On being righteous fisher folks

I remember the very first time that I went fishing with my dad. I couldn't have been more than about six years old. My family had gone to visit my Aunt and her family in McGregor, BC. I remember the trip in there because of having to be still and quiet as we crossed the bridge to get to the other side of the river. I discovered much later that dad was actually driving on a train trestle and he was holding the car and trailer on the rails as we crossed that bridge.

We went back to that same railway bridge a couple of days later with a fishing rod, a hook, some bait and one of those floating red and white floaters to see if we could catch a fish or two. The whole adventure reminded me of the old saying,”Give a man a fish he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.” This is the place and the time where I caught my first fish. I remember that I was excited, gleeful as I trying vigourously to winch up my catch in so it did not get away on me. It was mine and I was going to enjoy this moment. It had never occurred to me that it would need to be eaten.

In what I thought (for the longest time) was a poor fate both for me and for the fish was the moment when he was nearly to Dad and I and the net bounced against the pole and the poor fish fell back down into the fast moving water and he floated down stream as I stood and watched with great disappointment. I learn much later that my father had the same concern but a different feeling as this trout rose from the water. He was worried that I was going to finish catching this fish and then it was going to be on him to clean the fish and he was not at all certain that he wanted to so... ever so gently he bumped the rod and splash! The trout back into the river.

We are not told much about what kind of fishermen the disciples were when Jesus called them. But examination of the situation in the Gospel (Matthew 4.12-23) does tell us a few things about them, who they were and why Jesus calls them. For example, fishermen are simple and straightforward people. They have a great respect for creation and a massive love for family, home and community. I find that this is a universal truth, living in Prince Rupert and having lived in Newfoundland and Labrador. Fisherman are good at finding the fish, making the catch and bringing a “tuck” of fish home with them. Such folk make excellent witnesses and workers for whatever they put their hand too. Everything is tied up, screwed down, triple nailed and most of all anchored deep in faith and in the realities of life.

We are not told whether they were “successful” in their profession. With a fisherman, you eat or you don’t eat. That is the measure of success in the world’s terms. Simon and Andrew were out of the boat and at the end of a long night’s work and they were possibly trying to make a little more money or to catch breakfast for the family buy casting nets from shore. Or maybe the night’s work was unsuccessful. They had only a “waterhaul” and caught nothing and they are trying to make up the difference. Whatever the state when Jesus came to them and called on them to follow him, there was a choice. And that choice could cause a change in profession on many.

They left what they had behind. They put everything away in storage and they walk away from all that was familiar and secure to spend time with this Rabbi who, secretly for the moment, they thought was the Messiah. They went on down the shore and listened as Jesus called James and John from their boats, from their fishing, from their birthright and their father with his wealth. James and John walked through the rigging, hopped down on the beach, and left their father with the servants in the boat to go and catch people.

Please keep in mind, that though these men were leaving things and people behind, that does not mean that they forgot what they were or who they were. They were moving not to get away from family nor going to find themselves. They were moving towards the fulfillment of the kingdom of God on earth. They were moving to a greater feast and greater supper than has ever been imagined. They wanted that – they anticipated the smells and the tasting. They wanted the sitting and the eating. And the wanted it for their own too.

Lastly, remember when it comes to ministry and proclaim the kingdom, it is not about you and what you can do and have done. If you want to see the kingdom come in this city, then pray “God’s will be done” and then learn to see and get out of the way. Success and glory belong to God. Thanks dad for the lesson!

Jason+

Can we come with you?

When my wife Nova and I were first married and getting ready to come to the North, I crossed paths with Dr. Isabel Greenwood. I quickly discovered that our encounter was not chance meeting. Dr. Greenwood had sought me out because she heard where we were going and she wanted to help “clue” me in to life in the North. I came to discover that she too had been in the North. Her husband, like me, had been a Church Army officer and was subsequently ordained deacon and priest. He also was then subsequently consecrated a Bishop of Yukon.  The Greenwoods had spent many years ministering to the people of Yukon and Northern British Columbia. Dr. Greenwood had things that she wanted me to see and to know so that I would understand what I was getting myself into when I arrived there. Most of all she wanted me to see correctly.

