​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.

Young at Heart Message

I’d like to start today’s message with an opportunity for storytelling.

The last time I had us take time to share stories and talk with one another, you all seemed to find that helpful and enjoyable so I thought we would try it again today.
​
I would like us to take 10 minutes to get together in groups of 4-5 people and be in conversation with each other.
 
The topic I would like you to discuss is this:
 
Name a person or people at Good Shepherd Church who made you feel welcome, cared for, or seen, and share what they did or said to make you feel that way.
 
If you are new here or visiting, or do not wish to share, it is OK to just listen to the other stories.
 
Make sure to give everyone who wishes to share a chance to do so.
 
By a show of hands, how many of you shared a story about another member of the church?
 
How many shared a story about a pastor of the church?
 
I would be shocked if the majority of you had shared a story about a pastor being that person who made you feel welcome, cared for, or seen.
 
The reason isn’t because pastors are inherently unfriendly or unwelcoming, of course.
 
The reason is because pastors come and go throughout the life of a church, but the church members are the ones who do so much of the work to care for one another over the course of years.
 
It is a stark reminder for all of us that what makes this church special, and what welcomes people here is all of you.
 
It is, in my opinion, the beauty of the church as a whole and the value of being part of a church community.
 
There is joy in being seen not just by church leadership, but by those familiar faces of “the crowd.”
 
Which is exactly what Jesus does for the bleeding woman who touches his clothes.
 
The Message

In today’s passage from the Gospel of Mark, we heard two stories: a story of healing, and a story of resurrection.

I want to talk about the story of the healing of the bleeding woman.

More specifically, I want to talk about the significance for this woman not just of being healed, but of being seen.
 
The passage tells us that this unnamed woman has been bleeding and in pain for 12 years.
 
It doesn’t tell us the cause of the bleeding, but it is a fair assumption that it likely has to do with a menstrual disorder or a pregnancy-related injury.
 
If this is indeed her injury, it likely makes her infertile.
 
Therefore, based on the ancient understandings of anatomy, menstruation, and ritual purity, her womb is no longer a source of life.
 
This is likely a cause for shame in her culture, and therefore, this woman has likely been cast aside by society.
 
Alternatively, she may have placed herself on the sidelines, out of sight and out of mind, if she held onto feelings of shame around her condition.
 
So, when she approaches Jesus to try to receive healing, she does so while trying not to be seen or noticed. She hopes to simply touch Jesus, receive healing, and fade back into the crowd.
 
But, what actually happens is that she is immediately cured, and Jesus notices her.
 
More accurately, he feels the energy she takes from him for her healing, and he turns to find out who touched his clothes.
 
Trembling with fear, she kneels before him to admit that it was her who touched him.
 
Jesus does not punish her as she fears he would. Instead, he tells her that she has been healed.
 
He publicly commends her faith and even goes so far as to call her “daughter.”
 
She enters the scene alone, in fear and in secrecy.
 
She departs the scene having been dignified and praised by Jesus, all while her neighbours witness.
 
This woman, who has most likely been cast aside for 12 years due to her ailment, now experiences the joy of being seen.
 
This passage is a good example of the need that humans have to be loved, cared for, and acknowledged.
 
And our storytelling earlier is a good example of the ways that churches and communities can provide that care and love and acknowledgement.
 
Many people walk into churches feeling like the bleeding woman.
 
Perhaps they are not literally bleeding, but many people enter churches with a feeling of brokenness – seeking something beyond themselves.
 
Many people desire to be seen – not necessarily in the limelight, but on a human level.
 
People want to be cared for, loved, noticed, and welcomed.
 
Through their uncertainty, their pain, and their brokenness, people simply want to be seen for who they truly are.
 
Jesus gives this woman so much more than physical healing – he gives her emotional and spiritual healing as well.
 
He creates an opportunity to demonstrate for the crowd “holistic healing” – he shows them what it looks like not just to heal her ailment, but to fulfill a basic human need that everyone has - to be seen and cared for beyond our physical bodies.
 
Jesus extends his love beyond what this woman ever expected.
 
And, many of the stories you all shared earlier have done something similar.
 
