Wednesday, September 3, 2025

“For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” (Galatians 5:14, New Living Translation)

                “And who is my neighbour?” a man once asked Jesus. Well, so far, I can name Linda, Don, Wayne, Stephen, Jackie, Justin, Jacob and Ryan.  I now know more names of my neighbours in 3 months here in Whitby than I ever did in Peterborough in 20 years. I could name our neighbours’ dogs better than I could name the neighbours themselves. But I am discovering that our apartment building is a very friendly and close neighbourhood in its own right. Nobody is ever nosy but everyone keeps an eye out for each other. I am working hard trying to remember all their names. There are a lot of dogs in our building, too, but I haven’t learned a single one of their names, yet. How times have changed!

                The population of our apartment building is richly diverse. There are many retired folk like us. But there are children, too.  It is very multicultural. There are singles and mixed families and same sex couples and many others sharing our building.  Very different personalities and characteristics.  I know all this by watching and listening and talking to my neighbours. As one of my neighbours said to me, we’re all different and there is no point in judging others.  Life is too short for that. Amen to that! Everyone seems respectful and considerate of one another. (It’s kind of like one would want a church to be.)

                We are living in a perilous time where powerful political and extreme conservative social forces are creating a very unfriendly and unneighbourly society. Outsiders, i.e. people not like us, are being targeted as unwanted. People who don’t look like us talk like us, act like us are unwelcome. Conservative Christianity, sadly, is sometimes at the very vanguard of this movement. Neighbourliness is taking a beating out there in the world. We are more like to accuse our neighbour of something than to befriend him or her. Jesus pointed to such troubled times as this as a portent of the end of the world: “A brother will betray his brother to death, a father will betray his own child, and children will rebel against their parents and cause them to be killed.” (Mark 13: 12)  We give little heed to God’s declaration: “I will not tolerate people who slander their neighbors. I will not endure conceit and pride.” (Psalm 101:5)

                It may take a Second Coming of Christ to restore civility, tolerance, mutual concern, compassion, justice, grace and peace in our neighborhoods. Perhaps, it can only be Christ’s Love that can fully and completely re-establish the Kingdom of God in all its fullness where one neighbour really does love another neighbour. Let the rapture begin if it means we can treat each other with Love again. At the very least, “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.” (Matthew 7: 1 -5, The Message Bible)

                Proverbs give us some clarity on neighbourliness. “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them. If you can help your neighbor now, don’t say, ‘Come back tomorrow, and then I’ll help you.’ Don’t plot harm against your neighbor, for those who live nearby trust you. Don’t pick a fight without reason, when no one has done you harm.” (Proverbs 3: 27-30)

                And just maybe, if you and I can begin to get it right again, then the world leaders will pick it up and stop their warring madness. But I am getting way ahead of myself. Let us consider what Jesus and then Paul had to say: Love your neighbour as yourself. Blows your mind, doesn’t it? It sounds so simple. We don’t need to complicate it with conditions, exceptions, restrictions, qualifications, etc.  Just love your neighbour as yourself. Jesus gave us the Golden Rule as a good start: “Do to others as you would like them to do to you.” (Luke 6:31) How hard can that be? This is not complicated, sophisticated theology. It’s practical, down-to-earth. Love your neighbour as yourself. A child can do it. Why not us?

                Who is my neighbour? You are!

 

Dale

Wednesday, August 27, 2025

Reverence for the Lord is pure, lasting forever.
The laws of the Lord are true; each one is fair.
They are more desirable than gold,
    even the finest gold.
They are sweeter than honey,
    even honey dripping from the comb.
They are a warning to your servant,
    a great reward for those who obey them. (Psalm 19: 9 -11, New Living Translation)

                I love honey comb.  It is a real treat on the rare occasion I find some. Last week, we were at the outdoor farmer’s market, here in Whitby, and there was a honey vendor’s stall. A small block of honey comb called my name. It wasn’t cheap but I splurged anyway.

                The bee keeper explained to me some of the process of harvesting honey comb. They put each piece in the freezer for 24 hours. There is a slight risk that the queen bee has laid an egg in the comb and freezing it kills the eggs.  Good to know as I really wouldn’t want to spread some honey on my toast and see a wiggling larva looking up at me; don’t need the extra protein that badly!

