It is an intriguing time of the journey. Navigating change. Navigating a reignition/recycle of severe health symptomology, and then feeling the drain away. High stress, the gig economy of academia, into release and relax. Exploring the holistic for far to much, especially in the West, we silo each aspect of our whole self (this is physical or psychological or emotional or spiritual) and miss that all pieces are integrated, and impact one another.
Yet as the rain comes down, in a dry and drought ridden prairie, one ponders, if the dirt being washed away, and the probability and possibility of new life it brings.
Takes me into the learning opportunities I have experienced over the last several weeks, from an educational Passover Meal, that engaged with the stories of the Hebrew Bible, and the concept of Amalekites. Those that had to be removed, for Israel in the story to flourish in the Promised Land (yes I am probably overly simplifying), a story that has been used as a weaponization of sacred literature in the current acts of Genocide by the Israeli government labelling the Palestinians as Amalekites. Though Hamas, inserting their own drive from the land call to action as well. Missing the colonial/settler dynamic of a world trying to cope with their own anti-semitic guilt out of the Holocaust that created and continued to perpetuate what is now a horror show, and needs not only a cease fire, but a true solution for truth, reconciliation and peace.
Then intersecting with a blessed graduation weekend this past weekend, where the exploration of the speakers on the parable from the Christian Testament, of the builder who builds on rocks, and bringing the story into context, context, context, of the Sermon on the Mount, and what it means to shape and re-shape our life and journey. To be open to moments of cyncism, to know there may be times we are going through the motions or show, but what happens when we authentically engage?
To the workshop on neurodiversity students before the graduation weekend at another school, that stirred emotions and remembrances of my own lore if you will. I have always exhibited traits, and before my micro-strokes, and ongoing ones, have a brain that works and processes differently. Some of this caused by anti-convulsant medication, some by just biological/neurology. I chose to excel at academics, and my creative pursuits– why? Simple, enter into my geeky fandoms, and be the brain, so when bullied it was for that, and not the wonderful world of 80’s and 90’s kids who decided to use the “r word”, but shifting gears, there was moments and probably not as bad, as I was also a well developed smart alyc 🙂
But still the remembrance opening.
And brings me back around to Passover, which produced the reflection of Caregiver Fallacy
A piece of what this part of the dinner reflections after the sharing of the story of the Amalekites, and then as was shared to me, from the teachings of Conservative Rabbi Moses Brandises of Minz, from the Hasidic notion of Amalekite as metaphor/allegory for things such as gluttony, laziness, discouragement and how this functions in our own lives…which leads to this idea of a simple poetic form:
What discourages?
When one’s mind fog rolls on
and simple to complex words and ideas easily shared
is it not easier to simply be quiet?
Can their be healing?
Not always the medical cure
but rather the communal justice
that shatters barriers
sees costs lower
and roll
equity, equality, diversity, acceptance
release
as physical environment shifts and change
as relationships grow
others end
cessation can cause healthy release
the physiological system still reflects the emtoinal and neurological health
weariness
constantly seen and felt
yet, begins to ease
though constantly dopey or simply tired
can their ever be enough rest?
Can relationships renew?
Grow anew…
As the spring rain, replaces the April Snow– sleet
It is weird to use the term Good for an execution, and I understand many will lean into the substition theory for what happens today in our journey. We see the betrayal, the denials (loss of connection, community abandonment): https://www.bible.com/bible/3633/JHN.18.FNVNT
Creator Sets Free, dared to challenge the Empire, the controlling powers that of political and religious might and oppression and control. Pontius Pilate and the false installed leaders…hmmm… any analogy to Alberta or America in this set up possibly?
Think it through to this moment though. Hundreds of crucified were hung on the roads into Jerusalem to remind the non-people the wage of speaking out of their caste, (do we not jail or ticket the poor in our own cities instead of solving the issue, UBI anyone?)? What is the rising death toll of drug poisonings but not road side crucifixions because we refuse to live as created? What is the rising use of MAiD for loneliness and poverty but us creating other caste’s of non-persons? We have our own road of crucified this week in Alberta and are ignoring, just as those aligned with Empire easily could walk in and tsk tsk those that risked, those that sought to only be person (think of the co-morbidity myth that was used for deaths during covid? Because of Wings and Beer my peeps).
A trial, where many fallacies flowed, where Empire deflected their responsibility, and let the appeal to emotion (that being fear and anger)– if this humble labour, that we know isn’t his father’s son, and the one who was betrothed was so unholy he did not stone his betrothed to death for her infidelity or cast her outside to be trafficked (oh my, seeing an arguement from analogy here for how religious families are supposed to treat their 2SLGBTQ+ children, and the constant gossip and attack when they do not cast out?).
The populist rage against the churning change, that which Jesus so radically pushed against in his non-violent protest and actions. Showing radical belonging, created interdendence of the Imageo Dei, and true egalitarian equity.
True Healing
The great sin that had to be silenced for if the masses caught hold, and realized they had been played and rose up against the overstretched minority oppressors—
And so the mock trial.
The playing on fear of being on the crosses.
The populist fuse of hatred lit.
And the mass murderer released to ensure the silencing of Creator Sets Free (imagine being so powerful in simply the use of Hope, that the greatest Empire in the history of the Western World, had to play a political game to execute you?).
The mocking, beating and dehumanizing found in John 1 9as linked above and here to remind:
Processes of torture and humiliation, used to break not necessarily Creator Sets Free spirit, but to ensure his followers would understand it was over and time to go away. How often do we see this happen with movements? Leveraging legalities to ensure compliance and silence (hmmm… Alberta government’s new Trans policies anyone? The anti-human right breaking of encampments? Non-investment in affordable housing? Allowing coal mining which will poison our water? Not understanding or refusing to acknowledge we have damaged creation, that is dominionism is a fallacy, like colonialism, and a sin to be told the truth of and reconciliation work to be done while we still have air to breath and food to eat)…but how often are these tactics used? Reinvigorated in our gamification of war and playing with terms of genocide, yet not holding to account powers in the world and allies for acts of terror and genocide?
Yet this humiliation was meant to do what it did (and the Easter Sunday story shows who was courageous…but we do not know that yet so know reading ahead in this mystery).
And before Creator Sets Free breathed his last, he speaks, most likely gasping, blood burbling in his lungs with water as he was drowning, struggling through pain, dehydrated, most likely soiled himself several times over. Twisted and broken.
And yet, his final plea to the Beloved Disciple:
the much-loved follower of Creator Sets Free (Jesus), was also there with them.
When Creator Sets Free (Jesus) looked down and saw them, he said to his mother, “Honored woman, look to your son.” 27Then he said to his follower, “Look to your mother.”
From that time the follower took Bitter Tears (Mary) into his family and cared for her.
On this Friday, what does this request and calling mean to you?
Okay maybe pluralizing was a touch sensationalizing, but when we think of red herrings, it is like a murder mystery. That thing (or clue) tossed in there that sounds credible or relevant but falls flat. That is, it is an irrelevant premise to prove an argument. These exist in the last gasps of Christendom as embodied in fundamentalist mainline and evangelical to Christian Nationalism.
The red herring du jour, is the one that they are using their last political flex in populism for, the “parental choice or rights” bills, the “don’t say gay” or “anti-trans its just a phase” that our world gives a pass to, because it is couched in the concept of “phobia”. A phobia is an irrational fear like we see of clowns, or heights, or the marketplace or spiders to name but a few. The idea of hatred conflated with an actual mental health diagnosis is both disheartening, and shows the power of media. For the rise of this hatred turned phobia, started with the Ricki Lake trial, where they did the “you have a secret crush” only the crush turned out to to be the male neighbour for the gent and the argument went his irrational fear led to the murder. A true red herring.
And it perpetuates as we, even allies or those in the community, continue to lean into the phobia language- homophobia, transphobia. Sorry, its not an irrational fear driven by anxiety, you have just found a way to straw man hatred. And our citizens, neigh, for those who have read the stories of Jesus in the Christian Testament, our neighbours, are paying the price for it being used as power (no the majority does not get to decide if the minority enjoys full human rights that is not how that works).
For those who profess to follow Jesus, just think of the fallacies (possible false dilemmas or faulty analogies) you are falling in to. Our creator is genderless or genderfluid, we know this because in the Hebrew Bible it states we are created in their image, not a plural reading, but rather the singular use. Jesus renamed friends constantly, if you read St. Paul, and not Saul of Tarsus, or know St. Peter is at the gates of heaven, but not St. Simon, you get the concept of preferred names. If you actually read Saul, with the proper socio-historical context he is not the misogynist current literalists would frame him as (sorry, my bad no speaking evangelical, complimentarian). Rather within the letters of Paul, you discover egalitarianism, and equality, and even equity for the body of Christ (think how he callenges the labels and caste system of the day, how would that read today? What imposed insider/outsider dynamic have we created).
