Monday March 31: 1 Corinthians 10:14-11:1

"The sharing of food lies at the heart of Jesus' ministry.  It's a message of commensality, the act of eating of together".  Daniel G. Deffenbaugh, Gospel Meals:  Reclaiming the Gospel Practice of Commensality.  

Commensality - the act of eating together at the same table.  Seems simple enough.  But Jesus' mealtime habits were the topic of much criticism - why don't you wash your hands ritually before a meal, why do you eat with "outcasts and sinners"?  Members of the Corinthian church were embroiled in ethical dilemmas about what they should eat with whom.  They are important questions because they reflect our understanding about who belongs and who doesn't, and about who we think is important or worthy and who isn't.

So St. Paul has much to say about eating habits and offers principles for making ethical decisions about food, and meals, and table etiquette.

'All things are lawful', but not all things are beneficial.  'All things are lawful', but not all things build up. Do not seek your own advantage, but that of others . . . and then he offers the Corinthian church some specific examples for their situation . . . So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.

St. Paul also has something to say about the shared meal we call the Eucharist and how our everyday meals and the Lord's Supper are connected.  Listen to, or sing along with, the meditation below on the Eucharist and 1 Corinthians 10: 16-17.  You may choose to ponder - what does it mean to me to share food together at the same table with others?

Click on this link One Bread, One Body to listen or sing along.





Marilyn Malton

Sunday March 30, 2014 - The Parable of the Sower

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Parable of the Sower (Matt 13:3b-8, 18-23; Mark 4:3b-8; 14-20; Luke 8:5-8a, 11-15; Thom 9)

This parable, shared by Matthew, Mark and Luke, also appears in the Gospel of Thomas. The original date and provenance of the latter is debated (maybe Syria, late first century, or early second?), but is indeed a compelling gospel given the number of parallels that it shares with Matthew, Mark and Luke (the Synoptic Gospels). What is striking about the Thomas version is that it does not attempt to allegorize the parable, unlike the Synoptics. Such a feature supports the argument of many parables scholars that Jesus never intended his parables to be read as allegories. Rather, the gospel writers, or perhaps their sources, sought to allegorize the parables because they were attempting to understand and interpret them. However, parables survive, it seems, because they do not have an easy application, or succinct moral teaching. Parables, as C. H. Dodd argued some time ago, juxtapose the kingdom of God with strange images such that the mind becomes a little disoriented but as a result, is teased into thought. Parables make the mind active! What could be going on with the Sower?

In this parable, the sower goes out to sow, and some seeds accidentally fall on the path and are eaten by birds. Others fall on rocky terrain, sprout, but then shrivel up in the sun. Still others fall upon thorns, which choke the plants which attempt to grow. Finally, some drop into good soil (again by accident) and bring forth grain … lots of it! These images would have been familiar to a first century peasant. However, if the parable is not an allegory, what does it mean? Perhaps, as Bernard Brandon Scott has suggested, it demonstrates that the kingdom of God consists of ordinary things, including ordinary failures, but also ordinary successes? The kingdom of God is not about grandeur and glory, but everyday life, full of both loss and fulfillment.

-Alicia Batten

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Saturday, March 29, 2014

MARK 7: 1-23 a Reflection… 

"Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?"

What a nasty, judgmental question!  The Pharisees and Scribes have come north from Jerusalem, to challenge and hopefully discredit Jesus with anything that can take the edge off his growing popularity.

Unintimidated by these ‘guilt-mongers’ from his Church, Jesus calls them out as hypocrites in front of the very crowd they hoped would shame him.  But, instead of citing the traditions of men (ritual washing to remove the ‘stain’ of being ‘defiled’ by contact with the outer world), Jesus cites Isaiah who blasts such hollow behaviour…

“This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'
8 You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men."

And, Jesus does not leave it there.  He accuses them of teaching men to withhold resources that could help their parents, conveniently declaring such gifts as dedicated to the temple.  So, the Pharisees teach rules of men that override the Commandment to honour one’s father and mother.  Jesus gathers the people closer and makes a breathtaking statement:

15 there is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him;
but the things which come out of a man are what defile him.

Many point to this statement as Jesus declaration that all food is acceptable, but that is beside the point.  In Jesus’ time, Jews identified themselves with dietary restrictions and ritual washing when ‘defiled’ by any impure influences – ie. contact with other people.  The Pharisees did a thriving business in keeping everyone in line with over 600 rules.  It is the attitude of “We are special and you others are not” which Jesus challenges.  He challenges the concept that if you merely follow forms, you are religious.  It’s not enough to just do the actions and say the words created by men.  As he quotes Isaiah, in their hearts, they are ‘far from God’.  He leaves the humiliated Pharisees in the street and goes into a house.

