Wednesday, May 26, 2021

“Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation—an aroma redolent with life.” (2 Corinthians 2:15, The Message Bible)

              The sweet scent of lilacs fills our living room these days. We have a Korean lilac bush right near a window. It is in full bloom. And though it never flowers as long as we would like, we look forward to the days that its fragrance permeates the room. It is my favourite flower.

             There is a lot that out-right stinks in the world right now because of this seemingly never-ending, dang pandemic. The loss of lives who matter is staggering. People have lost their jobs, their businesses, their restaurants and the resulting income they need to survive. Schools are closed. Hospitals are over-run and care-workers are stressed and over-worked. Long term care facilities’ have been a petri dish for this virus. Not seeing our grandchildren for months on end.

            Well, you get my drift… life stinks!

            But wait a minute. Take a breath. Take a deep breath.

            Let the fresh scent of God’s Love waft into your senses.

Catch the spicy smells of hope.

Inhale the fruity aromas of joy and laughter.

Sense the blossomed spirit of new life and new beginnings.

We have just celebrated Pentecost, this past Sunday, which remembers the giving of the Holy Spirit to Christ’s people. The Holy Spirit is that fresh, cleansing, delightful spirt or wind that breezes through our lives with the scents of life, joy, freedom, hope, opportunity  and love. The Spirit fills us with the sweet scent of Christ. We blossom as Christians under the Spirit’s care.

Paul wants us, followers of Jesus, to be a sweet aroma in the world around us. When we exude the grace and compassion that we get from Christ through the Holy Spirit, “everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance.”  (2 Cor. 12:14, The Message)

We can make such a difference in a stinky old world – a warm smile, a kind word, a thoughtful gesture, a helping hand, a forgiveness given, a hurt forgotten, an extra mile, a prayer lifted up or a meal shared.

So, open up the windows of your spirit, your heart, your mood, your mind, your very soul and let the aromatic Spirit fill the nooks and crannies of your life, so that you, too, may blossom in the world around you.

Hey, get a whiff of you, now!

 Dale

 

Wednesday, May 19, 2021

“But Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.’’’ (Luke 9:58, New living Translation)

                 No, this isn’t another bird story, you’ll be glad to know. It’s a fox story.

                Over the last week, in the morning, on two occasions,  there has been a fox resting under our hedge in the back yard. We live in a very urban area, so this is a very interesting sight. It’s an adult fox, with all the foxy trimmings of red fur, bushy tail, black stockings – very healthy looking. Our local rabbits and squirrels had better look out. He or she runs when it sees us. I am surprised how agile and nimble a fox can be as it squeezes itself lithely under the fence to make his/her getaway.

                Foxes don’t appear all that often in scripture. There’s a terrible story in Judges that tells the story how Samson tied fire brands to the tails of 300 foxes (how he caught so many I have not a clue) and set the foxes into the fields of the Philistines to burn down their crops. I am sure that the local Philistine PETA was outraged.

                Jesus compared the Rome’s puppet ruler, Herod Antipas, to being a fox: “Go tell that fox that I will keep on casting out demons and healing people today and tomorrow; and the third day I will accomplish my purpose.” (Luke 13:32, NLT)

                In a way, that statement connects with our text, also from Luke, and not because they each have the word “fox”. Both texts remind us of the restless nature of his style of messiahship and its never-ending commitment to reach those who need to hear and experience the Good News.  Jesus was always relentless in his pursuit to touch others with love, mercy, grace, blessing and healing. “When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”  (Matthew 9:36) He was always on the move, always found in the crowd, always rubbing elbows with the poor, the needy, the sick, the broken, the lost. This Covid isolation might have frustrated him, but I  think that he would have found  a way to embrace the people who need his Love the most.

                Our Luke 9 text affirms that the work of Christliness is never finished. There is always a new day for the Love of Jesus Christ to shine in this world. But the context of the passage invites all followers of Jesus to engage in the same restless nature of Love and Compassion.  The Church shouldn’t be waiting for the world to come to it; it needs to go out and be in the neighbourhoods and communities and set the Messianic example of Jesus Love for all.

                The Message Bible’s paraphrase is kind of fun: “Are you ready to rough it? We’re not staying in the best inns, you know.” The burden of followership is to walk where Jesus walked, to go out and do good, to be a blessing to others, to demonstrate the Good News in practical, compassionate and unselfish ways and means. That is indeed not always safe or comfortable, convenient or allow us to hole up in our lairs and dens.

                The day is coming when we will be free from being cramped up in our homes. Once that people can get out, I hope there will be a constant, restless flurry of compassionate actions by us all. Do what you can now, but let the Love of Christ flow from you into the nooks and crannies of a hurting and wounded world.

                Jesus found you, didn’t he? Pass it on.

 

Dale

Wednesday, May 12, 2021

“Then Jesus said, ‘What is the Kingdom of God like? How can I illustrate it? It is like a tiny mustard seed that a man planted in a garden; it grows and becomes a tree, and the birds make nests in its branches.’” (Luke 13: 18 19, New Living Translation)

                Our backyard is perfect for a lazy bird-watcher like myself.

                I can sit comfortably in my cushioned Muskoka chair (plastic), enjoy a cup of coffee and a good cigar and wait for all the birds to come to me, without me having to move a muscle other than to raise my binoculars every now and then.

