Wednesday, July 26, 2017

                Sometimes, scripture seems to offer different views on the same issue – seemingly polar 

opposites. For example, in Isaiah 46, we are encouraged, “remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other,” (v.9), but prior in Isaiah 43, we have the instruction, “Do not remember the former things, or consider things of old,” (v.18).  (Of course, context is everything for a proper interpretation, but I digress.)

                To remember or not to remember, that is the question.

I have always been a bit of an absent-minded person. My memory plays tricks on me. Take the simple act of going to the grocery store for just three or four items. I make a mental note of what I want before I leave. Our grocery store is a mere three-minute drive away. One would think that I should be able to remember the four things, but inevitably as soon as I get into the store I have forgotten at least one of the items.

So I wander up and down the aisles hoping that something will jog my memory. “Eureka, laundry detergent; that’s it.” Rapturous bliss!  “O crumb; what else I did come in to get?”  More aisle wandering.

You are probably thinking that I should write a list. Good idea, except that on the rare occasion that  I have written a list, and having put it down, briefly, to get my car keys I have left the house without the list.

But good news, eventually I will remember all four, grocery store items - usually as I pull back into my driveway, having just come from the store.

To remember or not to remember, that is the issue.

Now, of course, our previously quoted bible verses have nothing to do with where you have put your car keys, or left your eye-glasses, or misplaced your wallet or purse or remember what you had for breakfast. There are larger, deeper issues at stake.

For one thing, God is speaking to a people in despair, exile and feeling utterly abandoned by God. So, God stirs up their memories of their religious and spiritual heritage, of times and instances when God stood by his people, when God saved their necks, when God pulled them up on their feet, when God threw his love in their way and showed the way ahead. Remember the time God led us through the Red Sea. Remember the time that God helped Gideon. Remember what God said and did for King David. Remember that God said we would always be his people, no matter what.  “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago,” (Psalm 77:11)

But then God does not want his people wallowing in nostalgia, or wistfulness for the past, or wishing for the good, old days. Rather, these sacred memories are the key to a new future, new possibilities, fresh hope, lively promises, and confident expectation. The best memories point forward to the divine contradiction of the present pain, sacrifice and troubles.

Hear some more of Isaiah 43, for example:  “Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old; I am about to do a  new thing, now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Is. 43:18-19) I am sure that any of us who have gone through troubled waters might find assurance, courage, and strength in these words. Not just a reshaping of the old past, or making our former lives a little more palatable or bearable, but a daring, radical turn-around in our situation, a remarkable beacon of well-being and redemption in the midst of chaos.  In Jesus’ words, “Take courage; I have overcome the world!”  To do that which you or I or we could not do on our own, by our own, for our own, for it takes a divine spark to get the future moving.

Pay close attention now: I'm creating new heavens and a new earth. All the earlier troubles, chaos, and pain are things of the past, to be forgotten.  

Look ahead with joy. Anticipate what I'm creating: 

I'll create Jerusalem as sheer joy, create my people as pure delight. I'll take joy in Jerusalem, take delight in my people: 

No more sounds of weeping in the city, no cries of anguish; No more babies dying in the cradle, or old people who don't enjoy a full lifetime; One-hundredth birthdays will be considered normal - anything less will seem like a cheat. 

They'll build houses and move in. They'll plant fields and eat what they grow. No more building a house that some outsider takes over, No more planting fields that some enemy confiscates, For my people will be as long-lived as trees, my chosen ones will have satisfaction in their work. They won't work and have nothing come of it, they won't have children snatched out from under them. For they themselves are plantings blessed by God, with their children and grandchildren likewise God-blessed. 

Before they call out, I'll answer. Before they've finished speaking, I'll have heard. 

Wolf and lamb will graze the same meadow, lion and ox eat straw from the same trough, but snakes - they'll get a diet of dirt! Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill anywhere on my Holy Mountain," says God. (Isaiah 65: 17 – 25, The Message) 

Dale

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

                I hate it when things quit working. (Except for me – I am still enjoying not working!) But I am meaning specifically household apparatuses, appliances, amenities, and, in general, those things that periodically break down, quit functioning and stop operating like they should.