To his disciples, he explains: food cannot defile a person.  But what comes out of the heart can.  And to make his point clear, he lists defiling things that arise from the heart – thus expanding on the 10 Commandments…

21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts,
fornication, theft, murder, adultery,
22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness,
envy, slander, pride, foolishness

Jesus is clear – an attitude of heart causes a person to be defiled.  In Jesus’ mind, envy, coveting and foolishness are the same as adultery and murder.  An unclean heart and a defiled soul produce them all.  A small stain is the same as a big one.  For Jesus – defiled is defiled.  A bad heart produces bad thoughts and bad deeds.

For me, this story is a parable for the Church.  The Pharisees look for DIFFERENCES – to identify who is NOT LIKE US.  They need to put up walls of JUDGEMENT, and wash away the defilement of touching the world.  They live in a WE and THEM world, where WE are the Pure of God and everyone else is unclean.  They remind me of too many in our world – fragmented as it is into denominations, sects and separate religions.  It’s an easy attitude to fall into – too easy.  Let a street person walk in on our church service and you’ll see this attitude in full bloom!  

Jesus stands in stark contrast to the Church in his time (and perhaps any time).  He seeks to tear down walls – to see the common humanity in us all.  He does not compartmentalize life as the Pharisees do (now we are worshiping, now we are judging others), but sees it all as one – flowing together inside the Love of God. As Jesus describes it later, the Kingdom of God is an Attitude of Heart, not a place.  

Jesus makes two compelling points in this story:  

One: all the rituals and customs of your Church are useless if your heart is not close to God.  

Two: what comes out of you – your thoughts and actions tell God if you are pure of heart.

So, it occurs to me that separating out times of worship from everyday life are man-made inventions – part of that compartmentalizing thinking.  The whole of life is a worship service – every moment of it.  If I try to keep my heart “right” with God, then I need to have a pure heart every day, at work, at play, at home – all the time, because all of it is worship.  And I need to be responsible for my own thoughts and actions, because it will be God who judges me. Yet I know I can’t keep it up every day, all day without a blunder.  But thanks be to God, it will be Jesus who saves me from my fallible self when my heart loses its way.  

- Peter Mansell   Lent, 2014

Friday, March 28, 2014

Friday, March 28, 2014

1 Corinthians 9:16-27

St. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians states, “I have become all things to all people, so that I might by any means save some.”  I have to wonder, can we, as Christians truly become all things to all people?  Is that really what Paul is challenging us to do? And if so… how is that even possible?

Perhaps, what Paul was encouraging was that we, as the church, as a group of Christ’s followers, make our best effort to reach out to connect with as many people as possible, to build relationships in all aspects of our own lives rooted in a confidence that we know who we are as God’s people and grounded in our faith in Christ.  When we are confident and honest about who we are and what we stand for, the people around us, the people that we are in relationship with are free to be themselves as well and in this we learn and grow in faith together.  Maybe even more dramatically, the people surrounding us that we may not know or be in relationship with will be attracted by our honesty and will want to know how it is we can live such confident lives, giving us the opportunity to share our faith and the gospel with them.

A great example of this came across my Facebook newsfeed this week in an article written in the Huffington Post with the headline reading:  Nun Rocks It On Italy's 'The Voice' Singing Competition And No One Can Believe It: Sister Cristina Scuccia Wows

In the video we find a 25 year old faithful servant of God belting out an Alicia Keys tune and shocking the judges, bringing at least one to tears when they turn to find a nun clad in traditional black habit and silver cross.  

Sister Cristina tells the judges that yes, she is indeed a real nun and that she came to the voice because she has a gift and she wanted to share that gift.  She, like all of us are called to evangelize, and to share our gifts and the good news of Christ with everyone we meet.  While being all things to all people is an overwhelming task for a single person, but when we work together, reaching out as best we can as individuals, making connections and building relationships with those around each of us, as the church we will change lives, just as Paul did.

( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/20/nun-italy-the-voice_n_5002937.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false ) 

-Rev’d Sharla Ciupak

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Mark 6:30-46

In this passage, Mark gives us a fast-paced account of Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand.  Many people hear of Jesus’ retreat with his disciples and rush there, ready to take in His teachings.  Unprepared for dinner, Jesus is able to feed the whole group from the five loaves and two fish. 

