Young at Heart Message
 
I bet you never thought that we would be talking about sponges during a worship service, and yet, today our message is going to start off with a discussion about sponges.
 
I have two sponges here – one is a used sponge that has done its time washing a bunch of dishes.
 
It is already wet and has been squeezed out many times.
 
The other is a brand new sponge – still dry from the packaging and eager to absorb water.
 
Which of these sponges do you suppose will be able to absorb more water?
 
I have two bowls with water in them. Should we test it out?
 
I put the same amount of water in both bowls.
 
Let’s see which one will hold more water.
 
The older sponge that has already absorbed water in the past wasn’t able to absorb the water in the bowl as easily as the new sponge.
 
The new sponge was eager to absorb water and absorbed pretty much all of the water in the bowl.
 
It may even have room to absorb some of the water from the other bowl.
 
What do you think the purpose of this “experiment” was? What does it teach us?
 
Ultimately, this demonstration reminds us that as we get older and have absorbed more information and have more life experience, it is not as easy for us to absorb new things.
 
Let me give you another real-life example.
 
As most of you know, I was a professional dog trainer in my previous life.
 
Part of my job was to teach training classes.
 
The vast majority of the time, I was teaching adults who had a dog that needed training.
 
I had a lot of tricks I used to help adult learners who had already absorbed a lot of information in the past and came with a lot of assumptions.
 
Adults, I noticed, tended to think they were already experts on how to train dogs, and often they had a lot of previous knowledge or experience.
 
This previous knowledge and experience was not necessarily the best knowledge or experience.
 
Many adults came to classes needing to unlearn old habits as much as they needed to learn new habits.
 
They were like the older sponge – already filled with knowledge and experience that wasn’t necessarily conducive to working with their current dog.
 
They had a very hard time because they were simultaneously “wringing out” the old knowledge and experience while trying absorb the new information.
 
Some adults were better at this than others.
 
But, on the rare occasion when a client would ask if their child could join the class, I observed that most, if not all, of the kids were much better trainers than their parents.
 
Why?
 
Because they were fresh, new sponges – ready to absorb new information.
 
And because they didn’t have prior knowledge or experience, they didn’t have to try to “wring out” any previous ideas of what dog training should be.
 
They were eager to learn and work with their dogs, and quickly surpassed any training skills the adults had.
 
It was fascinating to watch, and it taught me even more about the challenges of teaching adult learners.
 
And of course, this experience translates to most anything, including scripture interpretation.
 
As we get older, we tend to get wiser, but we also become more set in our ways.
 
Our knowledge and experience becomes vaster, but we also become a little less capable of absorbing new information that might be different than what we were taught previously.
 
It is, of course, the human condition.
 
We are all sponges when it comes to learning!
 
But, our “spongy-ness” changes over time as we are molded into adult versions of ourselves.
 
So, where does this leave us with today’s scripture?
 
The Message
​
Today’s lectionary passages can be incredibly challenging passages to read, and even more challenging to preach about.
 
Partly, the reason they are so challenging is because as soon as (adult) people hear them, they immediately start to form a “sermon” in their own mind.
 
Most adults have already formed opinions about these passages, whether they really know it or not.
 
Some will hear the word “divorce” and immediately assume Jesus is condemning it. 
 
This might create deep feelings of guilt or shame for those who have experienced divorce in their lives, or for those who were children of divorced parents.
 
Some will hear “divorce” and immediately jump to conclusions about everyone who has experienced divorce.
 
Some will hear this passage and assume Jesus is dictating “rules” about divorce or marriage that are applicable in all times and places.
 
But no matter what, if a pastor chooses to preach on these passages, it can be difficult to simultaneously “wring out” past knowledge, experience, and assumptions, while also opening people up to being able to “absorb,” or think about different ways of hearing this text.
 
So, let’s look at this passage a little bit closer to see what Jesus might mean here.
 
Before we do, it is important to understand the context in which Jesus is speaking.
 
It’s always important to understand context when we read the Bible, but it is especially important when we are reading passages that have been used in the past to place guilt and shame on people.
 
As we know, Jesus rarely, if ever, speaks with the purpose of making people feel guilt or shame.
 
So, it’s hard to imagine he would do that in this case, either.
 
We have to remember that Jesus lived in the first century.
 
The concept of divorce in his time was, first of all, that only men could divorce their wives.
 
And, they could do so for any reason – small or large.
 
A man could simply decide he was sick of his wife and would rather be with another woman, and he could divorce her and toss her aside.
 
Unlike today, when women have more rights and the ability to find work and earn a living supporting themselves, women and children in the first century had very limited rights, and no recourse.
 
The Pharisees in this passage are trying to catch Jesus off guard and are referencing the Law of Moses specifically.
 
Deuteronomy 24:1,  which is the passage being referenced, assumes marriage for most people, but it also assumes a man’s right to divorce “if she does not please him.”
 
It says nothing about a woman being able to choose divorce.
 
Within the context of the first century then, Jesus explaining that God made man and woman gives women a sense of agency in a time when they had none.
 
Jesus then talks about men and women becoming one person when they choose to marry one another.
 
Jesus is talking about a partnership, whereas the assumption in that time was that men controlled the relationship and the marriage.
 
While this passage may seem quite strict and prescriptive of behavior in marriages, it is actually quite radical for that time period.
 
Jesus says that both men and women who divorce are unfaithful to their spouse if they remarry.
 
Again, this might sound harsh in today’s culture, but in this context, he is emphasizing the equality of partnership, and he’s suggesting accountability for both men and women.
 
This is huge and unexpected in a world where women were not considered equal partners.
 
Jesus goes on, then, to include children too.
 
Children are so valuable that they help us enter the realm of God.
 
Children are fresh little sponges – eager to learn and grow and change the world with each new generation!
 
The disciples tell the children to stop bothering Jesus, but he tells them to let the children come to him.
 
Those children had not yet absorbed the rules that their parents had.
 
Jesus didn’t need to teach them to unlearn what they thought they knew about these matters, because they didn’t already have the norms set forth by previous knowledge and experience.
 
This passage is not a condemnation. Rather, it is a reminder that God’s love liberates.
 
This passage is not as much about divorce as it is about recognizing the image of God in everyone – especially those who have tended to be disempowered by society.
 
It is not intended to be a prescriptive passage, and it definitely is not intended to make people feel a sense of guilt and shame if they have been divorced, if they are thinking about divorce, or if they are in a situation that may require divorce.
 
I vividly remember a woman I knew who was taught, perhaps even using this passage, that divorce would mean being sentenced to hell.
 
She had been divorced, out of necessity (her former spouse was abusive and she was not safe in that situation), and yet she believed until her dying day that she could not be absolved of her “sin” of divorce.
 
I will never forget that because I don’t think Jesus would ever intend to place that kind of guilt or shame on someone.
 
There is too much good news in the life and work of Jesus to lead me to believe that if Jesus sat down with that woman, he would condemn her.
 
Jesus would not treat her or anyone else as though they were not lovingly made in God’s image.
 
Jesus didn’t spend his entire ministry trying to teach us how to love one another, just to condemn us in a few passages.
 
You might be wondering, then, if I believe Jesus is condoning divorce.
 
I don’t believe Jesus is condemning or condoning divorce. It’s a reality of the world he lives in, and a reality of the world we live in.
 
I believe he’s addressing the question the Pharisees asked him, using their assumptions and the social norms in place at the time, to demonstrate one small way that humans could open themselves up to better loving other humans.
 
Jesus set examples for us to follow, albeit in his time and place, which is the only context he had.
 
Jesus could not have predicted that in the year 2024, women would be treated at least in some parts of the world more as equals. So he did his best with the cultural implications he had to work with.
 
We have no business treating anyone as though they were not created in God’s image.
 
This text uses a first-century situation to tell us to stop participating in traditions that disempower and destroy human beings and to start living in love.
 
If we consider the context of this situation, it becomes a bit easier to set aside our prior knowledge and experience with this text and understand that Jesus did not intend to condemn people with his words.
 
Rather, he intended to widen the scope for people in that time period – to move the needle ever so slightly toward justice and equality.
 
If we can open ourselves up to new and different possibilities for this text, we can hear the passage as good and hopeful news:
 
Each of us – men, women, children – everyone – is created in God’s image.
 
We are loved, and we belong in Christ – not to feel guilt or shame, but only to feel loved and hopeful.
 
Amen.
 
Let us pray:
 
Loving and gracious God, we come before you in gratitude for the gentle reminder that we are lovingly made in your image. You remind us through your Son, Jesus Christ, that while there is always room for improvement, we are also loved just as we are in this time and place. May we each continue to feel your love and grace surround us, and may we remember this love as we receive Holy Communion in unity with our Christian siblings around the world. Amen.

Young at Heart Message
 
Have you ever experienced a stumbling block to your faith?
 
