The Skypilot
Thoughts in the midst of ministry and preaching in the North Peace Country of Alberta
Thursday, June 17, 2021
Just let you know, the blogging continues!
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Superman or Saviour?
Thursday, September 17, 2020
Watch what you are building
Thursday, September 10, 2020
Freely you have received, freely give.
Thursday, September 3, 2020
Conflict is inevitable, combat is optional.
It might be surprising to you but clergy these days when
they are trained for ministry, one of the things that they have to learn is how
to deal with and manage conflict within the life of the Church. Does that
surprise you? One of the things that I have learned over the years, is that
conflict, which happens within a person is inevitable. People deal with
conflict within themselves all the time. Personal conflict gives rise to a
number of really good pieces of music it, especially country music. The old
hurting songs that talk about the wife leaving husband behind with kids to feed
and crops in the fields that need to be harvested. The dog has died and the cat
won’t speak to anyone anymore. “Picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille!”
If conflict is inevitable then combat is most often optional.
We can choose how to act on what goes on inside us. And the way in which the
Gospel calls on us to deal with conflict is interesting. It is put on the
injured party to confront the other person and to try and gain
satisfaction/relief from the situation. If that does not work, then try again
with a couple of witnesses who may be able to help you work things out. If you
cannot prevail to get a satisfactory outcome, then everyone goes before the
church (local congregation and you try again to settle matters. If the offender
does not listen will not act with contrition, then the offender is
excommunicated and treated as a tax collector or a public sinner. Modern people
at this point would think that this is where they could wash their hands of the
offender. Would Jesus have? I do not think so. I believe Jesus would have
continued to sort things out and draw that offender back into the life of the
congregation.
I would point out to you that there are so many people, not
only outside the Church who need forgiveness and thus of healing, but there are
as many inside the Church who need the same thing. Are they finding it? And
need and the desire for forgiveness goes well beyond the absolution of the
Eucharist. Absolution is the reminder of God’s willingness to forgive, to heal
and to bless as he is to remove sin and sent it as far as the East is from the
West.
We need to consider God and his divine nature. The Father
forgives iniquity, heals disease, redeems from the Pit. He crowns the faithful
with steadfast love and mercy. God satisfies his people with Good as long as
they live. The Father renews the youthful vigor of his people like that of an
eagle. God is not foiled by numbers and is not stymied by our failures. In
fact, he works all things to the good for those who love him and are called
according to his purpose. The Father by his very nature (and contrary to common
thinking) leans always towards showing mercy and grace; slow to anger and swift
to bless. Divine anger is swift to dissipate; bygones are bygones. God does not
operate on an ‘eye for an eye’ basis, always looking to get revenge and to
balance the books. He is sympathetic to our nature and our plight as people he
created and that through sin, have been separated from him.
That reminds me of a parishioner, who in the middle of a
Lenten sermon, got on her feet and rejected the idea that she was a sinner in a
rather loud manner. She said to me, “I am just fine. God likes me just the way
that I am. I am not a sinner.” Thing is, there is a misunderstanding about what
a sin is. It is what everyone else does and you do not. It is more than about
what we do, it is about what we do not do. It is the things that we did not do
well and where we fall short of the mark. The Gospel calls us back to God, to
come and be transformed into the creations he intended for each and all of us
to become the marvelous creature we were meant to be. We are called to be more
than right and work on rights, we are called to be righteous.
Lastly let me remind us all of what Jesus himself has said:
“Love your enemy. Turn the other cheek. Do good to those who persecute you. If
you are angry with your brother or sister, you are liable to judgement. If your
eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. Do not resist an evil
doer. (Be perfect (in mercy) as your Father in heaven is perfect (in mercy)”.
So how do we handle conflict? We have two ears and on mouth.
We should listen at least twice as much as we talk. We listen so that we can
ask clarifying questions to better understand what is being shared with us. We
need to take care in how we speak to each other, including in social media. We
listen o learn how we might serve another person and how to lead in various
situations. Let us be known in this community (inside and outside this
congregation) for how we genuinely love, how we genuinely love one another. Is that easy? No, but consider the alternative by looking around you.
Jason+
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
THE LIFE OF THE ORDAINED DISCIPLE: The sanctified imagination
There is a necessity in having a sanctified imagination, that goes beyond “What would Jesus do?” That is the issue that Jesus is dealing with where the disciples are concerned in the Gospel (Matthew 16.21-28). Last week, Peter acclaimed Jesus as the messiah, God’s anointed One. But then Jesus orders the Twelve not to tell anyone else who he really is. Weird isn’t it? They finally get it right and now he is telling the not to talk about it. That is when Jesus begins to talk about his mission and how it will be fulfilled: by going into Jerusalem, being handed over; beaten, suffer, die and then three days later, rise again.
