"You Can Make A Difference" Baccalaureate 2015

Today  I have the privilege of speaking to the graduating students of Salisbury High School at Baccalaureate 2015.   

I would like to take a moment to congratulate all of the students here today for you have come a long way. If you were to reflect back and take a look at where you have come from, I am sure you would agree, that getting through elementary, junior and high school, feeling pressures from family members, teachers and often your piers was not piece of cake but here you are. 

May I suggest that you not get to comfortable yet because when something comes to it end, something new has to begin.  Oh there will be some of you who will embrace the next stage in your new life, and some of you will not.  Therefore it will be exciting for some and not for others.  My hope is that the words you are about to hear might be meaningful and encouraging to everyone. 

I'll start by telling you something you really didn't have to learn as you went through high school.  You didn’t have to learn what you were going to do with the rest your life.  It wasn’t important then, but, this question will start coming up as you enter the workaday world, or as you consider Community College or University.   Don’t be tricked into believing you have to have an answer for it.  No, no one knows for sure what they are going to be doing with the rest of their life.  The question is mainly used as a conversation starter, that’s all.  This question is just to get you thinking.  Take it with a grain of salt, what they really want to know is what sort of person you are, what do you like and what do you dislike.  If I were back in my high school days and someone were to ask me about my plans, I'd say that my first priority is to search out my options.  There are always options and your first choice might not be your last.  You don't need to be in a rush to choose your life's work, but a good place to start is to sort out what you do not want to do for the rest of your life, so you can see what it is that you would like to do.  I will never forget my youngest boys reply to his summer job while attending UNB.  His job was working on the line at the Oxford Frozen Food Plant in Oxford N. S. boxing blueberries.   Dad, I know one job I am not going to be doing this for the rest of my life.  Often your first job can help you make good decisions later on in your life.  

Begin asking yourself this question: what is that I like to do.   You have to work on stuff you like if you want to be happy and get good at what you do.  Here is the trick.  Don’t let money, prestige, or the glorification of a trade, career, or profession make your decision for you?  A Job will not make you happy but doing something you love to do can.  

 So my advice is: the world is waiting for those of you who are willing to face change head on to make our world a better place.  In framing by the growing of food without the use of chemicals, in new energy fields wind, and solar for the sake of our environment   In the trades to make our homes and buildings more efficient.  In new technologies to improve the inequality of minority groups and fight poverty in our world.   You the graduating students of today will have the ability to give us a chance, a chance for a better world and each and every one of you, not matter where you decide to work, can make a difference.  This is a great video.  Click the picture below.    
 

Have you hear the song “Go make a difference” take a listen: 

"Who is Worthy to be Called Minister?"

How do you define the word Church? 

When you hear the word Minister what is the first thing that comes to mind? 

What designations are you aware of for Ministry within the body of the church

How many reading or those who are here today are aware that each and every one of us are Ministers and that you are called to use your ministry to help others?  

May 24, 2015 readings:  Roman 8: 22-27 Psalm  John 15:26-27, 16: 4-15

There is a true story told of a man name Yates who, during the depression owned a sheep ranch in Texas.  He did not have enough money to continue paying on the mortgage - in fact he was forced like many others to live on government subsidies.    Each day as he tended his sheep he worried about how he was going to pay his bills.  A seismographic crew arrived on his land one day and suggested that there might be oil on his land and they wanted to do could a test drilling.  After a lease was signed they went ahead.   At 1115 feet a huge oil reserve was struck – subsequent wells revealed even more oil than the first well revealed.  Mr. Yates owned it all.  He had the oil and mineral rights.  He had been living on relief all this time and yet he had no idea what lay just under the surface, he was always a millionaire but it took a stranger to bring it to his attention.

How often do we feel poor and helpless - unaware of the extraordinary power that we have available to us - that which is lying just below the surface held within your Spirit.  Each one of us here has been given by God our own special day of Pentecost, a day on which God made known to you the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.   The Spirit gives you more than strength, support, teaching and comfort; those things we normally identify with God's presence.  The Spirit gives us more than joy, peace, patience, and kindness, those things which we call the fruit of the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit gives us a set of gifts designed for the building up of the body of the church.  Your talents, abilities and giftedness are not meant just for your own benefit but are to be used for your individual ministries to which each one of us have been called.  Yes, that is right folks, each of us has been given a ministry and we are called to use our gifts to minister to one another. We are all worthy as ministers.  