I have experienced several throughout my life.
 
The first stumbling block that I can recall - and perhaps the most impactful for a variety of reasons – happened when I was maybe 12 years old.
 
I didn’t go to Sunday school for some reason, and my cousin, who was the same age as me and also in my Sunday school class, told me that I was going to go to hell because I missed Sunday school.
 
I was distraught. I couldn’t understand how something out of my control would automatically doom me to hell.
 
It didn’t make sense. So I asked the smartest person I knew at the time – my Dad.
 
And I distinctly remember my Dad laughing when I told him about it.
 
Here I was, practically in tears, worried about my soul and wondering how I could be doomed so early in life.
 
I was probably the only kid in the world to commit myself to hell so soon in life.
 
And my Dad laughed.
 
But then he told me that if I was going to hell for something like that, then we were all going to hell for some reason or another.
 
And then he probably said something more about hell, but I don’t remember anything after that.
 
I just remember that he had assured me that I was not, in fact, going to hell.
 
But this scenario was a huge stumbling block to faith and religion and my path to God.
 
I didn’t know much about God or Jesus, but what I did know was that I had been taught that Jesus loved me. God loved me.
 
And if I was so loved by God, then how could a God who loved me be so flippant about condemning me to hell (or making people believe that other people were condemned to hell)?
 
Now of course, my cousin probably doesn’t remember this at all. And I can’t blame her for this – she was just repeating something she’d been taught at some point.
 
She wasn’t old enough to know any more than I did on the subject of God or hell.
 
But this was a stumbling block for me, nonetheless.
 
I have had other stumbling blocks in my life, too.
 
My natural curiosity and my propensity to ask questions and be skeptical of the answers I received turned me away from organized religion for a large chunk of my life.
 
But it also allowed me to spend many years asking questions, understanding what it means to love our neighbours as ourselves, and to approach God with wonder and awe.
 
I was free to explore, to stumble, and to be curious and open-minded, not just about religion but about God, about other people, and about myself.
 
Most of us have probably experienced at least one stumbling block to our faith in our lives.
 
An experience, a comment, something you read or heard, or something that just didn’t seem to jive with what you were taught when you were growing up.
 
Those stumbling blocks helped formed your faith as much as the things you’ve learned in church, in Sunday school, or in the world.
 
We meet Jesus and the disciples today at the precise moment when the disciples experience quite a large stumbling block.
 
The Message
​
The disciples see a man helping people in the name of Jesus. But John says “he wasn’t one of us, so we told him to stop.”
 
Jesus then basically says “what?! Why would you stop someone from helping people just because they aren’t ‘one of us’?!”
 
The disciples are essentially separating themselves from everyone else.
 
They are implying that only people who are in their folds can do what they do.
 
If we look closely, John said “he wasn’t one of us.” The stumbling block they are experiencing is an “us vs. them” mentality.
 
And Jesus sets them straight by telling the disciples that just because someone isn’t walking with them directly doesn’t mean that the person can’t be doing good work and spreading good news in the world.
 
Humans can be very skilled at stumbling blocks, which isn’t necessarily something we would want to try to be skilled at.
 
Sometimes stumbling blocks are put in our path through no fault of our own, but often, especially when it comes to faith, we create our own stumbling blocks. And sometimes, we put stumbling blocks in the paths of others.
 
My cousin put a huge stumbling block along my faith journey without knowing it.
 
Which is exactly what the disciples do here. They started to think of themselves as “better than” or “more than” them.
 
And of course them is anyone who isn’t in their tight circle of followers.
 
So not only do they create their own stumbling block, but they drop this stumbling block onto the path of the person they told to stop simply because he wasn’t “one of them.”
 
How often do faithful Christians do these types of things to others, and by extension to themselves, I wonder?
 
How many of you have either believed that your denomination or religious tradition is the one and only “right” way, or know someone who has been taught that or believes it currently?
 
I know I have heard that, and I know people who believe it.
 
But Jesus uses some strong words to caution us against such notions of “us” vs. “them.” He cautions us against this idea that we are somehow better than them.
 
I am not, and will never be, a fire-and-brimstone, put-the-fear-of-God-into-you preacher.
 
That doesn’t feel like good news to me. If anything, it feels like bad news meant to scare you into running toward Jesus, rather than good news intended to remind you that Jesus’s arms are always open for you.
 
And I don’t think Jesus is a hellfire preacher either.
 
So why does he offer such strong words to the disciples here, and why does he talk about hell?
 
I think we need to put his language into the larger context of his entire life and teachings.
 
What does that mean? I think we need to read Jesus’s language as spoken with all the love and compassion in the world.
 
The disciples want to “copyright” their work, and the work of Jesus, so that only they own the rights to him and his work.
 
As far as stumbling blocks go, that’s a huge one because Jesus wants the exact opposite – he wants his message to get out to as many people as possible. He doesn’t want it limited to only a few who are “allowed” to share the message.
 
Putting themselves between people and Jesus to gatekeep is exactly the opposite of what Jesus wants.
 
This behavior only limits what should be open and available to everyone.
 
The disciples had good intentions, but ultimately, all their actions did was turn someone away from Jesus.
 
So Jesus feels like he needs to use some pretty harsh language with the disciples, but it ultimately comes from a place of love – not just love for them, but love for all those people who are following outside of the inner circle.
 
He tells the disciples that placing these stumbling blocks in the paths of others – “causing even one of my followers to sin” he says – would be terrible.
 
Just don’t do it, guys. Come on. It would be better for you to not follow me at all than it would for you to cause someone to turn away from me.
 
So, Jesus says, if part of you is causing you to sin, do away with it (metaphorically). It would be better to go into God’s kingdom with only one eye, for example, than to keep both eyes but be thrown into hell.
 
In other words, don’t allow yourself to get caught up in these antiquated notions of “us” vs. “them.” Don’t allow yourselves to believe that you are better than others when all they’re trying to do is follow me, too.
 
No one owns the good news. Not the disciples, not any one denomination, and not even the “big C” Church.
 
Jesus is reminding us that humility is important, and as much as we’d like to think so, we don’t know everything.
 
So let’s set aside any thoughts that we do know it all.
 
If the disciples teach us anything throughout the Gospels, it’s that they were far from perfect. And they had direct access to Jesus!
 
So there is no way we have perfect faith, either. So let’s not assume we do.
 
Jesus ends this passage by saying “Salt is good. But if it no longer tastes like salt, how can it be made salty again?”
 
In other words, if we stumble, or if we start placing stumbling blocks in the paths of others, how can we get back onto our own path and stop hindering others?
 
Jesus has an answer for that, too. “Have salt among you and live at peace with each other.”
 
There’s more than enough salt to go around. Have your salt, but don’t prevent others from having theirs, too.
 
Live at peace with each other.
 
One of my teachers this semester for my discernment class says “be at ease.”
 
Friends, be at ease. Live at peace with each other.
 
Don’t worry about who’s right and who’s wrong.
 
Jesus shares such good news with us, and his arms are open wide especially for each of us.
 
Not just for us individually, but for all.
 
It’s not necessary to scare anyone into loving Jesus.
 
Jesus’s arms are lovingly open wide for everyone, no matter how many times we might stumble.
 
Amen.

Young at Heart Message
 
One of our musicians wanted to incorporate what he calls a “Creature Feature” into our service today as part of our Young at Heart Message.
 
But, he felt like he wasn’t comfortable doing it himself, so I said I would incorporate it into our message today.
 
Most Sundays I try to offer a Young at Heart message as part of the Sunday sermon.
 
I do this for two reasons:
 
The first is because we no longer regularly have children present in worship, but if children do show up, I hope having a more accessible preliminary sermon is helpful and enjoyable for them.
 
The second is because often adults learn just as much from these messages as kids do!
 
Since we are all young at heart, I try to be creative with this part of the message.
 
So, Michael brought this animal for me to use today. His Dad received it as a gift at his school where he was a caretaker.
 
What kind of animal do you suppose this is?
 
I think it’s probably a tiger, but since it’s not coloured like any real animal, it could be a striped lion I suppose as well.
 
The fun thing about this tiger is that it isn’t just a pretty face - it also sings and dances!
 
I’ll play it for us, though some of you may not be able to hear it.
 
If you didn’t hear it, the tiger sings and dances to the song “Wild Thing.”
 
If you aren’t familiar with the song, it goes “Wild Thing! You make my heart sing! You make everything groovy. Wild thing! Wild Thing, I think I love you.”
 
If that doesn’t sum up how most of us feel about our pets, I don’t know what does!
 
Wild thing, I think I love you - even though you chewed up my shoes, or got muddy paw prints all over the floor, or got excited and jumped on the curtains and knocked them down.
 
