Sermons, Musings and Meditations

The Cyber Vitamin July 31, 2006

2006-07-31T05:55:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
July 31, 2006

Read: Ephesians 6:1-16

The Story:

With perfect humility, meekness and patience, Paul tells us we preserve the bond of unity. One Here Paul combines the awesome wonder God provokes in us with God’s expectation for unity and kindliness in our midst.

Paul is in prison. But he doesn’t throw in the towel, or focus on “poor me.” Nor does he blame God for his predicament or tell us to hunker down, lower our expectations and just survive without making waves.

Rather, Paul exhorts us to live a life worthy of the life we have received in Jesus.
Rejoice in hope and live the life you have received to the fullest and the boldest way you can. And do so, always respecting the unity which the Spirit directs and binds us to become: one body , one faith, one Spirit, one hope and one Lord.

Reflection:
Paul is calling us to, through the power we have received through the resurrection of Jesus Christ to obey the fundamental biblical command: “U’bakharta bakhaim” (Deuteronomy 30:19). This means we are to choose life, or “You shall choose the living.” What does this mean to you today as we see the hoof prints of the apocalyptic horsemen of sin, evil and death pound across the land and human flesh of Israel and Lebanon? And dare not forget the recent earthquakes in Indonesia, the deadly one step forward, two steps back cavort our soldiers dance in Afghanistan, or the suffering of the helpless and homeless in Darfur region of the Sudan. Why not hunker down and eke out as pleasurable existence as best you can?

Can it be, that in naming the high calling we have been gifted with through faith in the risen Lord that to say yes to life will urge us on to pick up the pieces; to recognize our vulnerability as human beings but also our potential for improvement?

Can it be that to choose life is to say in the face of death that life is worth living; that to choose for the living is to celebrate the love which precedes the grief that may presently overwhelm us?

Prayer:
Lord, you can and do satisfy our needs and our hungers. So we turn to you with hope and openness. Guide us as individuals and as Christ’s body the church to be faithful to our high calling. We thank you and bless you for what you have already accomplished in our midst. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin July 17, 2006

2006-07-17T05:32:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
July 17, 2006

Read: Ephesians 2:11-22

The Story:

Writing to a Gentile audience Paul affirms the unity which exists as both Jew and Gentile are now members of something new. There is a new household of God, a new building, a new temple. It is the church of Jesus Christ.

The imagery is drawn from Jewish tradition, but points toward a third reality: the Church as a community of people who have access to God through the cross. The cornerstone of this new spiritual temple is Christ while the Christian apostles and prophets are the foundation stones. The church is a building that is ever growing.

When the author of Ephesians talks of the abolishment of the law and commandments, he is describing a daring process of a daring process which usually meets with great controversy whenever it is attempted. It is the process of accepting that the old guideposts are not infallible and we have to move on to something new.

Our constant guide when stepping out in such uncharted territory is that our decisions and actions are to be based on the one infallible conviction of our faith: the conviction that God must love all peoples, so that whatever discriminates negatively has to be faced up to and put aside.
If there is to be God’s peace among people then people have to be put first.

The work to make this possible was done on the cross with Christ bringing us all to God. However, it is possible to slide into smug self satisfaction in this new superior people of God. To avoid seeing our mission as God’s people in a conquest and domination vein, as has been done through so much of Christian history, one must first of all remember our mission is not to recruit strength and build power, but rather to facilitate the coming home to the source of love within all things which is seeking to bring and hold them together.

Reflection:
· Why do you think we erect dividing walls between ourselves and others, even other Christians? How to we maintain our fervor and convictions while at the same time accept and love those with a different take on the Christian faith?

· Instead of working to build up through reconciliation of all, why do we tend to want to dominate and control others? Why do we find it so difficult to accept pluralism and ambiguity? Why do we think we have to know all the answers instead of embracing the questions in the spirit of Christian love?

Prayer:
God of redeeming grace, you show us the way and you give us the power to be reconciled and to make peace with you and one another. Inspire us and give us the perseverance to do this work of peace day by day, relationship to relationship. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin July 14, 2006

2006-07-14T04:49:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
July 14, 2006

Week End Reflection
2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19; Psalm 24; Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark 6:14-29

· The reading from the letter to the Ephesians reminds us who we are: through our belief in Jesus Christ we are the blessed, beloved and chosen children of God. Really, we have no limits to what we can do, in terms of glorifying God in loving service to others. What is holding you back?
· The story of David’s exuberant worship of the living God reminds us to come to God with all that we are and celebrate God’s goodness and presence in our lives in a like manner. If God is truly the God revealed to us in Christ Jesus, should not we express our joy and love of God accordingly? Why hide our light under a basket. Let it loose so others can see.
· All that is comes from God and is sustained by God, we are told in Psalm 24. God is the source of all and to enable us to tap into this source through our faith in Jesus Christ we are cleansed and purified so as to gain such access. Do you embrace this stupendous blessing your have received through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ?
· The story of John the Baptist is a sordid tale. But in our own way, do we not have the same tendencies to avoid dealing with what we know is wrong in our lives? We cannot just Jesus into our lives a little bit. Do you accept discipleship in Christ as a package deal whereby you allow Jesus to enter into every aspect of your life?

Prayer:
Lord you are an awesome God. The glory of being alive the glory of all creation is the work of your hands. We praise you and we glorify your name. Use us, mold us, make us living signs of your glory and goodness. Open our eyes to our sinfulness and show you the path to let go and let you take control of these messy areas of our lives. We pray this through Jesus, our redeemer and brother. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin July 13, 2006

2006-07-13T05:19:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
July 13, 2006

Read: Mark 6:14-29

The story before us today is a sordid one. While King Herod liked to hear John speak, and given his superstitious bent sensed John’s closeness to God, he had taken his taken his brother Philip’s wife Herodias and married her in defiance of Jewish mores. John had criticized him for that and John had him thrown into prison but was too afraid to kill him.

Herodias, however, had no such compunctions and was waiting for the chance to kill John.

Her daughter’s dancing provided the opportunity. Smitten by her skill, Herod boastfully promises to grant her a wish. Consulting with her mother, Salome asks for John’s head on a platter.
The story becomes more sordid. At Herod’s drunken birthday party Herodias made her” Caught between a superstitious fear of killing a prophet and Herod’s own public boast, he capitulated.

While it is unusual in Mark to have a digression such as this, John was too important a figure to ignore. His impact continued long after his death. Therefore the story had to be told. It was far too important to ignore, Even although Mark is utterly captivated by the doings of Christ Jesus, John cannot be left out .

Secondly, up until now the progress of Jesus has been marked by success upon success. However, bad things do happen. Mark does not hide this reality. Before everyone jumps on the “Jesus bandwagon” Mark wants them to know that success is never assured. Evil does not easily yield ground. Things do not always turn out cosy for those who do the will of God. Disaster happened to John. The clouds will soon gather over the head of Jesus, and then enshroud his disciples.”

Having given us the warning, Mark ends his diversion and concludes the story of the first successful mission of the disciples:
The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught.

So given the ups and downs of life, Jesus has committed his authority into the frail hands of his friends, not for them to feel smug and superior, but to enable them to serve the needy of the world.

Reflection:
Have we not, all of us, waited sometime in our lives for an opportune moment to take advantage of somebody else's weakness and vulnerability? How about that time when we beat a colleague to the punch and got that promotion instead of him or her? How about that time when we snatched the girl or boy of our best friend away from him/her? How about that time when we closed that business deal by massaging the facts a little bit? How about that time...? Can we hear Jesus' voice who, after coming out of the wilderness, clearly laid out His message: "Repent and believe in the good news!"What's good news about all of this in light of the fact that we cannot get rid of our discomfort no matter how hard we try? Do we accept and embrace the fact of faith: thehe good news is that we cannot get rid of our discomfort, no matter how hard we try! The good news is that God will never let us go, neither in life nor in death. Do you believe that?

Prayer:
Lord, life in all its tragedy, is still beautiful. Lord, life is messy and as fragile human beings we are messy. But in the midst of this messiness you sent your son to lead us and clean us up. Send your Spirit upon us today that we may grow in our faithfulness to him and his ways. Amen.

The God Alive Column (Vaughan and King Weekly) July12,2006

2006-07-12T04:54:00.000-07:00

Why people don’t go to church

Writing this column during July, when attendance at my congregation is less than stellar, I began to reflect on the question of why people don’t go to church. Latest statistics show a 20 percent maximum rate of attendance at weekly Christian church services in Canada, with wide regional variations, and with the 15-24 year old group running at about 15 to 16 percent.

I checked www.excuses.com. Some reasons listed were: “The preacher moves around to much. I'm too young - I'll go when I'm too old to have any more fun. I'll go to church after I stop smoking. Church Excuse: Veni, Vidi, NoN-Velcro. (I came, I Saw, I didn't stick around.).”

On a more serious vein, I looked at what the sociologists are telling us. A 1998 study in Australia showed reasons for not coming to church there as follows: “Boring or unfulfilling church services 42%; Belief of the churches 35%; Churches' moral views 35%; No need to go to Church 34%; Prefer to do other things 31%; My beliefs are too weak 27%; The way churches are organised 24%; Too many other commitments 21%; Bad experience of church people 16%; Not enough time because of work 15%; Uncomfortable with church people 14%; No previous involvement 8%; Family or friends don't like church 6%; No churches of my denomination nearby 4%; No good churches nearby 4%; Poor health/disability 3%; No transport to get to church 2%.”

Reginald Bibby, a professor of sociology at the University of Lethbridge, has found similar reasons for low Church attendance in Canada (see for example Fragmented Gods: the Poverty and Potential of Religion in Canada). But He sees an emergent renaissance in spirituality: “Canadians still believe in God, Bibby says. “Our research supports the fact that God has been very much alive in Canada and is moving across Canada," he said. “When we ask Canadians if they believe in a God that cares about them personally, about 80 per cent of them say they do." And he says 75 per cent of Canadians say they pray at least occasionally and one in two Canadians claim they talk to God personally at least once a week.

Bibby sees this renewed interest in spirituality as an opportunity for the established churches to structure their programs to meet people where they are at and thus experience a renaissance themselves.

Callum Brown, The Death of Christian Britain (2001); Steve Bruce, God is Dead: Secularization in the West (2002) in contrast, argue that decline in religiosity in Great Britain and Europe is real As Stuart Macdonald Associate Professor for Church and Society, Knox College, Toronto puts it, their findings tell us that “participation is down, and because of this religious memory has died and is continuing to die. The church will continue – religion will play a role in individual lives, but not in society as a whole. That society will be secular, in the sense of divorced from religion.”

This is not the case in the United States. Attendance at church services is high and interest in religion and new forms of spirituality is flourishing. Religion is very much a part of public life there.

Bibby’s description about what is happening in Canada and what to do about it are based on the assumption that what is happening here culturally is closer to the American than European or Australian-New Zealand experience.

Professor MacDonald begs to differ. “From what I’ve seen and experienced, I believe the church in Canada is much closer to that in the United Kingdom and Europe – as well as Australia and New Zealand – although we are slower in reaching their level of secularization.”

I suggest that the Christian churches (similar trends are being found in the Jewish faith community also), look both to the United States and to Europe.

From my experience as a pastor we still have a large group, who while their religious memory is faint, still turn to the churches for rites of passage (baptism, weddings, funerals). They tend to come to the church as highly selective consumers.

How long their memory and affliation with particular denominations will lead them “church” to meet these “consumer needs,” is a question I believe Bibby in his research has not addressed. But in Canada, this phenomena still exists.

So, as Bibby argues, “churches are going to have to decide if they will be satisfied with providing religion à la carte for these selectively minded religious customers.”

Most churches with any integrity, I believe, would say no. The key seems to be for the churches to focus their programming on their primary reason for existence: to witness to a way of understanding God, society and self that is truthful, life giving and life fulfilling. And then, to communicate this “package deal” in a way that can be understood and “bought into” by today’s consumer citizens. This is the eternal mission of the church.

Then, www.excuses.com may list as many excuses for going to church as for not going.

The Cyber Vitamin July 12, 2006

2006-07-12T04:51:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
July 12, 2006

Read: Psalm 24

The Story:

This psalm of praise can be divided into three parts. Verses 1 and 2 celebrate God’s creation of the universe─earth, sea, sky, river animal, mineral, vegetable and human beings too─are created and sustained by the Lord. And the Lord God is not a distant God. God lays claim to all that God has made.

Verses 3-6 lay out the requirements for those who come to the temple to seek God’s blessing. But who among us has pure hands and clean hearts and never are seduced by what is false or witness to what we know isn’t true? As Christians we do not see ourselves as being this perfect, but that through sincere dedication of our lives to Christ we are made clean and able to approach God through the purity of the crucified and risen Lord.

In Verses 7-10 we are given the image of the Lord coming into the sanctuary where he is the acclaimed as the King of glory. Probably the psalmist saw God entering the temple sanctuary in Jerusalem. Or perhaps he is referring to a scene of glory in heaven. Whatever, this tells us as worshippers of the living God to open up the gates of our hearts to let God in. Get rid of any barriers and let the Lord of life to enter fully into your life. For there is one God─one who created you and loves you.

Reflection:
Do you see and celebrate the fingerprints of God in the created world? Do you sing with your heart in your daily life “how Great Thou Art?” Is awesome wonder a fundamental aspect of your worship of God?
Do you acknowledge your need to become clean before God─to acknowledge your sinfulness and need of forgiveness so you can truly open the gates so God’s glory can fully enter into your life?
If God is the creator of all and has left God’s presence in all that is, should we not try and worship God in all we see and all we do? Is not the mountain of the Lord nothing more and nothing less than struggles we may be facing in our life today?

Prayer:
Creator God, we know you have a purpose and intent of each one of us. Inspire us and animate use through your Spirit to seek You in all aspects of our lives. Help us to find ways to fulfill our destiny as children of God and bear witness to your truth to the world. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin July 11, 2006

2006-07-11T04:57:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
July 11, 2006

Read: 2 Samuel 6:1-19

The Story:

The central theme of this passage is that now the very presence of God symbolized by the Ark of the Covenant is now located in Jerusalem. This notion of worshipping one God in one place-Jerusalem is key turning point in the development of religious thought and practice amongst the ancient Hebrews.

Notice the unfettered joy of David as he dances before his people. He is their king and his Lord and their Lord is “Elohim” the Lord God almighty and Elohim is with them and they are Elohim’s people.

Notice how David shared at least symbolic gifts of food with the celebrants before they ended their day. His gifts were more concrete reminders of relationships, relationships between God and believers and among believers with one another.

Reflection:

Do you sometimes wonder where God is? Is God present in the Middle East? Is God evident when we suffer death in the family? Is God’s presence evident when jobs are cut, when crimes get committed?
The Ark reminded the Israelites of God’s presence with them. What tangible signs do you need to remind you of God’s constant watch-care?
Do we ever get so animated as David in our thanksgiving and praise to God? What are our reluctances? Did not the early Christians get enlivened at Jesus' entry into Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday? What would it take for us to get just a little more animated?

Prayer:
Lord, we long for your presence, but as we long for it, we realize you are with us right now. Reveal you face to us in the midst of the warp and woof of our daily living. Send your Spirit upon us our lives may be dances of joy and enthusiasm for your presence and your ways. We pray this in through and with our brother Jesus. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin July 10, 2006

2006-07-10T05:26:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
July 10, 2006

Read: Ephesians 1:3-14

The Story:

These verses from Ephesians are an exuberant and poetic outpouring of joy and faith. Paul’s excitement radiates from his conviction that in Jesus the secret behind creation, the meaning of history; this “mysterion” or truth of the nature of life and being is revealed.

Paul tells us that God is the creator and sustainer of all things─God is the steward of history secretly working the divine plan out in the fullness of time. This plan is now out in the open through the “Christ Event,”

This secret then, is to “bring together all things in Christ; things in heaven and things on earth.” The vision of Shalom─peace, unity, harmony, community, wholeness─becomes reality through the reconciling work of Jesus Christ.

Reflection:
How do you see your place in this awesome plan of God Paul describes? Do you feel the excitement Paul must have felt when he wrote these words? Do you treat yourself and the world around you in a manner fitting such a wonderful mystery?

Do you believe that the way of Christ is finally going to win? In the face of the disharmony in the world? If the secret of life is indeed open to all, what are you doing to spread this message to others?

Prayer:
Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer God, you call us into relationship, you call us to be a people rooted in your unity and your love. You have a plan for us. Help us find our place in that plan and share this wondrous vision with others. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin June 30, 2006

2006-06-30T04:55:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
June 30, 2006

Weekend Reflection
2 Samuel 1:1, 1:17-27; Psalm 130 ; Mark 5:21-43
Reflection:
In our reading from Second Samuel this week we are reminded that any “victory” over an adversary is a victory only in the sense that God’s purposes are achieved through the interaction and that you have grown in maturity and understanding from the otherwise tragic situation of two (or more) human beings fighting with one another.

Secondly, when two people are in conflict, and when a person in a position of influence fails in their duties there are consequences which have social consequences way beyond the people directly involved. So when you gain victory in such situations the imperative is not self aggrandizement but rather the repair and building up of the social fabric that has been torn by the conflict.

The psalmist reminds us that there is no darkness where the light of God’s presence cannot illuminate; there are no places of hate that cannot be filled with God’s love, and there are no places of death that can overcome the fullness of divine life.

In the two stories of faith found in the reading from Mark’s Gospel this week we first learn through the story of the bleeding woman of the way Christ’s presence, and indeed just the hope of being in Christ’s presence empowers fragile human beings to leap across social barriers and become healed and realize their God given potential.

In the healing of Jarius’s daughter we are shown how people’s expectations of what Jesus can do are always superseded by the mystery of who Jesus is. We seek his way, his life and his truth and such seeking will bless us with a life of blessedness, faithfulness and fulfillment. But we never can fully no, or possess the fullness of that way, life and truth. Our task is to stand in awesome and faithful wonder before the mystery of Christ with humble hearts and a will to surrender completely to his will.

Prayer:
Loving God, help us grow in trust and in loving commitment to the way of Jesus. Help us surrender our will and our lives to you. Open our eyes to your presence in life’s darkest moments. Help us be faithful disciples of Jesus, our brother and our Lord. Amen.

God Alive Column (Vaughan and King weeklies) June 28, 2006

2006-06-29T04:58:00.000-07:00

Playing God
There is a story about a time in the near future when biogenetics and biochemistry
had progressed to the degree that human beings could produce made to order plants,
animals and human beings.

The scientists of the day were feeling at the “top of the heap” due to their accomplishments and decided to challenge God to a contest. Their spokesperson confronted God and said: “We can create anything you can create.”

God said “Really?” And then God agreed to the challenge. God said to the scientists: “You go first.”

So one of then picked up a clump of soil and started to take it to their portable lab. God said, “Wait a minute. Get your own dirt.”

Everything has to start somewhere, doesn’t it?

Still, a lot of you, I’m sure, are extremely anxious with all that is happening on the cutting edge of biological sciences today. Is all this approaching the apogee of human hubris? Or in plain words, what right do we have in interfering with God’s business?

The ethical and theological dilemmas here should not be minimized. DNA fingerprinting, animal cloning, xenotransplantation, stem cell therapy, bionics, the subcutaneous insertion of tracking devices and a catalog of other applications of modern biogenetic science moves from the relatively banal to the bizarre.

“There is something in the human spirit that wants to conquer,” said Dr. Andrew Fergusson, president and CEO of the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity in Bannockburn, Ill. “The problem is when the fallen side of human nature gains control.”

So what role does our religion, our faith have in determining what we ought to do in particular applications of such powerful technology?

Any ethical decision in a particular case should flow from one’s vision of what is ultimate, and be based on the values and principles that flow from that vision.

As a Christian I have seen people of my tradition respond in two unhelpful ways.. Some say we have opened Pandora’s Box and have no right to fool around with genetic codes and we will suffer dire consequences for doing so.

Others do not see a way to apply their understanding of God to the ethical questions these technologies bring to the surface. So they leave religion out of the picture.

I would like to offer another approach, following the Christian tradition. If you look closely at the various miracle stories about Jesus found in the four canonical gospels you will clearly see that Jesus and the early church had no doubt that he had the right and authority to play God. Jesus’ deeds were God’s deeds.

I also believe that Jesus’ life, death and resurrection provides human beings with the same power: the power to be agents of God’s peace and healing and forgiveness.

Does this not mean that Christians, through their faith in Jesus, are called to emulate Christ and humbly play God?

As his faithful followers, are we not called to accept responsibility for physical as well as the spiritual well-being of the world?

I think we have always had such power and authority. When we build a bridge or erect a dam we accept our authority to alter God’s creation. When we clear land, or weed our fields, or plant forests with selected species, we exercise our power over nature.

This has also gone on in biology for ages. We have bred sheep and chickens, cows and goats for thousands of years to accentuate certain desired qualities.

As human beings, we have always exercised in a definite way our authority on earth to among other things; change the form of living creatures, including humans. When we immunize or use birth control, including the “rhythm method,” we are “playing God.”

And I believe, having made us in the divine image, God expects us to do just that.

What is disturbing is not that we are playing God, but how and why we are doing it? What is now driving the present phase of endeavour in biological science? And whether our attitude has the requisite humility?

Arrogance will only lead to trouble. For example, the thought of ever deliberately creating human embryos for the sole purpose of harvesting their stem cells, frightens me.
That’s why we must turn to our religious traditions for guidance.

As a Christian I turn to Jesus. I ask the following questions: Where is the Jesus attitude in all this? Where is the love of others; the passion for good of all? Why, how, and for the benefit of whom?

We cannot shut our eyes and hope that the complex ethical issues raised by scientific discoveries will just go away. Nor dare we wring our hands and deny any direct responsibility.

But we can keep our hearts open to Christ, let our lives be ruled by Christ, and play our small part in building a world where his love inspires and shapes the new era that is emerging.

The Cyber Vitamin June 29, 2006

2006-06-29T04:57:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
June 29, 2006

Read Mark 5:21-43

The Story:

In today’s Gospel lesson from Mark, we have a story within a story. The main story is about Jesus answering the request of Jairus, the chairperson of the parish council (ruler of the synagogue). The secondary story outlines an event on the way to the house of Jairus. Both stories are intended to raise the question: “Who is this?”

Jesus, had sailed over from the Eastern side of Galilee. Stepping ashore on more familiar north-western bank, Jesus was immediately met by Jairus. This man’s 12 year old daughter was gravelly ill. Jairus begged Jesus to come immediately and lay his healing hands on her. Jesus set off.

The journey was slow because of the pressure from the crowd. As Jesus worked his way ahead, a diseased woman, with astounding faith and courage, reached out her hand to touch the hem of her garment and became healed. Jesus publicly commended her faith and sent her on her way in peace.

This woman, according to established Jewish practice, was unclean, untouchable. She ought to have kept to herself out of sight, and definitely out of touch.

In their society she had a second strike against her. She was female. They regarded women as inferior, not fit for male company. Publicly they were not to associate with men.

Yet this woman had the courage to join the crowd of men in a public place. She pushed among them, through their abuse and worked her way to the side of Jesus, and she touched him.

And she felt herself healed. What a woman!

Then we return to Jarius and his ailing daughter Jesus is told that it was too late; his daughter had died. Jesus undeterred, tells Jarius not to panic but to have faith. Having said this, he continued on his way to the house. And in the midst of their wailing he enters into the scene of despair and hopelessness and with a word heals the little girl.

Who is this fellow Jesus?” That is the question Mark addresses with these two stories. And he doesn’t give us a pat answer.

What he does tell us is whoever Jesus is; there is a strength which goes out of him into others. He empowers those who are oppressed and those who languish until they meet him. The least, the last and the lost in any society at any time and place are his special beloved friends. And he will empower anyone today who dares to have faith in him and his way of love.

Reflection:
Have you felt the tender healing touch of Christ's love in your life? Do you see the importance of feeling that touch? Do you recognize that this is the touch that not only heals but empowers you to make real those impossible dreams you have for yourself and the world around you? Are you helping others to find the healing touch of Christ?

Do you step forward with boldness to grow in your intimacy with Jesus and share with others the reality and fruit of that intimacy? Or, are you hiding in the crowd and afraid to step forward and reach out to Christ?

Prayer:
Loving God, Jesus has come into our world and into our lives to, through human touch to bring us close to your love, your life and your plan for us. Empower us, through the work of your Spirit to let go of any hesitancy to reach out and go to wherever we find Jesus in our lives and in our world. Heal us, mold us and guide us through our faith in Jesus. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin June 28, 2006

2006-06-28T06:14:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
June 28, 2006

Read: Psalm 130

The Story:

We hear the psalmist’s cry from the depths of guilt, seeking forgiveness for the iniquities that have been committed. He has hope that God’s steadfast love will free (redeem) him from this weight of sin.

We are talking here about despair so deep that we are not even sure God can hear us from the depth and darkness in which we find ourselves. With more or less free will we make bad decisions and pay the consequences. We sin and find ourselves hurled into the darkness of having isolated ourselves from others, and more tragically and fundamentally, find ourselves separated from God’s love.

We get ourselves in terrible jams and can see no way out. Or, we stand helpless before family and friends in such situations and feel we are unable to offer them any help.

What the psalmist is telling us that we have a God who does not keep track of our sins but forgives us and helps us blot them out of our memory so we can glorify God by our worship and service to other.

Hope does spring eternal. But the source of that spring is God’s unconditional and boundless love.

In William Inge's Come Back Little Sheba, there is a character named Doc who is an alcoholic. It is very hard on the members of his family who cannot understand why he is an alcoholic. It is even harder for Doc because even he doesn't understand why he turns to this unhealthy way of solving his problems.

Then there is Lola, his wife-overweight, unattractive, sloppy around the house in many ways and involved in a difficult love/hate relationship with her husband. Lola is really hurt when, after a period of not drinking, Doc takes the bottle and disappears overnight. She is hurt, she is afraid and she calls her parents. She wants to come home for a little while-just to be there. Maybe she can pull herself together.

But her father refuses to let her come. She is rejected and you can just feel the heartbreak and the pain and the despair in the drama. How can we help people in situations like that? Doc and Lola need more than words; they need more than facts and formulas. What they desperately need to know is that there is a way out of the deepest pit of degradation and despair. They need to be able to place their trust in someone who can show them the way because he himself has traveled it.

People like this are all around us. They are our congregations. They are in our families. They are in our neighborhoods. They are in the places we work.

The psalmist brought the God news of God’s constant steadfast love to you today. Why you do not do the same for someone else today?

The message you carry as a baptized believer is is simple. Fear is useless. What is needed is trust.. You need to trust in God, especially in these times of convulsive change. Trust in God and your faith will cure you. And your faith will cure others too! Pass it on!

Reflection:

Have you ever been at the end of your mental, physical and spiritual rope? Where did you turn? What were the results?
Do you place all your trust in God? Can you turn to God today? What is stopping you?