Is this though a story for the disciples?  Tired and hungry from recent travels filled with teaching, Jesus suggests a retreat to which the disciples obey.  When the crowds join, Jesus welcomes them as “sheep without a shepherd”; the disciples, however, appear less than enthused, hoping that Jesus will agree to send them off to find their own food.  When Jesus instead instructs them to gather all the food they can find, breaks the bread and feeds the group, it is the disciples that are ultimately left with ‘twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish”.

What, then, can we (the disciples) learn from this apparent miracle?  

This passage so eloquently shows that Jesus is the source of our food and our rest.  The disciples want nothing more than to spend time in rest, and to eat.  Only through spending more time than they wanted teaching and serving is this provided, and when it is, it is bountiful.  

We can also see ourselves represented through the disciples in this passage through their ignorant yet faithful responses to Jesus’ leadership.  That we need to listen and act in trust before we receive our food, our rest.  We don’t have much to offer, but Jesus can use it if we place ourselves in that position of dependence and risk that the disciples share in this story.

- John, Matt, Eric and Julia

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Wednesday March 26 

Psalm 82

This psalm presents an intriguing view into the Ancient Near Eastern mind.  The very first thing we hear – and see – is God sitting in the divine council, the council of the gods.  Other gods?  Isn’t the religion of the people of Israel a one-God religion? Doesn’t the first commandment given by God to Moses state, “You shall have no other gods before me”? 

Two ways of understanding this psalm are possible, according to various biblical scholars.  One stems from the time that it was a popular concept that each nation had its own god or gods; these gods met in divine council to debate issues of governance.  The other is that this psalm might be an allegorical attack on the corrupt government of King David.

Whichever interpretation we might go with, the heart of the psalm, for me, speaks strongly to issues of social justice – unjust judging, showing partiality to the wicked, abuse of the marginalized – the weak and the needy.  It is these neglected ones that we are called to serve.  The least, the last, and the lost were present in the age of the psalmist, and they are a presence today.

The psalm has a powerful ending.  We are back in the divine council, where it seems that the other gods have lost their divine status – they will “die like mortals.”  Only one is left, to judge the earth; to this one God belong all the nations.  And to our understanding of a just God, we are bold to add the quality of mercy. 

- Reverend Paul Kett

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Tuesday, March 25, 2014 - The Annunciation 

Hebrews 2:5-10

The story could have ended before it began.  An encounter between two characters: one an alarming emissary of the all-powerful God, and the other a young girl, alone and afraid.  Yet despite God’s ability to compel Mary’s co-operation with the divine plan, everything depends on Mary’s decision.  Even in this most crucial of moments, with our redemption hanging in the balance, Mary’s consent is required.  And Mary says “yes”.

Consent to God’s plan will be required again, near the end of the story, when Jesus wrestles, in the garden of Gethsemane, with what God is asking him to do.  As it was in a garden that Eve and Adam said “no” to what God asked, thereby estranging themselves from him, it is in another garden that Jesus must say “yes” to God’s most difficult request, in order that the way of reconciliation with God might be opened for all.  And Jesus, too, consents.

Consent to what God asks of us is perhaps one of the more overlooked essentials of the Christian life.  God can send any number of opportunities to us, but we don’t consent to them, we miss out.  Perhaps one of the main reasons we don’t consent is that we don’t recognize these opportunities as they present themselves.  But we are also very full of our own plans for our lives.  And so these requests, these opportunities from God can seem to us like interruptions of the real business of our lives.  Do we imagine that Mary was idle and aimless when the angel appeared, or that she was busy with her duties? Do we imagine that she had no plans of her own when the angel appeared?

God is a God of interruptions.  If we want to serve God and know God better, we have to be ready to put our own pre-occupations aside when the call comes.  Even when we do that, we still have a choice to consent or not.

Even our prayer lives can also be oriented round our own agendas–even when they are focussed on the needs of others–if we do not attend and consent to the Spirit present and moving in our lives.   When we are ready and willing to consent, we may be led down unexpected but fruitful paths whose richness surpasses what might otherwise have been. 

-Ken Hull

Sunday March 23: The Parable of the Sower - Luke 8:1-15

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/the-parable-of-the-sower-miki-de-goodaboom.html

The story of the "sower" we find in St. Luke's Gospel is direct and to the point; descriptive language found in Mark and Matthew's versions of the story is stripped away.  A sower goes out to sow seed, some seed falls on the path and is trampled upon, some falls on the rock and withers, some falls among thorns and is choked, and some falls on good soil and grows.

