Wednesday, January 26, 2022

“Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.” (John13: 34 -35, The Message Bible)

                (No chickens or cows were harmed in the writing of this blog.)

                So, let us consider the spiritual value of a container of Mr. Noodles.  If you are not familiar with said luncheon delight, it is composed of dehydrated, thin Chinese noodles, a very few dehydrated, previously frozen vegetables (corn, a pea or two and a bit of onion), a  packet of ground seasoning which is made up of various spices and flavours. Sounds yummy, right? Add boiling water to it all and you actually get a tasty noodle soup. It is one of my favourite lunches. It comes in chicken, beef, vegetable, spicy chicken and spicy beef flavours.  Beef is my favourite.

                Except it is not really beef or really chicken, either.  On the package, it tells me that it is “simulated flavour.” I don’t how one goes about simulating beef or chicken flavours or why one would want to. You mean to tell me that the manufacturer can’t throw some chicken bones in a big stew pot and get authentic flavour or toss some beef bones in a huge crock pot and get real beef flavour? They claim that there are ingredients like sesame seeds, mushroom powder, garlic powder and even peanuts and shellfish, of all things. But there is no hint of a real chicken or a real cow.  A vegan could eat this and not feel guilty. (They probably wouldn’t anyway but you get my point.) It is an insult to chickens and cows.

            But here comes the leap of faith in this analogy.

How often do we simulate the love that we are supposed to show in the name of Jesus Christ?

Paul says it best in 1 Corinthians 13: “If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.” (1 Corinthians 13: 1 – 7, The Message Bible)

                I suppose I could also make a case for dehydrated Christianity and the need to add the boiling water of the Holy Spirit to spur us into active love. But let us stick to the concept that too often our Christian walk is simply going through the motions; we keep up the pretense of our Christian faith but it lacks some down-deep authenticity. We do all the right things, say the right things, but is it really real? Do we simulate our Christianity? Are we like what Jesus said of the Pharisees? “Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity.” (Matthew 23:27, New Living Translation) Ouch!

                If our Christian walk is boring, mundane, dull, uninspiring, or disengaged, we need to wake and pour the love of Christ into our faith and its practice. The real Christ, the authentic Christ, the true Christ, the deep-down, savoury Christ. “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20, NLT)

                Christ lives in me. And you. He is real. Our faith needs to be real and demonstrative and full of the compassionate love that Jesus himself demands and expects of his followers. Nothing but the real thing is as good.

                Accept no substitution or simulation or imitation or replacement. Only the real love of Christ is our all and be all.

 Dale

Wednesday, January 19, 2022

“But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere.” (James 3:17, New Living Translation)

               “Those that have suggested you speak of your wisdom.” Huh? Who are they talking about?

                Holy Smoke, they are talking about me, of all people. There are a lot of things I may be, but “wise” is no where near the top of the list. I can be a wise-guy, a smart-ass and a wise-acre. I can be too clever by far. I can be smart-mouthed. But none of those things have anything to do with real wisdom as described in James. Indeed, I would say of myself, to quote Linus from the Peanuts’ comic strip, “I am never so stupid as when I am being smart.” Perhaps, there is a little wisdom, after all, in that meagre assessment.

                Nevertheless, some folk familiar with my Area Ministry days within the Baptist Convention have recommended me for some church consultancy work and spoke of my wisdom. I repeat, Holy Smoke! Perhaps they were thinking of one of the other Area Ministers.

                I have been blessed by wise mentors throughout my life. Elmer and Peggy Anderson, Bruce and Barbara Neal (need to get a plug in for the in-laws), Stuart Frayne, Basil Adams, Murray Ford, Jim McGee. I am no way near that level of caring counsel and depth of insight. Am I really at the stage of maturity and age when people see me as some sort of wise advisor or mentor? When did that happen?

                I am not sure I am ready for such responsibility. That’s a lot of pressure. That’s a wide gateway to pride and arrogance.  This wisdom is going to take patience, listening, understanding, knowing when to keep quiet, then finding the right words at the right time, being supportive even when corrective, trusting the process, prayer, and big shoulders. These are not my usual strengths.

                Holy Smoke!