Prayer:
Loving God, today, like all the days of our life, we seek your face, we seek your saving love. We need help. We need you in our lives. Your Son Jesus tells us we need but knock on the door and you will open up the realm of forgiveness and healing and peace to us. Here our knock today. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin June 26, 2006

2006-06-26T04:38:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
June 26, 2006

Read: 1 Samuel 1:1; 17-27

The Story:

You can read this gracious lament David writes about the Saul and Jonathan and rightfully see his graciousness. Remember Saul was the man who had been trying to kill David.

But there is more than personal graciousness here. The violent death of a king is a national tragedy. So David took the occasion not to gloat but to remind the people of the greatness of the their king who had fallen..

Remember what had happened. After David had defeated Goliath, he became the hero of the land, became part of the palace entourage, became friends with Jonathan, and married Saul’s daughter.

In time jealously gets the better of Saul and seeing David as a threat, he attempts to kill him. A bounty is put on David’s head and he becomes an outlaw living with his men in the wilderness for ten years.

With this lament, David puts the national interest, and for the Israelites, God’s interests, ahead of his own interest, and eulogize the good that came through Saul and Jonathan.

Reflection:

How do you respond when you gain “victory” over an adversary? Do you gloat and bask in a glow of self-righteousness?

Do you see how sometimes your fiercest adversaries are also vehicles that God uses for your greatest growth? Do you realize that God calls to love everyone, even your enemy, but doesn’t ask you to like them? Do you accept the difference here?

Are you aware of the impact of your presence on others? Are you seen as an adversary by many? Why would this be so?

Prayer:
Lord, through this poignant lament David shows that You work through all people, even our adversaries to help bring about Your glory and the building of Your kingdom. Help us to emulate David and look for the good things You are accomplishing in everyone's life we meet--even those challenging adversaries who have made our lives very difficult. We pray for such receptiveness to your Spirit in all things and all people. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin June 22, 2006

2006-06-22T04:41:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
June 22, 2006

Read: Mark 4:35-41

The Story:

Jesus in a small boat at night. . . .While his fisherman friends sail the vessel, Jesus lies asleep in the stern. When a gale hits the lake, and the boat is in jeopardy, Jesus continues to slumber. Wakened by his distraught disciples, Jesus commands the storm to cease. It does so. The disciples exclaim: “Who is this then, that the wind and sea obey him.”

Mark included this story in his Gospel to underline the unique status of Jesus. He wants readers to keep asking the question: “Who is this? What do we have here?”

The answer is that in Jesus we have someone in such close alliance with the awesome Creator of creation, that he has authority over the natural world. In stilling the storm, Jesus not only saves the lives of his disciples, but demonstrates the cosmic power granted to him by God.

Mark has been tenaciously posing one question as his story unfolds: it is that of Jesus’ unique authority. Jesus teaches with authority, and his listeners asks , “Who is this whose words make such an impact?”. He heals the sick, and they ask “Who is this whose hands heal ?” He casts the demons out of tormented, minds, and the people ask: “Who is this that evil has authority over Satan’s world?.

And then Mark gives us the story of Jesus calming the storm. His disciples gasp: “Who is this, that even the wind and the waves obey him.”

Mark does not directly answer that question for his readers. He makes them face it, and invites them to make a decision about it. Some, on hearing this story of Jesus stilling the storm, would exclaim in awe: “This man was Divine.” What do you say? is the question this story poses for you today.

Reflection:

Do you believe, do you have faith in the midst of the storms of your life? If you have fears, can you name them? Can you talk with Jesus about them?

In stilling the storm, Jesus also brought peace to the hearts of his disciples. Have you experienced this peace? Have you opened your heart up enough so the peace of Christ can enter in? Should you draw on this peace more often?

Prayer:
Lord, be with us. May your compassion and wisdom be our spiritual food and drink. Be with us as we make decisions about genetic engineering or virtual reality, body transplants or brain enhancing drugs, space exploration or the adventures of cyberspace, the artificial maintenance of life or the quality of life and euthanasia. Through all the changing scenes of life, enable us to seek first your kingdom and its true-goodness. Give us the peace that can weather any storms we face. Amen.

God Alive Column (Vaughan and King Weeklies) June 21, 2006

2006-06-22T04:39:00.000-07:00

Delivering the good news for free

I have a friend who has cut herself from watching television so her mind would not be filled with a cascade of worthless images of televangelist, Mafiosos, Canadian and American idols, and amorous emergency room doctors or district attorneys. Also, she says, she avoids TV because the commercials work too well on her, and if she watches them long enough their unreality becomes real to her.

She does turn on the CBC radio news, but cannot listen to more than one newscast a day. She finds that it is capable for her to grieve for a few people at a time, but not for 4,000 earthquake victims in Indonesia, the masses of people starving in Sudan, or the latest suicide bomber blast victims in Iraq all at the same time. Nor does she want to learn how to do this.

She finds its just as good to listen to people at the grocery store tell her about last night’s roundup of gang members in Toronto, as to have her outlook formed by those who make a living selling bad news. At the same time she wants to keep her heart open to what is happening around her, and she is not sure if she wants to be the last person to hear what is going on in the world.

News junkie, that I am, I hear her pain and take her point. And I think I have a few clues that may help her find a way through the dilemma she so poignantly describes.

There is always tragedy unfolding somewhere in the world. But there is also always happenings of grace─people risking their lives to save a child being washed away by a flash flood, families cutting what is not needed from their budget so they can help fund relief going to those without adequate food, shelter clothing or medicine around the globe, high powered executives taking off work an hour or so early to tutor and mentor a high risk child.

This is the Good News followers of Jesus Christ talk about─the light that sparkles in the darkness─the life that is found in our places of death─the love that flows forth in the cellars of hate.

Still, brokenness rather than those moments of grace and transformation is what makes the most money and therefore is the de rigueur in what is generally put in the media window on the human condition.

Like all of us, Christians also buy into this despairing dominant image of the world.

God is active and alive in the world. God is also present and active in the church community. Sometimes church members get this wrong. They believe that God is present in the church, and their job is to make God present in the world. Implicit here is that without the church bringing God to the big bad world, that the world would be Godless.

This of course, is sheer heresy. Our faith tradition tells us through the “Christ Event” the very Spirit of God is moving, transforming, redeeming and healing the brokenness of human beings in and through and with the world in which we live.

The role of the church is to proclaim this good news :to show how suffering breaks open as many hearts as it breaks down; to bring out the face of God alive all around us, albeit sometimes found in terrible disguises.

The role of the Christian is not to bring God to others, but rather, by our work and witness to help others see the grace of God operative in their lives, all appearances to the contrary. We are to proclaim louder and in better colour than any commercial that human beings are worth more than what they buy or sell.

Our task is not to convert the world but rather to get others to see and join in Christ’s loving transformation of the world.

The job of Christians, and any folk of good will, then, is to keep telling stories of human kindness and divine grace, without commercials of any kind. Delivering the good news for free! That’s our job. Let’s push our “God” buttons and get on with it.

The Cyber Vitamin june 21, 2006

2006-06-22T04:36:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
June 21, 2006
Read Psalm 9:9-20

The Story:

This psalm expresses the writer's confidence that God is on the side of the righteous and that God and the righteous of God will prevail. Righteousness means right living based on the right relationship with a righteous God. The psalmist is expressing his assurance that such a righteous God is the God of Israel.

In verses 13-15 particularly, the psalmist expresses the situation he is in and yet at the same time expresses his confidence that God will rescue him. This psalm is a song of faithful trust that God is a reliable presence that never leaves us. Even if all the people and the powers of the world do, God will not.

Reflection:
Where do you first turn when things are falling apart? Do you turn to God? Do you turn to God and let God just how you feel, whether that be desperation or anger or just plain fear? Or do you try and handle it all on your own?

I have talked to people who have experienced termendous losses, whether it be a loved one, an ugly divorce, monetary loss and so on, and did not come to church until they had their act together. Somehow they had got the idea that you should look like you have it all together when you go to church, or otherwise you do not have enough faith. What would you say to people with that opinion?

Prayer:

Loving God, when we are inclined to worry or panic,
speak with authority to us.
Speak directly through Jesus so that fears may be confronted
and our faith reinstated.
Through him and in him let us spend our days and nights
with the courage and peace of those who know
they are being saved and sustained
by an imperturbable grace.
And to you be the glory and praise;
Amen! (by Bruce Prewer, used with permission)

The Cyber Vitamin June 19, 2006

2006-06-19T05:09:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
June 19, 2006

Read: 1 Samuel 13:32-49

The Story:

All things are possible with God. That’s the word from the amazing story of David and Goliath.

For weeks, Saul’s men had been arrayed at a standstill, unable to do anything in their power to overcome the Philistines. Saul was a great warrior and leader and they had the top of the line weaponry of their day. But none of this was any match for the overwhelming might of the Philistine assembly, especially their champion, Goliath.

David is ready and willing to fight for Israel, but the wisdom of the world says that would be absurd. But the wisdom of God prevails, and God’s power and God’s will is expressed through the power of this young man.

What did David have that enabled him to step forward to be used by God? First he had faith in God. Before a seemingly insurmountable problem he showed a willingness to move beyond what was expected, while at the same time doing so with the God given talents and gifts that he did possess.

Having faith in God, then, David did his best and God did the rest using David’s courage act to save, teach and even redeem Israel.

Reflection:

What or who is the “Goliath before you” today? In your fear and inability to see any “light in the tunnel” are you frozen up, unable to act? Have you taken the situation to God in prayer? Do you have faith that God is present with you and that God will help you? Can you turn your worries over to God?

Do you believe the lines from Ecclesiastes 3:1 “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…?” Why may have God put the current “Goliath” you face before you? How may you grow and become a better person through the current crisis?

David had his talent with the sling. What sling and rocks to you have in your arsenal? Can you step out of the box and see that you may well have the solution right in your own hands?

Prayer:
Lord you are with us as we face our respective Goliaths today. Open the eyes of our heart to your presence that you may comfort us and guide us and give us the ability to work through whatever obstacles may be in our path. Help us with your ever loving presence to conquer our fear and rely on you and your ways to lead us to victory today. In Jesus’ name we pray.

The God Alive Column (Vaughan Weekly) June 14, 2006

2006-06-16T07:09:00.000-07:00

A Vision for Today

In 1986 I had listened with horror to a TV discussion amongst the heads of the world’s major producers of a variety of nonflammable gaseous or liquid fluorinated hydrocarbons employed primarily as working fluids in refrigeration and air conditioning and as aerosol propellants.

They all agreed on the damage these gases were doing to the ozone layer of our atmosphere and were unanimous in their desire to change their practices. But they also all agreed that no one could afford to take the first step and curtail production–it would be disastrous financially!

That being said, because of public awareness, education and political pressure, we are now quite effectively addressing the “Freon” problem. Today, people do sort their garbage. We are making decisions on a micro scale to reduce pollution and minimize energy use. I believe the majority of Canadians want to do whatever is necessary to save this planet, and minimize the effects of the environmental damage we have already done.

The next step, I believe, the macro step, will come when average citizens join our existing political parties and advocate not as outsiders, but as insiders, for what we know is right.

Such focused and concerted actions require sacrifice. I believe this is where our faith traditions have a crucial role to play. A religion’s vision of the good life should generate hope that gives a passion for the possible in the present in spite of what is.

Briefly, then, I would like to touch on a Christian approach the environmental crisis.

As Christ followers, personally and communally, we experience our humanity, which is the universe becoming conscious of itself, as being infused with this mystery of the Word becoming flesh.

For the Christian the good earth or the sky or the stars are not Gods or Goddesses to worship. Nor are the cycles and rhythms of the physical universe sacred and inviolate. And we won't find our salvation by connecting our fates to the stars. The oceans are powerful and beautiful and crucial to our survival. But that same power and beauty will kill us in the wink of an eye. As will lightening, merciless weather patterns, earthquakes and so on.

But neither is nature to be seen as a thing to be used and abused, to be torn asunder and dumped on as we see fit.

Christians see the universe as a sacrament- a metaphor for God. Elemental power, beauty, infinity, geometrical symmetry. instinctual love, life, death, and rebirth, all point beyond themselves toward the Creator of all.

But then, following the Christian story, with the entry of Jesus into our humanity, the Word of God entered fully into this metaphor. And this marvelous universe is where we now meet the reality of God face to face: pure divine love drawing all toward unity in the Father through the Son.

The universe, as seen through Christian lenses, is made of a fabric woven with the thread of the power of nature and the thread of the divine power. Our humanity is at the apex of power where these two powers meet. We are truly the crown of creation.
Our Christian mission is not to sever but to link divinity and nature together; unite them in splendid harmony.

Obviously that means Christianity is not an escape from a Godless world, a private party where the good guys and gals huddle together for one blessed hour of forgetfulness with the hope of eternal blessed forgetfulness. If it was, we would become so other worldly, that we’d be no earthly good.

No, our faith sends us back into the world and its pollution and politics, back to chemistry and the computer. We are sent out of here today to dynamize the world. You see we have been given the promise, the purpose and the power.

And that means that as Christians we are called to discover where and how we can make things happen- from a smile on a care worn face, through legislation to protect the environment, to help the afflicted, to bring peace to some corner of our globe. Our vocation is quite simply to let God come alive in us and in our world.

Now that’s vision. That’s purpose. That’s power to make things happen. What is your vision?

The Cyber Vitamin June 16, 2006

2006-06-16T07:04:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
Week End Meditation
June 16, 2006
1 Samuel 15:34 - 16:13 Psalm 20 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, (11-13), 14-17 Mark 4:26-34

Reflection

In the reading from Samuel we are given a lesson on how to turn despondency into a spirit driven change in direction/orientation. Samuel had placed his hopes in Saul and Saul had failed as God’s appointed king. But in his faithfulness he was able to hear God’s call to a new direction. He had his preconceived ideas of what the new king should look like, for example, but he was able to open his heart to God’s direction, let go of the past and move toward the new possibilities now made available by God.

A Christ centered life is a life of grace opened up through faith in Christ. Whatever the “facts” of this world may be they are not the basis of the new creation ushered in by the life death and resurrection of Jesus and made available to those who turn their life and will over to Christ. This is a life of new beginnings that happens each time we say “YES” to Jesus in the warp and woof of our lives.

The bottom line is that the Christian life, the spirit fill life, the life that is God directed, is based on an all encompassing trust in God. Psalm 20 is a poetic affirmation and call for such trust to be operative in every aspect of our lives. The more we trust God the more intimate our relationship with God becomes and the firmer our faith stance grows.

In the parable of the seed and the sower from Mark, we are reminded of the division of labour in the faithful life. We do what we can with integrity, fidelity and courage. We trust that God will do the rest. In other words, we plan the action, based on prayer and discernment, and leave the results to God.

Prayer:
Gracious Lord, in you we trust our lives, our will our all. Shape us, mold us, and use us according to your goodness and for your glory. We pray this in Christ’s name. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin June 15, 2006

2006-06-15T02:15:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
June 15, 2006
Read: Mark 4:26-29
The Story:
This parable of Jesus should bring some sanity and a time for the overstressed, over responsible Christian to catch their breath. Jesus likens the kingdom of God to a farmer who does what is his job-plowing, planting, harrowing, and sowing.Then the rest is up to the open skies. The farmer cannot control the weather but has to wait and see. The farmer can worry if they choose, but it does not do one iota of good. What he or she can do is get on with their work, while letting nature do theirs.

The crop will ripen in its due time. Then there is the work of the farmer to be done-harvesting, drying and storing the harvest.

Such is how it is like in the kingdom of God. Grace is the bottom line. It is grace that gives nature the gifts of being able to bring for food from the earth. It is grace that redeems us from our mistakes and blunders, our sinfulness and its effects. Grace is always at work.
Reflection:

Can you act like the farmer in the parable? Can you do your best, and let God do the rest? Do you realize that you cannot do it all?Do you maintain a healthy rhythm between grace and works is important. Teihard de Chardin once wrote that "The most blessed passivity of all is to simply trust God's grace. Do you trust in God's grace?

Can you pick up the hoe and trust God without picking up the how and only trusting in yourself?Prayer:
God our creator and provider,please continue to sow us with Gospel seed,and cultivate it with your own secretive care.While we work or rest, play or sleep,let the word and way of Christ Jesuscontinue to grow within us,that when the season is right,we may produce a harvestthat brings joy to youand a blessing to those around us.Through Christ Jesus,who with you and the Holy Spiritare to be loved, served and worshipped,as the one God,forever and ever.Amen! (Prayer composed by B. D. Prewer, used with permission)

The Cyber Vitamin June 14, 2006

2006-06-14T04:49:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
June 14, 2006

Read: Psalm 20

The Story:

This psalm is one of assurance that God is in solidarity with those who are faithful to God and God’s ways. Whatever our distress may be at the moment we are being reminded here to trust God.

High technology at the time of this psalm’s writing was the horse. Armed cavalry was the dominant weapon wielded by those in power, in a worldly sense. The psalmist is reminding the listener that whatever our current technologies, strength and wisdom may be, they are nothing compared to God’s wisdom, strength and power.

Our first step and our constant step in whatever situation we encounter is to faithfully and utterly place our trust in God-that God will answer our prayers and be involved in our lives.

Reflection:

Here is a bit of distilled wisdom about living our lives with integrity and faithfulness:
Trust God
Clean house
Help others
Do these suggestions fit into your current modus operandi?

We often sing a hymn at worship with the lines “worship and work must be one.” Do you worship God as you commute to work and do you express that relationship in the way you commute? Do you have any God free zones in your life? Why?

Prayer:God, we believe, help our unbelief. Grant us by your grace, your favourable inclination to enable us to trust you in all that you may be in all we are and do. We pray this in the name of the one who makes such trust a possibility. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin June 13, 2006

2006-06-13T05:21:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
June 13, 2006

Read: 2 Corinthians 5:6-17

The Story:

Our life in Christ is real and we are accountable for it. This life is a package deal: we are a new creation through and only through our union with God through our faith in Jesus Christ. In that faith whatever is presently happening in our lives, or whatever has gone on in the past, can become a transformed future in Christ.

This life is a moment by moment, decision by decision affair. If we are in Christ we do set aside selfish needs and intentions and we do not live or make decisions for our own benefit but rather for the benefit of God’s plan and for God’s glory. The “way, the life and the truth” of all of this is our relationship with Jesus.

Reflection:

Do you live a life of faith? That is, as Paul puts it do you “live by faith not by sight?” In the words of the old hymn whatever is happening in your life, good and bad, exciting or ho hum, do you “take it to the Lord in prayer?”

Luther once described the Christian believer as “the happy sinner.” In other words, we are saved but we backslide and are not perfect, precisely because we are imperfect human begins “at home in the body . . . (and) away from the Lord.” So we do not condone our sinfulness but we are not overcome by it because we live by hope that flows from the folly of the cross. So we pick ourselves up and push forward to move, in spite of our imperfection, more deeply into the new creation in Christ. Do you see yourself as a happy sinner?

Prayer:
(I thought the serenity prayer was appropriate for today’s readings)
God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change
The courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference. Amen.

The Vaughan Weekly (God Alive Column) June 7,2006

2006-06-12T05:13:00.000-07:00

We All Must Share Our Good Will

This past week Canadians were confronted with a reality check. We have, it seems, home grown terrorists─young people who somehow see themselves at war with the West over real and perceived injustices, and believe they have to strike out at the “Empire,” and that the taking of civilian lives, even those of their fellow citizens, are appropriate tactics to be used in order to carry out their pitiful schemes.

Essentially, these alleged Canadian terrorists, sound not much different than the British lads rounded up last year for the dreadful subway bombings in London.

In response to this sobering ‘heads up” we should first of all give thanks to God that our police and intelligence services apparently have acted in such an effective manner that we have thus far been spared the tragic loss of life experienced in Britain.

Second, what they were allegedly plotting must be condemned unequivocally and if found guilty, be punished to the full extent of the law.

Any person in touch with their own humanity would never condone the intentional killing of innocent people to make a point or further a cause, no matter how compelling. Certainly, no faithful Christian, Jew, Hindu, Sikh or Moslem informed by any authentic interpretation of their tradition would do so either.

I think the events of last week remind us that we do need to listen more to Muslims and the struggles they face in integrating themselves into the Canadian mosaic. Islamic religious leaders in turn must step up their efforts to meet the challenge posed to their tradition by hate mongers who happen to be Muslim.

This though, is as difficult task as asking liberal Christian leaders to discipline extreme fundamentalist Christian preachers who implicitly or explicitly condone or even encourage violence against the staff at abortion clinics. There exist no channels internal to the Christian faith tradition to do so. Given the same diversity within the Islamic tradition it seems improbable that such channels exist there either.

They need help from all of us.

Religious extremism grows out of the heart of a faith tradition; right at the core where adherents derive their identity in the stream of things, and a sense of meaning and purpose for their lives. People become extremists because the supposedly “religious” teachers they follow do offer them a way to experience, albeit a perverted one, of God and how that experience matters to their lives.

Usually what becomes known through mainstream mass media coverage, unfortunately, is merely a particular group’s belief about a controversial issue involving social or personal ethics. Their faith perspective is presented to the mass audience as being against or for certain human behaviors. But at the heart of their twisted actions is not a just an extreme ethical rule. Rather the rule flows from a perspective on what is ultimate and good, what values flow from that vision of the “good life,” the principles that rank those values which then provides the ethical rule that informs/dictates a particular action or non action.

Religious leaders and the media in particular, have a crucial sacred responsibility to act here. While the justifications that young jhadists have for their actions are born of the political problems in far off lands, their fanaticism provokes and requires a faith based response right here in our local community. The paucity of the vision what life is all about these young people are being fed must be exposed in all its vacuity.

I ask all leaders of faith communities and all people of peace to find ways to bring into the public arena controversies arising out of the Islamic faith tradition’s internal dialogue on how to address these pressing human problems of our time. In doing so both the insider and outsider to Islam will be given a window into how groups promoting violence that happen to be Islamic understand the human/divine relationship, and thereby be able to critique and defend themselves and their children against such heresies.

Such cooperation is absolutely essential. The German theologian Hans Kung once said, “Until there is peace between religions, there can be no peace in the world.”

There is no rocket science in this. People kill and are killed because they believe they have the one and only take on divine truth.

On the other hand, true peace comes when we, as Buddhist monk and scholar Thich Nhat Hanh puts it, ‘Through the practice of deep looking and deep listening, we become free, able to see the beauty and values in our own and others’ tradition.

That is the vision of the good life, that as citizens of Canada and that people of good faith, we need to ensure is embodied in the way we live our lives, and in the wisdom we pass on to the young people in all our communities. It is time for all to share our good will.

The Cyber Vitamin June 12, 2006

2006-06-12T05:09:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
June 12, 2006

Read: Samuel 15:34-16:13

The Story:

This story of background to David being called as king of Israel carries with it profound spiritual lessons. Saul had disobeyed God. He was king, but only as a faithful servant of God. When he became unfaithful his power was lost and he was dethroned.

Samuel who had anointed Saul was devastated. He was beginning to wall in the sorrow of the broken promises but God pushed him out of this and into the dawning of a new day to find a new king.

So Samuel was looking for another giant of a man like Saul, tall and handsome, to be king. But when God pointed him toward young David, he was willing to set aside his preconceived ideas and follow God’s guidance.

A great united kingdom under David was the result. The lesson here for all of us is that if we follow through with God’s plans and not our own, spirit filled lives will result.

Reflection:

Samuel was a prophet and his entire life was set aside in listening and obediently responding to God’s will? He listened, pulled himself out of the doldrums after Saul’s failed ministry, and moved forward to do his part in the realizing of God’s plan for God’s people. Are you listening to God? Can you see beyond whatever doldrums you may currently find yourself in to listen deeply and respond faithful to the Spirit of the living God within you and around you?

Have you experienced the positive results of such faithful listening and acting? Do you experience that the Holy Spirit is your partner as you live your life and touch other lives? Do you see that you too have been anointed through your baptism for sharing with God in the building up of God’s kingdom?

Prayer:
Lord, when we listen to you and act accordingly, great things happen. When we set aside our preconceived notions and ideas to see directly to the heart of the matter, your kingdom is revealed, O Holy One. Help us to open our hearts to your Spirit for guidance and direction. Help us surrender our life and will to your care, O God. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin June 8, 2006

2006-06-08T03:35:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
June 8, 2006

Read: Psalm 29

The Story:

One definition of humility is knowing and accepting the true relationship of things. That is to know one’s place in the scheme of things and to accept that place, rejoice in it! When you possess such acceptance you become free to do and be. Humility then, ushers one into a life of freedom.

I believe such joy filled, fully embraced humility is at the core of the message contained in Psalm 29 Reminding of that God’s mighty voice speaks and creates everything and everyone in heaven and earth, it makes perfect sense for all that is to praise and honour God. Our force our strength is God who continues to provide for us and is God in spite of whatever calamities we may face. God’s blessing will be there for us if we but ride out the storm with faithfulness and love.

Reflection:

Can you see God, the face of Jesus, that is do you sense his presence even when life is stormy? Can you see a sparkle in the darkness? Do you accept that God is ultimately the Lord of all that is?

Can you recall one of life AHA! where you experience a deep felt sense of peace; that you were ok just the way you are and that goodness and love and life will prevail? Does the promise of peace in this psalm bring comfort to you? Or what other biblical passages give you such a sense of peace?

Prayer:
Lord, I pray today that each of us grow in true humility and receive more and more your gift of peace to strengthen us and all us to endure every storm we experience in life. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin June 6,, 2006

2006-06-06T05:25:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
June 6, 2006

Read: Romans 8:5-17

The Story:

This passage begins by describing two classes of people. The first type described are those whose core motivation is based on success as defined by their sinful nature, that is to build up the “big I Am” with endless security, status and gratification of selfish desires. The second are those who have surrendered their life and will to the care of God manifest in the Holy Spirit within them and seek to fulfill God’s agenda, and not their own.

For Paul the definition of a Christian is one who has received in the depths of their being the Holy Spirit (v.9). Their will and entire being now being infused with the Spirit of God their energy, their motivation─ their raison d’ être is their relationship with Jesus Christ (vv.10-11).

Verses 12-16 then go on to describe the kind of lifestyle fitting for a Christian. If we are indeed children of God, then LET OUR GENES SHOW IN WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE DO AND HOW WE TREAT ONE ANOTHER! As daughters and sons of the living God our future is the way of Christ and we share in all of Christ─his suffering as well as his glory.

Reflection:

Who is the most gracious, Spirit filled person you know? What makes her or he so gracious?

How do we set our mind on what the Spirit desires? How do we immerse ourselves in grace?

Take some time today to make a list of the good things God did for you just this week? How many items are on this list?