There was a lot of advice that afternoon about how to minister to the North. But perhaps the most important piece of advice what about home. In particular Dr.Greenwood counselled me never to let my house become a fortress of solitude. We needed to invite people in and have people over for meals and special times. When I look back now, I can see that she was right. The most powerful moments of ministry were at the house, around the kitchen table and in the living room as we sat, talked and shared many things: much of them joyful and some of them hard and difficult for one reason or another.

The Gospel this week (John1:29-42) takes a similar approach. John boldly proclaims “Here is the Lamb of God.” And because John announces Jesus as the one whom God has sent to the nation, they are in a word “curious”. So they start to follow him. They whisper questions and observations back and forth about what they are seeing. They try to pretend like they are not following when they are. They try to look like they are not paying attention but they are.

Finally Jesus turns and confronts these two men and asks them a simple question: “What do you want?” Please note that they now have the complete and undivided attention of the one who is supposed to redeem Israel and make everything right as rain. They could have asked him anything... literally anything. They could have asked him about things to do with the redemption of the nation and how things were going to work out. Yet they simply ask to see where he lives... they ask if they can come with him and check out his life. “Come with me and you will see,” Jesus says to them. They went with him to where he was residing at 4pm in the afternoon and they spent the rest of the day with Jesus.

Andrew then went and found his brother Simon, told Simon about Jesus and then they left their nets and went to see Jesus and where he lived. In that moment, Jesus looked intently at Simon and tells him, “Someday, they will call you ‘The Rock’.” The Change for these, men, for the nation and for you and me has already started – that someday is still ahead. The question is, when you see Jesus, what you are going to do about it? Will you walk home with him or just stand in awe of him as he walks away, leaving you on the side of the road? You decide.

We are being called for supper with the Lamb. It’s time to get around the table with the others. Are you coming or are you staying here and not getting fed?

Jason+

What a baptised person says and does

There is a great story told about an old scallywag who one day decided that he need to turn his life around. So he went to a local church and marched into the clergy’s office and plopped himself down. He boldly declared to the clergy that he was done with his old life and its ways and wanted to know how he could make a fresh start. So after some time, the pastor suggested that the way to start a new was for the two of them to go to a nearby lake and for the rascal to be baptized. So that is what they did. They walked down to the lake, walked in the water and the pastor grabbed the scoundrel by the scruff of the next and pushed the man down into the water and held him under for 10 seconds.

When he came up, gasping for air, the pastor asked the man, “do you see Jesus?”  The man replied, with a rather surprised “No!”

So the Pastor repeated the process a second time, holding the man under for 20 seconds. Again the man came up gasping and sputtering and was asked, “Do you see Jesus?” The reply was the same. “No.”

So for a third time and for thirty seconds, the man was held under the water. When he came up again, the pastor asked, “Do you see Jesus?”

“NO!” replied the man, “Are you sure this is where he fell in?”

This week, we recount the baptism of Jesus as Matthew reports it. It might be helpful to know that as long as there has been baptism in the Church there has been controversy over it. There are scholars who believe the Matthew was trying to help the Church understand why Jesus was baptised. Mark’s Gospel had raised the question about why the Messiah needed to be baptised when he did not know sin. That is why Matthew recounts the discussion in Matthew 3.13-17, between John and Jesus. Jesus tells John that it is okay to do this because it is the righteous thing to do.

For Jesus, Baptism was and remains about relationships – with God, yes. Baptism is also about our relationships with each other. Baptism provides for the community and for the individual necessary identity. Relationships and identities must been maintained if they are going to be worth anything. It is why when John was baptizing and preaching he warned the religious people about coming, being baptized, because they think it is the religious or spiritual thing to do. After all, one needs to cover all the bases, right? That is why John warns them off and tells them not to approach unless they mean it and he calls them a bunch of snakes.

