Red hair flying, taking the corners so quickly she had to grab the handrails –she was a monumental woman, and once called a “striding colossus” going down the hospital hallways. Of course, it was me as a nurse, in Winnipeg…but here I was. Starting over again,day One as a Student Chaplain and armed with only a pen, knitting needles and wool. I was unsure of where to begin, how to start this new phase of my life. You see, after many years as a critical care nurse where you would just hang a stethoscope around my neck and I’d know exactly how to spring into action…today was different. I was now charged to “Go forth and loiter with intent”.
How do I approach people? What do I say to people who are in pain and hurting? Scared and in need? What can I offer without my usual bag of tricks, when suddenly it came to me! Why is it my symptoms always seemed to lessen whenever I got to the hospital. I used to laugh and say, “make a liar out of me doc, but 2 hours ago, I was screaming in pain…”
So I went up the first person and asked “How are you feeling?” and the answer was “fine” and we both laughed. “Well, not really fine then, she said” and I asked what brought her in, and then I asked, how did she feel symptom-wise now that she was at the hospital? And my lady answered, that her symptoms seemed to lessen. After a brief chat and the offer of prayer and glass of water, I moved on, and I discovered that most people had similar experiences. Why did people feel better, even when waiting for 4 hours in the ER….and it came to me. HOPE. Hope that someone there could help them.
The power of HOPE is the key to healing. Today’s readings on St. Luke the Physician’s feast day are all about hope and healing. Our first reading from Sirach 38: 1-4 and 6-10. is written like one of today titles, “Healing for Dummies”. It tells us to honour physicians for the Lord created them and their gift of healing comes from the Most High. When we are ill, we are directed to not delay, but to pray to the Lord and he will heal us. It goes on to say, that there may come a time when recovery lies in the hands of physicians for they too pray to the Lord to grant them success in healing and preserving life. James 5:13-16, our second reading says, “Are any of you suffering? They should pray. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.
What do both of these readings have in common – making a CONNECTION! The point of contact - bringing people and God together, when we ask for someone to be healed. you don’t have to be an elder to be a healer. You can simply offer prayers on anyone’s behalf. You don’t have to make a fancy prayer or know the proper thing to say. Say what is in your heart and ask Jesus for what you need. As simple an idea as Psalm 30 says,” LORD my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me.”
Which bring me to a big thank you moment. As most of you probably know by now, our son has spent the last month in hospital gravely ill. My family and I have been surrounded by love and support by this parish community and I’d like to take a brief moment to say thank you. It has meant the world to me, each time someone has asked how he is, said they were praying for Andy and us, each time someone dropped off food or simply gave me a big hug. Knowing you aren’t alone makes a world of difference.
Sue Hawthorn-Bate told me a story this week, about another child in hospital. This one was in the NICU at the same time when Liam was born. She was awfully tiny and precious, but she must have seemed overwhelming to someone because she was abandoned at the hospital. This poor baby seemed to suffer with a diagnosis we call Failure to Thrive. No matter how much they tried to feed her or coo to her, the size of only a couple of pounds of butter, she lost weight and never engaged with the world around her. Don’t think for a moment that it only happens to preemie babies left alone in this world. I’ve seen people in every age group, every socio-economic level, rich poor, young, middle aged and elderly – failure to thrive can affect anyone. In those without hope, life seems to wither away. They stop interacting with others, they often stop feeding properly and shrink away from human contact. This is truly a dis-ease caused from lack of hope. Without hope then, how can we heal?
Where can we find hope? Jesus is our hope; he is our access to healing. All we have to do is ask. Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit when he returned to Galilee today’s Gospel tells us. He went home to Nazareth where he had been brought up. He went to the synagogue to pray and to preach and this is what he said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind.” This was Jesus’ Inauguration Day and his public manifesto. He tells us exactly where to turn for healing. We turn to him.
People in pain want help, whether that pain is from physical or emotional scars. Not all who suffer carry their dis-ease on the outside. Look past job titles, bank accounts, cars and big houses and see loneliness, need and hurt. When you go home today, take a moment outside beside the rose garden. Instead of looking down at Murray’s beautiful roses, look up at all the apartments around us. Can you imagine how many people just in our neighborhood alone are in need of healing of body, mind or spirit? How many people in those apartments never see a soul, never feel a hug or even a friendly handshake? never feel a human touch.