Prayer:
Creator, sustainer and redeemer God, provider of all good things, we worship your Fatherly and Motherly goodness throughout creation. Sustainer and regenerator of all dead hopes,
we worship your Spirit who fills all things. Redeemer of all sick and lost souls, we worship your saving grace in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin June 5, 2006

2006-06-05T05:19:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
June 5, 2006

Read: Isaiah 6:1-8

The Story:

Isaiah is caught up in the awesome majesty of God and the immense distance that separates God from all that is earthly and human. God’s holiness is equaled by God’s immanent glory emerging out of the temple where it was confined and now goes out to rule the whole world.

Confronted by God’s glory the defiled and profane appears in its true ugliness. The “lost ness” or ruined ness Isaiah experiences comes from a profound sense of disorientation due to the disobedience and willful ignorance of God’s people Israel of whom Isaiah is a representative. Isaiah has the sense that he is wholly polluted and his whole people is polluted, unfit to stand before God because of their unclean lips─that is, their polluted thoughts, words, and acts.

Still, anything is possible with God. The purification of the prophet’s lips renders him fit and qualified to speak God’s word to his people. Isaiah has been purified by grace and his whole being; his entire life is now at the disposal of God. He is free to accept God’s call and he does, though God has taken the initiative and prepared the way.

Reflection:

There is an old but excellent book by J.B. Phillips titled Your God is Too Small. Do you think that Isaiah would have understood the title? Do you? Is your God too small?

Are you on fire for God? Are the words, “Here I Am, Lord,” your words? Or are there still things, attitudes, or fears that keep you from living out of such passion?

Do you recognize your need for God’s mercy as Isaiah did? Do you know that you need help and that help will come from God? Can you, just for today, let go and let God?

Prayer:

O Holy One, your awesome majesty and the immense distance that separates from you makes it even more wondrous that you are present to us through the energy of your love, through that power of the Holy Spirit. Give us the courage to say yes to your call in our lives. May Isaiah’s words “Here I Am” be ours. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin June 2, 2006

2006-06-02T05:27:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
June 2, 2006
Week End Reflection

Romans 8:22-27; Acts 2:1-21;John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15; Psalm 104:24-34, 35b

The reading from Acts provides powerful and vivid images of the momentous change brought by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on that first Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is truly moving all over this good earth, brooding over God’s children like a mother hen. Through the practice of deep looking inside ourselves and deep listening to the world and those around us, we will hear its promptings and will receive the inspiration to have the courage to live out what God is calling us to do and be.

Paul reminds us in Romans that the experience of being forgiven-of being saved flowing from the folly of the cross empowers us with the knowledge that the future is claimed by God. This power of Christian hope enables us to grab a chunk of God’s future and bring it alive in the present. This power is gifted to us through the presence of the Holy Spirit who helps us and guides us in our weakness.

In the passage from Psalm 104 we join the psalmist in praising God for all that is. For the gift of life itself and its sustenance comes from God and is only maintained with and through God’s presence. That presence is named by the Christian tradition as the Holy Spirit, who in entering our hearts, transforms us into a new creation, born again into the family of God.

The reading from the Gospel of John tells us that Jesus, who came as one of us is now, in relationship with, and available to all of us, with all of creation at all times. He is truly the Cosmic Christ. He has left us with the Spirit who will guide us to the way the life and the truth who is Christ and through whom all things come from God and go to God. In union with Christ the fullness of divine life infuses our lives and makes us the church an explicit sign of God alive in Christ in the world. We are not alone. We live in God’s world. Thanks be to God.

Prayer:
Come Holy Spirit, come! Holy Friend, come with the free grace of Christ Jesus, forgiving, redeeming, healing and open our eyes to what is good and true. Holy Coach, come with your many gifts and build us into a team that uses our abilities to achieve our common goal-to give God glory in our loving service of others. Consoler, fill us with your supreme gift of love to that we become humble servants of God who express that servant hood in how we love one another. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin June 1, 2006

2006-06-01T06:33:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
June 1, 2006
Read: John 15:26-16:15

The Story:
“We are not alone, we live in God’s world,” it says in the United Church Creed. But that presence of God becomes personal and specific with the unleashing of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. That is why we find so many names for the Holy Spirit in the Bible in its various translations: Advocate; Counselor); Helper; Friend, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby, and my own favourite, Coach.
Jesus charges us with sharing his Good News through the witness of our lives. We can do so because we have become empowered by the Holy Spirit-divine love , drawing all creation into unity through Christ with the Godhead. WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE POWER! SO WHY DON’T WE USE IT?

Jesus came as one of us. Now he is in relationship and available to all of us, all of creation at all times. He is truly the Cosmic Christ.

The Spirit will guide us to the way the life and the truth who is Christ and through whom all things come from God and go to God. In union with Christ the fullness of divine life infuses our lives and makes us the church an explicit sign of God alive in Christ in the world. We are not alone. We live in God’s world. Thanks be to God.

Reflection:
Rev. Bruce Prewer has suggested in what follows many of the ways that we are touched by the Holy Spirit. As you read his reflection think about the ways the Holy Spirit touches you.
“As I see it, the Holy Spirit is graciously and unobtrusively busy all over the place. The quiet Helper. The unpretentious Friend.

The Helper is quietly at work:
in the sincere concern of a friend for our health,
in those who take a stand against injustice,
in the grace of folk who go the second mile,
in the inner resources we discover in times of crisis,
in those who dare to go against the tide of popular opinion,
in the sanity that enables us to admit when we are wrong,
in the resilience of people who fight for the rights of others,
in those who surrender some of their rights for the larger good,
in times when we share the Gospel in spite of our inadequacy,
in finding joy in unexpected places,
in taking on responsibilities that we once thought beyond us,
in refusing to let the greed of society take over our soul,
in giving thanks always, even through the hard times of life,
in rising above past failures and putting past hurts behind us.
in finding a central core of peace in the midst of turmoil,
in daring to laugh in situations where some would curse,
in knowing ourselves to be children of God,
in knowing ourselves loved, even when we have been very unlovable.”

Prayer:
Wonderful are you God, your Spirits broods over all creation!
Wonderful are you God, your Spirit filled Jesus our Christ.
Wonderful are you God, your Spirit inspires and counsels your church.

Come upon us, move among and within us, that our minds may discern you more surely, our hearts love you more dearly, and our worship and work glorify you more purely. For your name’s sake. Amen

God Alive (Vaughan Weekly) May 31, 2006

2006-05-31T15:37:00.000-07:00

The Promise of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue

This week I would like to tell you a bit about the life and thought of a Canadian religious leader I had the privilege to meet this past weekend.

The Rev. Fredrich Ulrich was the key note speaker at the Toronto Conference of the United Church of Canada (the annual gathering of United Churches in the GTA). Nothing extraordinary in that, is there?

Except that Rev. Ulrich is Sensei (Rev.) of the Manitoba Buddhist Church of the Jodo Shshyu or New Pure Land Buddhism of Japan.

I asked him why he chose to speak to a gathering of Christians. Sensei Ulrich replied that he sees a dangerous trend of an exclusive and aggressive kind of fundamentalism spreading throughout the world religions, leading to increased intolerance and violence being done in the name of religion. He says that “the answer to fundamentalism is to unite Buddhism and Christianity”, and that he wants to be “part of a movement where these two religious traditions find common ground.”

He sees the two traditions complementing each other. “Dialogue with Christians,” says Ulrich, “has led Buddhists to explore ways of expressing their beliefs through social commitment. Dialogue with Buddhists has helped Christians rediscover their meditative and non verbal traditions.”

He believes that both Buddhism and Christianity can help each other overcome problems inherent within each tradition. The energy of unconditional and unlimited Christian love (agape) has often been channeled negatively toward the achievement of power over others and world domination. The pursuit of detachment by Buddhism has often caused it to withdraw from the reality of universal suffering.
Ulrich suggests the differences of each of these religions do not make them mutually exclusive. Nor do we have to convert one another to be unified in truth and community.
As he puts it: “Consider the “christ” of Dharma is Amida Buddha, who through selflessness transforms emptiness into love. The Christ of God is Jesus, who through selflessness transforms selfishness into emptiness.”

Or, “Buddhists through the experience of selflessness generate infinite love. Christians through the experience of infinite love generate selflessness.”
Sensei Ulrich was born in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1939 into a Metis family of German-Iroquois-Winnebago heritage. He studied for a Methodist preacher’s license and at one time was pastor of a small country church.

Given his rich multi-cultural, multi-religious makeup however, and given the religious structures of the time, he could find no place in the Christian tradition where he could authentically express who he was, feel good about who he was, and pursue the ultimate questions of life as who he was.

While studying at University of Denver, he found himself being attracted to Buddhism. His grandmother, familiar with First Nations traditions, encouraged him to take a spiritual journey which led to two major Vision Quests, two minor Vision Quests, and the study of Buddhism at the Denver Buddhist Temple.

He holds an MA in Language Studies from the University of Colorado, which gave him the opportunity to study and teach at the University of Alberta in Edmonton for four years, during which he became a Canadian citizen. After ten summer semesters of the Institute of Buddhist Studies, he became an ordained Buddhist Priest.

He is active in the Interfaith Centre in Edmonton and has been pastor of the Manitoba Buddhist Church since February of 1999. His daughter and son in law are both United Church ministers.

I’ll leave Rev. Fred with the last word──a word of wisdom and hope we could all do well by pondering deeply: “No human mind can ever fully understand God. In the space of that ignorance there is room for Buddhism. No Buddhist can ever fully understand the totality of Dharma. In the space of that ignorance, there is room for Christianity!! Therefore, a profound experience with our own limitations is the basis of our unity in humility and mutuality!!”

The Cyber Vitamin May 31, 2006

2006-05-31T05:45:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
May 31, 2006

Read: Psalm 104:24-35

The Story:
In the passage from Psalm 104 the greatness of the Lord is extolled forGod creating and maintaining the universe, and for sustaining plant, animal and human life on the earth. The psalmist calls all to join him in praising God.

The gift of life itself and its sustenance comes from God and is only maintained with and through God’s presence.

As Christians we read verse 30 as pointing to the coming of the Holy Spirit, who in entering our hearts, transforms us into a new creation, born again into the family of God.

In response to all God has done we are to sing songs of praise and thanksgiving with our lives.

How are we to do that in our time and place? When the good creation celebrated in this psalm is under dire threat. The ice caps are melting. Our water is dying, the animals and the trees. This God good earth has been altered to such a degree that it can no longer sustain us. Our Creator has given us all this. We are responsible. But where are we to find the vision, the power and the passion to engage in the stewardship of creation needed today?

May I suggest the following approach as the way we can make the praise and thanksgiving found in Psalm 104 come alive today. May I suggest that the whole universe be seen through Christian lens as a sacrament- a metaphor for God. Elemental power, beauty, infinity, geometrical symmetry. instinctual love, life, death, and rebirth all point beyond themselves toward the Creator of all.

But then, with the entry of Jesus into our humanity, The Word of God entered fully into this metaphor. And this marvelous universe is where we now meet the reality of God face to face.
Now on Pentecost Day, the Holy Spirit is poured out on the universe by the Father and the Son. Pure divine love draws all toward unity in the Father through the Son. Our universe is now made of a fabric woven with the thread of the power of nature and the thread of the divine power. And our humanity is at the apex of power where these two powers meet. We are truly the crown of creation.

And we the Church are the explicit sign of this union. On that Pentecost morning the Holy Spirit brought forth the body of Christ that is made up of us human beings. The body of Christ is being built up in our world; the good news is being proclaimed in every tongue, to every race and nation. The goal here is that all of creation is reconciled in Christ with the Godhead.
There are two powers in the world- the power of nature and the power of the Holy Spirit. For all its flaws, our world is the world God crafted and said was very good. Politics and chemistry, economics and the computer are, despite all the sin that might bedevil them, born out of the intelligence and freedom God gave us.

Our Christian mission is not to sever these two powers but to link them together; unite them in splendid harmony. And that means that as we struggle to meet today's challenges with whatever individual power we may have, that we realize how powerful we really are.

Reflection:

We live in perilous times with respect to the environment. How do you see your faith in Jesus Christ informing you with respect to your relationship with the created world?

How can you today and in the days ahead rediscover where and how you can make things happen- from a smile on a care worn face, through legislation to protect the environment, to help the afflicted, to bring peace to some corner of our globe?

How can you, in your relationships, in your daily work, link the power of this world to the power within each of us- the spirit of light and of life and of love? How can you shake the Spirit loose? How can you do your work of God coming alive in us and in the world around us?

Prayer:
Lord, shake the Spirit loose and renew the face of the earth. Empower us with the passion and the vision to be the stewards of the creation as you intend us to be. Lord, send you Holy Spirit upon us. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin May 30, 2006

2006-05-30T05:53:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
May 30, 2006

Read: Romans 8:22-27

The Story:

The words “For in hope we have been saved” (verse 24) get to the nub of this passage. What we hope for is what gives a passion for the possible in the present, in spite of what is. Through the experience and gift of faith we come to believe in, and experience Christ's loving touch that saves in our lives.

Christ has promised that all will be fulfilled in him. Christ has given us our purpose through his words and his example. Our power comes from the hope that flows from knowing that the future is claimed by God. Our power becomes accessible from the experience of being forgiven-of being saved from our past which enables us to grab a chunk of God’s future and bring it alive in the present.

But there is more. What keeps us on track, what keeps the wonder of our salvation in focus, is the Holy Spirit, who helps us and speaks for us in our weakness. We are not alone and what we do we do with the Spirit helping, guiding and interceding on our behalf.

Reflection:

Did you know that God wants you to be a dreamer? Did you realize that your vocation in life is to act out of hope and to do so with the unbridled joy of expectancy? Do you realize that we are to be a people of hope?

Have you experienced strength flowing to you in the height of your weakest moment? Looking back can you see how it was the Spirit’s prompting, helping, guiding that gave us such strength? Do you see that by surrendering your life and will to God as revealed in Christ Jesus gives you the strength to realize your potential and live out your proper role in God’s plan?

Prayer:
Lord, sometimes we joke and say to be careful what you hope for. Take away any hesitation for the future that will unfold as we surrender our lives and our wills to you, praying always to be guided to discern and act on your will, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin May 29, 2006

2006-05-29T05:36:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
May 29, 2006

Read: Acts 2:1-42

The Story:

Pentecost, the time of an ancient harvest festival which for the Jews became associated with the giving of the Torah at Sinai is the setting for the “birthday of the church.” This reminds us that the church is not simply a group of disciples but the body of those incorporated and empowered by the Spirit.

Jesus had not set any particular day for the fulfillment of his promise. While they have come together for prayer the early faithful experience an irruption of signs and wonders. Fiery flame rest upon all and each; fire that unites each person present into one body.

The following arresting images: spirit, speech and water refer back to the foundation stories found in Genesis 1-11 and remind us that new creation is the focus here. People from the far corners of the earth can hear the message in their native tongues. Babel (Genesis 11) has been overcome and God’s original plan for humanity is put back on track.

Pentecost is a miraculous rainbow explosion of new life. But some attribute all of this to strong drink. So Paul steps up with power and clarity to explain these marvelous events thereby proclaiming the inaugural sermon of the church.

For Christians today, this is not a story about the apostles but about us. It gives us our foundation story of how it became possible for us to hear of and embrace that new life given by the Spirit.

Reflection:

How have you experienced the movement of the Holy Spirit in your life? Do you sense that if you are a faithful listener, you will hear its promptings? Does the inspiration of the Spirit give you the courage you need to live out your assignment in God’s plan? Or, have you never experienced the power of the Holy Spirit in your life? If so, why do you think that may be?

Sometimes we don’t realize how the Holy Spirit is working through us. When you speak of God to others, aren't you revealing some of His nature to the world? When you share how much your faith in Christ has affected your life, aren't you showing how the future could be different as a Christian? What other ways can you see God working out God’s plan through you?

Prayer:
Come Holy Spirit come. Fill each of us with your presence and power. Give us the passion and desire to share in Christ’s work of shaping you new creation ushered in at Pentecost. In His name we pray. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin May 26, 2006

2006-05-26T04:38:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
May 26, 2006
Week End Reflection
Acts 1:1-11; Ephesians 1:15-23; Psalm 47; Luke 24:44-53

Whose agenda are you following? The reading from Acts this week highlights the importance
of waiting to discern the promptings of the Holy Spirit─what direction the Lord is guiding
you toward so you are working on God’s agenda and not your own. At the same time Jesus is
telling us not just to stand there but to respond to those Spirit promptings and act when the
time is right.

Often, we do not realize the significance, the importance each one of our lives is in the eyes
of God. But as we find in the reading from the Letter to the Ephesians, as we grow in our love
and fidelity to Jesus, we come to understand God’s plan and our role in it.

God is good. God is awesome. God is the first and the last word. Praise God. Praise
God. That is the word from Psalm 47.

In the version of Jesus’ ascension found in the reading from Luke we are given the
pattern of discipleship. The disciples are called, gathered, and commissioned by
Jesus, and set out into the world after they receive the power of the Holy Spirit to
witness to Christ’s message of reconciliation and forgiveness.

Prayer:
Lord, we pray that each one of us become more and more faithful listeners and
obedient followers of the promptings of the Holy Spirit. You give us so much and
have such a big wonderful dream for each of us to fulfill that wonder and gratitude
are the words that just begin to express our feelings for what you have offered us in
making us your daughters and sons through faith in your son Jesus Christ. May your
Holy Spirit mold us and fashion us in the people you want us to be. In Christ’s name
we pray. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin May 25, 2006

2006-05-25T06:23:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
May 25, 2006

Read: Luke 24:44-53

The Story:

Here we have described Jesus’ final commissioning of the disciples which is based on his claim of fulfillment of all three parts of the Jewish Bible (law, prophets, writings), and his charge to them is to proclaim the message of forgiveness to all nations. Meanwhile, they are to await in Jerusalem their enduement with power from on high. This event will be described in Acts 2 in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Then Jesus is taken from them up into heaven.

So they have their mission (and ours): He charges the disciples (and other followers) with preaching the good news to all people, “beginning from Jerusalem” (v. 47). They are “witnesses” (v. 48); they have seen Scripture fulfilled. The Holy Spirit will be with them, as God promised through the prophet Joel (v. 49). Jesus leads them out (v. 50), as Moses led the people of Israel out of captivity. Here the ascension occurs in a worship setting. Luke ends as it began: “in the temple” (v. 53). Jesus’ ministry on earth has ended; the era of the Church and its mission on his behalf is about to begin.

Reflection:
Do you see your faith in Jesus Christ an invisible and spiritual doctrine which can be accepted in itself, and then, if and when time and circumstances permit you put it into practice? Or do you realize that until our faith shows in our lives you are not Christian? Do you realize that we are nothing less than the body of Christ?

Do we truly await this Jesus who through his death and our dying with him liberates us into the freedom of God? Are we people who unite ourselves as the body of Christ breaking open and pouring out our body and blood in obedience to God and in service to others? Or do we remain people who, with backs bent over, busily construct the little fields of our own plans without ever looking out for the coming of Jesus?

Prayer:
Lord, for the life you have offered, for the vision you have granted, for the ministry of Jesus Christ which empowers our witness, we give you thanks. With praise on our lips Lord, we reach out with longing hearts to know the power of the Spirit which you have promised to the church of Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin May 24, 2006

2006-05-24T03:37:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
May 24, 2006

Read: Psalm 47

The Story:

Psalm 47 is a triumphant and joyous song calling for God’s people to clap and shout and make known the awesomeness of Israel’s God to all the peoples of the earth.

Not only to make known to all the nations of the earth, but to have them acknowledge the God of Israel as the only true God.

It is also a cry of hope in the future vindication of the people of God for their faithfulness; a vindication that will come in completeness when the Lord manifests God self as King of all, when the whole earth does indeed proclaim Yahweh’s dominion.

As Christians we understand that this prophecy will only find its fulfillment in the universal kingship of Jesus Christ.

Reflection:
Do you, or have you experienced the same kind of enthusiasm and excitement about who God is for you, what God has done, is doing and what God will do as we hear expressed in this psalm? Or does your faith feel or seem a bit “blah” at the moment? Are you afraid to shout for joy about the God who has made you, who loves you with an everlasting love, who holds you in the palm of God’s hand? If so, why are you afraid?

If we are truly God’s people and God is the ruler, architect, sustainer─Lord of the universe, does this mean that we share in God’s lordship? Does this mean that we lord it over others? If not, how do we share in God’s Lordship?

Prayer:
Lord, what a psalm to sing out your praises through! May our words and our deeds today be claps and shouts and cries of gladness for your awesomeness and your love for us. Lord we believe we share in your Lordship by sharing in the dying and rising of your son Jesus Christ through the faithful living out of our baptismal call and promises. We praise you Lord, we praise you. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin May 23, 2006

2006-05-23T04:44:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
May 23, 2006

Read: Ephesians 1:15-23

The Story:

We live in an age where one of our major problems is to inculcate a sense that each human life is sacred. In the Letter to the Ephesians Paul is holding up this sense of sacredness as high as it can go: that those human beings, warts and all, who have been called to be members of Christ’s body the church are filled with the very Spirit of God. Now that is sacred!

If every human being has the potential to become a member of Christ’s body the church, then how we are to treat each and every human being is clear. As Mother Teresa once said ‘Christ is in every human being, though sometimes he wears horrible disguises.” Seek out the sacred in all is the action called for by this prayer of Paul’s.

This action flows naturally out of the profound sense of blessed choseness and calling Paul is praying that is gifted in abundance upon those for whom he is praying. If we are given such wisdom and understanding of God and God’s ways then we will be able to live and move and act out the power of the hope that flows from the one who was crucified and has been raised from the dead. As we live faithfully out of this hope then more and more we become indwelt with the Spirit of God and less and less with the Spirit of this world. Treating each human being as sacred becomes a problem no more.

Reflection:

Do you realize the preciousness and the power and the love that has been bestowed on you as a baptized believer? Or do you see your membership in Christ’s church a merely a support system that helps you get ahead and/or keep your head above water in the waters of the world following the ways of the world?

Do you see yourself as part of God’s plan for the world? Do you understand that as a member of Christ’s body the church you have entered a holy union of all creation with Christ? Whether you are big or small, young or old, have you ever seen your important and “big” role in the scheme of things?

Prayer:
Loving God, root us in your love, empower and guide us with your Spirit, and most of all, help us to help one another. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin May 22, 2006

2006-05-22T14:57:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
May 22, 2006

Read: Acts 11:1-11

The Story:

The short dialogue Jesus has with his disciples before his ascension, as depicted in our passage today, indicates:

that in Jesus God has shown us the way, the truth and the life, but not some how and why formula as to when and how future events are going to occur.
the disciples like we do, yearn to return to fulfilling their agendas (in this case the restoring of Israel’s independence by the coming of a divine messiah) rather then listening and responding to the signs of our times that speak of God’s agenda.
the power they will receive by the Holy Spirit will empower them and compel them to carry the message of Jesus Christ beyond their comfort zone (their own Jewish people) to the ends of the earth.

the disciples are given the reassurance that Jesus will straighten everything out, though they know not the time or the way so armed with this catalyst of hope they are to get on with the earthly business of spreading the good news by word and deed. They do have to wait in faith, hope and love for the final answer but they have also been given the tools to shape that answer by grabbing a chunk of God’s future kingdom of God Jesus ushers in and making it real in their present lives.

Reflection:
Do you need to know all the answers? Or, does your faith in Jesus give you the means and the motivation to live out of God’s promises for the future today?

Do you look for Christ in the heavens, or in the faces of those you encounter in your daily life? Are not Christ’s promises enough to sustain us? When we do act out of such trust, what has been our experience? Have we experienced a power greater than we had imagined enabling us to do what we otherwise could not do ourselves?

Prayer:
Lord, there are times when it is appropriate to stand gazing into the heavens. There are times for withdrawing to pray. But there are also times to get to work. We know that right now our community so much needs to have witnesses proclaim to them the joy of serving in Christ’s name. Make us your witnesses, Lord. Fill us with the joy of serving in Christ’s name that we may offer His forgiveness and healing to all your children. We pray in His name. Amen.

God Alive Column (Vaughan and King weeklies) May 17, 2006

2006-05-19T06:13:00.000-07:00

Religion is Not the Source of All Evil

Several weeks ago the online Manchester Guardian science correspondent and atheist James Randerson rhetorically asked “What is God for?” In his article he examines the argument religious people put forward that having a belief in God regulates the believers’ actions, and renders them peaceful, benevolent and beneficial to others.

On the contrary, says Randerson. Three studies over the past several years have appeared in the Journal of Religion and Society that found that nations with high numbers of people believing in both God and the Devil have the highest homicide rates.

While admitting that these studies do not definitely prove that religion is the source of social problems, he concludes that it pushes to the sidelines the idea that faith makes for a better and more moral society. He therefore concludes with his rhetorical question: What is God for?

Randerson and other vehemently anti-religious folks conceptualize faith too simplistically. All religious people are not like fanatical and conservative Christian or Islamic fundamentalists who see everything and everyone in black and white: those who are part of the in crowd going to heavenly delights, while those who are outsiders doomed to an eternal toasting. And even people who tend toward such extremism are capable of changing, through, not in spite of, practicing their religious traditions.

Believers, like all people, have their identities formed and constantly reformed by subjective experience of the wider world and of people different than them. Such experiences promotes in them, as it does in all people, including dyed in the wool atheists, both a beneficial openness and curiosity to and for others, or a fearful withdrawal into a sectarian shell.

What Randerson and others tend to do is to categorize all religious people as having narrow views about God and holding reactionary social and cultural values. The truth is that positions held by people of faith can be subtle and reasoned. In turn the opinions of many an atheist can be intolerant and crude.

For example, you may be against faith based schools, claiming they breed exclusivism and division. But are they more offensive than openly selective and expensive private academies to which many left-of-centre critics of religious schools send their children?

The insistence by many advocates of creationism or its more recent expression “intelligent design theory” that their ideas be included in science curriculum does become a bit tedious. They are committing what is called in philosophy a “category mistake, that is, by comparing the intelligent design theory to the theory of evolution they are comparing apples to oranges.

But we all should also have a jaundiced eye for those who see science as our saviour, given the false idols their belief system has assembled over the centuries such as “if we can do it we should be free to do it;” or that “scientific analysis is value free.” A belief system, I might add, that has led to many of the excesses that have our planet in such a mess.

No, I wouldn’t like to live in Iran, even if I was a practitioner of Shia Islam. I will take democracy to theocracy (Christian, Islamic or otherwise) any day. And in matters practical and material, I err on the side of the skeptical as opposed to the supernatural.

But that in no way makes me any less of a God seeker than any other believer. The faith I share with others seeks understanding by reflecting upon ideas and images that express what God is like and what God is not like.

What must be remembered is the Divine Mystery that envelops us is more than any image or idea, or all our images and ideas put together. Religious folk, myself included, must avoid is making our images and ideas of God into God. Such idolatry puts us in an imbroglio of bigotry and close mindedness.

