Wednesday, June 28, 2023

“Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10: 23 -25, The Message Bible)

                It was very tempting to skip church this past Sunday morning. We had a late night the night before. I was tired. We worship on-line at Yorkminster Park in Toronto, so who would miss us if we “weren’t there,” so to speak? It was nice just to settle into my blue, comfy chair with a second cup of coffee and instead of logging on to worship, log on to my computer games. God wouldn’t mind if I took a Sunday off, would he?  Maybe, I’ll catch up with him next week.

                Worshipping on-line is very convenient. You can stay in your PJs. You can drink coffee. You don’t have to socialize with anyone. You can mute the offering time. (Not that I would ever do such a thing.) You can go to the bathroom in mid-sermon (Now that, I’ve done.) One is not obliged to sing the hymns or participate in any way, if one doesn’t want to. Sounds ideal to a recluse like myself. How much easier can it be?

                And best of all, one can skip it altogether. Who’s going to notice?

                I thought about it last Sunday; really, I did.

    Then as 11:00 a.m. rolled around, I logged in and worshipped with our far-away church family. As always, it was a wonderful worship experience, rich and fulfilling. If I had skipped it, I would have missed a great sermon from the Rev. Paula Willis, our associate minister. The Rev. Dr. Peter Holmes’ pastoral prayer was right-on. The music, especially the Toccata postlude was great.

                It wasn’t just guilt that made me log in. It was the need to engage in meaningful worship, the need to set aside some proscribed, sacred time to feed the soul, the need to connect, even vicariously, to my community of believers. I would have been the less for it if I hadn’t.

                Even before Covid, the idea of going to church was, and still is, a seemingly archaic notion for a huge segment of the population. Covid made it worse, especially for small, aging congregations. But by and large, the average Jane or John Doe see little, if any, need to go to church and worship. It is an obsolete habit for most. Some folk may never see inside a church unless it is for a wedding or a funeral. The Church has tried to modernize itself with trendier music, less formality, more interaction, but frankly a lot of folk barely see the need for God, let alone the Church. The drop-out rate by Christians themselves is sadly also a trend.

                Just a few of us stubborn, old folks still left…

                The letter to the Hebrews can be both critically challenging and also inspiring and encouraging. Its main focus throughout is to “keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in.” (Hebrews 12: 2, TMB) The writer encourages his readers to persist and persevere in  living out their faith in light of this relationship with Christ. This is what our text above is about. Don’t give up on the things - the actions, the ideas, the behaviour, the love – that make up our Christian being.

                It is not always easy to maintain our faith at high levels. There are distractions, temptations, disappointments, failures and the like which eat away at our resolve and entice us to give up. This writer rejects the weakness of the soul and spirit and encourages us to do better.

                “Remember those early days after you first saw the light? Those were the hard times! Kicked around in public, targets of every kind of abuse—some days it was you, other days your friends. If some friends went to prison, you stuck by them. If some enemies broke in and seized your goods, you let them go with a smile, knowing they couldn’t touch your real treasure. Nothing they did bothered you, nothing set you back. So don’t throw it all away now. You were sure of yourselves then. It’s still a sure thing! But you need to stick it out, staying with God’s plan so you’ll be there for the promised completion.” (Hebrews 10: 32 -39, TMB)

                Going to church should be more than a begrudged duty. It alone does not automatically make us into a better Christians. But worship is a crucial step in the holistic process of what it means to build up our faith beside others in the believers’ community.

                “Worship God if you want the best; worship opens doors to all his goodness.” (Psalm 34:9, TMB)

Dale

               

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

“Jesus told them a story. ‘Look at a fig tree. Any tree for that matter. When the leaves begin to show, one look tells you that summer is right around the corner. The same here—when you see these things happen, you know God’s kingdom is about here. Don’t brush this off: I’m not just saying this for some future generation, but for this one, too—these things will happen. Sky and earth will wear out; my words won’t wear out.’”  (Luke 21: 29 33, The Message Bible)

                Ah, the summer equinox is upon us. Welcome the first day of summer. It is the season of growth, warm temperatures, summer vacations, no school, cottages, beaches, trips, shorts, tees and ice cream. Kick your shoes off and enjoy!

