Wednesday, April 22, 2020
“The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will remove from his Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.” (Matthew 13:41, New Livi8ng Translation.) 

                We could use the talents of a few good angels these days, don’t you think?

                Although I get the impression that some people hope these rescuing angels bring toilet paper and beauty aids but I think it is more serious than that. If the pandemic wasn’t bad enough, Evil finds an empty void in a man’s chaotic soul in Nova Scotia and it explodes into horrific violence and death.

Calling all angels! Help!

I am grateful, more than I can say, that we are safe and sound, tucked in our little cocoon world here in Peterborough, but if these are the end times please, God, don’t leave us behind. It’s nasty out there!

Yet there are glimmers of sunshine, beauty and grace that are prototype angels perhaps. The courage and resolve of frontline health workers, the success of fund raising to equip those workers and others, even the various levels of governments stepping up and helping in significant ways, some businesses and manufacturers setting aside profits to help out, are  all signs of our ability to endure and withstand the evil we are facing. There are some great stories of communities coming together to help support and assist each other even while social distancing. It fascinates me that world pollution has decreased significantly throughout part of the world.

You take angels where you can find them.

Then again, perhaps you can be an angel to someone. You can erase some of the fear, sadness and worry from someone’s life. It doesn’t always take heroic acts.

Our friend, Tish, passed on a wonderful video yesterday. It was a rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah. As the choir sang this strong, joyous music, video clips had been edited together showing people, at home, lifting up signs with the words printed on them in sync with the music as it was sung. People in masks. Children and adults.   Sitting out on their front verandas. Hanging out in their back yards. In their living rooms. Hanging out of bedroom windows. I don’t know how they arranged it all but it was an uplifting and joyful song of resistance against these troubling times.  Just what we needed.  “And He shall reign forever.”

Angels and Hallelujahs – that’s what we need right now.

Angels and  Hallelujahs and you – that’s what the world needs right now!

Let’s not surrender ourselves or our world to the evils that try to rip apart hope, love, joy and peace. Let us not sacrifice compassion, kindness, goodness in the ashes of pain and suffering. Let us not lose sight of our common humanity. Let us not lose faith in that which makes us stronger and bolder. Let us not lose faith, period – in God or his angels.

And having done everything we can do, let us stand and face the evil.

“Staying with it—that’s what God requires. Stay with it to the end. You won’t be sorry, and you’ll be saved.”  (Matthew 24:13, The Message Bible)

Dale

Wednesday, April 15, 2020
“So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith.” (Galatians 6:10, New Living Translation) 

                So, our whole family got together over Easter after all; at least the seven adults.

                And no, we didn’t break the rules of social distancing. In fact, none of us left our couches in our respective homes. Of course, I am writing about participating in a video chat that brought us together for an hour of conversation and catch-up. Outside of a transporter of a Star Trek episode, it is the only way to “travel”. Easy on gas and we avoided the busy and annoying highway 401.  

                Ain’t technology grand?  And the miracle was that it only took me, a techno-wimp, a few minutes to work out the technology on our end with a minimum of cuss words and  restarts. There were a few anxious moments but soon we were connected to Whitby, Mississauga, Waterloo and Goderich. Maggie’s Newfie dog and our Aussie, Kramer, made cameos. It isn’t the same, of course, as actually getting together; the silences are a bit more awkward when the conversation lags, but I must say, as our first-time experience with it, it was pretty cool. Can’t wait to try it with the grandkids – if only I can remember and duplicate how I connected this time. Not a given!

                Most of us are missing family, friends and community through the Covid19 pandemic. The virus has shut us away from each other in so many ways. Social distancing may sound like a benefit until it drags on and on.

I fear for churches who are currently closed, and whether some of the small, struggling ones will survive so many weeks shuttered up and financially deprived. If and when they can open, many senior’s may well choose to remain home for an extended period since this disease may linger out there for some time. Who can blame them?               

I just heard a radio commercial which was reflecting that this is a time for reflecting on our love for our loved ones. How true!  I worry about our Maggie who is a nurse in Goderich and one of the thousands of health care workers who are on the front lines. So many families have been affected by this scourge, not the least, those families who have lost loved ones.