The early church, was equitable and equal, Jesus’ followers had as many women in power as men, oh and let’s not forget in Acts, Mary of Nazareth (that woman who bore the peasant rabble rouser) ascented to who would replace Judas, and the beloved disciple was asked from the cross by Jesus to care for his Mumma.
We see gender, orientation, falling away, what we see is practices of degradation, oppression, hatred, and explooitation as he challenged the powers of his day of Empire and religion. Today it would be political, populist, hate groups cloaked in religion, and capitalistic.
So yes, as you hear of “parental rights” to cloak harm to an image of God (and yes the Imageo Dei is robust enought to wrap around all humanity, including our trans siblings) and put their lives at risk as hate, oppression and dysmorphia can lead to suicide, hate can lead to violence against, educate yourself a bit: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/hormone-blockers-puberty-1.7113626
If you sit there wondering how the church could be part of colonialism and genocide and slave trades, and then remain silent as other groups are attacked, rights are removed, or the atrocities of the past like colonialism, genocide and the slave trade (as well as the Holocaust) are denied… you have answered your own question. Because you are the answer in your silent culpability.
The Christendom to maintain power, and what it perceives as relevance through power has found another group to continue to target and harm. Instead of, allowing the Holy Spirit to blow through. The question for us is will we let the vocal hatred become us?
Or will we, take the stand to tell it to be quiet and sit down?
I for one am tired of the false narratives, the hate. The concept of a phase, so what if a person on the journey of discovery explores the robust and infinite image of the Creator and then comes back around to how they were identified at birth? So what if they go on the same journey, and live into how they were created? By continuing the narrative of control and choice in these matters, we dishonour our Creator whose image we are in, and we dishonour the beautiful diversity that is the mosaic of that image on creation.
“I’m going to have to ask you, Ty to take Leland out, he is to distract for me to preach” after a visceral head snap back and flash of anger at my child’s joy during a Santa Clause service at a spiritual centre. This is just one of many types of inhospitable spaces of the Holy that Thomas E. Reynolds (2008) in his practical, personal and theological work, Vulnerable Communion:A Theology of Disability and Hospitality would have explored as he too is a Dad with a child with exceptionalities, differently abled (my son’s term is super powers) or as we know them at a cultural level whether visible or invisible as disabilities (though in Alberta at least, there are still some Canadians that use the atrocious “r” word slur or short bus jokes, and yes these can be in the church). Other examples pop to mind of folks in churches articulating sounds being distracting, or that “children like that do not belong here” to scapegoating disruption or bullying from wealthier families to the children with exceptionalities (these examples came back to mind as I read Reynolds). Reynolds at this point is an entryway, especially for those who have not slowed to contemplate, for those engaged in the theological work whether consciously or unconsciously due to intersections with community, it is reflective. Reflective on the concept of the myth of normal, how this book may aid a spiritual community, understanding of Imageo Dei and intersections of the journey of ableism. Can there be reconciliation in these communities or others, after the truths shared? For, the cornerstone in the church that allows this truth to exist is simply the fact the child or adult it is directed as is not normal.
The Myth of Normal
What is normal? This is at the root of ableism and eugenics. Essentially, it is whatever the majority or the wealthy of a society stipulate is the benchmark for normal. Yes, there are tests that show whether or not an infant or child is thriving or not that aid in diagnosis. Historically this diagnosis would lead to segregation and isolation within institutions, horrific trials and tribulations, perhaps unmitigated electroshock therapy, neglect/abuse, harsh psychotherapeutics to catatonia, forced sterilizations to name a few. As time progressed, there is the shift to community living and supports, integration supposedly into community life. Government entitlements if they can prove themselves worthy, supports for families or the adult caregivers if the parents surrender into care for not being able to care from early intervention through to adulthood. Some are covered, most for extra care and staff are designed in Alberta for the parents to pay out first and then await the reimbursement. An assumption that only wealthy can embrace the beautiful diversity of the Imageo Dei.
The diagnosis whether historically or currently are used to separate. It can be into blessed communities that embrace the diversity, but the support staff when grieving are not given supports other schools would be given. Using the idiom, it’s part of the job get back to work. For the children, the catchphrase they don’t understand, they are not cognitive (removing the concept of emotion, connection and belonging from the child because they do not fulfill a “normal” benchmark for cognition or interaction). Grief is universal, but we do not want to understand how to aid our vulnerable to grieve.
Even think of how we introduce folks, we focus on the deficit. This is how you can help them or explaining what to expect behaviour wise from their diagnosis. At any point in the introduction did we get to know them? What is their passion? Their purpose? Who they actually are? It is one of the ways diagnosis or labels can be detrimental instead of being used to set up space for accessibility and inclusion for the highest need for access we use it to move a person from personhood to medical jargon, which makes othering easier.
Makes as, Reynolds (2008) shares in his book, they are not normal, so we do not need to see them as neighbour. Anyone who has a disability or is a loved one of a person with a disability knows how this happens in society, and sadly, if we attempt to engage in church many times we are met with overt or covert ableism. The implicit or explicit bias, depending on the person and their position or giving in the church it is either challenged or accepted. For we have a concept of normal, it is a myth.
Imageo Dei
Normalcy is a myth, there is the old chestnut or dad joke, what is normal? That is precisely the answer and should be the Christian response with our theological understanding of the created image of God. I have spoken and written on this topic immensely over the lifespan of my ministries, taken time to cultivate spaces of welcome for all abilities. Suffered the slings and arrows for a colloquialism for it, and yes in one associate role, was voted into non-existence at an Annual General Meeting I was in attendance in of a progressive congregation for having members in the children and youth ministries on the Autism Spectrum and Cerebral Palsy. Was it ableism because of the diagnosis? Or ableism because of the church having 3 floors and not wanting the cost of the lift? Which bias or stereotype was driving the soft excommunication of the disabled?
A missing piece of understanding the incarnation of Jesus of Nazareth, who took on the outcast story. Who pushed back, challenged, and began the steps of healing of the socio-cultural (justice issues really) of exclusion for those that missed the truth of poetry in the Hebrew Bible (I have taken to use this term for the Old Testament, after reading Sir Rabbi Jeffrey Sacks, that pointed out the term “Old Testament” was an act of Anti-Semitism), from Genesis 1:26-28 (New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition, 2024):
26 Then God said, “Let us make humans[c] in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the wild animals of the earth[d] and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
27 So God created humans[e] in his image, in the image of God he created them;[f] male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them,
We are made in the Creator’s image. There was no qualifiers within the poetry. No differentiation or hierarchy. This is an understanding I was already engaging Reynolds’ with, some would not have as the journey and theological premises behind building this concept is quite clear as a shared experience of writer, teacher and Dad, I know where Reynolds’ was coming from, and his use of Jean Vanier’s theology, founder of L’Arche (and yes an abuser), also inspired one of the more known individuals who wrote of experience in disability community, Henri Nouwen.
For all four (I include myself here), and hopefully many others, the truth of the Imageo Dei, is one cannot fully understand or live this teaching without fully understanding all humanity is that image. Which ties back to the concept of introduction, and that those with disabilities are not here for us to serve, for us to teach or pity or… the list can go on.
They are here as part of the image. Like all parts of the image, that the Shema (known in the Christian Testament as the Great Commandments) speaks to love of God with our everything that is interconnected, and interdependent (not the story of life with Creator does not speak of individualism) to be able to love self and neighbour. This type of love is what my practical theology of belonging, one may say disability is built upon. We exist to be with one another, to aid one another in thriving, to create the just society that allows for these conditions understanding science, politics, arts, humanities, trades, etc. that give meaning and purpose, are all tools in our toolbox or toys in our toybox to create thriving creative and loving communities.
That is, if we can get out of our own way to allow the hope of the Holy to flow and wash away the myth of normalcy, to see the beautiful mosaic of the image of God.
Intersections with Ableism or can I belong here?