Wild thing, I think I love you when you look at me with those loving eyes, or when you sing me a pretty song, or when you do something cute and endearing.
 
This tiger is funny and silly, but it introduces our sermon today in a fun way, and it is a gentle reminder that we are called to be caring and respectful toward all of God’s living, created beings.
 
The Message

Those of you who know some of my story before I moved to Calgary know that in my previous life - and at this point it truly does feel like a completely different life - I owned a dog daycare and boarding facility where I also worked with people to help train their dogs.

And while my expertise was in dog behaviour specifically, I have been surrounded by animal lovers of all kinds for a very long time.

I have shared my life with cats, dogs, hamsters, fish, frogs, a rabbit, turtles and a variety of other beings over the years.

I know the level of attachment that can occur when we are caring for one of God’s creatures.

I know the heartache when we lose one of our best friends - a being that we cared for, spent time with, and loved.

I know that there are times when it feels like our pets are the only ones in the world who truly understand us or will listen without judgement.

We have come to know the spirits of the animals we share our lives with on a deep level, and many people that I have talked with and worked with over the years will attest to a deep and unexplainable connection with their pets.

Likewise, there are many people who lean on the power of spiritual connection with wild animals.

There are books and resources available to help us understand our spirit animals, and indigenous people for generations have understood the connection between humans, animals, and the environment.

I cannot imagine that these relationships and connections with animals were not divinely inspired or created by and through God.

We have been placed here on earth to care for God’s creation in all its forms, including other humans.

But for those of us who share our lives with animals, we also know that God must have created animals to care for us as well.

Certainly, animals across the globe are bred to feed humans and nourish us, and that is a form of care.

Since the beginning of human existence, animals have worked with humans to help with agriculture, food acquisition, search and rescue, safety and protection, sniffing out specific odours, and of course deep companionship.

When we lose an animal that has been an important part of our lives, we grieve just like we might grieve over the loss of a family member or friend.

When I first began my ordination conversations with the committee that would ultimately decide if I was ordination material, one of the things I talked a lot about was the spiritual connection I have to my dogs.

The first dog I shared my life with who was mine and not a family dog walked with me on my journey through life in ways that I couldn’t even truly begin to appreciate at the time.

His name was Kodiak, and he moved into a new dwelling every single year of his 7-year long life with me.
He journeyed with me as I learned how to become a dog trainer.

He graciously allowed me to make a boatload of mistakes in his training and his care, and he still ended up being an incredible dog.

He began my journey into understanding dog behaviour and learning theory.

And, my journey with him led me down the path toward pastoral care and care for people in ways that I could not imagine had I not learned those skills through my experience with him and working with people who were deeply connected to their animals.

During my ordination process, I mentioned several times the importance of not just my connection with my own animals, but what I saw with my clients and their connection to their animals.

Over and over again, in my life and in the lives of everyone I worked with, I saw people connect with their animals in ways that can only be described as spiritual.

People would tell me how their animals helped them through so many difficult situations, and they would express deep and profound grief when they thought about losing their animals.

I am convinced that incorporating animals into our spiritual life is essential for many people.

In the book A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L’Engle, a deeply Christian author, she writes about the main character’s connection with the dog Ananda.

The main character connects with Ananda through a simple touch, and the dog helps her connect spiritually to her brother who is off in another time period fighting to save the world she is in from destruction.

This spiritual and Godly connection with animals is a theme throughout literature, but it is also a theme throughout the Bible.

I have an entire book which references all of the animals mentioned in scripture.

Today, for example, we heard two different passages out of the many that include references to animals.

I preached a few months ago about Job, and when I gave that sermon, I summarized the entire book of Job.

The scripture we heard today is one of God’s responses to Job’s complaining heart.

God asks Job if Job wants to be the one doing God’s job.

God reminds Job that the world is complex, that living beings all have their own sense of autonomy and decisions they make both with regard to their survival and with regard to their own pleasure and happiness.

Job’s suffering is not the only thing happening in the world at that moment, and there are other beings that God is also responsible for.

God understands creation in ways that Job, and by extension all of us, could never fully understand.

When people try to explain their connection to their animals, they often have difficulty describing it.

Many people will describe their relationship with their pets as similar to that of their children.

But there is often something even deeper at play.

I think it has to do with the fact that we learn to communicate with beings that cannot communicate with us verbally.

We have to develop a much deeper connection with them in order to understand each other. In my formerly professional opinion, it is not all about giving commands and ordering our pets around.

Humans create meaningful connection with their pets that goes beyond an owner/subordinate relationship.

There is a deep and profound spirituality that comes when we discover this ability to communicate with our pets.

For example, I recently discovered without doing any training at all with my dog Kanyon, that he understood a new cue from me that I had never taught him.

He sleeps on the bed with me, and I have a big body pillow down the middle of the bed so that he doesn’t push me off the bed.

Sometimes, before I get into bed at night, I find him lying on my side of the bed.

I used to kick him off the bed and let him get back onto his side of the bed on his own.

However, one night, I just said to him, “switch sides buddy” and made a circle gesture to indicate I needed him to move over to the other side of the pillow.

To my complete surprise, he got up and moved over to the other side of the pillow.

At first I thought perhaps it was just a fluke.

But, the next time it happened, I did the same thing, and he moved.

Now, almost every night, we do the same thing, and he consistently moves without me ever having taught him a cue.

This happened because of the nature of our relationship, and the spiritual connection we have that allows us to communicate with one another despite the fact that we will never share a common verbal language.

I could talk all day about the connection we share with our animals so if that’s something you’re interested in, grab me after worship.

But, I will spare you for now, and leave you with this final word.

May you lean into your relationship with your animals, if you have pets living in your home with you.

And, if you do not have animals in your home, I invite you to explore the possibility of connection to animals outside of your home.

For example, appreciating the birds singing in the trees, the squirrels jumping from branch to branch, the deer peacefully eating along the side of the road, the coyote playfully hunting mice in the fields, or any other opportunity you might have to experience a connection with God’s creatures.

As you do so, take the time to thank God for all of the ways these animals help us and guide us along our spiritual path.

May God’s creatures be a blessing to you in a myriad of ways. Amen.

Let us pray:

Holy God, we thank you for the gift of animals in our lives. Through all of the creatures you have placed on earth, you have brought many blessings and opportunities. Today we pause to name our gratitude for the living beings we share our lives with in a variety of different ways.
​
Thank you, God, for the love and compassion we hold and the opportunity we have been given to be stewards of your magnificent creation. Amen.

​The Message

Today, the Moravian Church celebrates the “Moravian Day of Service.”

This annual celebration can be honoured in a variety of ways.

Some churches will hold a short blessing service followed by different opportunities to go out into the community and serve their neighbours.

Some churches will not hold worship services at all and instead will encourage or organize mission work with another organization which serves people where they are at.

Some churches will hold a regular worship service but then have opportunities to serve one another within the walls of the church – writing cards to those who cannot attend worship, organizing and cleaning the spaces used within the church, etc.

Because I have only been here for just over a year, and admittedly because I was just on vacation and did not have the time to think through service opportunities outside of our church, I did not organize anything for us to do today.

However, I absolutely still think we can celebrate the Day of Service.

That said, I don’t see this as one day during which we should be serving, and then forgetting about it for the rest of the year.

Instead, I think today can be an opportunity to celebrate all of the ministry and service we do throughout the year here at Good Shepherd.

I have often heard over the last year from many different people about all of the ministries that Good Shepherd used to offer.

Many of those events and ministries fell off the radar during COVID.

COVID of course made it difficult to do big events together because of the need to socially distance.

Dropping many of the ministries we used to offer during that time also made it very hard to start them again – partly because people were slow and cautious about gathering, and partly because people just didn’t seem to have the energy for them anymore.

And, since arriving here, I can hear the nostalgia and a bit of sadness in people’s voices when they talk about the things we used to do here.

I can also hear the pride and excitement as people share what some of those ministries used to be, how they felt, and how they served the community.

I think sometimes church members can feel disappointed in themselves when they see the evolution of their ministry offerings, and when they can see how many things they used to do that they no longer are physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually able to offer.

But, I don’t see these changes as failures or disappointments.

I see it as a necessary part of the life-cycle of any organization.

We cannot possibly expect that offering the exact same ministries forever is the best way to serve our communities, ourselves, or God.

People change. Communities change. We change.

We still do so many things that we can and should be proud of at this church.

I spent some time this week going through my work log since I arrived at Good Shepherd.

In doing that, I came up with a lengthy list of ministries and services we offer here, and in honour of the Moravian Day of Service, I would like to acknowledge them.

The list is long, and it is something we should be proud of.

Here are many of the ways that the people of Good Shepherd are serving.

Some of these ministries are internal, and some are external.

And much of what we do as a community allows our members to take their loving and serving hearts out into their communities to serve, not necessarily as representatives of Good Shepherd Church, but as representatives of God’s love for neighbour and community.