The prophet Joel, from verses 28 and 29 in his prophecy of the last days, mentions some of the gifts for ministry that have been granted by God through his Spirit:  Gifts of vision and gifts of dreams gifts of prophecy poured out upon our sons and our daughters, upon our young and old alike.  In a book I recently was looking at on the internet, the author listed twenty-seven gifts of the Spirit – Here are some -  the gift of teaching, the gift of discernment, the gift of communication, the gift of hospitality, the gift of intercession, the gift of presence of listening, the gift of wisdom, the gift of prophecy, the gift of faith, the gift of administration, the gift of helping, and the gift of humility of compassion.   Each of these gifts are spiritual gifts – not to be confused with the natural talents we are born with - they are gifts of grace being honed through life experiences and tempered by the Spirit for our second birth.  This second birth can transform an apparently untalented, shy, self-conscious and fearful person into someone who has a remarkable ability to speak and minister to others.  On the other hand I have seen it transform self-centred egotistical arrogant persons into humble servants.  So the question remains what spiritual gifts do you have hiding just below the surface?  What gift or set of gifts has God poured out upon you so that you might love and serve in the way God has intended especially for you?  Have you ever considered or tried to identify within yourself your spiritual giftedness, I have a challenge for you today.  Doing so could be a profitable faith exercise - because it forces you to think about what God wants to do through you.  Each and every one of us were meant to be in ministry as an instrument of God’s love in our world.

Here’s the challenge:  Prayer and a reflective reading of the scriptures can be used as a means to discovering what God has done through you in the past and where you feel He is leading you now.    If you were to do that daily as a spiritual discipline, using a short daily devotional reading such as the Upper Room, Daily Bread or Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling, you will activate the Holy Spirit within, which in turn will give you a hunger for more bring awareness and the Spirits power to the forefront of your life.

What gift or gifts has God given you for your second birth?  Discovering the answer to these questions is so profitable an exercise that I suggest that as a way of honouring God you start here.  Take a few moments out of today after church, sit quietly at home and reflect upon yourself.   With a piece of paper and pen, begin by listing one or more of your personal strengths - of your qualities - write them down.

This small exercise in discovering your giftedness can be a powerful experience if you are totally honest with yourself.  One in which you will begin to see what God has given to you and is doing in your life.  That is kind of what happened with Mr. Yates - someone helped him to see what lay just beneath the surface - and his discovery took him from a life of depression, poverty and desperation into a life of abundance and of generosity.  He was richly blessed.  He found what had always been there - and he used it - and it changed his life. That is what the Spirit is about change, that is what Pentecost is all about.  The Spirit wants you to discover what your gifts are and how your gifts can help others.

They are there to be used in the work of God, a work to which we are all called,

and which, when we all serve as we are intended - transforms us , our church, and our world - into what God intends us to be.   Let us pray

 

" Tell the World to Shove It"

Do you have days when you would just like to tell the world to shove it?

What do you do to escape the hectic madness of living in the world?

What does Jesus mean when he tells his disciples and us, we are to live in the world but not of it.  Let us explore that theme in today’s message.    

May 17, 2015 readings:  Acts 1: 15-17, 21-26,  1 John 5: 9-13, John 17: 6-1

There is something very tempting about escaping from this crazy world we live in with its financial pressures, and the lack of down time that seems ever so prevalent in our lives today.    Advancements in Technology haven’t really opened up more free time as it promised.  In fact it has actually absorbed much of the free time we once had.  Many of us are caught in the vicious circle of trying to live life to the fullest as presented to us by the standards of our world.   The pressures to live a certain way begins with the choice of a life style.  We can choose to live in the world and of it, or we can choose to live in the world but not of it.   What’s does that mean and what’s the difference?   Lets take a careful look at these two concepts.  

It doesn’t matter what job or career you identify yourself with, they all come with baggage, standards and conditions that have to be adhered to.  A person is not going to an interview for an office position dressed in a T shirt and speedo shorts and expect to get the job.   No, you may have to acquire a shirt and tie, or skirt and blouse for the interview and then you might even find there is a dress code requirement for the position.  Even the homeless and the beggar on the street have codes of standards they live by.  In Jamaica if you beg on the street and have a corner that is productive, you can be envied and considered rich by your colleagues and there is great deal pressure placed upon you concerning how you are going maintain your position.  It’s not easy out there folks, no one escapes the pressures of living in the world.   Everyone, no matter where you are on the economic indicator, wants to live life to the fullest but what is the perception here?  Usually, it is a worldly perception that requires you to achieve something first and then you spend a lot in order to live life to the fullest.  Hence you live in the world and you live of the world. 