Baptism is a great leveler. Archbishop Tom Morgan, who is a retired Canadian Bishop, once said to a group of clergy of which I was part, that, “No one is greater than they are at the moment of their baptism.” We are all equal at the edge of the lake, the foot of the cross and at the Lord’s Table. We get wet to take on his death and new life. We also need to come to the Table to be fed that we might truly live that new life that we have been given. Baptism tells us who we are, and who we belong to – God in Christ and to each other. We are not born as Anglicans nor are we made Christians. We choose these things just as God chose to send his Son, his Beloved, to us that we might know him and live. Jesus’ coming to us is a deliberate act of God and such acts can be accepted and received or rejected and discounted. God and his salvific acts cannot and will not be ignored.

Where does this leave us? Well there are a lot of things that could be said. But for me there are two important things that need to be said. The first thing is that the message that John, that Jesus and that the early Church preached is still needed today. The message? “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the Good News.” It is as true today as it was then. God has come near us in the person of Jesus Christ. We need to make people aware that there is another way to live this life and God is providing it. People need to be drawn to it.

Therefore we need to major in the ministry to the minors: the unworthy, the unnoticed, the unimpressive, the unknown, the unlovely, the unhealthy and the unwanted. The Master will show us who we truly are if we look for him in others – to seek and to serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbours as ourselves. It is important to do this because the other side of the coin has its consequences to. Who wants to face the Master at the end of it all and have him say to us, “When you did not do this to the least of these, you didn’t do it to me?” We have a choice to live out this life with Christ in the lead or to go our own ways which will leave us without Christ and real, abundant life that grows into eternity.

The second thing we need to recognize is that we are the broken pieces of bread made holy for the communion of this city. When you are invited to the table, you take in that which is holy. It works to consecrate you through the work of the Spirit and divine grace. Then you are sent out into the city – broken up to fed and care for the ones whom God has set in your path. We are those who will draw those who see the need to make changes in their life to the water’s edge. They will see Jesus in us as we seek to see and to serve Jesus in them.

Jason+

The Quest of the Magi

The people of the Gospel lesson for the Feast of the Epiphany (Matthew 2:1-12) are an interesting cast of characters. We are first introduced to King Herod the Great who ruled in the South of Israel at the time of the birth of Jesus. He was a cruel and unforgiving sort of man who with repeated frequency kills anyone who might be perceived as a king in his place. He killed many people, including his own sons and his own wives if he felt threatened by them. Herod the Great was an appointed ruler by the Roman Empire and had to remain in the Emperor’s good graces in order to remain in power. So as a consequence of this, he was both brutal and tyrannical in his rule of the people.

Enter in one day to Herod the Great’s palace, the Herodium in Jerusalem, the wise men three who share the news that a new and the true King of the people has been born and they know this by the signs of creation they have been watching and following for some time. We know that these are men of faith. We are made aware that they are men of intelligence and of wealth. They are on a mission to find this newborn, heaven sent King so that they can worship him, give gifts and acknowledge his rule. This news creates fear in not only pretender Herod, but also in those who learn of the message that has been brought to the palace – that there is a true King. Work was done to learn where and when the king was to be born. As news spread from the palace it threw the city of Jerusalem into an uproar: many rejoiced at the news, some were trouble and others were genuinely fearful of what was going to happen next. The Wise men were asked to locate the child and then return with news that the pretender could go and repeat the action.

On the road to Bethlehem, they were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod. So when the time came they went back to their own country by a different, unwatched route. When they arrived in Bethlehem, they sought out the house and the place where the boy King could be found and when they got there, they saw the Child Jesus and his mother, Mary.  Joseph might not have been there, he might have been out at work or somewhere else.  After seeing the child, they brought gifts out of what they had been blessed with – gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Gold is given for life, welfare and fortune. Frankincense is offered for the continual prayer and worship of the God who he is and who sent him. Myrrh is presented for the day of the royal burial of the body.   

Then having seen, worshipped and given, they begin the trip home, reflecting and rejoicing in what they had seen, learned and done in the work and travel to find the one that the Star of Bethlehem had announced.

That of course is not the end of the story, Herod in his wrath, sends soldiers to Bethlehem with orders to kill the boys of Bethlehem two years old and under (Feast of the Holy Innocents). Joseph is warned in a dream of the violence and death that is coming. And so Joseph takes wife and child to Egypt for a time. They do not return until led by the Lord to return to the North of Israel where Jesus finishes up his childhood and prepares for his ministry by working in his earthly father’s trade of carpentry.