You have given each other that deep sense of holistic healing in the form of welcome, noticing, and acknowledgement.
 
You have loved and accepted one another, despite uncertainty, fear, pain, brokenness, or any other insecurities you may have had walking into a new church.
 
So, as we remember the story of the bleeding woman, may we also remember that while Jesus provides healing in many ways, we can provide similar healing to others, as well.
 
By seeing one another for who we are and loving each other, remembering the final words of the Moravian Motto - “In all things, love,” we can do for others what Jesus did for this woman.
 
The Good News of today’s message is this: You are loved. You are cared for. You are seen.
 
And, together, we are love. Amen.
 
Let us pray:
 
Creator God, we are so grateful that you sent your son Jesus Christ to show us how to love and care for others around us. We pray that you would continue to help us live our lives by the mantra “In all things, Love.” We are grateful for this church community that has been so welcoming and loving, allowing us to be seen for who we truly are, living into our true selves as you created us to be. In your holy name we pray. Amen.

Young at Heart Message

Today, we’re talking about the story of Job.

In the spirit of this story, I thought it might be helpful to illustrate the story using a parallel story.
​
So, I’d like to share a story written from the point of view of none other than Kanyon the Bernese Mountain Dog.
​
Here is a picture of him to put us into his story, and then I’ll let him take it from there:

I have an AMAZING life!
 
I am such a good boy, and I know this because my mom tells me every day.
 
I get two delicious meals a day, I have access to bones to chew on all the time, I get to walk around the neighbourhood and meet up with my friends almost every day, and I get to run off leash all the time.
 
I think I am a pretty wealthy dog, in terms of dog wealth anyway.
 
No amount is too much to pay for my dog food. At least, that’s what mom tells me.
 
I get to go to daycare sometimes, and honestly, someone always picks up after me when I use the “bathroom.” I mean come on – how many of you can say that?! You can’t get any richer than that!
 
I am so wealthy and my life is so good because I’m such a good boy – I listen to my mom (most of the time), and I never do anything bad (most of the time).
 
So, imagine my surprise when one day, mom picked up all the bones, and said I couldn’t have any food, and I couldn’t go play with my friends, and it rained on my head.
 
And then, to make matters worse, my mom took me to this place where they shaved the hair on my belly, put me to sleep, and when I woke up, I was sore and in pain and wearing this horrible plastic thing around my neck.
 
What on EARTH could I have done to deserve this?
 
I don’t think I did anything wrong, ever.
 
Mom always said I was a good boy. Did she lie?
 
Things didn’t get better when I got home. She still wouldn’t let me eat, or play with my friends, or chew my bone, or run around at all.
 
I couldn’t get comfortable because of the silly plastic thing around my neck.
 
On top of ALL of that, my nemesis came out of the closet, made loud noises, and sucked up all my hair that I worked so hard to dispense on the floor.
 
I asked my sister Lacey why I was getting treated so horribly, and why she was still allowed to eat, and chew, and go for walks.
 
She told me that I must have done something wrong for mom to treat me so poorly.
 
She guessed that I probably wasn’t as good of a boy as I thought I was.
 
WHAT?! I am such a good boy! I’ve always been a good boy. This just isn’t a reasonable answer.
 
Mom is just being mean to me for the sake of being mean. I know it.
 
In fact, I want to give mom a piece of my mind. I want to get her to answer for these crimes against me!
 
This isn’t right!
 
Lacey says I must have been a bad dog, but I don’t know how or when. I just don’t think it’s possible.
 
I cursed my mom over and over, howling about how awful she was being and how I didn’t deserve such treatment.
 
I’ve always been a good dog. I’ve never done anything wrong. Ever.
 
I don’t deserve this. Why doesn’t she just end this. My life is horrible and I don’t see a point in it.
 
I had a great life, and now I don’t. It’s awful. I can’t stand it anymore.
 
And then finally, mom answered my howls.
 
She told me that sometimes, life is bigger than what I know or could understand.
 
I wasn’t being punished for being a bad dog originally, but I was kind of being a bad dog now. I mean, I admittedly was blaming her for things that she says were out of her control.
 
It doesn’t seem that way to me though. It seems like she’s doing this to me intentionally.
 
