Wednesday, August 26, 2020

“I said to myself, ‘Come on, let’s try pleasure. Let’s look for the ‘good things’ in life.’ But I found that this, too, was meaningless. So I said, ‘Laughter is silly. What good does it do to seek pleasure?’” (Ecclesiastes 2:1 1-2, New Living Translation)

                 “I think I’m having fun now.”

                Profound words of our five-year old grandson, Henry. We were sent a video of him enjoying roasting marshmallows in a fire-pit down at the dock at their cottage. Would all of life be so content as with nothing more than the enjoyable, sweet taste of a fire-roasted marshmallow. Wait until you taste S’mores, kiddo. Your head will explode.

                I had a friend who used to always be pestering me whether I was doing anything for fun. Frankly, I didn’t really understand the question, and I never had an answer that satisfied him.  His idea of  fun was not necessarily my idea of fun. But it does bring up the question: what is the definition of “fun”? How do I know whether I am having fun or not?  I expect the minute one asks these “penetrating” questions about fun, whatever I am doing ceases to be fun any more.

                I haven’t done any fishing in a very long time. But when I did go fishing back in the day, it was fun just to let my little aluminum skiff drift in the currents of the lake on a warm summer afternoon, dangle my line in the water, light up a good cigar and hope that I really didn't catch anything. It was too much effort to take the fish off the line. I could do that all afternoon. For somebody else, that would be so boring as to drive them loopy.

Is fun the same as enjoyment? Is fun the same as pleasure? Does fun always have to be raucous, busy and over-the-top? Some people find it fun to take one of those stomach-turning, wild rides at an amusement park.  Personally, I prefer a really good meal at a quiet restaurant. Fun for me is a day with any or all of my grandchildren.

                Fun is in the eye of the beholder.

                The old grouch who wrote Ecclesiastes scorns any idea that the meaning of life is found in pleasure or, for our purposes, having fun. Perhaps, some might feel you aren’t supposed to disagree with anything in the Bible, but I disagree with the writer on this issue. Perhaps, he is pondering those pleasures that go to excess, that need artificial stimulants, anything that comes at other people’s expense or embarrassment.  (I have always hated practical jokes.)

                I would argue that laughter is not silly at all but a necessary part of life. There are certain things in life that put a smile on your face. There are many things that make us laugh, giggle, chuckle, guffaw and make our eyes twinkle with amusement.

Joy, fun, and pleasure add mightily to the vitality of human living. It is food for the soul. It is nourishment for the spirit. It is sustenance for long days and weary nights that we all go through.

Christianity has had a bad rep, albeit well-earned to a large degree, of being a religion that eliminates having any fun. It is perceived as a faith of “thou shalt not ________” and there is a long list of what fills in the blank.

It is too bad that we can ignore the idea that Jesus was a bit of a party animal. Maybe that is too strong of an image, but we see him  in the Gospels as someone who enjoyed a good food, good wine and good company. He loved being with children. He attended weddings. He was always at somebody’s house for a meal.  He told stories about banquets. Angels danced in one of his parables. He hosted his own feasts on hillsides. Despite his very serious and somber mission, he found the enjoyable side of life and reveled in it.

He wanted life’s  happy fullness to be infectious. “I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!” (John 51:11, NLT)

Smile, Jesus loves you! Now that’s hilarious! But it puts a smile in my heart.

Dale

 

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a fishing net that was thrown into the water and caught fish of every kind.” (Matthew 13:47, New Living Translation)

                 Our grandson, Spencer, has acquired a fascination with the things of the ocean, partly because of his favourite animated show, The Octonauts. Recently, for his fourth birthday, we gave him a small aquarium set including five colourful tropical fish. We helped him set it up. He has been taught how to feed them and care for them. Although there has been one fishy death, so far so good.