Deep within your Spirit though, there is this mysterious longing to find a way to live a life of simplicity and contentment.  The camper, cottager or woods person who travels light and simply, they know the feeling.   Are you with me Church?   Making due with less, using whatever is at hand, being creative, inventive, and sense of beating the system.  Leaving the hectic world behind.   Hence you begin to experience a small portion of living in the world but not of the world.   And that’s experience gives us our first taste of living in but not of the world. We are not there yet because that was just a teaser.

Religious faith has also been known to intensify this longing, especially if you have had a spiritual experience or a glimpse of God’s unconditional love, joy, or peace in your life.   The spirit does not hunger for the luxury of a resort getaway, nor just the simplistic living of a camper or cottager but hungers for community and a way of life that avoids the clamour and conflict of the world.   Many religions of the world are known for their attempts to achieve such a communal arrangement.  There are monasteries, convents, reform movements, and retreat centres all over the world.   The central focus here is to separate themselves from worldly living, meaning living outside the world, in order to maintain a faithful holy life through study, prayer and piety.  This may sound great and I am sure God uses them as he uses all who attempt a closer relationship with their Creator.  But we are still not quite there yet folks because they are attempting to live a life separated from the world.  This too is not yet where God wants us to be.

Apparently this thinking was beginning to take shape within the community of believers during Johns’ time.  Jesus could sense the danger here for the chosen 12.  Instead of being a presence in the world, this thinking could cause them to hide from the powers that were opposed to the teachings of their Master in an attempt to avoid conflict and keep to themselves.   If this had become the way for the early churches I would not be writing this sermon today.  Jesus knowing his time with them was short and where this thinking could lead the disciples, he prays for them this prayer.  Found in John 17: 6-19 He prays:  God, give those you gave to me, the courage to face the world head on.  Not to hide away but to face the reality of their world with faith.  Jesus knows that faith even as small as a mustard seed can move a mountains.  He also know that the worlds standard of living, that of achieving, of money, power and materialism are not realistic. They will drain and discourage his disciples because all these things are date.  Some marked only good until, and or an expiry dated.   But the kingdom standards, a way of loving others as we love ourselves, a way of serving, and sharing  with all who are in need will never end and this is the way to live IN THE WORLD but not OF THE WORLD.  Meaning entangled with temporal worldly standards as opposed to God’s eternal standards.  Do you suppose we choose our eternal destiny?

I really didn’t understand what this meant for me until Carolyn and I went to Jamaica to minister in the small community of Red Ground in Negril for three month in 2012.     When we arrived we were to live in a manse that was completely surrounded by wire fencing, with a locked steel grate and steel gated windows and doors.  It was strange because the majority of the people we were to serve in the church also lived behind security fences, gated entrance and locked doors.  Yet the people we ended up serving did not come to church I served, nor did they had a wired fence around their home, and often no locked door.  In fact many didn’t even a home or a door.  These were the people from the community of Red Ground who came often to manse looking for help, needing or wanting money, food, clothing, or the minister’s signature on an application form so the person could apply for a job.  They didn’t know me nor I them they just need a signature of a clergy.   I spend two or three days working with a family member to raise enough money to get a young boy out of jail in Savlamar.  He had been taken by the police because of an unpaid fine.  After another two day of visiting the boy in jail we finally got his fine paid so he could come home.   The contrast was overwhelming at times and my heart cried out in both compassion and confusion many a day.   Yet at the same time it was accelerating, full of excitement, where there was life and death, where you had to face the reality of their world every morning.   There were conditions and situations that we often had to face with fearless faith, just to see us through the day.   As we got to know the community and as they and we began to trust each other, the fence, the gate and the locks became more and more a hindrance than a safety factor as the call to mission, living in but not of kept getting stronger and stronger in both Carolyn and I.  I didn’t know it then, but I know now, that Jesus’ prayer was meant for anyone who will try living in but not of this world.    My prayer for you individually, for this Pastoral Charge and those who may be reading my blogg is, let’s face our reality with the faith we profess, even if it is only as small as a mustard seed folks, it will move mountains.  Living life to the fullest can only be found following in the ways of our Lord.  Not to worry, for God will provide for all your needs whatever your decision, for you are the beloved.  Let us pray.
                                  
                                           "I'm Gonna Live So God Can Use Me"

"I Love My Mother "BUT"..........