There is healing work to be done, and God has asked us to help. We have a powerful tool; one so powerful it can overcome some of the mightiest dis-eases.
Let’s go back to the tiny little baby in the NICU. Something wonderful happened. She was adopted by a couple who knew her challenges but believed that love would heal her. So they began Kangaroo kare. Simply explained, it is skin-to-skin contact. They tucked this tiny tiny baby inside their clothing, close to their hearts and they talked to her and they sang to her and she stirred. “She knew someone loved her”, Sue said. She first stabilized and then began to grow and eventually she left the hospital to start her new life with her family. No more failure to thrive – skin-to-skin contact. She was healed by God, through the hands of people.
Let us remember too, Luke 8:40-49 and the Hemorrhaging woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment. To reach Jesus she must push and shove and elbow her way between people when tiny openings occur. She is weak; her strength is drained, and yet she will not give up. She must reach Jesus, and so she continues to wedge her body through the crowd until she comes up behind him.
She has decided in her heart, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed"
She believed so deeply that she would be healed, that all she needed was the briefest of connections with Jesus. The power of hope and prayer brought her forward when all the odds were against her reaching him. But Jesus felt her weak tug on the hem of his tunic or perhaps the fringe of his tallit prayer shawl. We too sometimes need a physical "point of contact" that helps us exercise our faith in God. That is what the hem of Jesus' cloak was to the hemorrhaging woman. This is what a handclasp, or a hug can be. This is the power of hope, the power of healing, the power of grace in our lives too.
In just a few minutes here, we will have a healing service and all who are in need of healing in body, mind or spirit are asked to come forward and like our Epistle says today, “ be prayed over and anointed with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick.”
I’m going to ask those of you, who do not feel a call for anointing at this time, be an active part of this healing service by praying for our brothers and sisters today as they are anointed and when the time in right, perhaps at the passing of the peace, or at coffee time, try a little skin-to-skin therapy…shake their hand, or give them a hug and let them know they are not alone. If you are not sure how to approach them, just say, "I’m praying for you” or maybe just “Loiter with intent”.
(A sermon by Bishop Terry Brown at Church of the Ascension, Hamilton, Ontario, on Harvest Thanksgiving, October 9, 2016. Texts: Joel 2:21-27, 1 Timothy 2” 1-7 and Matthew 6:25-33.)
“But strive first for the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Of all the “worship choruses” I have heard over the years, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God” has always been my favourite. Like today’s Gospel, from which it comes, it puts the matter very clearly: always we are to try to keep our faith in God central in our lives – God’s Rule of love, justice and peace in the world and our participation in it – and regard all other matters, including our own physical and material needs, secondary.
First a comment about the Greek word here, basilea, often translated as “kingdom”, “reign” or “rule”. I think most commentators would say that the correct meaning of basilea is the power or authority exercised by a ruler, such as a king or queen, over his or her subjects. That may have been the original meaning of king-dom but today “kingdom” often implies a geographical state or area that is governed by a king. That definition can wrongly imply a male or patriarchal quality to God’s rule and even suggest that there is a parallel earthly institution equivalent to the divine Kingdom of God, namely a particular church or denomination. When a Church claims to be the Kingdom of God, we need to step back and question.
Rather, “rule” or “reign” is a much better translation of basilea. We are called to seek, support, fulfill and implement God’s Rule in the world in Jesus Christ. For many years I have used an English translation of the Lord’s Prayer that reads, “Your RULE come, your will be done”. This translation suggests dynamism and growth. God’s Rule of love, peace and justice in Jesus Christ has already come; yet it also continues to grow, develop and spread, both through the church and all women and men of good will. We are invited into that process. Christ’s love is God’s Rule.
