Sermon from April 27: You don't have to fear doubt

Awhile back, I had a conversation with my children about growing up. At night I usually carry Sarah up the stairs, and one night I mentioned to her that one day she was going to get too big for me to carry her up the stairs. Well, she didn't like that one bit. She wanted to remain little! But it did lead to an interesting conversation about when people do stop growing. I said that it was around the time they were a late teenager. After that they wouldn't grow anymore, but just be that height for the rest of their lives. But I was quick to add, that one of the interesting things that sets apart from the animals is that even though we reach physical maturity at that time, we don't stop growing inside. We keep growing emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. In fact, that was one of our defining characteristics as people. I think she was a little perplexed. Don't you learn everything? Don't you finish school? The answer of course is no, you don't. There is always more to learn and figure out and experience and explore. That is one of the great things about life.  If we choose, we can continue to explore for the rest of our lives.

Over the last several weeks we have been talking about aspects of spiritual growth: meditative reading of scripture, discipleship, prayer and so on. Today I want to talk about a little appreciated catalyst for spiritual growth, but one I think we all struggle with, I am speaking of doubt. It is little appreciated because it seems to be the opposite of spiritual growth, the opposite of faith. In fact, some places of scripture seem to support this. We look at the letter of James where James writes: Ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. It seems very simple. But there are other places where doubt is much more complex. Abraham, who is the father of faith, trusts God, but doubts whether it will work out like God suggests. And one of my favourite verses where Jesus says he will heal the one who believes, and the man cries out "I believe, but help my unbelief."

I think that this is an incredibly important topic. I speak with lots of Christians in all seasons of life and used to be surprised when after a little while of conversation people would take on a quiet air of confession. There are things that I struggle with, things that I doubt. Now, it can be intellectual doubts: I don't really understand or know if I believe that Jesus is the son of God. Or it can be doubts because of sickness or suffering: I don't know if God is really with me. Or it can be around fear: I don't know if I can do X. I don't know if I have what it takes. And they think there is something wrong with their faith. But I have learned, there is nothing wrong with their faith. In fact, for many of us, sometimes I wonder if all of us, doubt is actually part of spiritual growth. What do I mean?

To think through this I want to look at the story of Thomas this morning from the Gospel reading. I love the apostle Thomas and not just because I am the rector of this church! I really think he gets a bad rap getting called doubting Thomas. For three reasons. First, from the other stories in the gospels we know Thomas to be a stand up guy. He is loyal, passionate and brave, willing to give his life for his friends. Second, while yes he doesn't believe right away because he doesn't see, it always gets missed that he is only asking for what all of the other disciples got. An encounter with the risen Jesus. They saw; they touched. But we don't hold it against them! And third, and this is the real point I am trying to make. Thomas is an integral part of this story so that we, those who come after and who do not encounter the risen Jesus physically, can understand what it means to believe and have faith. The Gospel writer John, knows that the figure of Thomas doubting is essential for us who struggle for belief.

Remember what I said last week. The author of the Gospel, John, is a poet. The stories are a surface meaning, but they are part of a deeper purpose which he gives us in vs. 30 and 31. Here he tells us that there are lots of different things that Jesus did  that aren't written here. In the next chapter he expands on this in one of my favourite verses in the bible: If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written. The point is that all of all this material he chose this particular story because we needed to hear it. Why? Because we who come after are in the same position as Thomas. We have not encountered the risen Christ physically. The only way we can unite with him is through faith. So John walks us through what this looks like: Thomas hears, but doesn't believe. Most crucially, what he doesn't believe is the testimony of his friends. He thinks they are hallucinating. Then he sees and touches Jesus and believes in a big way. And then he tells others. He can now say, I know it can be hard to believe, but let me tell you my story. Thomas is in fact the crucial link for many of us who want to believe but find it hard.