The Belonging Pyramid is an inverted pyramid precariously held up on the love from the Greatest Commandment lived out in an healthy interdependent community. The top of the pyramid is the easiest thing churches can do, but some fail. Accessibility, can one legitimately get into the building and access the spaces of the building? This is building code, there is bonus points if the access offers dignity to the image of God. There is also bonus points if the language is accessible, do we allow for pictures or other communication assist devices? Do we explain pieces of the rituals happening and why so folks who are new or different neurology’s can follow? Or do we lean into, this is the way it is an folks who know know, like a secret society? Do we point to lack of money for needed renovations without exploring grants or other fundraising concepts or partnerships? Do we plan for Universal Design for both spiritual formation (learning) and building?
The next piece leans into Universal Design, as it speaks to inclusion. Now that we are in the space, is there a space for us? A seat or a space for our ability assistance device we use (not usage not bound, it isn’t a form of bondage, I am not bonded to my legs, they move me, so do walkers, canes and wheelchairs) or do we use the idea of fire code and treat the user as furniture? Imagine that stigmatization, do we do the same thing with a slower moving or larger person who may be at an end of a row?
If we pass the row of inclusion, the precarious tip of the pyramid rooted in the heart of the threefold love of the Great Commandments, is belonging. Belonging is hard. Belonging is knowing one beyond socioeconomics, socio-culture, diagnosis, and other labels of society. Belonging is knowing one by name, knowing who we can share and be supported by, knowing who we support, who we live life with the joys and sorrows, and moments of uncontrolled giggles for no reason, belonging is when we miss a moment or event or appointment someone cares, notices and reaches out. Belonging is the greatest risk, because there could be a day when do to moving, life circumstance or succumbing to a chronic condition or pandemic or epidemic or MAiD (in Alberta accessed after chronic conditions with the co-occurrence of loneliness or poverty or both), the space where the person usually is—empty. Belonging is knowing one day you will grieve in change and be grieving loss.
How can this book be used?
Reynolds’ work is a good entry point for congregations that have never pondered. Congregations that have yet to engage with the aging community, or with, in Alberta as we have known for over two decades by this time in history 1 in 6 children will be born with or acquire an exceptionality in their early years. It opens the conversation, and the challenges with the right guide so that biases can be challenged, and hopefully changed for healthier communities.
For the myth of normal can be eliminated. Would it change outcomes of ex-communication or ostracism as has been touched upon in the personal journey here? In some instances, it could, there could have been a work through point, up to a point. But then the challenge of the sacred building stands and whether or not to continue to accessibility, inclusion and belonging the hardest discussion of the change to the “home of God” or “our church” conflated with the real estate would happen. Essentially has the forced, yet more subtle ostracisms/ex-communication is just delayed until the individual can no longer participate.
Reference
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. (2024) ESV Online.
It is a weekend at Grace Presbyterian here in Calgary, annual (though I haven’t been able to attend since pre-covid) where a speaker comes in and offers a free public lecture on the Friday, there’s a paid workshop with lunch on Saturday, and then they preach at the service on Sunday.
This year’s was a guest speaker from Vancouver School of Theology (VST) where the argyle is cool (if you know you know lol). He brought a “master class” on his topic for clery Friday day time, and then the free public lecture last night (which next year I am hoping to find folks willing to car pool as I would love to take in whomever the speaker is).
Then for a simple $20 today, with lunch included, or on zoom, you could take in his lecture: Biblical Authority: Play & Possibility. The Rev. Dr. Richard Topping, led a just shy of 3 hour talk this morning. Some nuts and bolts differentiations of philosophy of teaching, I do like a simple coffee break at the half way point, allows for a stretch, bio needs, without having to worry about missing key things from the speaker. I also am one that likes the teaching, then allowing for small group discussions, with some ice breakers (though I detest ice breakers) to get to know folks around you or in the room. I get this isn’t everyone’s pedagogy (how we learn) and the straight up lecture with questions worked well, but I need the process time (hence the post).
It was great to see folks I hadn’t seen for awhile, though by the time I was ready to socialize post lunch they had faded away (yeah I’m one of those introverts).
But back to the topic Rev. Dr. Topping brought. It was well laid out, and took us into what it means to understand scripture, to be able to be appropriate in working within the proper genre. The concept of the heresy of the paraphrase, that takes something beautiful, creative and artistic and tries to boil down to evidentiary fact is a wonderful concept for my philosophical mind. Reminding me, that Mark 4, is this chapter of parable that exists within the propaganda writing (which is what the genre of gospel is) to instruct us how to discover through parable, the opposite of what we are taught when learning to preach to use story for clarity, rather these stories exist to create confusion, discourse and dialogue I would press forward with.
But to remember that to engage with the work of reading scripture is to lean into the invitation to imagination.
Let that settle in.
Engage into the invitation to imagination.
As we are to live in this almost and not yet, trusting in promises given and the path of the stories laid out with us. Rev. Dr. Topping shared the medieval idea of palimpsets, where valum was scraped clean, and this idea of the old being scraped away for the new to be written. Think of that imagery, for resources, he also shared of the Image Journal, and the beautiful poetry of Jill Baumgartener.
The mature faith, is one where creativity and faith are not simply connected, but interwoven as a tapestry of community. A true mosaic of spirit, heart, emotion and mind.
For other resources, also shared was Martin Luther King Jr., Serene Jones, Northrope Frye, and Paul Ricouer. Explore their works, ideas, how faith inspires imagination, and engages in a different way, and through the creative, we can discover the Holy anew.
So what makes a playful imaginative interpretation?
Seven things:
Humility, that is having a willingness to reflect.
Love, what the bible is truly about
Patience, are we willing to linger in the stories and the creative?
Imaginity that is born out, through, and within the Holy Spirit
Someone undstands what the Bible is about
Reads scripture, as the word centered, Jesus.
Scripture-not just an artifact, but a sanctified means that God uses in the economy of salvation.
As you prepare to imagine and engage.
Ask yourself, what is the bible?
How you answer this question speaks to how playful you’ll be for as you read the bible you’re communing with the writers and communities within those stories (the saints, remember those pesky creeds? How do you understand the creeds? What do you resonate with? Struggle with? throw away?)
For this all leads into the latin term, Pallotum cordis, the pallete of our heart. That is how we ingest the stories and live them. The magical/mystical understanding of Jesus’ life being one of solidarity with the marginalized.
If these ideas resonate or something more you would like to explore, I encourage you on Feb. 25, 2024 @ 10:30 a.m., to attend service at Grace Presbyterian, and discover anew or renew.
Oki, Âba wathtech, Danit’ada, Tansi, Hello and welcome to worship at Centennial. I would like to acknowledge we gather as first peoples and settlers on the traditional territories of the Treaty 7 peoples that include the Stoney Nakoda First Nations including Chiniki, Bearspaw and Good Stoney First Nations, the Blackfoot Confederacy that includes the Siksika, the Piikani and Kainai First Nations, and Tsuut’ina First Nations, and the Metis Nation Region 3. With the living love of Creator, we commit to the hard calling of truth and reconciliation together here on Turtle Island.
We are in the season of Epiphany, a time to embrace the mystery of faith, and listen deeply to the still quiet voice calling us. As well, as the voice of affirmation of unity, as the Christian Week for Prayer for Unity as well. Please join me in our call to worship.
Call to Worship
God our rock and our salvation.
We will not be shaken!
Trust in God at all times, O people.
We will pour out our hearts to God, our refuge.
Today, let us turn to God and accept the good news.
We will listen for Christ’s call and follow him.
Time of Praise:
1) SN 215 Have Thine Own Way Lord
2) BP 634 Will you Come and Follow Me
Prayers:
Lord Jesus Christ,
you have called us together as your people,
and invited us to follow you.
Your church has grown from scattered homes in ancient times –
to a worldwide community,
embracing men and women, young and old, from many nations and cultures.
We marvel at the miracle of your church,
and praise you for our place among your people.
Your love keeps drawing us to you and to each other,
and so we offer you our wonder and praise
with millions of those who also gather in your name this day,
our Saviour and our Lord.
God of mercy and mystery,
we confess your mercy can disturb us.
We sit in judgment on what we hear,
and cannot imagine offering forgiveness for dreadful actions.
We prefer to think that your judgment matches ours.
Forgive us for presuming we see as you see,
and understand all that you understand.
Have mercy upon us, O God,
when we give up on the power of mercy.
Lord’s Prayer
(Version 4 from the New Zealand Prayer Book)
Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver, Source of all that is and that shall be, Father and Mother of us all, Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe! The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world! Your heavenly will be done by all created beings! Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us. In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us. In times of temptation and test, strengthen us. From trials too great to endure, spare us. From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and for ever. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
God of new life, your Word can change lives with mercy and purpose.
Send your Holy Spirit to help us hear your Word
with its potential to change our lives
as we follow Jesus Christ, your Living Word. Amen.