                Lately, over the last few weeks, we have run in to a spate of various types of mechanical failures. We have had a plumber in to fix a broken toilet, the cable guy to fix a broken wire, a number of power outages,  a repairman to replace the smart-board for the furnace and AC and now the car needs a new AC condenser.  They are digging underground wires in our area and it has wreaked havoc on our internet, TV cable and telephone. I think we have COGEGO on speed-dial.

                Now Susan will tell you that I remain calm, patient, even-tempered, unflappable, and unflustered under these trying circumstances - NOT! Sad to say, I become irritable, impatient, whiny, grouchy and ready to blow a gasket or two of my own.   Like my mother I want something fixed yesterday, not in three days time and somewhere between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. I can get cross with the repairmen, especially if they start making excuses for why it taking so long to fix, which is why Susan, generally, deals with them. She is lot nicer than I am.

I try really, really hard to wait it out, not get uptight, understand that it’s nobody’s fault, be grateful that it wasn’t worse, or more expensive than it was, or taking even longer than it did to get the repairs done. But nonetheless, God gets an earful of psalm-like but over-dramatic complaint: “Why, O Lord, do you stand far off? Why do hide yourself in times of trouble?” (Psalm 10:1) It’s a good thing I believe that God has broad shoulders!  But I am also sure that God must roll his eyes at the same time as such selfish childishness. After all, God didn’t tamper with my car’s air conditioner just to tick me off.

Whom do atheists blame if they don’t have a god to castigate for every mishap and inconvenience?  But I do know that some Christians, myself included sometimes, will try to guilt and shame God, as if it is all God's fault to begin with,  into acting on our behalf or bargain with God to remedy the latest misfortune or complain to God about life’s unfairness and injustice., especially if it causes us personal inconvenience and a change in our all-important plans for the day.

There are certainly crucial and critical times in our lives when it is right and good to take our complaint before God. “You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,” (Psalm 10:17).  When life is flailing and roiling in turbulence, or there are deep rifts in important relationships, or our health is seriously disrupted, or things are flying and falling apart, or when the Evil One has a hold of us, or when we are helpless, powerless, and feeling forsaken, we need to be able to come before God and debate, argue, complain, protest, grumble and even demand a few answers in the hope and expectation that a loving God hears us and is working with us. “Therefore, I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul,” (Job 7:11).

I am pretty sure God doesn’t really care all that much about my cable TV service and whether I get to watch the ballgame tonight. But God does care a great deal about my and your heart, spirit, soul, well-being, faith, trust, and that these are aspects of lives, character and demeanor which are worth fighting for or fighting over.

After all, maybe Jesus is in the repairman!

Dale

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Men, we probably shouldn’t let our wives make “playdates” for us husbands.  The women will work out all the specific details and inform us when, where and what time. The problem, I discovered yesterday, they actually think we listen when they tell us those precise details. They actually believe we hear, retain and will show up on time at the right place on the right day at the right time and do what we are told.

What could possibly go wrong with that plan?

              Less than a week ago, our friend Nola called Susan and set up a coffee date between her husband, Ron, and myself.  I heard “Tuesday… 2:OO P.M… at Tim’s”.  She may have said some other stuff but who really knows?  It might have been pertinent but I had the main points.

                At 2:15 P.M. yesterday, my wife phones in a panic to see if I had remembered the date. Yes, of course - just then! So, I quickly zipped over to Tim’s where Ron was patiently waiting.  I think I should get a few extra marks for, at least, remembering which Tim Horton’s it was. We had a great, leisurely visit.  When I came back from the washroom, Ron was standing up as if to go.  I asked where he was going as Nola hadn’t arrived yet to pick him up. He told me that I was driving him. Fine with me. We went to the car and got in. Then, now thinking that I was driving him to where Nola was waiting, I asked him, “Where to?” He gave me a puzzled look and said, “Home”.  Why doesn’t somebody tell me these things?

                I really should listen better. I bet those bits of information were in the other stuff that Susan told me. But if I start listening now, I set a whole new precedent…

                The other day, I made a doctor’s appointment. I am terrible at getting the information correct when making appointments.   So, this time I made a point of carefully listening as she clearly gave me the date and time, and instantly got up and wrote it on the calendar. I was very proud of myself. I was only out by a week.

                Sigh!

                Jesus was always trying to get people to listen. One of his favourite phrases was, “Whoever has ears, let them hear,” (e.g. Matthew 11:15).  But he also recognizes that the human spirit can stubbornly resist the message, even if it is Good News: “For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.” (Matthew 13:15).