Here there is a link with mission – God’s mission in Jesus Christ. In seeking God’s Rule, we are invited into God’s sending of Jesus Christ into the world for the sake of love, justice and peace (which we might broadly call salvation), and we are sent out, a part of God’s Mission, at the same time, seeking the Rule of God. Participation in God’s mission requires a certain simplicity: putting God first, sometimes leaving family and friends, giving up what we do not need, what have become idols in our lives. “Seek ye first the Rule of God”.
All of that sounds very theoretical. But to be more practical, today we are marking Harvest Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving, of course, is rooted in God’s grace and our thanksgiving for that grace and all its bounty: it is that thanksgiving and faith that causes us to want to seek God’s Rule. Part of God’s rule is a seeking for justice. Justice demands that all have enough to eat, that no one starves or is malnourished. Our collection of food and funds for St. Matthew’s House today is a manifestation of our seeking God’s Rule.
Sharing with others is a basic manifestation of God’s Rule. That can sometimes be difficult if we do not have very much or we have other important concerns – for a church, such concerns might be repairing a roof or paying the utility bills – but we are reminded that if we put God’s Rule first – and share with those in need beyond ourselves – “all these [other] things will be added” unto us. Indeed, Sue’s small financial update show that much has been added unto us.
Our first reading, from the prophet Joel, reminds us of God’s bounty in creation, even though there will be times of drought, famine, pestilence and storm. Our response should not be a desire to accumulate but joy that there is much to share. It is good to know that one of our local Corktown community gardens supplies St. Matthew’s House with fresh vegetables when the harvest comes.
Of course there are other implications here: the importance of looking after the earth well, that is, the stewardship of creation, and being mindful of the ways in which we have made land infertile and commodified the food chain for the sake of profit. (Next week I’ll be away visiting my uncle in my birthplace, Iowa, for his 100th birthday. On one visit he told me that Iowa once had the richest soil in the world but now it is sustained only by massive doses of fertilizer.) Challenges to Ontario’s Greenbelt designations by developers show that that process is still going on. With all of the political decisions being made about the environment, always as Christians, we come back to the question, is this action, this decision, a genuine seeking of God’s rule: will it produce and facilitate Christ’s love, justice shared with all, and genuine peace and reconciliation.
And in North America and other settler nations such as New Zealand and Australia, there is also the history of wealth and bounty built upon unjust theft or cheap acquisition of indigenous land, at the expense of indigenous cultures, languages and, indeed, indigenous lives themselves. There is also the legacy of slavery of Africans that has benefited North America, including Canada. Seeking God’s Rule, demands that we ask: What can return? How can we express our penitence? How can we restore justice? How can we help to restore friendship that is just and mutual, not coercive or colonial or enslaving?
The Rule of God is also about peace. Today’s epistle to Timothy speaks of living “a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity”. The author was writing at a time of strife, both in the Roman Empire and in the church. Through genuine faith in and reconciliation with Christ, a genuine peace, rooted and grounded in Christ comes about. It is both personal and political. It is a peace we need if we are to be participating in God’s rule and mission in the world. It relates also with Matthew’s plea in the Gospel today not to be anxious – to be more like the flowers of the field and simply bloom and not be anxious about it. Or, to be more colloquial, not to get our knickers in a knot all the time. For knitters among you, an earlier, less racy version of that expression, was “don’t get your knitting in a twist”.
Today we thanked members of the parish who have done special work in expressing our hospitality to others. Of course, that is a task for all of us. But hospitality is also about peacefulness. We want to invite new friends into a peaceful and non-contentious community. Perhaps the best recipe for peace is not looking inward all the time but, again, putting the Rule of God and our participation in it first – looking and doing outwardly; then we have something to work together on in mission, in sharing, in joining with others seeking love, justice and peace in the world.
So on this joyful Harvest Thanksgiving morning, surrounded by this beauty lovingly created, we come with thanks to God in the Eucharist (remembering that that word means “thanking well”), offering all our lives to God, and sent out as more committed and faithful seekers of God’s Rule, and doing so without anxiety, both in the church and in the world. Amen.
May my words bring you peace and all good, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Good morning everyone!
I’m glad to be here with you this morning, to share a bit of the Franciscan tradition and my thoughts on today’s readings as a Third Order Franciscan Novice as we celebrate St Francis of Assisi.