Announcements – Elders
Church Family Celebrations- Elders
Children’s Time:
Today’s story in Mark is about two brothers who were asked to come follow Jesus, and they dropped their nets and went. This story is about you. What are things that you do that are kind to others? That show love? See those simple things, show Jesus.
The congregation will sing a prayer for you, as you grow in this community, and like each of us, will be asked at different times to show and live Jesus.
Here is what I am saying to you who are members of the sacred family: There is not much time left before these troubled times come. So those who are married should now prepare themselves to live as if they were not. It is not the time to wallow in tears and self-pity, or for glad hearts and festivals, and it is not the time to gather many possessions. Those who depend on the world as it is must be ready to let go of it, for the world as we know it will soon pass away.
Mark 1:14-20 (First Nation’s Version)
Then later, after Gift of Goodwill (John) was arrested, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) traveled to the territory of Circle of Nations (Galilee) to tell the good story.
“The time has now come!” he said to the people. “Creator’s good road is right in front of you. It is time to return to the right ways of thinking and doing! Put your trust in this good story I am bringing to you.”
As he walked along the shore of the Lake of Circle of Nations (Sea of Galilee), he saw two men, One Who Hears (Simon) and Stands with Courage (Andrew), throwing their nets into the lake, for they were fishermen.
“Come! Walk the road with me,” he called out to them, an I will teach you how to net two-leggeds instead of fish!”
Right then and there they dropped their nets and began to walk the road with him.
He walked a little farther down the shore and saw two more men, the brothers He Takes Over (James) and He Shows Goodwill (John), the two sons of the Gift of Creator (Zebedee). They were sitting in their canoe and mending their nets. Right away he called out for them to walk the road with him. They dropped their nets, left their father behind with the hired help, and also became followers of Create Sets Free (Jesus).
This is the word of the Lord,
Thanks be to God.
Sermon
What nets have to be let go?
What a beautiful image, that appears so simple in its rendering within this story. A call, and a response, much like a liturgical prayer ala our Call to Worship. But do we think James and John responded so quickly and simply? The Gospel of Mark is written for a Roman audience—those that liked action and fast pace, one with shorter attention spans, and is theorized to be the first gospel of Canon writing that Luke and Matthew drew upon with other sources, hence why their renditions are a tad longer.
But here we are on the sea of Galilee, from all historic reports a rather robust fishing hole, the type of place that if fishing was your business, is definitely where you would want to let your nets down. So, a rather successful trade, and what else do we hear in the story that they needed to consider? Their Dad. See those simple lines where there is more at play for finances, for family business, for family.
Are we to hear in this then that Jesus was anti-family?
I do not think so. I see a beautiful metaphor as a life coach and spiritual director in the letting down of the nets, the letting go. The stepping out of that which holds us back, and as we can see how the stories progress there are many times that our minds and heart’s role when something new, or even engaging in the usual. See, we have internal soundtracks within ourselves, that have been shaped by our life experiences, by those around us, by our own responses to events. Those are what create our own nets, or in the wording of life coaching, the inner saboteur, or as I prefer to work with them in many workshops and one-to-one work with staff and students, gremlins.
And yes you may think of the cuddly mogwai that if it gets wet or is fed after darks turns into a terror from the movie of the same name, or even the circa World War II posters featuring the goblin like creatures that create havoc in mechanical devices that cannot be figured out, again for Whovians, the Church of Ruby Road show this past Christmas had a great visual even if they called them goblins.
For I think James and John had some gremlins in their hearts and mind even though the story moved rapidly, how do I know they wrestled with them? Because we all do. Even if we have “done” the work to silence or remove them, in our moments of anxiousness or busyness or feeling overwhelmed or… presented with something new that excites us but raises the what ifs in our minds. See gremlins aren’t just destructive creatures in our lives, they do provide a function to protect us, and to be quite honest they have gotten us to this point in our lives whether we wanted them to or not.
These were the interior voices James and John were wrestling with.
For these are what we wrestle with, and I do think in that moment even if they did not know they walked through a process, one I would like to share with you, for your own New Year’s gremlin freeing, or as the story says, to let go of the nets. It is a workshop I was also blessed a few years back to share with the Calgary and Macleod’s Presbytery’s Cyclical, the ministry that aids in equipping and growing/renewing ministries. For leaders and initiators, it was a way to remove barriers within to live out that which they were being called into.
So, if you notice a gremlin in your own life, or someone else’s what can be done?
It’s not arduous, it is recognized by familiar catch phrases like uhm, ah, maybe later, or it can be seen in spending far too much time seeking out “all the information” which keeps us stuck, or too expensive or don’t have the time or even simply, not thinking it’s possible due to x, y or z highly plausible and logical reasons. Did you catch some of that with the Brothers Zebedee, also known as the brothers of Thunder? Successful fishing business set to inherit, their workers, their boats, their own families possibly, their Dad and Mum (the Mum we meet later in the journey). If they knew it was from God, do you think it could also be a why me? I can’t? There’s someone better…all things I personally have felt in my own journey a few years back, where things were aligning in another role in a Presbyterian church to begin the journey of ordered ministry, but the gremlin arose with the what ifs, there’s no time, you can’t afford it… And the effect was disengaging from the process. Which is the realization of the gremlin as I worked through this passage from where I stand today, in a pulpit, in ministry, my own gremlin looks like a blob with hands I call Bob, and I have exorcised them several times and the emotions and voices get less, but like I mentioned earlier in those less than ideal circumstances when there’s anxiousness either from fear, not knowing, or even joy of succeeding, the voice is there. The voice, in communities and organizations we know as the eternal “we’ve always done it that way”, that’s the voice of a gremlin, a net not yet released. When I was with the cyclical missionaries’/ministers, I took them from the individual to the collective to explore the community gremlins holding them back, it is a useful time, with this always have been gremlin voice I just challenge to go deeper to understand the why, so we don’t wind up like the old family parable of the ham that always had two inches cut off each end, and went through the generations cooking like that until Great Grandma admitted it was how much smaller her roaster was.
But I digress, and back to the brothers and what is happening internally and can be a dialogue with someone to work out the gremlin or as the story puts it to let the net go. But I like ritual, I mean, it’s one of the things that aids us in connecting with God, and one another.
If you know there’s a gremlin there, take time to understand them. Centre yourself in breathing in a place you feel safe, your sanctuary if you will. Have pencils and paper close, maybe crayons too. Scribble out all the emotions and phrases the gremlin uses on you, the questions, things that hold you back or on the track you’re on even though there may be a call to do something else. For aid with the emotions, you may want to do an internet search for the image of an emotions wheel.
Once part one is done, leave the centre of your page open, then give form to these words, remember doesn’t have to be artistic as I pointed out Bob is like a blob with stick person hands. Give it shape something you can see and is tangible. Then the final step is a name.
Now do I think this was done in the story today. No, but something was done, as Jesus called, they paused, they were holding their fishing nets, a symbol of who they are and what anchors them in the now. As was shown, many different emotions phrases and words running through.
Much like this symbolism shown in the ancient and now text, so is the gremlin work.
That gremlin is the net you are holding.
Now looking at it, you have a choice, like James and John did.
You may choose to hold onto the gremlin or let go.
Either choice is okay, and good for who you are today. See, we tend to beat ourselves up for our historic decisions looking back on who we are now. It’s an impossibility, you were not who you are now, then, even the then when you came through the sanctuary doors and joined neighbours in worship. We are constantly changing and growing, and as such, so is our understanding, our experience, and our wisdom, so know, the choices you make now are the best you can make with who you are now. Just like the choices you made an hour ago, a day ago, a week, a month, a year or five years ago. Self-forgiveness is that blessed release of understanding and stepping into the now to continue the journey on the new path.
That is the dialogue with the net the brothers were having. That is the dialogue with the gremlin you have now named, you will have. It is your time to thank the gremlin for being there, up to this point in your journey. Then you have a choice. Continue to move forward in a new way with the gremlin until you are ready to release, or to say goodbye to the gremlin, knowing they may return but now they are known they are not as powerful over you, and you can send them out once more. I like destruction rituals for the sending away, so burning or shredding the paper.
And regardless of the decision you make if you choose to enter into the internal dialogue, know that you are making the best decision for you in the now.
Just as James and John were standing there, looking at who they were in the now. With an unknown labourer, the teacher calling out to them to come and join him on, well even now when we hear that still small voice calling, do we truly know what is out there.
Don’t let the gremlin hold you back, like I have in different times.