There are so many challenges for families during this crisis: homeschooling, working at home for adults, 24-7 co-habiting, buying adequate groceries and supplies, simply keeping one’s sanity under the stress. I have noticed that if you are up for it, there are a lot of ideas and suggestions on-line on how to cope at home during this time. There are help-lines and the like, too. There is no shame in reaching out if or when you need it.

Our video-chat with our adult children was reassuring for Susan and myself. They’re relatively safe and coping well. Some of it is even normal family living e.g. William lost a front baby tooth. Our infant grand-daughters still dressed up in their Easter finery. Pictures were posted. Aaah…

So, please encourage one another. Pray for one another. Support each other, even if you are separated from one another.  Cheer each other up. Reassure each other. Comfort one another. Avoid unnecessary conflicts and arguments. Keep your sense of humour. Be patient with each other. Remember that this virus will eventually pass but your closest relationships need and should last forever.

Whenever we have the opportunity let us work for the good of all. Spread your love around when the occasion arises but begin with your own family. 

Dale

Wednesday, April 8, 2020
“The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.” (Romans 8:11, New Living Translation) 

                If we ever needed a Resurrection Story, these are the times.

                As we live out our personal and communal fears, despair and anxiety throughout these crucifying Good Friday days and weeks we need some Good News. As we sequester ourselves in the solitary and lonely “tombs” of our homes and avoid contact with each other we need some message of hope and possibility. As we grieve the immense loss of lives, we need to experience that there is Life. As we lose our sense of confidence in progress and science and as we need fresh reassurances about the future we need a story that offers re-assurance that we are not really alone or abandoned or forgotten or even God-forsaken, even though it may feel, for the moment, exactly the opposite.

                The Resurrection Story of Jesus is not facile or easy grace at work. We are taught that this incredible hope is born out of suffering and dying. It is a serious confrontation with death and sin and evil. It is a confrontation with brokenness, loss and grief. It is a huge victory against all that which perverts and destroys life and offers so much more: “the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.” (Luke 7:22, NLT)

                Resurrection is the new dawning of God’s gift of Hope, Joy, Love and Life. Jesus embodies the new creation, both in our immediate now and for what is the New Reality after death. Jesus brings into focus the creative and innovative work of God to bless, heal, forgive, love and raise us up with Christ.

                If we ever needed such a Resurrection Story, it is now.

                “But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip.” (Acts 2:24, NLT)

                Jesus’ Resurrection is a core piece of the Christian narrative. It can be for some a hard story to accept or have faith in or some deem it deem too fantastic to be true. Even some of his own disciples were skeptics. But I would argue that this challenge to take this “impossible” Story to heart becomes part of the process to awaken to its true reality and power.  

Rather than pick it apart, parse it, explain it, argue its historicity, ignore it, dismiss it, I would like you to simply read the Story again and let it grab you. Let it take over your imagination. Let it seep into your soul and spirit. Let it tease your mind and mess with your definition of what is real and what is deeply sacred. (e.g. Luke 24: 1 – 12)

Who would tell such a tale? But it is a Story which is told and re-told. It invites us to worship, adore and love a God who has experienced the loss of his Beloved One but celebrates that death is not the final word. God has given us advanced tidings that as Jesus experienced New Life so may we.

If we ever have needed a Resurrection Story, this is the One we should grab onto and hold onto for dear life.

Many are looking for God in the midst of this pandemic. Dare I suggest that God is not there? But rather, God is once again rejecting the message and means of death and dying, illness and disease and is using his Loving Power to forge New Life, to strike a New Reality, outside and beyond these old decaying norms. As the Easter angel asked the women who first experienced the empty tomb: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.” (Luke 24:5, New Revised Standard Version).

May the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, live in you.

Have a safe and healthy Easter. Blessings! 

Dale

Wednesday, April 1, 2020
“This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.” (Psalm 91:2, New Living Translation) 

                I’m free at last; thank God almighty, I am free at last.