                It has brought to mind that I used to have tropical fish and did so for many years. In fact, watching Spencer and his aquarium gave me the itch again. My interest started when I was a pre-teen. Our Sunday School superintendent, Tom Stovell, raised fantail guppies. He ran a S.S. contest in which if we memorized and recited the 66 titles of the books of Bible, we would receive two guppies. There were even two songs which dittied through the names of the books of the Bible, one for each testament. I remember them both still, and sometimes will use the songs to find those hard-to-find prophets like Habakkuk or Haggai. I started out with two guppies and my interest expanded from there, for quite some time. At least, they are a lot easier to care for than goats or donkeys!

                There is something very peaceful and calming about simply watching  fish swim around in an aquarium.  

                There are a lot of great fish stories through the Bible, everything from Jonah and the whale to the several gospel stories that brought together Jesus and his fishermen disciples. Jesus always seemed to have a proclivity of knowing where the best fishing holes were.

In our text, Jesus used a fishing analogy to suggest that discipleship meant casting a wide net to embrace people of all sorts, shapes, colours and sizes. Jesus’ Kingdom is very inclusive and indiscriminate about whom it takes in. There is in this parable the reality that evil has no place in God’s big aquarium, i.e Kingdom.  But besides that, God’s net is big and wide.

I have always enjoyed the gospel stories in which the disciples are frustrated, disappointed and exhausted by a night of futile fishing. Jesus comes along and tells them to fish in a different spot or throw their nets on the other side of the boat. Suddenly the disciples have more fish then they know what to do with. Pretty good for a carpenter, eh?

We are reminded that sometimes we need to be more creative and innovative in our ways of reaching the world with God’s Grace and Love. Old methods and tired approaches come up empty and bear no results. Jesus helps us to see with new eyes that by using a fresh tactic that we, too, can find the inclusiveness that is demanded of Gods Kingdom.  Sometimes, we think too small, are too selective, or too particular that we miss out on the abundance of life that is swimming all around us and which fits into God’s loving embracing net.

There are risks in letting out our nets of love into deeper waters. Evil loves to tangle those nets up and snarl them and tear holes in them. But the overall results outweigh the risks. God’s Love remains abundant and generous even in long nights and futile days.  We need to have faith like Peter who said to Jesus after being told to cast their nets again, “Master, we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” (Luke 5:5, NLT)  He was glad he did!

            Wide, wide as the ocean, high as the Heaven above;
            Deep, deep as the deepest sea is my Savior's love.
            I, though so unworthy, still am a child of His care;
            For His Word teaches me that His love reaches me everywhere.

Dale

 

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

“I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart.” (Mark 11:23 -24, New Living Translation) 

                It’s not always the mountain which is in the way that might block you; it’s the immovable huge boulders.

                For whatever reason, our house seemed randomly picked by the gas company to have a new gas meter and gas line installed into the house. They warned us way back in June. They showed up last week to begin the digging and installation. After an hour or so of  excavation at the side of the house, one of the workers came to the door to tell me that they had encountered a very, very large rock over the gas line somehow. How it got there, nobody seems to know. But it was in the way and they didn’t have the right equipment to dig it out. They would have to come back.

                They arrived yesterday with a backhoe and a small bulldozer. Guess what – they still couldn’t get the massive boulder out. Apparently, it is really, really big! Maybe not mountain size, but considerable. Maybe it was the peak of one for all I know.

What do you do when you face a large immovable object? Go around it. Makes sense.  Job done.

I am always challenged by Jesus’ words which, on first simplistic and superficial glance, suggests that if I just have enough faith, God will answer my prayers without question and without fail.  Even a mustard seed worth of faith might be adequate. I have encountered many sincere Christians who felt they have failed their loved ones, themselves and God, when based on these verses, their prayers were not answered as they had hoped. They despaired because they believed their faith was weak and inadequate. Mountains in the shape and size of illnesses, cancer, grief, hardships, depression, anxiety, fears, pandemics even, didn't slide off into the depths of the ocean and disappear forever.

Jesus is, of course, speaking metaphorically but nonetheless these are powerful verses to try and understand. Let’s immediately rule out that this is some sort of God’s blank cheque for us to fill out and for God to pay out.  People who might use this verse of enhancing their personal prosperity and welfare are out of line.