In any of the great religions, from Taoism through Baha’i, you find traditions where the understanding of God changes and evolves as its faithful live out its tenets in history. At the same time, these teachings have given them a steadfast vision of the good life and how that life is to be lived and obtained.

Religion is not the root of all evil, as Randerson and others would like to suggest. Rather than duffing up straw men, as many are wont to do, as Richard Harries, the Bishop of Oxford suggests, they would do better “ to focus on examining religion's strengths, rather than cataloguing its failures.”

The Cyber Vitamin May 19, 2006

2006-05-19T06:08:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
May 19, 2006
Acts 10:44-48 Psalm 98 1 John 5:1-6 John 15:9-17

Week End Reflection

The reading from Acts put before us the truth of our faith: the good news is for all people. How the Holy Spirit moves to spread that good news is beyond our control. The way we think “church should be done” is always up for change. Our vocation as Christians is not to maintain and screen out anything and anybody that/who is different in accordance with our rules, but rather, to be of service to the mission of Christ, based on where the Spirit is leading us. Our task is to open ourselves through prayer and faithful living to where the wind of the Spirit is moving and then to go in that direction, and to go to those people the Spirit points us to.

1John reminds us that love is a verb in Christian parlance. It is the action expressed in our most intimate relationships; it is the act of love that Jesus Christ does on the cross; it is our outreach to others empowered by God’s love to others.

Psalm 98 calls us to praise God with all that we are, in all that we do, and in doing so we do change the world around us: the glass does become half full; we see possibilities where we saw none before; we find the energy fueled by hope to live today to the fullest. Praise is the word and the way.

If we love one another, we can only do so authentically because of the power of God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ. But that power of love is something that continues to flow to us as we keep giving it away. To abide in Christ’s love is to let that love flow to and from us to and to and from our sisters and brothers.

Prayer:
Lord, in the midst of the vagaries and vicissitudes of daily life we praise you with joy and thanksgiving. We doubt and we bring those doubts before you because we know that you are there and you love us and care for us and will work what is good through us, all appearances to the contrary. May your Holy Spirit guide us and prompt us to see the new ways you are making yourself and your ways known in the world, and use us as you do so. May we abide in your love and flow through us to those around us. Lord, we love you and we praise you. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin May 18, 2006

2006-05-18T05:44:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
May 18, 2006

Read: John 15:9-17

The Story:

“You are my friends, if you do as I command you”, Jesus says. He’s telling us that love begins and ends with friendship. . In his close ties with Mary and Martha, and especially in his love of Lazarus, Jesus left no room for doubt that for Christians who are commanded to love as he did must cherish human friendships.

More fundamentally, Jesus used the love of friendship to describe the very meaning of his death on the cross. As John records in our reading, at the most intimate moment of the Last Supper, Jesus explains the significance of the death he was about to face “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends.”

Jesus says that we are no longer servants, but friends, because he has made known to us the ways of God. He shows us what God is as Jesus is nothing less that God with a human face. But in calling us friends, he draws us into his witness of forgiveness and healing and building God’s kingdom of true peace and joy.” As we abide in his love, our intimate relationships become a kind of temple where God is to be encountered, experienced and brought to others.

The chronic stress in our lives derives not only from the increased pace of contemporary life but also from the isolation, loneliness, lack of love and support so many people experience. We long for happiness, true joy in living. And that’s what Jesus promises us. He assures us that the very joy of God will be in us. Jesus is speaking these words to give us joy, not more guilt, grief and pain.

Joy is not another job; joy is our response to a sense of well-being. Happiness is often associated with getting that present that I wanted working or training and then achieving a certain goal. But what is joy? With all our frantic action experiencing joy is not about doing another thing, its about stopping for a moment, taking a deep breath, and remembering that God has chosen you, remembering that God loves you, remembering that you are not isolated and alone, but connected, united with Jesus Christ, connected, united with the members of Christ’s body, the church. Love one another as Jesus has loved us and God will do the rest. Don’t fret. Don’t panic. Take a breather. Just love one another

Questions:

Are you tired of the same old same old time crunch day after day? Are you overcommitted and stressed out? What is Jesus telling you to do about it?

Doing more things seduces us into believing that our lives are fuller. But by what standard? If the intimate moments of sharing between family members or friends are life’s blue ribbon experience, then all the toys we sacrifice and sweat to buy are but diversions from true fullness of life. Do not such pursuits actually remove us from each other, and isolate us?

Prayer:

God of love, Jesus calls us friends. The give and take of such friendship is like a plant of slow growth that must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity. Fortunately for us, the love that links us in friendship is oneness in Your love, O holy One. Not from somewhere in outer space, but within each one of us. You love us; You live in us; Your tie our love to Yours, ties it to the love that led You to give Your own Son on a bloodstained cross for us. Thank you for calling us to be your friends, Lord. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin May 17, 2006

2006-05-17T06:27:00.000-07:00

Read: Psalm 98

The Story:
This is a psalm of praise and thanksgiving reminding us that with God with us, who could be against us. For the Lord has the final word and evil has been, is being , will be transformed into what is good and holy. Sin will be burned away by the heat of divine love. Therefore let us praise the Lord in song. Indeed the psalmist reminds us that it is God’s love and faithfulness that awakens within us the desire to sing praises to God.

This psalm would be the equivalent to our call to worship in the ancient Hebrew liturgy. It would gather the people together in mind and body, and soul, and remind them that the act of worship is our loving response to God who first loved us.

The psalm, indeed the Psalter as a whole is also a wonderful aid to personal prayer. The words of the psalms give expression to our deepest joys and sorrows, our most profound desires and darkest fears. The psalms give us a language to express who we are and how we are experiencing life to the living God.

Perhaps you feel rather down today and the probably the last inclination you have is to sing praises. The psalm reminds you that what you feel today is not definitive and reminds you of other times in your life when you did want to shout for joy.

Or the psalm today might have been a lament psalm, like Psalm 22, which expresses feelings of abandonment and despair, while you feel on top of the world. Then, the psalm would deepen your sense of gratitude for the goodness you are presently experiencing, as well as stir compassion for those around the world are not feeling joyful but rather are suffering and depressed. Praying right through the Psalter restores perspective and gives you the words you need to grow intimately in your relationship with God.

Reflection:
Is the glass half empty to your or half full? Do you count your blessings on a daily basis? Do you realize that you are “are unique like everybody else?” Can you keep things in proper perspective, or do you get caught up in the ups and downs of daily life and sometimes lose perspective?

Do you remember times when you felt right on top of it, and times where you found yourself in situations where it seem that you were in a canoe on a fast moving river without a paddle? What helped to restore perspective and get your feet back on the ground?

Prayer:
Lord, help us keep things in perspective as we live our daily lives. Help us to remember and pray to you the words in the Serenity Prayer: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin May 16, 2006

2006-05-16T13:24:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
May 16, 2006

Read: 1 John 4:7-10

The Story:

In this passage John makes it clear that we have no option but to accept what already exists: God’s wonderful love in our midst. As Christians we are truly part of the family and what comes around goes around. Love distinguishes the person who loves-the Christian and the one who does not-one who is not a Christian.

Because nothing is as contagious or as compelling as love, we are not free to ignore it. As biblical scholar Carroll Stuhlmueller has said “We must allow ourselves to be swept along by it and to love supernaturally in return,” just as Jesus was, even to death on a cross.

Not only is God’s love revealed to the Christian in Jesus, but it is also revealed as the Spirit of the Risen Lord animates the expression of that love in the Christian community. As we experience the tender loving touch of Jesus through the gift of faith, we commit our mind, our will our all to express that love with our lives.

Reflection:
· Is Jesus being over demanding in asking us to love one another as he has loved us? But is he asking us to fulfill this command alone? Or is it in terms of our relationships-our friendships with him and with one another?

· What is joy? What is friendship mean to you? How did Jesus treat his friends? How does he treat you as a friend?

Prayer:
Lord, Your Spirit empowers us to move from ways of death to ways of new life. In Jesus our sins are forgiven. Help us to love one another as you have loved us. Help us to forgive one another in joyful community with the risen Christ. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin May 15, 2006

2006-05-15T05:33:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
May 15, 2006

Read: Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48

The Story:

“We’ve always done it that way! Why would be possibly change?” Then like Peter, in today’s reading, we are swept away by God’s initiative. The Holy Spirit blows where it wills and in Peter’s case fills uncircumcised foreigners with the Holy Spirit. How could Paul not baptize them even though this was against the practice of the mother church in Jerusalem?

God had acted before Peter or the other church folk had time to think about it. This reminds us that our reasoning does not create God’s goodness, nor measure it.

Peter is brought to the house of the Roman centurion Cornelius. Though the whole situation is “unorthodox” Peter is immediately touched by their extraordinary sincerity and profound goodness. So caught up in the truth of the moment he breaks centuries of customs and established understanding that only Israel was God’s chosen people and baptizes them. He would have to work hard and long to get this idea accepted by the rest of the nascent Christian community. Evidently then, as now, it is not easy for Christians to accept the presence of the Spirit in foreigners or in people of other faith traditions or ethnic groups.

Reflection:

Do you find it hard to accept that God works in ways that God chooses, and often those ways upset our accepted way of doing things? Can you recall instances in your church life where, though something was against the “rules” it was clear that the Holy Spirit was pushing to get that “something” done? What was the response of your church community? What was your response?

In the neighbourhood of your church, are most of the people of different backgrounds and/or different faith traditions than your church community? Are there barriers, albeit invisible that your community has erected (subconsciously, probably) that keep new and “different folk” away? What can you do to change this?

Prayer:
Lord, you reveal the wonder of your power of reconciliation and forgiveness in diverse and new ways. Help us to respond immediately to the promptings of your Spirit. Enable us to follow the Spirit’s inspiration to guide our actions, wherever it may lead us. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen

The Vaughan Weekly (God Alive Column) May 10,2006

2006-05-12T06:42:00.000-07:00

Can and Should We Want to Prove the Effectiveness of Prayer?

The factors that lead to physical healing are complex. There is solid scientific, evidence based research that indicates mind related factors such as thoughts and emotions, along with our cultural settings, social supports, lifestyle choices, health-care alternatives and religious participation affect our internal healing processes.

What is the relation, then, between prayer and physical healing? Personally, through testimonies of very intelligent, cautious, practical and rational people, I have come to accept divine healing as a reality that is cause for celebration.

I am wary, however, when the emphasis on prayer is on whether a healing actually took place or not. This often results in too little interest in the deeper significance of God for the totality of human existence.

All this begs the question of whether we can scientifically prove or disprove the efficacy of prayer?

“For centuries we used aspirin, colchicine, quinine and citrus for scurvy without knowing how they worked,” said Dr. Larry Dossey, author of Reinventing Medicine and other books that pair spirituality and medicine. While admitting the physical effectiveness of prayer is generally unproven, Dossey argues that, given our primitive knowledge of consciousness and its effects on the world, it is crucial to continue such research.

However, the largest-ever study of third-party prayer, also known as intercessory prayer, says that praying for the health of patients from a distance is not effective in reducing complications after heart surgery.

Actually, the $2.4 million Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer, or STEP, is one of six recent studies which have found that intercessory prayer has no real effect on the wellbeing of patients. The nine-year research project is partly supported by the John Templeton Foundation, and appears in the April issue of American Heart Journal.

This study also found that the group of heart patients who knew they were receiving prayers from strangers did not do as well as those who didn't know.

Is this discouraging news for believers who believe in the power of prayer? Certainly not, at least from the Christian perspective from which I speak. Christians believe that God hears our prayers and answers them, in a way that is best for us. We believe that when we pray for another person God also hears our prayers but that God knows far better than we do what is best for the person being prayed for.

So yes, people of faith act out of that faith to pray for help in times of trouble and illness and death. But Christians have always understood that if God acts, it is by divine motivation. So if prayer “works” and someone is healed, we are then dealing with a unique event, an act of God’s grace unlike all other events and thus, by definition, it cannot be reproduced. Such events are beyond our control, and therefore prediction. The believer sees such occurrences as signals that God is alive, and that suffering is not the last word in human existence.
What these studies of third party prayer do is to pull prayer out of its theological, religious and spiritual context. And whatever they pull out through their research is not prayer, at least as it has been understood from the Christian tradition.

I believe all this can be put into perspective by reflecting on the Lord’s Prayer, which is the model of prayer for Christians. The person who prays this prayer does not attempt to control God by coaxing God to provide care. Rather the words of this prayer affirm God’s nature and human dependence even for daily bread. By praying these words, one is thereby prepared to receive that which God is already providing. This prayer reminds us that through prayer we express praise and gratitude, confess our wrongdoing, voice our concerns, open ourselves to the spirit, and seek the peace and grace to live as God's own people.

My advice to the prayer researchers is that they are way off base when they attempt to test prayer as a “therapy” that can be packaged into a controlled intervention. When they do this they demean any of the spiritual traditions that cherish prayer, especially the personal aspects of prayer.

Prayer is not a therapeutic technique we can discover and refine to be used just when it is needed. Rather it is the intimate language and active expression of the personal relationship between a person and God who we believe loves and cares for them.

The Cyber Vitamin May 12, 2006

2006-05-12T05:48:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
May 12, 2006
Week End Reflection
Acts 8:26 -40;Psalm 22:25-31 1; 1 Peter 2:4-7; John 15:1-8

The reading from Acts gives a lesson on the How of evangelization. First, be sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and follow where they lead you. Keep in focus that you are attempting to follow God’s agenda for the world, not your own. This means that as Christians we are called to be as expansive as God is and that therefore it is incumbent upon us to reach out to all people, particularly those we have little, on the surface at least, in common with. We are quite simply called to live our faithfulness to the Good News of Jesus Christ by our teaching/sharing of the story of this good news, and how the reality of this story has affected our lives.

In the reading from 1 Peter, we are reminded of the preciousness of our baptism. In Jesus Christ we become the living stones that put together by the grand architect of the universe, become the signs of God’s presence and God’s love for all people broken open and poured out for all on the cross.

All comes from God is the essence of meaning found in Psalm 22. This includes the comfort and centering power that enables us to maintain our integrity in the midst of trouble, isolation and abandonment. As God provides for us, even in the worst of all possible situations, we respond in praise and thanksgiving, and express this gratitude as we reach out to the entire world seeking to provide relief from the suffering of others. In so doing, we reveal to all people, present and future of the goodness of God so they will turn to God.

The metaphor of the vine and the vine branches reminds us that key to the faithful Christian life is that we accept whatever pruning needs to be done in our lives so that we may abide in the divine love we are given access to through our faith in Jesus Christ. The metaphor also makes us realize that as branches on the one vine, none of us can be happy if one of us is still suffering.

Prayer:

Lord, in Jesus Christ you invite us into a relationship of abundant fruitful life. We can always turn to you and express our deepest emotions and you will listen with solicitude and mercy. May Your Spirit continually guide us to people in need whom we can comfort and share the Good News of Jesus Christ with. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin May 11, 2006

2006-05-11T05:35:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
May 11, 2006

Read: Psalm 22

The Story:

This psalm is one of about 40 psalms which are categorized as laments. In these psalms there is an invocation of God’s name, a description of the situation of need, a prayer for help and deliverance, reasons why God should help the one praying, a vow to offer praise or sacrifice when the petition is heard and grateful praise of God. I list these elements to help the reader better understand the meaning being conveyed and also to show how the psalms offer us an approach and a language to take our burdens, our fears, and our troubles to God.

The opening words of Psalm 22 are heard on the lips Jesus from the cross (Matt. 27:46 and Mark 15:34). To the psalmist God is distant from him and his distress both in terms of time and space. Amidst the mockery of his enemies the psalmist recalls God’s eternal care experienced when he was a child.

In verses 23-24 the psalmist’s isolation from God (vv2-3) and the community (vv 7-9) has been overcome as he is united with his “brothers.” Then the psalmist call to all Israelites to join him in praising God is expanded to include all humankind (vv28-29).

Reflection:

The psalmist has no inhibitions about shouting his anger, expressing his anguish, demanding that God help him, and proclaiming thanksgiving, unbridled joy and hope in God’s saving actions. Are you able to come to God in prayer with such confidence and such transparency? What blocks you from such candor when you speak to God? Do you think you can hide your feelings from God? Even if you could, why in heaven would you bother? If God is to be trusted like a good friend, should you not confide to God what is going on in your heart?

Prayer:

Lord, you can see right through my barriers and masks. You know me just as I truly am. Yet like a good friend you stick around for the show. You know me, warts and all, and still your deep unconditional love for me never wavers. Just as Jesus used the words of Psalm 22 at his time of deepest trial, may I be given the grace to do the same. In His name. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin Mary 10, 2006

2006-05-10T05:46:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
May 10, 2006

Read: 1 Peter 2:4-9

The Story:

This passage gives special attention to the priesthood of all baptized Christians. The core of the priestly function is to mediate the divine to human beings-to be the vehicle by our presence and actions for others to experience divine revelation. In Jewish religious tradition this priestly role was preserved for particular male descendants of the tribe of Levi; specifically it was a role played exclusively by males from the family of Aaron in the Levi tribe.

But now, because of Jesus, “the stone rejected,” the priesthood has been extended to all who believe in one who is “chosen and precious in God’s sight” (as we are told in Galatians 3:28 there is now “neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus”). The mediating role of Israel-that of being a “light to the nations” is now taken up by Jew and gentile who are united as living stones built into the spiritual house we call the church.

This passage, part of an instruction for baptism in the early church, makes clear of the privilege and responsibility we have as baptized believers. As priests whom God uses to bring others close to God, we share in the priestly responsibility of prayer and instruction, of forgiveness and responsibility. We are called to declare his wonderful deeds with our lives which shine with “his marvelous light.”

Reflection:

Do you fully realize and accept the gift you have been given through your baptism? Do you embrace the fact that God has chosen you to be conduit for divine grace and love to flow to and from your sisters and brothers?

Do you realize that in your unique preciousness, blessedness and chosen ness by the living God you are unique like everyone else? That you cannot think or act like you are better in any way from others or that in God’s sight you are any less than others?

Prayer:

Loving God, grant us the grace to respond to the gift of being a living stone of the living building we call the church of Jesus Christ. May through our service, our prayer and teaching, and through our practice of forgiveness and care for others we may declare the wonderful deeds of Jesus Christ with our lives. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin May 9, 2006

2006-05-09T03:48:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
May 9, 2006

Read: John 15:1-8

The Story:

The overarching metaphor here is the vineyard, and especially the vine. The verb “abide” gets to the nub of meaning conveyed by this passage. Abide is a rich and full word which communicates the notion of a relationship of trust, love, knowledge and oneness with God through Christ.

Also key here is that this relationship between Christ and his followers is a relationship which is a present moment-here and now. It’s not a matter of waiting for the future to bear fruit. The time is now. The fruit to be born is, given the reference made to fruit bearing previously in John 12:20-27, is the evangelization of the nations.

Have you ever pruned a tree, bush or vine? Imagine yourself a vine and experience the cut of the vinedresser. Remember both dead (to be thrown away), and live branches (for the health of the vine), are severely cut. Actually the Greek words airei (“he takes away” v.2) and athairei (“he prunes”-same verse) have the same stem. This play on words in the original text makes you realize how similar yet how different these two experiences are.

Pruning is not enough for a healthy branch. It needs to be fertilized, watered and nurtured. We the “branches” have to be nurtured by the “word” and thus we need worship and prayer and study and fellowship and other forms of nourishment to remain healthy.

It seems the Church community John was writing for here needed reminding that their presents pains and struggles could and should be seen as pruning for more fruitfulness. Indeed, any church that works its way through hardship to a more profound commitment to mission have experienced such pruning. Conversely, churches that resent and resist such pruning and struggle to stay in their comfortable pews have been taken away.

Reflection:

Who among us has not experienced being cut away from God by our own actions, injustice or seeming happenstance? Has that left us hurt, angry and confused? What have we done about these feelings and about the situation we have found ourselves in?

Can other branches of a vine remain healthy while another is sick? Or does the sick one have to be pruned for the sake of the vine? In your church community are their activities that need to be cut back as they cannot be sustained?

Prayer:Lord, may we accept whatever pruning needs to be done in our lives so that we may abide in You. Let us also realize that as branches on the one vine, none of us can be happy if one of us is still suffering. Yes, may we abide in You always. Amen

The Cyber Vitamin May 8, 2006

2006-05-08T05:45:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
May 8, 2006

Read: Acts 8:26-40

The Story:

How does one go about evangelizing in the world today? The example of Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch gives us the basic instructions we need to follow for such ministry.

Philip was doing well in his ministry but when the Lord prompted him to go somewhere else he obeyed. Ministry is never our ministry. It is God working through us. To be open for opportunities to pass on the Good News we have to seek to follow God’s agenda, not our own.
This means that as we engage in ministry so that like Philip, we remain sensitive to God’s promptings by always seeking God’s guidance for what we are doing.

Because Philip had gone where God had asked, he was present to address the questions of the Ethiopian. He responded to this man where he was at and spoke in a manner that could be understood.

By being open to the promptings of the Spirit, sensitive to the needs of others, and faithfully responding to where God is calling you, like Philip, you will be able to spread the good news of Christ's love to the world. You will become a spiritual guide for others. It is a model of evangelism we are all called to follow.

Reflection:

Are we ready for those who God sends you? Are we ready to take action today? If not, what do you need to do to prepare for such work?

In this story Philip not only followed God’s agenda, he listened to the Ethiopian’s agenda instead of laying his own on the eunuch. When you engage with people do set your own agenda aside and listen to their needs?

How can the many seekers today understand their hunger inside without persons like Philip to help them? How can they understand and have their minds opened to the truth without such teachers? Are we, too, not called to be chariot chasers in a sense?

Prayer:

Lord you have called us to be disciples of Jesus Christ and to pass on the joy of being His disciples. We pass on this good news by blessing the people we meet by our prayers, our words and our actions; by loving them as you have loved us, and by seeking to follow your agenda, not our own. All this is possible through the power of the Holy Spirit who is our Guide, our Comforter, and our teacher. Send your Spirit upon us. Come, Holy Spirit, come. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin May 5, 2006

2006-05-05T06:56:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
May 5, 2006

Week End Reflection
Acts 4:5-12; 1 John3:16-24; Psalm 23; and John 10:11-18

In the reading from Acts this week it is not sheepishness that is highlighted, but rather how the power of the Holy Spirit affected the behavior of Peter and John. They had been arrested by the authorities for a healing a man and preaching the resurrection of the Jesus these authorities had killed. A night in the pokey does not dampen their spirits. They are ordinary, uneducated people. But they are sheep of the Good Shepherd. The one so powerfully depicted in the Twenty Third Psalm who cares for each one of us and to whom we respond with confidence, joy and triumph because of the shepherd’s (God) faithfulness and mercy.

As sheep of the Good Shepherd as Jesus is described in the passage from John’s Gospel, they know him, they know his voice and hear him calling each of them by name. They love him, they trust him and they follow him. They know, as we are told in the reading from the First Letter of John their power to reach out to the world boldly as they have comes by abiding in God’s love. They abide in God’s love because of their faith in His son Jesus Christ and because of their willingness to make God their center and set self-centeredness aside.

And, as sheep of the good shepherd, they become goats to the powers of the world. They are not cowed by the status and bearing of the powerful. Not these goats. They use the occasion of their arraignment as a platform for preaching. They knew one of the best kept secrets of the Christian life: that to clasp hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.

Prayer:
Lord, we have been called into Christ’s sheepfold and are given the power to transform ourselves and the world into the image of Christ. Loving God you have sent Jesus, the good shepherd to show us the way and to walk by our side and to pick us up when we fall or go astray. As we follow him O Holy One, may the I no longer be front and center in our lives but rather WE and US. We pray that through the power of the Holy Spirit we will be Your sheep and goats to the power of sin, evil and death. We know You will do the rest. Amen. bearing of the powerful. Not these goats. They use the occasion of their arraignment as a platform for preaching. They knew one of the best kept secrets of the Christian life: that to clasp hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.

God Alive Column (Vaughan Weekly May 3, 2006)

2006-05-04T05:49:00.000-07:00

Ten Ways to Celebrate Being Family

A while ago I ran across a different kind of card Hallmark offers. It was for parents whose work schedules were such that sometimes they didn’t see their children morning or night. It was a card to tuck under a youngster’s pillow which read “Sorry I missed you today. Love, Mom (or Dad).”

To leave a card like this is a thoughtful gesture. What is sad is that obviously enough parents find themselves in this a predicament that there is a market of sufficient size for such cards to be created on a commercial scale.

Whether your family is a traditional one with a husband and wife and two children, a single parent family, a blended family, or a family with two moms or dads, all need help in our world of busyness and mind numbing change. Whatever your views on what the family should look like, when you use the word family you refer to the primary place of nurture of the future citizens of this country.

Like any intimate relationship, we cannot take each other for granted. Hallmark cards or not, we have to spend time together. Maintaining a sense of humour-being able to laugh at ourselves is also essential.

So let each of us, in our diversity, begin by offering all families the opportunity to strengthen their ability to get on with such nurturing. Carol Wehrheim of the National Council of Churches (USA) offers the following ten ways to celebrate being family.

First, she says, we have to be present –we have to agree on specific times to spend together each week. Not just ships passing in the night. Rather times such as Saturday morning or an hour after dinner where we share the good things that happened the past week.

Second, get in the habit of telling jokes or relating some funny incident at dinner. Or sing together as you drive to the grocery story or to a soccer game. Really give you child a laugh by putting on their favourite CD and dancing to it. Teach you child some dance that was popular when you were a teenager. Laugh together.

Third, walk together in any kind of weather at different times and for many reasons. Walk in the summer to get a cone or visit a neighbour. Walk outside after a snowstorm. Go out together at night to look at the stars or have fun dodging raindrops in a summer shower. Walk together down a path through the woods or along the beach. Don’t rush it.

Fourth, teach one another how to listen well. Really hearing what someone is saying is difficult when we are always in a rush to do something else. Help your children develop this skill by playing a little listening game with them. Start a conversation on any topic. Then ask each person to say what the previous person had said.

Fifth, to help us share our experience, our dreams and our fears with each other, why not have a question box in the house in which every family member can place a question? Then when together at a meal, in the car, or just before bedtime, when everyone is together, draw one of the questions out of the box.

Sixth, whenever someone in the family goes away, whether it is for a business trip, sleepover or canoe trip, assure that person that the family will pray for her or him until they return. Parents and children should bless one another as they leave for school or work. Or, if something special is happening that day, like a test, spend a moment together asking God to be present with the family member taking the test.

Number 7 is obvious, but very important. Birthdays are a way that we can pay special attention to one of the family members. Honour your differences by celebrating the uniqueness of one another in other ways that fit your family schedule.

