Wednesday, January 30, 2019

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.” (Isaiah 55:8, New Revised Standard Version) 

A sentence in my devotional book by Walter Brueggemann has caught my interest over the week-end.  He wrote, “We may ponder how God’s extraordinary power may yet unsettle our settled ordinary.”  (Gift and Task, p.56)

He uses some examples from the Bible in which the personalities could have settled for the ordinary, the obvious, the inevitable, the predictable, or the safest thing. Instead God encouraged these people to push their expectations, to look further, to open up their limitations and boundaries and experience something new and different and sometimes even radical in their lives.  He uses the phrase “it would be ordinary” for these folk to simply go along with the usual and normal responses to their situations -  looking out for number one, resigning themselves to their “fate”, and accepting the consequences.

But instead the love from God initiates and elicits a new and more lively imaginative hope that runs counter to the ordinary. Take any of the healing stories in the Gospels, for example. But two stories stand out for me. 

The first is the Samaritan woman whom Jesus met at the well and who engaged in a lively, smart, personal dialogue with Jesus that centred on her ordinary life – made ordinary by endless trips to the well, doing the same old thing over and over again, dragged down by several, possibly failed marriages. Jesus interrupted the ordinary routines of her life and challenged her to make better choices and take a leap of faith.

The other example is the paralyzed man who had sat at the pool-side in Jerusalem for thirty-eight years waiting for his opportunity to be put in the water for a chance to be healed. The ordinary was that he was perpetually disappointed. The ordinary was constant failure and frustration. The ordinary was always just another day at the pool. Jesus interrupted that fruitless cycle and invited the man to take a bold, new, audacious step away from his oh-so familiar and ordinary existence and was made well. “My Father is still working and I also am working.” (John 5:17, NRSV)

Brueggemann makes the point, “The gospel is inherently subversive of all the ordinary protocols that we assume as tried and true. The oft-reiterated truth of the gospel is that the power of the God is not contained within the claims of business as usual.”

“Nor are my ways your ways!” says the Lord. This seems to be often expressed by the spectacular ability of Jesus to intrude upon the ordinary and make us aware that there is more to the world around us.

By stepping outside the ordinary I am not suggesting that we take up sky-diving, climb mountains, or move to a new country. But I am suggesting to open our spirits to the energy and movement of God’s Spirit, to look at ourselves and our neighbours and our world with renewed vision and a different set of criteria than the ordinary that the politicians, the media and the culture insist we cling to. Let the Spirit of Jesus Christ interrupt the fashionable, the presumptions, the assumptions, the tired old beliefs, the dogmatic approach, the weary traditionalism that weigh us down and keep us living sinful and empty lives.

There is a better way!

Jesus said, not in a spirit of exclusivism but in a spirit of invitation and welcome, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6) Jesus is saying that one does not need the Roman Way, the way of the pharisee, the way  of old laws and prohibitions, the way of accepting the ordinary and mundane and inevitable, the way of blindness, limping, paralysis and blindness, the way of Sin, but the Way with God is altogether a new and different Way, the Way to renewal, to discover a new and fresh experience of Creation itself.

Dale

Wednesday, January 23, 2019

“But God told Samuel, ‘Looks aren't everything. Don't be impressed with his looks and stature. I've already eliminated him. God judges persons differently than humans do. Men and women look at the face; God looks into the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7, The Message Bible) 

                Beauty, so some say, is only skin deep.

                One source gives some British noble, Sir Thomas Overbury,  credit for coming up with  this proverb in 1613. But I might argue that Samuel had it first, long before then. Overbury was writing about his wife and her “carnal beauty” and I doubt she much appreciated it, although maybe he appreciated her mind as well as her good looks. Samuel was talking about one of Jesse’ strong, good-looking sons, Eliab, whom he rejected for kingship over Israel and chose the little shepherd boy David, the baby in the family.

                I had some skin removed last week for some small bit of basil-cell skin cancer on my right ear. I get the stitches removed today. I am assured that there is no grave or serious danger in this type of skin cancer. I will remain as handsome as ever.  It seems just another sign of growing older.

But it has reminded me of the stories of Jesus and his encounters with those who were lepers during those times. Now leprosy, biblically speaking, may cover a multitude of skin diseases and not just what we now know as true leprosy or Hansen’s disease. Canker sores, ugly rashes, and other skin deformities and abnormalities had all the same effect on the poor souls who suffered them – ostracization from their families and communities, shunned by the world around them and avoided by everyone. They were deemed as unclean, defiled, sinful and unapproachable. It is said that they were forced to wear bells around their necks so as to let the good citizens know they were in the vicinity.

Their skin made them ugly and unwanted.

So, what comes out of the Gospels is Jesus’ willing approach to meet lepers, interact with them and of course, in a number of cases, heal them from their skin diseases. In some cases, we are told he would touch them to do so. He did not run away; rather he ran toward them.

                It would be likely that his actions would disgust some of the “clean” population. It might have put fear into them to keep their distance from Jesus, too, before he contracted the same disease. Many may have thought he was crazy to have anything to do with lepers. It was scandalous and highly impious for Jesus to relate in any way with “these kinds of people.”

                But since Jesus was acting as God would act, he would look deeper than the superficiality of  flawless skin. I am assuming that Jesus, too, looked deeper into the heart, soul and spirit of the person and saw more than the blemishes, scars, physical flaws, and ugliness that lay on the surface.

                Jesus looked through the community’s shallow standards of beauty and acceptance and broke down barriers that kept people from community, from fellowship, and replaced rejection and judgement with acceptance, love and inclusion.