More to the point, prayer is our ability to join in communication with God and express to him our hearts, souls and minds; no conditions, no holds barred. “Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 -18, NLT) We can be assured that God listens. In his generous love God sends us the power to endure, to cope, to see beyond the “mountain”, enabling us to get through or even around what appears to be hopeless and we feel helpless

God’s power emerges in our ability to stand tall, face the problem and trust that, no matter what, God is a force to be reckoned with in any and every situation. Trust is the key here, trust that no matter what, God has not abandoned us or the people we love. God can work in the most dire of circumstances. The results may be different and difficult for us to understand or accept. Yet we can face and even conquer great challenges with God’s grace and love working in and through our most difficult moments.

    “The valleys will be filled, and the mountains and hills made level.                                                              The curves will be straightened,                                                                                                                   and the rough places made smooth.                                                                                                              And then all people will see the salvation sent from God.” (Luke 3:5-6, NLT)

Dale

Wednesday, August 5, 2020

“One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray...” (Luke 11:1, New Living Translation) 

                Last week, my car was rear-ended when I was stopped at a stoplight. Everyone was okay and the damage to my vehicle was very, very minor. But because it is a lease car, I decided to do my due diligence so that my Subaru dealer doesn’t complain at the end of the lease. I reported the incident first to the local collision centre and  then phoned my insurance company.  To make a long story short, I ended up talking to four different people about this minor accident with a potential of a fifth, should I pursue my claim.

                It is a good thing that our personal communication with God does not work like the insurance business. If it did it might sound like this. I call it:

 “The Fable of the Wonky Donkey”

                Mr. Nobody had a donkey. But the donkey’s hindquarters did not coordinate with his front quarters. He was wonky donkey.  So, Mr. Nobody took his wonky donkey to the vet. She took down all the particulars: his name was Spunky, he was two years old, he had long ears, he was gray and had brown eyes. He was wonky. She took several pictures of Spunky for his records to be kept at the vet’s clinic. But she didn’t think his wonkiness was too serious and sent Mr. Nobody home with a few pain killers.

                But being a conscientious donkey owner, he was still concerned about Spunky. So, he phoned Mrs. Elderberry, the   coordinator of Fairweather Baptist Church’s prayer chain and asked that his donkey be put on the prayer chain. He explained that Spunky was a wonky donkey. Mrs. Elderberry diligently took down all the particulars. Spunky was two years old, with long ears, gray and had brown eyes. He was wonky. Dutifully, she sent the word through the prayer chain with the details and soon all six women were praying for Spunky the wonky donkey.

                The prayer for Spunky was intercepted first by Angel Bob in the Prayer Brokerlink Bureau. It was his job to sort out prayer requests and send them off to the right department. He took his job very seriously, no matter the size of the prayer. He listened very carefully and meticulously took down all the particulars. Spunky was two years old, with long ears, gray and had brown eyes. He was wonky.

                Angel Bob decided that this prayer request needed to go to the Equine Division. He phoned Angel Marylou and told her that he had a prayer request for a wonky donkey.  She was very concerned. She thoroughly took down all the particulars. Spunky was  two years old, with long ears, gray and had brown eyes. He was wonky.

                Once she had recorded everything, Angel Marylou contacted Angel George.  Angel George was a donkey specialist. He knew everything there was to know about donkeys. He painstakingly took down all the particulars. Spunky was  two years old, with long ears, gray and had brown eyes. He was wonky.

                Mr. Nobody had a dream that night in which Angel George spoke to him. He was saddened to hear that Spunky was wonky. His recommendation was to take Spunky to a very expensive specialist who would evaluate Spunky and decide an equally expensive treatment.

                Mr. Nobody thanked the angel but couldn’t help but ask whether his prayer would ever reach God’s ear. Angel George replied that that was not how the system works. Heaven had middle management bureaucracies to help streamline the whole prayer network.  God didn’t have the time to handle every prayer request, personally.