As you stand there in the story, hear the words of Jesus, with the net in your hands.
“Come! Walk the road with me,” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) calls out to you.
And now, are you going to hold the net or release it into 2024?
Offering
Dedication of the Offering
BP 663 God of Love, Hear our Prayer
(Tune: Edelweiss)
Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession
God of fishers and farmers and factory workers,
God of those who work in health care, hospitality and at home,
God of our offices and businesses, our stores and our streets,
our schools and rec centres, of emergency services and entertainers,
we thank you for the many ways we can serve your purposes.
And we thank you for all the ways others offer us goodness
to sustain our lives and support our community.
Remind us to offer our thanks to them, not only to you.
God of purpose and promise,
Jesus called his first followers to change their livelihoods
and so they did.
Today we pray for those whose work has changed without their choice:
those who have lost their jobs,
those whose businesses are in jeopardy,
and those who face increased demands at work with less support.
Give them courage and perseverance as the future unfolds.
God, in your hope,
God of all churches who bear your Son’s name,
whatever tradition or perspective that shapes us,
we thank you for the fellowship we share
and the gifts of the Spirit we receive.
We pray that the differences between us will not blunt our witness
to Jesus and the love he proclaims.
Teach us to value diversity in discipleship
and honour what unites us more than what divides us,
so that the world may see Jesus reflected in all our lives.
God, in your hope,
God of our cities and towns, our villages and reserves,
God of all cultures and clans that shape our identities,
you created us for community.
We thank you for the enjoyment and support
that we find by coming together.
We pray for all those who suffer
because others judge something key to their identities,
language or religion, orientation or status.
Help us learn from each other through our differences,
and recognize the face of Christ in those who challenge our assumptions.
God, in your hope,
God of all times and situations,
We bear on our hearts concerns for many around us
whose challenges seem overwhelming.
Hear us in this time of silence as we name them before you:
Silence for a count of 30.
Send your Spirit of healing and hope to embrace those who need you.
We dare to ask all this because we trust in the name of Jesus, your Son,
Oki, Âba wathtech, Danit’ada, Tansi, Hello and welcome to worship at Centennial. I would like to acknowledge we gather as first peoples and settlers on the traditional territories of the Treaty 7 peoples that include the Stoney Nakoda First Nations including Chiniki, Bearspaw and Good Stoney First Nations, the Blackfoot Confederacy that includes the Siksika, the Piikani and Kainai First Nations, and Tsuut’ina First Nations, and the Metis Nation Region 3. With the living love of Creator, we commit to the hard calling of truth and reconciliation together here on Turtle Island.
Call to Worship
Leader: When Jesus is born to Mary and Joseph,
People: God is there.
Leader: When Jesus is presented at the temple,
People: God is there.
Leader: When Simeon holds Jesus in his arms,
People: God is there.
Leader: When Anna recognizes Jesus in the temple,
People: God is there.
Leader: This very morning,
People: God is here.
Leader: In the future we cannot see,
People: God is there.
All: Let us worship God!
— written by Rev. Robert George, Karen George, Judy Colby-George, in Past Meets Future: A Blessing for Today
Time of Praise:
1) BP 153 Joy to the World
2) BP 141 Good Christians, All Rejoice
Prayers:
God of grace and glory,
we praise you from the heights and from the depths;
from the courts of power and from the sidewalks of our lives.
Your splendour shines from a manger,
where the Light of the World was born for us.
In fragile flesh, you are revealed to us face to face
reaching out to claim our love.
And so we gather with those who have glimpsed that love
to rejoice that you have claimed us in Christ.
We offer you our praise, Creator, Son, and Spirit;
Source of life, Glorious light, and Wisdom of the ages.
God of our lives,
we know you are with us through thick and thin,
in times of great joy and at moments of disappointment.
Yet we can feel let down when the joy of Christmas Day has passed.
Our hope gets folded away with the gift wrap,
our energy for the future feels a bit tattered.
Forgive us when our faithfulness flickers like a candle burning down.
(From Presbyterian Church in Canada worship resources for Dec. 31, 2023)
Lord’s Prayer
(Version 4 from the New Zealand Prayer Book)
Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver, Source of all that is and that shall be, Father and Mother of us all, Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe! The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world! Your heavenly will be done by all created beings! Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us. In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us. In times of temptation and test, strengthen us. From trials too great to endure, spare us. From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and for ever. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
Hear the good news of the Gospel: Jesus Christ is our light and our salvation. In him we are made new. Let us give thanks to God and be at peace with ourselves and with one another.
(From Presbyterian Church in Canada worship resources for Dec. 31, 2023)
Announcements – Elders
Church Family Celebrations- Elders
Children’s Time:
“Celebrate.”
You have seen what happens at blessings, Christenings, and baptisms. When you meet the community, and are taken around, regardless of age. That is what is happening in today’s story from Luke, and we will hear how Jesus met his community, and how his community, like yours, responds, by seeing the blessings within you. So, as they met you, and have been meeting you each and every week since, how about sharing…
What do you like to do? What are things you do well? Things you like to learn?
Let’s pray
Hymn:
BP 146 Angels From the Realms of Glory
Scripture
Galatians 4:4-7 (First Nations Version)
But when the time was right, Creator sent his Son, who was born of a woman and born under our tribal law. He came to set free the ones who were under the law, so that all of us could take our place in Creator’s family as mature sons and daughters. Because this is the true of your, Creator has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying our from within us, “Abba! My Father!”
So then, you are no longer slaves to the spiritual powers of this world that use the law to accuse you and bring you under bondage. You are now taking your place as mature sons and daughters ready to share in the family blessing promised by the Great Spirit.
Luke 2:22-40 (First Nations Version)
Then, about one moon later, the time came for them to present their child to the Great Spirit in the Sacred Village of Peace (Jerusalem). This was for their cleansing ceremony, an ancient tradition from the lawgiver Drawn from the Water (Moses), who said, “Every male child who is first to open the womb will be holy in the Great Spirit’s sight. Bring two turtle doves or two young pigeons to be burned with fire as a sweet-smelling smoke offering.”
This shows they were poor, for this was the offering a poor family was
permitted to bring according to tribal law.
When they arrived at the sacred lodge in Village of Peace (Jerusalem), they were welcomed by Creator Hears (Simeon), a respected elder who did what was right in the Great Spirit’s sight, and waited patiently for him and told him he would not die until he saw Creator’s Chosen One with his own eyes.
As Creator Hears (Simeon) followed the guidance of the Spirit, he arrived at the sacred lodge just in time to see He Gives Sons (Joseph) and Bitter Tears (Mary) bringing their child for the traditional ceremony given in their tribal law. Creator Hears (Simeon) took the child into his arms and spoke words of blessing over him.
“O Great Father”, he prayed, “I now see with my own eyes the one you have prepared for all Nations, the one who will heal our broken ways and set us free. He will make a clear path for all people to see and bring honor to the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel). Now, just as you have said, I can cross over in peace.”
The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said. So Creator Hears (Simeon) spoke blessing words over them also.
He then turned to Bitter Tears (Mary) and spoke softly in her ear.
“This child has been chosen for the fall and rising of many in the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel). He will be a sign that will be spoken against exposing the thoughts of many.
His voice softened as he looked sadly into his eyes.
He said to her, “Even your own spirit will be pierced through like a sharp arrow.”
As they pondered his words, a holy woman, named Woman of Goodwill (Anna) welcomed them. She was an elder from the tribe of Walks with a Glad Heart (Asher) and the daughter of Face of Creator (Phaneul). She had married at a young age and lived with her husband for seven winters but had not been a widow for eighty-four winters. She served the Great Spirit at his sacred lodge night and day with fasting and many prayers. When she saw the child, she gave thanks to Creator and began telling about the child to all who were waiting for Creator to fulfill the promises he made to the Sacred Village of Peace (Jerusalem).
After they performed all the ceremonies that Creator’s Law required, they returned to Circle of Nations (Galilee), to their home in Seed Planter Village (Nazareth). In this village the child grew strong in his spirit and was filled with wisdom, for the blessing of the Great Spirit was resting on him.
This is the word of the Lord,
Thanks be to God.
Sermon
“What’s Purpose?”
