Advent 2 "Peace"

Do you ever think that the human race can bring about world peace? 

When you hear the bible refer to “Peace” what imagery comes to mind. 

Dec 11 2016       Psalm 85     

The key verse for this Sunday I have taken from Psalm 85:10 is “Love and faithfulness will meet; justice and peace will embrace. 

This is the vision of God’s realm, the Kingdom that is near, to be at peace, and love one another as God has loved us.  No greater Kingdom has or will ever exist. 
We long for Peace in our lives and in our neighborhoods.  Peace in the life of our family, in our church, in our governments, in fact Peace is what is long for in every nation in the world.  It was to be ushered in with the birth of the Messiah.  Yet 2,000 years later we are still longing with hope for a world filled with love and faithfulness, justice and peace.  Peace, joy, love, and hope are all there folks,  just as was promised.   It is up to us to begin showing these attributes of our God to others.   We are to show them His way, as taught to us by Jesus, not by words but by deeds.  It is up to us to live out the promises so other will know by seeing the fruits of hope, peace, joy, and love in our lives.   

How many of us know that on December 10, 1948 the United Nations adopted a worldwide Human Rights Code to protect the basic human rights of all people. Yet today homelessness still exists right here in our own back yard, Did you know that there are shelters in most of our  communities within the Maritime Provinces where youth and adults need help with accommodations.  That in most Canadian towns and cities today child poverty exists and continues to grow especially within our native communities.  Here in Canada over 40% of our indigenous children live in poverty.    Where then does one in need find “comfort and joy” in such a world?   Only in the faces of those who care about others.  This was to be at the heart of every Christian community that took root and shape within the writings of the Epistles. 

Some of us find it too difficult and therefore try to hide by “Cocooning” by curling up in our own world, trying not to look, to read the newspapers or watch the news on TV.   We want to avoid the negativity that surrounds us on a daily basis.  But that is a false reality and far from God’s call.  We are called to be present, and persistent in our search as we learn how to discover hope, peace, joy and love within the chaos of life and--   it can be found!     We can find and share it in the special moments of each day.    Did you know that Gratitude is the soil where such attitudes grow.  Praise and thanksgiving is the sunshine that feeds the roots of gratitude.  You can be the deliverer of a smile, the executioner of that unexpected hug, the listener who really listens, the hand that clasps a child’s hand in yours, you can be the barer of Good News. 

How do we survive in such times of uncertainty?  Where can we find comfort in times of chaos?    Comfort comes from doing small deeds of love and friendship.  You will find comfort in acts of justice and compassion for others.  The United Church in Barrington Nova Scotia where I was minister for over 8 years teamed up with the Salvation Army to help manage their Christmas Kettles within our communities.  Many would tell me that after working the Kettles at Wilson’s Home Hardware or the Atlantic Super Store they really sensed an inner peace and a feeling of deep personal joy.   In this time of hustle and bustle, it is so important to be open to seeing the blessings we receive and give not just at Christmas but each day from and to each other.   Let us become aware that each and every one of us is a gift from God and we are meant to be shared with one another.    Happy are those who have a grateful heart, a heart of charity, and compassion, for they shall find peace.    It is not a peace that the world knows but a deep inner peace that can bring a sense of calmness while the world continues to rage on.  It is an inner peace that can chase away your gloom and fear.    And it is important to look beyond our own families to see how we can be a blessing to others, especially those who are struggling and in need. If this is our focus, then hope peace, joy and love will land gently among us.   
Blessings will be showered upon us and yes upon our church too.

We like the baptizer John must prepare the way for the coming of Christ in the hearts of those around us.  We, who claim him to be Lord, mentor, teacher and Messiah, we must announce his coming to a world that is trying so hard to stamp out the true message in our celebration.    That in the small town of Bethlehem, on that special day a Savior was borne to the world.  His name was Jesus and he will be a sign to all the world that God is with us.  Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace be to all human kind for upon him all favor rests.   It is the season of Advent, our time, let us rejoice and be glad in it.  

  

"Some Of The Folly of The Traditional Christmas"

 

           We like making new years resolutions what is you biblical one for this year?