                Mr. Nobody listened to the explanation and asked, “Perhaps, I could speak to your supervisor. Is St. Peter available?”

The End

    Jesus  said to them, “When you pray, say: “ Our Father, who art in heaven…”

    What a relief!

Dale

Wednesday, July 8, 2020

“You can’t keep your true self hidden forever; before long you’ll be exposed. You can’t hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face will be known. You can’t whisper one thing in private and preach the opposite in public; the day’s coming when those whispers will be repeated all over town.” (Luke 12: 2-3)

(I am going to take a three week break. We will get together again on Wednesday, August 5.)

                I don’t feel like the Lone Ranger because my mask has slipped way down my face and sometimes it feels like I am about to rob a bank, but I have begun to wear a medical cloth mask whenever I am out in public. (Some might say it is an improvement and should have happened long ago.)  As Susan and I reconnect slowly with family, I think it is wiser and safer for them and us to take simple, common sense precautions.

                Some people are protesting the mandatory use of masks which I quite frankly don’t get. I will admit that my mask can be slightly uncomfortable in this heat wave we are having, fogging up my glasses in stores and poking at my claustrophobia ever so slightly but it still is no big deal. It is nothing permanent. Mind you, just this morning, I read an article on how to put on, wear and clean our masks, what to do and what not do to do. Now, that was daunting!  But I am still going to wear my mask until this pandemic is over once and for all.

                This may be the only time in our lives when wearing masks is a good thing. But Jesus wasn’t talking about physical masks, of course. He was talking about our outward masks of elitism and thinking we are better than anyone else. He seems especially mindful of the hypocrisy of religious people who say all the right things about faith, love, compassion, grace and justice but don’t practice what they preach. Their superficial piety cloaks a judgemental, critical, discriminatory attitude of superiority and self-righteousness.

                There are other kinds of masks we wear. We hide our pain and hurt and grief. We hide our mental health issues. We hide our worry and anxiety. We put on a happy face and hope others won’t notice we are hurting inside. We don’t want others to know we are feeling weak, afraid, broken or just plain worn out. We pretend that everything is okay when it isn’t. Sometimes, some might feel guilty about their hidden feelings, because they think that a Christian shouldn’t ever feel this way and therefore their faith is now weak, to top it all off.

                But sooner or later the mask drops and we have to deal with what is inside. God’s Love is healing but God’s Love also can expose what is eating away at us before it can begin the healing process. It can  be risky to let our masks fall off our souls just as it is risky not using a mask during these Covid19 times. Some might judge us, ridicule us, disrespect us, think less of us, but compared to the pain we are hiding, those brief and temporary realties are small things which we shouldn’t sweat. Those sorts of people have got their own stuffy mask to contend with.

You or I need to breathe in some fresh air for the heart, soul and spirit. We need the Spirit of God to restore our soul. It can be daunting to let God really see us for ourselves. But if we say that God loves us unconditionally, why don’t we live and act like that it is really true? God sees under these masks anyway; we are not fooling God.

                Let the Sonshine in!

Dale

Wednesday, July 1, 2020

“Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, free of care in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.” (Matthew 6:26, The Message Bible, with a minor alteration of my own.)

                Happy Canada Day everyone! Stay True North, strong and free!

                I sat there, outside, on a beautiful, warm summer Sunday,

                                thinking and praying about the world we live in.

                The robins’ sweet, joyful warble interrupts my worries and concerns.

                I stop yammering at and hectoring God.

                I listen to her song,

breaking through the rustle of the breeze in the trees

                                and I marvel at her unbridled enthusiasm for the day.

                Why, I ask myself, is she so happy and  ecstatic about her life?

                                She eats worms, for heaven’s sake!

                But she sings for all her worth, uninterested in my questions or opinions,

                                careless of my mood and my thoughts.

                She does not even know I am eavesdropping on her serenade.

                                Nor does she care one whit.

                She is not singing for me anyway.