It should be mentioned that this list is probably not exhaustive, so if I’ve forgotten anything, please know that it was not intentional.

It is also worth mentioning that I have grouped things together in ways that I think make the most sense, but it may be that some of these ministries could be in more than one category, or don’t quite fit into the category I chose but I couldn’t find a better option.
​
In a nutshell, I am not perfect, so forgive me in advance if I have made any mistakes. ☺ 

​As you can hopefully see, we do incredible work together. Some of what we do serves this immediate community, but much of what we do serves the wider community – not just the communities in which the church sits, but the wider Calgary community as well as the wider Moravian Church.
We are an amazing group of people doing amazing work on behalf of God, and that is worth celebrating! Give ourselves a round of applause!
I am not sure how many of you are aware, but each year on or around September 16th, pastors in the Moravian Church gather in our local areas to celebrate Cup of Covenant.
This is not just a celebration of past ministry, but it is an opportunity to re-commit to doing ministry for another year.
In the Canadian district, because Edmonton and Calgary are so far apart, we gather annually to do a retreat together to celebrate Cup of Covenant.
This retreat just happened this past week.
We gathered together and recommitted ourselves to ministry for another year, sharing our joys and the griefs and sorrows we have each experienced over the last year, and sharing our hopes for the upcoming year in ministry.
Then, we solidified our covenant with one another through a sharing of Holy Communion – a receiving of God’s grace and God’s steadfast love for us as we prepared for another year of ministry.
In a few minutes, we will be celebrating Holy Communion together here.
I would like to suggest that on this day when we celebrate our mission and service together, that we re-commit to another year of ministry.
The beauty of the Moravian way of celebrating Holy Communion is that we all partake of eating the bread of life and drinking the blood of Christ together, as one.
May we receive God’s grace, as usual, but may we also re-commit to God’s call to service and ministry to each other, to our neighbours, to our communities, and to the world.
May we remember our purpose for being a church, may we celebrate the amazing work that we do together in service to God and in the footsteps of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
May we leave the sanctuary today, in unity and with renewed dedication to our mission. Amen.
Let us pray: Gracious and Loving God, we are so grateful for the events in each of our lives that ultimately brought us together to be a church. We could not possibly do all that we do, serve the people we serve, or love each other as deeply without your blessing or your guidance. We a grateful for all that we continue to be able to do together as a community, and we pray that you would continue to lead us in service to each other and to those around us. We pray all of this in your Holy name. Amen.

​The Message

We are faced with the task of decision-making all day, every day.

Often, the decisions we need to make are small or seemingly insignificant – choosing what outfit to wear for the day, which shoes are best going to meet my needs today, will coffee or tea get me off to a better start, should I have a bran muffin or yogurt for breakfast – the list goes on and on.

And of course, sometimes the decisions we are faced with are much harder, and some could take days, weeks, months, or even years.

Something like a high school student choosing what universities to apply to, or deciding with your spouse whether or not to replace that old rusted vehicle (and then, what to replace it with), or deciding whether or not to downsize and move into a smaller house.

Sometimes, these decisions can loom over our heads and cloud our judgement about other things.

And then, there are times when we have to wake up every day and choose to commit our lives to something – a change in habits, a partner, a healthier lifestyle, or even our faith.

Some of you who participated in the Going Deeper studies previously were at the session where I showed a clip of Craig Ferguson, a late night talk show host, talking about his struggles with addiction to alcohol.

I won’t show the clip here because it’s a bit “not suitable for church,” but he makes a point that I thought was valuable to share, both in the context of that discussion, but also in the context of today’s scripture passage.

He shared the story of how he realized he had a drinking problem and needed help, and as is often the case in these situations, he had hit absolute rock bottom.

He shared what was very likely a very embarrassing story that probably made him feel quite a bit of shame.

But, in sharing that story, he was able to relate to everyone who has been in similar situations.

And he concluded his story by sharing that he’d now been sober for many years, but he still had to wake up every single day and recommit to sobriety.

He would find himself thinking, even so many years later, that maybe he could have just one drink.

But every day, he had to remind himself that he could not allow that to happen.

He had to renew his commitment to sobriety over and over again, every single day, probably for the rest of his life.
And, he admitted that wasn’t always easy.

And decisions like that – decisions that could forever alter our lives – are never easy.

Similarly, I have gone through many periods in my life where I have been trying to lose weight and maintain an active and healthy lifestyle.

And it is never easy.

I know, logically, that in order to create long-term, sustained change, I have to wake up every day and choose to stay on track.

And yet, I have repeatedly fallen off track many times throughout my life.

Even though I know what needs to happen - even though I know I have to reduce or eliminate unhealthy food in my house and I have to stick to an exercise plan and I have to eat out less, etc – I often find that it is just easier said than done.

I am sure there are other situations that are relatable – for example, if you are partnered, you have to wake up every day and choose your partner over and over again, even when life has gotten difficult or things are rocky between you.

I think most of us have experienced something like this in our lifetimes, and many of us have something that we need to recommit to every day.

So, now that we can hopefully think of a relatable experience, it may be easier to put ourselves into the shoes of the disciples and the followers of Jesus.

Jesus has just put his followers and his core disciples at a crossroads.

Last week, we read the passage just before today’s in which Jesus told the group that was following him that whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood abides in him, and he in the person.

That is a really difficult concept to stomach, especially if it’s the first time you’ve heard it!

And, it appears many of his followers took this literally and couldn’t understand how eating the flesh of Jesus would bring them closer to God.

I can understand their concern!

Of course, we understand today that Jesus meant this to be symbolic.

Nonetheless, we heard Jesus’ followers in today’s passage complaining “this is too hard for anyone to understand.”

In other words, they’re saying this is too difficult, and they are at a point where they need to decide whether or not to keep following Jesus.

Like some of the other examples I gave earlier, making the choice for God and all that God offers is not easy, and it isn’t a choice that’s made only once.

Choosing God doesn’t just happen in one single moment, in one day, or for one month or one year. Choosing God is a lifetime commitment.

It is an important reminder that faith is not easy.

Jesus tells the people that to believe in him, to trust in him, means they must “abide” in him.

They must stay, even though it is a hard path to follow and many lose their way.

Even some of those followers who were among the first choose to turn away at this point.

This just shows us that making the choice for God isn’t something we can do once, when it seems fun and easy to follow this guy named Jesus around.

We must choose to follow God, and follow Jesus, every single day our whole life long.

We must abide.

Anything worthwhile requires abiding.

Quitting drinking or smoking, losing weight, maintaining a healthier lifestyle, committing to an educational program or career path, training for an athletic event – it all requires commitment – abiding.

And, like I have done several times, no matter how committed we are, many of us will make mistakes or get off track.
Sometimes, our failures cannot be overcome.

However, when it comes to faith, making a mistake or making a wrong choice is not the end of the story.

John’s Gospel and this passage reminds us that we always have a choice.

We can choose to look up at Jesus, or we can turn away.

We can choose to accept or reject the challenge and the promise of the cross and what Peter calls the “words of eternal life” that are always calling to us.

Making the choice to follow Jesus is not always easy, and is not a decision we make once and never think about again.
It is an ongoing, daily decision we must make.

And, as I conclude today’s message, I leave you with some questions for pondering.

What might our lives look like if we claimed the promise of the cross every single day?

What if we were no longer afraid of difficult teachings?

What if we were no longer afraid of people who think or act differently than us?

Would we treat other people with more dignity and grace?

Might we allow others to change us for the better?

May we, together, commit to abiding in Jesus, hour after hour, day after day, year after year, for our entire lives.

Amen.

Let us pray:
​
God of patience, we come before you today in gratitude for your love and care. We ask that you help us to continue to choose to abide in you, day after day for the rest of our lives. Even though sometimes life can be difficult and we can lose our way, we ask that you help us choose to turn to you - to turn to the promise of the cross and trust in your guidance and help. All of this we pray today in your name. Amen.

​Young at Heart Message
 
Today I chose to preach on Proverbs rather than the Gospel because I think today’s passage from Proverbs offers us some wonderful insights.
 
The passage is essentially a personification of Lady Wisdom.
 
She invites the young and the foolish to eat and drink at her table so they might gain understanding and live better lives.
 
This method of teaching wisdom to young people seems highly effective!
 
I was young once – believe me, I know how effective a free meal can be at getting the young to be a captive audience so that a message can be conveyed.
 
Now of course, this can be a good thing or a bad thing. But for the sake of this passage, I would argue it is a good thing.
 
The entire aim of the wisdom literature in the Bible – of which Proverbs is the quintessential example – is to teach [young] people how to live with wisdom and integrity, and how to live the “good life” in the best sense of that term.
 