Later, in verse 11, Jesus explains to his disciples that the "seed" is the "word of God"; in Greek, "word" is logos.  In their excellent Lenten resource the brothers of the Society of St. John the Evangelist (SSJE) explain that logos has a "much broader definition than our English "word."  It means a dynamic energy, the animating force.  What becomes clear, as we come to know and understand Jesus . . . is that the energy and force of God is love.  Love is God active in the world:  Love is God made flesh and dwelling among us." from ssje.org/lovelife_folder/LoveLife_Workbook_Web.pdf, page 5.

Continuing to play with Zentner-Barrett's suggestion, in last Sunday's post, what happens if we substitute the word love for seed?  God goes out to sow the dynamic energy of love; some of that enlivening love is trampled upon, some withers, some is choked, but some takes hold and grows and grows!  Again and again God comes to us to plant extravagant love in our hearts and in the world.  Again and again we are invited to share God's extravagant love with the world and yes, sometimes it will get trampled upon, or wither, or be choked out; can we trust that sometimes it will grow?

- Marilyn Malton

    

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Mark 5:1-20

“Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood.”

Today’s Gospel is a fascinating story.  Could the named demon (Legion) be a reference to the occupying Roman forces? If so, the story packs a political punch: Jesus is seen as one who challenges the imperial establishment. Within the story, this may explain the crowd’s reaction. Any threat to the status quo challenges their comfort but also may bring Roman backlash. Possibly.

Or, maybe there is a more interpersonal reading. Instead of responding with gratitude, the crowd lashes out in fear. Why? Couldn’t they appreciate that Jesus had restored the life of this wounded man? Didn’t they see that Jesus removed the threat of his violent behavior?

Yes, I suppose they recognized both these facts, but maybe they saw a deeper truth in Jesus’ actions that day.  If Jesus could restore the life of the demoniac, maybe he would ask the town to restore him to life in their community. Reconciling with someone who has hurt us deeply requires more miraculous powers than casting out his demons. And, in this case, the hurt had gone both ways. After all, to manage their fears, they had attempted to chain the man who was their cause.

Sure, Jesus calmed the violence today, but had the man really changed? If the demons found a hospitable home once, it stands to reason that they would again. Would Jesus invite them to be in relationship with someone who might pose a threat in the future?

Whether we see this story through the wide-angle lens of political interpretation or through the close-up lens of our interpersonal relationships, Jesus presents a challenge. As such, the story is appropriate for this season of Lent. When we meditate on it, we are asked to consider all those around us we marginalize, all those we try to shackle and chain by ignoring them (or worse). We are even asked to look deep inside to confront our own “demons.”

I’m challenged by Jean Vanier’s spiritual vision for society. To follow Jesus, he teaches, means making friends with those who suffer. I don’t know about you, but most times I am afraid to face my own wounds or the pain of those around me. Jesus is already in our neighborhood in places of suffering. In our fear that he will challenge our status quo, will we beg Jesus to leave?

-David Shumaker

Friday, March 21, 2014 (Thomas Cranmer)

Friday, March 21, 2014

Jeremiah 5:1-9; Psalm 143

Have you ever felt that you were facing a major situation , and hoped or prayed that you could clearly make the best decision for yourself and everyone concerned, even if it meant personal sacrifice? Psalm 143 was offered by David in such a situation:  Surrounded by enemies, he felt powerless to respond, but then in prayer he turned to God and asked for strength to persist : "Teach me the way to go, for to you I lift up my soul." He sensed that even if what laid ahead for him was death, God would not desert him.

In the Anglican Calendar today we commemorate Thomas Cranmer who became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1533 and guided the English Church through its first two decades of reform and independence from the Papacy. During that period a major contribution to Anglican liturgy was his compilation of The Book of Common Prayer, which was revised in such a way as to make its protestant doctrine unmistakable. However, the politics and fortunes of Church and State of that period were interwined such that when the throne passed to Queen Mary 1, (she restored England back to communion with the Pope), Cranmer was imprisioned for heresy. At the end of his trial, he recanted his protestant views in hopes for clemency, but the Queen refused and he was burned at the stake on this day in 1556. It is recorded that as the flames licked around him, he thrusted out his right hand , (the hand that had signed his earlier recantation), so that it might be the first to be burned. In his time of dying he turned to God again, revealing his true self and what was close to his heart.

