Can you imagine that?

Imagine this: someone you love has just told you that they are going to die, and die soon. Imagine that this person has just done you a great favour. Imagine that the reason that this person is going to die has something to do with another friend in the group who has been selfish and willful. Then imagine that this same person tells you that you will deny knowing them before everything is said and done. Would this not be stressful? Would you not get all wound up? Is it possible that if you were experiencing all this loss and this grief that you might think your world is coming at the seams? Would you not want a personal leaning post?

The Gospel this week (John 14.1-14) provides us with an opportunity to look at Jesus as just that – a personal leaning post. At the Last Supper, Jesus talks to his friends and disciples about what is ahead: the betrayal, the arrest, trials and crucifixion. He remains them that they are going to follow him through and they are going to come out together. He commands them, to overcome the fear and consternation while learning to continually trust and place faith in God and to love God and neighbour. Jesus insists that we learn to, in the living of our lives, not be shaken to the core but rather to calm and quiet ourselves because there is still life to be lived and God is with us in it all.

All that is happening and going on in the world at this moment are the preparations for the feast that is to come in the kingdom of God. It is hard and scary to watch the things that are going on in the world. But this is why Christ is with us and within us through the Spirit. We can lean on Christ in a number of ways. And you might be sitting there thinking, “Religion is just a crutch.” But I have to ask you, “When you are lame, hurting and walking funny, is that bad thing?”

We are asked to lean on Christ and to put our trust and faith in him. Faith is being sure of things that we hope for and being sure of what we cannot see (Hebrews 11.1). It is what those great men and women of faith did – what they had and all they needed was their faith in God. And if you need convincing, have a look at Hebrews 11 and 12. Look at all that those people did over time by trusting God, in good times and in bad. To recognize that we are going to die the deaths that Jesus died and rise in the resurrections Jesus lives in on a daily basis. Or as St. Paul would have it, “I die daily.” (1^st Corinthians 15.31)

We need to constantly be learning to lean on God through prayer so that we might be fruitful and faithful in our ministries for the Church and the kingdom. And I would not worry so much about the words I use as I would about sharing with God what you are thinking and feeling about what’s in front of you. The Spirit can help with this – to communicate the things that we need to communicate and enable us to be faithful in doing so.

We need to rust God for his word and his promises because he is always makes good on his promises. We can trust him and his word. We do need to show some patience though. Scripture is replete with examples of having to learn to wait on the Lord for his will and his timing because they are perfect. Plus we need to remember the words of St. Paul who said to the Church in Rome, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” (Romans 8.28-30)

In other words, can you imagine a life where you are not only expected to be but also a life that you have been called and destined to and that your life and ministry are being used as a part of the wider life of the kingdom in eternity?

Learn to lean on the Lord’s side. He will give you strength to carry on. He will give you guidance to move you forward. The Lord awaits you that he might supply you with what you need to bring glory to him. Are you ready to risk some trouble and in the process find out what you really believe and where you actually put your trust? Are you ready to put your trust in God and wing it? Can you imagine that?

Jason+

The Good Shepherd is calling you

This is one of my favourite Sundays of the year to preach – Good Shepherd Sunday. It is the Sunday that we also read John 10 (1-10 this year) and we get to talk about Jesus as the Good Shepherd and the coming of a whole new way of living.

One of the first things that I notice about this week’s Gospel, his how Jesus points out who he is compared to those who call themselves the shepherds and pretend that they are the true Shepherds of the people of God. The thing is, as Jesus points out to his listeners, the Good Shepherd, the messianic Shepherd of God’s people acts and sounds different from those of the current, popular religion. Case and point is the healing of the man born blind in John 9. This man and the whole of his life, including the healing and the blindness are used to witness to the fact that God is caring for his people and doing what he promised.

On the other hand, are the religious leaders of the day who are, from the description of Jesus in this for themselves to maintain positions they have inherited and continuing to accrue wealth and power. They are compared to Jesus as being hirelings who when real trouble and problems come up care nothing for the people (flock) under their care and charge and run away from the danger to preserve themselves and their own perceived self righteousness. They are living off the work and wealth that the contemporary religion is giving them and not caring for people in return.