I was one of those. I think I have told you some of my story before. I had not been a Christian through school; in fact, was quite antagonistic to the church. Then I met a good friend who was very authentic as a Christian, and in our conversations he made me realize some truths about myself that I didn't want to admit. As one pastor has written, the truth will set us free, but for awhile it can be a very unpleasant experience!* But I still couldn't quite step over the line. And this lasted for awhile. Until I learned an important thing about doubt: Doubt is not a no; it is standing between yes and no. Let me say that again: Doubt is not a no; it is standing between yes and no. It is an in between position. It is not being able to answer either way. It is possible to stay here. But what I found is that it is also possible to step out in faith. To decide to move forward. For me, I had fallen in love with Jesus. I loved his message of hope and grace. I loved his vision of a new creation marked by love and justice. I loved his promise of forgiveness and a second chance, and a third chance, and a fourth chance. I found the story of death and resurrection so powerful. I loved the idea that his spirit would dwell within me guiding me and strengthening me.I was so pulled; I wanted Jesus. But was it all real or just the most profound story ever told? And I went back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. And I did this for months. Then I realized that this was similar to getting married I suppose. Will this work out; will we be faithful; will we make it over the long run? Questions that cannot be answered before hand. You have to make the decision first, and then live into it. That is what I came to the conclusion. I didn't have to have answers to all of the fiddly details or really understand or believe all of the beliefs that the church has come up with over the years. But I did have enough to want to say yes. So I made the decision to say yes. 

And it was not: and he lived happily ever after. I have spent my whole Christian life wrestling, but I have learned that this forced me to grow in ways that I never would have otherwise. Because if you do a lot of wrestling, you only get stronger and better. This is what I have learned. There are different kinds of doubt, and all of them can be put to good use. The first for instance is the most obvious kind, intellectual doubt. Jesus asks us to believe and we find it hard. Or for some, I believe Jesus; I just don't know if I believe everything the church has come up with. My advise if you struggle with this is not to deny it. Wrestle. Move forward. Ask your questions. Look through the scriptures. Read the history and how other Christians have answered your questions. Sit with the answers; meditate on them. Just keep moving forward. You will grow through the process. You may not land where you intended. I have found that processes have a way of going in odd directions. Also, be honest. Why do you doubt? What are your emotional reasons as well? Where have you been hurt? Don't keep it on just an intellectual level. Listen to your mind and your heart. Search for truth. I believe God will honour this seeking. For he says, seek and you will find.

But there is also another kind of doubt; the doubt of abandonment. This is with people who do believe and trust in God, but in difficult times find that they have no sense of his presence or love. The don't doubt his truths, they doubt that he really cares or loves. I have also struggled with this. But I have found a helpful wisdom about this in the book I use as a prayer book. The writer gives us a helpful concept that our God is a seasonal God. Here is what he writes:

I have observed through the years that most Christians have little understanding of the word season. Our Lord is a seasonal God; he comes, he departs. His faithfulness never changes, but his seasons do! There are seasons when the tree is green there are seasons when it is dry, and seasons when, for the life of us, the things looks dead. No does this mean you are serving some capricious God who comes and goes by whim? Or, could it be, that it is only through seasons that true growth may come?

I think this is the right answer. I have found that it is easy to be faithful when all is well; but I don't grow as strong as when I learn what being faithful looks like when things are hard. I think God doesn't so much want us to feel spiritually happy as he does that we are spiritually strong.

Another kind of doubt is fear. It is no accident that Jesus has to keep saying, don't be afraid. Most of us struggle with fear of some kind. Something we don't want to do, or don't think we can. Something we have done and don't want people to know. Being overwhelmed and not sure we will ever dig out. This is perhaps the biggest invitation to growth; at least it has been for me. Because the fact is, God has a habit of asking people to do things that are scary to them. As John Ortburg puts it, God often calls us to follow Peter and get out of the boat and walk on the water. The boat is of course what is comfortable, and the water is our fear. But if we get out, we are changed. As Ortburg puts it, "There is always a changed life. Those who say yes to God's call don't walk the walk perfectly. But because they say yes to God, they learn and grow even from their failures. And they become part of his actions to redeem the world. Those who say no are changed too. They become a little harder, a little more resistant to his calling, a little more likely to say no the next time." 