But she says the world is bigger than me.
 
It’s not my fault, but it’s not her fault either, and there are things about the world that I just can’t understand.
 
So, I guess I should let her off the hook.
 
Maybe she doesn’t think I’m a bad dog. Maybe I just don’t understand why this had to happen to me.
 
Maybe, tomorrow will be a little better than today.
 
And maybe the next day, even a bit better.
 
And maybe mom does still love me, and wasn’t trying to be mean just for the sake of being mean.
 
I guess only time will tell.
 
The Message

If you couldn’t tell, Kanyon’s tale of misery and despair, from his perspective, was supposed to parallel to some extent the story of Job.

In preparation for today’s sermon, I actually read the entire book of Job.
​
The passage that we heard today was God’s response to Job, which comes only after 37 other chapters of lament, complaining, and arguments with Job’s friends.
 
In a long nutshell, here’s what happens in the book of Job:
 
Job's life starts out very well - he's wealthy, he’s honest inside and out, he’s a man of his word, totally devoted to God, and he hated evil with a passion.
 
He had 7 sons and 3 daughters, 7000 head of sheep, 3000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, 500 donkeys, and a huge staff of servants. He was the most influential man of the East!
 
After we learn this about Job, we see an interesting exchange happen between God and Satan.
 
God sings Job’s praises to Satan, and Satan responds by saying “well sure, but you pamper him like a pet, and you bless everything he does! He can’t lose!”
 
Satan bets that if God took everything away from Job, Job would end up cursing God. Essentially, Satan claims that Job is only good because he’s blessed.
 
So God tells Satan fine, take away everything Job has and see what happens.
 
Job responds to having all of his possessions and riches taken away by not sinning or blaming God.
 
So God tells Satan “see! He’s still good and still doesn’t sin or curse me!”
 
And Satan says yeah well, I bet if you took away his health too, he would curse you.
 
So God gives Satan permission to take away his health, but not kill him.
 
Now, I find this part of the story troubling, because it implies an indifferent God – a God who messes with people’s lives or tests them for his own amusement.
 
This doesn’t seem like something a loving God would do.
 
But, we have to keep in mind that the theological perspective at this time was that God micromanaged people’s lives.
 
So, in the prevailing worldview, this isn’t odd.
 
So, Satan strikes Job with horrible itchy sores that were oozing and uncomfortable.
 
And Job’s wife asks him why he doesn’t just curse God and be done with it.
 
I imagine that Job’s wife is suffering terribly at this point as well, considering the losses they have both experienced.
 
Job responds to her initially by saying “we take the good days from God, why not also the bad days.”
 
This seems like an odd response – it makes Job appear incredibly devoted to God initially, despite the terrible things that have happened to him.
 
But, he also hasn’t been dealing with the ailments for all that long yet.
 
At this point in the story, Job’s three friends come to join him, and they sit with him for 7 days and 7 nights in silence, until finally Job speaks.
 
And when Job speaks, he cries out, wondering what the point of life even is at this point.
 
The bulk of the rest of the Book of Job is Job arguing with his friends as they try to argue in various ways that he must have done something to deserve this treatment.
 
And Job keeps stubbornly responding to their arguments saying how awful they are treating him.
 
He also continually complains that he should be able to put God on trial to answer for these things that have happened to him.
 
Finally, we come to chapter 38. We read verses 1-11 today – the first time God directly responds to Job’s accusations.
 
And what we hear from God isn’t exactly a satisfying response if you put yourself in Job’s shoes.
 
The theology of the day is such that God directly intervenes in people’s lives.
 
So when God replies with more of a cosmological answer, we as readers feel perhaps a bit frustrated.
 
God essentially tells Job that he’s talking a lot about things he knows nothing about.
 
Then, God goes on to list a whole bunch of questions for Job, which begins to put things into perspective.
 
He asks first “where were you when I created the earth? Tell me, since you know so much!”
 
God asks a lot of questions like:
 
"Who do you suppose carves canyons for the downpours of rain," "Do you know the first thing about the sky's constellations and how they affect things on Earth?", "Can you teach the lioness to stalk her prey and satisfy the appetite of her cubs?”
 