The Good Shepherd understands that the life and welfare of the flock is tied to his own. He is the life of the flock. Much is often made of how dumb sheep are. And at the same time there is this to their credit: they know the voice of the one who loves them and they follow him. Again, think of the man healed of his blindness. Jesus didn’t just give him sight, Jesus enabled his insight so that he could see God and be given to a new community when the old one threw him out. This man’ blindness and his entire life is used of God to glorify God and help others to see the coming kingdom. There is a simple reality that people of faith know: when you open your eyes, you can see. When you can see, you come to believe. When you believe, you become (John 1.12).

So consider Jesus and who he is for you and for all of us. Sunday by Sunday we hear the words, “The Body of Christ given for you” and “The Blood of Christ, shed for you” Jesus loved each and all of us to offer his life for us. He laid down his life and God raised him up again that we might be with him. That is why St. Paul would later write, “it is not I who live but Christ in me.” Through the Eucharist we discover again our first love and make him apart of our lives at the start of another week. He draws us in with his staff, checks us over, cleans our wool, binds our wounds and sets us free to follow his voice.

Living with Jesus means that there is a whole new way to live. We can only enter into that life by following the sound of his voice. If sheep know nothing else, they know the voice of the one who cares for them and they follow him into pasture and into wider life. Take some time this week to quiet yourself and listen for the Master’s voice. He is calling you.

Jason+  

By faith and with hope, not by sight

There is a great little cross made of stones that hangs in the hallway of the Deanery. It carries an inscription that says: “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2^nd Corinthians 5:7). Every time I think of Thomas and the missed encounter with Jesus in that upper room and then to have him come for Thomas and challenge him to have hope at least, that what he is hearing from others is true  I cannot help but wonder when I am face to face with the Lord Jesus, what will happen.

There have been lots of little encounters with Jesus over the years, some more memorable than maybe others were. But there is one that comes to mind that I feel compared to share. It’s about the night my dad died and an encounter with God that has remained with me from that night until now. Maybe it is because I was recently told that a friend has the same cancer my dad did and hearing what is going on brings back these memories.

Specifically, I was with my dad, in his hospital room the night he died. We had been watching some American political show and there was a moment when I turned to him and said that I wished that he was well enough to have just one more political debate with me. As I watched my father, he took a few shallow breaths and then became very still. In shock and disbelief, I rang the buzzer to call in the nurse that was caring for dad (“Bronco Brenda” dad called her) to check on him. Having been with so many others when their time came, I knew that I knew what the determination was going to be. Sure enough, the pain and suffering were over. In that moment, dad died and passing from this life into the care and comfort of the God he has spent my lifetime teaching me about.

My sister came to spend a few minutes with dad, to say a farewell, I said some final prayers and then we departed because the hour was late and the road was darker than usual. I wanted to get back to my mom. When I got into my dad’s van, I sat for a moment to collect myself, preparing to drive back out to the house. So I turned on the radio. The radio was on a secular station but suddenly there was a Christian worship song “I can only imagine” playing. It was written by a young man that had lost his father to cancer just before I did. It was all about what he thought his dad’s first encounter with Jesus and what that must have been like. It is what I think of now as the “Thomas moment”, where faith is lost in sight and there is no denying it and all one can do is respond, “My Lord and my God”.

I was reminded in that moment grief and sorrow that I was not alone. I was drawn into that moment and shown that we (dad and I) were in the presence of living Christ and because he loved us, we would not be alone nor abandoned. That is the hope that Jesus called on Thomas to have. It is the hope and the faith that Christ gives to you and to me in this Easter season. We can lean on each other and we can help each other to be aware of Christ in our midst. Even when things have been hard and hope is flagging. We remind each other that we continue to walk as yet by faith and in hope, knowing that one day faith will be lost in sight. One day those tears that have been shed with be wiped away for the last time by those same hands that took the nails for us. Hallelujah!

Jason+

Peace on a little hill

As I sit here at the desk, looking at the mountain of planning, preparation and production that is going to take place this Holy Week, I stand agog at all that needs to be done. First there is the planning for the service that are going to take place this week: Maundy Thursday with the foot washing and the stripping of the appointments of the Church as well as my family who have been in France for the 100^th Anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge arrive home. The following morning some of the Churches here are coming together at the Cathedral to observe Good Friday and the cross. After that comes Easter Day and there is double the pleasure. I have two Eucharists to celebrate, one with the BAS and one with the BCP. I will also welcome into the life of the Church at grand total of 17 people through Baptism. Plus the Contractor is on the Cathedral roof, rearmouring, sealing and shingling it. Plus we are getting ready to host a Diocesan Synod the Friday right after Easter and we will, God willing, elect our new diocesan bishop. And to add to the fun, I have been nominated for Bishop.

