RADICAL TRUST IN GOD - 2nd Sunday after Pentecost, May 29, 2016; by Nicole Smith

Our readings today present us with stories demonstrating extraordinary trust in God – Elijah drowning the offerings in water before calling on God to consume them in fire, and a centurion who didn't need Jesus to come to his house to heal his slave.

As I reflected on the lessons in preparation for this morning, these four characteristics of Radical Trust in God emerged: Worshipping God Only, Taking the Right Risks, Pleasing God Not People, and Being Changed through Prayer. I will share how I see these four themes come out through our readings and then conclude with some final thoughts on their possible relevance to us today.

1) Worshipping God Only: All the readings point to the priority of worshipping God alone. In the Kings passage, the people of Israel were challenged point-blank to choose whether to worship Baal, as those peoples around them worshipped, or whether to worship God. In the Psalm, the “new song” we are to sing is one of utter devotion to God.  Paul challenges the Galatians in the epistle lesson to be faithful to the true gospel.  The Gospel reading, too, shows that the centurion, though not a Jew, was fully given to God, trusting God without reservation.

I suppose that it has never been easy to follow God. However, in some ways it feels more confusing now than ever before. Details and perspectives from a wide variety of religions, spiritualities, and other approaches to truth are available via the Internet and other sources to an unprecedented extent which can be totally bewildering to the seeker and believer alike.

And it's not just information overload. The culture of consumerism and materialist values inundates each one of us through all the media, whether traditional or social, with its priorities that are alien to full dedication to God. Jesus says quite simply in Luke 16:13: “You cannot serve both God and money.”

In everything we do as the Church, as well as in our individual lives, we have to wrestle daily to answer meaningfully the question, “What does worshipping God only mean?”

2) Taking the Right Risks: Elijah appeared to be risking humiliation, by calling on God to do the impossible – to consume an ostensibly unburnable offering by miraculous intervention. But this risk was not wild or random. It came from intuitively, prophetically knowing what God was going to do in this situation, through an indefinite, extended time listening to God's plan to bring the people of Israel back to faithfulness. Furthermore, it came from a life stance of radical obedience to God and seeing God do amazing things like this over and over.
    
In the same way, the faith that the centurion had, not to try to control the outcome of his slave's illness by seeing Jesus personally, was based on years of trusting God and knowing what God could do.

Trusting God for our lives always involves risk, but not whimsical or selfish risk. Rather, it is deeply grounded in our knowledge of God and how God has worked and continues to work in our lives. It means listening to God's voice and discerning God's path forward amongst all the voices competing for our attention.

3) Pleasing God Not People: In Galatians 1:10, Paul says: If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant to Christ. Elijah's actions speak in the same spirit as he goes about repairing the altar of God and preparing the sacrifice. Clearly he wasn't interested in winning any popularity contests. The centurion, as a military man, would also have been well-acquainted with not pleasing people.

I think our Christian culture is such that it can be easy to confuse being loving toward others and making them happy, or pleasing them, rather than pleasing God. I'm not saying that our goal should be to try to make people unhappy. But over and over throughout the Scriptures, in addition to the ones we read today,  pleasing people and pleasing God are frequently at odds, and serving God requires being willing to be very unpopular at times.

Yesterday, on Facebook, one of my dear friends shared with me and others of us who preach here regularly a funny video of a church minister who had apparently struggled too long with walking the line between pleasing people and God. He departed from talking about the Scripture and just completely lost his cool. Don't worry, I'm not even remotely tempted to follow his example now. Actually, I am very grateful to you all, the way everyone has been working together so that though Bishop Terry's away, Dianne is still on sick leave, and Marie had to be out of office for almost two weeks, things have been going astonishingly smoothly. It also reminded me of how it isn't any easier for the one who preaches to live by God's word. That, as always, I speak the things I do because I need to hear them. 

4) Being Changed Through Prayer: Something that is implicit in all these stories is what happens to us through a life of prayer. It quite literally changes us. Opening to God reveals possibilities and pathways that are invisible when we are closed off. This is in fact our primary need for prayer: not to change God's mind, as if we knew better than God, or God were unwilling to help us, but instead becoming more ready for what God is already prepared to do in our lives. That can be spectacular as it was when Elijah or Paul or the centurion prayed. It can be as simple but still challenging as gaining the courage to go on when our difficulties feel insurmountable.