Happy New Year Folks:  Well you might think that I am a little early for a New Year celebration.  But did you now that the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas Eve are known as the season of Advent.   And did you know that the first Sunday in advent is actually the beginning of the liturgical New Year for the Christian Church.   Here is something even more interesting: Most Christians today probably can’t imagine Christmas on any other day than December 25, but it wasn’t always the case folks.   In fact, for the first three centuries of Christianity’s existence, Jesus’ birth wasn’t celebrated at all.  The time after his death for at least the first 3 centuries was a time of preparing for his return, not a birthday party. 

 The first recorded date of Christmas being celebrated on December 25th was 336 years after His death and it was during the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine (he was the first Christian Roman Emperor).  During the Constantine reign, many of the Judo-Christian traditions we established and are still carried on within the church today.

A few years later, Pope Julius 1, officially declared that the birth of Jesus would be celebrated on the 25th December, but the actual date has never been established nor will you find it recorded in the scriptures.   Yet there is biblical evidence within the gospels and other ancient writings suggesting that it was not at the beginning of winter as has become the tradition, but probably sometime in the early spring, possibly April.    

So then, what does ADVENT represent for us and when did this traditions come into being?    It is unknown exactly when this tradition leading up to Christmas first began but an early form of it, can be found from about the year 480.  In the year 567 the Council of Tours began a tradition of ordering the monks too fast for the 4 weeks prior to the Messiahs birth.  Some writing have even suggested that there is evidence of the tradition as far back as the time of the Twelve Apostles or that it was actually founded by the Apostle Peter himself.  Therefore an exact time or date seems impossible to pin point.  Let us remember here that the early church members who began practicing the tradition of Advent, did not consider their time of preparation for a Christmas celebration, a time to focus on the birth of Jesus but they were preparing for his return.   These four 4 weeks set aside for reflection and preparation began later.  Even then it was not about celebration but about reflection on how Jesus’ birth, His adult life, His ministry and His death influenced their personal life.  By reflecting on Him in this way the early Christians would then began to prepare for his second coming, not his first, but his return.   Sorry if I burst anyone’s Christmas bubble here, but no apology necessary truth be known. 

So then, today Nov 27 2016, we mark the beginning of the season of Advent:  How many of here today were aware of the fact that the original season of advent was not focused on Jesus’ first coming or his birthday as has become the tradition of many secular and Church going folk today.  The season of Advent was then and should still be today a time for us to reflect upon the impact that Jesus has had on our lives personally as we prepare for His coming again.  

Can anyone here this morning take a guess at why the focus of the tradition of Advent changed?   We could suggest that it was the Hallmark Card Company and the introduction of jolly old Saint Nick, they did it right!!  
So then the big question for us might be this:  What is our Advent going to be this season?  Will we stick with the old tradition or will we begin to see things differently.     

Advent comes from the Latin word “adventus” translated means coming, He shall come again, the scripture tells us.  Our reflection should not stop with His birth or his first coming, we are to prepare for His return. 

So, may I suggest that we spend the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas Eve in this way? Reflecting upon the humility and humbleness of his first arrival as an innocent child in a stable manger. Then the importance of his life and ministry in our lives as followers of His way. Then His betrayal by friend and foe, His convenient of forgiveness and Love from the cross, and then His death. But death was not the end for He did come again, as promised and again and again and He is still coming to many today. The Spirit of Jesus, “The Christ” is alive and well in our world today just as He returned to those first Judo-Christians. May I suggest here that His return will not be a public event as some may interpret but a personal event where the Spirit of Jesus, the risen Christ will come to you.  
Jesus’ first appearance in our midst is an important part of Advent folks but that was not, nor should it be in our time, the full reason for the season folks. Reflecting on why he came allows us to see the Hope we have for His return into our lives. But what about His Judgement. May I suggest that the 4 weeks of Advent reflection is about Jesus, but preparation during the 4 weeks is about “The Christ”? Preparing ourselves for the one who comes to awaken within us judgement? Our Tradition has taught us that when He comes again He will come to Judge both the living and the dead. That according to Jesus’ teachings, we have already place judgment upon ourselves by how we have treated and judged our neighbor? Therefore may I suggest that if this teaching is true, this time of his coming again and judgement will be more like a rude awaking? Hard for some of us to comprehend. May I suggest that in our time of transformation, or within our awakening, judgement will become clear and it will allow us to see in full light the folly of our ways, at least for those who have surrendered to Jesus. Once transformed we will be able as did the criminal on the cross, to recognize and accept our judgement. Then and only then will we be able to truly humble ourselves before Him asking for mercy and forgiveness. God’s unconditional forgiveness and love are offered through Jesus and rooted in “The Universal Christ” accept it and this is how you will be presented to your heavenly parent. As we come to the communion table today let us remember what He has done for us. Let us share in the bread of life and cup of freedom for all who accept His offer.                                  
                                 "Prepare The Way of The Lord"