Now, you might think that this list might turning into a rant or a laundry list of complaints. In the middle of all of this manufacturing and mayhem, I have found myself think about a little hill just outside the old city walls where we saw just how far God would go to reclaim us from our depravity. And I know that you might think that is rather harsh, calling human being depraved. Scripture recognizes our need for rescue and our total in ability to rescue ourselves. We need rescue. As I look at those three crosses and how those men died I can honestly say that there is no help, no health in us. We cannot pull ourselves up by our boot straps to meet God and be good. It is not in us to do so. And we are all so capable of sin  and of evil. We need to be rescued.

That’s why I want to be ready for Easter: so that I can come to the Tomb and be surprised again at that depths of the love and the power that it has taken for us to be redeemed, refreshed and renewed. I want to discover the depths of that vacant tomb to recognize that Jesus is not there, he has been raised from death. I want to be reassured that because he lives, so do I. The tomb was vacant before the women (Matthew 28.1-10) arrived there. The tomb was opened for a simple reason. It was vacant already. Jesus didn’t need to be let out, we needed to be invited in. We need to see the place where he was laid and to be led there by the women who were there. We need to hear the words of the angel who spoke and made sure that we knew what God was up to – that Jesus was true to his word and that he has been raised from the dead, as he told us.

I want to be surprised by meeting Jesus on the road, or in the boat. I want to have a moment of worship of him who would rather die than live without us. I want a sacred moment to touch the hands and the feet, to know the depths of the sacrifice he made for me; not just to know that it is all real and true but so that my love and devotion can be further deepened both for Christ and for those whom he also bled. I want to know that the work that is being done, the sacrifices that are being made, the prayers that are being made are working together for the good of those who belong to Christ and the good of those who surround us.

Having had such wonders, I want to be enabled to go and tell this world that he has been raised from the dead and that means he is Lord. I want to be able to share the wonders of being in Christ’s risen presence with my brothers and sisters. I want us to come together in mission and ministry. I want us to find our Galilee so that we can worship and serve him in freedom.

Brothers and sisters, we are the best evidence of his ongoing life. It’s our dyings and risings that matter now. He lives in us. We need to live in such a way that we are offering our hearts, our lives and in doing so give ourselves to others. We need to live lives that show we have been redeemed, refreshed and renewed. We must live as people whose values and actions have been changed because we have encountered and are living in the presence of the risen Christ.

Live your liturgy, starting on that ancient hill, and then go find Jesus. Find Jesus, worship him and serve him. He did not die and be raised from the dead to spare you getting wounded. He did what he did so that we could take on his wounds and make them our own.

Jason+

Call me Lazarus, the Mirror

In reading for the week, and in particular considering the Gospel of John and the account of the raising of Lazarus (John 11), I have had some questions rolling around in my head that I am going to write down and see where we might go with them.

So here we are:

·         Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God?

·         Do you believe in death?

·         Do you believe you are free?

Let me start this exploration and adventure with some self-disclosure. I have had the experience of being left for dead and was expected to die by those who were carrying for me. I was ill and the sickness I had (meningitis and meningoencephalitis) could not be traced to its origins so treating me in the hospital was difficult. There was lots of pain and medication. There were many painful tests angry doctors, lab techs and lots of needles. And because I was in a teaching hospital and I was an inexplicable case, I was often a teaching case for students.  When I was released to go home, people started calling me ‘Lazarus’.

I share this with you so that you understand that this particular piece of John’s Gospel has a significant meaning for me.

One of the first things that I notice about this chapter is that Jesus after the confrontation that has lasted since chapter eight is that Jesus waited two more days before he set out for the trek to Bethany and back into Judea. Everyone around Jesus was wondering what he was waiting for because Lazarus, Martha, and Mary were close to him and Lazarus was near death. But Jesus kept reassuring the people around him, “This will not end in death”. Even when it came time to go, those around him still did not get it. Jesus is going to wake him from death not sleep.