                Two weeks ago, we arrived home from Florida. We have spent those two weeks in self-isolation and self-quarantine.  Today is our first day of freedom from this self-imposed exile from the rest of the world.  I have already been out to get some groceries and dog food. I have wiped and spritzed my hands and surfaces several times as I went along, doing my few chores. It was a bit of relief to get back home where I washed my hands all over again with soap and water.

                Actually, this two-week isolation period wasn’t really all that bad. It’s kind of how I mostly live day to day regularly anyway, somewhat reclusive.  I enjoy my privacy and solitude. A retired pastor, the Rev. Stuart Ivison, once told me when I asked him if he was lonely after his wife had passed away that no, he wasn’t lonely, “When I am by myself, I am in pretty good company.” It may sound a tad arrogant but I get it. I have always managed to amuse myself, ever since I can remember.

                I have enjoyed having Susan around and I look forward to be able to visit our adult children and grandchildren again, but solitude doesn’t affect or bother me like it may others. At least it seems easier when one is retired.  Those families with young and active children at home must be going stir crazy about now.  Extroverts and highly active adults must be climbing the walls. Workaholics are fidgety and restless. Can you imagine being stuck at home if you are in a troubled relationship? It is must be very tough on older seniors who are living by themselves or those folk with mental health issues and struggling already with social issues.  Loneliness is a by-product of Covid19.

                Nevertheless, we are fast learning that “social distancing” is becoming the new norm – “six feet” is the recommended distance. Our homes are now blessed havens and sanctuaries from the real world. People are becoming very creative and innovative as how to spend their independent “me-time”.  Thankfully, telephones are coming back in style, instead of just always text messaging. (So, pick up the phone and call someone. Remember the old Bell telephone slogan: “Reach out and touch someone.” It is virus free!)

We have so valued our many distractions, our busy schedules, our multi-tasking and the fast and furious pace of life that it is very strange and uncomfortable to slam the breaks on like this.

I am reminded that Jesus liked his alone times. He used them to reconnect spiritually to his God, his Father. To calm his mind. He prayed. He thought. He renewed his energy. “He makes me to lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul.” (Psalm 23:2-3, RSV)

Community is important. But it is also healthy to be in touch with one’s own inner self, to take personal inventory, to evaluate the life-course one is pursuing, to stock up on self-care and holistic well-being. It is an ideal time to re-explore one’s roots in faith, belief, convictions, and prayer.  “But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6, NLT) Your reward might just be realising that you have a lot to be thankful for and find the ability to enjoy being who you are and knowing that God loves you, unconditionally, no matter what.  

These are tough times, even scary times. But these times are not without their possibilities and opportunities. Self-care is not a sin, not selfish, not ego-centric per se. Jesus has told us that we are to love others as we love ourselves. It seems obvious then that we need to affirm and endorse that which makes us of strong character and having a healthy attitude about our individual selves so that we can also love and affirm others in the same way.

You in your small corner and I in mine.

Dale

Wednesday, March 25, 2020
“Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday.” (Psalm 91:6, New Living Translation) 

                It must be the end of the world!

                Although I have not intentionally gone looking for any evidence I am probably safe in saying that there are those extreme, right-wing, fundamentalist Christians who are using the Covid-19 pandemic as a sign of the end times or, at the very least, being God’s judgment and punishment on a corrupt, sinful, hell-bound world. Admittedly, this is low-lying fruit for harboring such ideas; after all this pandemic has all the ear-marks of the works of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, “to kill with the sword and famine and disease and wild animals.” (Revelation 6: 8, NLT)

Although I do not share such apocalyptic eagerness and fervor, (won’t I look silly if they are right?) the pastoral theologian in me wants at least to ask the honest question about the possible  intentions of God throughout this terrible ordeal. We can’t just stick our heads in the sand and wish it all away.

We cannot ignore the fact that in our Old Testament God uses disease as a tool for punishment and  correction, sending a clear, drastic and dire message for his people’s need for repentance, atonement, radical change, and a return to faith and trust in God. It is not a pretty picture either for humankind or, for that matter, God. Nevertheless, disease is one way through which God expressed his righteous anger, his justice, his power to affect radical change in the world.

