Waiting, watching and celebrate with a cold Pepsi

I don’t know about you, but when I like to have something cold to drink, I like a stone cold diet Pepsi. And If it is at all possible, I prefer it to be from Newfoundland. You might think me foolish for saying such a thing but there it is. I like a stone cold Newfoundland diet Pepsi. I say that because of had Pepsi in our places in Canada and in other parts of the world. In fact I can remember being served a Pepsi in Moscow a number of years back and thinking it was the most awful substance on the face of the earth. Not because it was diet nor because it was made in a different country but because it was, of all things,  warm. It was tepid. It was in a word, awful. It was nasty, thick and well, yuck!

We need to keep in mind that when we hear the steward of wedding banquet congratulate the groom on his willingness to keep providing the best, even at the late stages of an evening, the groom was unaware of the plan. He didn't know what Mary and Jesus had talked about. He did know what Jesus had the household servants do. he was in the dark, so to speak.  He was expecting the complaint that the wine was of a pro quality and that it was a good thing that everyone else was well supplied for the moment. They weren't going to care what they were drinking at 2am when all the rest was gone.

But why did Jesus do this first sign? – it is not a miracle but, as John would have it a sign. It was an epiphany for those who were watching and wondering what would happen next. The servants did a Jesus asked and the disciples came and watched. Then servants took the water now wine to the Steward and the Steward went to the Groom with high praise for the amounts of generosity to his guests. Jesus showed us that first that God is willing to provide the needs of his people, his Church. More importantly they saw that not only would God step in, but that God would provide in such a way that others would be blessed in the giving. And God can give gifts like that, then how should we as his people, his Church respond to such generosity and such giving? The Gospel’s response? Come and see.

There is a simple implication that if there is no wine, then there is no blessing. And without blessing there is no life. The wine is far more than just an excellent compliment to a great meal. It is a symbol of the circle of life and what happens when we have drank the dregs of the barrel. The wine is a symbol of the harvest: a symbol of God’s abundance for the life of a family and a nation that he calls his own. Providing the wine and the blessing allows not only for life to continue, but also the ongoing opportunity to discover more and more about the grace, the mercy and the life that God offers in the life of his one and only Son.

Life without Christ is to invite death while choosing to trust Christ and to be willing to die with him through baptism and possible with your own death is to move into eternal life with him and for him.

So the question clearly is: If you cannot put new wine in to old wine skins, how will God put his Holy Spirit into old Anglicans? I don’t know how he will do it and I don’t know what the church will look like, but why don’t you come and join me. It will be fun to sit back with an icy cold Pepsi and watch as God moves fills his people with his Spirit and see what happens next!

Jason+

Its not about how wet you get but how you serve that matters...

Baptism is more than a moment. It is about all the days and moments that follow after the baptism and what they will mean both to you and to those around you. We are not baptized for a moment, but to experience death with Christ so that we might become new creations that will live with him and for him in the days that are ahead. This in the moments that follow our baptism we need to find and to share with others the grace, the mercy, the love that we find and know on an ongoing basis because of a life sustained by the Life offered to us.

Baptism is a life of Christ (for it is not we who live but Christ in us who believe) lived in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit is a life that can be offered to others in service to enable them to discover the same things that others have and for those people to take for their very own. We live and lead others around us – where are we taking them and asking them to believe about God if we are not offering what we have? And how often are churches of every stripe in North America these days living just to survive and make their own ministries survive instead of looking to the Lord not only for life and provision, but to know and fulfill its mission thereby learning to thrive.

A colleague called me one day a while a while back and wanted to know how I managed to build up congregations in the multipoint parish to grow. Essentially, I told this colleague I work with whom I am given and those who will come and participate and go from there. And I have done this consistently in my ministry. It takes time, effort, and most of all patience but things can and do change. Loving people back into relationship with the Church is not an easy thing but it has to begin with getting them back to their first love Jesus and going from there.

It is always important to remember that if you have been away from God and from the Church that you are wanted, needed and loved. The Church in which you are baptized is not whole without you. You are the only you that God has and because of that you are needed in the Church to bring your gifts, time, talents and other things to bear on the life of the congregation. Baptism is not just a decision or a moment. It is a lifetime that is offered in love to God and in service to whomever we find as a neighbour.

We are made i the image of Christ to reflect his image, his light and love into the world that the world might discover and come towards the kingdom. He has purposed, pursued, and propelled us into life and ministry with him through the Spirit that we might glorify our Father in heaven. He will not give up on you so you might want to choose to surrender to him.

Remember, it is not about how wet you get, it is about how you live and preach it in the days after you are baptized that God concerns himself with. May you be blessed as you live out  your baptism and your call.