But of course, the way we tend to think of “the good life” today is very different than what the writers of wisdom literature viewed as the good life.
 
I don’t know if any of you remember these, but Maserati used to have an ad that looked like this:

​The implication of course is that the key to an extraordinary life is owning a luxury vehicle.
 
This notion that owning nice things, having money, or “keeping up with the Joneses” is the way we measure and achieve having a “good life” is a cultural phenomenon that has plagued humanity for a very long time.
 
And yet, most of us don’t question it, really. We strive to earn more, save more, buy nicer things, own nicer homes, own nicer cars, take expensive vacations… the list goes on and on.
 
And, when people can’t achieve these things, they fall into the trap of longing for a life they simply cannot support.
 
People go into debt trying to keep up with cultural expectations that having more and better things is the key to the good life.
 
While this might seem a ridiculous way to live, we are subconsciously receiving messages regularly that tell us that this way of living is the only way to truly have a good life.
 
So even if we know intuitively that this isn’t true, it is hard not to succumb to the cultural implications that not having the nicest things makes us some kind of failure as human beings.
 
Our worth, of course, doesn’t stem at all from the things we own, the money we have, the way we look, the people we know, or any other arbitrary thing we use to measure status in society.
 
And yet, it is hard for us to break out of that way of thinking.
 
I’ll give you a quick example.
 
I feel like I live a fairly modest lifestyle.
 
Of course, I wish I had more money – I long to save more, I wouldn’t mind replacing some of the things I own, I might like to buy new furniture, etc.
 
But, when I think back to the years I spent in university and shortly after graduating, I made next to nothing.
 
I was close enough to the poverty level that I considered applying for assistance, though I think I was just over the limit so likely wouldn’t have been accepted anyway.
 
But I survived (even though, looking back, I have no idea how I survived)!
 
I would have been thrilled to make the income I make today!
 
And yet, today, I still long for more.
 
It almost seems that the more we earn, the more we long for more.
 
When I was barely getting by all those years ago, I just wanted things to be a little easier.
 
I didn’t want to be rich necessarily, but I wanted to be a little better off so that I didn’t have to worry as much about money.
 
Of course, I’ve since learned that it doesn’t matter how much you make – you always long for more.
 
The Message
 
So, is this desire to have more than we currently have actually allowing us to live a good life?
 
Is this culture of “keeping up with the Joneses” actually providing a good life?
 
Or do we end up always striving for more?
 
When we finally reach the next level – the level at which we think we will be happy – do we stop striving, or do we then want to get to the next level?
 
Lady Wisdom would sigh and say “hey, set aside this life of immaturity and always longing for more. Instead, join me at my table, rest, and walk in the way of insight.”
 
The writers of the wisdom texts could appreciate material prosperity, but they did not consider it life’s ultimate goal.
 
Instead, they urged their readers to live lives of virtue, integrity, honesty, hard work, and faithfulness.
 
There was a sense that they knew that when we get to the end, none of the “stuff” is going to matter anyway.
 
What will matter is how we lived, not what we achieved or what stuff we owned when we reach the finish line.
 
Living a life of virtue may not seem extraordinary in the way the Maserati ad would imply our lives need to be in order to be extraordinary.
 
However, a life of integrity, honesty, self-control, and faithfulness is extraordinary in the best sense of the word.
 
The person who puts into practice the teachings of the wisdom sages may become an example of a way of being in the world that is neither flashy nor attention-seeking, but is in fact noteworthy and, in its own way, quite remarkable.
 
People with such wisdom possess qualities that draw others to them in ways that material prosperity simply can’t.
 
The feast that Lady Wisdom invites us to is an invitation to a life of virtue and integrity, honesty and generosity.
 
By contrast, just a few verses further in this chapter, Folly issues an invitation to her own feast.
 
She uses the same exact words that Wisdom uses: “You who are simple, turn in here!”
 
Folly’s invitation is tempting to the young, the naïve, and those who are more concerned about material wealth and prosperity.
 
But, those who might be tempted aren’t aware that Folly’s feast consists of stolen water and the bread of secrecy.
 
Those who choose to accept Folly’s invitation aren’t aware they are “in the depths of Sheol” – in other words, they are on the path toward death.
 
Of course, Proverbs and the wisdom writers tend to speak in ways that seem a bit cryptic, admittedly.
 
What we can understand from this passage is that Wisdom’s feast is always available to us, and she will always call out to us to “walk in the way of insight.”
 
Even if we have occasionally been tempted by Folly’s feast, we can always accept Wisdom’s invitation.
 
What does that look like in a world where Folly’s invitation is accepted by more of us than we care to admit?
 
Well, it could look different for everyone, but perhaps it’s a meal together as a family or a small group of friends.
 
Perhaps it’s reading a book instead of watching a movie.
 
Perhaps it’s giving to a charity instead of buying that new outfit or a new car.
 
Maybe it’s telling someone you love them if it’s been too long.
 
Wisdom’s invitation is a call to be self-aware.
 
It is an opportunity to look at our lives and acknowledge the ways in which we have been living based on cultural influences rather than by Wisdom’s virtue.
 
She is not suggesting that we entirely set aside worldly comforts, necessarily.
 
She is simply suggesting that we aren’t living lives in which our sole purpose is to accumulate wealth, status, and “things.”
 
Whatever shape Wisdom’s feast takes in your life and in the lives of the people you love, may her feast be satisfying in the way that only real food and real bread can be.
 
May it nurture your soul and bear fruit in your life so that others might be sustained by that fruit.
 
And, may it teach you wisdom as you seek to walk in the way of Christian discipleship.
 
Amen.
 
Let us pray:
 
God of compassion, help us to see the ways in which our lives are good, and help us to break the cycle of always longing for more. Help us to live lives of virtue, and to share ourselves with others in ways that honour our own gifts, and the needs of other people. Help us to open our eyes to the good life as You would have our lives be, rather than as society might dictate for us. Grant to us Your grace and mercy in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

​Young at Heart Message
 
This morning, we’re going to do a little “thought experiment” related to anger.
 
I won’t ask you to say anything this time, but I’m going to lay out a couple scenarios and, when I ask you a few questions, I’ll ask you to just raise your hand in response.
 
Here is the first scenario:
 
Imagine that you are driving along the highway.
 
Someone driving faster than you approaches from behind. They move over into the left lane to pass you.
 
But then, after they’ve passed you and moved back over into the right lane, they slow down by 20 kph.
 
This ticks you off – what was the point of passing you just to move back over into the right lane and slow down?
 
You feel angry, and you feel like this person deserves to know how angry you are.
 
So, you now pass them, and then immediately move over in front of them and tap your brakes.
 
That should show them!
 
You open your window and flip them the bird as well for good measure.
 
Raise your hand if you think you’re justified in your anger over this situation. Maybe you don’t agree with the response, but are you justified in being angry?
 
OK, now let’s put ourselves into the shoes of the other driver for a moment.
 
You are driving along the highway. The speed limit is 110 kph.
 
You approach, in the right lane, a person who is cruising along at 100 kph.
 
You have your cruise control set, and there’s no one in the left lane, so you move over to pass the person.
 
You pass them, and then you move over into the right lane after a respectable distance.
 
However, you see an upcoming speed reduction sign.
 
The speed limit has been reduced to 80 kph, so you slow down to accommodate the new speed.
 
All the sudden, the person that you passed a moment ago flies past you in the left lane, moves abruptly over in front of you into your lane, and taps their brakes, forcing you to slow down abruptly.
 
Then you see their arm fly out their window and flip you the bird.
 
Raise your hand if you feel angry about this scenario.
 
Thinking back to the first driver, raise your hand if your feelings have changed about whether or not you were justified in your anger.
 
Now raise your hand if you think the second driver is justified in their anger.
 
Now, imagine the first driver – the one who cut you off and slowed way down to get back at you – had a sign on their back window that said this:

​Raise your hand if this changes how you feel about their response.
 
OK, raise your hand now if this sign changes how you feel about their response:

Would you feel different about the first driver’s response if you found out that they had just received the news of the death of a close family member?
 
Lastly, would you feel any different about the first driver if you learned that they were Christian?
 
As I was researching for today’s sermon, I watched a few different Tedx Talks with people talking about anger.
 
What I learned was varied depending on the speaker, but one of the things that seemed to be consistent was that anger (whether justified or perceived) and how we cope with it very much depends on the mood we are in or the state of our mental and emotional health at the time.
 
And this makes complete sense to me, because most days I can brush off minor inconveniences.
 
BUT, on days when I’m already in a bad mood, every. Little. Thing. Can irritate me.
 
It also seems that things like stubbing your toe, banging your funny bone, or getting your belt loop stuck on something and pulling you backwards only happen when you’re already in a bad mood.
 