Simplistically put, disease is a symbolic but very real force that indicates we are as far away from God as we possibly can be. It is indeed a terrible way to get our attention but apparently we won’t listen otherwise.

Our estrangement from God is killing us.

There was a poster on the Internet that pointed out that Covid19 was the world’s way of sending humankind to its room so that we can think about what we have done.

This is a good starting point. This disease is changing the world and will continue to do so for some time. So, perhaps we can and should use this time-out, this sitting in the corner, to contemplate our sins and the damage that humanity in all its politics, structures, institutions, behaviour, environmental impact, its economics, its conflicts and wars, its abuse of social media and re-think and re-set our priorities and directions.

We are being forced to slow down, to reduce our consumptive habits, to re-discover and appreciate one another more deeply, to depend on each other, to change our work habits and addictions, to find value in small things and small acts, to seek each other’s welfare, to pollute less, to appreciate health and well-being in its many  and diverse forms.

In the middle of all that is the opportunity to re-connect with the sources of our faith.  Where once we made no time for prayer, worship, meditation, contemplation or self-reflection and spiritual nourishment, now we do have the time and opening. God calls to us through this pandemic, not to punish us or harass us, although some will interpret it as such, but to ask us to trust him to lead us through to the other side and re-build a broken relationship with him. Almost ironically, it becomes a call for healing.

Jesus was the living embodiment of the antithesis to disease. “At that very time, Jesus cured many people of their diseases, illnesses, and evil spirits, and he restored sight to many who were blind.” (Luke 7:21, NLT) We are reminded by him of God’s ultimate vision for humankind’s well-being, wholeness, restoration, fullness and safety. But we need God to have the total experience of such a life. In Jesus God has begun to reverse the evil effects of  humankind’s vulnerability to disease and death. Jesus inaugurates God’s shalom with the world.

But will we get it? Will we stop our world-ending habits and take God seriously? Will we shrivel in fear and waste away in viral paralysis or listen to the Voice of God speaking through Jesus that there is no better time than the present to leap into the arms of Gods Love and begin to re-shape the future for the better?

                Be safe and keep well! Blessings! 

Dale

Wednesday, March 4, 2020
“Exercise daily in God—no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever. You can count on this. Take it to heart.” (1 Timothy 4:8, The Message Bible) 

                Let us all pause and give thanks to the Lord that we have Major League Baseball’s Spring Training with us once again.  It is with great joy that I have already watched three games on TV from the teams’ Florida-based camps. Better yet, we will be on our way to Florida ourselves this weekend with Katie and Gary and family. Weather permitting, I have four games which we will be seeing. God is indeed good! Those of you who know me well will know that baseball is almost my second religion.

                Spring training is that period of several weeks in which the ball players get back in playing shape, sharpen up their baseball skills, take batting practice and infield/outfield practice. Pitchers throw off their rust. Mangers start to plan their opening day rosters based on what they see developing in their players.  The very good players are pretty well guaranteed spots on the regular team.  Then, there are those who have to earn a spot and there is no guarantee. Young rookies are showcasing themselves. Old veterans may also be vying for spots. They play exhibition games and dozens of players get their shot. The season has not yet begun, hope springs eternal that this will be the season for going all the way to the World Series. Everyone starts on an even playing field with a 0-0 record.

                Practice makes a difference.

                So why not use this Lenten Season as an opportunity to exercise the muscles and skills of our faith? I will be the first to admit that I am sometimes a very flabby Christian. I should brush up on my abilities and capabilities of being in better shape to follow Christ. Even if for any other reason than life can become an uphill climb when you least expect it and one may not have the spiritual stamina or spiritual endurance when we need it the most. I shouldn’t be blaming God when it’s me who can’t keep up!

                I could, for example,  read my Bible more often, pray more regularly, listen more intentionally to  sacred whispers, be more charitable, exercise my love for others and reduce my critical or judgmental slobbery.