                Perhaps, there is no greater example of his Kingdom values than his breaking the shackles of judging people by superficial, artificial criteria instead of embracing them in the fellowship of Christian love and grace. He was clear that this responsibility was also passed on to his church: “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!” (Matthew 10:8)

                It then challenges me not to assess people based on the colour of their skin, the beauty of their faces, their disabilities, their sexual orientation, the poor clothes which they wear, the hungry look in their eyes, or whatever their so-called differences may be which all too often condemn these, our brothers and sisters, to live outside our acceptance and love. Some Christians can be the worst for perpetuating leper status, in the broadest sense of the word, on people who don’t fit their ideas of purity and norms. Talk about body-shaming!

                Thank goodness, we have Jesus who stands as a bold corrective to these dogmatic definitions of beauty. Men and women may look at the face but God looks at the heart.

Dale

Wednesday, January 16, 2019

“You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.”  (1 Peter 3:4, New Living Translation)

                Ron Wilson was a gentle and quiet spirit. But after his battle with cancer for the last two years we said our goodbyes and paid him tribute this past Saturday. Ron was one of our very best of friends, along with his wife Nola. We met when Nola came to be our new Music Director at Murray St. Baptist Church but Ron was also a much-gifted musician among his many talents.

                Ron’s other stellar gift was as an artist.  He actually studied under A.Y. Jackson when Ron was quite young. Although Ron had his own unique style of painting, sometimes I can see the influence of Canada’s Group of Seven having a slight influence in his own work. A pine tree or a dune or a cloud would have just a hint of their style.

                Although many of his paintings are about nature, there were people, dogs, barns and the like also. Our favourites though have always been his out-of-doors’ canvases – canoes sitting on shorelines, big Muskoka chairs sitting on wood decks next to the water, shorelines with waves or skies with moving clouds or craggy rocks with majestic pines. He could also draw whimsical caricatures of people, dogs and other scenarios.

                Personally, I think that Ron could have been a renowned Canadian artist, but he was always modest, humble and not one to seek fame and fortune. So we, his family and close friends, get to enjoy the beauty and grandeur of his work.

                I said in tribute to him at the Celebration Service that his art says a lot about the heart, mind and soul of the person who he was in life. He could see beauty in the world all around him. It was one of the ways he expressed his deep Christian faith. His ability to see the wonder of God’s Creation fed his spirit which in turn became the creative catalyst for putting brush to canvas and letting us all in on the joy and abundance of God’s creativity in the world around us.          

                Ron’s artistry often evokes a spirituality. I have one of his paintings sitting just above my desk where I am working.  Ron’s use of soft water colours gives the feel of an early morning mist rising off a lake as I imagine myself sitting in the Muskoka chair on the dock by the calm water. It gives me a sense of peace and serenity, calmness and quietness: “He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.” (Psalm 23: 2 -3a)

                It has become to easy to see the ugly in the world around us. We would like to avert our eyes from looking at the damage and chaos of life. We would like to be able to stop the world and get off, some days.

                But Ron has reminded me to never stop looking for the beauty, the wonder, the splendour, the miracle of the world we live in. It rises above the mean and cruel, the tragic and the waste, the pain and the sorrow.  Instead God’s Creation – after all its genesis, too,  overcame  chaos and nothingness and spread into Eden itself – is  a bounteous gift which  is granted to us to enjoy.

                “For the beauty of the earth; for the glory of the skies,

                For the love which from our birth, Over and around us lies,

                Lord of all to Thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise.” (Pierpont)

Dale

Wednesday, January 9, 2019

“Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother and went to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod.” (Matthew 2:14) 

                Looking at today’s news, this post-Christmas glimpse into the lives of Jesus and his parents strikes, sadly, a very contemporary chord.

                They have become refugees, fearing for their very lives. They were fleeing a dreadful situation as Herod hunted and killed children.  It’s not like they could take a jet or a train or a bus; probably, they had to walk the hundreds and hundreds of miles, just to get to the border. They have had to leave behind all that was familiar and hide in a foreign country.  But it was no longer safe for them in their homeland.

One might expect that as Jews they might find it difficult to be accepted. They would need to learn a new language, new local customs, new laws and regulations. Joseph would need to find work to feed, clothe and house his family. It was not the way Joseph or Mary had planned to start their family. 

They were poor immigrants, just the clothes on their back, seeking shelter and safety, trying to find a fresh start in a land that traditionally was enemy territory to Jews.

We find far too many parallels today. Thousands have fled dangerous Latin American countries to walk to the American border to be met with hostility, tear gas, ignorance, prejudice and fear. Boats loaded with hundreds of men, women and children try to flee Syria and other mid-eastern and African countries so to escape the wars, the famines, cruelty and politics within their home countries. These, too, are often met with resentment, hatred and animosity in their new countries. They are all far from welcome. They are all tainted as trouble-makers, terrorists, job-stealers, a burden on tax-payers, etc.

Maybe, a few are, although the facts don’t seem to bear those mis-truths out. Instead I think that if we really looked closely at these tattered refugees, we would find again and again, the real-life echoes of Joseph and Mary and baby Jesus. If we looked in these folk’s eyes, we would see a plea for hope, for safety, for peace, for a second chance.

Last night, these refugees were called a humanitarian crisis among other things, a crisis of the soul or a crisis of the heart. This new Herod actually is right or, at least, the words are right but the response of building fences and walls and using people like pawns and collateral damage seem to belie these fine- sounding words.

For when we close our doors and minds and hearts to those who are different from us and who don’t sound or look like us or don’t worship like we do or who are inconvenient and problematic we may be shutting the doors to people like Joseph and Mary and little Jesus. Imagine slamming the door in the face of the Saviour!

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’ “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing?  When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’” (Matthew 25: 34 – 34, New Living Translation) 

Dale