It seems to me that this is what really is called for whenever we find ourselves in dire straits: be open with our true selves to God's Presence, to God's strength and, to commend ourselves to God's enduring Love & Care.

-The Ven. Ken Cardwell

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Mark 4:  21-34

This section of Mark follows the parable of the sower and offers us several more parables—a lamp on a lampstand, scattered seed that seems to grow without attention, and a mustard plant that grows from smallest seed to towering shrub—to illuminate the Kingdom of God that is both present and future.  “What will the Reign of God be like?” It will be like setting a lamp on a lampstand rather than under a bed or basket—it will bring light and will disclose what to now has been hidden and secret.    So if you want to understand, ‘Hear!’, ‘Pay Attention!’ ‘Listen up!’ ‘Open your ears!’ is Jesus’ insistent reminder throughout the parables.  Good advice, since none of the images offered in the parables are straightforward.  None of them leave us with an ‘Ah ha’ moment when we say to ourselves, “Now I get it!”

 The Parable of the Growing  Seed  (Mark 4:26-29) offers a  somewhat baffling image of God’s Reign.  Seed is scattered, seemingly at random, the sower seems benignly negligent, sleeping and rising, while the good earth produces the grain until it is ready for harvest.  While not describing good farming practice, it reminds us that there are many, many things we cannot control, and perhaps when we let go of our treasured ways of doing things, God is able to ‘work’ in ways beyond our imagination.  

The Mustard Seed parable (Mark 4: 30-32) offers a paradoxical image.  Small seed grows to tall shrub, providing shady homes for birds.  But the Mustard shrub, while providing spice and some medicinal benefits, was, for first century farmers, invasive and pesky, with a tendency to take over where it was not wanted (like the violets in my backyard).  Is Jesus suggesting to his hearers that there is an unpredictable wildness to God’s Kingdom?  

The invitation to ‘Pay Attention’ comes also with an assurance —the more one pays careful attention, the more insight and understanding is received, and “still more will be given to you” (v24).

-Marianne Mellinger

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Ephesians 3: 14-21

Paul has been telling the Ephesians that the “mystery of Christ” is that all people, in all the world, “stand on the same ground before God.” (v.6 The Message)  Because of this, Paul offers this prayer, part of which we say at the end of our Eucharist service.

He prays that we may be strengthened  with a “glorious inner strength” as Christ lives within us.  I love The Message’s translation of the next bit: “I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love.”   It sounds like the strength God will give enables me to keep my feet firmly planted - this reminds me of Jesus’s stories of building a house on a rock, and also of the seed that grows in good ground.  Love becomes both the ground and the nutrient, supporting and feeding, enabling growth.  I think of the many times Jesus and later Paul used the metaphor of the vine, of fruit, especially fruit of the Spirit.  The extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love reminds me of the cup brimming over, of the good measure, pressed own, shaken together, running over; God lavishing his love on us.  As a result I will be able to live life fully.

With such love working within us, God is able to accomplish much more than we can imagine - I wonder if I limit that result by not imagining wildly enough.  Do I sometimes assume that God cannot do something because it just doesn’t make sense, that it doesn’t “work like that in the real world?” What would happen if I imagined and asked for wonderful, love filled results, and did my part in living those results out?  

Glory to God, and His Blessings to us all.

-Ann Kelland

Tuesday March 18 - Jeremiah 2:1-13

The prophet Jeremiah preached for decades calling the people of Judah to repentance.  In today's reading, we hear Jeremiah urging the people to listen to the word of the Lord.  The people had stopped telling their salvation story:  the story of the time when God delivered them from slavery in Egypt, led them through the dangers of the wilderness, and into the land of plenty God had promised to them.  They had become enthralled by other stories and stopped asking, "Where is God?"

In compelling language Jeremiah names two sins of the people:  they have forsaken God, the fountain of living water, and sought other sources of life which turn out to be cracked cisterns incapable of holding water of any kind.

The season of Lent calls us to self-examination and repentance. Am I being asked to remember what God has done and is doing for me?  Where have I settled for a poor substitute for the living water that Christ offers to me?  

Monday, March 17 (St. Patrick's Day)

Monday, March 17, 2014

St Mark 3: 7 - 19a

            As the luck of the Irish would have it, I pulled the three leaf

clover with the assignment to offer a reflection on the Gospel portion

which has been marked for the Feast of St. Patrick ! The call to discipleship

which we read about in the Gospel of St. Mark names the individuals

who are invited to share the experience of Jesus' earthly ministry and

to be witnesses to all that he says and does.