 I Love My Mother BUT .......

   You know "We only have One Mother in this World, and we might only have today.  So don't wait for the tomorrow's to share God’s love with your Mom. 

On this very special day, I’d like to start us off with a chuckle.      

A young boy was wandering around the sanctuary of a large down town church one Sunday morning and stopped to examine a large bronze plaque that was hung on the wall.  "What are all those names up there?"  He asked one of the ushers.  "Those are the names of people who died in the service." he replied.   “Oh my, said the boy, “was it during the 9:30 or the 11 o'clock service?"   

May 10 2015 Readings: Acts 10: 44-48, Psalm 98, 1 John 5: 1-6, John 15: 9-17

Today is a special day, of course its Mothers day.  So I'm a going to pick on Mothers for my illustration today.   I have a statement I would like you to reflect upon for a moment or two and then, my hope is that we may have a  brave soul or two in our midst today that might share with us.   Here it goes!!!!!  

Could you please finish this statement for me,   I love my Mother, BUT!! …… any takers????

Cross cultural researchers have use this question to explore the nature of the differences between a person  brought up in an Eastern tradition and a person who have been reared in a Western tradition.  They have found major differences in their respective perceptions of life, in their use of language, and in their relationships with one another.  

Here is the question again: “I love my mother, but . . . .” how did you answer it? 
Yes even today, on Mother’s Day, I bet every one of us can immediately come up with a “but”.   Do any of these buts sound familiar?
I love my mother, but . . . .mom  can drive me crazy at times because she like everything to be perfect she’s a bit of perfectionist. I must say.!”  Or,  I love my mother, but . . . .she is always fussing over me, sometimes I feel her love smothers me..”  or, I love my mother but…. I don’t always like what she says or what she does.
The researchers found that in the West what comes after “I love my mother, but . . .” was usually a negative remark.  It is not a fault folks, it is part of our culture, the way we have been taught to respond or think.  In the West our love is tempered by our knowledge of our human weakness and frailties.   Over the centuries Western religions for the most part have nurtured us in what we call an Atonement Theology.  To atone for something means, you’ve committed wrongs and therefore you have to pay the price you have to make amends. In the Bible Atonement Theology is associated with man's sin in other words we are told we are sinful, we must repent or else, therefore we must make amends for our sins.  This has helped to cultivate in our society this contrast expression of a positive countered with a negative way of responding and thinking.   Researchers have found that when they posed the same question of somebody from the Eastern or Asian tradition the answer is typically quite different.  I love my mother, but . . . is  finished with comments like this:   I love my mother, but . . .I will never be able to show her truly how much I appreciate her love.”  I love my mother, but . . .I can never repay what she has done for me.”  I love my mother, but . . . she has done so much for me all my life I can never thank her enough.”  Generally speaking, the Eastern answer does not think of “but” as a negative expression, but is a positive one.  The Eastern answer does not use “but” as a counter to the first expression, instead, the “but” adds more feeling and flavor to the love.   We in the West have been cultured to think in negatives and positives.   We try not to disturb the status quo if at all possible.  If we have to begin with a negative comment we try and counter the negative with a positive, or visa versa.  In the eastern traditions they tell it like it is.  It is either this way or that.     Researchers also discovered that the Eastern languages such as the Hebrew are able to give more depth to their comments.    Our Western way of using the English langue is shallow and sometime without depth, it often doesn't go far enough to give our responses a richness.   For instance in the old Hebrew langue there is a more beauty way of expressing that your Mom is a kind lady.   

You wouldn't just say my mother is kind, you would say my mother is a daughter of kindness, taking us deeper into the generations of her family from whence the mother came.  Isn't that GREAT!!!   Let us also not forget that no matter what part of the world our expressions of love come out of East or West, this too is only an expression of human love.  We heard it in the reading this morning from 1 John.   There is a deeper more expressive love too, that we can discover.  So then let us look through the lens of this deeper love.