                “I, Wisdom, live together with good judgment. I know where to discover knowledge and discernment. All who fear the Lord will hate evil. Therefore, I hate pride and arrogance, corruption and perverse speech. Common sense and success belong to me. Insight and strength are mine.” (Proverbs 8: 12 – 14, NLT)

                Paul keeps my feet on the ground as he wisely keeps human wisdom in perspective. “God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish.” (1 Corinthians 1:20, NLT) He wants to make sure that as followers of Jesus we shape our wisdom from the wisdom of God found in Jesus. “Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:24, N LT)

This divinely gifted wisdom is the source of our understanding and knowledge within the world in which we live. “When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.” (1 Corinthians 2: 12, NLT)

We need to request this new wisdom from God for ourselves and others. “We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.” (Colossians 1:9, NLT)

                The Jesus style of wisdom is fuelled by love, grace, compassion, understanding and the ability to speak of the good and to do good. It is marked by humility, self-honesty, integrity, a sense of humour, a willingness to learn always, and even vulnerability to accept that one is not always right.

                With fear and trepidation, I have accepted the consultancy gig. I am a little rusty. I pray that I don’t disappoint. Help me, Jesus!

                “Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives.” (Colossians 3:16, NLT)

                I’ll do my best.

Dale

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

“No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13, The Message Bible)

                Covid has hit close to home this past week. One of our children’s families have tested positive. No one is dangerously ill or in danger of hospitalization but it is still disturbing news.

                It is one thing to watch the news and hear the alarming statistics but so far that’s all the numbers were, mind-numbing statistics. I had no skin in the game. I have been well-secluded from the virus. I had hoped my family and relatives were safe, too. Up to now, that had been the case. At the very least, when I finally have had enough Covid news, I can turn the TV off. But now it’s personal; covid has a face and those faces are very familiar and much loved. They will get through it but it’s distressing just the same.

                We are not the only ones, of course, who are experiencing covid and for far too many, the consequences have been deadly. There seems no end to the nature of this pandemic and the effects it wreaks upon the world.

                So how do we endure and how do we thrive in these covid times?

                It may seem terribly naïve and simplistic to say that we should trust in God and carry on. After all, what can ever really separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus? “If God is for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:31)

                During my personal life as well as my pastoral ministry, I have often turned to the above verse from 1 Corinthians. It is a comforting verse but also a challenging verse, especially the part that asserts that God will never let us be pushed past our limits.

                Most of us can tell personal stories about times in our lives when our limits were sorely stretched and strained, maybe even to a breaking point. We may even describe feeling a sense of divine abandonment when dealing with some crisis, some calamity, some overwhelming experience in which we were sure that we would break under the burden. Intellectually, we know that we need to have faith in such times, but emotionally and spiritually our limits are sorely tested.

                The Apostle Paul was no spiritual wet noodle when it came to facing his own tests. “I’ve worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death’s door time after time. I’ve been flogged five times with the Jews’ thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I’ve been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I’ve had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I’ve been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I’ve known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather.” (2 Corinthians 11: 23 – 27, New Living Translation) Once he despaired for his own life at a very low period.

                Despite experiencing what might break most us, he has the temerity, the boldness, the audacity to endure these things with the courage of faith, believing he was stronger and more blessed than if he had not experienced such things. “Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12: 9 -10, NLT)

                I don’t think Paul was just being a martyr or a masochist nor even a super-saint. He was sticking to his preaching and to his conviction that despite what the world threw at him, God was a more dynamic force to be reckoned with. God in Christ would help him get through anything, even death itself if it came to that.

                “Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?... No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. 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. 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 8:35, 37 -39, NLT)

                Take that, covid!!

 

Dale

 Wednesday, January 5, 2022 – Epiphany (January 6)

“They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” (Matthew 2:11, New Living Translation)             

                They’re late. They’re late. They’re late for a very important date!

                As much as we romantically entrench the arrival of the magi at the manger along with the shepherds on the very same night when Jesus was born, Matthew’s Gospel suggests otherwise. Why Mary and Joseph remained in Bethlehem after Jesus’ birth is hard to say. But they are now out of the stable and living in a house. Depending on how one interprets Herod’s heinous decision to slaughter children two and younger, it may point to the idea that Jesus himself was now one or two years of age.

                Sure, it had been a long, even arduous trip. It’s not like they were using a GPS app, but were following a star, perhaps not the most reliable source of directions as it is not available during the daylight hours. One might fault them, perhaps, that they were relying on the science of astronomy and the philosophy of astrology but they were doing the best they could with what they had and knew. Then there was that unnecessary detour into Jerusalem and we really don’t know how long that might have delayed them, but I doubt that it was just a night or two.