            The invitation to be a companion of Jesus is as much of a life

changing moment for those named in the Gospel story as it is, four

centuries later, for Patrick, and, as it is for us. Carried to Ireland in slavery,

Patrick escapes, is nurtured in his Christian faith and then returns to

the place of his captivity to proclaim the Gospel message. Our journey of faith

may not be as arduous, but the call to discipleship is as equally profound. 

            Patrick's perception that Christ is to be found in every

element of life has been claimed by many as a meaningful way in which

to experience the power of the Gospel. The healing power of Jesus

which is a part of today's Gospel reading , is, according to Patrick,

only one facet of the experience of Christ for a person of faith. In the text

of the famous hymn known as St. Patrick's Breastplate, we find the concept

of divine presence in all things, in all places and in all people, presented

in a meaningful and accessible way.

"Christ be with me,

Christ within me,

Christ behind me,

Christ before me,

Christ beside me,

Christ to win me,

Christ to comfort and restore me.

Christ beneath me,

Christ above me,

Christ in quiet,

Christ in danger,

Christ in hearts of all that love me,

Christ in mouth of friend and stranger."

            Being attuned to God's presence in every facet of our lives is both a

challenging and a meaningful personal discipline during the Season of Lent 2014.

The Reverend Canon Christopher B. J. Pratt

Sunday, March 16, 2014 - The Parable of the Sower

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Matthew 13:1-23

In my Christian History and Theology class this term, my professor gave us a great tool for approaching parables: replace each person and object in turn with “God,” and re-read the parable. In many cases, it simply does not work. But in many others, it changes how we think about the parable.

An obvious substitution is God for the sower, and the parable becomes: “Listen! God went out to sow…” But my preferred substitution is this: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some God fell on the path… Other God fell on rocky ground… Other God fell on good soil, and brought forth grain…”

Does this change it as a parable of the Kingdom? I don’t think so. But it puts an emphasis on our action to live God, to live in the way that Jesus teaches us. The sower casts seed, but does not leave it. The sower remembers where it lands, cares for it, and watches it grow. Our action is not only to go and spread the Good News, but to actively live our relationship with God by remembering those around us and caring for them.

So consider: how and where do you cast seed? And, when you do, are you sowing God?

- Joshua Zentner-Barrett

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Mark 2:23 – 3:6

Today’s scripture relates two incidents on the Sabbath illustrating how Jesus used the Bible, how he cared for people in need, and how he reacted to the Pharisees, some of the religious leadership in Jesus’ society.  We learn about Jesus’ priorities and emotions and we are challenged to become more like him in our actions, thoughts, and feelings.

One of the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:8-11) says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”  God’s intention was for the Sabbath to be a weekly day off from work for rest, recreation, and worship.  In Jesus’ time, the Pharisees made many rules and regulations tightening Sabbath restrictions and paid more attention to their rules than to the basic intention of the commandment.  The Sabbath became a legal burden more than a day of renewal and restoration.  So Jesus called people back to the basic biblical principle as he said, “The Sabbath was made for humankind, not humankind for the Sabbath.”  

In the first story today (Mk. 2:23-28), some of Jesus’ disciples helped themselves on the Sabbath to a snack of grain from a field.  There was nothing wrong with their helping themselves to the grain in the field; the Jewish law allowed that for travellers and for the poor (Lev. 19:9-10).  But the Pharisees objected strongly to the “work” of plucking the grain on the Sabbath.  Jesus wouldn’t tolerate such legalism making people go hungry because of arbitrary rules.  So he upset the Pharisees.  He upped the confrontation by referring to a slightly obscure account (1 Sam. 21:1-6) about David, running for his life from King Saul, asking the priest Abiathar for bread.  Abiathar had only the special, consecrated Bread of the Presence, but David and the hungry young men with him unlawfully took that bread and ate it.   Jesus’ point is that God – and the Bible stories from which we learn about God – are more concerned about meeting human needs like hunger than about even the worship ceremonies the Bible itself specifies.  The Pharisees must have found this story particularly galling, as they greatly admired King David, and the Bible in no way criticized David for unlawfully eating the consecrated bread or even for deceiving the priest, which David did by telling him he was on a secret mission for King Saul when he was actually running away from Saul.