At least, we only notice them or get frustrated or angry about them when we are already in a bad mood.
​
The Message
 
Now, I will admit that it took me longer than usual to figure out how I wanted to handle today’s sermon, because it does feel as though, as a pastor, I shouldn’t admit that I get angry – and sometimes, I get angry about little things that really don’t matter.
 
But then I realized – why not? Anger happens to everyone. If you are human, you have the capacity to feel anger.
 
Now, that said, we also have the capacity to cope with anger and manage our anger, and most of us are reasonably good at it.
 
However, sometimes, managing anger or coping with anger can be more difficult than other times.
 
And, sometimes, we are so hurt and angered by a situation that we really struggle to get over it.
 
Perhaps we end up cutting someone out of our lives, or we end up letting that anger linger in the background for a very, very long time.
 
And, sometimes, our ability to cope with our anger ends up affecting the people around us. It can also end up affecting us negatively – perhaps by preventing us from opening ourselves up to others, or by simply causing us a lot of stress or anxiety over time.
 
Anger is a normal human emotion, and it serves a healthy purpose.
 
It tells us when someone has disrespected our boundaries.
 
It helps us recognize when we might need to distance ourselves from someone or something.
 
It might help us realize that we need a new job, or that we need to get out of a relationship.
 
So, when we are able to cope and manage our anger well, anger can serve us.
 
So why does Paul talk to the Ephesians about anger?
 
He starts by saying something that I think is incredibly important to understand:
 
He says, “We are part of the same body.”
 
This is a blatant reminder that we are all, first and foremost, human beings.
 
Regardless of where we come from, what our background is, what language we speak, or what we look like – we are all humans.
 
And, in the case of the Ephesians he’s writing to, they are all Christ-followers.
 
It sounds to me as though perhaps the Ephesians were struggling a bit with anger, or other hurtful behaviours or responses to one another.
 
So, this reminder that they are all part of the same body, I imagine, almost immediately caused the Ephesians to look around sheepishly at their neighbours and feel a little pang of guilt.
 
Now, the fact that they are all part of one body and that they are all Christ-followers doesn’t change the fact that they aren’t treating each other the way they are expected to.
 
Just like learning that the fact that the first driver in our thought experiment is a Christian doesn’t really change how we feel about the actions they took.
 
The reality is, we might even judge them a bit more harshly because their behaviour didn’t seem very Christian in the moment.
 
This is what Paul is trying to convey:
 
“Hey, you Epehsians! You claim to be Christians, but your behaviour doesn’t seem very Christ-like.”
 
So, he offers them a few reminders.
 
Tell one another the truth.
 
Also, don’t get so angry that you sin.
 
In other words, maybe don’t get so angry that you retaliate against someone else.
 
The scenario with the two drivers actually happened to me a while ago.
 
I was driver number 2, and while perhaps I wasn’t totally innocent in the scenario, I suspect that the other driver didn’t realize (or perhaps didn’t care) that the speed limit dropped.
 
Giving them the benefit of the doubt, if they didn’t realize the speed limit dropped, then it probably did seem like I was just slowing down to be unkind or a pain.
 
It may have seemed like I did it on purpose.
 
But, the other driver is really the one who was in the wrong, whether they knew it or perceived it that way or not.
 
I am confident that they felt justified in their anger.
 
And I am also confident that their anger was real - they really felt it inside of themselves.
 
And yet, they didn’t have the full picture.
 
It is possible that Paul can see a fuller picture than the Ephesians can – they might be too close to their situation to be able to see clearly.
 
So, maybe they need the reminder to take a step back and “stop being bitter and angry and mad at others.”
 
We all need that reminder from time to time.
 
But we also need the reminder to forgive others and give them the benefit of the doubt.
 
Especially because it just might be the case that we don’t have the full picture either.
 
Paul’s final words to the Ephesians reminds them to “let love be [their] guide. Christ loved us and offered his life for us as a sacrifice that pleases God.”
 
If we let love be our guide, do you think we would do something like cut someone off and flip them the bird while we drive?
 
If we let love be our guide, might we give others the benefit of the doubt, or at least be able to put ourselves in their shoes and *try* to understand their perspective?
 
We may not always agree, but if we are clouded by anger, it will be very difficult to see a situation from anything other than the very place we sit, which might not be the best vantage point to see the full picture.
 
Anger is an important emotion. I don’t think Paul is discounting that.
 
But I do think he is trying to give the Ephesians, and us, some guidance on how to better manage anger so that we don’t harm others as we work through it.
 
I don’t think he’s necessarily saying we should not address an issue if someone has done something to us to make us angry.
 
But I do think that he’s trying to tell us that instead of responding with a knee-jerk reaction, we should take a step back, if and when we can, to evaluate the situation and see it from the other person’s perspective.
 
Then, we can share our anger in a healthy way rather than in a way that simply retaliates on the other person.
 
Taking a minute to collect ourselves may prevent further damage to our relationships with others.
 
So, let us remember Paul’s words the next time feelings of anger bubble up in us, and, at the very least, try to take a moment before we respond.
 
In Paul’s words: “Do as God does. After all, you are his dear children. Let love be your guide.”
 
Amen.
 
Let us pray:
 
Bread of life, you taught us to put away bitterness and anger, and with tenderhearted kindness to share the fruit of our labor with the needy. Strengthen us by your grace, that in communion with you, we may forgive one another and live in love as Christ loved us. Amen.

Young at Heart Message
 
Let’s start today’s message by trying to put ourselves into the story we are hearing today.
 
Let’s imagine for a moment that we are part of the crowd that is following Jesus around.
 
Yesterday, we witnessed a miracle.
 
There wasn’t enough food, and yet somehow, we were all fed.
 
We are used to going hungry more often than we would like.
 
Illness, hunger, and unsanitary living conditions lead to some level of misery for most of us, at least some of the time.
 
Life in this age can be a burden at times.
 
Shelter, food, safety, and security can be a struggle for many of us.
 
Life is uncertain in so many ways, and most of us are looking for miracles or solutions to these daily burdens that plague our lives.
 
Yesterday, we all sat together and watched as this man, Jesus, turned a few loaves of bread and two small fish into enough food for all of us.
 
We ate well for the first time in a long time, and the best part was that we didn’t have to do the work of gathering or preparing the meal.
 
Anyone who can provide food in such a way should absolutely be our king.
 
And yet, when we expressed our desire for this man, Jesus, to be our king, he left us and declined to accept this honour.
 
Perhaps he was just being humble and modest. A man like that who can work such miracles is probably a humble man at heart.
 
So today, we searched long and hard and we found him again!
 
He was able to feed us yesterday, but who knows what else he can do!
 
What would you want to ask Jesus if you were part of this crowd who searched so hard to find him?
…
What would you want Jesus to know about how you live and what your needs are?
…
 
How do you feel about meeting Jesus again today?
…
I image that this crowd feels a mixture of wonder, excitement, anticipation, and hope as they encounter Jesus again.
 
They ask him a seemingly innocent question: “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
 
But instead of giving them an answer they might expect, Jesus seems to chastise them.
 
He says, more or less, “You worked all night to find me because I represent a free lunch. You never read the signs; you missed the point completely.”
 
Putting ourselves back into the crowd for a moment, how does it feel to have Jesus call us out for having “insufficient reasons” for trying to find him again?
…
 
The Message
 
I imagine that the people in the crowd were confused and perhaps even angry at Jesus’ response, at least initially.
 
They felt like they were doing the right thing, not only for themselves, but also for someone who had clear leadership skills and, they assumed, should be honoured that they wanted him to be their king.
 
The question they asked him implies that they know something about Jesus, but they desire to know so much more.
 
Their question is not limited to time and place. Rather, it’s a question about ultimate origins.
 
They want to know where he came from and how he became a miracle worker.
 
So Jesus’ response to their seemingly innocent question feels rather harsh.
 
Although the people have been searching for him all night long, and even crossed the lake to find him, Jesus detects an ulterior motive and calls their bluff (even if they don’t know it’s a bluff).
 
Most of us are afraid to be this forthright.
 
How many of us have had friends, family members, or acquaintances ask us for something or do something with seemingly good intentions, but we know they have a different agenda all together?
 
And yet, it is rare that we call people out so bluntly.
 
Many of us, myself included, will even allow the person to take advantage of us or work their agenda knowing that’s what they are doing because that’s easier than calling them on it.
 
But Jesus does something that is ultimately more meaningful and useful to the crowd than simply going along with their misguided agenda would have been.
 
He essentially tells that that he knows why they’ve come to find him.
 
“You came after me because of what happened yesterday when it was time to eat. You ate your fill, and now you’ve come to see if you can get more out of me today. You aren’t really interested in knowing who I am. Your question is a façade to cover your true intentions.”
 
Ouch.
 
More or less what he is saying is that they have come looking for him for what I would say is “insufficient reasons.”
 