So where does this leave us? What does this makes us in light of the Gospel. Paul points out in the Epistle lesson that we are the following: heirs with Christ of the kingdom; members of His body; sharers in the promise of Christ Jesus in the Gospel. Most of all, we are witnesses of the Christ and of his kingdom to the kingdoms and princedoms, the powers and authorities of this earth. We are witnesses and seekers of the once and true King.

God’s actions and ideas can be accepted and acted upon. God can be rejected and disavowed through our own stubborn self indulgent will and rebellious spirits. But God in Christ in this moment, cannot and will not be ignored. Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He is God with the flesh on – how will you respond to his advent to you? What will you do?

Jason+

The Annunciation of Christ... mas!

If clergy are allowed to have favourite pieces of scripture then the Gospel Lesson we are using on Sunday has got to be one of mine (Luke 1.24-36). It is the Annunciation of the Lord Jesus to Mary. In recent weeks there has been a show on television put together by a bunch people, for a purpose that is not totally clear to me. That is unless they wish to shoot do all the traditional doctrine that surrounds Jesus that has accumulated over the past two millenniums and try to rip out the foundations of the largest faith on the planet.

Problem is, not one of these people is a trained theologian. They are professors from history and religious studies departments and they have no training in terms of theology. Worse, they are posing modern, post enlightenment writing standards on what was a largely oral culture. Was there editing and revision? Yes. Of course there was. It took time for the things that the Church believed to be delineated and accepted. The Scriptures are holy to the community because they belong to the community. Modern understandings of ancient texts cannot begin with a word processor. It didn’t work that way. Altering a text was done in and by the community, not just a single solitary soul. The community accepted what was written and it took time for the Scriptures to become sacred to the community.

One of the things that makes this particular passage powerful for me is the fact that Luke, in order to get his orderly account, must have spent time with Mary and the family from which Jesus came. Mary herself must have at some point relayed something of the experience of the Annunciation. It is why we have it. It points to the great truths to the wider story of God working out our rescue, our salvation. The Annunciation is the fulfilling of the promise that was made in those awful, final moments in the Garden.

What promise? Try Genesis 3.15, when God tells the serpent that there will be hostilities between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent; that the serpent will strike his heel and the Seed of the Woman will crush him. God in Christ is working to bring us back and to bring us home that we can be with him and be with him forever and ever.  There is nothing and no one that will stop that. One day he will come again, and the angels and the new City and we will be with him.

It is not something that diviners can see. It is not something that any historian or university professor can predict. This is God’s doing and it ought to be marvelous in our eyes. He has made his dwelling among us and we have seen the glory of the One and only, full of grace and truth (John 1.14-18)

Take time to be with family this Christmas. Take the time to be with friends and those whom you care about and who care for you. And in the midst of it all, make room for him who loves us; who left his Father’s presence to bring us home and spend some time giving thanks that our rescue is in hand for what is ahead. And most of all remember what Mary said, “I am the Lord’s servant. Let it be to me as you have said.”

Jason+

What to expect when you are expecting...

When my wife and I were expecting our first son, we had a book in the house that was new at the time. It was called “What to expect when you are expecting.” Of course such a book is considered to be mandatory reading these days in getting ready for a baby. No one... nobody should leave for the hospital before you've read it. But what do you read and what do you need to know when you are expecting a Messiah?

John questions Jesus through his disciples, “Are you the one or should we wait for another?” (Matthew 11.2-11) John asks the question because Jesus was not acting like many thought the Messiah of Israel. He was not there to kick butt and take names. He was not leading a war against the occupying Roman Army and its Empire. There was no bloodshed, wailing, crying or annihilation of garrisons of soldiers. In other words, Jesus by John’s estimation was not acting like the Messiah many were expecting him to be. And because what he was hearing about the Messiah and his ministry he needed to find out if his announcement of the king and his kingdom was premature or mistimed in some way. Had John gotten it wrong and had he put his faith in the wrong horse?