Although our human love, the love we show for and too one another is very important and can be the fertile ground in which Gods love grows and matures in our lives, it is not the love that Gods holds for us.   Last week we talked extensively about the human love we share.   Love as we understand it, human love that is, is usually thought of as a feeling, a high spiritual feeling, a feeling of great joy, overpowering, the best feeling you could ever attain.   True love goes deeper folks.   Gods love doesn’t start by falling in love with a feeling, it begins with a choice, you choose to love and then you follow it through with your actions.  This kind of Love you see doesn’t end or stop when the going gets tough.  This kind of love is never over come with emotions, it tells is like it is and it cannot live in the same house with anger or hatred, jealously, or self-centeredness.  This love is so strong and powerful it is maintained under the worse possible circumstances, just as it was show to us in Christ, through His circumstances.   He loved his friends no matter how they performed and yes he loved his enemies too, but not with human love, no not with conditions, which by the way makes love shallow and selfish.  He loved as God loves without conditions.  The world has twisted our human love to make us think that we can do anything we want to obtain that feeling.  That it is perfectly exactable to sacrifice moral principals and take advantage of others in order to obtain such love.  Our desires might be able to trick or convince us that we can justify this view of love, but our sprit knows that isn’t real love it’s just plain old selfishness in disguise and lasting love can’t be found there.    Real love only comes to us via it true source, from the one who first loved us, and by following the commandment “LOVE ONE OTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU” 

Our nourishment and our strength to love in all kinds of circumstances come to us as we feed and reflect on the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The words in the books of the old and new testaments are living words.  They keep changing as you grow in your understanding God’s love shown to us through the stories and acts of Jesus.   The bible has wisdom, so you see you don’t read the bible the bible reads you as you study it.  It meets you wherever you are on your personal journey.  Isn’t that Great !!!!  As you grow in love, your journey deepens as does your understanding of the word.    The greatest example of Gods love for us can be found in Gospels, as we listen and learn from Jesus how to forgive and to love unconditionally.    If we say we know God and we agree that God is love, yet do not put into action this new found love, we deceive ourselves and true love is not yet within us.   But when we do, we come into alignment with the ways of God and others see it.   Did you know,  that you,  may be the only bible someone will ever read.  This deeper level of love brings to us true compassion, true joy, true freedom, and a willingness to forgive in all situation.    God is the only true source of love, let us give thanks and praise to God.    Let us pray. You

"Good Verses God" What's the difference

May 3 2015    5^th Sunday of Easter

1 John 7-21, Psalm 22P VU 746 parts 3&4, John 15: 1-8

Something that I would like you to take notice of this morning is that this passage from 1 John starts out asking us to love each other, the writer says “Dear Friends let us love one another.”    It doesn't start out with a request for us to love God first, then to love our neighbour”, why?  Isn't that what we have been taught?  Of course it is but John wants us to see something different about love. God doesn't want us to give Him back the gift of love.   No, he wants us to share the gift of love which has been bestowed unto us.  In other words we don’t give it back, we pay it forward.     I believe that many of us uphold the misconception that we are to hold on to God's love for ourselves.   Let me try and explain it this way:  Using the concept to pay it forward, you do not give back to the giver, you simply pass the gift on.   According to our teachings God is Love and because we were created in love we already have God’s gift built in our genetic make-up.  We need to love!!   Folks, we, you and I are the beloved and we are all fruit of that love.  In other words you have already received God’s love.   God is love and God’s love has already come to you.  Because you have free will, you do have the ability to reject this love and accept a worldly interpretation of love.  Worldly love is sometimes distorted, by religions, by the entertainment industry, advertisements, the media and the distortions are governed by our human nature which thrives on ego, self-gratification and self-fulfilment.    

One of the unique qualities of God’s love is this, there is no payback.  You don’t pay it back.  You pay it forward and if you have accepted it, the fruit of this love produces in you expressions of great gratitude and thankfulness, as you humbly surrender yourself to this extraordinary outrageous love.  Then you feel called to preform acts of sharing, of caring, and of compassion towards yourself and others.  It is through these expressions of God’s love that we begin to understand the true concept of peace, joy and a hope for tomorrow.  

I need us to stop and think about this for a moment folks, John tells us that  “God is Love” if John is right, then without God we would not know what pure love is.  Pure love is not a feeling, pure love manifests itself within an action and its fruit is peace, joy and hope.  

God’s love is not a feeling, but our human nature wants us to believe it is. Therefore there is nothing I can add to it to make it better, nothing I can do to increase its potency.  God’s love is not something you feel but manifests itself in something you do.   For instance, whether the act of compassion you offer is small or large, it makes no difference, YOU HAVE LOVED.    Whether you give a little or give a lot, the amount makes no difference, YOU HAVE LOVED.   Are you beginning to understand where John is coming from folks?    All we are instructed to do is to share this gift of God’s perfect love that we have already been bless with, by paying it forward not by paying the giver back.  When I do for you and you do for me we know this is GOOD and we think we feel and receive love, but this is not God’s love.  Let me try and explain it this way:  Any GOOD act has two O’s in it.  One O is for you and the other O is for me.  I do for you and you do for me and this is GOOD.   That is love from a human perspective.   Any GOD act has only one “O” in it.  This O is for the other, there is no O for me in this action why?  Because I am the beloved, I have already  received it, and my humility makes me secure in it.   