And from this perspective, we can see why doubt is important for growth. It is a catalyst that can propel us forward if we choose to move forward. The point is ultimately not belief, or answers or the feeling of God's love or even courage. All of these are means to an end. As John the writer puts it, reflecting on Thomas' experience. These things are written, so that by believing, or better through believing, YOU MAY HAVE LIFE. The point is life, fullness of life, eternal life. When you are in Jasper on the top of a mountain, and the scenery is so beautiful, and you are exilerated from your climb, and the air is so fresh and you are so alive, awake, joyous. You don't ask philosophical questions. You just live, fully. 

In our lives, we are not yet on the mountain, we are walking still through the woods on the way. We will get there, but not yet. There is a ways to go. Love where you are; learn from this walk; grow stronger in wisdom, love and character. Jesus is with you. Do not be afraid of doubt. Keep moving forward. Keep moving forward. You are on the way to life eternal.

* Reference was to Rick Warren

Easter Sermon for St. Thomas

Sermon:

Alleluia! The Lord is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

A blessed Easter to you all; it is great to worship together on this greatest

of all days: the day we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

and the fact that we are reconciled with God.

And it is also good news because it puts to rest the false and guilt inducing idea

that we are made right with God by pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps and

then being rewarded by God because of how awesome we are. And this how religious

faith is seen. We see it in stories and jokes. Here is one of my favourites:

There is a story about a guy who went to heaven. He appeared before the pearly gates

and meets St. Peter who asks him, "Have you ever done anything of particular merit?"

"Well, I can think of one thing, the man offers. Once I came upon a gang of tough

bikers who were threatening a young woman. I told them to leave her alone, but

they wouldn't listen. So I approached the biggest and most heavily tattooed biker.

I hit him in the head, kicked his bike over, ripped out his nose ring and threw it to

the ground, and told him, Leave her alone now or you'll answer to me!

St. Peter was impressed. "When did this happen?"

"About two minutes ago."

It is funny, but it is false. We don't have to impress St. Peter or God. Jesus has done

ALL of the heavy lifting, given us new life and new hope and this is the reason that

we are celebrating this morning. Jesus has started something new and invited us to

be a part of what HE is doing. This morning I want you to look at Resurrection

in a different way.

I want you to see it through the eyes of a gardener. I am guessing that many of you

are gardeners, as a matter of fact I am hoping that many of you are, 4

and that you are looking forward to putting in your garden this year.

It has truly been a long, long winter. The ground has been frozen like bands of

iron with snow covering it.

But now the snow has melted and the ground is thawing and there is a change coming.

I am looking forward to it this year. I am not much of a gardener, and didn't get one in

in time last year. But this year I want to try again, because I enjoy the fresh veggies.

Soon I will dig in the ground and put in my tomatoes and my zucchinis; stuff that is

hard to kill. I will put some flowers, and I know my kids will really enjoy getting out

and digging and making a mess.

One of the things about my kids is that I had to explain to them when they were young

that it takes time for things to grow. Yes, nothing is happening, and yes, it is a little boring

for awhile. But have some patience. There is something happening; you just can't see it!

And then it starts to come, but lots of other things come out as well! Weeds! And so there

is an intense time of keeping out the weeds. Getting rid of them and protecting the fragile

plants. And then come the fullness of the garden and with enough time. The reward, the fruit.

You know when I grew up I hated tomatoes. I didn't like them on anything. And when people

offered me their tomatoes from their gardens I graciously said no. But then I ate one out of

politeness. Oh my goodness!! It was so good, and rich. I couldn't believe it. I had only been

eating store bought tomatoes and not had the real thing. Now I cannot wait. I love the late summer.