Jason+

Time to get in to line

Have you noticed it yet? The days are already discernibly longer than they have been in the weeks leading up to Christmas; the darkness is slowly being overcome by the light. It is only a few minutes today and a few more minutes tomorrow. It will be a while before people will generally acknowledge that the days are lengthening. But they are already discernibly longer if one pays attention to this.

So it is fitting that we are celebrating the Epiphany of Jesus. Yes he has come among us and yes he is the Light of the world. But if we stop there, we miss something that is huge. He did not come alone. He is bringing the kingdom with him. Some might say that we are going on a six week journey to find God, but if that is the case how are we going find God when we cannot find ourselves? The thing about God is this: God seeks us. God finds us. God desires and calls us – even draws us. His light and his life reveal who he is and who were are because we are his people. We are signals and signs of his presence in the world for the rest of the world to seek, to see and to join in service of God and his coming kingdom.

God causes his Church not to husband a little fire around which a few may gather for warmth but to light torches that we might seek out the least, the lost and the last, that all whom God calls are enabled to come to him. We are called to seek out the sick, the hurt, the broken and those weighed down by their sins and those who are dying to care for them and comfort them in any way possible. We are called to turn the values of this world on their heads and in that journey find that we have light to guide us in our way as we lead others into the kingdom.

Thus, this season calls us not just to live an obedient life. Each and all of us are called to live a life that fulfils what God has planned for it. All of the cosmos witnesses to the coming of the Lord Jesus. All of creation proclaims and celebrates his birth. How will you use your time, talents, treasure, trees and tears to respond to the fact that his light and his kingdom are coming? Will you get in line with the rest of us and join the great exodus that is coming, for the line forms right here on the desktop. Will you not come and get into line with us so that we might seek, see and serve the Lord Jesus?

Maranatha,

Jason+

Don't Just stand there, repent!

The past few weeks have been an adventure in terms of ministry. There have been a lot of moments of sudden ministry where the phone rings and off I go into whatever it is that that need to get into. There has been a lot of grief. A man dies an unexpected death in a far away city and then only days later his mother dies in an accident on a dark street in your own city. Another young man chooses to end his life and there is no one to explain why, leaving a lot of unanswered questions for his family. Even in my own life there has been a moment, where in caring for family members, making a simple left turn suddenly becomes a major incident trying to miss a wayward pedestrian and feeling the impact of a truck on the back end of my van.

It surprises some I guess that life is like that. There are moments that shock and surprise us.  John the Baptist wasn’t fooled. He saw the life of the people around him and the way of the culture and the country and in his preaching he didn’t pull any punches. He went to the heart of the problem and he challenged the people around him to do what they needed to do where God was concerned. They knew what they needed to do because of his preaching but failed to head what scripture teaches and would not listen to anyone but themselves and their own rules; rules they invented for themselves.

John was not confronting the “down and out” poor who were looking for relief and rescue from God but the “up and outs” who were looking to make sure that they had done what was necessary to have a good life, a blessed life and a nice, tidy reward at the end of it all. John wasn’t speaking to the non religious or to the irreligious person of his day but to those who were active in the faith community and to those who were actively seeking God. He was speaking to the people who were looking to be built up spiritually and for people who were looking for the kingdom to come in some great and awesome manner. John told them all, “You are a bunch of snakes, really big and awesome sinners before God.”

The interesting thing is that the people were ready to hear such a message and they accepted the verdict, “You’re right. We are separated from God. We are a bunch of snakes. What can we do about it??” This is the call to repentance and to allow God to work in our lives. People so often fear God, as if he is Simon Cowell or another celebrity on a reality show acting as a judge of what is before him.  God’s judgement is tempered with mercy; that is God is reaching out to you and to me with his love and his grace that we might be diverted from the coming disaster. With God there is forgiveness for missing the mark and for falling short of who and what we are supposed to be. He offers not just change, or even regime change – though these things will happen. God is offering us transformation of our hearts and our minds that we might be totally different people, new creations. And if God is offering us that in Christ shouldn’t that give us hope for the future and confidence in the present to be the people of God?

Are you ready and waiting for God to come to you with a word and with his presence? You be the preacher. The presence and the witness to his coming and allow him to come through you. It will shock and surprise many but will they respond to God?

Marantha!

Jason+

A promise big enough to save the world

There is a promise that has been made by God to the world, but I wonder if the world has ever considered it. God has promised to save the world... but then you knew that, right? I had a conversation with a parishioner in recent days and she told me that one of the hot topics going on around the city right now is the discussion about the end of the Mayan calendar and therefore, as some might suggest, the end of the world itself. People apparently are openly not doing things because the world is going to come to an end on December 21^st because that is when the Mayan calendar runs out. This will definitely be bad news for the economy because nobody is going to finish buying for Christmas if they really believe that. And the folks who have been working in the Banks and at the credit unions and credit card companies are going to be unemployed because we aren’t going to need them either. Let’s not forget those who are in places and positions of power and prestige. There will be no more kings, queens, princes and princesses, no more powers and principalities and powers. There will be no more politicians and elections.