                Strangely though - dare I say foolishly? -  I sometimes feel a bit of melancholy on the first day of summer. In that, starting tomorrow, to a small degree, the days begin to get shorter. I have the whole, wonderful summer stretching before me, but my mind leaps way ahead to thinking that the shorter days lead to Fall, then to cooler temperatures, then to snow, and before you know it Christmas is upon us.

                Fortunately, I hear Jesus speak to my silly anxiety. “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” (Matthew 6:34, TMB)

                The words, “carpe diem,” may not exactly be found anywhere in scripture but this advice from Jesus comes pretty close. Seize the day.  I can’t change the tide of the seasons. I don’t know what will happen in the future. But I do know that the sun is shining today; it is a lovely day out there. The air conditioner is working. There is good food on the table.  If only the Blue Jays were playing better baseball, I would have very little to complain about. Well, my baseball fantasy team is terrible but that's ‘small potatoes,’ as they say. Life is pretty good right now. 

                Before the parable of the fig tree in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus has been teaching about the signs by which the Kingdom of God will be known. It sounds like pretty dire stuff. In fact, it sounds painful, scary and powerfully disturbing. “It will seem like all hell has broken loose—sun, moon, stars, earth, sea, in an uproar and everyone all over the world in a panic, the wind knocked out of them by the threat of doom, the powers-that-be quaking.” (Luke 21:26, TMB)

                Some Christians get very excited about these matters. They create a lot of anxiety and fear -rather gleefully, sometimes. I will admit that there are times, right now, that I look at the mess the world appears to be in and I could only hope that Jesus might make his appearance. But I also want to affirm another hope, that no matter how bad it gets, Jesus is indeed, in the end, once and for always, our Redeemer and Savior, even as we ponder the season which we are in.

                “And then - then! - they’ll see the Son of Man welcomed in grand style—a glorious welcome! When all this starts to happen, up on your feet. Stand tall with your heads high. Help is on the way!” (Luke 21: 28, TMB)

                We are never alone as the future unfolds. Help is on the way.  Stand tall and face the day.

                The apostle Paul has this helpful perspective: “All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.” (Romans 8: 22 -25, TMB)

                We are enlarged in the waiting. This is to say that we use the present time to build up our faith, enhance our Christian service, improve our love for others, clean out the sins that bind us, fill up our joys and blessings. Carpe diem!  Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  

Seize Jesus! Live today with appreciation, satisfaction, well-being. Even if your life is not exactly summer sweet, find the good there is and celebrate it. You are never alone, no matter what the season is.

Now, where did I put my sunglasses?

Dale

Wednesday, June 14, 2023

“Wake up from your sleep! Climb out of your coffins! Christ will show you the light! So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!”  (Ephesians 4: 14 -16, The Message Bible)

                Now, here is something that doesn’t happen everyday.

                Recently, during the wake for a 76-year-old woman in Ecuador, the family heard knocking from inside the casket. When the family opened the casket, the woman was alive. Obviously, embalming is done differently in Ecuador. Lucky for the woman. One of the family members described the moment: “There were about 20 of us there. After about five hours of the wake, the coffin started to make sounds. My mom was wrapped in sheets and hitting the coffin, and when we approached, we could see that she was breathing heavily.”  Sort of creepy and spooky but fascinating. They rushed her back to the hospital, but if it was the same hospital which had previously declared her deceased, I might want to get a second opinion on her condition.

                I couldn’t help but think of this text when I read this story: “Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” (New Living Translation)

                It is more than just a reminder of Resurrection Life, although it could certainly stand alone in meaning just that. Death is not an ending but a New Beginning. Jesus has freed us from the fear of death and the sting of death. He has given us a New Door into the realms of heaven.

                But Paul is not referring to death in this Ephesians text. These verses are set in the context of living the New Life we should be living today, right here and now. He is arguing that there is no time like the present to live a resurrected life.