Thing is, for Peter and the rest of the Twelve, they had their own visions of what was ahead and it did not include things like suffering, pain and death. They had what they thought was a reasonable understanding of the way forward. With Jesus in the lead there was a good prospect for victory and for Israel to become its own nation. They would break the wheel of violence, hatred and retribution and they would have their kingdom back and things would be good again. That was their vision of the kingdom. Jesus focused his sights, his thoughts on another way.
Jesus’ kingdom is built upon mercy and forgiveness on faith hope and love which allowed for him to break the cycles of hatred, violence, and war. Such a vision sets Jesus against the current system and its status quo. A system that worked to end his life and roll right over him. It is a situation that Peter and the others could not have imagined much less chosen to collide with and disrupt. The Twelve could not see that a cruciformed life that offers more that the status quo could be a better life. After all, who in the wider world doesn’t know the phrase, “Eat right, exercise daily and die anyway”? The way to life into that cruciformed life is to learn to give your life over to Christ first and then to others so that they can rise and live. Because it is not we who live but Christ in us.
What is needed in this moment, is a sanctified imagination. Jesus came to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. And we need to focus more on what Christ wants and less on what we want. If we make time to spend with him we are going to find that we want is going to change is not circumstances but what we want because we are closer and closer to Jesus. We will come to want more and more has he does. Our wills shall align and we will seek to do for others as he does for us. Therefore, in this moment, “Our focus needs more focus.”
Can you imagine God raising Christ from the dead? Can you imagine your life in this moment without him? We trust and we act not because the end of the world is near but because Christ is amongst us already. Can you imagine life without Christ and without the hope he brings? Try asking for what he wants in your life, in your church, and then act on it in some small way. See what Jesus calls you to next.
Jason+
Thursday, August 20, 2020
The Life of the Ordained Disciple: Gotta have faith!
In recent months, I have been watching Christian apologists (people who are schooled in the defending of what the Church believes) answer questions put to them and how they deal with all of the hot button issues of our time – from “How can we think that there is a God; to “Am I going to hell?”; to “Why can’t you affirm same sex relations?” I am not going to tackle those important issues here except to talk about God and what it means for us as humans to have faith in God.
So let me begin with the question asked in the Gospel, “Who do people say Jesus is?” There is a long list of thoughts: a good man, a good teacher/rabbi, healer and exorcist, wonder worker, prophet, and potentially the messiah. There are some who believe that he is John the Baptist come back to life or a prophet from long along like Elijah, who has come to usher in the new Davidic Age (the good ol’ days) by getting rid of Rome and becoming their own country again.
Other Gospels (Mark in particular) thinks of the journey of being a disciple is the answer to the question, “Who is Jesus?” Whereas in Matthew, we concentrate on the place where the question is asked: Caesarea Philippi. Caesarea is home to all of the known religions of the world in that day, including the Temple of Pan, all of the Greek stuff, all of the old religious stuff from the past and all of the new stuff too. Jesus is interest in asking the question is two fold: What do you believe and what are you committed to?
Faith is not something you can earn to put in the bank. Faith are not bonus you keep on a card to earn free stuff. Faith is about a relationship that you have with something or someone else. After all, who in their right mind questioned whether their vehicle would start and bring them to Church and will take you safely home after the service is done? How many times have you sat where you are now and did not check to see if the pew would hold you up? It is a relationship that you have come to trust. And you trust your car and you trust your seat because it has not failed you… right. Neither has Jesus! We come into this place to declare to the universe that we are in relationship with the living God and that Jesus Christ is Lord. And some good news? Faith is not about points or deposits it is about trusting in and participating in the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus on a daily basis. When we are faithful through trusting Jesus and participating in him, we have the whole thing which means that he has the power and the grace not us. Jesus is the powerful One. In Jesus, we are made complete and we are competent to proclaim his Good News.
So how does this work out in life? How do we know that we have faith? Well, you are probably sitting down to read this message. Did you check the device you are sitting on before you sat down? A pew or a computer chair. Had you sat there before? Did you check it out then too? I am certain that where you are sitting now, you have done so before, perhaps many times before. You have learned to trust that device. Learning to trust Jesus Christ works in the same way. You may not even know how many times you have trusted him to come through for you – and unaware of answered and unanswered prayers and how that has affected your life. Maybe, it is time to recognize that you are a person of faith – a mighty man or woman of valour. Maybe it is time to take a step forward, a step out, a step up and do something that you believe God is calling you to no matter how big and how little you believe it to be. Then watch as God uses it for his kingdom and his glory. And then do it again and again.
Jason+