                Honey is a biblical metaphor for a life that is good, a sweet existence. The Promised Land was called a land flowing with milk and honey. “And if the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us. It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey.” (Numbers 14:8) It is said that the manna God gave the Israelites in the desert tasted like honey wafers. God promises that his people will be nourished well. “But I would feed you with the finest wheat. I would satisfy you with wild honey from the rock.” (Psalm 81:16)

                Then, of course, we get our text that proclaims that God’s Word is “sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb.” Psalm 119 expresses the same, “How sweet your words taste to me; they are sweeter than honey.” (119:103) Although I prefer the honey metaphor, the Message Bible expresses it this way: “God’s Word is better than a diamond, better than a diamond set between emeralds.  You’ll like it better than strawberries in spring, better than red, ripe strawberries.” Now just maybe, if you put the honey on top of the strawberries…

                But the preamble to these sweet verses is equally important to help us understand just how the word of God nourishes us and sustains us and why the word of God is essential for our well-being. “The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living.” (vss. 7 -8) God’s Word warns us when we sin. God’s Word replaces ill-thoughts with good thoughts.  

           “Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh!
            Keep me from stupid sins,
                from thinking I can take over your work;
            Then I can start this day sun-washed,
                scrubbed clean of the grime of sin.
            These are the words in my mouth;
            These are what I chew on and pray.

            Accept them when I place them
                on the morning altar,
            O God, my Altar-Rock,
            God, Priest-of-My-Altar.” (Psalm 19: 13 -14, The Message Bible)

                I know that I could always stand to be a little sweeter. How about you?

Dale

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden - except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.” (Genesis 2: 16 -17, New Living Translation)

           Our nearly six-year-old granddaughter, Amelia, is a very smart, independent little soul. Recently, she asked her mother for a snack. She received two cookies. Then she happily went back outside while her mother went off to another part of the house. When Katie came back, a little while later, there was a stool up to the kitchen counter, an empty cookie package on the counter and cookie packaging on the floor. When asked, Amelia readily admitted that she had helped herself to more cookies. How many more?  Maye six or so, she blithely said. We can, perhaps, appreciate her independence at getting her own snacks, but she needs help with her decisions about getting more healthy snacks if she is still hungry – cheese, yogurt, fruit. But who among us is ever really satisfied with just one or two treats and don’t wish for more of the same? Try and eat just one chocolate!

            Maybe, it was the apple core on the ground that first gave Adam away after he ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of good and evil. (I know it wasn’t an apple per se and it was their self-awareness of their nakedness which gave them away, but humour me.) They had a cornucopia of lush, delicious fruits to eat from the bountiful garden but couldn’t resist the temptation to eat the one and only fruit which was forbidden. I have no idea why God would create such a tree of the knowledge of good and evil or put it within easy arm’s reach and then forbid eating from it. It would seem that God was testing Adam and Eve. They failed gloriously and left us, forever more, with humanity’s mess of sin.

            I have always appreciated that tongue-twister of paragraphs in Paul’s letter to the Romans where he admits how hard it is to choose to do the right thing and so easy to do the wrong thing. Perhaps, he had this Garden experience in mind when he wrote, “For as long as we lived that old way of life, doing whatever we felt we could get away with, sin was calling most of the shots…”  (Romans 7:5, The Message Bible) Of course, we are not thinking about an extra cookie or the second or third chocolate out of the box, but behaviour, words and actions, that lead us right down the garden path and eventually out of the garden all together. “I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.” (7: 19-20, TMB)

            More cookies, please? No? That’s OK, I’ll just help myself anyway. When You are not looking.  Sorry about the crumbs!

           Yet, we are not alone with this turmoil of good versus evil within us. “You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God.” (7: 4 -5, NLT) It is now possible to drop the forbidden fruit and in letting go of the sin that grabs at us, to live in new, abundant ways that are pleasing to God. Using Christ as our guide and template, we turn away from the temptations and affectations of living with our poor and ugly choices and find ourselves with all sorts of healthy, wholesome, life-enhancing opportunities to live freely and abundantly. We find ourselves welcomed back into the Garden. “So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.” (Romans 5:11, NLT)

            That’s the way the cookie crumbles!