                “You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.” (Ephesians 4: 22 -24, TMB)

                Paul was exhorting his readers to wake up to the possibilities and realities of living a fully activated life because of their immediate relationship with Jesus Christ. “Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.” (Ephesians 5: 1 -2, TMB)

                It strikes me that throughout many occasions in his letters, Paul emphasized the necessity for being alert and responsive to the way Christ works in us and through us. “Make the most of every chance you get.”  If the Ecuadorian woman survives her near-death, it wouldn’t surprise me that it might dramatically change the way she lives the rest of her life. More appreciative. More aware of her surroundings. Life would be more precious each and every day.

                Likewise, now that we are alive in Christ, let us be alert to the fullness of our lives in Christ. “You’re sons of Light, daughters of Day. We live under wide open skies and know where we stand. So let’s not sleepwalk through life like those others. Let’s keep our eyes open and be smart. People sleep at night and get drunk at night. But not us! Since we’re creatures of Day, let’s act like it. Walk out into the daylight sober, dressed up in faith, love, and the hope of salvation.” (1 Thessalonians 5: 6 -8, TMB)

                “God made you alive with Christ.” (Colossians 2: 13, NLT)

                Don’t let others think you are “dead”!

Dale      

Wednesday, June 7, 2023

“There’s nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.” (2 Timothy 3: 15 -17, The Message Bible)

                 It’s a good thing that life doesn’t come with assembly instructions because I can be totally inept when following said instructions.

                Case in point. Recently, I bought a small, cheap, charcoal BBQ at Canadian Tire. But, of course, it had to be assembled. It came with an instruction guide on how to do so. Now I am not a stereo-typical male who thinks it is unmanly to use instructions. But I am impatient at trying to figure the instructions out. I get easily frustrated when the illustrations are hard to follow. Or I can’t find the right tools. This small, table-top BBQ came with very tiny screws and nuts. It was hard for my arthritic hands to hold them for fastening. I dropped them several times. Lost a screw. (No comment, please.) Eventually, though, I did mange to put together a workable, serviceable BBQ.

                Some say life doesn’t come with an instruction manual. To a degree, they are right. Some assembly is required if one is to live a well put-together life. There may be moral guidelines, mentors, teachers, philosophies of life, theories and recommendations as we grow and mature, but sometimes it seems that life is a DYI project and we are on our own. It can be hard to follow the few, confusing  directions that are there for us. Sometimes, we drop or lose the needed part for a successful assembly. Maybe, we feel that we don’t have the right tools, the right stuff, to get it together.  The path seems clear, we know what we need to do, but somehow our life doesn’t look as good as the picture on the box. Our clumsiness mitigates our success. We settle for workable and serviceable.

                Not always, of course, but sometimes.

                Paul reminds us that Scriptures are our instruction manual, “training us to live God’s way.” But that doesn’t make it easy or simple. For some, it is like trying to read the instructions in a foreign language. Paul understood that it was hard to live up to the letter of the Law. “The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way… Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith, but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule-keeping, a fact observed in Scripture: ‘The one who does these things [rule-keeping] continues to live by them.’”  (Galatians 3: 11 -12, TMB)

                Paul was very passionate about scriptures and the good they could do but our scripture reading always needs to be translated through the message of Jesus Christ. “I am the Truth,” Jesus said (John 14:6) It is the Spirit of God and therefore Christ, who instructs us how to understand what we are reading in scripture. “But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won’t draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said. He will honor me; he will take from me and deliver it to you.” (John 16: 12 -15, TMB)

                Scriptures are a wonderful guide for life and we need to read them with the eyes of Jesus if we are to get the most out of the words. This is to say that our understanding of scripture is shaped by the Love of God as incarnated in Jesus Christ. We live out the wisdom of scriptures by following the example of Jesus Christ. Scriptures support our Life in Christ. They can be challenging, inspiring, corrective, educational, remedial, aspiring, and comforting. They lead us to a better life.  When we read something like the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel, we are given clear, uncompromising principles which Jesus himself has laid out for us.  Through our living by these standards, we are living in the Word made flesh.

“Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.” (Psalm 119: 105, NLT)

 Dale