Wednesday, October 22, 2025

“The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12: 12 -13, New Living Translation)

               The five baptisms, this past Sunday, at Yorkminster Park Baptist Church (Toronto) made this scripture text come alive.  There were a variety of ages, people of colour, genders and personality. It was heart-warming to witness the authentic and sometimes spontaneous joy each person was feeling as they “went through the waters.” Baptism is more than just a church-y, perfunctory ritual but as this ceremony was, baptism is something personal, intimate and communal. We all share the same Spirit.

                One woman grew up with atheistic parents. Another grew up in a different country than Canada. Each of the five had their own unique, personal story but Jesus Christ had brought them together at this time for this moment to share in this blessed experience of faith, witness and community. “There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)

But there was a moment which stood out for me which symbolized all a church could and should be. The second person who was baptised was a senior woman. She needed some help going down the stairs into the water. The man who was to be baptized next, helped her down the stairs, even having to step into the water himself to do so. Later, the young woman who had been baptized before her had stayed at the top of the stairs and then helped the woman get safely back up the stairs. I found this all-in-these-waters-together moment especially rich and meaningful. Perhaps, it had been arranged beforehand but that doesn’t matter. It was still a beautiful reminder of what the church can be at its best; helping hands, people looking out for each other.  Yes, baptism is a sign of God’s grace in our lives, a proclamation of accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour but it also brings us into solidarity and fellowship with the Christian family. All that and more unfolded on Sunday morning.

We are never alone in our faith journey. Many of us can fondly and lovingly recall those who have mentored, encouraged and instructed us in our faith: parents, grandparents, pastors, Sunday School teachers, youth workers to name a few. My brother, Wayne, was a significant influence in own Christian growth.  I think of what Paul wrote to Timothy: “I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you.” (2 Timothy 1:5) We may not even know how our Christian witness is affecting another person.  Therefore, we should always try to be conscious that our words and actions truly reflect the love of Jesus Christ. Others are watching. “He (Jesus Christ) makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” (Ephesians 4:16)

Just as the baptismal candidates were giving a helping hand to another, so we all are responsible for helping one another as we walk together in faith.  No one should ever feel alone or forgotten or abandoned or an outcast but embraced into God’s company of believers. We need each other in these troubling times more than ever.

“God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.” (2 Corinthians 5: 18 -20, The Message Bible)

How can I be of help?

Dale

Wednesday, October 15, 2025

“You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil.    My cup overflows with blessings.” (Psalm 23:5, New Living Translation)

                Happy belated Thanksgiving!

                We celebrated in the usual fashion. Our family gathered for our traditional Thanksgiving feast on Sunday. Ten adults and seven grandchildren squeezed into our son’s home in Mississauga. We all pitched in by bringing something to the meal. The  turkey meal was fantastic with all the trimmings.  Equally special was the joy and blessings of being together as a family.  We are a loud and raucous group whenever we get together. “I give you thanks, O Lord, with all my heart; I will sing your praises before the gods.” (Psalm 138:1)

                Mind you, none of this was done in “the presence of my enemies.” We were all family, of course. Even better, we are all friends with each other. Why did the David think that it was important to include the idea that God’s invitation to the table was done in the presence of his enemies? I don’t think it was a just a matter of gloating that he had it better than his foes. He had an invitation and they didn’t it. Nyah. Nyah! Although I do think that he meant that despite their animosity toward him, God’s blessing exceeded their hostility. Their hatred could not stop’s God generosity and grace.  No matter what these enemies felt about him, God’s love was stronger than their enmity. 

                My response and influence come from the New Testament, especially Jesus’ gracious words and actions. He did not exclude anyone from his table. Time after time, he was seen eating with anyone and everyone, even the most undesirable, the worst sinners, the outcast and the so-called unworthy. He practiced what he preached. Remember the parable of the banquet where the ones, supposedly friends,  who were first invited found excuses not to come.  So instead, his told his servants, “‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame… Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full.” (Luke 14: 21, 23) In fact, the decliners were the ones who were on the outside looking in on the feast.  Throughout Jesus’ ministry, he practiced inclusion and welcoming grace. His invitation to the whole world was that all people could enjoy God’s generosity of Love and Mercy. “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35)

                But where does this leave our so-called enemies, the people that don’t like us, wish us harm, have no love for us? Is there anywhere at the table for them?  Jesus did say that we were to love our enemy. “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5: 43 -45) We see people differently when we share a meal together, as we talk, find common things of interest, share about our families, open up about our thoughts and feelings. With good food and good drink, we may come to realize that the “other” is not so strange, not so alien, not so dangerous, not so evil as we first thought.

Perhaps, if some our world leaders shared a meal together instead of making war together, they would find the peace they are so longingly desperate for.  But it also is true in our own small corners of the world. A shared table becomes a peace zone where we put down our defences and hatred and pick up knives and forks and pass the bread to the one sitting across from us. “Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.”  (Romans 12:20, The Message Bible)

May your days be full of good food, good people, good deeds, good thoughts and good and bountiful living.

Dale

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.” (Matthew 5:5, The Message Bible)

               Of course, most of us are more familiar with this text as: “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.” But I really like the Message’s interpretation.

                Either way, the verse leapt to mind, yesterday, after watching a few sound bites of the Carney/Trump meeting in Washington. Believe me, I try to watch as few clips about Trump as I possibly can. But there they were on the news, front and centre at the White House. Trump had just made the comment that Carney was a great leader. When asked why then he didn’t make a trade deal with Canada, Trump said, “I want to be a great leader, too.” It was about as close as Trump will ever get to some level of modesty and that may be stretching it. He certainly is not known for having any sense of meekness, humility or modesty.