Lutheran Pastor and writer, Nadia Bolz-Weber, posted recently to her social media, “I won’t say that I hope this season is merry; I won’t say that I hope it is happy and bright. But I will say this: I hope you hear a divine “yes” this season. In other words, may your soul feel its worth”. And this is what has been mulling around and struggling since coming to the texts for today for me. This sermon is reflective not of a deep dive academic process, but rather a messy interior journey of spiritual hearing and seeking for that divine yes. It is the same struggles in the Temple I imagine Joseph and Mary had, after saying yes to the divine yes. Those in the Temple bearing witness, Simeon finally actualizing a divine yes, and I ponder if he had even avoided moments of the divine yes as we all do for not knowing our own worth, even Luke recording this story so many decades and events later. And at the core, like with the Nativity story at this Christmas time, with Mary and Elizabeth being the voice, now here is Anna in her full worth, full Imageo Dei living into her divine yes.
This journey will share some of my own thoughts and heart reflections, before crafting time for you to listen for your divine yes, and or possibly a divine yes of someone else for discernment is not individualistic, but like belonging and purpose if you’ve been around for my other sermons, interdependent.
Welcome to my own labyrinth walk into the story…
This past Saturday December 9, we were given a storytelling gift, in a Doctor Who Special, called The Giggle. It was a gift, because of the interaction of the two doctors, in which the new doctor looked at his former self with two pieces of wisdom:
I’m okay because you took the time to fix us, we’re Timelords and we do rehab out of order.
You can stop running.
Powerful wisdom, discovered in the form of story, much like the texts of today with Paul’s writings to the house gatherings in Galatia, and the physician Luke’s recording of the tale of the Temple for baby Jesus, his parents and temple prophets. Both these pieces of wisdom can be seen.
Both these pieces of wisdom as well, speak to us, as we sit here in the in-between known as Christmas time awaiting Epiphany, and on the calendar, the new year turning over to 2024 at midnight on January 1, just under 13 hours away. See, the second piece, is what those in Galatia, and Jesus’ folks needed to hear. It was speaking to the treadmill of survival one can be in. It can be the sympathetic nervous system that gives us our flight, fawn, freeze or fight responses. That when you are living under occupation as the early church was under the Roman Empire, as Jesus’ family was birthing him into as non-entities oppressed by both the Empire, and the Religious Authorities collaborating for what little power there was left, this is the constant of the system. The running if you will, and for anyone who has ever seen Doctor Who, you know running is part of the show with timey-wimey saving the universe things.
Much like us, especially in this era of greedflation, being on the treadmill, running not to thrive, but to survive. Even as Jesus’ parents enter the temple they are on this treadmill, hypervigilant even if not realizing it. The call on their son to be the messiah, one that so many were expecting. A warrior king to overthrow the Empire and make things right again.
And yet,
Here was the baby.
What a purpose, but was it a true purpose?
As I ruminated and mulled these readings, I reflect on my own journey, and I ponder how many of you can relate? Doing good work, helping others, falling into the rhythm and complacency of life. Finding ways to find purpose, that thing that gives meaning, that piece of us that our society has codified and says the purpose that matters is the one you are paid for.
What happens though when you can’t anymore?
This goes back to that first piece of wisdom, doing the work, rehab out of order. Healing. Letting go. A rather daunting challenge, but as Simeon and Anna shared their wisdom of the baby Jesus with mum and dad this is what had to happen, out of order, they thought they were being called to something monumental, and then they realized it was truly astounding and cosmic reshaping.
Have you ever had a moment like that? When didn’t things just make sense? Or when a change so drastic happened that you were unsure what was going to happen next? For me at this point in my journey these are the questions arising with Luke’s story here, for me in the now. Having spent so much of my life in ministry in life recovery and the homeless serving sector, teaching and ministry building in churches, writing and speaking…and then 7 years ago the end began. There was no prophetic voice there, but I could empathize with Joseph, and Mary, about the unknown with these words of Simeon and Anna, and for the prophets to in the waiting but not yet until Jesus was there.
See four years ago, after I worked hard to heal, and rebuild my mind, and stem the constant roll of discord and seizures that was PTSD driven PNES, I was given what can be a challenge for one’s purpose. Being told I could not longer serve as I had for my life up until that point.
Anyone can relate? Your whole self is willing, but you just can’t anymore?
And let me tell you coming off a long-term disability claim, there was no cushion, there was no time to process the new reality, there was only how do we survive, what happens next? Scrambling with a little guidance and a new resume. See there is purpose that cultivates from passion but then there is complete disruption.
Do you think that’s what these young parents may have been feeling, and feeling even more after entering the temple?
Our church is in an almost, not yet moment, a moment when we can listen, discern, and see what our purpose is to be next. But also, to let go of what no longer aids, what no longer is and take the time to mourn.
For in that wisdom, of time to mourn, is what was missing, and four years of myself into this new purpose of teaching and writing, it finally settled in during Advent, as we journeyed to the manger for me.
Stop running. Yes, as a friend had said with the PNES I had kept running even past when I should have stopped to support others, and then couldn’t anymore. Then had to rebuild, but the reset in February 2020 didn’t last long before the next chaos of a pandemic ensued, and still no pause with the running.
But what happens, if we take time to rest?
What happens, if we take time to be with one another?
What happens, for our purpose, if we listen to those who know us. What happens if we let others aid in the discernment and guidance? It can be a hard thing.
But I do ponder, how Mary and Joseph felt in the Temple, when Simeon, then Anna approached and spoke wisdom over their baby.
I ponder, some days what it can feel like to not run. To do the work not in reverse, but in order.
I ponder what would happen if the world of peace, joy, hope and love a baby born at the darkest time of year as the brightest light…so bright that the oppressive and colonizing structures of his day trembled and started to find ways to discredit and eliminate this little baby in a creche of a stable.
I ponder how our belonging changes, when we cultivate authentic purpose and community, knowing that we are not alone, we are interconnected and beloved creations given the most precious gift.
I ponder what happens, if we could stop the sprint, and enter the marathon.
I ponder, what purpose is brewing for each of us today and in a few hours, into the new year.
As you hear these words one last time, if you feel comfortable, close your eyes, slow your breathing, deep diaphragmatic breathes, let your mind rest, if you get distracted its okay, acknowledge and come back to the story. Feel the church and pews fade away, for the busyness of the Temple courtyard, feel the heat and dust, and bay of livestock, the commotion, the soft sniffles, and cries of newborns. When the Holy family enters, and you are.
Let that last question be in your mind as you hear these words, what purpose is being affirmed or called today? What divine yes are we entering into?
Luke 2:22-40 (First Nations Version)
Then, about one moon later, the time came for them to present their child to the Great Spirit in the Sacred Village of Peace (Jerusalem). This was for their cleansing ceremony, an ancient tradition from the lawgiver Drawn from the Water (Moses), who said, “Every male child who is first to open the womb will be holy in the Great Spirit’s sight. Bring two turtle doves or two young pigeons to be burned with fire as a sweet-smelling smoke offering.”
This shows they were poor, for this was the offering a poor family was
permitted to bring according to tribal law.
When they arrived at the sacred lodge in Village of Peace (Jerusalem), they were welcomed by Creator Hears (Simeon), a respected elder who did what was right in the Great Spirit’s sight, and waited patiently for him and told him he would not die until he saw Creator’s Chosen One with his own eyes.
As Creator Hears (Simeon) followed the guidance of the Spirit, he arrived at the sacred lodge just in time to see He Gives Sons (Joseph) and Bitter Tears (Mary) bringing their child for the traditional ceremony given in their tribal law. Creator Hears (Simeon) took the child into his arms and spoke words of blessing over him.
“O Great Father”, he prayed, “I now see with my own eyes the one you have prepared for all Nations, the one who will heal our broken ways and set us free. He will make a clear path for all people to see and bring honor to the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel). Now, just as you have said, I can cross over in peace.”
The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said. So Creator Hears (Simeon) spoke blessing words over them also.
He then turned to Bitter Tears (Mary) and spoke softly in her ear.
“This child has been chosen for the fall and rising of many in the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel). He will be a sign that will be spoken against exposing the thoughts of many.
His voice softened as he looked sadly into his eyes.
He said to her, “Even your own spirit will be pierced through like a sharp arrow.”
As they pondered his words, a holy woman, named Woman of Goodwill (Anna) welcomed them. She was an elder from the tribe of Walks with a Glad Heart (Asher) and the daughter of Face of Creator (Phaneul). She had married at a young age and lived with her husband for seven winters but had not been a widow for eighty-four winters. She served the Great Spirit at his sacred lodge night and day with fasting and many prayers. When she saw the child, she gave thanks to Creator and began telling about the child to all who were waiting for Creator to fulfill the promises he made to the Sacred Village of Peace (Jerusalem).