So then, Radical Trust in God includes these four aspects: Worshipping God Only, Taking the Right Risks, Pleasing God Not People, and Being Changed through Prayer. But how do I, how do you, live these day by day?  How do we make the leap from what we need to do to how to do it, and how to be it? Thankfully, our relationship with God informs both. It is through the ways we come to know God, the study groups, the personal experiences through which we slowly recognize God's voice and interventions, times of listening to God in prayer – these become the ground from which we can live lives of service with a trust that is radical.

I can't stand here today and tell you what exactly Radical Trust in God would look like in your life. I hope though that what has been shared from the Scriptures brings light as you work out for yourself, through your own relationship with God, what that means.

In closing, I'd like to leave you with this thought: the “Radical” in Radical Trust means both rooted – and in this context, rooted in God – as well as all-encompassing and life-changing. So living as individuals and as a community in Radical Trust in God changes everything.

Pentecost Sunday, May 15, 2016; by the Reverend Hollis Hiscock

Sermon notes from guest preacher and presider, the Reverend Hollis Hiscock, for Pentecost 2016:

Several questions …
    When you watched the television images of destruction caused by Alberta’s “beast” of a forest fire and witnessed the evacuation of thousands of residents from Fort MacMurray, did you see God’s spirit at work in it all?
When you were going through the most difficult situation in your own life, did you feel God’s spirit with you?

A story - When Jesus returned to heaven, he and God had an “exit interview.”
God: How did things go on earth?
Jesus: I did all you asked me to do.
God: What plan did you make to continue your work?
Jesus: I appointed 12 men.
God: How are they doing?
Jesus: So so. One denied knowing me, one betrayed me and the others ran away.
God: What is your plan B?
Jesus: I made no other plans.

That is why Jesus’ followers were waiting – patiently and impatiently – in a house outside of Jerusalem for many days.
    The longer they waited, the more irritable they became.
Some may have wanted to give up.

SUDDENLY … it happened …
    A noise, like a rushing mighty wind, filled the house. Tongues of fire touched everyone. The followers of Jesus were filled with God’s spirit and began talking in many languages.
A curious crowd gathered to see what had happened. Typical reaction. Some wanted to learn more; others dismissed them -‘they’re drunk’.

God sent people the Holy Spirit for many reasons – to help, advocate, guide, protect, comfort, encourage and lead us in our daily living; as well it was a reminder that God is always with us.

That is why we have to see God’s spirit in events and interpret its presence. But to do so we need to adopt the right attitude and perception.

Several examples …

Eric left Newfoundland some years ago and became a truck driver in the oilfields of Fort Mac. His family rented for several years and in January 2016 bought their first house. In April he purchased a new truck. Life was going well for the three of them.
Then came the beast. They fled to Edmonton with a few treasured possessions. Now they are back in Newfoundland. His truck is in Edmonton. Eric found out the house they rented was destroyed by the fire, but the house they bought escaped the blaze. He is waiting to return to his home and job in Alberta. Do they see or feel God’s presence or spirit in their lives? Do we? I hope so.

The singer/songwriter THE WEEKND has won 6 Junos and has a song nominated for an Academy Award. He donated $50,000 to the Toronto church where he grew up and where his parents still attend. His minister said the money was important but more importantly he was glad THE WEEKND was using the gifts God had given him, and he still sees this church as his church. Do we see God’s spirit working in the life of this person? In our own life? I hope so.

During the 1992-95 war in Bosnia, a famous mosque was bombed to pieces. The peace agreement of 1995 guaranteed people could return home and rebuild. In 2001 people began to collect, from rivers and garbage dumps, fragments of the former mosque. Approximately 3,500 pieces were collected. It took 15 years to rebuild the mosque.
    On May 7, 2016, 10,000 people gathered to celebrate its reopening. In addition to political leaders, representatives from the Serbian Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church and Jewish community were present.
    A leader of the Islamic Community told the gathering, ‘Our differences are not a historical mistake. They are God’s gifts and any violence against those differences is an act against God’. Did the people see God’s spirit at work in rebuilding the place of worship? Do we? I hope so

That is what Pentecost is … God being with us at all times, under all circumstances, in all situations.