"Forgive! How Can I?"

Question:  How many of us struggle with extending forgiveness in extreme cases. What sin would you find the hardest to forgive and why? 

Nov 20, 2016: Colossians 1: 11-20    Luke 23: 33-43

The statement that we hear Jesus make in verse 43 this morning must have been profoundly touching to the criminal but what about all the others within earshot, especially those who may have been victimized in some way by this criminal?  “I tell you the truth, today, you will be with me in Paradise” said Jesus.  What about you and I, how do we feel about Christ’s, acceptance of this confessed criminal, is it touching for us or do we struggle with Christ’s decision.  Do we really understand the implications of what Jesus has said and what he has done for this convicted and confessed man.    There is nothing in scripture to let us in on who this fellow really was.  No one knows what else is hidden in his sinful background for we are not told.  He might have been a wife beater or a child molester, a notorious murderous gangster may be, we just don’t know.   It would seem that in the blink of an eye, whatever sins were there, they are now gone, forgiven and the gates of paradise are wide open for this fellow.  Forgiveness might not be so easy to do for a woman who is standing in front of this man who just happens to be the rapist of her daughter, the murder of her son, or the leader of a notorious terrorists group who has condemned thousands to death with just the words from his mouth.   But for this thief, whomever or whatever he was, Christ must have caused sheer unadulterated ecstasy- unspeakable JOY at least for him.   Jesus last words to another human being before his death and resurrection were words of forgiveness, which gives us a clue to how we too must die.  This would have been in perfect harmony with his short life and ministry.  He spent his whole life teaching about and looking for those whom would help him build God’s KINGDOM come.   He preached liberation to the captives, healing the sick and lamb and offered forgiveness of sin.   His teachings had so confused the status quo of his day, the political keepers of the law and the elders of his Jewish religion, that he was deemed a threat to their faith and their way of life.   His ministry had been controversial, powerful, and world altering to the point that to those whom he threatened, would  condemn him to death by crucifixion.   Blinded by their egos and self-righteousness they would not truly comprehend what they had done, nor would they comprehend or understand Jesus’ convenient of unconditional love and forgiveness for all.   Jesus loved the other criminal just as much as the one forgiven, but, by refusing to acknowledge Him as Lord over life and death and to accept his love, may I suggest, this man calls down upon himself his own judgment and condemnation.    Jesus offered everyone, both then and now His convenient of unconditional love and forgiveness with these words from the cross “ Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do” Can you imagine the depth of a love that would utter these words.    Folks, these words were spoken for you and me.  For we all truly do not understand the implications of what we do, be it good or bad.  We often hear comments and see the folly coming from our Christian bothers and sisters but how clearly do we see our own.    Can I offer the love and forgiveness of my Lord to myself and then offer it to others as commanded?  And if I cannot, do I realize what I am excluding myself from.   Do I understand that I will be judged as I have judged others and that I will receive not, that which I could not give?   Jesus doesn’t tell us what day is our day but He illustrates for us that acceptance and repentance is the key to his heart.   Who among us then, is worthy of God’s Amazing GRACE!!   WE ALL ARE!!  now isn't that great!!  Come on sing with me the first two verses of our song, Amazing Grace.   Let us never forget that we are more like the two who hung next to Jesus than we are like Jesus.    
We do not know what happened to the other criminal, the one who, rather than asking for mercy, rebuked Jesus.  Yet be careful here folks, for we shall be judged as we judge.  We do not control GRACE, God is the source of GRACE and He gives to whom ever He wishes, in what ever portion He sees fit.   This kind of forgiveness is not about forgetting, it is about cutting the tether that keeps us in bondage to the memory. This kind of forgiveness is a challenging notion for many of us.   Part of our inability to believe and trust in the forgiving power of God’s grace and mercy, is our inability to believe that certain other people deserve it.   Did you hear that!! Lets hear it again!!  Part of our inability to believe and trust in the forgiving power of God’s grace and mercy, is our inability to believe that certain other people deserve it.   We cannot hijack God’s Grace.