Now if you are wondering if I have gotten off on a tangent with the garden, I actually haven't

because our gardens in our backyards are a great way to understand what is going on with

the Gospel that we are celebrating this morning.

It comes from a line that often gets missed in the gospel reading for this morning. It is

when Mary Madelene comes out of the empty tomb; she is weeping and she sees a man

standing there. And the line reads, "Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, 'Sir

if you have carried Jesus away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.'

"Supposing him to be the gardener." In one sense, that is just a throw away line. She

meets someone who she thinks just works there, and in that sense, she is wrong. The

man doesn't just work there. But in another sense, it is not a throw away comment, because

the author of the gospel is an artist, and this little word gardener packs a tremendous importance:

because the risen Christ is indeed the Master Gardener and this image helps us make sense of the power

of this day, and its deeper meaning. The meaning is this:

It is a tie in to the first two chapters of the first book of the Bible: In the beginning God created the heavens

and the earth; and what did he create: a garden. A rich and beautiful symbol of a deep primal unity

between humanity, nature and God. It is for us the ultimate symbol of God's vision where humanity, creation

and God live together in a deep harmony.

Obviously, reading the paper and listening to people's stories that is not our natural state now. We were

made in the image of God. But doesn't it seem that this image has been broken. We are

deeply alienated from nature and from God. And this is the story of scripture. But the bible again and again

comes back to this vision of Eden as a sign of God's desire to heal us and to heal the world. From

Isaiah we read:

For the Lord will comfort Zion;

he will comfort all her waste places,

and will make her wilderness like Eden,

her desert like the garden of the Lord;

joy and gladness will be found in her,

thanksgiving and the voice of song.

And from the prophet Jeremiah we read:

They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,

and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord,

over the grain, the wine, and the oil,

and over the young of the flock and the herd;

their life shall become like a watered garden,

and they shall never languish again.

In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the garden of Eden was translated

by the word paradise. And we see this word in the new testament giving a vision

of hope for what God intends in his great act of healing, salvation:

Paul talks about being caught up in paradise, the book of Revelation talks about

the one who conquers being given permission to eat from the tree of life in paradise.

And on the cross Jesus refers to it promising one of the thieves crucified with him

that this day he will be in paradise.

Why am I following this train of thought? Because in supposing Jesus to be the

gardener, the poet John the Evangelist is telling us that Jesus is the Master Gardener

and his Resurrection is the beginning of the creation of the new Garden of Eden.

In fact, we could read the story of the Resurrection of Jesus as saying:

In the NEW beginning, God RE-CREATED the heavens and the earth. But like

the first garden, this was not an instantaneous event; it is a long process. Much like

my own garden. It takes time and effort and faith.

And the point of the new creation is that new creation is you. Your heart. Your

heart is the garden. Paul tells us this amazing truth:

if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away;

see, everything has become new!

You are the reason for the resurrection of Jesus.

This is the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the point of this day.

He wants to renew your life, my life,

the life of the world, the life of creation To give us the grace, the tools that we need to put to death all

within us that keeps us from fullness of life, and that we wrestle with: bad temper, selfishness,

the constant feeling that we never have enough, laziness, jealousy. And all in the greater world

that needs healing: greed, war, human trafficking, exploitation, and so on. And we pause on

this day, especially today to remember the pain and suffering of humanity: the violence in Syria, Iraq,

Ukraine, the refugees around the world, the hunger, the poor, the grieving, and we hold them all

up before God, in the light of the hope of resurrection, of a new world.

The gospel is a vision about a renewed heart and a renewed world. Jesus is bringing life back to the world.

As Karl Barth wrote, our faith is that the Spirit "will not stop nor stay until all that is dead has

 been brought to life and a new world has come into being." Our hearts are renewed back

to the image of God to grow in the virtues of love, courage, joy, patience, generosity, inner

strength, committment and peace. And then we answer God's call to live in this broken world

as agents of Resurrection. We live a new vision of hope and love in a broken world, and Christ

gives us the courage to do it. We are the hands of Christ in the world, but it is his project.