Number 8 reminds us to say we are sorry by keeping a supply of plain index cards with markers to make “I’m sorry” cards when you have upset a family member.

Number 9 suggests that we make up games to play that encourage us to work together to reach a goal. Number 10 calls us to eliminate comparisons but rather celebrate the individuality of each individual family member.

These are simple suggestions. They are also doable by all of us. Why not give your family a break and start celebrating right now?

The Cyber Vitamin May 4, 2006

2006-05-04T05:47:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
May 4, 2006
Read: John 10:11-18

The Story:

Using the image of the good shepherd, Jesus reveals that He willingly laid down His life in order that we might be saved. Notice how in this passage and throughout John’s Gospel Jesus begins to speak by saying “I am.” These are the same words God said in response to Moses’ question as to who he was at the burning bush on Mount Sinai (Exodus 3:14). With these words, the divinity of Jesus is revealed.

The hired hands he refers to are the religious leaders of the day who are so concerned with rules and rituals that support their position in society that they do not carry out their primary duty which is to lead the sheep (the people) inside the gate of the shepherd of all (God). Jesus in contrast knows and cares for each one of us personally and his sacrificial love for us provides comfort and nourishment in our lives, while at the same time leading us to God and God’s ways.
The assurance offered by the 23rd Psalm becomes a personal promise through our faith and love of Jesus Christ. As we respond to His call, and learn and accept and carry out our roles within His flock we discover our growing responsibility to provide this same sacrificial love, this same nourishment and protection, to the rest of the world. If we are to share in building His kingdom of Shalom-peace, wholeness and holiness, wellbeing and true sisterhood and brotherhood- we must be ready and available to everyone. The flock of the Good Shepherd is all humanity and by becoming part of His flock we are then sent forth from the sheepfold to be good shepherds to others.

Reflection:

Some folks argue that there is a problem with the image of Jesus as the shepherd and we as the sheep. They say that often these texts have been interpreted to hold up sheepish docility as Christian virtue. Do you agree? Is it true this has led Christians to collude in their own injury? That Christians have accepted without resistance totalitarian rulers? That they have been submissive in the face of tyranny in church and state, corporations and schools? That women have submitted to battering, economic exploitation and wage inequality? That men have been led off to war like sheep, flocking to their doom without resistance? How would you respond if you were asked these questions?

On the other hand, we heard earlier this week in the reading from the Book of Acts of how boldly Peter spoke the truth of the Gospel before the religious authorities that had the power to kill him and the rest of the disciples. But he would have been the first to embrace that he was a sheep of the good shepherd. What is the reason for his response in contrast to those who have equated Christian virtue with docility?

Prayer:

Loving God, we thank you through the gift of faith in Jesus Christ you have called us into your sheepfold. Help us through the power of your Spirit to listen as you call each of us personally to share your love and care for others. Help us let go and let you work through us. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin May 3, 2006

2006-05-03T05:23:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
May 3, 2006

Read: Psalm 23

The Story:

Probably the best known and well loved passage from the Bible, the Twenty Third speaks of God’s love, care and presence as that which is central to and what sustains our integrity, peace and survival. Using the image of a shepherd, we are reminded that God takes care of us and meets our needs. Just as a shepherd leads his flock to food (“green pastures”) and waters that are safe to drink (“still waters”-if you were wooly you would drown if the water was turbulent and the current strong), God provides for us.

The image of being a sheep doesn’t mean that we become docile and stupid like them. What is does mean is that in order for God to fully provide for us, which God so much wants to do, we must let go and let God, to use the well known phrase. As we become more and more dependent on God for the provision of our needs, for guidance and protection, we will find God leading us in the right places to do the right things in the right ways.

For Christians, Jesus is the good shepherd and when we say YES! to his call to follow him and become his disciple we partake in a rich and fulfilling life of opportunity and joy. As we follow the good shepherd we are filled with his passionate love of God and for those around us.

Reflection:

Have you memorized the Twenty Third Psalm? Have you tried using it as a prayer every day, pondering the depth of meaning found in each of its verses?

Do you trust God? Even to lead you through the “valley of the shadow of death”? If not, why not? What are the barriers, if any, that need to be broken down so that you can be gifted with such trust?

Prayer:
Guide us home, O Lord, like a shepherd guides their flock, lead us through the brambles and bushes of life and be our support and our guide that each of us, in our own unique way, may live up to the calling you have gifted us with. Each one of us has a purpose in your plan. Help us say Yes to that purpose with all that we are. Help us to say Yes to Jesus. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin May 2, 2006

2006-05-02T05:23:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
May 2, 2006

Read: 1John 3:16-24

The Story:

This passage gets to the heart of what is the true and sole source of motivation for the Christian. God pours out God’s love for us through Jesus giving fully of himself on the cross for the salvation of human beings. But this love is not a noun-something to be possessed, but rather a verb-love is actualized in action. And in the world this love of God in Christ Jesus can only become known through the action of those who have been called to follow Jesus by carrying out/continuing His work. If we are honest with ourselves, our conscience will let us know if we are being faithful to this calling.

Believe in Jesus Christ, love God and love others as God has loved us. That is our driver, our reason for existence. Christ is our model; just as he brings the love of God into the world so too are we. As we do so through faith our love of and for others will help us grow closer to God and experience God’s Spirit living within us.

Reflection:

Do you see that our actions and attitudes toward others in our daily comings and goings are the vehicle which we have to communicate and actualize God’s love? Do you see that it should be love, not fear or scrupulosity that is what motivates our behaviour toward others?

Do you have a sense of the Holy Spirit working within you, instructing and guiding your daily life? If you are not feeling the Holy Spirit’s presence, can you think of what may be getting in the way?

Prayer:
God of love, God of our salvation, when we believe in you and love one another as you have loved us then our actions will reflect Christ’s self-giving to those we meet. As we act out of the love of Christ we abide in that love and the world becomes a better place. Lord, send the fullness of Your Spirit upon us today so your truth and love comes alive through us. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin May 1, 2006

2006-05-01T05:50:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
May 1, 2006
Read: Acts 4:1-17

The Story:

John and Peter have been arraigned before the Sanhedrin (the supreme religious
authority of the day). Asking if they are being condemned for well-doing leaves
the religious leaders taken back. Here we have two presumably uneducated
fishermen from the boondocks (Galilee) speaking the truth of Jesus Christ
before power, thereby revealing the divine power they have received through
Pentecost.

Peter repeats the claim that the Jesus whom they have rejected is God’s agent
(cornerstone) to rebuild God’s people, quoting Ps 118:22. “While acknowledging
that a notable sign has taken place through these men, the council enjoins them
to say nothing more in the name of Jesus, but can find no basis for punishing
them. The apostles acknowledge that they will continue to bear witness to what
they have seen and heard through Jesus.” (Oxford Annotated Study Bible NRSV).

Here we have a classic case of locking the barn door after the horse has bolted
won’t work. The helpless Sanhedrin can do no more than utter shrill threats
since public opinion keeps them from doing anything more drastic. The once meek
and terrified disciples can now imitate Jesus by preaching stirring sermons and
performing miracles. They, like Jesus, receive popular support and official
derision.

Reflection:

Do you realize the potential you have for doing good as you respond to Christ’s
call to follow him in your daily life? What are the reasons that you hesitate
in getting involved in ministries that deep down inside you know you are being
called too? Is it your self-confidence or lack thereof? Do you realize that you
have what it takes-love for God, belief in Christ and reliance on the Holy
Spirit-all that is needed to effectively minister in Jesus’ name?

Prayer:

God of salvation, Peter illustrates the effect of the Holy Spirit in our lives
when we learn to open our hearts to Your love. Through faith You enable us to
do the ministry You call us to do. The gift of faith and salvation has been
given in Jesus Christ and we have nothing to fear. Through the power of Your
Holy Spirit which has entered our hearts we can stand bolding and proclaim
Jesus as Lord of the living and the dead. Help us embrace the power and the
responsibility of the vocation you have granted each of us with love. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin April 28, 2006

2006-04-28T04:58:00.000-07:00

Week End Reflection

Acts 3:12-19 Psalm 4 1 John 3:1-7 Luke 24:36b-48

In the passage from Acts Peter discovers and witnesses to the power of Jesus’ name, that is, faith in Him. Not because of whom Peter was or was but rather because of his faithfulness to the God revealed through his relationship with the risen Lord, he was able to heal a lame man. More than that individual healing, Peter was given the opportunity and the power to witness to Christ and to show others that if they repented and accepted the forgiveness that was available they too could be freed from the power of sin and become like him, conduits of God’s power and love and forgiveness for all.

In 1 John we are told that God has made us God’s children and that our lives are to have a singular focus and purpose: to become more Christ like. To do so means to let go more and more of or sinful ways and accept God’s forgiveness as we become, as we walk the journey we call our lives, the type of disciples God intends us to be. The key is faith. The way is love. The name is Jesus.

Psalm 4 reminds us of the lines of that favourite old hymn “take is to the Lord in
prayer. “When we are troubled and heavy burdened; no matter how tough it gets we have the blessed assurance that God does answer our prayers and provides us with an inner joy and peace in order that we can more effectively become the disciples God is calling us to be.
The story we find in Luke’s Gospel of Jesus’ appearance in the Upper Room emphasizes that the Christ who is raised is the same Christ that had been crucified; that he is fully human and now is fully alive. In Christ God has acted in a particular way in order to make those Christ calls, gathers, commissions and sends forth to be able to repent, to receive forgiveness and to go to the ends of the earth to proclaim the good news. They do all this motivated, guided and supported by the Holy Spirit so they can understand Christ’s teaching and be able to share that understanding with others. Today, we too are made one in the Spirit and one in the Lord so that we too may proclaim Christ’s message of forgiveness and reconciliation to the ends of the earth.

Prayer:
O Holy One, this week’s readings speak of a wonderful closeness to You we are gifted with. Before we are born we are your blessed chosen and beloved children. In Christ you have given us the power to share with Him in the work of healing the world through the power of your reconciling and forgiving love. We can trust that you will be there to hold us up and fill us with Your peace and joy no matter how tough it gets. We do so because of what you have done in Jesus the Christ-the one who emptied himself on the cross so that we might be filled with Your life. May you give us the grace of courage and discernment so that we carry this message-this power of forgiveness and reconciliation to the ends of the earth. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin April 27, 2006

2006-04-27T11:07:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin

April 27, 2006

Read: Luke 24: 36-48

The Story:

This passage, while similar to the other “upper room” story (John 20:19-31) emphasizes the corporality of Jesus. In spite of the reports of the women from the tomb, Simon Peter, and the two disciples that had met Jesus on the road to Emmaus, they were frightened, not uplifted. They thought they had encountered a bodiless ghost. That is, the disciples thought they were encountering the dead, not the living. That is why Jesus invites them to examine his body and then eats fish with them.

The key here is the basic gospel message: Jesus’ very palpable presence after he died affirms the hope of believers that Jesus died and was raised from the dead. This passage does not deal with the general resurrection of all believers. It merely highlights the teaching that in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead God has acted in a unique way. Thus be clear on this: the risen Christ is the Jesus who died. This means that to follow the risen Christ is to follow the one who bore the cross.

In verses 44-49 Jesus instructs them that this is all in fulfillment of what the scriptures proclaimed but they can only understand this as they are guided by his spirit. They are commissioned as witnesses to the reality of the crucified and risen Lord and promised that through this witness the gospel will preached to all nations.

The profundity and newness of all of this frightened and somewhat confused the disciples. It took repeated revelations and the steady guidance of the Holy Spirit for them to realize and accept all of this. And, as preacher and biblical scholar Fred Craddock puts it “After twenty centuries, preaching a crucified Christ and accepting all people equally continue as problems haunting the corners of the church, awaiting full and free resolution.

Reflection:

• The fullness of God’s love for us poured out on the cross. What Jesus is saying in our passage today is that such love shines forth on almost every page of the Bible. Have you realized and accepted the pervasiveness of this love? Does this passage help you realize that you can learn more and more about this love by studying the Bible?

• Are you a faithful witness to the truth of Christ crucified and risen? Or are you remain hiding out in whatever form the “upper room” takes for you? What task does Jesus have for you?

Prayer:

Lord, you provide us with all the tools we need to understand Your Word. Whenever we struggle, Your Spirit is present to help us understand and inspire us to witness to the good news of Jesus Christ to others. Lord, we believe. Help us share this wonderful truth, this wonderful story, this wonderful love with others. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin April 26, 2006

2006-04-27T11:06:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin

April 26, 2006

Read: Psalm 4

The Story:

This psalm of lament expresses a belief that God is the source of deliverance for those who suffer, especially those who suffer unjustly. The one answer to someone experiencing such suffering is to trust in God who is the sole source of security and safety.

Material things will not help in such situations. The psalm articulates a cry for help in the face of suffering, as well as a praise song for having been delivered through God’s help. For the believer, its message is to keep trust in God, and to stay calm and confident and strong in the faith. The unshakable trust of the psalmist encourages others to seek and live the same depth of trust in God.

Reflection:

Do you base your identity and therefore your security and purpose in life on what you have, on what you can do, or on what others say about you? The psalmist says that none of this will be there for you when the chips are really down. Do you agree? Do you hang on to such “things” that give you a false sense of security?

Do you try to plan your actions, but leave the results to God? Or do you lay awake at night worrying about things over which you have very little control? At such times have you prayed asking God to take care of “it”? Do you trust God so that you can truly “Let go and Let God’?

Prayer:

Loving God, we know and have experience that when we pray You listen to and answer our prayers. When we trust in You alone, we experience an inner joy that cannot be diminished by the ways of this world. We can truly rest in peace. Help us grow in such trust Lord. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin April 25, 2006

2006-04-27T11:04:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin

April 25, 2006

Read: 1 John 3:1-7

The Story:

This is a beautiful passage reminding us and reassuring us of who we are-children of the God of all Being revealed through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him." But don’t worry - God loves us and calls us God’s children. We are loved by God and are called into God’s family of faith. As we seek God we are involved in the process of becoming like God. This is really what the fancy word sanctification is all about.

As we grow in our love of God, we do what we have to in order to draw closer to God. The key to this is faith. The way is love. The name is Jesus. For we will be like Christ because when He is fully revealed we will see Him totally, for the first time. On the other hand committing sin is choosing a life of evil over a life of righteousness. When we focus our lives on Christ, we move from our sinful ways. Abiding in Christ means to immerse your life into His love and to be transformed by it. Choosing to remain in sin, focusing on self-pleasures, is a life against God and for evil.

This notion of being transformed to be like Christ is not fanciful thinking, any more than the resurrected Christ is a ghost. The Preaching Library makes this interesting comment related to this theme: "The risen Jesus was real and recognizable. George Bernard Shaw said he could imagine no fate more horrible than remaining himself forever. Our lesson informs him (and us) that he had no cause to worry. The good news of the story is that in resurrection there is a genuine transformation of the self, but it is not a change into a dreamy fantastic state that would be so totally different as to be completely discontinuous with the lives we have lived as real human beings. Resurrection life is God's own mystery, but we hope for it as life continuous with but different from the one we now know."

Reflection:

• Do you see your relationship with God as a way of solving YOUR problems? Or do you see it as a relationship of love where touched by God’s forgiveness and love poured out on the cross you see to please and be close to the one (God) whom you love? Do you see your life as a journey where you are traveling to be united with the love of your life-God who in Christ has given you the power to complete this journey?

• Do you agree with John when he teaches we do not have to accept sin as an inevitable way of life? Is he referring to perfection or continually making progress toward perfection? Do you agree that we always have a choice to sin or not to sin?

Prayer:
Lord, in, through and with Jesus Christ our eyes are opened to your love, your presence and your power. Yet, Jesus also shows us how much you love each one of us-that we are your beloved children. He shows us the way home to you. Thank you Lord, for loving us, and in Christ, giving us the power to love you fully in return. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin April 24, 2006

2006-04-27T11:02:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin

April 24, 2006

Read: Acts 3:12-19

The lame man had probably sat begging at the temple gate for years. Perhaps he had heard Jesus preaching there and when he saw his followers come by he thought that maybe they could do something for him. Peter looks at the man and said "in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk." (Acts 3:6b) He could walk! He leaps for joy and immediately began praising God for this miracle. His shouting gained the attention of all the people in courtyard and "they were filled with wonder and amazement."

No, they are not miracle workers with special powers, Peter tells the crowd right off the bat. They are at most instruments of the risen Lord, Jesus. It is the power of Jesus’ name that brought about this miracle. Jesus, the one who they rejected and crucified has risen and now healing and other wondrous things were happening (like on Pentecost) through the name and presence of Jesus, further proving that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God.

Reflection: •

Why do you think Peter and the other disciples stopped to help the crippled man? It would have put them in danger with the authorities. Do you follow what you have discerned as God’s plan for your life, even if it entails risks? Do you respond to the needs of others, whoever they are, or however they present themselves?

• When we accomplish wonderful things, do we deflect the praise to Jesus? Or do we take the credit for ourselves? Do you realize that when instead of basking in the praise that comes in your direction you give credit to God for your successes, that you create the opportunity to witness effectively to the saving grace of God in your life?

Prayer:
Lord, when we turn our lives over to Christ, all that we are and everything that we do becomes an opportunity to witness to His message of reconciliation and forgiveness available for all people. We know any of our successes in this regard are due to the power of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen and working through us. Help us respond to this wonderful opportunity we have as baptized believers, every day of our lives, to fling open the door of our hearts and reveal the glory of God. Help us be faithful witnesses to the power of Jesus’ name. Amen.

God Alive Column in Vaughan Weekly April 26, 2006

2006-04-27T10:58:00.000-07:00

The Art of Giving

Recently a survey was done to determine how various Canadian fast food chains rated in terms of social responsibility. That venerable Canadian institution Tim Horton’s got very high grades for involvement in local community building activities. The survey found that community volunteerism is perhaps the highest value Canadians want to see the businesses they frequent express.

I am grateful Canadians hold volunteer/community involvement in such high esteem. Without such generosity of spirit, gracelessness will spread like a disease throughout our culture. Our society is largely a commercial one and we tend to approach relationships with a buy-sell, and not a give and receive attitude. What is scary are the latest numbers from Statistics Canada which show that fewer and fewer Canadians do more and more of the volunteer work so crucial to maintain and improve the quality of our common life together.

In the online journal Soma Miroslav Volf, Director of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture, offers some cogent insights on this problem in his article The Art of Giving. Volf points out that our North American inclination is to give nothing free of charge and expect to receive nothing free of charge. Power, not fairness, and certainly not generosity are the name of the game here. “You don’t get what you deserve; you get what you negotiate,” the saying goes. “Whoever ends up with the most toys win,” or “You better get to the gas pump before it runs dry and the devil take the last in line” are what could be termed common contemporary credos.

Look at the way sex is viewed on any currently popular TV series—-Sex in the City or “Desperate Housewives” for example. Watching these shows would give you no indication that sex could be a gift two people in a life long covenant give each other as a sacrament of their lasting love. Rather than such generous giving of self out of love for the other, partners get together for self gratification that has no definite object and that is never satisfied. Worse still sex is used to bring status and inflict revenge, or to reward those who cooperate with you or as a tool to manipulate and control. Rather than being seen as an intimate language through which we communicate-generously give and receive our most profound feelings to another, instead like one grabs a chocolate bar one craves for, people grab the most willing partner.

Beyond religious imperatives, or altruism, left unchecked, the slide from generosity will lead to a break down of the civil society on which our individual flourishing and survival depends. Without generosity our economic system would falter and the exchange of goods and services upon which our affluence depends could easily deteriorate to an unsustainable exploitation of the poor by the rich. Without generosity, our democratic institutions would lose their relevance and powerful interest groups would exclude most of the electorate from participation. Without generosity, how could our health care system be sustained--by definition you cannot buy compassion from a nurse. Etc. Etc.

Out of love parents respond to the piercing and relentless cries of a baby hungry for food, for tender and soothing words, for the presence that delights, for time and space to grow. In spite of tiredness and troubles, most parents do their best to give, and they do so knowing well that their gifts will never be returned in full, but perhaps will be paid forward, that children will give to their own children or to others they encounter on their life’s journey.

I believe we all have an insatiable desire to give within us. Most of our problems come when we turn in on ourselves—become self-centered and selfish rather than generous and other centered.

Part of growing up is learning the art of giving, as well as that of receiving. Failure to learn this art will leave us with unfulfilled live and in turn, destroy the bonds that keep our communities together. If our lives are just a constant struggle “to get what I want for me” we will squander the gift of our lives. If we practice the art of generosity, if we give, we will regain ourselves as fulfilled individuals and flourishing communities.

God Alive Column in the Vaughan Weekly April 19, 2006

2006-04-19T12:28:00.000-07:00

Are Faith and Superstition Incompatible?

The other day I heard an old blues tune “I ain’t superstitious, but a black cat crossed my trail.” I was humming this tune as I got on an elevator in an office tower and noticed, like all buildings I’ve been in, there was no thirteenth floor listed.

Superstition is alive and well. Millions are spent on amulets and particular kinds of crystals, ouija boards and astrological charts. Psychics ply their trade in store fronts or through “900” numbers flashed on the TV screen.

Why this human vulnerability to superstition? And what is the difference between superstition and faith?

Superstition is as natural as a baby crying and probably starts about that age. Nature has its laws but life is messy and its patterns are often indiscernible to us mortals. Life is best lived as an art, not a science. So being a little superstition probably is a good sign. It reminds us that we don’t have all the answers.

The problem is that humans have an incessant need to control people, places and things. And following a critical path or the results of hard science just doesn’t give us the predictability we hunger after.

I hit a home run in a game. Then I don’t get a base hit for two. I remember that I had tipped my helmet before hitting the home run. So I tip my helmet just before I go up to bat and eventually I hit another home run. So I keep tipping my helmet.

What I had done was not discover a way to ensure I hit home runs. Rather, I had committed the logical fallacy, post hoc, ergo propter hoc-Latin for “after this, therefore because of this.” The behavioral scientist B. F. Skinner showed through experimentation that this is the nub of human superstition. When something good befalls us, (we hit a home run), we), have the tendency to attribute our good fortune to something completely unrelated to it (e.g., the tipping of the helmet).
Most superstitious rituals are in reaction to something negative. I get hit by a falling object. I blame that black cat who earlier had crossed my path.
Superstition invariably gets mixed up in religion. We learn at an early age that we can manipulate our parents to get what we want. So people likewise hope that if they perfect the right ritual or right prayer or right formulaic behaviour they can persuade God to give them what they want or to protect them from what is undesirable.

There are many warnings about this in the Old Testament. In Judges Chapter 11 an Israelite commander Jephthah vows to God that if he is granted victory in an upcoming battle that he will sacrifice by way of a burnt offering to God whoever first comes out of the gates of his hometown Mizpah to meet him. He does gain victory and when he arrives home the first person to greet him is his beloved daughter, and believing in this superstition, he sacrifices her.

This horrible story is there to remind us of the difference between superstition and faith. People cannot make themselves right with God by deed. They cannot do this. God never intended people to try to do this. Throughout the Jewish and the Christian scriptures God first tells people who God is and what God has done for them. Only then does God spell out how the people are to respond.

Faith, as opposed to superstition, is about laying hold of what God has already given us and/or is already making available to us, whether we’ve laid hold of it so far or not. It is the assurance,that no matter how grim it gets, we are beloved children of God, as human beings, made in God’s image. Because of what God is done we each have a purpose-to serve God as we serve one another and each of us has unique gifts and circumstance to do so. Faith is trusting God that the good we do will not be wasted or lost, and that if we let go of our pride and petulance there is plenty of forgiveness available, not matter what we have done. Faith, not superstition is what gives us the confidence to get on with our life knowing that God “has not finished with each of us yet”-that God is still actively creating us and re-creating us.

The Cyber Vitamin April 19, 2006

2006-04-19T12:25:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
April 19, 2006

Read: Psalm 133

The Story:

Psalm 133 is a psalm people used to sing as they came from their villages to go to the temple in Jerusalem. Making the journey together would reinforce their sense of unity and often cause them to reflection the way things should be in our homes and in our communities of faith. When they arrive in the temple for worship all the Jewish people would experience in God’s presence their true family –the nation in peace and harmony with one another.
Aaron was the first in the line of the Jewish priesthood. Here the psalmist is referring to the process of anointment as the priest is ordained. Precious ointment would be put on the head of the anointed and it would cascade down the face as the holiness of the moment was relished. The psalmist then proclaims the promise and truth of our faith: God's anointment of God’s people is a blessing that lasts forever, like the morning dew that anoints Mount Hermon.

Reflection:

How harmonious is your current living situation? At home? In Church? There is a vast difference between genuine unity and mindless agreement with everything. Can you see and accept folks with different opinions than yours still being in unity and harmony of spirit with you? If not, why not?

Prayer:
Lord, there is one Lord there is one Spirit and one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. As Christians, You have called us together in the one spirit and blessed each one of us for a special purpose. Whenever we disagree help us to do so with authentic love and to always focus on discerning and fulfilling your will and not our own. Help us revitalize our unity of spirit so that in our life together and in our ministry Your blessings are free to flow into the lives of everyone involved. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin April 18,2006

2006-04-18T07:08:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin

April 18, 2006

Read: 1John 1:2-2:2

The Story:

First John was written to address a declining commitment among a group of second generation Christians to lead lives of uncompromising faith and dedication to Christ. Some in the church were teaching that Jesus was not a real flesh and blood man. He only seemed to have a human but was actually pure spirit, only masquerading as a man.

This was probably due to the influence of second century groups we loosely lump together as Gnostics. These groups, heavily influenced by classical Greek philosophical thought, were dominated by the idea that the material world was evil, transient and passing away; that the created world was just getting worse and worse; that only the purely spiritual was what was eternal and good and therefore the purpose in life was to find the secret of how to leave this material world and go directly into the pure and good world of the spirit.

Thus, if this is true, how could the holy Son of God take on that which was evil?

John combats this view by beginning by reminding them that Jesus was real flesh and blood because he was an eye witness-he was the beloved disciple that stood beside Jesus. He then continues with a statement of fact that is not to be disputed. God is light, sin is darkness.

This means that the manner in which we live our lives must reflect our faith. If it does not then we are living a lie. We are in this darkness, not in the light. This is called hypocrisy.

But when we are faithful followers of Christ, then our lives become aligned with God. We experience forgiveness and justification with God, and our community of faith grows and our bonds of fellowship strengthen.

What separates us from God is sin. If we ignore our sins, they will fester and the gap between us and God widens.

Therefore John states the obvious. Turn to Jesus who forgives, forgets, and makes us holy in God’s sight. Having given fully of himself, even unto death, for our sake, Jesus now stands, in our behalf, as the conduit for our salvation.

Reflection:

Many say they don’t go to church because who they find there are a bunch of hypocrites. How would you respond to this accusation? Do you live in the light, or does your life-style conform more to the ways of the world rather than Christ-like living?

