is not part of our family’s faith tradition it is an important and meaningful part of his Catholic father and his family’s faith.  Therefore, I have nothing but respect and reverence as we gather to celebrate and dedicate Spencer’s young life in the eyes and love of God – in effect, to place him in God’s hands. 

No matter the method, it will take us all working together, laughing together, praying together, encouraging him and his parents, so that Spencer may grow, thrive and be safe. It is a tough, angry world out here and he is going to need our help and yes, God’s help, to handle his life’s choices and decisions along the way.

So I am all in on his baptism.

May it be said of him as it was said about Jesus, “And Jesus matured, growing up in both body and spirit, blessed by both God and people,” (Luke 2: 52, The Message).

Let’s consider Jesus’ family life for a moment. We don’t know a great deal except for a few references here and there in the Gospels. Much of what we claim is by inference and conjecture from those brief family “photos” in the Gospel album.

Jesus was the eldest son of Mary and Joseph, with a lofty beginning through the Holy Spirit. Joseph was a carpenter but it would appear he may have been much older than Mary and, by the times of the Gospels, he was no longer on the scene.

Jesus was no angel child. He could be somewhat precocious as he was when at the age of twelve he didn’t tell his parents where he was going and scooted back to the Temple in Jerusalem. When his worried parents found him arguing with the teachers and elders he brushed off their worry and concern as if being there was as natural as daylight. Even as an adult he could sass his mother as he did at the wedding at Canaan when his mother asked for his help with the wine list. I can imagine the look she must have given him; and soon he was doing what he was told.

There were younger brothers and sisters. I am curious what they thought of this stranger, older brother. Did he tease them as older brothers are wont to do? Did they have pillow fights? Did he and his brothers wrestle and rough-house?

The Gospel of John tells us that “not even his brothers believed him,” (John 7:5), even though he would stay at their homes. Who can turn down your brother even if you think he is a little nuts?  “When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, ‘He is out of his mind,’” (Mark 3:21). A times Jesus could seem distant from his family as when he kept them waiting to see him and then lumped them in with all who were following him as being his one big family, (Matthew 13: 49). On the other hand, he could be tender and caring as he was from the cross, telling John to care for his mother, (John 19: 26 -27).

I guess what I am saying is that family life can be complicated, complex and messy, even for a Messiah (maybe especially for a Messiah).  The old saying goes that one can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family.

Every child, though, needs a good family, despite the probable conflicts and confusion that family living can sometimes proffer.   By “good” I mean a family in which there is ample encouragement, the teaching and example of positive and ethical values, accountability, responsibility, love,  growth, development, support, nurture, and the list could go on. No family is ever perfect, but we all could and should do a better job in being a blessing to those closest and dearest to us.

So I am there on Sunday for you,  Spencer.  I’ve got a lot to teach you!

Dale