Margerie Pezzack – the first woman ordained a priest in Toronto Diocese – taught “Pentecost” to her Sunday School children in a unique way. Every Sunday morning at St. John’s York Mills Church in Toronto, the Sunday School would gather in the chapel and Marg would get them to repeat these five words of Jesus, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS (Matthew 28:20).
    She would get the children to raise a closed hand and repeat one word as they extended one finger.
    At Marg’s funeral I told the story of the five words. One of her former students had loaned me a needlepoint working of a hand and the 5 words of Jesus.
    After relating what Marg did to begin her Sunday School class every week, and knowing the majority of those at her funeral were former students, I asked, “how do you respond when I do this?”.
    I raised my hand – the congregation did the same.
    I extended my thumb – the congregation shouted – I
    And so on for the other four fingers.
    That day nearly 600 people repeated what Marg had taught them in Sunday School to help them cope with life.


At Pentecost God sent the Holy Spirit to help us be God’s people in the world.

(I ended my sermon by asking the congregation to follow Marg’s example.
I raised my hand – they did the same – and as I opened each finger we said “I am with you always”.
I suggested that later in the day people should do it once more … and in the future whenever needed.)

IN THE END, CHRIST REIGNS OVER ALL - 7th Sunday of Easter, May 8, 2016; by Bishop Terry Brown

(Homily preached by Bishop Terry Brown for the Seventh Sunday after Easter, Church of the Ascension, Hamilton, Ontario, May 8, 2016.)

 
I think any preacher in Canada this Sunday has some major challenges: It is the Sunday after the Ascension: the earthly Christ has vanished, giving us or promising us the Holy Spirit of truth and wisdom, changing us from disciples into apostles, sending us out to live and proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world.

Yet the context this week is a horrific natural disaster, a terribly destructive forest fire in Alberta that has disrupted thousands of lives and may well, in one way or another, impact us all. We might well ask, “Where is God in that terrible fire? Why does God let it continue?” And many other questions may well arise about our Christian understanding of God and nature. Just as we try to embrace nature with love and care, and we think of our observance of Earth Sunday two weeks ago, it explodes and becomes massively destructive.

It is also Mother’s Day, a secular holiday on which we give thanks for mothers and those who do the work of mothers.

And finally, the Anglican Church of Canada asks us to keep today as Jerusalem Sunday, praying and working for peace in that troubled city, “the mother of us all”, the home of the three “religions of the Book”, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. What a mixture for any preacher!

And we should note that poor Julian of Norwich, whose feast day it also is, has been supplanted. We’ll celebrate her in our Wednesday Eucharist.

Perhaps we might start with a quiet prayer for all the mothers who are caught up in the Fort McMurray fire, who are doing what mothers usually do in natural and human disasters, sacrificing themselves to look after their children and preserve their lives. And not just mothers, but grandmothers, aunts, and sisters; and fathers, brothers and friends. And not just Alberta; but all the places in the world where motherhood is fraught with violence, war, poverty, ill health, starvation and lack of opportunity. We pray for the mothers of Syria and Iraq; mothers who are refugees, including in our own community; mothers of Attawapiskat, and, of course, we pray for the mothers of Jerusalem, both Palestinian and Israeli, and their children, that they may live together in peace.

I believe it is good to think of Mother’s Day as a very inclusive holiday, as some have sought to be mothers and not been able, or have lost children, but yet are able to exercise motherly love. Often, in the words of Scripture, “she who is barren has many more children than the one who conceived and bore”. So we give thanks for our mothers and those who have taken the place of mothers in our lives; and pray that good motherly love may be part of our characters, whatever our gender. And that we may have the grace to accept the love of those who wish to be mothers to us.