Job responds and says he's ready to shut up and listen. God continues with more questions: "Do you presume to tell me what I'm doing wrong? Are you calling me a sinner so you can be a saint? I'll gladly step aside and hand things over to you - you can surely save yourself with no help from me!"
 
Job finally says "I'm convinced: You can do anything and everything. Nothing and no one can upset your plans.”
 
The story ends by God blessing Job once again and “restoring him.”
 
Whew! What a story!
 
As I briefly mentioned, this story evidenced the theology of the time - that God has total control over our lives and can bless us and take away our blessings on a whim.
 
Ultimately though, what this story is conveying is that God is so much vaster and more mysterious than we could ever understand.
 
Our human nature is rather selfish - we can only understand God in terms of how our own lives are affected.
 
This theological assumption that God blesses those who are good and righteous, and God punishes those who are sinful is problematic and closed-minded.
 
For example, Pat Robertson publicly announced that the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 was caused by the people of Haiti's "pact with the devil." 
 
This theology assigns moral blame for natural disasters.
 
It allows those who were not affected to believe that God somehow spared them because of their moral superiority, while the people of Haiti were being punished because of their sinfulness.
 
The story of Job in a lot of ways highlights this type of theology, so I can see where someone like Pat Robertson, who claims to read the Bible literally, might read this story and say "see, God punishes those who are sinful and blesses those who are righteous.”
 
But, we have to remember that this story was written and shared in a time and place when humanity's understanding of the world and of God was very different.
 
This story happened well before Jesus was sent to humanity. Jesus teaches a theology that is very different than this - he offers grace and takes away this mentality that God is to blame for all things that happen to us - good or bad.

It is hard for me to believe, and therefore would be almost impossible to preach, that God works the way the people in Job's time thought God worked.
 
How could a loving God play with people's lives in the way described in Job?
 
God's response reflects the theology of the time, but the greater point God makes in the reply to Job is that we cannot possibly understand how God works in our world.
 
The story of Job is an attempt to understand something that is not understandable.
 
God created a world of intricacies in which our individual lives are part of a much larger, far more vast system - a small part of the grand cosmos of God's design.
 
It is not that our lives are insignificant, it is that our lives are part of something so much greater than ourselves.
 
Blaming God when bad things happen, or blaming our own sins, diminishes God to a being that micromanages everything, and reduces the impact of free will on our lives.
 
It's not that God doesn't care about us. God joins us in both our pain and our joy, and walks with us, and occasionally even carries us through the hard times.
 
God doesn't punish us in the way Job and others in this time period thought.
 
When we consider all of God's creation, and not just our own lives, we can see hope and joy in the way that all of creation is connected, and in the fact that we are connected to everyone and everything else in ways we could never fully comprehend.
 
And, no matter what we think, no matter what anyone says, God loves us and offers us grace through all of it. Amen.
 
Let us pray:
 
God of all Creation, sometimes the storms frighten us and we cry to you. Sometimes our challenges are great and we tremble. Sometimes the storms are around us, and sometimes they are within. Speak your word of peace to us, so that we may endure our storms and face our difficulties with peace and faith. We open our hearts to your grace.  Amen.
 
Prayer from Unfolding Light, https://unfoldinglight.net/2009/12/01/ot-12-pe-4/

Young at Heart Message

At the Winter Craft Sale this past year, I bought a cute little pinstriped glass skull with a cutting of a plant in it that had just started to grow roots.
​
I no longer have the glass skull, but the cutting looked a lot like this:

​In fact, I clipped this cutting on Friday in order to illustrate my sermon today, so this is a fresh cutting taken just a couple days ago.
 
Plants are quite incredible when you really think about it.
 
I know those of you who are gardeners may not be as impressed as I am, but let this black-thumbed person tell you about my journey with this little cutting from last year’s Winter Craft Sale.
 
I was pretty proud of myself that I kept the cutting alive, to be honest with you.
 
I did very little. More accurately, I did nothing except add water to the glass skull when it was getting low.
 
This little cutting kept growing roots despite what came close to plant neglect.
 
After several months – all winter and most of the spring – I started to notice that the little plant’s few leaves were falling off.
 
