Wednesday, February 28, 2018 

“For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing…”  (2 Corinthians 2:15)

                You stink! But I like you anyway!

                Today, I heard about a study – who gives out money for these things? – that links one’s sense of smell to one’s political choices. One of the more interesting findings was that those people who are more sensitive to and thereby repulsed by really bad odors are more likely to have voted for Donald Trump. There’s a straight line in there somewhere but I think I’d better just move on.

                So, I did a little bit of research for today’s blog and I discovered that there are a whole lot of studies relating our odors and scents to the various choices we make.

                One article noted that “It's so easy to use smell to alter perception and assessment of a person or people.” (Gayil Nalls, Psychology Today)  She was curious whether smells  “sway our perceptions and judgments of others."

                When I was pastoring in Point Claire, Quebec, being in a suburban church we didn’t get a lot of transient traffic.  But there was one man who visited me once or twice a year. My office was at the back of the main foyer but I could smell this man the minute the door opened and he stepped in. I always wished that we had a shower in the building and some clean clothes for him.  But I helped him as best I could. I am pretty sure that most people were repulsed by this man and for good reason. His poverty truly stunk!

                Another study published by the American Journal of Political Science claims that “people prefer the body odor of those who vote as they do.” You thought you chose your life’s partner because he or she looked handsome or beautiful and was smart but really it was because he or she smelt right to you.

                Science, eh?

                Paul was way ahead of his time.  People who follow Jesus Christ should have, in a sense (pun intended), a unique but pleasant “body” odor. People should be able to recognize we are a part of Jesus’ family because we emit the fragrance of his Love and grace the minute we walk into a room.

                What is the aroma of Christ? It is the sweet fragrance of Christ-like Love and compassion effused into a world that could use a little air freshener now and then.  We should be making a positive difference around us by our words, deeds, actions, and faith.  It is very sad when Christianity stinks badly of hypocrisy, abuses, judgmentalism, institutionalism and religious arrogance. Instead we should be an “aroma pleasing to God” and therefore to others.

                Some translations use the word “savour” instead of “aroma”. Recall those times of walking into your home and there is the pleasant aroma of a meal being cooked. A hearty stew is simmering in the slow cooker. Or a chicken is in the oven. Or someone has baked cookies or baked bread. The smells are tantalizing, mouth-watering, savory. Not only are you hungry, but the savoury smells make you feel at home, safe, warm, and comforted from the day’s busy-ness.

                I would like today’s Christians to exude that savoury smell of love, compassion,  hope, peace, acceptance, tolerance, inclusiveness, and justice that wraps people up in a pungent  but balm-like fragrance of Christ-likeness.

                Maybe what the world needs now is a bunch of “stinky” people drenched in the sweat of Jesus. 

Dale

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

“Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.”  (Habakkuk 1:3  NIV)

                I grew up with guns in the house. My Dad was a deer hunter and he used  a powerful 30.06 rifle when he went hunting up near Bancroft.  My brother had a 22 rifle.  He claims that he almost accidently shot me once when he didn’t know the rifle was still loaded and it went off accidently (so he says…) but I have absolutely no recall of the incident. As for me I had a BB rifle and a pellet pistol. None of the guns were kept particularly under lock and key if I remember rightly.

                I have never been much of a hunter – scared a few pigeons on my grandparent’s farm now and then, occasionally caused the odd squirrel to have a good chuckle and chatter at my poor aim, or wasted my ammunition on a tin can or two. But nothing serious. I am not opposed to hunting – I just have chosen not to do it. In fact, I love venison, rabbit and other wild dishes.

                But I do not get why anyone – even the most avid gun lover – needs an assault rifle like an AK 17 that was used in the Florida school shootings. The name says it all – assault rifle. Its rapid fire is designed for maximum violence and instant death. It’s a nasty weapon designed primarily for military use. It is not meant for sport hunting and I would hotly debate neither for any kind of recreational target shooting. But I guess there are people who get a thrill out of the power and feeling of invulnerability such a weapon appears to bestow on the one wielding it.

                Nor do I really understand the American reluctance to have even the most common-sense levels of some sort of gun control. I was not happy when our last government removed some of the restrictions on guns in Canada. The argument that ‘guns don’t kill but people do’ is nonsense. It is people armed with guns - big, nasty guns – that kill, murder and slaughter innocent people, especially children and youth.

                I just read where an Australian pastor has posted these words on their church sign: When will they love their kids more than their guns. Susan told me a story she heard about a Florida man who had an assault rifle and loved shooting it but after the Florida massacre he destroyed the weapon. But he will be an exception, not the beginning of a landslide movement to restrict them altogether. Note, just a few days after this tragedy the Florida legislature has nixed a bill restricting assault rifles.

                According to Bible standards there is no greater sign of a sick world than violence. I say that realizing that there is a lot of violence, bloodshed and carnage in many of the stories of the Bible. Even genocide. It is not a pretty picture especially when God is invoked as being the reason behind such violence. Yet, even so, violence is portrayed as an ugly scar on the beauty and sacredness of all Creation. These stories, at least, should make us wince and decry the use of violence as a means to an end.  

                There is a thread in scriptures that also celebrates God’s desire to “beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks” (Isaiah 2:4). Or maybe it should read assault rifles. In God’s Kingdom, under his rule “There he broke the flashing arrows, the shields and the swords, the weapons of war.” (Psalm 76: 3).

                Of course, the vast, vast majority of responsible gun owners would never ever use their rifles for violence against others.  But it only takes a few to do what was done in Florida or in Las Vegas earlier.  Limit and restrict those people who should not have access to guns, do background checks, register, at least,  the big  nasty guns – these are a few ways that we can keep our children safe.