                The wise men were lagging way behind schedule. As they finally trudged into Bethlehem, they were almost late for Christmas. Like us, post-Christmas, the creche scene and the Christmas trimmings have been packed away, our homes put back to their normal arrangements, the last crumbs of Christmas baking swept away. What’s next – Valentine’s Day?

                But perhaps, what we need to admire here, if not emulate, is their stubborn determination to experience and celebrate the first Christmas no matter what, no matter when. They had come a long way,  had overcome many obstacles along the road, were vigilant in their star-gazing, remained open-minded about the outcome of their journey and finally, at long last, they made it just in time to find the One whom they were looking for, “the child who has been born king of the Jews.”  One might even wonder why  a king of the Jews would matter to foreigners and non-believers, but there they were on bended knees full of wonder, faith and devotion. Proving, I think, that it is never too late to experience the Good News of Jesus Christ.

                Christmas has come and gone, and perhaps it seemed like a whirlwind, or was exhausting, or was challenging because of Covid or the myriad things that needed to be get done. Perhaps, not everything was done as well as one had hoped. Perhaps, there were things that sidetracked us from its joy and hope. Perhaps, we had to deal with things that were beyond our control. I pray that you had a perfect Christmas but if you didn’t, the magi give us hope.

                We may not find the babe in a manger, but that is not the point really. The point is to find Jesus Christ in this very moment, in the present in which we live right now, in the life we  have right now. It is never too late to do that.

                I’m aware of the many times throughout the Gospels that people, just like the magi,  sought out Jesus to have him change their lives, to make things better, to transform and re-energize and raise up the humanity with which they found and met him. All sorts of people, rich and poor, Jews, Samaritans, Gentiles, Roman soldiers, lepers and the list goes on. He welcomes them all. He was easy enough to find as he walked among them. Each encounter revealed its own epiphany, a life-changing discovery of Jesus.

                So, don’t give up seeking Jesus. It’s never too late. Slow down even. Read a scripture passage, say a prayer, take a deep breath, meditate, open your eyes to nature, listen for the wee, small voices of love, hope, joy and peace that break through the cacophony of the world. For Christmas is found in all of this and so much more, even still.

                Let us go – even now – unto Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass.

 Dale

 Wednesday, December 29, 2021 – New Years

“Get out of bed, Jerusalem!  Wake up. Put your face in the sunlight.  God’s bright glory has risen for you.

The whole earth is wrapped in darkness, all people sunk in deep darkness, but God rises on you, his sunrise glory breaks over you.” (Isaiah 60: 1 -2, The Message Bible)

                 Seriously, I am just saying…

                If these were Old Testament times, there would probably be some prophetic voice crying in the Covid wilderness proclaiming that we need to change our godless ways (i.e. repent) and return to a life of faith and trust in God alone. This implies that God would use the pandemic as a conduit for a serious message to express God’s displeasure and dismay with humankind. 

               A terrifying example: “Danger ahead! God’s about to ravish the earth and leave it in ruins, rip everything out by the roots  and send everyone scurrying: priests and laypeople alike,  owners and workers alike, celebrities and nobodies alike,  buyers and sellers alike, bankers and beggars alike,  the haves and have-nots alike. The landscape will be a moonscape, totally wasted. And why? Because God says so. He’s issued the orders.” (Isaiah 24: 1 -3, The Message)

                Danger ahead!

                But most of us are far too sophisticated, intelligent, progressive, secular, skeptical, agnostic (even among the devout, if truth be told), doubting, irreligious and liberal to give much credence to such ancient nonsense. Only the extremely religious, dingbat, right wing might give weight to such a theory. Our God, if we have one at all, is more of an indulgent grandfather figure, incapable of doing much harm to his beloved sons of Adam and daughters of Eve.  Besides, good-old-boy Jesus wouldn’t let him anyway…

                Nevertheless, let’s give this some further serious thought and consideration.  I am not suggesting that God has necessarily created the situation we are in but I am wondering whether he is using this pandemic to try and get our attention.

To alert us to his concern about us and for us.

To engage us in a fresh conversation about his love and his desire for us to give him our serious devotion.

To call us back to a renewed relationship and re-habilitated conversion of heart, mind and spirit.

And, therefore, to assure us of a different future then the one we are currently experiencing.

The good thing about most prophetic messages is that they eventually turn into hope, promise, and good news once the bad news is out there for all to hear.

Messages of deliverance, salvation, rescue and victory over that which oppresses us, tries to doom us, threatens to defeat us, and exiles us. And this whole Covid aberration certainly feels like exile to me.