This is the Christian vision.

And it all centers around Jesus. For he is the Son of God, the one chosen to make this possible through

his death and resurrection. The church has always taught that he is alive, and that he invites us

into personal relationship. Be a part of Easter; be a part of the Resurrection.

Let it change you. Don't let Easter go by without going deeper. Use the chance to recommit yourself to God in Jesus.

Because Easter is always about new beginnings.

For we know now that

Love is stronger than hatred.

Hope is stronger than despair.

Life is stronger than death.

And nothing is impossible with God.

Alleluia! The Lord is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia.

Jesus and Human Flourishing

One of the questions I have enjoyed engaging is the purpose of the Christian spiritual life in relationship to the question of human flourishing. When I think of human flourishing I think of things that help people become more fully alive. This question started for me years ago when I read Steinbeck's East of Eden and his description of the Glory struck me deeply.He writes, (and please excuse the gendered language):

“Sometimes a kind of glory lights up the mind of a man. It happens to nearly everyone. You can feel it growing or preparing like a fuse burning toward dynamite. It is a feeling in the stomach, a delight of the nerves, of the forearms. The skin tastes the air, and every deep-drawn breath is sweet. Its beginning has the pleasure of a great stretching yawn; it flashes in the brain and the whole world glows outside your eyes. A man may have lived all of his life in the gray, and the land and trees of him dark and somber. The events, even the important ones, may have trooped by faceless and pale. And then -the glory- so that a cricket song sweetens his ears, the smell of the earth rises chanting to his nose, and dappling light under a tree blesses his eyes. Then a man pours outward, a torrent of him, and yet he is not diminished. And I guess a man's importance in the world can be measured by the quality and number of his glories. It is a lonely thing but it relates us to the world. It is the mother of all creativeness, and it sets each man separate from all other men. ”

Of course, this is not an everyday experience. But I am thinking of any activity that we don't want to end. Like a dinner with good friends where you don't notice the times, or walking on the beach in the morning and all seems well, playing with kids in the backyard, the enjoyment of a great ice cream cone, or even a worship service where all the pieces just cohere beautifully and you find yourself so powerfully in the presence of God.

I am wondering how Christian spirituality speaks to this? Is this the goal of being a Christian? I don't know the answer yet, but here are somethings that have to be considered:

1) It can't be an end in itself. If flourishing is a selfish desire for personal fulfillment, than it can't be the goal of Christian life.

2) Christian prayer actually claims that part of flourishing is to die to self.

3) The Christian spiritual life seems to imply that as we slowly remove the sin in our heart, we naturally flourish more and more. In other words, flourishing is our natural condition; sin holds us back.

4) Jesus talked about bringing life, life to the full.

5) The experience of human flourishing has to point beyond ourselves to God.

6) Christian prayer assumes that we need Jesus to get past the sin in order to flourish.

7) Christian prayer puts us regularly in a place to receive the grace of Jesus.

8) Human flourishing takes place in Christian community.

9) Human flourishing also require times of solitude.

10) Human flourishing is a life long process of growth and maturity.

11) Human flourishing doesn't just mean happy. Part of it is wrestling with the hard parts of life.

12)

I will add more as I think of them.

Reflections on Soup'd Up: Join the Resolution!

Every year I am one of those who is seduced yet again by the allure of New Year’s resolutions. Because yes, I do want to lose weight, read more books, be nicer, worry less, be a better father, be less selfish, run a marathon and learn to sail. Goodness! Looking at the list I see why I never quite make it. And yet I really want all those things. 

Last night at Soup’d Up we had a great conversation about resolutions and what they mean. We started with a scripture reading from 2 Corinthians. This is the famous one that reminds us that if we are in Christ then we are a new creation. We also watched the Rob Bell video in which he reminds us about the fact that life comes from death. Talking about his wife’s awesome salsa, he reflected that for us to get nourishment the tomato in the salsa had to die. And there is a law here, that life comes from death. Of course, the ultimate expression of that is the fact that Jesus died for us to bring life. 