                We need to commit to, pray for and advocate for whatever it takes to bring peace to this hurting world ours, and in the likeness of Jesus Christ, “to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.” (Luke 1:79)

Dale

Wednesday, February 14, 2018 

“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.” (John 15:13) 

                It is the first time since 1945 that Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday have had the same date.

                One website asked the question  can one be a believer and still celebrate the day with champagne and chocolate.  At first glance it may seem somewhat contradictory – the light and romantic side of Valentine’s Day in contrast to the serious, more somber atmosphere of Ash Wednesday and Lent. Of course, secularists and other types of believers and non-believers could care less.

Well, I have always struggled with the idea that Lent has been somewhat trivialized by the tradition of having to give something up like chocolate, coffee, smoking, or some other indulgence or personal habit, even though it, sort of, pertains loosely to some superficial understanding of the idea of sacrifice that is linked to the remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. But barely!

                Perhaps, at best, the fact that Lent is beginning, and it may help to inspire someone to forfeit some unhealthy practice, addiction or habit and that would be good indeed. Perhaps, I need to give up being so picky.

                But I have no problem connecting Valentine’s Day with Ash Wednesday and Lent whatsoever. Indeed, it seems a natural fit in light of the scripture verse quoted above from John’s Gospel.

                Love is at the core of Lent.

                Jesus is embracing the precious last few hours with his friends. He has so much he wants to say to them, to tell them, to show them. And so little time.

                Does this rag tag outfit of disciples get anything he has been saying, teaching or doing? What will happen when he is arrested and crucified as he knew he would be? Is he leaving them equipped enough to deal with all that is ahead? Do they understand his mission and the tasks that he is leaving behind for them to accomplish? Do they understand the Love that he has for them, the compassion for their hearts and souls, the caring concern for their well-being?

                Every word he speaks to his followers at the Last Supper here in John’s Gospel exudes his love, his encouragement, his deep-felt protective feelings towards them, his reassurances, his prayers for them, his gift of Spirit to help them cope in the days ahead. And if this is not Love, I don’t know what is.

                Beyond all the theories of atonement represented buy this supreme, personal sacrifice of Love i.e. to die for one’s friends, is the supreme gift of Love that comes with following him.  “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 14:34) Or as he said when he submissively washed his disciples’ feet, “For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.” (John 13:15)

                Surely, anyone can understand that it is this holy and sacred style of Love that we should be bringing into our marriages, our families, our communities, our churches, our workplaces, our pulpits, our ethics, until it permeates our very character.  Loving is not always easy or convenient and not without its trials and tribulations, but it always the best we ought to try to do. Even enemies, Jesus says, deserve our Love.

                So, if you need to knock back a little champagne and nibble on some chocolate or nibble on your partner’s ear, for that matter, go for it!

It is the Season for Loving. As Jesus would say, “Go and do likewise!”

Dale

Wednesday, February 7, 2018 

“And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” (Matthew 10:30)

                I’ll have a large fries and supersize it!

                There are reports that there is an ingredient in McDonald’s french fries that may be a cure for baldness. Dimethylpolysiloxane (try staying that three times fast!) which Newsweek reports is a silicone added to McDonald's fries to stop cooking oil from frothing, was used to regrow hair on mice. Now hairy mice are nice, but a few more follicles on my head would be nicer. After all, I am not giving God much of a challenge in counting what I have left up there up on my noggin.

                I’m not sure whether to eat the fries or smear on them on my scalp. Maybe both, just to cover all my bases.

                Jesus is using hyperbole in his comment that all the hairs on our head have been counted by God. I am pretty sure that God has better and far more important things to do than actually counting hairs on people’s head. Maybe God has an angel Department of Hair Counting but that too would seem rather a waste of time and effort.

                Jesus has been teaching about the difficulties that fall our way when we try to follow him in the world. Some of it is just downright nasty persecution: “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves…” (Matthew 10:16)  Now, I don’t know about you, but I am not too keen on becoming a nice piece of mutton for anyone, even if I have provided a bountiful meal for the ”wolf”. I am not sure that is what Jesus meant when he challenged us to feed the hungry.  But I digress.

                This is some of the hardest teachings that Jesus leaves us with. Many of us would-be followers of Jesus don’t want to hear about the hardships, the challenges, the sacrifices, the costs of being a follower, “and you will be hated because of me.”  (10:22)

Look Jesus, I just want my comfortable pew, and prefer that the secular world like me, really like me or, at least, leave me alone. Let the world pretend that I am not here. Let it go pick on some other religion or faith group. We and the world used to get along so well. Why is everybody always pickin’ on me? I thought that my faith put me on easy street; nothing bad is supposed to happen because I am a believer.  I just want my ticket to heaven stamped and I’m outta here.

But if we are doing our Christ-like thing really, really  well  - and not, instead, being noted or  critiqued for our hypocrisy – we will be noticed for our compassion, tolerance, forgiveness, inclusiveness, love, grace and forgiveness. These can be annoying behaviours. These can be bothersome traits.  These can be meddlesome habits. When we are sticking our nose into places where Jesus’ Love needs to shine, operate and make a difference we may just get it thrown back in our faces and told to go mind our own business.

                But Love is our “business”.  Love is our politics. Love is our “science”. Love is our currency. Love is our modus operandum.  Love is our performance model. And sometimes this style of Love hurts and as Jesus himself showed is personally costly.

                But this brings us back to what all that has to do with the hairs on your or my head. Jesus is making the point that when we practice this radical, intrusive discipleship we are not alone, not doing by ourselves, not defenceless or merely sacrificial lambs. God  is very aware of the dynamics of following  Jesus and just as a sparrow does not fall to the ground without God’s awareness, so too you and I are counted as  valuable to our sacred Father. “So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.) (10:31)

                Now that is  a supersized portion!

Dale