Notice the different approach to the Bible between Jesus and the Pharisees.  The Pharisees (like some Christians today) saw the Bible as a source of restrictive rules and regulations, which they tightened up even more and used to impose burdens on other people.  Jesus looked past all that and saw the real purpose for the Bible, to show us God’s love, God’s healing, the freedom and joy that God brings to people.  Jesus takes the Bible very seriously, but for its positive liberating purpose, with restraints only for the good of people, not to impose burdens.  What is our attitude to the Bible?  Are we sometimes like the Pharisees?  Or are we learning to see, with Jesus, what is really fundamental and liberating in the Bible, how it brings healing and joy and hope?

Our second story (Mk. 3:1-6) takes the differences even further.  Jesus already has a reputation as a healer, and the Pharisees are watching to see if Jesus will heal a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath.  For them, their Sabbath rules are the important matter; they care little if anything about the man who needs healing.  For Jesus, it is the reverse.  Confrontation follows, and Jesus shows his emotional reaction: he looks at the Pharisees with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and heals the man anyway.  Earlier, Mark (1:40-41) has told us of a leper toward whom Jesus was moved with compassion, with pity, as he reaches out and heals him.  Thus we glimpse Jesus’ emotions of compassion and care for those in need, for the powerless, the excluded and rejected ones.  We also glimpse Jesus’ emotions of grief and anger toward those who care nothing about the people in need, those who care only for their own rules and procedures, only for their own power and authority.

Let us consider how we react in similar circumstances.  When we see people in need, people who are marginalized and excluded, people who are suffering, do we react like Jesus with compassion, with caring, with every effort to bring healing and hope?  Or, like the Pharisees, do we look away and hardly notice people in need?  And how do we react to people like the Pharisees, especially those in authority, who care little or nothing for people in need?  Do we shrug our shoulders at this usual state of affairs?  Or do we, with Jesus, grieve because they don’t care about people in need, but only about themselves and their own agendas?

Our scripture today has a sad conclusion.  We learn, for the first time in Mark’s Gospel, that Jesus is under threat:  The Pharisees (religious leaders) are consulting with the Herodians (who shared political leadership with Herod Antipas, governing Galilee for the Roman Empire), how they can destroy Jesus.  The way Jesus cares for the poor, the sick, the excluded, in defiance of their rules and authority, is totally unacceptable to these leaders.  They are determined to assert their authority and stop Jesus no matter what, even by destroying him.  

This sad conclusion is meant for us too.  If we are serious in following Jesus, in learning to live and act like him, if his character infuses us until our emotions become like his, we too will be rejected by many of the powers that be.  The closer we walk with Jesus, the harsher, even violent, that rejection will become (2 Tim. 3:12).  So let us count the cost as we endeavour to follow Jesus, so we will not turn back from him who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb. 12:2).

-  Robert Kruse

Friday, March 14, 2014

Friday March 14, 2014 

I Corinthians 3: 16-23

Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth is written as a parent or older and wiser sibling might address younger members of a family.  The Corinthians have become embroiled in numerous disagreements and points of division – worship, leadership, sexual morality, food, and more.  Paul addresses these issues with wise counsel: if the foundation is well-built, these arguments wouldn’t be taking place.  And, since Paul built the foundation during his visits with these budding Christian communities, he can call them back to that foundational work.  Further, Paul points to the basis of that foundation, which is a firm and grounded belief in the love of Jesus the Christ.

In this portion of the letter, Paul focuses on the leadership issue.  Some of the Corinthian Christians, have become divided over who offers the better or wiser leadership.  If it sounds a bit like political partisanship, or Christian denominationalism, you are on the right track.  Paul states simply that there is only one choice in leader and that choice is Christ: “For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future – all belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.”

-The Reverend Paul Kett

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Thursday, March 13, 2014

PSALM 50: a reflection…

Psalm 50 opens with God exploding into the scene in a roaring blaze of fire, storm and light.  This is not how most Anglican services start, as I recall.  In fact, it’s not anyone’s liturgy at all: it’s a Trial!  In the first 6 verses, God arrives and calls the entire Heavens and earth into court.  He summons His faithful people who have made a covenant with Him.  He is there to judge them.  

Let the Trial begin.

God acknowledges His people’s sacrifices, but He reminds them (and us) that all the creatures – the birds and animals (and treasure) they are giving up for sacrifice, are His to begin with.  Ironically He says He will “accept no bull from your house”.  Surely, that is the theme of the psalm.  I hear God speaking out of love for humankind, but let us continue….