                But it sparked some thoughts about humility or meekness. Many see meekness as weakness, a character flaw. But, in truth, humility is not a form of humiliation. It is not timidity. It is not a lack of self-confidence. It is not fear of others. It doesn’t mean being pushed around or bullied.  It is not a reluctance to express an opinion.  It does not mean that one is not bold or brave when the moment calls for it. It is not wavering or cowardice.  In fact, I think it takes a lot of courage and inner strength to be humble in life.

                But what is humility at its best? The Psalmist wrote that God “leads the humble in doing right, teaching them his way.” (Psalm 25:9) Humility begins in having the right mind set about doing what is right and good. This verse jibes with the one from Micah: “the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8) We may have been made a little lower than the angels but we gain our appropriate self-perspective in our relationship with God. “The humble will see their God at work and be glad. Let all who seek God’s help be encouraged.” (Psalm 69:32) Meekness is the understanding that our true and best identity begins in God and not ourselves. “For the Lord delights in his people; he crowns the humble with victory.” (Psalm 149:4)   

                Being humble is the self-understanding that we are certainly not the centre of the universe or even the little corner in which we live. Our humility practices good and positive relationships. “Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.” (Ephesians 4:2) There is no room for conceit, arrogance, self-importance, but rather we understand that we are not perfect and therefore we reach out to love others just as unconditionally as God has loved us. “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.” (Philippians 2:3)  

                What the Message paraphrase captures so well is that humility means to be content with just who you are.  It does not mean that we don’t need to grow, learn, improve, or discover fresh insights; even Jesus “grew in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and all the people.” (Luke 2:52) But humility helps us keep an honest perspective about ourselves. In humility, we learn to be satisfied with who we are, what we are doing and how we are doing it. Humility cuts out envy and jealousy. It replaces pride with a spirit of well-being and inner peace (i.e. shalom). Our humility engages all others with love, tolerance, respect and grace.

                In the end, humility gives us what riches, fame or power cannot – the Love of God in Jesus Christ and our salvation. “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.” (James 4:10)         

Dale

Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don’t squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us. God reminds us, “I heard your call in the nick of time; the day you needed me, I was there to help.” Well, now is the right time to listen, the day to be helped. Don’t put it off; don’t frustrate God’s work by showing up late…  (2 Corinthians 6: 1 -3, The Message Bible)

                “Somehow, it’s always right now until it’s later.” It’s today’s punch line out of the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. Calvin has a school project of collecting 50 leaves and he keeps making excuses for not getting it done even though he has two weeks to do it. Hobbes, the come-to-life plush tiger, is known for such wisdom as this.

                I grew up with a mother who insisted that if we were not at least a half hour in advance of arriving before the start time, we were therefore late. It didn’t matter what it was - church, a doctor’s appointment, a movie, theatre, dinner invitation - it was mandatory to be there early, presumingly to get a good seat, beat the crowds, beat the traffic, whatever. It was a mortal sin to be late.

Unfortunately, this script has been imbedded in my own life. Much to Susan’s chagrin, I too insist that we are always very early to wherever we are going. There have been times when I have been preaching in a church some distance away and  I have arrived even before any of the church members have shown up to open up the building. Although I can remember once when I was a divinity college student, it worked in my favour as I had a flat tire on the way to the church which was about 45 minutes away. I had enough time to change the tire and get there on time. See, my mother was right!

                There was an article last week in the Globe and Mail which challenged people who always “get all in a knot when someone is a few minutes late. Get over yourself.” (Jane Maddougal)  She is quite scornful about those who get upset over a few minutes of lateness. “The idea that a frictional time difference shows disrespect for your precious time speaks of narcissism and megalomania. I mean come on!” She advocates for patience, good will and respect for the time of others, not just your own. here can be many legitimate reasons for tardiness. She makes a point that being in time is not a contest and we need to relax.  “Lateness can happen to anyone and it doesn’t mean you are a delinquent.” It’s a good thing my mother isn’t around to read this!

                But wait a minute! (Pun intended.) If you are late, at least, one is presumably arriving at their destination – eventually.  But when lateness becomes procrastination and more delays and putting it off and postponement after postponement, never getting it done or never arriving at the destination at all then there are serious consequences. Putting off a doctor’s appointment may miss as a serious health problem. Skipping a dinner date with a friend may miss helping them in a time of crisis.  It becomes too late. Our tardiness has missed an opportunity to make a difference either for ourselves or for someone else.

                Jesus told several parables about the importance of being ready and prepared for the critical moments of our faith and practice. Instantly comes to mind is the parable of the Ten Bridesmaids, five of whom had sufficient oil for their lamps to wait through the night for the groom (who, by the way, is not criticized for his lateness). But the other five were caught without enough oil and were shut out of the wedding feast all together. The message of this parable and the others like it is this: “You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.” (Matthew 24: 44)

In other words, when it comes to matters of the Kingdom of God, we are called to make the most of every opportunity and step up when called and don’t make excuses or be tardy in our Christian witness and service. Putting off until tomorrow what needs to be done today is not an effective strategy for our Christian witness and service. Just as our salvation calls for an imminent and immediate response, so our salvation puts us at the front of the line in working for Jesus Christ. “Well, now is the right time to listen, the day to be helped. Don’t put it off; don’t frustrate God’s work by showing up late…”  Get it done while the doing is timely, helpful, meaningful, critical and useful. “If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work.” (2 Timothy 2:21)

My mother would have approved of this unpaid, previous message.

Dale