The roots had gotten to the point where they pretty much filled the little glass skull, but it had lost all but the top two leaves.
 
I also noticed, however, that it was sprouting tiny baby leaves just at the point where the stem stuck out of the water.
 
Now, knowing almost nothing about plants, I thought that maybe it was time I actually planted the little cutting in soil.
 
It seemed to me that the worst that could happen is… well, that it didn’t survive the move to soil.
 
So, I went and bought soil I thought might work. I figured I couldn’t go wrong with standard house plant soil.
 
On one of the first nice-ish spring days that we had – sometime in March or April – I decided to transfer the little cutting with all of its roots and its two little leaves to soil.
 
And I’m happy to report that today, just a few short months later, this is what my plant looks like:

When I read today’s scripture describing a person who simply scattered seeds on the ground and then did nothing else to cultivate them, I knew I had to share the story of my little plant.
 
This little plant survived my neglect and kept growing more and more roots despite me not paying any real attention to it.
 
But it thrived once I started taking a more active role in its care.
 
In our scripture reading today from the Gospel of Mark, we heard about someone who simply scattered seeds, but did not actively care for or cultivate those seeds.
 
And despite the neglect of the person who scattered the seeds, those seeds sprouted and grew.
 
But, I wonder what would have happened if the person who scattered the seeds would have helped them thrive?
 
The Message

Today’s parables from Jesus are notoriously difficult to preach, believe it or not.

It certainly seems like there should be some good metaphors to lean on from the passage.

And yet, it presents difficulty because the parables aren’t as clear as Jesus usually is.
​
He is talking about the Kingdom of God, a mystery in itself, using parables that don’t really seem to provide any more clarity to the concept.
 
And yet, we can still gain some insights from these stories.
 
What if the Kingdom of God was not some mysterious, far-off land of opportunity, but instead the world in which we live right here and now?
 
Would knowing this cause us to live our lives differently than we currently do?
 
It might be hard to believe that a world filled with broken people, sadness, despair, loneliness, and so many other difficult and challenging things could possibly be the Kingdom of God.
 
But, if God resides here with us, in the here and now, and sits with us through our painful times and our times of joy, then are we not in God’s Kingdom?
 
If God calls us to love our neighbours as we love ourselves, and to serve others in all that we do, then are we not doing our best to live out that call in God’s Kingdom?
 
If God is the creator of the world we see, touch, taste, smell, and hear, then would we not call this God’s Kingdom?
 
God’s presence and God’s rule happen here and now.
 
Jesus’ life and love came among us, not in some far-off, intangible, unattainable way, but in the grit and ground of this place on earth.
 
There are times in our lives when I think we are more like the cutting of this plant – with roots growing underneath, but little showing outwardly to the world.
 
And then there are times when we are more like the cared for plant, roots growing deep into fertile soil and leaves blossoming for all the world to see.
 
But in both of these times, God is right there with us, loving us when we only can muster two small leaves, and loving us when we are in full bloom.
 
There are times when we set aside the notion of God’s Kingdom in order to serve our own needs or to go our own way.
 
And, there are times when we are more aware of God’s presence and leadership in our lives.
 
And all of this reminds us to live our lives in expectation of God near us – God with us, among us, and within us.
 
This notion that we will only see and be in God’s Kingdom “someday” holds God at arm’s length.
 
It makes God feel distant – like a relative who lives halfway across the world.
 
But if we live as though we are already in God’s Kingdom – as though God is always with us in the here and now – then we never know when we might go from a small cutting that’s growing roots in preparation for being planted someday to a thriving, blooming plant that God has been cultivating and preparing to be fruitful.
 
This also allows us to live with hope for our place on earth.
 
Nowhere and no one on earth is beyond God’s unique and branching love.
 
No one is excluded from the Kingdom of God if we envision being in the Kingdom of God everyday, everywhere we go.
 
God created everything, and all of us, and God doesn’t give up on any little square of this earth.
 
And perhaps God is waiting for us to notice when a plant cutting, growing roots but not yet thriving, is ready to be transferred to fertile soil.
 
Perhaps God is waiting for us to take notice of God’s Kingdom in this time and this place.
 