I believe there is one ingredient that makes this love perfect?   It is when the action of love is unconditional, free from any expectation or condition, so there is no need for payback.   This love does not flowing from you, but through you and calls you to share this love one to another.   Now here is the difficult part.  You are to share this love not just with the people you like or the people who like you, it is to be shared with the one who hurt you, the one who rejects you, the one who betrays you, and miss used you.   Let us remember that Jesus shows us this outrageous love from the Cross.  This love does not flowing from you, but through you as you surrendered your will to him.  This love is a love without payback.  You do not have to do anything to gain it, there is no GOOD behaviour or amount of GOOD works that can secure it for you either.  It is simply yours free and clear when you accept that you are the beloved.     

The worldly teaching of love that is governed by our human nature is problematic in itself as many of us have already found out, with its hidden conditions, expectation and required paybacks.   This flaw comes from our ego, pride, or self-centredness and on its own, does not have the power to sustain us in love.  On the other hand God’s love is perfect, powered by surrender, forgiveness, humility, gratitude and thankfulness, giving us the fuel to sustain God’s love even unto eternity.   

 John, the writer is telling us that God’s love, borne of God insists that those who claim to know God must, and I repeat, must share this love one to another.  Otherwise you do not know your God. 

The challenge for us is to take an honest inventory of the love we offer to our spouses, our children, a neighbour or a stranger.   Do we reflect God’s perfect love or is our love tainted with obligations, expectations or hidden conditions.   Many feel that God’s love is impossible to attain, but folks remember, reaching out to attain it, strengthens your Spiritual nature and this nature sees your efforts and turns failure into opportunity.  Remain faithful, keep reaching and eventually you will succeed.  You will know joy peace and hope.

John is telling us that because God so loved us and we are to keep attempting to love one another in the same way.   In doing so we imitate the love of Jesus, the one God sent as a human example and an expression of that love.  This love became flesh and dwell among us in human form.  John 14: 7  {NIV} Now that you have known me,” Jesus said to them, “you will know my Father also, and from now on you do know him and you have seen him.”  Jesus is God’s love in human form.  Being this, His love must be the way, the truth and the life, it must be the way to the Father.   Let us pray    

Listen to this Song:  "There is Hope for Tomorrow"

" Is There Room For Faith In Certainty"

April 12, 2015 Reading:  Acts 5: 27-32 and John 20: 19-31

Everyone regardless of how well you know your bible would be able to answer this question in some way or other.  So let’s have a little fun this morning.  I will mention a biblical name and I want you in your mind to think of the first thing that you associate with the name.  I will ask someone to tell us out loud what thing came into their mind and then I will ask if anyone had something different come to mind about the person.  Let’s give it a try: 

Eve:   Moses:    Abraham:   Job:   Noah:  Jesus:    Judas:    Peter:  Notice how different each person associates each name.  These characters all have many faces don’t they?   The last name that I will mention is from our reading today, Thomas, what comes to mind here?   Most likely when I mention the word Thomas, there is little question about the word most everyone would think of first, it would be the word “doubt.”   As strange as it may sound, doubt became one of the major building blocks for Thomas’ faith. In fact  I believe it is where faith begins.  Note here, I did not say where your religion begins, why, because I believe religion is where most people lean towards certainty.  Thomas was so closely associated with this word, that we have even coined a phrase to describe him.  "The Doubting Thomas." 

Now think about that for a moment folks because there is no need to build on something you are certain about.   For instance, if you’re certain that death is the end, then there is no need to explore this subject any further. 

Here is something you may find interesting.  In three of the four gospels we are told absolutely nothing at all about Thomas. Thomas only shows up in the Gospel of John and he emerges as a distinct personality, but even then, there are only 155 words about him,  But, if we look closely, there is more than one description.    