Do you acknowledge your own sinfulness? Or do you believe the façade of goodness and light that you present to others is the real you? Do you see that if you do not confess the darkness of sin in your heart, in whatever manifestation it may be, that the darkness will prevail and your separation from God will widen. Martin Luther once said that “in baptism the old Adam is drowned. However, the old Adam is a pretty good swimmer!” What do you think Luther was trying to say? Would John have agreed with Luther?

Prayer:

God of love, John tells us that can live either in the darkness of our sin or in the light of Christ. The fullness of Your love for us poured out through him on the cross. In Christ You became one with us that we may become one with You. We do recognize that without Christ, our sins will forever separate us from Your love. When we choose the light and ask for help, Christ will lead the way to a life of holiness and an eternity basking in Your glory. Help us choose the light. Amen.

God Alive Column Vaughan Weekly April 12, 2006

2006-04-18T07:06:00.000-07:00

Judas Cast in New Light is the Same Old Same Old

Judas Iscariot, one of the greatest villains in history, made the front page of the Toronto Star this past Friday with the headlines “Judas Cast in a New Light”. The leather –bound papyrus text that generated the article, apparently lost in the desert near El Minva, Egypt for nearly 1,700 years, presents a Judas that we never knew.

The Gospel of Judas proclaims that Judas wasn’t the betrayer of Jesus as commonly believed, but rather he was just doing what Jesus told him to do. This text says that Jesus explained to Judas that he would “exceed all of (disciples) by getting Jesus crucified.”

If this were true, it would certainly turn our understanding of who Jesus was upside down, let alone our take on Judas.

What is significant here isn’t this new twist on Judas. This is merely a variation of a standard message of second century groups we loosely lump together as Gnostics.

These groups, heavily influenced by classical Greek philosophical thought, were dominated by the idea that the material world was transient and passing away; that the created world was just getting worse and worse; that only the purely spiritual was what was eternal and good and therefore the purpose in life was to find the secret of how to leave this material world and go directly into the pure and good world of the spirit.

This is not an early Christian text. It didn’t even circulate until well over a century after Jesus died. It actually sheds no more historical factual light on Jesus’ relationship with Judas than the rendering of the Judas character in Jesus Christ Superstar.

What makes it significant is that through the Gospel of Judas we can confirm what had long been known about Gnostics, albeit in a round about way. Before the discovery of this text, as well as other Gnostic texts found years before near Nag Hammadi in Egypt, most of what we knew about Gnostics was through the writings of early Christian defenders of the faith such as Irenaeus of Lyon, born in Asia Minor probably around 140 C.E.

The earliest Christian accounts we have of the experience of Jesus Christ among us, for example in Paul’s letters, The First Epistle of Clement, or the Shepherd of Hermes, all written before the end of the first century, convey of sense of Jesus being somehow fully human and fully divine. They offer testimony that through his life, death and resurrection he invites us into a new life where through faith in him our humanity and God’s divinity are woven together. In this new human-divine cloth we experience the realization that it is through, not in spite of or escape from our earthbound material lives that we become fully human and fully alive. To cut to the nub, the earliest Christian experience of Jesus was that somehow in Jesus God had become one with us that we might become one with God.

Gnostics such as the author of the Gospel of Judas, in contrast, claimed that Jesus was either only pretending to have appeared in flesh and blood, or that he wanted to be freed from his human material form as soon as possible (“You will sacrifice the man that clothes me,” says the Jesus portrayed in the Gospel Judas revealed in Washington last Thursday).

These Gnostic folk also taught that only a select few, through the acquisition of secret knowledge, find their way to the spiritual heaven they longed for. This contrasts with the Christian message which is not restricted to a few who will ascertain the “correct” knowledge, but rather is available to all who believe in Jesus the Christ.

The Christian scriptures are still our best available source as to Judas’ character. Cast in a new light or not, we are left with the same old same old. What we find is a man, not a monster or evil incarnate, but rather someone who expected Jesus to be something he wasn’t, and in the end saw Jesus as a threat to the Jewish nation. As scripture scholar Darrell Bock puts it “"Judas is a reflection of anyone who ends up rejecting Jesus," Bock said. "It's a tragic story—not something to shake your finger at, but something to be sad about."

The Cybervitamin April 17, 2006

2006-04-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
April 17, 2006

Read: Acts 4:32-35

The Story:

In this passage we have frozen in time images of the earliest post-resurrection-post Pentecost Christian community. Before us comes into focus a close unified community where goods and property were held in common for the benefit of all

We are told that they were close knit-“of one heart and soul”. The Holy Spirit poured out upon them at Pentecost bound them together. Through their ability and desire to live and work together, through how they loved and treated one another with utmost respect and care, their communal life bore powerful witness to the Risen Lord. They were not forced into any of this. Their sole compulsion to do so was the compulsion of love.

Reflection:

William Blake once said “We are put on earth for a little time to learn to bear the beams of love.” To love God and give God glory through our service to others is the purpose for which we were created. This way and approach to life was reflected the shared life of the early Christian community. Have you had the experience of joy that comes when your life is centered on worshipping God and loving others? If you have experienced this joy, what keeps you from continuing to live in such a manner? Is what involved here our constant tendency to focus on our own needs and issues, instead of God’s?

Prayer:
Lord, you created the church to first of all to be a place where hearts and souls are warmed by the love for God and the love for one another. You call us together and empower us to take care of each other and meet each other's needs in all areas of life. You give us the desire and the courage to reach out and openly share Your blessings to the world. As "Easter People" we are to live lives that recognize that all things come from You and that Your Kingdom is built when we share Your love and Your blessings to the world around us. Help us be faithful. Help us be Your church. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin April 13, 2006

2006-04-13T04:48:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
April 13, 2006

Read: Matthew 27:31-49

The Story:

Exhausted, no food, totally broken in spirit, Jesus is dragged through the streets probably whipped to push him along as he stumbled. Then we are confronted with the cruel callousness of the soldiers as they strip him and draw lots for his clothes. Reading this passage you can almost feel the nails going through his hands.

Then, Jesus experiences the painful effort to breath, and the humiliation of being totally exposed on the cross. Mary his mother, Mary Magdalene and the other women stood helpless beneath his cross. Unbelievable pain. He really did bear sin fro us. And I, like Peter and the rest of his disciples have allowed him to be crucified by not witnessing, by how I have treated or ignored the pain of other human beings. By trying to hide from my own insecurity and vulnerability, Jesus truly shared our humanity and continued to reach out in love, even though he was rejected. He was truly human in an inhuman world.

Reflection:

To be a good minister, to be a good Christian really, I believe means to bless and love others, and try to carry out Christ’s agenda, not your own. When we act contrary to these basic principles, we share in the, or stand aside and thereby perpetuate Christ’s passion in the world today. As you reflect this week on the meaning of the cross, what stands out as an area in your life that needs to be let go of or transformed by the love that flows from the folly of the cross?

Often we cringe from the violence in the story of the crucifixion. But is not this violence precisely what Jesus comes to transform into creativity and love? What is the violence in your life that needs to be transformed?

Prayer:

Dear Lord Jesus, as we enter your passion we ask you to pattern our lives to follow the way of your cross, that we know leads to the logic of love flowing from the cross to become the logic of our lives. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin April 12, 2006

2006-04-12T04:43:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
April 12, 2006

Read: John 13:13-28

The Story:

It’s so easy for the “evil one” to get the better of us. Judas, like the others, was waiting for Christ to lead them to glory in a worldly sense. Judas also knew that the worldly cards were stacked against Jesus. So why not try and survive and make the best of a bad situation?

Sounds familiar to us, doesn’t it? All of us have been the betrayed and the betrayer at one time or another, haven’t we? Have you been abandoned, betrayed by someone you love dearly? The anguish can be unbelievable. Christ enters fully into such anguish. And I know that at times in my life when I have been betrayed and found myself so utterly alone that Christ must have been carrying me. I also know the awful guilt of knowing that I had done the same to another human being.

Being betrayed by someone you love leaves an open wound that only heals with a great deal of time and will continue to ache for a lifetime. I believe that in his Passion, Christ bears all the pain of human betrayal, humbly and willingly. The body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ calls to us, and speaks a word of hope right in the midst of our worst fears, pain and despair. His sacrifice of love calls to us with life giving healing, forgiveness and reconciliation.

Reflection:

· As scripture scholar Darrell Bock puts it “"Judas is a reflection of anyone who ends up rejecting Jesus," Bock said. "It's a tragic story—not something to shake your finger at, but something to be sad about." Essentially Judas’ problem was that he would not enter fully into the mystery of Christ’s passion. Will you?

· Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss. The question before us today is what leads us to betray Christ with our kisses of death today?

Prayer:
Dear Lord, help me to feel and respond more deeply to the many ways your are being betrayed this broken world of ours. Give me the courage to walk with you this week into Jerusalem on the way to the cross. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin April 11, 2006

2006-04-11T04:39:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
April 11, 2006

Read: Matthew 26:36-46

The Story:

In this passage we can see Jesus as he is overcome with anguish and fear with what lay ahead for him. Anguish, failure, sorrow and pain are his rewards for his dedicated public ministry. It appears too much fro him as he sweats drops of blood in the garden. Abandonment and betrayal by his disciples lies straight ahead. Left in such a tragic and helpless human position he cries out for help to Aba to save him if possible, but only if it is God’s will.

What is important for us is that he went of God with this fear. He begged to be relieved of it, yes, but also surrendered to God’s ultimate purpose for all that he would endure. In meditating on this passage you feel the terrible feeling Jesus must have felt of being utterly alone in a time of deep trouble. His courage to wait for God as the brute forces of the world gather to pulverize him comes precisely not out of heroic effort, but because of his intimate obedient relationship with the source of all being. The tension in this scene is really a gift of grace because it reveals more deeply how Jesus is the bridge between humankind and the divine.

Reflection:

Where does your strength, your courage come from in times of deep trial? Have you opened your heart to God so that you can call on God’s help at such times? What are the blocks keeping you from such an intimate relationship with God?

Have you ever acted like the disciples did at Gethsemane? The disciples picked up the pieces and started fresh after the resurrection. How can you renew your relationship with God today?

Prayer:
O Holy One, give the strength of faith to call out to you in my need. But also give me the courage and perseverance to faithfully wait for you, no matter what is going on in my life. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin April 10, 2006

2006-04-10T04:57:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
April 10, 2006
Read: John 13:1-20
The Story:
Jesus loved his disciples very much. The foot washing in part, was a sign of this love. This act also reveals the love Jesus had of his own humanity. To be human: to touch and feel and taste and see and hear and smell, to laugh and cry, to eat and drink is a wonderful thing. I believe that Jesus, in washing the disciples’ feet was teaching them that the key to human happiness is service to one’s sisters and brothers.

I also believe that he taught in this manner so he could feel each of them and cherish the memory of each relationship one more time. In doing so, Jesus makes explicit that our human relationships are the foci where the self-disclosure of God does take place. On the eve of his betrayal then, Jesus celebrates the sacrament of humankind. Or, as the early church father Irenaeus wrote “The glory of God is humanity fully alive”.

Reflection:

· Do you celebrate the glory of all things human? God creates and sustains us and comes to us through the vicissitudes, the agony and the ecstasy, and the particularity of human history. In Christ God shows us the way to realize our potentiality as human beings in loving community? Do you seek the face of God in the mud and the blood, the give and take of your everyday life?

· I used to have a sticky note attached to my computer screen which read “It’s about God, stupid.” I have left that up but added the following sticky note: “It’s about relationships, stupid! Do you accept that God has a direction for you to go and you will find your way there if you seek God and God’s ways in your relationship with others?

Prayer:
Lord, You sent Your Son to all humanity to show us what it means to be a loving servant. As we reflect on Jesus’ walk to the cross and beyond this week help us recognize that it is through Him that our true purpose in life is revealed. As He, the Messiah was Your Chosen Servant, so must we follow in his footsteps of servant hood. In the building of God's kingdom we are called in righteousness to bring justice into the world through each of our relationships. Help us do that Lord. Help us. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin April 7, 2006

2006-04-07T04:23:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
April 7, 2006

Week End Reflection

Isaiah 50:4-9a , Psalm 31:9-16 , Philippians 2:5-11 Ephesians 1:3-10

The message conveyed through the passage from Isaiah this week brings home the importance of turning to God by relying on God’s Word for direction and praying for the Holy Spirit to comfort us, lift up our spirits and animate and guide our ministry. For with God with us, who really can be against us?

As we grow in faithfulness to our calling as disciples of Jesus, we will find ourselves doing things that no one could have paid us enough money to do. The reason is, as we model our lives in the image of Christ, we are doing not to further our self-interest but rather we do and be because of and to fulfill God’s plan for the world.

There is always going on in our lives. But what causes stress are not the changes but our need and sometimes resistance to the transitions we have to make in order to adapt to what is going on. Psalm 31 reminds us to be aware of what stress we may be experiencing in our lives and to remember to turn to God for help and relief in such times.

The passage from Ephesians makes clear that the cross is not simply one more piece of damaging evidence against guilty humanity, as if we need more evidence of our sin. Last evening’s newscast is enough to damn us. No, the cross says that the goriest work of human sin gets sidetracked into glorious divine redemption and total forgiveness.

Prayer:

O God, who mothers us and is the father of us all, we turn to you to lift up us and reassure us when our lives seem to be spinning out of control. We cannot do it on our own. The demands of life make it crystal clear that we need help. We need you in our lives. Help us learn to listen and discern faithfully your Word so through your guidance and help we can help and guide others. Most of all, we pray we continually turn to you in thanksgiving for what you have done for us through your son Jesus Christ, in whose name we now pray. Amen.

God Alive Column (Vaughan and King weeklies) April 5, 2006

2006-04-06T04:35:00.000-07:00

Take Time to be Holy and Have a Good Laugh at the Same Time

We offer a program in our church called Christianity 101 in which we use a series of video vignettes featuring Rev. Harold Percy, an Anglican priest from Streetsville. In one clip Percy describes a hilarious episode of the long running TV program The Simpsons.

Apparently God has come down hard on Homer for not attending church regularly and when Homer replies that he works hard all week and how Sunday is the only day he can rest and therefore why go to church where everything is so boring and all they do is tell him how bad he is? God replies to Homer admitting that Homer might have a point!

Spoofing bad religion often puts this popular TV show in the pulpit. Sociologist John Heeren analyzed 71 episodes of the show and found that 69% of the episodes contained at least one religious reference, and, in 11 % the plot centered on a religious issue.

This popular program, does give a satirical “poke in the eye” at pretentious, exclusive and narrow minded religious thinking. Nevertheless , you will find the Simpsons almost always ends up affirming some element of a generic Judeo-Christian heritage-honesty, family, community, selflessness, and love.

The point this show has been making for years, and the point I want to make in today’s column is that faith and fun, or religion and humour are part of the same reality.

Perhaps you respond that it’s true that real faith needs a bit of comic relief once in a while. But your caveat to this statement is expressed in these lines by United Church humorist Ralph Milton “. . . everyone knows the devil has the best lines-that all the fun things are indecent, immoral or fattening. Fun spirituality is an oxymoron.”

This leaves a superficial view of spirituality of either being wet blanket for any kind of fun, or being so other worldly that it is no earthly good.

The truth is that the God revealed both the Hebrew and the Christian scriptures is a God with a sense of humour. Look at the story line. Starting in Genesis Chapter 12 you have the story of a somewhat motley and small group of folks who escape from Egypt and bumble their way through the desert and pretty well through the rest of history nearly always getting it wrong and yet God calls these Hebrew bungling backsliders God’s chosen people and continues to love them and offer them rescue and the promise of new beginnings.

Then we have the Christian scriptures telling of a child born a little backwater town in an animal shed who goes around doing good things and teaching peace and love and ends up getting despised, rejected and killed.

But then, things break out, as American religious writer John Buchanan puts it, into Easter laughter. It’s true. We live in a Good Friday centered world where cruelty and death, suffering and injustice seem to have the last word. But then, as German theologian Jurgen Moltmann describes it, we have Easter morning which “. . . is the Sunrise of the coming of God and the morning of new life and the beginning of the future of the world. The laughter of the universe is God's delight. It is the universal Easter laughter in heaven and earth."

No wonder we preachers have a hard time explaining the resurrection! For if it is true, Easter, not Good Friday is at the center of things. And the joke is on everyone and suddenly the decks are cleared with a wide open belly laugh and everything is new and different and possible.
So, remember, the Bible witness calls for a sense of humour. The Bible story turns all our expectations up side down and leaves us with the startling realization that God loves losers. Ordinary folk like you and me. Actually, Ralph Milton is right when he claims that all the great religions tell much the same divine comedy- of losers who make a mess of things and still God or Allah or Manitou loved them anyway.

So polish up your joke telling and listening skills. It’s a part of being a human being. It’s fundamental to being a child of God and when you do you are part of a long and venerable tradition. Buddha. Moses. Jesus. Mohammad. Homer Simpson. Take time to be holy and have a good laugh at the same time.

The Cyber Vitamin April 6, 2006

2006-04-06T04:33:00.001-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
April 6, 2006

Read: Ephesians 1:3-10

The Story:

Unconditional grace is so costly. Someone says to you, “Let’s start fresh. I forgive you.” And you get angry and tell them in so many words to get out of your face. You react like this, do you not, because you don’t believe you have to be forgiven? What gall, to forgive me, when I feel I have done nothing wrong.

You cannot forgive an innocent person but only a guilty one. By its very nature forgiveness involves a judgment on the wrongdoer. The total forgiveness that Christ gives us involves total judgment. And that’s where it begins to bite. There is no such thing as partial forgiveness or partial judgment before the cross. Christ died of us, all of us, and the whole of each of us, not just a part of us.

The Gospel summons us to repent and believe. But in our act of repenting and believing we come face to face with the Lord Jesus, whose eyes search out the deepest secrets of our being and whose Spirit discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart. And if we are really honest, we have to admit that if divine forgiveness were conditional on our responses, we would never be saved. We are trapped in the circle of sin within our own selves. It is by God’s judgment that falls upon our innermost selves that we are thrown on Christ and saved by grace alone.

Reflection:

Do you accept the totality of your need for redemption? Or do you believe you only have to fix up a little bit here, and a touch there and you will be ok? If that is the case why would we possible need something as radical as to receive our redemption through Christ’s blood?

The cross is not simply one more piece of damaging evidence against guilty humanity, as if we need more evidence of our sin. Last evening’s newscast is enough to damn us. No, the cross says that the goriest work of human sin gets sidetracked into glorious divine redemption. Total forgiveness. Do you believe this?

Prayer:
Lord, help me let go and trust You, day by day, inch by inch, in spite of myself, but only through the power of the grace of your spirit within me. Amen

The Cyber Vitamin April 6, 2006

2006-04-06T04:33:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin April 5, 2006

2006-04-05T05:12:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
April 5, 2006

Read: Psalm 31:9-16

The Story:

Many experiences of life can put us in that place of utter abandonment and despair that the psalmist articulates so eloquently. Hated and rejected the physical and emotional stress of loss and of being attacked inflicts tears, illness and fatigue upon us. As the psalmist says in verse 10 such stress can result weakness, anguish, and even death.

Through no fault of our own our name can be maligned and our reputation destroyed by lies and innuendo. There are times where the whole world is against us. That is when we truly learn how to live and how to die: by trusting in God at all times. We will find when we trust, as we wait alone deliverance will come albeit sometimes in ways we could never have imagined. The end of isolation begins when we trust in the Lord. As Jesus quoted this Psalm on the cross “Into your hands I commend my spirit” we too will find our ultimate salvation in times of trial and tribulation as we accept our utter dependence in God.

Reflection:

As we live our lives we inevitably will go through times of great stress. We can take courses on how to handle stress, but can we really handle the tough times on our own? Sometimes things are really as bad as we think and there is no way out, humanly speaking. Have you “leaned hard” on your faith in such times of distress? What did you learn from this experience?

The bottom line question this psalm begs is: Do you trust God without condition? Can you face whatever form your “Garden of Gethsemane” might be?

Prayer:
Lord, when times get tough we know in our heart of hearts that relief can only come from our trusting You. Help us remember and use the psalmist’s words in such times: “Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am in distress,” and “I am trusting you, O LORD, saying, ‘You are my God!’ My future is in your hands.” Our faith and hope resides with You God. Help us let go and let God. Amen

The Cyber Vitamin April 4, 2006

2006-04-04T05:01:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
April 4, 2006

Read: Philippians 2:5-11

The Story:

The beautiful lyrical quality of this hymn (many scholars believe that in its original form it was an early Christian hymn) matches the power conveyed by its words. Here we have described for us the essence of Christ-who though divine-who could make the grandest claims about himself but instead emptied himself so he could give his total self over to do the will of God.

Therefore, he who is master becomes a slave. He who deserves all praise humbles himself to the extent that he is crucified. Yet in the end he rises from his bowing down and is the one before which every knee should bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord.

Paul uses these beautiful words to remind us that we too are to adopt Christ’s mindset. Look at someone like Mother Teresa. She was small and bowed down-giving her life for those who are rejected by their society- and yet she was held up in life and is considered in death as someone who rose above most of us in terms of her faithfulness to Jesus and in realizing her potential as a human being. The message her is that as we surrender ourselves to the love of God in following Jesus we lose our self-centeredness and find ourselves immersed in God centeredness.

Reflection:

• The power of this passage comes in part from what it reveals about God. In Christ God comes to us and enters into the complete human experience and lifts it up as Christ is lifted up. To share in this life offered to us we are to repeat the pattern of Christ’s life: dying so that new life might be born and serving that this same new life might break out in others. Can you see that the only way to true selfhood is by surrendering the false self, the self centered little “ I” to the God self brought close to us in Christ’s humiliation and exaltation? Do you realize that we only keep what God gives us in Christ by giving it away?

Prayer:
Lord, Jesus humbled Himself so as to put us on the road to forgiveness and reconciliation offered to us through Your saving grace. His way, his truth, his life is the template for ours. Help us lives of humble servanthood so that we may follow in his footsteps in obedience to Your plan and direction. Help us give ourselves in praise and thanksgiving to Him as we worship with all our hearts. May we become the disciples he calls us to be. We surrender ourselves to you trusting that you will lift us up, as you lifted Him up. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin April 3, 2006

2006-04-03T05:07:00.000-07:00

The Cyber Vitamin
April 3, 2006
Read: Isaiah 50:4-9

The Story:

The third of what have been termed the “Servant Psalms” found in chapters 45-55 of Isaiah, it was quite naturally picked up by the early church as describing Jesus and his mission. Certainly Jesus emphasized his role as being more in line with the suffering servant rather than a military messiah. Like Isaiah’s suffering servant Jesus came not to take life but to give up his life in order to bring salvation and reconciliation for all humanity. He did not come to take life, but rather to offer new life.

The suffering servant and Christ then, are called to be a student of God who then teaches God’s word, not his own, to the people. Thus this pupil of God will speak with the authority of the one who sent him as he is receptive and obedient to God’s word. The suffering servant (and Jesus) by their character and behaviour also model for us what it means to be a Christian disciple. God does provide us with the gifts we need to carry out God’s will, but in order to carry that out we must first learn how to listen both to God’s guidance and to what is happening in the world around us so we can make a reasonable decision on what we are to do. Then in obedient love we move forward into action without hesitation.

While the servant suffers greatly and faces fierce opposition and humiliation his face is set like “flint” because he is confident that God will help him and that he will, if he perseveres, will be vindicated in the end. Like Jesus on the cross, while he seemed a victim he was in reality the conquering victor.

Here then is our life lesson for today. We will face criticism and roadblocks in our discipleship but they should not deter us from following God’s plan. Remember that God promises to be with us, always, and that God will never give us any more than we can handle, or lead us where we cannot go with God’s help. As the suffering servant in Isaiah concludes, with God leading the way, who could possibly get in our way?

Reflection:

The Suffering Servant and Jesus, through their suffering and humiliation and not in spite of it, inspire us and teach us the obedience of faith and fill us with hope in the fulfillment of God’s promises. Do our life choices and our perseverance in the patient realization of those choices inspire others? Frank Lauchbach, an American missionary, developed a very simple (but not easy) approach to teaching others to read. His motto was “Each one teach one!” Are we, each one of us, faithful witnesses in the same way of the Good News of Jesus to others?

Speaking truth to power is tremendously difficult, something that will break all of us, if we try and do it on our own. But when we speak truth, as faithful witnesses/ servants of God then why should we be afraid? If God is with us, who can be against us?

Prayer:
Lord, I feel so weak, and incapable of witnessing to your message if I faced fierce opposition and persecution. Yet, I do want to be faithful, and pray that you give me the strength to push a little more to live your truth with greater and greater integrity each day of my life. I also know that strength will come as I place greater and greater trust in your will and your ways as revealed in Jesus Christ. Help me draw closer to Jesus, so I may become, more and more, the person you created me to be. In His name. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin March 31, 2006

2006-03-31T04:17:00.000-08:00

The Cyber Vitamin
March 31, 2006
Week End Reflection

Jeremiah 31:31-34 Psalm 51:1-12 Hebrews 5:5-10 John 12:20-33

Knowledge of God and forgiveness of sins from God are part of a package deal-a covenant offered the Israelites returning from exile in Babylon. The same covenant is offered to us. The knowledge will be written on the hearts of those God has called into this relationship of love, forgiveness and reconciliation. As Christians we have experienced this promise coming true.

Through Christ’s suffering two things are accomplished. In Christ’s suffering God enters into the area of human life we fear the most-humiliation, suffering and death, and redeems it through Christ’s obedient love. Second, the witness of Christ’s faithful obedience offers us an example to follow so we can participate with him in the building of God’s kingdom on earth.

Psalm 51 offers us the words we to acknowledge the need we have for cleansing and forgiveness to overcome our separation from God our sinfulness has precipitated. The promises of this psalm are fulfilled in Christ God who cleanses, forgives and forgets and through our faith in him we are brought into the community of divine love.

Just as the seed falls to the ground and dies so that new life can shoot forth, just as Jesus gave himself fully for us even unto death on the cross so that new life, fullness of life, divine life may be given to us, we are to die to ourselves so that we might come alive in Christ Jesus.

Prayer:
Lord, in our need and in our hesitancy, draw us close to your cross. On the cross all things are exposed as they are. As we stand beneath those twin beams of blood wood we see operating there a power that has the potential for breaking cycles of failure and rescuing us. Draw us close to the cross, Lord for it is there where we meet your glory face to face. The hour has come. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin March 30, 2006

2006-03-30T05:12:00.000-08:00

The Cyber Vitamin

March 30, 2006

Read: John 12:20-33
The Story:
This passage offers an account of a touchstone moment in the mystery of our redemption found in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Some gentiles have come to see Jesus. Up until this point Jesus’ ministry had been mainly with his own people. But now, the seed of his purpose is about to burst open and the coming of all humanity to share in the good news he is and brings has begun. All this will not be fulfilled until the seed dies, is buried and then grows fruit in abundance. His hour has therefore come.