After they performed all the ceremonies that Creator’s Law required, they returned to Circle of Nations (Galilee), to their home in Seed Planter Village (Nazareth). In this village the child grew strong in his spirit and was filled with wisdom, for the blessing of the Great Spirit was resting on him.
As you feel the heat, dust, and busyness fade. Feel the comfort of the pew reform around you. Bring your breathing back to normal and let the call rest on you. Perhaps you feel like sharing with others, whether it is your own or another person’s. Affirm the gifts, talents, and purposes we see in one another.
As another calendar year inches closer to an end, may we enter into 2024 knowing our full worth created in the blessed imageo dei.
Amen.
Dance the Offering
Dedication of the Offering
Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession
God of love,
as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, our Saviour,
we are filled with thanks that he has shared human life,
and knows well both our joys and heartaches.
We bring our prayers for the world you love,
grateful that Jesus walks ahead of us into the year ahead.
We pray for all children for they embody our future.
Protect them from danger, strengthen their characters, and give them joy.
Help them look to the future with hope and trust.
We pray for the most aged among us,
those whom Simeon and Anna bring to mind.
Protect them in these days of rising costs and rising tensions,
and reassure them of their value to you and to the whole community.
We pray for those whose hearts are filled with pain and fear
and for those whose Christmas has been touched with loss or grief.
(Keep a time of silence)
Surround each one with your comforting embrace.
We pray for those who cannot afford enough to eat,
and for those who lack adequate shelter
here and in desperate corners of the world.
We pray for those who fear violence in their daily lives
here and in so many regions of conflict.
And we pray for those whose are anxious about the year ahead
for whatever reason,
(Keep a brief time of silence)
Grant each one the courage and strength to face the days ahead.
As this year draws to a close, we surrender to you, O God,
the challenges it has held for us so that they will not remain as burdens.
Remind us of the good things that have offered us encouragement and pleasure.
(Keep a brief time of silence)
Give us wisdom to navigate whatever the coming year brings.
In the new year, grant our leaders the wisdom and generosity of spirit
to collaborate on decisions they face for the wellbeing of society
and of the earth itself.
Inspire us all with the hope, joy and peace we find through trusting you,
Amen.
(From Presbyterian Church in Canada worship resources for Dec. 31, 2023)
Hymn
BP 811 Standing at the Portal
Benediction and Choral Commissioning
Now May the Good Lord Bless You (tune: O Little Town of Bethlehem)
A new pop theological term I have noted popping up around social media from exvangelicals, and I wonder why? Okay it can be because I possibly was never “constructed”, in spite of my theological education at undergrad and masters being from the evangelical perspective if you will it was never my theological “home” or comfort place. I was always pushing back.
I mean I was the Anglican baby baptized (first on the parish’s roll, would go on later in my journey to return to be their director of youth and children ministries or as they dubbed me their “youth monk”) in the Roman Catholic School Gymnasium with Presbyterian godparents to start my journey, and since it had been ecclectic. Some may say it was like Henri Nouwen or Dorothy Day or J.S. Woodsward discovering Jesus in those I served, or Thomas Merton engaging with Eastern religious and philosophies to reconnect with the monastic tradition or Rev. Matthew Fox renenewing Panentheism through the Indigenous or other ancient wisdom traditions or Rev. John Shelby Spong, looking deeper than the literal, possibly like the Jesus Seminar for a more socio-historic-economic-anthropological context of the text, or even resting and renewing into the story itself and the wonderful theological beauty that brings.
I am asked if I am orthodox, but honestly after having travelled so many kilometres within the mosaic of the body of Christ I cannot even fully articulate what that would be anymore.
I sit in the debates on renewing or literally saving the institutional church, and ponder why bother or yes let’s.
I sit in debates about the idea of church as is, being irrelevant and that it needs to be something different, and I mull, yet let’s or why bother.
And I wonder, if this may be the early internal dialogue that guided writings such as James’ in the Christian Testament, or Creeds, or the founding of monastic orders, but also reverberate with the term heresy/heretic in my heart– the making of a choice.
And then my Anglican voice emerges (it’s like Catholic Guilt, but comes with a British accent).
Via Media
The middle path.
Does a choice need to be made?
Or is simply as Christendom, the harmful economic colonial empire church dies, and is entering the Easter Tomb, is what is to resurrect something new yet familiar?
Could a traditional style church and what is new exist together?
Have we not always had this tension, yet as our world polarizes more and more, made it more of a distinctive discourse than necessary? A false dilemma if you will.
Deconstructing, is what has happened throughout the story of the church, it is even what is seen in the earliest callings of the disciples by Jesus in the canonical gospels (but more on that in my sermon on Jan. 21, 2024)?
As I have said, I have been a pilgrim, sometimes better, sometimes worse, my whole life within, through the Holy Mystery that we dubbed God. Struggling to live out the teachings of Brother Jesus, in spite of myself. Diving into those formerly thrown aside, and now seeing the rest of the Christian world catching up with where the calling was leading.
I remember the words of Saint John XXIII when he opened the Second Vatican Council, it was about opening the windows of the church and letting the Holy Spirit blow through.
And just with that, and my journey (and those who have been long time readers know the other pieces), perhaps is one of the other hurdles I have had for church ministry, not feeling theologically, fully, home anywhere…
The shortest work in the Hebrew Scriptures, Obadiah is a scant 21 verses of reality checking rant at the people. As probably part of the remanent left behind in Jerusalem between 587-76 BCE, and a symbolic name that means “servant of the Lord”…Obadiah laid it out for the people:
1 The vision of Obadiah.
Edom Will Be Humbled
Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom: We have heard a report from the Lord, and a messenger has been sent among the nations: “Rise up! Let us rise against her for battle!” 2 Behold, I will make you small among the nations; you shall be utterly despised.[a] 3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock,[b] in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, “Who will bring me down to the ground?” 4 Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the Lord.
5 If thieves came to you, if plunderers came by night— how you have been destroyed!— would they not steal only enough for themselves? If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings? 6 How Esau has been pillaged, his treasures sought out! 7 All your allies have driven you to your border; those at peace with you have deceived you; they have prevailed against you; those who eat your bread[c] have set a trap beneath you— you have[d] no understanding.
8 Will I not on that day, declares the Lord, destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of Mount Esau? 9 And your mighty men shall be dismayed, O Teman, so that every man from Mount Esau will be cut off by slaughter.
Edom’s Violence Against Jacob
10 Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever. 11 On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. 12 But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune; do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; do not boast[e] in the day of distress. 13 Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; do not gloat over his disaster in the day of his calamity; do not loot his wealth in the day of his calamity. 14 Do not stand at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives; do not hand over his survivors in the day of distress.
The Day of the Lord Is Near
15 For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head. 16 For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations shall drink continually; they shall drink and swallow, and shall be as though they had never been. 17 But in Mount Zion there shall be those who escape, and it shall be holy, and the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions. 18 The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble; they shall burn them and consume them, and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken.
The Kingdom of the Lord
19 Those of the Negeb shall possess Mount Esau, and those of the Shephelah shall possess the land of the Philistines; they shall possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria, and Benjamin shall possess Gilead. 20 The exiles of this host of the people of Israel shall possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad shall possess the cities of the Negeb. 21 Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord‘s.
Yes the whole kit and kaboodle of the book for you to read. What is Edom? It is where Esau went after being screwed out of his birthright by Jacob, who was Jacob? A patriarch of Israel. Why does this matter in the exile? It is showing the long history to the people, it is showing that Edom is reaping what is has sown in unethical practices, and the cancer it has let take root in its nation.
It is a rant…it is showing the people a stark message for where they are now. It is what the Orthodox Church does in theological conversation with other churches, we are going to discuss the problem we have with you, by discussing with this other party, so you move from survival to the point of view as spectator to see what is actually happening. Edom is the stand in for Esau, but both are the stand in’s for Israel and Jacob at this point in history.
It hits home as Wexit (though love how one British commentator misread it as the west was wankit!- if you know British slang and the term wank, you can see where it went). trends post our Federal Election in Canada. It is not heeding the warning that the SoCons that veil themselves in the cross, God and religion wanting back the hey day’s of yesteryear and are stoking Alberta separation do not want the people to hear. Like Premier Jim Prentice in the 2015 election provincially asked Albertans to look in the mirror, to accept accountability for our role. Instead we continue to pass the buck, let our grieving process in the transition of economy and politics stall in anger and denial instead of moving forward into acceptance, and being able to grow and be better.
We want to hold onto the fairy tale that a landlocked province can up and leave Confederation. We are letting the angry speak for us, and to show that we do not understand simple things:
The Clarity Act
Constitutional Freedom of Movement in Canada
Global Economics and cross country trade
How our own electoral system works.