When Jesus turned his face toward Jerusalem, just before His crucifixion, the disciples said, that this decision would bring certain death for all of them and that was not in their plan.  Surprisingly, it was Thomas who said: John 11: 15 “Then let us go so that we may die with him.” Now that was a courageous statement, yet we don't remember Thomas for his courage do we, but God knows Thomas with all the gifts He has given him, courage being one of them.   Here is where you can take a moment folks to reflect upon yourselves.  How do you see those around you, do you see a negative trait and emphasize that as their identity or do you see the whole person, with all the goodness and gifts they have been given. When I was growing up I got the reputation of the family clown and I had to do some pretty stupid stuff to main that reputation I tell you, but I was more than that folks.   How did your family see you? 

Unfortunately history has remembered Thomas for his doubt, this very negative and narrow view of him.  I caution you here folks, don’t’ let preconceived images, doubt or certainty become the prison from which you cannot emerge.    

As a child, I suspect that most of you, as did I, start out with certainty; about your religion and your images of God and Jesus.  God was a He, not a She, who had long white hair sitting on a throne up in heaven.  His job was to judged and punish those who were bad.  Jesus was this tall long wavy haired gentle Shepherd with a staff.  He was dressed in a white robe with children and lambs surrounding him.   Certainty here is problematic in itself wouldn't you agree?  When I was a child I was certain about the image of God and Jesus I carried in my mind, what about you?  But folks, it was at the doorstep of curiosity and doubt that allowed me to challenge these childhood images, allowing me to grow and continue to deepen and discover more about my faith in a God and my understanding of who Jesus is for me.      

Spending time with the resurrected Christ, the one who claims to be the life, truth, and the way to the Father can be a wonderful experience for you if you retain and open mind.   Thomas finally sees the risen Christ for the first time.   We on the other hand who have not seen but have believed, we are blessed.   The idea that you have to see to believe wouldn't go down well with Edison, Bell, Beethoven or Bill Gates.  They didn't have to see the light bulb, the phone, the musical score or Microsoft before it came into to being.  NO, NO they believe it was all there before seeing, and because they kept on, hanging in there, things eventually materialized.   If you believe in Jesus’ resurrection you will not have to see Christ physically either, keep on seeking with an open mind, allow you faith to grow and He will eventually just show up in your life and in your behaviour.   Others will see Him too in the reflection of your compassionate acts, your good deeds, your forgiveness, and your love, as you share who the Christ is for you.   That’s how it works, you believe and He just shows up.  He works with you, in you, for you and for others.  Isn't that amazing!!  Isn't that GRACE!!  And all we have to do is accept Him and believe.   Let us pray.     

"Is Jesus The Only Way?"

Good Morning!  Happy Easter everyone!! Question:  What was the motivation that brought you out to read today's Message?  Why this particular day? 

Easter Sunday 2015:  Psalm 118 Colossians 3: 1-4  John 20: 1-18 

The Easter account we read this morning begins with a lot of running. When Mary Magdalene finds the tomb empty, she runs to tell Peter and John.  They get excited and a race begins as they run to check it out for themselves.  How many of us arrived breathless this morning because we got so excited  about coming out to celebrate the victory of life over death.

Karl Barth a popular theologian has been quoted to say “ What brings people out to worship, not just at Easter, but any day, is this unspoken question    “Is it true.   Thomas one of the 12 posed the question himself.  I won’t believe unless I see the proof for myself.   Is it true, that God established what we call the laws of nature, then broke the very law of life and death by raising Jesus from the dead never to die again?   Is it true, that something so extraordinary happened on Easter morning, that we can only rebuild our future on its foundation, that there is no other foundation for the Christian church?  
"The Church's Foundation" 