As Christians we have a confessional faith.  Not because we are weak, but because God is strong and His love is unending.   We have a confessional faith because Gods grace is sufficient for all, no one is excluded.  We have a confessional faith because God is our refuges and our strength.  We confess because we are people of the way, the way of Christ and as followers of His way we are a forgiven people folks.   All have sinned and fallen short, all have angered, frustrated and disappointed God.  But God so loved the world that who so ever believes in His Son's love shall get all the grace they need.  Jesus spent his entire ministry teaching and preaching about the Kingdom of God.  Want to be one of the Kingdom builders?  One of Jesus last forgiving acts on earth was to proclaim that a repentant sinner would be with him that very day in paradise.  OH PRAISE GOD there is room for ALL!!!!!   

"Temples Will Come Down"

Have you ever heard someone say "if my church closes I’ll probably just stop going".   Or I don’t think I could go to another church if mine were to close?   That brings to mind a question:  Have you ever considered the question:  Why do I go to Church?

Nov 13 2016 Readings:  2 Thessalonians: Luke 21: 5-19

The buildings or temples of Jesus’ time were seen as the place where God resides.   In fact when I was a young boy growing up in the Anglican Church the sanctuary was the holy place.   You were to sit in silence, nar to uttering a word less you be scolded or struck with a hand.   These godly buildings were considered sacred places where one encounters the ONE holy God.   Therefore it was blasphemous for Jesus to suggest that God would allow the destruction of his house.  Yet, it was becoming more and more difficult to distinguish who or what was actually being worshiped in these temples.   Was it God, was it the building, the donated plaques on the walls, or was it the spiritual leader.  Often Clergy, Priest, Rabbi, or the building is the real reason many attend.   Now does any of that this sound familiar?  This problem continued on through out the centuries and the same question is often asked of the modern church today.  What and who are we worshiping, and why are there so many houses for God.  Doesn’t God only need one house?    I don’t know about you but I often hear these comments from people both inside and outside the Church.  Why then, are we not asking this same question of ourselves?   WHY DO WE COME TO CHURCH!  Many today still feel that the building where we worship is more important that the church family that occupies it.  Religions are in a sad state of affairs folks.

That in fact if a particular worship space were to somehow come to its end many would also walk away from their church family.  For them it becomes the end of Church but yet we have stood and sung to children. I am the church, you are the Church we are the church together, all who follow Jesus, all around the world, yes were the church together.  The church is not a building; the church is not a steeple; the church is not a resting place; the church is a people.

The bigger question then, becomes more personal and should be explored.  What motivates you to come, the building, the speaker or the people?  Jesus is not trying to save buildings folks.  This truth is so simple it’s hard to teach!

Jesus tells his listeners, both then and now that the walls of the temple as we know it, will meet its end.   He is telling them the winds of change and the flood waters will come for every generation, and we will not know the time or the day when change will come, for Jesus himself declares, that even He does not know the moment, but assures them and us, that there will be signs that change is coming.   To use a modern day quote “ The writing is on the wall folks.”