Seriously…

Grab onto God and he can get us through this mess.

Hold onto God and he has a better way into the future.

Demonstrate your full trust in God and he will lead us through the darkness.

As we enter a new year, let us make it our resolution to engage God in this conversation, painfully honest as some of it may be, but also full of new possibilities, fresh insights and an invitation that by doing it God’s Way, we experience the breaking of sunrise glory upon us.

I am just saying… seriously.

 Dale

Wednesday, December 22, 2021 – Christmas

“In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.” (Luke 2: 8, New Revised Standard Version)


There are times, like now,
That we seem forever stuck in our cold and forlorn fields,
        dreaming of warm hearths, groaning boards of ample food
        and safe rest.

There are times, like now,
That the empty dark seems overwhelming,
        our camp fires dwindling, our resources scant
        and our prospects for anything better, limited.

There are times, like now,
That we huddle against the unknown and tend our worries,
        abiding in some new wilderness, facing new risks and fresh assaults,
        seeking shelter against desert storms.

Would that we all could be magi,
Riding majestically into Jerusalem, seeking audience with a king,
        but we reek of sheep and the wild, expecting predators,
        and the New Jerusalem is a long way off.

But God has not forgotten the poor and the lowly,
Nor has God forsaken the fields in which we live and toil,
        but sends us beacons of light and sound, sundering the winter’s night,
        re-awakening old promises and new hope.

There are times, like now,
When God challenges the wildernesses with angels,
        inviting us into his joy and peace, challenging us to awake
        and make haste to Bethlehem.

There are times, like now,

That turn the night into expectation and anticipation,
        daring us to believe in the incredible and the astonishing,
        and re-ignite our lives with faith and love.

There are times, like now,
That compel us to see our lives and our world through a different lens,
        lying there in a manger, as human as we are,
        word made flesh, dwelling among us.

The fields are less lonely,
        the wilderness less wild,
                the world less voracious.

And it is good to be in Bethlehem, once more.

Dale

Wednesday, December 15, 2021 – ADVENT FOUR

“She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.”  (Luke 2:7, New Living Translation)

                 Yikes! The manger is missing!

                After decorating our Christmas tree, I noticed the creche figures in the box and decided that they would look great on the floor below the tree. I pulled out the two lambs, a donkey, a shepherd and Mary and Joseph, of course. But I couldn’t find the manger. The manger that I thought belonged to the set was not in the same box as the rest of the figures. There was a tiny version belonging to another creche set; I tried to use it a substitute but it was so out of scale that it looked silly. Well, it wasn’t Christmas yet, I told myself, so I guess it will be OK if Baby Jesus hasn’t appeared just yet.  Maybe the manger will turn up.

                But it continued to strike me as odd that the manger wasn’t in the same box. A little later in the day, I took a closer look at the creche scene and, lo and behold, there is no manger because Mary is holding Baby Jesus in her arms. This scene depicts a loving mother cuddling and embracing her new born baby while Joseph looks proudly upon both mother and child. No need for a straw-filled  manger. No need to look any further. Jesus was in the best place possible – his mother’s arms.

                Is there something missing in your Christmas this year? Does something seem not quite right? Is something out of place or just doesn’t fit? What are you looking for this Christmas? Who or what are you hoping will turn up? In another Christmas that is affected and infected by covid, these are valid questions for many. Christmas can’t be real without a manger. Christmas isn’t Christmas until… (you fill in the blank).

                Perhaps, we should take a closer look at the Christmas scene. Truth be told, sentimentalism aside, Christmas isn’t Christmas until we lift Jesus out of the manger and embrace the Christ child. Maybe we are looking in the wrong places for the grace and beauty of Christmas. A manger is a crude place for a Messiah. He was born there in the shed because there was no room anywhere else. Although we have romanticized it, this was a cruel beginning to such a tiny life.

                We should not leave the baby just lying in the manger, but wrap our arms around the significance of this birth for you and me. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!”  (Luke 2: 10 -11, NLT)

                There is a Christmas song called “While You Were sleeping”. The chorus goes like this:

                Oh Bethlehem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
                For God became a man
                And stepped into your world today
                Oh Bethlehem, you will go down in history
                As a city with no room for its King
                While you were sleeping
                While you were sleeping

The songs ends by asking the same question of America, about what it will miss while it is sleeping.  But I  think the words provoke a challenge for us all, to embrace the One who was born into our world. Open our hearts wide, make room, hold tight, and discover that Holy One has been right under our noses and in our midst all the time.

Dale