One might think that the end of life should not be the place for beginners.  But in fact there is no better place to begin than when something ends right!   This is the day that is probably the hardest and most difficult to understand without doubt let alone believe, for even the most seasoned Christian.  Why of course we have doubt!  Doubt should not make you feel to out of place here,  even Jesus closest friends, the disciples, even his mom doubted what he said was going to happen to him.  This was a day when God brake all the rules, the rules governing the laws of nature and human logic, showing us that neither law, nature nor human logic have any authority or power when it comes to the ways of our God.    God and Jesus would change history and humankind forever on EASTER morning.   Nothing would ever be the same again.  If we look at all the sermons that were delivered by the Apostils to the early churches, beginning with the book of Acts, we would see that the preaching and the testimonies they delivered were not about Jesus life and his teachings.   No, In fact, I believe that they understood that what Jesus had taught by word and action, had been said and done before in the days of the Old Testament.   Jesus wasn't trying to surpass the religious teachings of the Old Testament, the prophets or the miracles of Moses, think about it, the parting of the red sea, my goodness who could top that!!!   God’s great wisdom, acts of healing and compassion can be found in great quantity within the Old Testament.   In fact Jesus isn’t the first to resurrect someone from the dead.  In 1 Kings 17: verses 19-24 Elijah is the first.  Jesus also claimed that greater mysteries and miracles would be uncovered and presented by modern day teachers who would come after him, theologians, philosophers, sages, monks, Zen Master, scientists, and developers of technology and medicine.    We need not look any farther than just some of the medical and technological advances or our century to prove Jesus right.   Can you imagine a modern space craft, a cruise ship,  a computer, the internet, a smart phone or an Kendal book reader in the hands of Mary, Thomas, Peter, Matthew or John.   What would they make of it, unbelievable mind boggling miracles?   This is why the Gospels are considered the forerunner for the MAIN EVENT, for the greatest mystery and miracle there ever was or ever will be:  “RESURRECTION” where ordinary people like you and I would fool the prince of darkness and transcend death as Jesus did, to live again in a new form forever, never to die again.   This mystery shatters the illusion of death folks, don’t be afraid you don’t die.  In fact Jesus tells us outright  “those who seek to save themselves will loose themselves”.       God has made a way for us to defeat death and to live forever eternally!!!   Now that miracle and mystery tops anything humankind has ever or in my mind will ever do.   And the universe will be your playground.     

You see for the early followers this day, Easter as we call it, was and still is the beginning point, a place where you can begin to find faith.   After the resurrection it took about 60 years to lay the foundations for what would become the Christian Church.  Christianity in the beginning was not divided by denominations, for they were known only as “People of the Way.”   It was and is the resurrection that makes Jesus and his followers unique from all the other religions of the world and their miracles.  You know those who were brought back to life from death in both the Old and New Testament accounts, they were not resurrected because they retained their physical bodies and   every one of them had to die again.   Jesus’ resurrection is the first fruit of eternal life with a new spiritual body, where you go on into eternity and there’s no coming back.  

Easter is for the beginner.  This is where we start with his resurrection because this it is precisely where the church started.    For centuries Christians all over the world have begun their journey of faith by turning to and reflecting upon the empty tomb.   Without the resurrection, Jesus would have remained just another prophet of his time.   As sophisticated and technological as we have become in our time let us not forget that raising someone from the dead would be just as difficult to believe by those in Jesus’ time as it is for many of us today.   All the disciples Peter, Thomas, James, Andrew, even his mom had their doubts.   In fact if you have doubt it is OK,  because there is something in this story that produces doubt.  Think about it folks, there’s no hope in the things you already know or have the answers to.  Would it surprise you if I told you, that one of the major building blocks, in the foundation of faith, is doubt!   The Thomas we know from scripture the Doubting Thomas as he has been labelled would tell you that it was precisely because of his doubt, that he eventually found his faith, and discovered who Jesus was for him.  In fact we all start out with doubt don’t we?  In John 20:27-29  Jesus says to Thomas, "Put your finger here. See my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."  Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"  Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed.   Blessed are those who have not seen me but still have believed."   Did you notice, who Thomas recognizes Jesus to be and Jesus doesn't rebuke him, He doesn't say “no, no Thomas you made a mistake you called me God”  he simply says “Because you have seen me you have believed”.  There is something in this story that reached the deepest regions of our hearts and minds, where doubt exists “BUT” faith can be found.   The resurrection gives us such a miracle of love and forgiveness that it is worthy of doubt and thus opens the door to faith.  So then, the place to begin is not necessarily with those things we know for certain, things we never doubt.   Consider this: realities that leave no room for doubt may not be large enough or open enough, to reveal God to us.   So let me say without hesitation: what we Christians proclaim at Easter is too profound to be contained by certainty, to wonderful to be found only within the borders of our logical minds.   I cannot explain to you with certainty or logic just what has happened for me, nor could Thomas or any of those who have found their faith in Christ.     Your Faith is personal and it begins right here, at the resurrection.   You must begin to seek and find faith for yourself.  Easter is a day for beginners, and for the committed alike, why, because our faith needs to grow and a healthy faith will continue to grow throughout your life.   Do you have a longing to know more!!!    I have a suggestion for you, do not start your search with the first Gospel in the New Testament the Gospel of Matthew, but start with the fourth Gospel the Gospel of John.   Start with John the mystic, who places Jesus with God in the beginning.  Let us listen to of John 1: 1 &14 NIV.      ¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.    Happy Easter Folks!!    Give thanks in Prayer.