I hesitate to say “for the wrong reasons” because they are just doing what instinct, cultural norms and expectations, and their own survival skills tell them they should do.
 
They aren’t trying to do the wrong thing here.
 
But their reasons are insufficient, and Jesus is pressing them to go deeper than their surface-level agenda.
 
And this shouldn’t really be surprising to us today.
 
People have, throughout history, chosen “insufficient reasons” to follow Jesus.
 
The cause of Christ has been exploited in myriad ways over the course of history to either hurt people, or to further people’s political or personal agendas that have nothing to do with Christ.
 
But Jesus isn’t having it, and if he were here today, I imagine his response would be very similar, or perhaps he would have even more harsh words for us today.
 
He abhors such crass opportunism.
 
In this case, he doesn’t even answer the question they ask him, but instead he moves the conversation in a new direction.
 
“The bread you’re after,” he tells them, “will not last. Yesterday you assuaged your hunger. You ate the bread and now you’re hungry again. There is food that perishes and there is food that lasts. God the Father has marked me to provide you the food that endures. So work for that food.”
 
In other words, your focus on things that are fleeting in this life will keep you on the hamster wheel. Jesus is inviting them (and us) to step off the hamster wheel into a new life. 
 
How do we do that?
 
Jesus tells the crowd that the answer is simple: “Believe in him whom he has sent.”
 
So easy! Right?
 
Well, the crowd doesn’t think so, and they ask him to prove it.
 
We heard a similar story from Exodus today as well – the very same story the crowd mentions as sufficient “proof.”
 
Jesus reminds them that Moses isn’t the one who provided the manna – that manna came from God.
 
Like most of the people in this crowd, each of us here is challenged by at least one personal “wilderness:” painful loss, physical suffering, financial woes, betrayal, bereavement, and more.
 
These are roads that we travel not by choice, but by necessity.
 
With the life-sustaining bread that Jesus offers, we are able to walk these roads.
 
It doesn’t mean it will be easy.
 
He doesn’t promise the crowd that all of their troubles will disappear.
 
He’s promising something deeper, something that will sustain us through the challenges and burdens of life – not something that will allow us to bypass those challenges completely.
 
Jesus is offering us an opportunity to see past whatever “insufficient reasons” we have for seeking him, and instead recognize that our own agenda needs to be set aside in order to truly be fed by the Bread of Life.
 
This is the Good News that the Gospel of John is trying to convey – it’s simultaneously a reality check that allows us to look at ourselves and our selfish motivations, and also set those aside so that we can come to Jesus with more intention and deeper meaning.
 
May we each take this opportunity to grow more deeply into our relationship with Christ and may we look beyond ourselves to the love and sustenance that Jesus provides through, for, and with God the Father. Amen.
 
Let us pray:
 
God, we sometimes have insufficient reasons for following you - sometimes we hope for answers, want you to do the hard work for us, or expect you to clear our path of obstacles or challenges without us having to do any of the hard work ourselves.
 
We sometimes forget to be grateful for those times when life gets difficult and you continue to love and support us through the challenges.
 
Thank you for loving us and guiding us, teaching us and being patient with us.
 
We know we don’t even have to ask, but we pray that you continue loving us and supporting us throughout our lives.
 
All of this we pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
 
Resources: 
~ Commentary from Christian Century titled “Wonder Bread: John 6:24-35” by Charles Hoffman (2006): https://www.christiancentury.org/article/2006-07/wonder-bread
 
~ Commentary from Working Preacher titled “Commentary on John 6:24-35” by Alicia D. Myers (2024): https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-18-2/commentary-on-john-61-21-7
​

Young at Heart Message
 
​Several of you have asked if I was planning to share anything about my vacation with everyone.
 
I will admit it hadn’t occurred to me, mainly because I couldn’t think of a way to skillfully work it into a sermon and have it feel applicable to the scripture.
 
But, interestingly, I think I can work it in today if you allow me to take a little liberty with the text.
 
Now, to be fair, I do find it hard to work in my actual vacation, because all I did on my week off was take my dogs to a dog sports camp where we did fun things together for a few days.
 
So I’ll share a couple pictures of Lacey and Kanyon doing some Search and Rescue just for those who want to see cute pictures of my dogs doing fun things. 
 
These photos were taken as they found the “subject” they were searching for.

​There isn’t much more I can say about my vacation that’s relevant, but we did have fun.
 
However, last week I had a busy week and had to work on my usual Saturday off, so I took Wednesday and Thursday off and spent two days in Canmore.
 
What I did while I was in Canmore is what I actually want to talk about today.
 
I intentionally moved our special music to just before the sermon today because when I shared that the theme for today’s message was a play on Miley Cyrus’s song, “The Climb,” Michael told me he would sing it for us today.
 
Perfect. He’s practically preached my whole message in a three-minute song!
 
It worked out so perfectly that I wanted to make sure it was fresh in your mind.
 
“The Climb” is perfect for today’s message because when I was in Canmore, I did something I’ve never done before and I climbed an actual mountain.
 
Those of you who are connected to me on Facebook have already seen my journey, but I’ll share it today for those of you who have not yet seen it because it’s pretty cool.
 
This is my journey climbing the Mount Yamnuska trail.

​So, why share this with all of you?
 
Because Miley’s lyrics ring true for my own journey up a literal mountain, and for so many of us as we journey through life.
 
She sings, “I can almost see it, that dream I’m dreaming, but there’s a voice inside my head saying you’ll never reach it.”
 
Oh, how many times I thought about turning back or wondered if I would make it to the top.
 
She says, “there’s always gonna be another mountain, I’m always gonna wanna make it move. Always gonna be an uphill battle. Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose. Ain’t about how fast I get there. Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side. It’s the climb.”
 
And here is the truth of the matter.
 
The views from the summit of Mount Yamnuska were incredible.
 
I’m proud of myself for getting there, don’t get me wrong.
 
I won’t forget that I got to the top.
 
But you know what I will remember in far more detail?
 
I’ll remember the climb.
 
The Message
 
The Gospels are a bit like climbing a mountain if you think about it.
 
It wouldn’t be much of a story if the writers shared Jesus’ story like this:
 
He was born. It was miraculous. He performed a whole bunch of miracles. He was killed on a cross, and then he came back to life. The end.
 
If this was all there was to it, it seems unlikely that the story would still be in circulation 2000 years later.
 
It also seems unlikely that an entire religion would have been built around that story.
 
Of course, we also recognize that this just isn’t how humans function. We are storytellers at heart.
 
Jesus’ death and resurrection is of little importance without the rest of the story.
 
Certainly, the basis of Christian theology hangs on the death and resurrection of Jesus. This is the climax of the entire story.
 
No one forgets this part of the story.
 
In fact, we have an entire week of the year which focuses on the events leading up to the death and resurrection of Jesus.
 
But, we have 51 other weeks of the year which focus on the rest of Jesus’ life and works.
 
In a metaphorical sense, we get an awful lot out of the climb toward the summit of the mountain that is the story of Jesus.
 
Today’s story, for example, includes two miracles that are of incredible importance to his journey.
 
First, we receive the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 (or probably more, because it only mentions 5000 men, but there were likely also women and children around).
 
What do you suppose people who were there remembered about this story?
 
Did they remember the end result of how the food tasted and nothing more?
 
Probably not. They were probably grateful for the food in the moment, but far more inspired for the rest of their lives by the feelings of awe of being in the presence of Jesus and witnessing the miracle that allowed each and every one of them to eat.
 
Likewise, what do you suppose the disciples remembered about their crossing of the Galilee?
 
Do they remember the boat reaching the shore?
 
Again, perhaps in the moment they remember the suddenness of the boat reaching the shore.
 
But once their feet were safely on shore, I imagine they remembered for the rest of their lives being witnesses to watching Jesus walk on water.
 
The point I’m trying to make is that achieving dreams or reaching goals can be an incredible feeling in the moment.
 
But we cannot (and often do not) forget the process of getting there.
 
Imagine our lives being like climbing a mountain, with the summit being the point at which our life ends.
 
If we think about it this way, we can be certain that it isn’t about getting to the top. Rather, it’s the climb that matters.
 
It’s the way we treat people.
 
It’s the way we treat ourselves.
 
It’s kindness and compassion, joy and wonder, pain and heartache, laughter and tears.
 
It’s learning and growing, scraping our knees and hugging our loved ones.
 
It’s connection and community and relationships with other people.
 
This journey through life would not be complete without joy and pain, happiness and suffering.
 
In other words, it would not be complete without the climb.
 
Some parts are easy, and some are incredibly difficult.
 
Sometimes we don’t feel like we have enough to feed ourselves, let alone 5000 or more other people.
 
But, like Jesus, we continue the journey even when we feel like we might not have what we need to reach the top.
 
And somehow, we keep climbing.
 