                It has been a great Spring for our backyard birds. I have seen cardinals, robins, blue jays, mourning doves, hairy woodpeckers, gold finch, grackles, chickadees, song sparrows, nuthatches, crows, a soaring hawk, so far. To top it all off, a white-crowned sparrow landed not ten feet from me, last week. I don’t recall ever seeing one before.

                Part of the attraction to our backyard is a twenty-foot-high cedar hedge all along the back of the property. I think there may be two or three nests in the hedge. It provides a great deal of safety from predators and the weather. There are two very tall pine trees in which the birds like to sit or eat the seeds from the pine cones. The yard is never going to appear in Better Homes and Gardens but the hedge, especially, provides shelter and a habitat for a wide variety of birds, even if it is only a brief visit for some.

                Jesus tells us that the world he wants to create for us is like a tree or perhaps a hedge, which begins small but grows until it becomes so expansive that it provides the environment for a whole, healthy and abundant life.

Expansive, inclusive, spacious, generous, all-encompassing – Jesus’ new world (i.e. the Kingdom of God) is the perfect place for us to make our nests or homes. It provides us safety, shelter, rest, provisions, comfort as we settle into the enfolding shelter of God’s Creation.

To repeat myself from a few weeks ago: “Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?” (Matthew 6:26, NLT)

What strikes me the most from this brief parable is how large the Kingdom becomes and how many peoples and nations Jesus’ world-view can take in. For once, I didn’t use the Message Bible version because it substitutes “eagles” for “birds”. That sounds a bit too elitist for me. I think Jesus’ world has ample room for the sparrows among us, the little chickadees, the wrens and the hummingbirds. In fact, eagles are a little intimidating for the hedge; let them sleep in the pine trees.

My point is that Jesus’ take on the world which he is envisioning is so big that it will embrace any and all who seek its branches and leaves.  The book of Revelation paints a similar picture in the imagery of the “river of the water of life”: “On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.” (Revelation 22: 2, NLT)

“God sees the little sparrow fall; It meets his tender view; If God so loves the little birds; I know he loves me too.” (Maria Straub)

Dale

  

Wednesday, May 5, 2021

“Do you want to be on good terms with the government? Be a responsible citizen and you’ll get on just fine, the government working to your advantage. But if you’re breaking the rules right and left, watch out. The police aren’t there just to be admired in their uniforms. God also has an interest in keeping order, and he uses them to do it. That’s why you must live responsibly—not just to avoid punishment but also because it’s the right way to live.” (Romans  13: 3 -5, The Message Bible)

                 Obstreperous. That’s a somewhat polite word for “disorderly, rowdy, wild, unmanageable, uncontrollable, disobedient, disruptive, attention-seeking, undisciplined, troublemaking and more.”

                But it is the word I will use to describe those foolish, independent conservative evangelical(?) churches in western Canada who are challenging the provincial government’s laws  regarding closures of all public institutions including churches during the Covid pandemic. They are even now planning to taking the issue to the Supreme Court of Canada.

                Now as a Baptist, I am all for the separation of church and state. But the problem here has nothing to do with some governmental authority interfering and telling churches what to believe or taking over our denominations and dictating church polity and practice. Nobody is stopping us from being Church as thousands of others churches have found by resorting to Webcasts of their services. Temporary closure is the prudent, realistic, safe and pragmatic thing to do. Nobody in the church-world likes it, but it is a current necessity. Deal with it. The vast majority of churches have complied with these restrictions.

                But not these two churches. I believe one pastor has been jailed, if not from these two, then another. He must feel proudly that he is a Christian martyr, standing up for the right of religious freedom. Not even close!

                What really grinds my gears about this foolishness is their blatant disregard for scripture. These yahoos will stand on their soap boxes and spout scripture loud and shrilly when it comes to using scripture to attack their most hated sins, LGBTQ, women in ordained  leadership, divorce, liberalism, etc. but turn a deaf ear and a blind eye when it suits them. They are just as subjective about scripture as they accuse progressive Christians of being.

                I don’t know how they manage, even if they try, to reconcile Paul’s practical advice about being “on good terms with the government.” Paul would have been an unlikely supporter of the Roman government, known for its heavy-handed, oppressive, often violent rule. Pax Roman wasn’t about Peace; it was about “Obey or else.”

But Paul understood the political realities of his time – don’t poke the Eagle. Trust God and cooperate with the authorities; we don’t need the attention. The Romans were suspicious of them as it was. Perhaps, he knew of Christ’s words to love one’s enemies. As Paul wrote himself, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” (Romans  12:20 New Living Translation)

                Instead of wasting money on lawyers and court costs and taxpayers’ money, use those resources for good. Help out in the community. Drive people to get their vaccines. Check up on shut-ins and the elderly in the neighbourhood. Take food and drink to those who are shut-in. Help people get groceries. A Fellowship Baptist Church in Ajax, Ontario, has opened its facility to become a vaccination center. Good for them! That’s how a church should respond to these Covid times.

                We are attending Yorkminster Park Baptist church (Toronto) on the web these days. You can tell the heartache and desperate desire to come together in the place of worship in the pastor’s voice each and every Sunday. Nevertheless, they deliver an outstanding worship services via the webcast. More importantly, perhaps, for now, the people are still active in their community during the week, having found new, creative ways to support food banks, shelters, and other needs in the neighbourhood.

                Jesus must shake his head some days!

 Dale