                When we read the stories of Jesus healing a deaf person, it represents more than just a wonderful miracle story. It is a sign that someday the Good News of God’s Reign of Love (i.e. Kingdom Life) will be heard and received and understood and a message to live by, once and for all.

For instance, in Mark 7, “Some people brought a man who could neither hear nor speak and asked Jesus to lay a healing hand on him. He took the man off by himself, put his fingers in the man's ears and some spit on the man's tongue.  Then Jesus looked up in prayer, groaned mightily, and commanded, ‘Ephphatha! - Open up!’ And it happened. The man's hearing was clear and his speech plain - just like that. Jesus urged them to keep it quiet, but they talked it up all the more, beside themselves with excitement. ‘He's done it all and done it well. He gives hearing to the deaf, speech to the speechless,’” (Mark 7: 31 – 37, The Message).

We live in a very noisy day and age. We are bombarded with information. We are flooded with texts and cyber “facts”.  There are many opinions, ideas, and varieties of worldviews. There is an endless variety of messages,  twitters, and face-book postings to try and keep up with.  It has become so hard to sift fact from fiction. “Fake news” is the new catch phrase of our time.

In the midst of this cacophony, I catch the words of Jesus and I hope, I trust, I believe, I respond: “the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them,” (Matthew 11:5)

This is Good News worth listening to!

Dale

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

                Ever since I can remember I have always procrastinated about writing thank-you letters. When I was but a child my mother would nag and nag me and then probably threaten some dire consequence so that I would write my thank-you notes for birthday or Christmas presents from relatives – usually my grandmother.  

                “Dear Grandma, thank you for the knitted mittens.”

                “Dear Grandma, thank you for the socks.”

                “Dear Grandma, thank you for the book.”

                Perhaps I was just an ungrateful little whelp, but mostly I just kept putting it off, hoping my mother would give up. She never did! Finally, I would scrawl off a thank-you note.

                So, it is many, many years later that my dear wife, Susan, has, oh so gently, been reminding me that I need to write a few thank you notes for those who sent flowers or took part in the memorial service for my mother. She has even bought the notes. For no good reason, I am putting it off. I can write these blogs without blinking an eye, so why is a brief simple, thank you note so difficult?

                I suppose I could write them all emails, but it seems their thoughtfulness deserves a personal, hand-written, stamped and posted, heart-felt thank-you. If they went to all the effort, then so should I. It is only good manners, the polite and respectful thing to do. I can hear my mother telling me for the umpteenth time to get going at it.

                Well, maybe tomorrow…

                The current cultural argument is that we live in a day and age of entitlement.  This generation, so some say, seems to act as if they are owed a good life and all the perks of a comfortable lifestyle. It reminds me of the youngest brother in the parable of the prodigal son who demands his share of his inheritance immediately. Many a commentary will tell you that it was as if he was wishing for his father’s early death, so he could profit from it. But he couldn’t wait and off he went, without so such as a thank-you, I expect.

                There is another gospel story about Jesus’ encounter with ten lepers, the pariahs and outcasts of Jesus’ time, the miserable untouchables who were often ostracized from their homes, families and communities. According to the story the ten lepers begged Jesus for his help. Jesus stopped to help them, and granted them a clean bill of health.

                Perhaps they were just so excited and relieved to be free of their disease. Perhaps they wanted to see their families. Perhaps they wanted to get to the priest before the parish doors were closed and locked for the day as they needed the priest’s sign-off.  But only one of the ten actually stopped in his tracks and returned to thank Jesus. The twist in this story was that it was a lowly, no-good, dirty Samaritan who had the presence of mind to thank Jesus for the marvellous gift of new life and restoration he had received.

                Even Jesus seemed a little perplexed at the situation. “Were not ten made clean? Where are the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”  (Luke 17:17)

                Thankfulness sows seeds in many ways. Although a person may not be doing the kindness just to get thanked, but our thankfulness helps us to create deeper bonds of friendship and compassion.  To be thankful encourages us to pass the grace and compassion on to others. Thankfulness is a gift onto itself. Thankfulness needs to be expressed to be really effective and meaningful. It is an interaction between giver and receiver that embraces both in mutual love and affection.

                “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:12)

Dale