                Faith is not a given, even though it is a gift or at least God’s Grace is a gift which comes by faith. By faith, this unique trusting relationship we have with God through Christ, has to be exercised on a regular basis. Some thought, energy, effort, exertion need to be applied.

Stretch your mind.  Keep spiritually fit. Make your inner heart pump with blessed life. Breathe deeply. We will be much better off when we do some Spring Training and maybe a little Spring cleaning, too.

                “It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!” (Hebrews 12: 1 -2, The Message Bible)

                Batter up!


Dale 

[As noted, I will be away and there will be NO blogs for the next two weeks. I will be back on March 25^th.]

               

Wednesday, February 26, 2020 – Ash Wednesday
“The Spirit of God, the Master, is on me because God anointed me. He sent me to preach good news to the poor, heal the heartbroken, announce freedom to all captives, pardon all prisoners. God sent me to announce the year of his grace— a celebration of God’s destruction of our enemies— and to comfort all who mourn, to care for the needs of all who mourn in Zion, give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes, messages of joy instead of news of doom, a praising heart instead of a languid spirit.” (Isaiah 61:3 -7, The Message Bible)


                There has always been a spiritual part of me which has believed that our Baptist tradition would be well served by the proper or appropriate observance of the whole Lenten season, beginning with Ash Wednesday.

                I always tried to have an Ash Wednesday service  in my churches and by and large, except for a faithful few, they were greeted with a rather tepid indifference. Few saw the purpose or understood the need for Lent or Ash Wednesday. Indeed, it is easy to ignore in Baptist circles, something for Anglicans or Catholics. Easter Resurrection is where it is at – who needs all this sombre, existential angst of repentance, sacrifice, and remorse? Of course, Lent is far more than that gloomy picture but there are those who do not see the relevance of the Lenten season.

                I can remember one of my senior men in my church in Ottawa complaining to me about the prayers of confession which I would bring into the Lenten Sunday worship services. He told me that these prayers weren’t necessary and had nothing to do with him; he didn’t feel the need to confess anything. Which begs the question about him…

                I enjoyed(?)  the challenge of inviting my folk into self-reflection, self-honesty, to renew their personal desire for their own spiritual quest, of personal exploration which would challenge them to know Christ more deeply and love God more eagerly.

                And sometimes, for sure, you have to sort through the ashes to get to the good stuff. I would invite people to write down some struggle, sin, challenge, habit, negative thought, etc. on a piece of paper. Sometimes, then we would burn these pieces of paper in a large vessel, symbolically turning their tough life-issues into ash in the light of God’s consuming Love and Grace. One time, we pinned the pieces of paper to an old rugged cross, recognizing that Jesus’ crucifixion plays a critical role in our forgiveness and experiencing God’s forgiveness.

                Lent can be cleansing, liberating, cathartic, purifying, uplifting and redemptive as we walk with Jesus through his Passion, his Death, his Burial and eventually his Resurrection. I don’t think one should skip right to Easter Sunday without the pilgrimage through all else which precedes it. Like the Phoenix which rises from its ashes, so we, too, rise with Christ from the Ashes of  our Lenten experiences into New Life. Lent reminds us whose we are and whose we are not.

                “That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don’t give it the time of day. Don’t even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you’ve been raised from the dead!—into God’s way of doing things. Sin can’t tell you how to live. After all, you’re not living under that old tyranny any longer. You’re living in the freedom of God.” (Romans 6: 12  - 14, The Message Bible)

                Lent leads us in the Way of Jesus so that sin can’t tell us how to live. The text from Isaiah is a celebration of ashes being turned into beauty and new life, messages of joy instead of news of doom, a praising heart instead of a languid spirit.

It also encapsulates the mission of Jesus whose death, cruel as it was, was the precursor to experiencing New Life, also. Sin and death, old Satan himself, never stood a chance!

“When we walk with the Lord/ In the Light of his word/ What a glory He sheds on our way!/ While we do his good will/ He abides with us still/ And with all who trust and obey.” (J.H. Sammis)

Dale