 Dale

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

“Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act.” (Psalm 37:7, New Living Translation)

          A long time ago, I used to love to go fishing at my parents’ cottage on Lake Steinburg. I would get in the boat and set out for some part of the lake. It wasn’t a very big lake. But on many a lazy summer’s day, I would get out, not far from the shoreline, turn off the motor and just slowly drift along. I never set down an anchor. If I got too close to the shore, I would paddle back out to deeper waters. I‘d cast out my line and hook with a worm as bait.  I’d light up a cigar and just enjoy the out of doors. The truth of the matter was that I really didn’t care if I caught anything. That would mean I would have to reel the fish in, take it off the hook, throw it back and start over again. Catching a fish would interrupt my blissful reverie. I might spend a couple of hours just drifting in summer breezes.  Lots of time to unwind, think, pray and relax.

            I read an article recently which expounded the importance of taking time off in the summer for R&R. It is important to unplug from the stress of work and routines and recharge our whole-body system.  We owe it to ourselves to have some down-time, some fun, some serious (?) playtime. We work through very busy, demanding and stressful schedules, whether  in a workplace, at home or even in retirement sometimes.  Our lives can be dictated to by our calendars, our clocks and our lists of things to do. The article gives six recommendations for a meaningful rest break. Yikes, now I have an agenda even for my down times!

But for what it is worth here they are:  1. Take it when you can – even if it isn’t perfect. 2. Make a list of things you might enjoy doing. 3.Small is good. 4.Practice a bit of quiet. 5.Reflect purposefully. 6. Block it off and pay yourself first. (Eilleen Chadnick, Globe and Mail)

We read in the Gospels that Jesus took time-outs from his hectic and busy schedule.  He would find some secluded spot where he would pray and think. After being inundated with the demands from people to cure illnesses, listen to their stories and requests, he needed some “me-time.”  He practiced what the Psalm advocated: be still in the presence of the Lord. The Message Bible puts it this way: "Quiet down before God, be prayerful before him." In the busy, noisy, demanding lives we have, we need time to get away from the madness and seek and renew our relationship with what and whom  deeply and truly matters and that includes our relationship with God. We time to reflect, pray, ponder,

Such quiet times helps put things in better and healthier perspective. If we were to read the whole of Psalm 37, it reminds us that even though the world is full of problems, sinful people, wickedness and the like, our time with God restores our confidence and assures that God is still in charge. “Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.” (v.8) In fact, when we start to get really angry and upset about the state of the world, the Psalm tells us to chill out. “Stop being angry!  Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper - it only leads to harm. For the wicked will be destroyed, but those who trust in the Lord will possess the land.” (vss.8-9)

Being still in the presence of God helps us to find inner peace, some personal sanctuary in troubled times, some sense of spiritual and psychic balance. These critical quiet times help us develop the strength and resolve of then meeting the demands of the world around us. The reconnect us with our centres and core of our beings. They help us to refocus on our priorities and relationship.

            I know that the summer is late now. But it is never too late to make the time to stop and smell the coffee, as the old saying goes. “Be still, and know that I am God!” (Psalm 4:10)

            Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
            thy wings shall my petition bear
            to him whose truth and faithfulness
            engage the waiting soul to bless.
            And since he bids me seek his face,
            believe his word, and trust his grace,
            I'll cast on him my every care,
            and wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer! (W.W. Walford)

Dale

Wednesday, August 6, 2025

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” (Matthew 6: 19 21, New Living Translation)

            So, yesterday, Susan asked me whether I knew that we had packed my old skill-saw and brought it with us to our new apartment.  Well, of course, I did. You never know when I just might get a powerful urge to rip something in two. I will be all set.

            We have a small storage area in our apartment. It is now chock-and-block filled with everything that we couldn’t fit into the rest of the apartment. Heaven only knows what may be in those several boxes and bins.  Even though we discarded piles and piles of unneeded stuff, we still have a crammed storage space of miscellaneous who-knows-what.  Oh well, our children can sort it all out when we are gone.