God declares that offering these items for sacrifice do Him no good.  He doesn’t eat them or need their blood.  It’s the attitude of THANKFULNESS that He wants – the GRATITUTE for all He has given.  For us then, I imagine the challenge is the thoughts in our minds as we write those weekly cheques… It’s the attitudes in our Hearts as we recite the words in the book, or stand or kneel or sing.  To each his or her own, but in the courtroom of Psalm 50, God calls for a spirit of thankfulness driving all our worship – not mere recital of forms.

When I was a child, I used to think God did not hear my prayer if my hands were not folded and my eyes were not closed.  I should have discovered this psalm earlier.  I could have avoided years of guilt.

It’s not the forms, kid, it’s the attitude…!

Some of us offer time and skills as well as treasure.  Again, in God’s court, it’s the attitude of mind that counts.  Do we conduct our ministries with gratitude and joy – and a sense of thankfulness?  Or do we get trapped in a pit of complaint about the long hours or the lack of thanks or recognition?  The story of Jesus’ temptation in the Wilderness really helps us focus on avoiding the need for glory and recognition.  But it’s hard to muster His strength at times.

I know many of us call upon God in our hour of need, as stated in verse 15.  God says this glorifies Him.  But in verse 16, God the Prosecutor argues that even the wicked can rattle off all the words of familiar prayers and promises (the Covenant).  He points out that their lives betray their so-called sincerity.  They keep company with thieves and adulterers.  He says they have no discipline.  The Psalm says “you cast my words behind you”.  What a great image for abandoning God’s ways as soon as we walk out of the church door!

17 For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you

Modern newspapers are filled with stories of those who have abandoned God’s ways.  I suppose they are today’s ‘thieves and adulterers’. We can’t avoid such people in society, but I assume we can avoid their attitudes of heart.  Perhaps that is what is meant by “keep company” in verse 18.  

Jesus spoke of being in the world but not of it.

God accuses the wicked of talking evil and deceit.  He gets specific – accusing the people of slandering their brothers.  This is gossip – and trash talk inside families.  These accusations from the Lord are hard to take!  Which of us hasn’t done this from time to time.  Ouch!

In verse 21, God says: “You thought I was one like yourself.”  What a compelling statement!  We forget that God does not think like us, reason like us - and more especially compartmentalize our lives like we do from Sunday to Monday.  As God calls all of Nature from Day unto Night into court to speak for Him, so He does not see Worship, Gratitude and Thankfulness as Sunday-only activities.  God sees these things as a way of Being, a way of Thinking, a way of Living.

21 These things you have done and I have been silent;
you thought that I was one like yourself.
But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.

Verses 22 and 23 sum up the court case against humankind – It has both a lethal warning and a hope - if we do not want to be rent asunder*, do not forget God from day to day.  Bring Thanksgiving as our sacrifice, bring meaning to the words of the Covenant as we speak it, and God will show that person the Way of Salvation.

It’s hard to read Psalm 50 without finding something that mirrors our faulty relationship with God.  Fortunately, in this courtroom, the Judge and Prosecutor is also the Redeemer.  He points out the way to avoid the fate that awaits us, should we stand accused.  We are called into court, but let off with a warning.  The wise person will Heed that warning, and change his or her ways, not out of fear, but out of Gratitude and Thankfulness – and ultimately, out of Love.

*(God can destroy us all as a lion would tear an animal into pieces. And, as He says in verse 22, there would be none to deliver.)

-Peter Mansell, Lent, 2014

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Mark 1:29-45

Mark, in contrast to the other synoptic gospels of Matthew and Luke, does not begin to tell the story of Jesus with a recounting of details of Jesus’ birth or early childhood. Instead, Mark’s gospel begins in chapter 1by introducing his audience to a Jesus who is already an adult and acts as a compassionate, powerful healer. In the case of healing the leper Jesus’ actions can be viewed as counter cultural. In the tradition of the Hebrew Bible leprosy was seen as a form of spiritual and physical pollution. Individuals who suffered from this condition were generally isolated from their community and family. In this case, Jesus is “moved with pity” when a leper humbly approaches him to ask that he be cleansed or healed by Jesus. Jesus ignores the social mores of his day and reaches out and touches the leper, something that would have been shocking to many at that time.  As a result of this compassionate touch the leper was reported to be instantly healed. 

Who are the outcasts or marginalized of today who many might find difficult to care for or love? How would we react to requests for help or assistance from some of the marginalized of our day? 

-Terry Rothwell