But first, I’d like to start with a little confession:
I can be a real JERK some times.
I’m glad I’m not seeing everyone nodding their heads in agreement. But it’s true. I can be a jerk some times. And that is both ‘okay’ and ‘not okay’ at the same time.
We all know someone in our lives, whether it’s at work or in church or wherever, that is a jerk sometimes. Or a little passive aggressive. Territorial. Unreliable or untrustworthy. Maybe outright belligerent or hostile. But if we’re honest with ourselves, there’s a good chance each of us is one of those things to someone, too.
Fortunately, God loves us all. Even the ones with a bad temper.
No one is called to be perfect because no one can be. We should love ourselves and each other despite our flaws. But at the same time, recognizing human faults should not be met with apathy or accommodation of negative behaviour. That is not necessarily the loving thing to do. To use a human example, I think of my children. I would never want to tie my love for them to success in school. I love them regardless of their grades. But at the same time, I don’t want less for them than they are capable of. If I really believe they are capable of better, then the loving thing to do is to encourage and push them to do so. In much the same way, it may not be any more the loving thing to do in a community to simply accept poor behaviour, than it would be to expel someone. Suggesting they simply can’t do better is denying their potential. So, we love the person, but should not accommodate or enable a pattern of negative behaviour.
It’s also been said that life is a journey, and on that journey we will all fall down sometimes. But falling into a mud puddle is no excuse to stay in it, either. You get up and get going again. The good news is that many of the saints have experienced the mud puddles of life and gone on to do the work that God set before them. St Peter denied Christ and still became a pillar of the new church. St Paul persecuted the church horribly, but was called to turn and work for Christ as the Apostle to gentiles.
St Francis himself lived a life of excess, a brash and flamboyant playboy son of a wealthy cloth merchant. His position in society led him to war, seeking to become a knight, a title that would bring special prestige to his family. But over time, God called him from one extreme to the other. Francis would repent of his former way of life and commit himself to living a life so literally close to the Gospel that he renounced his family fortune and lived a life of voluntary poverty. His place in life was to be little, poor and vulnerable. And in this radical change of life, he would unintentionally become a force for renewal and change within the church.
Over time, others saw the change in Francis and joined him on his journey in radical love for God. What started as a handful of companions, quickly became a large religious order. And so, the man who sought to be the little one, without power or control, made a lasting impact on the church even to today.
His love for creation and animals, calling all things brother and sister, is reflected in our traditional blessing of animals as we did this morning.
In observance of another specifically Franciscan tradition, you may have noticed I have taken up the habit of wearing a rosary on my belt. In Francis’ time, there was a great deal of political unrest, and it was common practice for men to wear swords on their travels to defend themselves. The Franciscans, in their radical Gospel life, so fully embraced the non-violence taught by Jesus that they put a rosary on their belt where others wore a sword, as a statement of faith and principle.
One final church tradition that you may not realize has its origin with St Francis is our beloved annual Christmas Creche or Nativity Scene. St Bonaventure in his Life of St. Francis of Assisi tells the story of Francis arranging a manger scene. I’ll read you a portion of that story:
It happened in the third year before his death, that in order to excite the inhabitants of Grecio to commemorate the nativity of the Infant Jesus with great devotion, [St. Francis] determined to keep it with all possible solemnity; and lest he should be accused of lightness or novelty, he asked and obtained the permission of the [Pope]. Then he prepared a manger, and brought hay, and an ox and an ass to the place appointed. The brethren were summoned, the people ran together, the forest resounded with their voices, and that venerable night was made glorious by many and brilliant lights and sonorous psalms of praise.
St Bonaventure goes on in the narrative to tell of a miraculous appearance of a baby in the manger, witnessed by others present. It was from this story that the tradition of arranging a Nativity scene is said to have come.
Francis had a tremendous impact on the church of his day, and the Franciscan tradition remains to this day. And as I read today’s readings in the light of the Franciscan world view of littleness, four Rs come to mind: Repentance, Redemption, Relationship, Rest.