Bishop Walter, in his Ascension Day sermon, pointed out that Jesus’ Ascension was the point at which the disciples ceased to be simply followers of the earthly Jesus but now, with that earthly Jesus gone, had to become leaders, apostles, not simply disciples; and that we are called to that vocation as the Holy Spirit is poured upon us: to be apostles in good relationships of Christian friendship with one another, but also sent out (that is the meaning of “apostle”: apo-stelein, to be sent out) to the world with the love of God in Jesus Christ.

But what about massive forest fires, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes and floods? Where is the love of the Creator God in all of them? It would appear that God has given us a potentially dangerous world to live in; yet also the skills to live, learn, develop and flourish in this world. Take earthquakes, for example, caused by the earth’s tectonic plates shifting as the earth cools. That we know and can make some provision for. Indeed, we take on the risks of nature and sometimes nature wins. Floodplains have good soil so ancient and even modern civilizations plant gardens and even build cities in them; but floodplains are still floodplains and they sometimes flood. Likewise, forest fires, though immensely destructive, have an element of regeneration in them, they are a part of the cycle of nature, so humanity has to be careful.

To add to the mix, we can make things worse – for example, by massive deforestation, pollution of the oceans, excessive use of fossil fuels, and a wasteful lifestyle. We are all involved. I may be proud that my “carbon footprint” is small because I do not have a car; but I am about to make one very heavy carbon footprint as I fly back and forth across the Pacific Ocean for about the 20th or 30th time. We make our choices and we are called to choose with love.

We also like risky activities – perhaps white water rafting, or skiing or bungee jumping. And then there are our sometimes frail and vulnerable bodies that we do not treat so well through overwork or lack of rest. And then there are human-made disasters: wars, genocides, abuses, unjust economic and political systems, those who are happy to be ignorant or misled by an ultimately destructive ideology, religion or politician.  Indeed, Jerusalem today, with all its violence and instability, is often the result of religions in conflict, religions that have traded their God-given heritage of peace/shalom/salaam for violence and hatred.

This is the world in which we are placed and the world to which we are sent. It may feel like an enormous and impossible challenge. Yet the first apostles, at the Ascension, were sent into a Mediterranean world of war and natural and human disasters, with much less technology than ourselves, and the Gospel flourished.

First, we must make sure that our own house is in order, so that we are sent as a united and loving community (abiding in Christ and in one another, as envisioned by today’s Gosepl), not just as a bunch of individuals. And so we try to work together as a parish, with our various governing, advisory and programme structures; we try to be open to new ministries – new ways of being sent – without discouraging one another or the work of the Spirit. We are called near and far. We are called to be generous to those affected by the Fort McMurray fire: for example, through contributions to the Primate’s Fund. We are called to radical hospitality. We are called to be generous to mothers and those who look after children. We are called to motherly love. And if we want to continue in this building, we are called to the mundane tasks of furnaces, roofs, lawns, photocopy machines, budgets – but also bread and wine, which, blessed, brings it all together and sends us out.

I wanted to preach this Sunday as I am away the next five weeks in Vancouver, Brisbane, Solomon Islands and Fiji. The trip is a combination of work and holiday and I ask your prayers for my travels. Through the social media, many whom I visit already know of our parish. A couple Solomon Islanders have appeared here and more will come. I hope I can put together some sort of parish ministry visit next year to the Solomons that would broaden our vision but also provide some help and support. Marshal McLuhan’s “global village” is here and now and we are sent both locally and globally. And I am sure God’s Holy Spirit will continue to work among you while I am away.

Finally, overarching all of these concerns, is our continued reading of the book of Revelation as our Epistle during Easter and Ascension-tide; we have now come to its end. It is a reminder that no matter what the disaster, no matter what the tragedy, no matter what the difficulty, no matter what the disappointment – and John is writing to terribly persecuted Christians, rather like Middle Eastern and North African Christians today – no matter what the horror, no matter what the death, the Resurrected, Ascended and Glorified Christ reigns over all and will eternally reign over all, bringing all who are faithful to his side and wiping all tears away. So we work with that promise before us of the eternal heavenly New Jerusalem to come.

“The Spirit and the Bride say, ’Come’. And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come’. And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.”

Thanks be to God!