We need to be careful when looking for God to do something: his ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts because his ways and thoughts are higher than ours. He sees from another perspective and has his plan of salvation, of rescuing of us to fulfill. Therefore Jesus tells John’s disciples to go back and report what they see happening around them: the blind can see, the deaf can hear, the lame can walk, the leapers are made clean, the dead rise and the poor receive the good news of the kingdom that is to come. The kingdom that was and is expected is breaking into this world but it is not all that it is yet. Blessed are you if you don’t fall away because you don’t see me doing what you think I should be doing.

In essence, we are being challenged to redefine what we are expecting when we are expecting the Messiah. God’s kingdom is not like the kingdoms of this earth – Jesus made that clear before Pilate. Yet so often we live our lives and our faith as if it is the kingdom of me and mine: me, me, me. Mine, mine, mine. The kingdom has to conform to me and to my thoughts and my doctrine or it isn't right. It is rather idolatrous of us to think and act as such. We need to deal with it before God and with each other.

Unfortunately, John did not live to see the fulfilling of the plan: the ways in which Jesus suffered, died and was raised from the dead. He didn't foresee the formation of the Church and what the Church was going to be asked to do. There are some things that are hard to see when you are imprisoned and your own neck is on the block. You sit there in the silence and the grief and you wonder if it was the right thing and if it was worth it. You will question yourself and have your own doubts. God call and challenges us to change our expectations so that we can see what he is and to have better goals than what we demand of him and others for ourselves.

That means we can start by changing what it is we are expecting this Christmas. Instead of trying to keep trying to keep Christ in Christmas, try keeping Christ in Christians. If we can make room for him in our cells, then maybe the door to freedom will swing open wide and we will walk, finally free.

Jason+

Welcome, your Majesty!

As I sit here on a cold Saturday night and reflect on the lessons that are before for Sunday, and on the things that have happened this week, it is almost unfathomable all the things that need to be completed in ministry. There is the day in and day out things. There are little things that need to be done so that other, much bigger things can happen. The way needs to be prepared for the coming King. Roads need to be improved. Bridges need to be strengthened and shored up. Then the King’s servants will announce the coming King's arrival.

Essentially, that is what Advent is about: rebuilding roads, rebuilding, bridges and traveling to meet the King. When we think all is mostly ready, some of us need to actually get out on the roadway and go looking for the opportunity of welcoming and escorting the King into the city. In the ancient world, failing to go out of the city and welcome the King would be to invite disaster upon the entire city. The King would have the city razed to the ground by his army.

That is what John comes to do, as his ministry for the people of Israel (Matthew 3.1-10). He works to get them ready for the King. He calls them to repentance and holiness of life. He challenges the religious and the spiritual people of his time and calls the leadership not to rely on who and what they think they are: children of Abraham. Rather, they are to give God the right place, first place in their lives and in the life of the nation knowing that God has come near.

They see him as a holy man and recognize him as a prophet. They know this and see this because they see how he is dressed and hear his words. Nevertheless, in spite of this they reject him and his message. Though he reminds the people of their past and calls these same people to repentance and to a great future, many reject John as an idealist and a radical and not for real people. His message does not share their faith, their beliefs and they do not agree with him. Therefore he is of no account.

How does this tie into the week? There have been a lot of moments of sudden ministry this week.  There have been a lot of opportunities to boldly declare the good news of God in Christ. These are moments where one takes care of a mom and dad whose seven week old son died and you are responsible for speaking a word of hope to them and to the family at the funeral. These are moments where you take the time to stop and pray with a fellow clergy who is ill and to anoint the family with oil. There are moments of courage and even of disagreement with people who don’t understand or want to be in control when they are not or worse, are not suited to be. There are moments when the kitchen tap springs a leak or a friend receives news that they have Cancer. In and through all of this, there are the opportunities in which we can shine or shrink; rise or fall.

How will you preach the gospel this week? What opportunities will you take and whom will you serve? Don’t worry about how you will be dressed and never mind what you will end up eating. Concern yourself with what you will preach and how you will actively demonstrate the Good News. I’ll see out on the road.

Jason+