In verse 13 of the passage, Jesus says something very peculiar and these passages are often interpreted as if he was speaking of Armageddon or the end times. That is one interpretation but may I suggest that Jesus was not predicting for us the end of our world but was speaking to the early disciples about his physical death on the cross and its aftermath?  Telling them that there would will be trouble, persecution, and eventually death for him and those whom He chose to forge the shape of a new Church.  He goes on to say that the outcome of their witness to his gospel, his death, and their time of precaution would lay the foundation of a new church.   Either way, He was talking about major change, and when this change comes, it will be our chance to bear witness to others about Him during our end time.  

We in the church today do not necessarily have to face such trial or tribulation but it is much easier for us to tell others about the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ when things are going well in our lives or in our church family.   May I suggest these passages are speaking to us today: that the real test of faith is going to be your ability to testify when things are not so good, when the temples of your life are being threatened or torn apart, when disaster or death strikes?   The question then becomes not about temples but will you anchor hold in the storms of life.     

Nothing gets our attention any quicker than statements concerning change.  Especially when someone suggests that, what we have, will be taken away, or will turn to ashes in the blink of an eye.   Nature has its own mind and will often shake us at the very core of our being.   You can be guaranteed that the winds of change will continue to come no matter what we do or how we try and protect ourselves.   Anyone who has lost a loved one, lost their job, their home or their savings can testify to this gospel truth.   I recent weeks many Nova Scotians, especially Cape Breton had a firsthand experience of this.   Some families have had to accept the loss of everything they owned, houses destroyed, personal belongings gone.   Some may begin to realize that they can no longer live the way they have always lived, and it all seems to have happened overnight.   This was the case for Sim and Carolyn Rushton of 52 Ellis Street in Oxford N. S. in the year 2000.   The street on which our house was located was now a small lake, there was over 3’ of water in our basement and rising.   How could this be happening to us, in the 37 years we had lived there it had never happened before!   No one could get in or out of the down town areas in which we lived, and everything we had in our basement was completely destroyed. The freeze was floating door opened and it contents somewhere on the floor, tools, furnace, sports equipment, everything was under water.  The power company had shout of the power so all we could do was watch as the water came.  For many neighbors it was now over the first floor of their homes.  This had been our home for over 30 years and had been in Carolyn’s family for over 100 years.   Not only was there great loss for everyone but after the flood had receded our area of town was now labeled flood plain and so the values of the homes in that area of town plummeted, along with everyone’s hopes for a recovery.  It was one of the darkest times in our lives.  Nothing is more gut-wrenching than that feeling of hopelessness and loss.   Yet Jesus said in verse 13 tells us that this is the very time for us, the faithful to testify.  This is the time when our faith must kick in, we will survive because God has been good to us in the past and God will continue to give us opportunities to continue in the future.       This was the hope for those who endure the exodus from Egypt, and for those struggling with great change today.  Have faith in God and turn your thoughts towards gratitude for God will make a way for you, you can trust God.   

Yes end times will come, when your temples will be torn down, be they physical buildings, churches, or our bodies.  But let us remember that we worship a God of Hope, a God of Possibilities.  Let us praise God, for God will make Good out of every situation.   

                                   WHO IS THE CHURCH?

Life After Death, Is It A Farce?

The question is always there isn't it.  Is there really life after death, and if so what do we imagine it to be?   How does your imagination deal with the subject of eternal life?

Question:  How many of us here today would love to live out the rest of your life free of any kind of physical or emotional pain?   How many of us here today could imagine a life without emotion, sleep, food or drink.  I know what some of you are thinking, you’d have to be dead right!!  Well we are going to take a look at what Jesus has to say about the afterlife in today’s reading.  One of the points Jesus makes for us in verse 38 is that our God is a God of the living, never is He a God of the dead.  On the other hand only Jesus is master of the living and the dead! So what does that mean for us?

Nov 6, 2016:  Psalm 98,   2 Thessalonians 2: 1-5, 13-17 Luke 20: 27-38

Again as I mention earlier on in this morning service, one of the revelations Jesus offers us can be found in verse 38 and it is this:  that our God is a God of the living, never has God ever been a God of the dead [also found in Mark 12:27].