And, when we do get to the top, we can look back and say “wow, look at how far I have come!”
 
I’ll share one more example from my own life to illustrate that it isn’t about the destination, but about the journey.
 
The example I’ll share is about my ordination.
 
I remember the day I was ordained.
 
I remember that I was surrounded by many people that I love and care about, and who love and care about me.
 
But if I’m being honest, that day was not all that significant in the grand scheme of the journey I was on to get there.
 
I received a call the morning of my ordination that a member of the church I was serving was in the hospital and very close to her final moments.
 
I was asked by the family to come and offer a prayer with them before she passed.
 
So, I got myself ready and dressed for my ordination and headed to the hospital.
 
I offered a prayer with her family and then I headed to church for my ordination.
 
This moment of being with a family as they prepared to lose their loved one was symbolic of the journey I was on, and a stark reminder for me that my ordination itself was not the most important thing to happen in my life.
 
It was a part of the journey – a section of the climb.
 
It felt good to get there, but I learned so much more about myself as I climbed my way to that point.
 
Likewise, when I climbed Yamnuska, I learned more about myself and what I’m capable of on the climb, not at the summit.
 
Similarly, the disciples learned more about Jesus through the act of journeying with him toward his death and resurrection than they did by witnessing his death and resurrection.
 
Of course, these things are all interconnected, and without the summit (the climax of the story), we wouldn’t have a complete story that made sense.
 
But we cannot ever discount the parts of the story that get us to the summit.
 
So, as you leave here today, I encourage you to reflect on your own journeys thus far and appreciate the elements of “the climb” that got you where you are now.
 
Look back on that path that you’ve taken and recognize how far you’ve come, because that journey, that climb, is what makes you who you are today. Amen.
 
Let us pray:
 
Loving God, thank you for reminding us that life is not about any kind of final destination. Rather, it is about the climb - the journey from start to finish, and all that happens to make us who we are along the way.
 
We offer our gratitude today that while we venture on this journey called life, you walk by our side. You are not far away in some distant land, but instead you are with us, among us, and within us.
 
You manifest yourself in ways we would never expect, and for that, we are truly grateful.
 
We ask that you continue walking with us, showing the way when we feel lost or unsure. And, on those occasions when we forget you are still with us through it all, forgive us for not recognizing your presence in our lives.
 
All of this we pray today in your name. Amen.

​As I was researching for today’s message and reading some of the commentaries on today’s Gospel passages, I was reminded of a speech I saw years ago.
 
It was a woman named Claire Wineland who was giving a Ted talk.
 
It caught my attention back then because she was giving her speech while on oxygen.
 
Here’s a photo of her giving the speech:

Claire had Cystic Fibrosis, a genetic lung condition, and she passed away in 2018. But before she passed, she was actively advocating for people with chronic illnesses.
 
I considered sharing the entire speech with you, but it’s about 6 minutes long and not all of it is relevant, so I just want to share some highlights with you.
 
She begins her speech by saying “when you pity people who are sick, you take away their power.”
 
She goes on to say “I am sick. I will probably always be sick. And yet I am 100% content and happy with my life. 100%.”
 
Her speech talks about how we can stop pitying people and start empowering people instead.
 
She says, “the way that our society works, we teach sick people that when they are sick, somehow, someway, they cannot be as happy as normal, healthy people.”
 
“We teach them that their happiness, their contentment in life, their joy in life is tied to how healthy they are.”
 
She recounts a time as a child when she was looking through a magazine and feeling sorry for herself because she was in the hospital and not having some adventure like the people in the magazine.
 
And then she realized that she could bring happiness to her hospital room.
 
She talks about making our lives beautiful, no matter our circumstances. She says, “we can make our lives into a piece of art.”
 
She goes on to say, “we look at people who are sick and we pity them because we assume their lives must be inherently less joyous than everyone else’s.
 
“Life is not going to stop unfolding itself to you just because you’re sick.
 
“Or just because your life isn’t how you think it’s supposed to be. There’s still going to be beauty.
 
“I have lived the kind of life that all of you spend your entire lives running from. I’ve been sick and dying my entire life.
 
“And yet, I am so proud of my life. What does that say about the way we’re all living our lives?
“We’re waiting to be healthy, we’re waiting to be wealthy, we’re waiting to find our passion, we’re waiting to find our true love before we actually start living!”
 
Claire says a bit more in her speech about life and joy and suffering, but I’ll stop here because I want to point something out.
 
She doesn’t mention this – in fact, she says nothing about faith – but I believe what Claire did was make space for God’s healing.
 
She opened herself to understanding that healing might not mean what she hoped it would mean – healing, for her, was never going to mean finding a cure for her illness.
 
Healing meant finding joy and contentment within the paradigm of her life story.
 
I am not sure if you all know this, but I have the same genetic disease that Claire had.
 
There are some amazing new medications out now that are about as close to a cure as someone with Cystic Fibrosis could ask for.
 
Claire didn’t live long enough to see that reality, but she made space for God’s healing, not on her terms, but on God’s terms.
 
So how do we make space for God’s healing in our own lives?
 
Our scripture passage today leads us to make a lot of assumptions about how Jesus healed people.
 
It says “the people brought their sick to him. They begged him to let them just touch his clothes, and everyone who did was healed.”
 
I think we automatically read that and assume that everyone was instantly cured of their ailments.
 
But what if, instead, they made space and opened themselves to healing in ways that go beyond anything physical?
 
What if we did this?
 
Earlier in today’s passage, Jesus recognizes that his disciples had not had a chance to eat, so he invites them to go with him so they can all rest.
 
Jesus invites his disciples to make space for healing – not necessarily because they were sick, but because they were exhausted and needed to care for their bodies and their souls.
 
I think this concept of making space for healing is difficult for people to understand, especially if they have not experienced examples of it in their own lives.
 
Like Claire, my Dad was sick most of his life.
 
He of course had different health issues than she did, but I grew up in a household in which we all knew Dad was sick, and my parents especially knew that his time here with us may be shorter than most people expect to get.
 
But I never, ever saw anyone in my family pity my Dad, and I never saw my Dad pity himself.
 
In fact, it was quite the opposite – Dad knew he was not ever going to be cured. His body was too damaged, and when multiple organs fail, it causes a snowball effect.
 
If you fix one thing, the other organs have already taken their beating, and in order to fix those, you have to damage something else.
 
Dad knew this. And yet, he modeled for me and my sister a life that left space for God’s healing.
 
He modeled a life that wasn’t about pity, but was about beauty and joy.
 
My parents did things together and they prioritized time together because they knew their time could be cut short at any time.
 
We did things as a family and we enjoyed life as best we could, and I would argue that compared to many average-income families I knew, we got to do more and take more “adventures” growing up because my parents didn’t want to miss out on life.
 
There was no Jesus (not in the literal sense anyway) that we could go to, touch his clothes, and have my dad be “cured.”
 
But my Dad was empowered to make space for God’s healing nonetheless.
 
That healing didn’t look like a body that was perfectly healthy.
 
Expecting that would have been unrealistic for my Dad, and would have just led to ongoing disappointment, or perhaps even anger toward God.
 
But, opening himself up and making space for God’s healing, in whatever form that took, allowed him to view his life differently.
 
It allowed him to demonstrate for his children this idea that Claire mentions – that contrary to what society wants us to believe, his happiness, his contentment, and his joy was not tied to how healthy he was.
 
It was tied, instead, to the joy he created around him, and to the space he made to allow himself to be healed beyond his physical body.
 
I share these stories so that we can reimagine what healing means in the context of these Gospel stories.
 
I do believe the writers were intending to imply “curing of all ailments” when they were writing.
 
But if we go into life expecting that every ailment we ever have will be cured, we may end up disappointed, depressed, or angry with God.
 
If instead we leave our healing in God’s hands, if we make space for God to share with us what healing might look like for us, we may receive an answer we did not expect.
 
Let us choose to make space for God’s healing power in our lives and be open to discovering what that might mean for us, even if our physical bodies may not be able to be “cured.”
 
Let us seek out the little things that allow us to, as Claire said, be “100% content and happy” with our lives.
 
May you open yourself to the healing power of God.
 
May you let God help you discover what healing might mean for you.
 
And, may you live your life with beauty and joy. 
 
Amen.
 
Let’s pray:
 
God of compassion, teach us to follow you, to trust you, to love you, and to love as you love.

​God of compassion, feed those of us who are hungry - physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Allow us to open our hearts and minds to your healing power, setting aside our own expectations and opening ourselves instead to the healing possibilities we could not even begin to imagine.
 
God, teach us to have compassion for others as you do. Help us to show compassion in action the way you do. Remind us when it is time to come away with you for quiet and rest.
 
God, in your mercy, have compassion for us.
 
We pray all of this in your Holy name. Amen.