It puts resolutions into perspective. At my table, I reflected that part of spiritual growth for me is that when I know that I centred in prayer on God in my life I am far less reactive. I am able to handle difficulties and do things that I wouldn’t ordinarily do. It is because I am living in grace that I find the strength to do what I am wanting. And of course the scripture reminds me, what I really want is not to lose weight, but to be a new creation. How about you? What do you want?

Reflecting on Soup'd Up Worship Last Night

Last night at Soup'Up Worship we played theologically with the image of the church as a family gathered around a table. Obviously it is not a radical image as it is at the heart of what we do together week after week.



But it has always struck me as so beautiful that a meal would be the central symbol of what it means "to do" church. We come together as a family around a table. It can be relaxed or formal, but either way there is hospitality and sharing and fellowship.

One of the most helpful insights that I took away last night was the phrase that one of the participants used. She said that a meal was great because "we let our guards down." This really resonated with me because I realized that of course part of the reason we come together is to come to know each other better, and we will never do so unless we let our guard down. And coming together over food and drink is ideal for creating the context where people feel comfortable and welcome. It is a place where we can talk and share.

Of course it raises more questions:

Does the way we do church work against the intimacy of a meal?
How can we make this part of our gathering together stronger?

Here are the quotes that guided our discussion last night. I especially love the Dorothy Day quote:

Dorothy Day:

"We cannot love God unless we love each other, and to love we must know each other. We know him in the breaking of bread, and we know each other in the breaking of bread, and we are not alone any more. Heaven in a banquet and life is a banquet, too, even with a crust, where there is companionship."

Eugene Peterson:

"For the Christian, every meal derives from and extends the Eucharistic meal into our daily eating and drinking, our tables at which the crucified and risen Christ is present as host."

“It is virtually impossible to be detached and uninvolved when we are sharing a meal with someone.”