But salvation is not going to come from within. There isn’t a Justice League, with Superman, Wonder Woman or Aquaman. There won’t be friendly neighbourhood Spidey-man to come swooping in nor will there be the Wonder Twins to active their powers to come to our rescue. As human beings we can anticipate disaster. We can plan and prepare for Armageddon and try to protect ourselves from what may come. But we cannot avoid it. We cannot stop disaster. And as W.H. Auden once said, “We who must die, demand a miracle.”

Help is coming and this is what Advent is all about. Our rescue is on its way and it is coming through God himself. What we need to do is wake up; stay alert and be on our guard. We are called to pray and to pray that we will be given the strength to move through whatever we must go through and then escape. We are called to stand before the Son of Man.

There is another important truth in all of this: we often wait until the last moment to choose sides and until it is time to go to start packing for the journey ahead. We are called to stretch out towards the coming King, concentrating more on him and less on what the Empire can or is going to do to you, me and the rest of the Church. We cannot control Caesar and what the Empire does. We can only live out the message and boldly proclaim Jesus as Lord. We are called not to bring down and rebuild structures. We are to show love to those who have none, share grace for those who need some and give hope to those who have none. Through it all, the good, the bad and the ugly, we are to be watchful, pray for the coming of the kingdom and wait for the King. He is coming. He promised he would.

Marantha! (Come Lord Jesus, come soon.)

Jason+

                                                                                                                        

Sorry I have been away

Sorry I have been away over the last bit. It has been a busy time. Nonetheless, lts get caught up and start with this video which I came across this morning.

Full Churches don't fall down.

I was excited to hear the news that the new Archbishop of Canterbury had been selected. No doubt there would be some interest in who the person might be to follow Archbishop Rowan Williams. I believe the choice of Bishop Justin Welby is a good choice. It will be important to watch how people in the Anglican Church around the world respond to this appointment. Lord knows there is going to be some reaction, both positive and negative to this news.

When I heard the news, I went to Youtube to see what I might find in terms of Bishop Welby’s preaching and speaking. I came across his first charge to the Diocese of Durham where he has been bishop for less than two years. He was for a time Dean of the Diocese of Liverpool before he became Bishop two years ago. In his charge he said some things that I am now mulling over in terms of the Church and how the Church needs to be in mission in the coming years. For example, Bishop Welby suggests something simple: “Full churches don’t fall down.” That is why we need to be about the mission of the kingdom into which we are being drawn. We are called and drawn by Scripture, tradition and reason in to the mission Dei to build communities because that is what this Community does. We need to be making disciples. This is the purpose for which Christ came and it is the reason for the Church to exist. As another Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, once said, “We need to present the claims of the of crucified and risen Christ in such a way that people will repent, believe and receive him as Saviour and learn to serve him as their King, in the fellowship of his Body, the Church.” (emphasis mine)

No amount of planning, programming or vision can supplant the difficult and necessary work of making disciples. It is important to make people aware of the need for rescue and salvation. But if we as believers and especially those of us, who like me shepherd the flock, fail to see it increase then we fail miserably at what we have been called to do. Our mission is not to keep doors of a particular denominational building open. Closure of a building is not failure. It is an end and a beginning. To find the new beginning we must effectively witness to what God is doing in our city and communities. We need to go and find God wherever God is and take our stand there with him. Taking such action will cause people to be drawn to you and other people to grumble about you.

And this leads to something else I heard the Archbishop elect say, “Diversity without enmity.” Who on the face of this planet, are we called not to love? We are called to love the sick, the poor, the needy the dying. We are required to love those who hate us and to do good to those who persecute us. Thus I haven’t met yet the person I am not supposed to love in Christ name. In fact Christ reminds me, when you do it to the least of these, you do it to me. Acting like that will give you the chance to tell other people about Jesus. How do I know this is true? Well then let me tell you this and I’ll finish up:

During service at which my wife and I were married, the Church building was pretty much full. There were lots of people, family and friends. Into this scene at the back of the Church came a homeless man who found the door open and the place full. It was at this moment, this nameless man came across a church not only full of people, but full of a group of people who knew Jesus and the majority were trained evangelists. One of these trained, the Late Captain Ray Taylor, took the man to the kitchen, got that man something to eat. And as the man ate, Captain Taylor told this man about Jesus. To me, that is what the Church is about, waiting for the Bride and Groom to appear, for there to be a great celebration and in the midst of it all for people to be led and fed at the banquet table so that they might truly live.

Remember, full churches don’t fall down. GO and do the work of an evangelist.

                                                                                                                                                                                Jason+