Much of Scripture has to do with failure, all the way from Genesis to Revelation. But it never seems to just dwell on our failure – there is always a call back, a call to repentance and renewal of faith and relationship with God. In today’s reading from Isaiah, the prophet calls: “let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”
One of the challenges we face is that this call can lead to legalistic responses, such as with the Pharisees who tried to be perfect enough for God’s love and blessing, in a sort of transactional if-we’re-good-enough-then-God-will-bless-us religion. This is the worldly response to sin and failure: be better than others, do better at following the rules, and get rid of those who can’t. This perspective too easily leads to a self-righteous sense of perfection that kills relationship rather than fostering it.
I think a big part of Jesus’ message was to show just how far off the mark this was. No, on the contrary, he provided a new way of seeing religion, indeed so opposite to the world’s understanding that he declares that God has ‘hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants’. The good and righteous religious folk of his day couldn’t comprehend why he would eat with ‘sinners and tax collectors’, because they refused to see their own weakness and acknowledge they too had failings. It was unpalatable to their sense of religious purpose and accomplishment. And so his ministry to the bottom of society seemed a waste of time to them.
As for redemption, the world wants very much to succeed on its own, even at this. Because we want to win, not to be redeemed. We do it ourselves without relying on anyone else. And when it comes to electing our government, no one wants a weak and vulnerable person to lead them, they want a strong person. A person of power. But the Cross turns everything on its head. Our salvation is not in a king leading an army to victory, but in one little man from Nazareth. The one rejected as powerless and crucified, the one in whom no one in their right mind would boast.
But as Paul puts it in his letter to the Galatians, the new creation is everything, and we can ultimately boast in nothing but the Cross of Jesus, being crucified to the ways of the world and the world crucified to us.
Good Friday saw the disciples frightened and feeling lost, but Easter Sunday would tell the truth. Victory and redemption are not ours to take by strength.
They belong to God.
In that sacrifice of the cross, we are exposed to the truth of God’s love that so wants to redeem us that He would suffer for us, asking nothing of us but our return to relationship with him.
And of course, as much as Scripture deals with the regular failure of humanity, another underlying theme is relationship. God relates to us as both individuals and as community. I find it interesting that in today’s passage from Isaiah, the everlasting covenant to be made with the people is immediately tied to God’s love for David.
God’s redemption is ultimately about relationship.
I’ve always said ‘right religion is right relationship’, and this is perhaps best reflected in two Great Commandments – love God, love your neighbour. According to Jesus, those two commandments summarize the entire Law and message from all the prophets. It’s not about being perfect. It’s about good relationship.
The word religion itself may find its origin in the Latin religare. To re-bind, or essentially to put back together. Thus “religion is restoration” is a truth reflected in the word itself. With that meaning in mind, one might boldly suggest that religion that does not focus on bringing together may be batting into foul territory, to use a baseball analogy. And if that is so, then religion that creates separation and hate would be in the wrong ball park altogether.
No, in contrast to the world view that likes to separate, label and distinguish, St Paul declares that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, no male or female. Two thousand years later, we still struggle with this radical non-dualistic form of relationship.
And finally, we are called to rest. In our Gospel reading, we finish with Jesus calling us to take on his yoke, for his yoke is easy and his burden light. We are called to take off the burden of guilt and religion that judges and condemns us for failure. To cease the struggle to be perfect and take on the lighter burden of relationship and love. To seek God and his purpose stated in Isaiah: to go out in joy and be led back in peace; with the mountains and hills before us bursting into song, and all the trees of the field clapping their hands.
The “burden” of Christ is only to be who we are called to be: imperfect people doing our best to live together in unity, but relying always on His Grace and Mercy, never a misguided sense of perfection.
Brothers and sisters, let us always repent humbly of our mistakes, accepting redemption in the Cross, building good relationship within our community, and resting secure in the knowledge of God’s love for us.
Even if we are jerks now and then.
Let us pray.
Heavenly God, you are always pleased to show yourself to those who are childlike and humble in spirit: help us to follow the example of your blessed servant Francis, to look upon the wisdom of this world as foolishness, and set our minds only on Christ and him crucified; to whom with you and the Holy Spirit be all glory for ever. Amen.