Though Oil Field jobs are now scarce, there is a huge shortage in tech/IT and skilled trades— hmmm… perhaps there is a solution?
We continue to want to live out of isolationism, no common ground, no common dialogue, no common core values to move forward on. We want to believe wanna be media outlets that think it is okay to stalk at 16 year old girl to her hotel room, and wish harm upon her and her property. We want to believe a Prime Minister and government that bought our province a pipeline is a traitor (really need to understand Canadian Criminal Law and the statutes around treason). We want to believe the same lying wanna be media that if we separated America would take us as the 51st State, when in reality we would became a territory (and look at how they treat Puerto). And how in a privatized health care insurance system would that work for citizens in a province with a ridiculously (some say global leading) levels of Multiple Sclerosis and cancers that we could even be insured for health care, never mind everything you now have is pre-existing and exempt.
On top of that a separatist movement destabilizes economies, means we if voted to leave, would get our level of Canada’s debt, plus our own debt, and not have the stable interest rate we currently enjoy as an economic power in a stable nation, rather we would be negotiating and borrowing as the equivalent of a banana republic.
We are Israel, we have reaped what we sowed. We did not want to look in the mirror. We did not want to face reality, we did not want to admit that education was key, or that the oil boom everyone warned us about not being constant, was not constant. Norway with similar population and tax base, took the Heritage Trust Fund idea of Lougheed and the Royalty rate of Manning, and now have over a trillion in savings, Albertans have 18 billion, and you are not saying we have been mismanaged for 41 years?
We have gotten the lack of Peace, Order and Good Governance our constitution declares for us do to our disengagement, apathy, and placing a value on the investor dollar over the citizen.
So yes, dear Alberta, we, like Israel, have reaped what we sowed, and like the Nation in the Minor Prophets need to look in the mirror and choose to implode or heal and go forward…
As the prophets (although minor) have shown us over the last 11 installments, look in the mirror…what would Love do?
For further thoughts on the state on conservatism and Wexit (wankit?) see these sources:
I had finally succumbed to my seizures in October 2017. A year would go by with me still on the highest dose Keppra, and sorting out what was happening. In this time loop I was still hovering on average 1-15 seizures a day. My neurology team would refer me to the Epilepsy Clinic to explore what was happening with the seizures and mental health, and I would be waitlisted for the slam dunk diagnostic. The slam sunk being wired up for a constant EEG while on video.
Before the slam dunk diagnostic though I would turn 40 years old, a huge milestone of getting over the hill in life and firmly a year since my year of constant seizures took hold. It was a low key affair, good friends would come out with my family for all you could eat fish and chips at Joey’s only, and we would do dinner with my Dad and Sherry. It was what I could handle in regards to people interaction.
It was also the time when my wife and kids would bless me with a great gift. I have always loved the stories of the Holy Bible (Hebrew Bible and Christian Testament). With the seizures I had trouble with focusing my mind and eyes, so they had found me a single column Bible so I could re-engage my faith stories. It was beautiful leather bound English Standard Version.
Sola Scriptura was the Latin phrase from the Reformation of Scripture Only. It basically was attempting to strip away the power of the Roman See of Christendom, and supposedly bring the faith back to the people. Though all it meant was Christendom got fractured between more nation state leaders as the monarchs all claimed rule by divine right, and there was bloody Reformation battles fought over church land and control.
Protestant Reformation
Began with theological challenges to the luxuriousness of the Empire of Roman Catholicism, and the abuse of indulgences (buying yourself or a loved one out of Purgatory or Hell).
It was supported, as Monarchs realized the power they could have if they were the Head of a Church by Divine right.
What else aided the Reformation?
Guttenberg’s printing press being able to print Scripture in the language of citizens.
The Black Death (Bubonic Plague) which had ravaged through Europe claiming 1/3 of lives, and the clergy who were supposedly blessed and set apart by God, were also among the dead. It allowed folks to question the divinity of those who claimed to speak for the Holy.
It also created a system where each nation state church declared their own understanding of Scripture that was acceptable. Christendom each got their labels- Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Anglican, Lutheran, etc. It created a Canonical Bible that could range from 66 to 84 books depending on which branch of the Christendom tree you were a part of. This then does not take into account the other extra texts like found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, or through Gnosticism.
In fact, as a teacher of the Sacred Texts, I would challenge students with the oldest ending of the canonical Gospel of Mark 16:1-8:
What is a Gospel of Mark?
It is a book in the New (Christian Testament) the smaller section near the back of the Holy Bible. It is part of what is called the Synoptic Gospels, as Matthew and Luke (two other books) borrowed from it. It is concise, and written with action verbs, which for the historical time period puts it as having been written for people living in Rome.
Who is Mark?
Mark was probably the scribe (think Dragon Software of the ancient era) for Jesus’ closest student, Peter. As Peter was a fisherman it was highly probably he was illiterate despite his economic success. Tradition states that Mark also known as John Mark recorded Peter’s tales of Jesus.
Mark having been a scribe, and that his parents owned the Upper Room, Jesus and his followers had the Last Supper in. Made famous in Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ movie would place Mark in a higher socio-economic bracket.
When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?”4 And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. 6 And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” 8 And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
What’s up with the women?
Yes in the ancient world women were seen as property and had very little to no rights. In Jesus’ group they were equals with the men. They worked to provide income to allow for the preaching, teaching and healing ministry.
Many continue to debate whether or not Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married. For me it is a non-question of faith, it is up to each individual to decide how much Jesus embraced his humanity and culture he was born in to. I for one love the idea of a married Messiah.
I use this passage to challenge my own faith formation, but those of others. It basically says here we are confronted with the Empty Tomb. Enter into the story as the Women, the faithful. You have now left the Tomb, what do you do with the proclamation of building the Kingdom here and now?
That is simply put, how does your life and story create a Gospel here and now? The term Gospel is a political proclamation (yes even Caesar had a Gospel) which we have translated as Good News. It is part of the reason why I fell in love so much with other stories that share ethical and moral conundrums, challenging thoughts, or ways to shift perception.
It is also why I am currently writing my second book on this journey of healing. It is what I am doing confronted with the Empty Tomb. That is confronted with a condition that took me out of life, and now is looking at re-engaging life.
This was the path to the slam dunk of diagnostics.
It was a week of my life where I was in a small windowless room, family and friends would visit, due to my garlic allergy my hospital food was tasteless, and I lost about 10 lbs. due to the imperially small helpings given. I also swear that the watery coffee served was decaf.
Thankfully, friends and family would bring me real food, and my McCafe’s! They tell you going in there is Wi-Fi so to bring a computer or tablet, there is not, bring books and get ready for a re-acquaintance with cable television. It was at times lonely, but I was able to bring some focus, sleep, and as there was no major stimulus I had around a half dozen episodes that were caught. Keep in mind it is up to me to click the button I had one and at this point I had no knowledge of the seizures taking hold.
Shawna had gotten me some books from the Dollarama, and one was by Pope Francis on the Lord’s Prayer which was a good read and centering during this time. The stay also had a rapid removal of Keppra from my system. It is sold as a safe way, what they do is half the dose, and then no dose. It is safe, because if need be they can re-up you quickly on medication. I would leave the observation unit with no medications, which was a blessing to come.
The day I left hospital I had a meeting at the church we were attending at the time, a United Church congregation. In conversation with Shawna, we had figured out just the church’s designation had been a trigger for my condition. Over the summer through their Vacation Bible School program, we had become re-connected with Centennial Presbyterian and their new minister, Jin Woo, who through the simple act of asking to do coffee with me had shown us a new path. We began the transfer over. Yet I still had a commitment to discuss the difference between accessibility, inclusion and belonging with the affirming committee of this United Church. It would also lead to being booked in to speak at the end of the month to the congregation, which was a challenge as the Keppra detox and a ramping up of symptoms was not helping me. It was the first time I have preached from a stool, with my notes and Bible on the altar. I stubbornly used an older Bible for this talk, as I did not want my new one; my family had blessed me with, tied to anything that was being released from the past.
That was what this act of speaking was, laying the truth of who we were down and then being able to walk away (okay limp) knowing that I had brought closure to a point in our drawn out faith journey. My Gospel was still being written as I found the Empty Tomb.
Paul Vargis
Ty
We want to hold onto the fairy tale that a landlocked province can up and leave Confederation. We are letting the angry speak for us, and to show that we do not understand simple things:
A Monk's Musings 