So, we who follow in the teachings of Jesus, who is for us the resurrected Christ, we believe that physical death is not the end and therefore our God is a God of the living not the dead.   That for those who have surrendered to the resurrected Christ shall not die, but have eternal life.    Paul asks in 1 Corinthians 15:55   “Where O death is your victory.  Where O death is your sting” here Paul rejoices with gratitude the victory of God over the powers of death.    Now let us not be mistaken by Paul’s statement, for physical death is a reality, but let us also not make the mistake of thinking that we continue on after physical death in our present physical form.  Our scriptures tell us we are given spiritual bodies to live our eternity.  Because Christianity is the only religion that believes in a day of resurrection; for us, Jesus the Christ, not God the Father, becomes the one who holds the keys to both the living and the dead.  Resurrection is therefor found in Christ.  Revelations 1: 18 “I am the living one! I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever. I have authority over death and the world of the dead. 
In Genesis 1: 26 we hear: "Let us make humans in our image and in our likeness." May I suggest that the text indicates to us it was the Christ who would come in human form and experienced physical death in the greatest act of love the world would ever know. He would be called the word, the light, messiah, Lord of all and his human name would be JESUS of Nazareth. 

The elite group known as the Sadducee were not believers in the resurrection.  There encounter was with the living man Jesus.  Jesus as man was subject to physical death just as they and we are.  The resurrected Jesus whose physical form was now not recognizable to his friends at first, see John 20: 14 and Luke 24: 15-16 becomes the Christ who was the entity that was there with God in the beginning, Genesis 1: 26.  There are still many in the church today who think Christ is Jesus’ last name.     According to the belief that the Sadducee held, when you die, that was the end, therefore you were to live life to its fullest within the boundaries of the Jewish Law.  Because there belief was in contrast to Jesus’ teachings about resurrection, they were trying to set an intellectual trap for him.   Their hope was to show him and his teachings to be a farce.   So they gave Jesus an imaginary case of seven brothers who married their brother’s widow as was prescribed by the Jewish law. 
The law stated: If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband's brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her.  NIV.


This imaginary scenario was meant to embarrass Jesus and make fun of him.  This is where Jesus makes it very clear to both Sadducee and us that eternal life is not simply the continuation of our mortal life beyond death.  Whatever the reality is on the other side of this earthly life, we should not think of it as a continuation of this life.  Nor should we think that we will be able to somehow complete our imperfect human relationships after physical death.     Whatever we do in the here and now is all there will ever be of this life folks.  This is where we need to get it right.  That is why Jesus stresses, do whatever good we can while we have the chance to show goodness as we know it, because it too {goodness} will also come to its end at death.   Goodness as we understand it will not be needed where perfect love rules, that contains perfect joy and perfect peace.  This new existence will be completely void of the ego and its sinful trappings of this world.    A German Hymn writer, tells it like this:  “Death is the end of many things, but it is not the end of everything.  Everything passes away but God stands firm without fault.  God’s thoughts, God’s word and God’s will have eternal ground”.   We live in the moments of time but God is immortal, meaning time does not exist with God, nor does God need time.

When this becomes part of our hope and faith, then we can now make a further step.  You cannot fall out of love with our true parent God and therefore God has never abandoned  any of His creations.  Within God’s compassionate heart, God holds everyone there ever was or ever will be and they will never be excluded from Him.   Hell then becomes not a physical place but a mental state of total darkness, a place where we can choose to hide from our Creator.  We while in physical form are not eternal, but God’s love for us is, it never has, nor will it ever die, because God is a God of the living.  This makes it impossible to fall out of love with God because Gods love for us is eternal.  God’s mercy is also unending for all those who live in Christ and die in Christ.  1 Thessalonians 4: 14

It is because they are one with God in Christ  where illness and sin cannot touch them.  This has been going on since the beginning of time and draws us back to the text verse 37, 38   Here, Jesus reminds us about the burning bush and Moses encounter with the eternal.  God tells him I am the I am, the alpha and omega the beginning and the end, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob not the God of the dead but of the living.  Jesus is telling us that all of these ancestors are alive to this very day and all who have surrendered to the way of the universal Christ will experience their day of resurrection.    Isn’t that incredible, and isn’t that great!!  Let us give thanks and praise to our God, the God of the living.