Sermon Notes from October 6th

• You will have to forgive me about changing the prayer for the day to reflect the feast of St. Francis and to preach about Francis. Normally I try not to insert my personal preferences, but this day is really important to me, for if I had to put myself in a box, which I am loath to do, but if I had to, I would call myself a Franciscan, and it is because St. Francis showed me, more than anyone, what it looked like to have faith.
• What is the difference when you love what you do?
  • Wood worker: make a table just for use in a work room, or something beautiful as a gift.
  • Study a language because you have to for credit, or study because of the beautiful woman who only speaks French and you want to speak with her.
  • Throw dinner together because you are hungry, or make a meal because your best friends are coming over.
  • To love to do something is to add something
  • From Donald Miller's book, Blue Like Jazz: "I never liked Jazz music because Jazz music doesn't resolve. But I was outside the Bagdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes. After that I liked Jazz music. Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way."
• It is something like this why I love Francis so much
• He showed me what it looked like to have faith, to love Jesus
• [About Francis]
  • There is an interesting prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, when the world was growing cold you
  • raised up blessed Francis, bearing in his body the marks of your
    passion, to inflame our hearts with the fire of your love"
  • The church by the time of Francis was in many ways an institutional church in the worst way
  • The church of the 13th century was wealthy, comfortable, powerful. The pope at the time, Innocent III was particularly gifted in power politics and was able to consolidate a good many powers in the church. 
  • The church was cold
  • It was into this church that Francis came, and it could be argued that no single person outside of Jesus and the apostles made a bigger impact on the church with the exception of St. Augustine.
  • But he didn't do it in any ordinary way: he didn't write theology, he didn't change liturgy, he had no authority, he was no bishop or anything like that. He was just a poor beggar. 
  • How did he do it? The answer is painfully simple. He had a radical faith. 
  • He lived more like Jesus than anyone other than Jesus or Paul ever has.
  • He absolutely trusted God for everything; he gave to everyone who asked; he forgave everyone who attacked him; he didn't care about what he wore or his possessions; he served freely; he loved everyone; he exhibited pure joy and radiant peace in his life. 
  • And it all came out of his radical love of Jesus.
  • What he did was to fire the imagination of the people of the church, and even if they couldn't completely do what he did, they saw that the way of Jesus was so beautiful and moving and powerful that they were affected.
  • And they rededicated themselves anew to the faith; gave themselves over to Christ again.
  • People can look at his life even centuries later and still be moved
• A moving example for me is the book Chasing Francis
• About a pastor of a church who has gotten into a rut. Something is missing. Everything is humming along, but the passion isn't there, the excitement. 
• There is infighting in the church and it is weighing him down. Some people want to force him out.
• So he goes to Italy, forced to go to visit his uncle who is a Franciscan priest. 
• He finds a whole new world of Christian witness. His imagination is set on fire seeing how the church there is so involved in the life of the poor, in the arts, in peace making, in the inner journey.
• And he comes back to his church with a new vision. He sees a different calling for his church.
• • Transcendence: Knowledge and theory are not sufficient! Encounter God! Encounter! Francis believed transcendent encounters with Jesus were the key to people's coming to faith. Opening our ears to God's voice in creation, being touched by the Spirit's presence in the community of believers, walking in solidarity with the poor, practicing contemplative prayer and meditation, saying the liturgy, and meeting Jesus in symbol-rich spaces and events like Communion - all of these are vital experiences that can act as portals into the life of God.
  • Community: We are an expression of Jesus on earth. No artificial distinctions between the sacred and the secular. Into the marketplace. The world community: we consume too much. What does it mean to live in the community of the world. Simplicity. Community of reconciliation and peacemakers.
  • Beauty: arts and music. Francis was a singer, poet and actor. The imagination is a beautiful way into people's souls, a way to think about and experience God. The arts used to be a huge part of Christian expression in the middle ages. The church could be a safe place for artists to practice their vocation.
  • Dignity: People come to us broken and looking for acceptance and healing. We also need to fight against the things that rob people of their dignity such as racism, sexism, addictions, injustice, poverty and so on. Give creation back its dignity; we can find areas that are trashed and make it beautiful again for God.
  • Meaning: People are meaning seekers. We have to understand people in terms of the story of which they are a part. We want to invite people to be a part of what God is doing in the world.
• Now the Gospel is problematic for my story.
• A very hard message.
• My interpretation: there is evidence that some of the disciples thought that they were going to get patronage positions in the kingdom of God based on their loyalty. And Jesus is telling them in a hard way that this is not how the Kingdom works.
• About the humility of St. Francis
• What I have realized recently is that it is not really St. Francis that I love; it is the one whom he reflects: Jesus, my Lord.

From Steve's Office:

Dear friends, I pray that you are well. There are just a few couple I wanted to talk to you about. Many of you were able to go to the concert for the Common Cup Company this week. What a wonderful event that was in the life of our congregation! The music was entertaining and uplifting and it was a lot of fun to sing as well as visit with so many people. But one thing I want to mention that I got to see that a lot of other people didn't. The amount of effort to put on the event was tremendous! There was selling tickets and CD's, putting the band up for a whole week, preparing lunches and dinners for the band, and so on. The whole week was a lot of fun. But a lot of people worked hard and with joy and I really want to thank all of them. Really wonderful stuff! Thank you, thank you.

Also, the other thing is that I am getting excited about the Ecumenical Mission for a couple of reasons. First, I know that Danielle, the leader, is a tremendous speaker, and it will be interesting and challenging. I am confident that the content will be first class. And second, this kind of event which is churches all over Sherwood Park is really a rare event. I have never run into anything like it and it is something to be supported. In so many ways, the divisions within the Christian community are such a sadness and tragedy, and this is a small glimpse of what real ecumenical work can look like: Churches coming together to better proclaim the Gospel. Please join me!