Perhaps Jesus is telling us that whether we know it or not, whether we take active part or not, God’s Kingdom will continue to grow and expand not in some far-off, unattainable or unknowable place, but right here before our eyes, if we are willing to take notice.
 
If we are willing to put the effort in to cultivating the seeds that have been planted, perhaps God’s Kingdom will become knowable right where we are.
 
May we experience the joy and the hope of knowing that we are already in God’s Kingdom, and may we do our part to cultivate that Kingdom among the people we know and the parts of God’s creation that we individually care for.
 
May we hear this Good News and experience the Kingdom of God, the saving grace of Jesus Christ, and the expansive presence and love of the Holy Spirit in all that we do. Amen.
 
Let us pray:
 
Creator God, we have been planted and we have taken root, and we look to you to help us thrive. Thank you for being present with us through every moment - whether joyful or challenging. Help us to see and know that we are in Your Kingdom in this time and place, and remind us daily that You are right here with us. Remind us as we watch the sunset, or as we smell the lilacs in full bloom, or as we hug a loved one, or taste honey made by honey bees, or as we hear the birds singing in the crisp morning air. Remind us always of your vast love for us. Amen.

Young at Heart Message

Before we really dive into the message today, I want to take time to rest our bodies and spirits, and to rest in God’s loving embrace.

To do that, I want to try a short “embodiment practice” – a form of sacred movement that helps to unite mind, heart, and body to create a more balanced self.

This particular practice is very simple, and you can do it sitting down. Those of you attending Synod with me next weekend will get to do it again there.
 
We will begin by placing our hands over our hearts, or somewhere that is comfortable for each of us.
 
Then, we will do a silent breathing exercise together.
 
We will take a few deep breaths together.
 
When you breath in, say to yourself “God, Spirit, Jesus, Divine, Holy One… fill me with _____.”
 
Choose a positive energy word, or a virtue that you feel you could use more of. For example, courage, love, hope, joy, strength…
 
On your “out” breath, say to yourself “May I be open to letting go of _____.”
 
Choose something you feel like you might be holding on to that you would like to release. For example, anger, frustration, fear, uncertainty…
 
Let’s repeat this mantra to ourselves 3 times as we fall into a few moments of silence together. The phrases are on the screens as a reminder. Let’s begin.
 
In breath: “God, Spirit, Jesus, Divine, Holy One… fill me with _____.”
 
Out breath: “May I be open to letting go of _____.”
 
This is a practice I have encouraged people to use any time they need to because it is so simple and helps us to connect the mind, the body, and the spirit.
 
It is also a helpful reminder to be aware of our emotions and recognize when there might be some negative energy we could release, and when there might be some positive energy we would like to receive.
 
I invite you to remember the exercise and use it as often as you would like.
 
The Message

Today, we are talking about celebrating rest.

I had my monthly meeting with my Spiritual Director last week, and during that meeting, we were talking about self care and the ways I have been trying to create a better balance between my work life and my personal life.
​
My Spiritual Director and I have been working together for a couple years, so she knew me before I moved to Canada.
 
She is well aware of the lack of balance I had before I moved.
 
As we talked, I made a comment that went something like this:
 
I need to stay on top of making sure I have a good balance in my life so that I can avoid burning out as a pastor. If I burn out, I can no longer serve my congregation and I cannot bring my best self to my work. Too many pastors experience this, and I don’t want to be one of them.
 
To this, my Spiritual Director said, “I wonder what would happen if you reframed it a bit so that, instead of creating a healthy balance to avoid burnout, you are creating a healthy balance in order to thrive both in your work and your personal life?”
 
She just about blew my mind with that comment.
 
Every other pastor I know – in fact, nearly every other working person I know, especially those in “helping” fields, try to prioritize avoiding burnout.
 
It never occurred to me that merely avoiding burnout doesn’t necessarily mean I am caring for myself in ways that allow me to bring my best self to my work, and my best self to my personal life.
 
It doesn’t necessarily mean I am caring for myself in ways that allow me to consistently thrive.
 
It simply means I am avoiding that ledge that so many people fall off of into an abyss of misery as they head toward burning out in the work they do.
 