Jesus saw himself as carrying out the role of the suffering servant you read about in Chapters 45-55 of Isaiah: “through his stripes” the redemption of the world takes place. For it will be through his death that life-life in abundance will come to those who believe and wish to see him as the Greeks did in today’s story.

Verse 27 is like the story of Gethsemane in miniature. He does not choose suffering but in obedience to his Father, in obedience to his calling in life he accepts the suffering he will endure for the hope, healing and life of all humanity. As he is raised on the cross others will be drawn to it and therefore back to God.

Reflection:

· The word glory implies weightiness and splendor. But wherein lays Jesus’ glory? Someone who dunks the winning basket of a basketball game has glory. But Jesus speaks of the glory of god not being found in his exaltation but in his humiliation. How do you make sense of this? · Gerard Manley Hopkins in one of his poems says: “The just man justices, keeps grace . . . acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is-Christ who plays in ten thousand places lovely in eyes not his. To the Father, through the features of men’s faces.” Do you seek the face of Christ in the world? In your neighbor? In yourself?

· Are you afraid to bear the fruit that is your vocation and your potential as a Christian? Do you let your doubts about your own self-worth or abilities tie you down? Why not trust Jesus and just do it knowing that if you fall/fail, you will fall into the loving arms of Jesus?

Prayer:

Lord, Jesus had to die in order to gain victory over death. His giving totally of himself on the cross frees us up from the power of sin to faithfully follow him and invite others to do the same. Help us through the power of the Holy Spirit to let g and let you take control, O God. Help us experience the joy of living fruitful lives in the name of Jesus as we share in the building of the kingdom. In his name we pray. Amen.

God Alive Column (Vaughan and King weeklies) March 29, 2006

2006-03-29T05:22:00.000-08:00

Christian Peace Makers and What it Means to Pick Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus

Over the past few days most Canadians shared in the joy of Christian Peacemaker Team members Canadians Harmeet Singh Sooden, Jim Loney, and Britain Norman Kember and their families. These three devout Christians were freed by their captors after four harrowing months of imprisonment in Iraq. We rejoice with them in their release and share their grief for fellow team member Tom Fox who was murdered earlier.

Still, many folks consider what they did, albeit well intentioned, as misguided and nothing but a side show that puts American, British and other coalition forces in Iraq in just one more dangerous situation. As reported in the Toronto Star, someone from Cardiff, Wales griped "These individuals should be billed for the expenses they have caused . . . . They elected to place their lives at risk."
But "to get in the way," as the CPT website puts it — is precisely the goal of the Peacemaker movement. Doug Pritchard, co-director of the Peacemakers' worldwide organization says it's the essence of the Peacemakers' work to be in war zones, even though diplomats and military authorities urge them to leave. "Every single place we work is said to be not fit for Canadians," he says.

They are not alone in this. There's a long history of churches and people illuminated by religious faith putting themselves in dangerous places and providing, by their presence, an alternative to war. "As Christians,” Christian Peacemaker Janet Plenert says, “. . . we have to be as ready to suffer for our beliefs as soldiers do. . . . We have to be willing to pay a heavy price for peace."

She does admit that without the perspective of faith, it's easy to think of their efforts as naïve, as if they are amateurs.

But their mission in Iraq has been effective. They reported from Falluja during the American offensive there, where few foreign reporters were present, and documented the detention of 72 Iraqis by American forces, and the effect of this on the Iraqis’ families. They have helped train Muslim Peacemaker teams and they provide information to the United Nations and other organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch that do not have a permanent presence in Iraq.

For example, based on Peacemaker provided information, Amnesty highlighted as an urgent case the plight of three Palestinian brothers tortured while held in detention by Iraqis.

But why do they risk their lives with such reckless generosity? Quite simply, they throw themselves between opposing armies because they are Christians. They have taken Christ’s personal call to them to deny themselves and pick up their respect crosses and follow him (Mark 8:34).

The cross Jesus commands the faithful disciple to pick up is not to merely accept their particular lot in life or their infirmities. Rather, the cross Jesus refers to is to go wherever being faithful to him leads, and to do what is right according to his teachings, whatever the consequences.

Does this mean that all Christians are called to risk their lives in such a radical fashion as Jim Loney did? No, and the Christian Peacemaker Team members would be the first to stress this. They arrived at the decision to do what they do through much prayer, mutual discernment with religious guides and loved ones.

What their witness does challenge Christians such as myself is to be faithful and to prayerfully reflect on what faithful obedience to Christ means in my particular circumstance. To be a faithful follower of Jesus means to walk the journey of life in his footsteps; as individuals and as Christian community we continually seek his way, his truth and his life. If that means to take a risk or to give up something, or to take an unpopular stand, then that is what being faithful to Christ means to me or you at this particular point in my/your life.

The lyrics of a contemporary Christian hymn reminds us, when we take a stand for what we know is right, we become a point of light that guides others to do the same. The witness of Jim Loney and the rest of his fellow team mates is a beacon of Christ filled light for all of us. May we too be faithful points of light for others.

The Cyber Vitamin March 29, 2006

2006-03-29T05:21:00.000-08:00

The Cyber Vitamin
March 29, 2006

Read: Psalm 51

The Story:

This psalm one of the best known of the penitential psalms, expressing the amazing promise God has made. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. No matter what trouble we get in or sin we commit if we turn to God in authentic repentance God will forgive and forget whatever we have done or haven’t done.

But there is more: if we turn to God we will not only be forgiven but God will transform our hearts and cleanse us and provide us with guidance and hope to help steer us clear of repeating the same old sins again and again.

Sin turns us in on ourselves and cuts us off from God and authentic relationships with one another. And nothing is to be feared more than to be isolated from God’s love. Tradition tells us that this psalm was written by David after his confrontation by the prophet Nathan over his seduction of Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah. King David rightly felt filthy and cried out to God for cleansing.

As Christians we see baptism as the way we are cleansed as we enter the waters of God’s grace and mercy. A key theme in this psalm for all of us is the psalmist’s knowledge that the first step to being cleansed in to acknowledge that we are dirty. All of us need cleansing.

Reflection:

· God never gives up on us, no matter what we have done or haven’t done. Do you believe this? Or do you write yourself or others off because of your/their sinfulness?

· God creates us to share God’s love and life. When we sin we cut ourselves off from divine love and life? Do you realize that sin, as well as leading to inevitable consequences for us, also hurts God? For if God truly loves us, how could this be otherwise?

· All have fallen short. We all need help. We need God. Do you accept this? Or do you try to make it on your own?

Prayer:

Come, O God. We need your help. We need your correction. We need your guidance. Out of your love help us. Help us, O Holy One. Amen

The Cyber Vitamin March 28, 2006

2006-03-29T04:16:00.000-08:00

The Cyber Vitamin

March 28, 2006

Read: Hebrews 5:5-10
The Story:

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews is attempting to help early Christians reconcile their attachment to, and the lure of the Jewish tradition, with their faith in the power of God unleashed by the death and resurrection of Jesus. It was also written to reassure those who were being persecuted for their faith. The letter portrays Jesus’ fulfillment of the scriptures as establishing him as the true and greatest high priest of all.

First it is established that Jesus was appointed by God (verse 5). Second in identifying his priesthood with the mysterious Old Testament figure of Melchizedek (a mysterious figure of whom we know very little-see Psalm 110 verse 4 and Genesis 14) who blessed Abraham, the uniqueness of Christ’s priesthood is established. Third, part of the role of the high priest in the Hebrew tradition was to identify with the people and to represent their interests before God as Moses did. In addition the priest must have come from the people. In showing that Jesus suffered as we do and more, his being one with us; someone who can empathize with us, understand us is established. The writer has thus made clear that Jesus knows what it means to be human and therefore is the perfect high priest.

Fourth, for the Jews, the high priest was the only one who could enter into the holy of holies (the inner place of sacrifice in the temple) which he did once a year on the Day of Atonement to make sacrifice for the sins of the people and his own. In this Letter we are told that in sacrificing his own life Christ has offered eternal salvation for all and that there is no more need for any more sacrifices of atonement. Now, through the sacrifice of his own life, "eternal salvation" is offered to all.In other words, God has done for us in Jesus what was promised - we are given us a new heart, a way back to God, not based on our perfect obedience, which we could not give, but on the perfect obedience of Christ himself. God has done for us in Christ what we could not do for ourselves and made the covenant between God and humankind secure.

Reflection:

• In Colossian 1:15 and 1:19 we are told that in Jesus we encounter the fullness of God in human form. That is, as much as we can know about God as human beings, we come face to face with in our relationship with Jesus Christ. Our reading from the Letter to the Hebrews today tells us that our one and only mediator between ourselves and God is Christ. Do you accept that Jesus is your one and only mediator with God?

• For the Christian, then, we come to know God through our relationship of faith with Jesus. It is through God’s love in Jesus and our response to that love that we connect, to use contemporary parlance, with God. This means that our personal relationship with Christ is crucial. Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus? Is he your high priest? Do you stake your purpose in life on that relationship?

• Christ was obedient even unto death. He was able to keep his focus and keep the big picture in mind no matter what happened to him, knowing that God was responding to his prayers in God’s own way and God’s own time. Do you pray for such patience? Do you listen –create quiet moments for yourself amidst the toil and trouble of the everyday to allow the Holy Spirit into your heart to provide the comfort and the guidance you need?

Prayer:

Jesus prayerful and obedient following Your will for him, even when it led to suffering and teaches us much, O God. We know that Christ has shared in our human experience completely. He has led the way to our salvation. He became the atoning sacrifice for our sins and, by doing so, became our source of eternal salvation. Help us to be faithful followers of our high priest-our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin March 27, 2006

2006-03-27T04:41:00.000-08:00

The Cyber Vitamin
March 27, 2006

Read: Jeremiah 31:31-34

The Story:

Jeremiah paints an unbelievable future of hope for the Israelites returning home. In the midst of almost total destruction-their homes destroyed, families torn apart and loved ones lost he preaches a message of hope. God had been faithful to God’s covenant made with them at Mount Sinai but they had not held up their part of the bargain.

Now, Jeremiah claims, there will be something new. Knowledge and understanding of God’s ways and God’s love will be placed in their hearts. In doing so he proclaims the eternal love story of God never tiring of trying to reach out to us, to call us back into relationship. Yes, the people have fallen flat on their faces. Their right relationship with God is about to be restored again but in a new way as God takes the initiative based on grace and forgiveness.

As Christians we believe this promise is ultimately fulfilled in the life of Christ. In Christ God has done what human heart and the commandments could not do. In Christ, God’s own life is poured out on the cross out of pure love for us. The pierced heart of Jesus shows us his perfect obedience and love for God and offers us the forgiveness we need for our failure to love and serve God. More, this outpouring of divine love gives us the power to receive new hearts, ones growing, hungering daily to know, love, and serve God.

Reflection:

- There is a line in one of John Keats’s poems that is the climax of a surge of images depicting the brambles and the nooks and crannies and mountains traversed and struggled through looking for truth for meaning in life. Then the lines come: “Then I stopped and I wondered. And I wondered. I stopped and I wondered.” The poet had realized that the truth and meaning was right there, in his own heart. Have you come to the same realization?

- Someone once said that men or women don’t grow very tall, at the most not much more than seven feet, but they are miles deep. Have you realized that the very Spirit of God groans out from the very depth of your heart? Christ’s passion and resurrection has unleashed the very life of God into all of creation. “Be still and know that I am God,” the psalmist says. Do you give yourself the time for such stillness so as to discern the law of God, the love of God woven into what powers your very heartbeat?

Prayer:

It is amazing and awesome and absolutely wonderful, O God. Your amazing truth is written on every human heart. Your have fulfilled Your promise to forgive and forget our sins and transgressions. The Good News today is that our hope lives among us, in our hearts and in our love for You, O Holy One. We believe. We Repent. We rejoice in Your amazing love revealed in Jesus. Thank you Lord. Thank you. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin March 24, 2006

2006-03-24T05:32:00.000-08:00

The Cyber Vitamin
March 24, 2006
Week End Reflection
Numbers 21:4-9, Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22, Ephesians 2:1-10, John 3:14-21

The reading from Numbers remind us of the consequences of separating ourselves from God’s ways and secondly, of God’s desire to love us, to heal us and to redeem us. All is required of us is repentance-a turning around-a letting go of our ways for God’s ways.

In the passage from Ephesians Paul highlights the mystery and wonder of the Christian life: it is through the gift of faith that we come together through our common belief in Jesus Christ. When we say Yes! to Jesus he redeems us “through his wounds,” and fills us with the power and the joy to praise him and spread the Good News.

Again, we find in Psalm 107 the message of both our dependency and our salvation as coming from God as we turn from our sinful ways. In turn our redemption empowers us to carry God’s message, the message of our redemption to others.

The cross is the symbol of the mystery of our redemption. This mystery has to be experienced to be understood. John’s Gospel tells us that at the same time this experience of reconciliation and forgiveness through the very heart of God being opened up on the cross is available to each and every human being.

Prayer:
Lord, there is much darkness in our world, and even within our own hearts. There are wars and calamities and innocent life being snuffed out minute by minute. Yet in the midst of the darkness the light of Christ breaks out. A sparkle in the darkness can always be found. For Christ is light in our darkest places. He is love in our places of hate. He is life in our places of death. Nothing can separate us, as Paul says, from Your love in Christ Jesus. Help us to be candles of Christ’s life, Christ’s love, Christ’s light in this broken world in which we live. In His name we pray. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin March 23, 2006

2006-03-23T04:58:00.000-08:00

The Cyber Vitamin

March 23, 2006

Read: John 3:14-21

The Story:

The Gospel in miniature is brought close here: God loves, God forgives, and God provides us life. All we have to do is remember and believe in that man from Galilee that was lifted up on the cross. Just as the bronze serpent lifted up brought healing and life those who believe in Him will receive the fullness of life-eternal life.

Just as we are healed from snakebite by being given more venom as an antidote, that terrible instrument of death-the cross-becomes the source of life. Crucifixion of an innocent man which is the fullest expression of human sin becomes the crack through the fullness of God’s love erupts into the world and we are redeemed. The logic of love streams from the folly of the cross. As we are told in 1Peter: "by his wounds you have been healed" (1 Peter 2:24).

Reflection:

• Have you experienced Jesus’ tender touch in your life? In other words have you experienced God’s healing power in Jesus? When you see the cross do you remember, do you celebrate, and do you believe?

• Are there areas of darkness in your life that you are not yet willing to surrender to Christ? Are there people in your life that you have written off? What can you do to spark a little light in this darkness?

Prayer:
Lord, we have decided to follow Jesus. In, through and with Him you have shone the light of eternal life into our world and into our lives. We will follow him wherever He leads us so we can be candles bearing His light to others. Thank you Lord. Thank you. Amen.

God Alive Column (Vaughan and King weeklies) March 21, 2006

2006-03-23T04:53:00.000-08:00

The Holiday of Purim: Providence, Courage, Wisdom and a Whole Lot of Fun

Last Monday night and all day Tuesday (March 13th and 14th) , the Jewish people of Vaughan, along with their sisters and brothers all over the world, celebrated Purim, one of the most joyous and fun holidays on the Jewish calendar.

The story of Purim is told in the book of Esther, part of the Ketubim or Writings found in the Hebrew canon. Esther is the fascinating tale of how through the courageous efforts of Esther, a beautiful young Jewish woman living in Persia, and the wisdom of her cousin Mordecai, who raised her as his daughter, Jews throughout the Fifth Century B.C.E. Persian Empire are saved from a subtly planned anti-Semitic pogrom, with the result that henceforth all Jews must celebrate that deliverance on fourteenth day of Adar in the Jewish calendar.

Esther , intitially taken by the King, Xerxes 1, to be part of his harem, captivated him so completely so that he loved her more than any other woman and made her Queen. Unbeknownst to the King, she was a Jew, a fact that Mordecai had told her not to reveal.
Enter front stage the villain of the story -Haman, an arrogant, egotistical advisor to the king. Haman hated Mordecai because Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman, so Haman plotted to destroy the Jewish people. In a speech that is all too familiar to Jews, Haman told the king, "There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from those of every people; neither keep they the king's laws; therefore it does not profit the king to suffer them." (Esther 3:8). The king gave the fate of the Jewish people to Haman, to do as he pleased to them. Haman planned to exterminate all of the Jews.

Mordecai persuaded Esther to speak to the king on behalf of the Jewish people. This was a dangerous thing for Esther to do, because anyone who came into the king's presence without being summoned could be put to death, and she had not been summoned. Esther fasted for three days to prepare herself, then went into the king. He welcomed her. Later, she told him of Haman's plot against her people. The Jewish people were saved, and Haman was hanged on the gallows that had been prepared for Mordecai.

What is interesting about the book of Esther is that it includes virtually no reference to God. The message the story seems to be telling is that God provides for God’s people in ways that are not apparent, in ways that appear to be chance, coincidence or ordinary good luck.
The 14th of Adar is the day that Haman chose for the extermination of the Jews, while “Purim” means “Lots” and refers to the lottery that Haman used to choose the date for the massacre (Esther 3:7).

If you had had the privilege to be at the service at one of the local synagogues last Monday night, as the scroll or Megillah of Esther was read (the primary commandment for this celebration), your would have heard the customary hissing, booing, stamping of feet and rattle gragers (noisemakers) whenever the name of Haman is mentioned in the service. The intent of this custom, of course, is to "blot out the name of Haman."

According to their tradition Jewish folk are also commanded to eat, drink and be merry. According to the Talmud, a person is required to drink until he cannot tell the difference between "cursed be Haman" and "blessed be Mordecai," though opinions differ as to exactly how drunk that is.

In addition, they send out gifts of food or drink, and to make gifts to charity. The sending of gifts of food and drink is referred to as shalach manos (lit. sending out portions). Among Ashkenazic Jews, a common treat at this time of year is hamentaschen (lit. Haman's pockets). These triangular fruit-filled cookies are supposed to represent Haman's three-cornered hat.
Custom dictates the holding of carnival-like celebrations on Purim, to perform plays and parodies, and to hold beauty contests. Work is permitted as usual on Purim, unless of course it falls on a Saturday.

The story and feast communicate a strong sense of God’s providential love and care. It inspires all who listen carefully to live courageously and act wisely so they can do their part to reverse ill fortunes that beset individuals or their people.

the Cyber Vitamin March 22, 2006

2006-03-22T04:35:00.000-08:00

The Cyber Vitamin
March 22, 2006

Read: Psalm 107: 1-3, 17-22

The Story:

Psalm 107 is a joyous song of thanksgiving reminding us that thankfulness to God should always be on our lips and in our hearts. Unlike their backsliding ancestors, the psalmist calls upon his listeners to have faith and to proclaim with thanksgiving to the world everything that God has done for them.

The words, the rhyme and the meaning of this psalm invite us to think back over our lives to how good God has been to us. Remember and give thanks for those times when we were hungry, lost, afraid, sick, friendless, when in the midst of our despair we discovered that God was there helping us find a way. We rebel. We get in trouble. We cry for help. God listens. We are saved. This is God’s pattern for our redemption that always has been available to us. The psalmist, then, urges us to remember God's goodness, to give thanks, and to have faith when the tough times come again. God creates, heals, and saves.

And what are we to do in response? Quite simply, we are to live lives of rejoicing and tell the world of God’s glory.

Reflection:

· Have you ever stopped and wondered, and reflected upon and felt with humble gratitude for all God has done for you? Do you see how important it is to share this wondrous thanksgiving with others?

· Does the pattern of redemption mentioned above-rebellion-trouble-cry out-God listens-we are saved indicate that God is like the 911 emergency line and nothing much else?

Prayer:
Lord, You promise us through Your Word today that no matter how extreme our distress or sin, You are able to reach through the darkness to help us. We give you thanks and will joyfully share the Good News of Jesus Christ. We will depend upon him as He leads us into a new way of life: the life in Your kingdom where peace and love and wholeness for all humanity prevails. May praise of you be always on our lips, O God of our redemption. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin March 21, 2006

2006-03-21T11:32:00.000-08:00

Cyber VitaminMarch 21, 2006

Read Ephesians 2:1-10

The Story:

Here we have Paul speaking on a topic most dear to him: the grace of God that has come to us in Christ Jesus. Grace is unmerited and amazing and freely given: it is God’s favorable inclination toward us. It not something we can earn by doing good or obeying the rules. We can only respond with a yes through faith which itself is God’s gift to us. Because of what God has done, because of God’s unconditional acceptance of us, we can freely accept this acceptance.

This is the amazing grace that God has promised and that God delivers in Christ - love, forgiveness, abundant and eternal life. Trust God and let go into this kingdom, this way of life that is opened up to us as followers of Jesus Christ. Because of what God has done and of this grace- God’s favorable inclination toward us we can believe and love with all our hearts and minds and strength and with grateful hearts give glory to God with our good works-our loving service to others.

Reflection:

· Do you accept the notion of being saved by grace alone? Or do you feel you can pull yourself by your own bootstraps? Do you accept that you do need help, that you do need God and that God accepts you just the way you are and so much wants to be part of your life?

· Why, truthfully, do you help others? When you help others how do you feel? How do you think God responds to your good works?

Prayer:
Lord, you created us to serve others. This is our purpose and through our belief in Christ, all things become possible. We serve not to earn salvation, because Christ is our pathway to salvation and there is nothing we can do to earn that salvation. But in accepting us with love You make it possible for us to become the loving healing arms of Christ to everyone we meet. Help us serve others Lord. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin March 20, 2006

2006-03-20T12:19:00.000-08:00

The Cyber Vitamin
Monday March 20, 2006
Read: Numbers: 21:4-9

The Story:

The story is simple but its theological implications are not. The Lord had
delivered them from slavery and not only that, God provided their daily food.
Still, they murmur and cry out to God again, complaining about the Manna was
providing to allow them to survive in the desert. So God punishes them for
their lack of faith, they turn to Moses to intercede to God asking forgiveness
and to save them from the snakes’ venom. God responds, not by removing the
danger of the fiery serpents but by providing a symbol that when seen in faith
would save them from the venom coursing through their veins.

Does this mean that suffering human beings endure, comes as punishment from
God? There is a tradition in the Bible that says that, but life is more
complicated than that, isn’t it? The sunshine and the rain falls on the good
and the bad alike, doesn’t it? And have you ever wondered how God feels about
every bad thing happening to people being blamed on God?

We can look at our story and say that their suffering did strengthen their
faith by having them place themselves in God’s hands again. Often, it’s only
when we are almost to our last gasp that we realize that loves us, right in the
midst of our suffering, and so we turn to God.

This is not always the case. Suffering can lead some people, overcome by their
pain, to hate and blame God for everything. This is tragic because this hate
drives them away from the church community that could actually provide solace
and comfort and help them find the healing they seek.

Key to remember as we reflect upon the mystery of suffering and God’s grace is
that life is a mix of good time and bad times, of agony and ecstasy. The
question of faith is how do we respond to the cards we are dealt? Our biblical
faith offers us the way of trust and thankfulness but we have the free will to
decide that our destiny is completely in our own hands and we don’t need God at
all.

Reflection:
• Have you had times where you have strayed from God’s ways? Has it been a
matter of taking God for granted? Or do you feel God has somehow betrayed you?
What can you do to turn this drift toward unfaithfulness around?

• Have you ever tried to cultivate an attitude of gratitude? That you can see,
walk, talk, have a home, a family, a job, etc., etc.? Or, is you glass always
half empty?

• Have you realized that on the cross Jesus gave completely of himself so that
the venom of sin could no longer poison your life? Do you realize that to gain
access to this antidote for sin that flows from the folly of the cross that you
simply have to believe in Him?

Prayer:
Lord, You know that we can grow impatient and that discontentment frequently
will seep into our hearts. We know we hurt you when we complain about our
lives you have gifted us with. The venom of sin creates a large chasm between
us and the salvation You offer us. The cross of Jesus Christ is our healing
symbol. Help us to that symbol always. Help us Lord. Amen.

Why Jesus? Sermon for March 19, 2006

2006-03-20T12:14:00.000-08:00

Last week we discussed the Biblical story that spans creation to the end time. I stated that when we reach the New Testament we do not encounter a new God or a new story line. We continue to meet a God who loves us unconditionally, as God has loved us from the beginning; a God who is hurt and sad when we rebel against God’s ways and experience judgment-the consequences of such rebellion; a God who comes to us in our brokenness and provides new beginning after new beginning for us. But now we come face to face with the New Beginning which is the beginning and the end: we come face to face with Jesus Christ. The New Testament tells us how he handles the Bible story-how he reinterprets it and redefines it. But Why Jesus?

To many people, we would like to see join us, hasn’t the name itself become a turnoff. Even though current estimates tell us that only 25% of Canadians attend Church services at all, you still hear the name Jesus all over the place. You turn on the tv or radio and some evangelist or other is intoning that name. I even find the way they say it maddening, Geezus- as if the very syllables had some magic power to reach out and take you by the throat. In other words they identify the name Jesus with the religious right in the US and in this country.

Besides, isn’t it rather strange associating God (I mean God!) with a person who not only lived so long ago but for all intents and purposes was a loser? Dead at thirty something? Rejected by nearly everybody, even his followers? Crying out in pain and loneliness from his cross? Isn’t that a contradiction about everything we‘ve been taught to think about God.

It’s certainly contrary to everything our society tells us we should aim for ourselves: success, happiness, meaningful relationships, living full, healthy lives and a peaceful death at a ripe old age-oh, as old as possible! Why sort of model for human life is this Jesus, anyway?

Still, at the centre of our faith is the person named Jesus whose followers insisted right from the beginning was a fully human being, just as we are, but who puts us in touch with God in a way that is unique to our experience. So, why do we have to be put in touch with God. Well, personally, for example when I left the church behind in my teen years it wasn’t based on a decision that God didn’t exist or that I didn’t know whether God existed or not. But like so many people today, I lived as if God was absent from my life. And even when people move away from this “without Godism” kind of life- as we grow less confident of our human ability to solve all our problems and become more open to god talk and spirituality -we then have to confront an even bigger question. What kind of God do we believe in? Because the God we believe in makes all the difference in the world.

Some of the gods people believe in are harmless enough. But think of Jonestown, or Waco Texas, or Heavens Gate. Or think about the Gods that sanction racism and sexism and war. Think of the Gods that make people so other worldly that they are no earthly good. Which is unfortunately what much of the Christianity on this continent amounts to today. What exactly do you mean by God?