            Perhaps, it is human nature that we hang on to what is old, unneeded and ends up as clutter and baggage.  It is one thing to hang on to keepsakes, old photos, memorabilia that may elicit fond memories, emotions and a few good stories.  But it is when we cling to the old, hang on to the past, embrace nostalgia that we get stuck and mired or overwhelmed in emotional debris and useless sentimentality.  Or worse – we store up regrets, grudges, complaints, criticisms, judgments, envy, malice, sins, habits, worry, anxieties,  etc. One might think that these are not treasures, per se, yet we put high value on them and give them precious status in our lives. We hang on to them dearly.  They come with a high cost to our own welfare, relationships and outlook on life.  Even so,  it is hard to let them go.

            But Jesus urges us to put these things in proper perspective. Don’t let these things define us. Don’t let them hold us back from a more abundant form of living. Don’t let our baggage and our past weigh us down.  For some of us, in the light of Jesus Christ, it is time to clean house, to let go of all the attitudes, behaviour and brittleness that fills our minds, spirits and hearts. None of that matters anymore. It is of no use. It is not worth the bother. We are made new. We get a fresh start. We get a better perspective if we don’t have to peek up over the jumbles.

            But we are not striving for mere emptiness. Instead, we are seeking to fill our lives with the attributes of Love, Forgiveness, Compassion and Joy. We open up our minds, hearts and spirits to let the cleansing breath of the Holy Spirit sweep out the old and bring in the new. We should have an enormous capacity to live the right and best way – to follow Jesus Christ. “If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself.” (Philippians 2: 1 -5 The Message Bible) Or simply put in other translations: “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…” (NRSV)

        Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me
        Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me
        Melt me, mold me
        Fill me, use me
        Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me
        Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me

Dale

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair.” (2 Corinthians 4:8, New Living Translation)

            It is a catastrophe! Or should I say, a batastrophe?

            After, ever so carefully, transporting my Lego Batman cityscape to Whitby – the one I had meticulously and laboriously spent days and days, weeks and weeks, in putting it all together – I was attempting to move it from one room to the spot where it was to be displayed. I picked it up thinking it was more solidly put together than it really was. It buckled in the middle, slipped from my hands, and most of it hit the floor, exploding into hundreds of pieces. It was devastating. I couldn’t believe that it had happened.  Just my clumsy luck! There was nothing to do but sweep up the pieces and put them in a bag.  I tried to console myself that the joy of the project was in the making of it. Nobody died!  The world didn’t end. The Blue Jays are in first place. And I have a nine-year-old grandson who has been dying to get his hands on this project since the get-go. He is a Lego savant. If anybody can put it back together, he can. Thankfully, I still have the two manuals of instructions. But still…

            We have all experienced life-shattering events in our lives, far more serious and perhaps life-changing than a shattered Lego set. A Lego set can, indeed, be put back together but sometimes it can be very difficult to put one’s life back together after a shattering event when everything seems to fall to pieces. A marriage breaks up. A job is lost. A loved one gets cancer or we ourselves face serious health issues.  A son or daughter has addiction issues. There are a stack of unpaid bills and the creditors are at the door. Maybe, there are mental health issues which weigh us down or knock us out of the joys of living.

“As I sink in despair, my spirit ebbing away,
    you know how I’m feeling,
Know the danger I’m in,
the traps hidden in my path.
    Look right, look left—
there’s not a soul who cares what happens!
I’m up against the wall, with no exit—
    it’s just me, all alone.
I cry out, God, call out:
‘You’re my last chance, my only hope for life!’
Oh listen, please listen;
    I’ve never been this low.” (Psalm 142: 3 -6, The Message Bible)

            The apostle Paul had suffered much in his defence of the Gospel. At one point, he admitted that he was at the point of despair. We would probably diagnose him today as being in a deep depression. “We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it.” (2 Corinthians 1:8) We consider Paul to be a spiritual and faithful giant of Christianity, heroic, fearless and courageous as he spread the Gospel. But he is very honest about his own humanity, his vulnerability, his struggles with his health, the suffering he endured. It was never easy. “Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies.” (2 Corinthians 4:11)

             I don’t see Paul as being a martyr, per se. He suffered for Jesus Christ, yes; but he also, at times, struggled with an enormous cost of doing what he did for a living – preaching the Gospel. When he was reflecting on his “thorn in the flesh,” some chromic physical impediment he wished would go away, he found strength in Jesus’ words, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”  (2 Corinthians 12:9) Perhaps, that seems too simplistic for us when our lives are facing hardships. But it is an important step, even remedy, which helps us get through the tough and broken times.  It creates a bedrock from which we face the storms which rail against us.  In faith and trust we sweep up the pieces and take one step at a time into healing, restoration, redemption and reconciliation. We are never alone, never abandoned, never forsaken.