This conversation, and today’s scripture about Sabbath, seemed to collide for me as I prepared for today’s service.
 
The conversation with my Spiritual Director reminded me just how important rest is, and how much our bodies and brains need opportunities to recharge and refresh.
 
And today’s scripture is a reminder for all of us that holding to our convictions around rest and sabbath so tightly that we overlook the needs of others completely isn’t necessarily the right thing, either.
 
In today’s scripture, the Pharisees were giving Jesus a hard time because his disciples were picking grain on the Sabbath, and then Jesus healed a person on the Sabbath.
 
According to custom and what the Pharisees knew, working on the Sabbath was against the accepted rules and norms.
 
Jesus had to remind them that when there is someone in need in front of us, we are called to help them, even if it is supposed to be a rest day.
 
But, I also don’t think Jesus intends to imply that people should always work through their rest days, either.
 
Again, this is another example of balance.
 
If someone comes to him on the Sabbath and needs healing, he’s certainly not going to deny that person because it is the Sabbath.
 
But, Jesus does take time for himself, to be in prayer and to connect with God, and to rest.
 
So it begs the question for us then: how are we caring for ourselves and making sure we are getting the rest we need?
 
Rest might not always be physical rest.
 
For example, I know I am not the only one in this room right now who likes to stay busy.
 
Sometimes, resting the mind can mean doing something physical – gardening, hiking, or walking, for example.
 
Sometimes, rest can be a short and simple act of mindfulness amidst a busy day. The breathing exercise we did earlier is a great opportunity for a moment of rest during a time of busy-ness.
 
Rest allows us time to renew and refresh ourselves in whatever ways we might need in the moment.
 
There are perhaps times in our lives when something like attending church on Sunday doesn’t feel like rest or Sabbath.
 
Sometimes it feels like work!
 
So many people put a lot of work into making Sunday worship and fellowship time a success every week.
 
And yet, many of us consider Sunday a Sabbath day.
 
How do we reconcile this “work” we do to participate in Sunday worship with this notion of “rest” or “Sabbath?”
 
Perhaps looking at it the way Jesus does – as taking joy in serving others, even though it does involve a bit of work on our part is a good way to look at it.
 
What if we recognize it as a moment of spiritual rest, rather than work we are required to do earlier than we’d like on a Sunday morning?
 
Once again, when the opportunity to be with one another in worship and fellowship is reframed not as work, but as spiritual rest and renewal for our souls, it no longer feels like work.
 
I find this to be a helpful way of looking at Sunday mornings because, obviously, as a pastor I am working on Sundays.
 
And yet, Sunday mornings rarely feel like work for me, believe it or not.
 
Most of the hard work gets done earlier in the week, so all I have to do is bring my best self, and trust that God has helped me prepare the best I could.
 
I sincerely hope that those of you who also have work to do for Sunday mornings – setting up fellowship time, getting hymnals out for people, preparing and running the AV system, preparing and playing music for the day, counting offerings, cleaning up after fellowship time, and any other work that goes into Sunday mornings – are able to find spiritual rest in that “busy-ness” of the work that goes into Sunday morning services.
 
I hope that, like Jesus, there is a joy in doing the work to serve others.
 
As you leave here today, I encourage you to hold onto this notion of celebrating rest, and of maintaining a healthy balance of work and rest as a way to thrive and bring your best self both to your work and your personal life.
 
If we all are able to bring our best, well-rested selves to everything we do, suddenly we are able to help one another thrive in a world where many people feel they are merely surviving.
 
May we celebrate rest for our bodies, minds, and spirits in ways that help us thrive, both on our own and in community with one another.
 
Resting well allows us to serve well, to grow well, to learn well, to love well, and to be well.
 
May we be well in our souls. Amen.
 
Let us pray:
 
God of rest, thank you for helping us recognize when our bodies, minds, or spirits need renewal. We pray that you would guide us toward taking the time to rest in ways that will refresh us when we need to do that for ourselves. When we are overwhelmed by life, or anxious about something, or when we are simply overdoing it, help us remember to take the time we need for Sabbath. Help us to rest so that we can thrive, rather than merely survive. We pray all of this in your Holy name. Amen.