Theologian Douglas Hall tells the story of a young woman full of enthusiasm for life, and imagination and daring. She had a special sort of feeling for little kids, probably because she was never very far away from her own rather happy childhood. Then one day she gave birth to a baby of her own. As Hall observed her over the space of a year or so, he noticed her rise to a new level of human awareness and involvement. It was sometimes painful: she would cry when she saw or read about children being treated improperly and she often worried about the kind of world her little Susan was growing up in. At the same time, with all pain and the responsibility of parenthood, she was no longer living a couple of feet off the ground with her youthful idealism and enthusiasm. Whenever she was tempted to think too high or too low about life she would tell herself “I have a baby.” Through this little child she acquired worldly roots and a sense of responsibility for the future of all boys and girls and year dogs and cats and plants. Her passion for all of life had become seasoned and changed and deepened by her particular relationship with her child.

You can talk about God all you want. But until you experience God in a particular way, all the talk doesn’t mean much. Its up there, or at best in here. It doesn’t touch where it counts. Martin Luther once said “The Gospel is nothing other that the story of God’s little son and of his humbling.” If you become caught up in this story, as the young woman became caught up in the life of her child, you will experience a new level of commitment to life that some vague talk of God cannot touch.

Why Jesus? In Jesus, we encounter a God, willing out of love for us, willing to become one with us; in Jesus to be identified with the powerless and inglorious of this world. This is not a God whose main object is to fashion morally and spiritually superior types. Indeed, Jesus’ greatest quarrel-greater even than his quarrel with the religious and political powers of his context- was with his contemporaries who felt they were honouring God by making themselves out to be morally superior types. Jesus not only criticizes such pretentiousness, but goes out of his way to associate with the reputedly bad people- foreigners, adulterers, leper and so on. In everything Jesus says and does he makes it plain that the God who calls us into relationship through him is not interested in outward acts of moral uprightness but in the motives for our allegedly good behaviour and our capacity to love others. That is to love them, not merely condescend to them; and to love them, rather than just loving ourselves for seeming to love hem.

But Jesus also makes clear that the God revealed in his life, death and resurrection is not a God who gives us an excuse for anything goes. Because the essence of discipleship is loving, as we have been loved, it is much more demanding than doing good deeds, or just being nice.
The God we encounter through the gift of faith in Jesus Christ, then, calls us to nothing less than to live the generosity and forgiveness and compassion of a God whose heart was opened up on the cross for us. This God that Jesus makes known to us is an inclusive God who does not insist that everybody who wants to be saved has got to accept the Christian faith, be baptized, and say the words Lord and saviour, and of course Jesus, as often as possible. Jesus was a real person. As a person, like all persons, he can never be fully known by us. Remember too, Jesus emptied himself. And never boasted of his divinity. Throughout the New Testament witness Jesus is adamant that he does not wish to be considered, as it were, all the God of God there is. That is why he addresses God as Abba, or father to whom, as a faithful Jew he prays and whose will he struggles to obey and understand. Even if obedience means losing his own life, which in the end it did.

Jesus is the why and the way of our Christian faith. In being God with us Jesus does not cut us off from others; our Moslem and Jewish and Sik and Hindu brothers and sisters who do not confess him as saviour and Lord. His commandment to love others as he loves us, especially those different than us, and away from our natural tendencies to distrust those different than us.

Why Jesus? Because in, with and through him we say yes to a God who becomes human so that humans can become one with God. We can't fully get a handle on it. We can only say yes, Lord, oh yes! Why Jesus? We can only say yes, Lord, oh yes.!

The Cyber Vitamin March 17, 2006

2006-03-17T04:43:00.000-08:00

The Cyber Vitamin
March 17, 2006

Exodus 20:1-17

Psalm 19

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

John 2:13-22

Week End Meditation

The Ten Commandments express a way of life, if adhered to, that can lead to the realization of the highest aspirations of humankind. Still, we have never been able to fully follow them. Our hope and our faithful reality is that in, through and with the Risen Christ among these laws of love and compassion will be realized in our relationship with God and our common life together.

In Christ God’s wisdom becomes available to us; a wisdom that only becomes seen and understood through the eyes of faith-- “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life."

Day onto day, God’s handiwork is available to all speaking volumes and teaching of God’s glory. In turn, through the law or the Torah which means "instructions" or "teachings." has provided for our spiritual needs as well

Jesus was a zealot in the sense of always pushing God’s agenda, no matter what the cost? Are you equally as passionate about bringing the truth of God into the lives you touch? Do you act out of a desire to build God’s kingdom in all that you do? Are your ready to speak truth to power?

Prayer:
All mighty and all merciful God, we are messy and streaky people who fall short and fail you at every turn. You have given us guidelines but we rebel against them and seek instead to build security and comfort and honour for ourselves. We need your help: the help of Your Spirit to dwell within us and among us to lead us in your way and to see your presence in the totality of our daily lives. Only through the life, death and resurrection of your Son, our Lord, do we find our way to journey back home to you. Help us Lord. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin March 16, 2006

2006-03-16T05:43:00.000-08:00

The Cyber Vitamin

March 16, 2006

Read: John 2:13-22

The Story:

The Passover celebration took place every year at the temple in Jerusalem and every Jewish male was expected to make the journey to Jerusalem at least once in his lifetime. At the temple they were to pay a Temple tax, to be paid only in Jewish currency (hence the money changers), as well as make animal sacrifices. The temple insiders were making a lot of money on these transactions and Jesus indicates his feeling that they had turned the Temple in to a den of thieves. The whole reason for Passover had been lost in the sounds of coins and animals. The Passover and the pilgrims, amidst the ruckus of a marketplace were being exploited and Jesus had taken all of it he could stand.

Reflection:

In our reading, Jesus expresses and acts out of justifiable anger. Are there situations where you have the authority to act in the same manner? Or should you respond to injustice as Jesus has taught us: with love and peaceful intent? Do you see how anger and righteous indignation, not matter how justified, can turn into a self-righteous rant? Remember Jesus acted out of God’s authority? Has such authority been given to anyone other than Jesus?

Jesus was a zealot in the sense of always pushing God’s agenda, no matter what the cost? Are you equally as passionate about bringing the truth of God into the lives you touch? Do you act out of a desire to build God’s kingdom in all that you do? Are your ready to speak truth to power?

What Lenten house cleaning do we as a church community have to do? What personal house cleaning have you been putting off?

Prayer:
Lord, when Jesus comes into our lives He will overturn and drive out practices and habits that are not conducive to receiving His grace and love. We are not allowed to continue "business as usual" once we accept Him as our Savior. Dramatic change will occur in our hearts and in our lives. This is His promise of salvation. We say yes to this promise Lord. Come Lord Jesus. Come. Amen.

God Alive Column (Vaughan and King weeklies) March 15, 2006

2006-03-15T04:59:00.000-08:00

What God Gives Up for Lent

We are now in the second week of Lent, and as a Christian and as someone who writes on God alive in various faith traditions, I would be remiss if I didn’t dedicate one column on the experience of the Lenten season.

For some Lent is seen as a time to swear off the smokes or to lose a kilo or two; or maybe it doesn’t mean anything to you at all. Actually Lent is a wonderful time in the church year for the Christian to grow more deeply in their identity in Christ; a time for believers to set aside to share more deeply in the dying and rising of Jesus during Good Friday and Easter.

As human beings we are all tempted to escape, look good, and do whatever feels good without facing the consequences. The problem is that the real keeps breaking into our illusions. Life is not a video game. Life is not one big happy feeling. It’s a blend of joy and love, peace and sadness, good times and painful moments, times of acceptance and achievement, of rejections and reversals, of excitement and dull gray days. To live in the real is an art which entails hard work and humour, patience and perseverance, compassion and courage, wariness and risk taking.

Lent is a time to bulk up our ‘living in the real muscles”. The season of Lent is a gift of the church year which offers us a vivid reminder of what living in the real is all about. It is a time to zoom in on where our lives are going; to ask ourselves do we even have an inkling what God is calling us to do, and if so, how we are responding to this call.

It is a time for when Christians are confronted again with the challenge Jesus issues to those who would follow him: either buy the whole package, or forget it. He invites you to believe that he is the way to freedom, to fulfillment of personhood, to true community and to communion with God. Of course you could buy instead the message in a car ad from years back that read “Buy a _____, the only car that can save your soul!” (Or a multitude of variations on the same theme floating around today). The decision is yours, and Lent reminds you decision time is now.

Two, not one foci, determine the shape of the Lenten Season: a focus on the human condition and it deadly consequences for the individual and society, and a focus on the new possibilities offered us in the new creation inaugurated in Christ.

The word repentance is a word you hear about during Lent. Now true repentance does not result from fear of a no nonsense God who is warning you to stop your slip ups or face terrifying consequences. True repentance, which is the fruit of this season for the Christian, is a turning around, by God’s grace, and heading in a new direction. Authentic repentance is our individual human response to a God so wonderfully loving that we despair of all the ways we have betrayed that love in our present way of life.

True Christian repentance is a grateful response with our lives to the grace of God’s love, love that is the white light that penetrates our façade; love that is the searing heat which burns away our sinfulness.

It is not what the Christian gives up for Lent which is the nub of these forty days of devotion and discipline. What God gives up for Lent is at the heart of this wonderful season: the giving up of God’s life on the cross-the logic of love flowing from the folly of the cross.

The Lenten practices of prayer, fasting and giving to the poor during Lent have but one goal: to reinforce with the believer’s heart Paul’s conviction expressed in The Letter to the Galatians 2:20 in the Christian bible: “I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the lives I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” This is what God gives up for Lent so we might truly live. May you all be blessed with such life.

The Cyber Vitamin March 15, 2006

2006-03-15T04:50:00.000-08:00

The Cyber Vitamin

March 15, 2006

Read: Psalm 19

The Story:

In beautiful lyrical style (Read the King James version in particular), the psalmist proclaims that nature, God’s creation, reveals God, but that God's even more revealed through the Law-the way of life offered to the faithful Jew as described in the first five books of the Bible.Like a wondrous choir, nature is constantly proclaiming and teaching us of God’s magnificence and power and giving us a palpable sense of God’s presence.

Day onto day, God’s handiwork is available to all speaking volumes and teaching of God’s glory.In turn, through the law or the Torah which means "instructions" or "teachings." has provided for our spiritual needs as well (verses 7-11).

As Christians we have been gifted with even more: God reveals Godself supremely in the Word made flesh-Jesus Christ, the one who brings light and life into our lives.

Reflection:

Do you give yourself a break to smell the flowers- to stand back a bit and look and wonder at the world “charged with the glory of God? When you do so, are you drawn closer to God? Do you slow down for if you are like most of us you move too fast? Do you slow down and “make the morning last’?

As you open yourself more and more to God’s presence in the world, and as you surrender more and more to following God’s ways, do you recognize God’s presence in your daily life more frequently? Why not keep, if you don’t already, a journal recording your feelings and thoughts, and your experiences on the daily basis? If you do, I am sure you will find God’s footprints all over the place.

Prayer:

Creator of all, You do not hide from us. You are not far off from us, distant and uninvolved with our lives. No, You are here, revealed in Your creation, available through Your word, and active in our lives. At all times, even when we feel a distance between us, You promise to be there available to us to lift, inspire, comfort, and transform our lives. It is simply a matter of looking. Help us to look, O God. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin March 14, 2006

2006-03-14T05:04:00.000-08:00

The Cyber VitaminMarch 14, 2006

Read: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

The Story:

Corinth, during Paul’s time, was a cosmopolitan city, boasting the best (and the worst) of Greco-Roman culture. Oratory was highly esteemed in this culture and many learned teachers made their living by going from town to town to give lectures.

Paul also positions himself on the soap box, so to speak, in the town square. But he reminds them he has something more to offer them other than good (or bad) oratory. Paul’s message, delivered by using very fine oratorical skills by the way, is that human pride and arrogance which is built upon reliance on self and human reason, not on God will not ultimately lead to true wisdom. But instead, he offers what he has been given- God's true wisdom, which he shared with them in its simplicity, and that wisdom is Christ himself. The Jews looks to miracles and signs while they wait for the promised Messiah to free them from Roman rule, while the Greeks and Romans focus on human wisdom and debate in an attempt to explain God. Paul instead proclaims Christ and him crucified as the wisdom of God and the way to God.

That is the essence of his own faith and experience and he tells the Corinthians that faith and experience can be true for them also. The way to this wisdom of God is simple, but not easy: repent of our sins, and follow Jesus into a life of discipleship. Otherwise the Greeks and Jews are right and the message of the Cross is meaningless.

Reflection:

Like a speech you deliver, there is the God you would like to exist, there is the God you think you know and there is the God who is God. This God is a God we cannot fit into any of our own categories but continually must reshape our catagories and understanding to fit what God reveals of Godself and God's ways to us. God’s message to us is simple: Give praise and glory to me as you live your lives in loving service to others. And, through Jesus crucified and risen, you have been given the power to do just that. But instead of accepting this simple message of love, do you try and make God’s message and God’s plans to fit into your own set of bias and preconceived ideas?

If you look back in your life, has not your understanding of God changed? Doesn’t this show that we must never cease in our attempts to learn more about God and that our faith development is a life-long adventure?

Prayer:

God of our salvation, Your wisdom comes to us through the foolishness of the Cross. It is a foolishness to believe that You would send Your Son to live among us and then allow Him to be killed just so our sins could be forgiven. It is a foolishness to think that You, creator of the universe, would provide each us with the Holy Spirit to live in our hearts in order to help us grow closer to You. We are fools to believe that eternal life comes simply from our belief in Christ. It is foolishness and yet, the wisdom of all humanity cannot begin to comprehend the capacity of Your love. Help us Lord. Help us stop and tremble and wonder at the mystery of our faith. Help us say yes to this mystery of infinite love and living our lives by faithfully following Jesus into the depths of this mystery. In His name we pray. Amen

The Cyber Vitamin March 13, 2006

2006-03-13T04:27:00.000-08:00

The Cyber VitaminMarch 13, 2006

Read: Exodus 20:1-17

The Story:

You will find the Ten Commandments listed in only two places in the Bible - Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21. They are intended as general principles to govern the lives of the people in covenant with God.

This covenant has a definite form that is important to understand. It begins by stating who God is and what God has done for God’s people (verses 1+2). Because of what God has done, the people are commanded to respond by living according to the commandments. In other words we do not obey the commandments in order to earn God’s favour. Rather, we respond gratefully to God’s compassion and saving love by living according to God’s ways as our act of love for God.
The first four commandments provide guidelines with respect to our relationship with God (verse 3-11). The following six (verse 12-17), provide guidelines for our relationships with one another.

Addressed to both the individual and the community as a whole, they were intended to be carried in the heart by way of memory.

Reflection:

Do you see the commandments as a list of “shall not” intended to make you feel depressed when you fail to keep them? Or do they offer you a template for right and loving relationships with God and neighbour?

Do you realize the importance of putting God first in your life? Is time for God left for any time left after everything else is done? Or is your relationship with God at the center of your life; the center from which priorities and decisions regarding all other aspects of life are made?

Prayer:

Lord, your commandments do not bind us and restrict us but rather broaden our horizons by setting us free to live the life you created us to live. With you at the center of our lives, O Holy One, as we experience the completeness of your love, as we respond to your love with a faithful obedient life, all other aspects of life get ordered accordingly. Help us through faith in your Son Jesus Christ to live as you call us to live, so that Your promise of love, fulfillment, fruitfulness, and salvation will be the fact of our lives. Help us Lord. Amen.

The Bible Makes Sense (Sermon for March 12, 2005

2006-03-11T20:06:00.000-08:00

Sermon: The Bible Makes Sense
Readings: Genesis 12;1-3; Deuteronomy 4:5-8; Mark 8:31-38

(A)The wrong way to read the Bible or Why the Bible doesn’t make sense
Characters
Narrator 1Narrator 2
Narrator 1: You know, I’m feeling quite depressed at the moment, Mandy.
Narrator 2: I’m sorry to hear that Neil. You know what you really need to do is read the Bible. That always helps I find.
Narrator 1: Good idea. What do you suggest I read. There’s an awful lot of books in there.
Narrator 2: 66 actually.
Narrator 1: Well, there you are. It’s difficult to know which one will help me.
Narrator 2: I suppose it’s best to start at the beginning.
Narrator 1: What in Genesis. Well here goes (Opens book towards beginning) How about this –Genesis Chapter 30 verse 14. " During wheat harvest Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants which he brought to his mother Leah" Mm- I don’t know if that’s going to help me a lot.
Narrator 2: Well-the thing is – you have to meditate on it a lot. Really think about it.
Narrator 1: (Thinking hard) Err- it’s no good, Mandy. I keep thinking ‘What is a mandrake?’ Do you know?
Narrator 2: Err, well actually, - no. Perhaps you should try the New Testament. You know, starting from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Narrator 1: Right. What do you suggest?
Narrator 2: Oh, I don’t know –just open the page at random. See what you are led to.
Narrator 1: (Cautiously) Well I don’t know. All right here goes. Matthew chapter 27 verse 5. "Judas went away and hanged himself." That’s not terribly helpful. In fact it’s making me feel more depressed.
Narrator 2: Yes, but you really have to think deeply about it. Let’s write it down so you can. (Writes it down on OHP). Anyway it might only be part of God’s encouragement for you. Flip the Bible open at another page and see what you get.
Narrator 1: Well I don’t know. I’m not sure this is how you should read the Bible.
Narrator 2: It can’t be wrong. It is the Bible, after all.
Narrator 1: OK. Here goes. I’ll read it, you write it. Luke chapter 10 verse 37. " Jesus told him ‘ Go and do the same’" (Narrator 2 writes it down)
Narrator 2: Right – let’s see what God is telling you for your depression. (Reads it out)
Narrator 1: Great!

(B) How the Bible Actually Makes Sense

That brief leaf by chance through the Bible wasn’t very helpful was it? Nor is to attempt, as many of us have over the years, to just pick the Bible up on January 1st and with great resolve, read it through from cover to cover through the coming year. The resolve and the reading usually ends in a month on the outside, at the beginning of Leviticus, or if you are very tough, half way through the book of Numbers.

This has left many of us without any sense of the Bible as a whole. We know a few snatches of scripture here and there, like the 23rd psalm or the Sermon on the Mount, but are very hazy-if not completely ignorant-about the bigger story within which these favorite passages have their meaning. Today I offer you a way to stand back from the trees and get a look at the biblical forest as a whole.

For starters the Bible is not a collection of stories of so called heroes to imitate. If you read carefully, the only real hero you will find is Jesus. The Biblical characters are folks who lived their lives in particular cultures in particular times of history. They didn’t act in ways much different than anyone else in those times. Except, and this is what is important, as they went about their live they encountered God. Through these experiences of God the stories of their lives (both the good parts and the bad parts) become vehicles to pass on God’s message to us.
Our claim as Christians is that the bible contains the Word of God. In our everyday experience a “word” is a bridge of communication between persons. Likewise God’s Word is the medium of God’s communication to us. This does not mean the Bible contains the literal words of God taken down by human stenographers. Rather, within the Bible is disclosed the true meaning of personal life and history.

The biblical story runs from creation to the end-time, with Jesus at the center. The story line is a sequence of events through which is woven a series of key biblical themes. They are written by human beings who, inspired by God, wrote down their reflections on events, sometimes hundreds of years after those events had happened.

When we reach the New Testament we do not encounter a new God or a new story line. We continue to meet a God who loves us unconditionally, as God has loved us from the beginning; a God who is hurt and sad when we rebel against God’s ways and experience judgment-the consequences of such rebellion; a God who comes to us in our brokenness and provides new beginning after new beginning for us. But now we come face to face with the New Beginning which is the beginning and the end: we come face to face with Jesus Christ. The New Testament tells us how he handles the Bible story-how he reinterprets it and redefines it.

Right at the beginning many people run into a roadblock by trying to harmonize the accounts of creation in Genesis 1 and 2 with modern scientific theories. But Bible story addresses the question of why creation, not how it happened. The central issue in the Bible story is not how God did this or that but rather the origin, meaning and destiny of human life.

It would be helpful for us if we had in English two words that corresponded to the German Weltbild (world picture) and Weltanschaung (World perspective). The world picture in Genesis 1 is a naïve one, but reflects the understanding of the cosmos when it was written –about three thousand years ago: a picture of the earth as a flat surface, resting on primeval waters beneath the earth and separated from waters above the earth by a blue firmament. No matter how hard you try, you can’t harmonize this picture with the world picture we have today.

But the world perspective contained in this story tells us the meaning of human life as valid today as it was when it was written. The first creation story tells us that we human beings are able to survey and control nature, to search for the good, the true, and the beautiful, to remember the past, to hope for the future, and to decide in the present. This is why the creation story in Genesis 1 tells us we are made in the image of God. And last week Kirsty fleshed out for you some of what being made in that image means in terms of how we see ourselves and our fellow human beings.

The Bible story is of a good God who loves without beginning and end and creates a good universe and humanity to fulfill the divine plan and purpose. We are put on earth for a little time to know and praise God by serving God and one another. But humanity broke from this original plan of God. People rebelled-sinned and experienced the conflict, insecurity, anxiety, exploitation, suffering and death that is a consequence of such separation.

But God did not change. God acts in history to restore God’s original plan and calls Sara and Abraham to be the first of a people (the Jews) through which God’s original plan for humanity would be restored. Finally God unites the fullness of God’s life with humanity in Jesus Christ. Jesus lived the perfect servant life people were meant to live, and through his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead, provides us with the opportunity to be forgiven, to turn our lives around, pick up our own crosses and follow him. We too can now live as God intended us to live because Jesus lives among us through His Holy Spirit. The presence, power and guidance of the Spirit enables us to trust in God’s free and full forgiveness and live in obedience, love and integrity. Even death itself is not seen the ultimate enemy to be feared but a doorway to eternal life. For as we are told in the Bible, in the end, God will restore things to the way God intended them to be.

That’s a little peek at the biblical forest folks, with some tips on how to look at what you see there. It is that old, old story that makes us new everyday. In that story, we see the footprints of faith made by the feet of Abraham and Sarah, and all their children. We are given the power to walk in faith also. We too can place our trust wholly in God so that those coming behind us will find us faithful and join in on that old old story too. The bible makes sense. It is God’s gift to us. Say yes to this gift. Say yes.

The Cyber Vitamin March 8, 2006

2006-03-10T05:15:00.000-08:00

The Cyber Vitamin

March 8, 2006

Read: Romans 4:13-25

The Story:

God has poured out the fullness of God’s love for us through the death of Jesus on the cross. How should we respond to this gift beyond measure? Here Paul preaches that our response is to be faith.We are made right with or “justified” with God wholly through God’s favorable inclination toward us (grace). Just as Abraham was not made right with God because of his actions but rather by the fulfillment of the promises of God, promises which Abraham responded to in faith by saying yes to God’s command (Genesis 15:6) we are saved by our acceptance (faith) of God’s grace alone.

Through the same God with the same grace that poured blessing upon blessing on Sara and Abraham, we are justified by what God has done for us in the death and resurrection of Jesus and our acceptance of it in faith. Indeed, Paul seems to see God's promise to bless all nations through Abraham as now being fulfilled in the coming of Christ and in those, both Jews and Gentiles, whom respond in faith.

What is faith? For the Christian it comes down to trusting the God who makes such promises. It is trust that opens our minds to believe these promises and our hearts to receive this unconditional acceptance, even if even if it seems too good to be true. We believe in these promises which seem too good to be true because of who made them- God.

The heart of all of this is that God really does love us. God wishes more than anything to be at the center of our lives and has never ceased in expressing this invitation of love, this covenant of faithfulness to us. Faith is accepting this and saying Yes! to God's invitation. Christ is knocking on the door of each one of our hearts and faith is opening that door to the one who displayed God’s love for all time atop a cross on a hill outside Jerusalem.

Reflection:

• Is there some promise from God that has sparkled in some darkness you may face? Hope is born of faith in what you cannot yet see but believe in because of what God has promised. A popular old rock and roll song has the line “When you lose your dreams you lose your mind.” And it’s true. If there is no hope for a bright tomorrow, what is the basis for faithful living in the here and now? Conversely, when you feel down and hopeless and helpless does not faith enable you to break through the gloom and let hope glimmer in the darkness? Abraham "gave glory to God." Do you see that hope begins by reaching out and praising God in all situations?

• Does God’s promise of unconditional love, acceptance and forgiveness through Jesus Christ provide you with the hope and faith you need to become the disciple you are called to be? Being a disciple of Jesus means being faithful to Him and His ways no matter what highs and lows, good times and bad times that you encounter in your journey called life. The power to do so comes through your trust in God’s promises. Have you established such trust? You cannot earn God’s love. Have you stopped trying to do so? Have you instead, began living the promise that God has already provided?

Prayer:

Lord, when we try to grow closer to You by following rules and laws, it’s like walking on a mine field. No matter how focused our concentration, eventually we are likely to misstep and create disastrous results. When we turn to You in faith, focusing strictly on Your love for us, we are led, in righteousness, right to where You want us. You clear away the mines in order that we can avoid the pitfalls of sin and temptation all together. Christ has become the icebreaker in our northern seas, clearing the way to salvation. All we have to do is believe. Help our unbelief, Lord. Amen.

The Cyber Vitamin March 10, 2006

2006-03-10T04:58:00.000-08:00

The Cyber Vitamin

March 10, 2006

Week End Reflection

Genesis 17:1-7. 15-16

Romans 4:13-25

Mark 8:31-38

· The story of Abraham and Sara in our Genesis reading remind us that as we follow the biblical narrative from beginning to end we encounter the God who seeks fellowship with us, even though we often turn away or do things that break that fellowship. God just keeps on trying to connect with us. ·

This is the primary theme of the biblical story: the story of a God who seeks and wants more than anything else a covenant, relationship with us. Starting with Adam and Eve, right through Abraham, and on to offering the new covenant in Jesus, we encounter this God of love.

· As Paul tells us in his Letter to the Romans, the heart of all of this is that God really does love us. God wishes more than anything to be at the center of our lives and has never ceased in expressing this invitation of love, this covenant of faithfulness to us. Faith is accepting this and saying Yes! to God's invitation. Christ is knocking on the door of each one of our hearts and faith is opening that door to the one who displayed God’s love for all time atop a cross on a hill outside Jerusalem.

· Jesus turns to Jerusalem and we are told in Mark that the crosses he asks us to bear are not ones we HAVE to bear; they are tasks, burdens, ministries we CHOOSE to bear for Christ's sake. "Take up their cross..." that's a free choice, a decision. Our crosses, I think, are the difficult, costly, even distasteful tasks we willingly accept in love of God and neighbor.

Prayer:

Lord, when I meditate on your merciful care and love for me personally, I can, as the old hymn goes, “scarcely take it in.” What Jesus gave up for me on the cross is beyond all understanding, and yet that act of supreme love is the cornerstone, the basis for how I understand who I am and who you are, O God, and what I am to do with my life. I hear your call, O God, and yes I say yes to follow Jesus and love my fellow human beings in the way Jesus shows me how. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Amen.