            “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8: 38 - 39)

 Dale

 Wednesday, July 23, 2025

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too.” (Matthew 23: 25 -26, New Living Translation)

           There was an article in the Globe and Mail last week or so that asked the question: “Do you need a 10-step shower routine?” Slow news week, perhaps? But it caught my attention. Apparently, many people are using elaborate shower cleansing as part of their rigorous, daily toiletry. It includes “double cleansing, antibacterial soap, loads of scented body scrubs and shower oils.”  And apparently, according to dermatologists, it is not a healthy thing to do as it washes away essential oils and other natural skin protection.

It strikes me how much time all that washing must take. Not me, boy! I am in, wash up using whatever soap is handy, shampoo my hair and get out in less than ten minutes. Now I am wondering whether I am really clean.

The Pharisees were very strict about their washing routines. It was an offence to them if one did not wash their hands before a meal. Don’t we tell our kids to wash up before coming to the table? Sure, we do but for these religious leaders it was virtually an eleventh commandment. They were in high dungeon when Jesus sat down at the supper table “without first performing the hand-washing ceremony required by Jewish custom.” (Luke 11:38) On another occasion, they criticized Jesus’ allowance for his disciples’ lack of respect: “Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.” (Matthew 15:2) Note that the Pharisees were not so much concerned about hygiene as they were about rituals, traditions, ceremonies and religious rules. A clean Jew was a good Jew! Or we might say that a clean Baptist is a good Baptist. Sadly, they deemed so many others as being unclean – Gentiles, women, Samaritans, foreigners, lepers, and the list goes on for far too many. (So do some Baptists!)

Just so we don’t get too pompous about our own culture and times, we still see how the pious and powerful treat immigrants, women and children, indigenous people, the homeless, the poor, the hungry, the addicted and the like. There is still this snobbish arms-length from the “unwashed.”

Jesus breaks and re-invents the codes of cleanliness. He understands that it doesn’t matter how clean you are on the outside, i.e. how religious, how pious, how religiously strict one is, how conversant one is with scripture, how many times one goes to church in their best clothes and sits in the best pews.  It is what is inside the person which counts the most. Jesus wants a cleansing from the inside out, Get rid of the inner filth. “For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you.” (Matthew 15: 19 20) Get one’s personal priorities straight and on the right side of God’s Love and Mercy and then one will experience the truly fresh and purifying nature of walking with Jesus.  “Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” (Psalm 51: 7)

To this end, Jesus demonstrated the depth of clean living when he washed the disciples’ feet.  It was a lowly, humble thing for him to do. You would have never caught a Pharisee doing any such thing. That stinky, dirty job was for the lowest of servants, a slave perhaps. But we see Jesus taking a basin and a towel and washing each of the disciples’ feet.  He tells them “If you’ve had a bath in the morning, you only need your feet washed now and you’re clean from head to toe. My concern, you understand, is holiness, not hygiene.” (John 13: 10 -11, The Message Bible) I think he goes on to explain “holiness” i.e. cleanliness, not as ceremonial observations but in terms of servanthood, how we treat and love others: “You address me as ‘Teacher’ and ‘Master,’ and rightly so. That is what I am. So if I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other’s feet. I’ve laid down a pattern for you. What I’ve done, you do.”

In the words of Paul to Titus: “It wasn’t so long ago that we ourselves were stupid and stubborn, easy marks for sin, ordered every which way by our glands, going around with a chip on our shoulder, hated and hating back. But when God, our kind and loving Savior God, stepped in, he saved us from all that. It was all his doing; we had nothing to do with it. He gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit. Our Savior Jesus poured out new life so generously. God’s gift has restored our relationship with him and given us back our lives. And there’s more life to come—an eternity of life! You can count on this.” (Titus 3: 5 -7, TMB)
            Time to wash up, people! 

Dale