                                How typically presumptuous of humankind to think everything is about us.

                                Even birdsong.

                She is whistling a happy tune because all is right with her world at the moment.

                                Life is good.

                                She has food and water.

                                The sun is warm.

                                There is a comfortable breeze.

                She has no words but simply expresses herself in song.

                For it is we, humans, who need long-winded reasons and explanations

 to sing and play and worship.

This small red-breasted maestro simply sings

 because that is what she was created to do by the Creator.

She is very good at it!    

                She has no need to be an ego-centred existentialist         

                        who needs to dissect, analyze, parse, explain, examine

and demand rational answers to figure out this world.

                This robin is of the world and about in the world.

                It is enough!

Today, it fills her with a joyful, singing embrace of what she is experiencing.

                She has found her place and it is good.

It overflows with sacred blessing and the Creator’s charm.

She puts her day into trills and melody.

The robin sings because this is uniquely her song,

her Psalm for a Sunday morning,

rising up above the world so sweet.

Dale

Wednesday, June 24, 2020

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13:2, New Revised Standard version)

Na-neun yagu-reul joahae.

This is how one says “I like baseball” in Korean. There are three ways. This is the informal one but there is a more formal version and finally a very formal version. Don’t ask me how one knows which one to use and when. I can’t properly pronounce the informal one.

But in light of North American baseball’s season being long delayed, I have discovered the Korean Baseball League. I don’t get up at 5:30 a.m. to watch it live but TSN repeats it at a more reasonable hour at 9:00 a.m. The KBL is a lot of fun to watch. It is not at the same level as MLB, but it is highly entertaining. I don’t know most of the players, nor do I have a particular team which I am cheering for. The stands are empty of fans but the players seem to be really enjoying themselves.

Each team has a limited number of non-Korean ball players, mostly former players from MLB, many of who are born and bred American. They are strangers in a strange land. Different language. Different foods. Different customs and culture.  For a country whose citizens, at least some of them, can be very jingoistic  and even xenophobic, as recent events in the USA are revealing, it must feel strange to be the one tagged as a foreigner, an outsider, an alien, an immigrant,  a baseball refugee, and to look so different from most others.

Yet, as some of these non-Korean ball players are interviewed, most seem to be very appreciative of the welcome and the inclusion which they are experiencing. They talk about some of the adjustment difficulties, of course, but several of them have been playing in the KBL for a few years and keep coming back. They enjoy the sport there, but I don’t think some of them would stay if it was a miserable experience.

                It has been suggested by a few travel experts that when visiting a foreign country (note how we designate the country as being foreign) one should immerse oneself more deeply the country’s true culture to truly understand it. It is not enough to just visit the popular tourist sites and eat gourmet food in classy restaurants which are sometimes geared to the North American taste buds. Discover the local markets, the off-the-beaten path eateries, the smaller towns and villages, talk to the locals, if possible.

                I will never forget my trip with the Peterborough Medical Brigade to Indonesia many years ago. We were visiting the island of Flores. We trekked by truck to remote areas of the island to run medical clinics for people who had little access to medical care or couldn’t afford it. By Canadian standards, we saw a lot of extremely poor standards of living. Yet, at the risk of sounding patronizing, these people always seemed to be joyful, thankful and to lead lives that were fulfilling in their own right. Everyone treated us so well while we were there. Their hospitality was outstanding. It was almost embarrassing, sometimes.

Compared to how we, in North America, can treat strangers, immigrants and aliens, or just anyone who seems different on the outside in appearances, we have a lot to learn from the hospitality in other cultures. “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,” (Matthew 25:25 NRSV) At the very least, (and I mean the very least) we can treat others with respect, dignity, and politeness. Hospitality is much more than that but it can begin there.

My life has been blessed, broadened, taught and  challenged by the people of colour, people of other nations, people of different lifestyles whom I have had the privilege of knowing or being welcomed into  their homes.

“Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.”  (Romans 12:13, The Message Bible)

Amen to that!

Dale