Thomas announces that they should go with Jesus so that they can follow him, even if it means their own ends. It is both very fatalistic and at the same time very noble and true. The Twelve choose to go with Jesus and to be with him. I find it true also that there are different kinds of servants where God is concerned. Some are as bold as brass like Thomas and Martha while others like Mary are quietly called, led and sent.

Martha, unlike Mary in this story, is the one who is confident in Jesus and makes a bold statement of faith in acknowledging Jesus as the Sent One and that her brother will rise again on the last day. Mary is quieter and shares some of the same faith. When Mary comes to Jesus, adopts a position of contrition and worship. I find it interesting that Mary, after encountering Jesus falls into the tears and despair of the rest of the group that when with them to the tomb.

To me, it is powerful that in spite of the fact that no one seemed to understand what was coming, Jesus went ahead with his plan and started with praying to the Father.  And when I think about it, what else are you going to do when you are intentionally going to the cemetery to raise a dead man. Something tells me that you had better come with something more than a little bit of doctrine if we are going to raise the dead. And let’s keep in mind this is one man. Jesus could have raised the whole community cemetery. He raised one man. Can we? Can the Church raise one man from the dead?

This thought brings me back to my questions at the start of this blog. Do I believe and trust in God? I can tell you that during the illness I described to you, there was a point when I finally prayed to be taken rather than remain in this world. The pain and the suffering were too much and I had enough. I put myself in the hands of God... and he delivered me. It took 22 days for the healing to take effect but I remember that moment when I was healed.

One afternoon Nova and a friend (the priest who married us) laid hands on me and prayed for me. I could feel this heat and the print of someone’s palm on my back. As hot as the hand was, it did not hurt. My wife left not knowing if she would see me alive again. I was blind, photophobic, unable to eat or walk. I lived in darkness for 3 weeks that way. The following morning my wife came into my hospital room to see me sitting in the day chair, with the blinds wide open, eating my breakfast. God did that. God did that and I have been blessed over the years to lay hands on others and to pray with them. Some have died but done so with grace and with boatloads of hope. Others, by the grace and care of God, have come back and gone on to lead lives that defy the human imagination. The important thing is not that I was healed but that God showed himself to so many people, and people were healed and they believed in God. I was only the mirror to reflect the light of God’s glory.

Like Lazarus, we might need some assistance to take off the grave clothes so that we can be truly free but we are capable of living as the free people we are, for Christ and in Christ.

Jason+

Does God hear the Law breaker?

As miracles go, giving sight to the blind was perhaps the one Jesus did most often. It was a way of signing the presence of the coming kingdom and of telling us who Jesus is. The Old Testament made us aware that the blind receiving their sight would be a way to tell that the person was the Messiah or God’s anointed one.

This week’s Gospel (John 9.1-41) is part of a larger story that talks about Jesus and his dealings with the Pharisees. In Chapter Eight, there is a discussion about the identities of Jesus and the Pharisees and who is telling the truth. Jesus points out that the reason the Pharisees do not accept Jesus’ testimony about who he is, is because they cannot hear God and thus do not belong to God. In turn, the Pharisees claim their heritage as children of Abraham can tell Jesus he is nothing better that a Samaritan and that he is demon possessed (Jn. 8.48).

It is in the context of this argument about truth, obedience, and life, that Jesus heals the man born blind. And it raises a simple question, “If Jesus is sinful and a law breaker, why does God listen to him?”

The 12 and other disciples have a question about sin – whose fault was it that this man was born blind. Did he sin before he was born or did his parent's sin, causing him to be blind? If I understand Jesus’ reply to the question, it went something like this: every person is responsible for the sins that they commit. But, this man was born blind. God knew that this man would be born blind and chose to seek him out so that he could come to glorify God in his healed state.  

It starts out innocent enough. Jesus makes some mud with his spit. Puts the mud on the man’s eyes and then sends him to Siloam to be washed. The man responds by going (with help I suspect), washes, returns and is now a sighted person.  Immediately there is a discussion that erupts about where this is the man that was formerly blind amongst those that know him. The interesting thing about this story is that the man accepted the word of Jesus and found his physical sight and then, found spiritual sight. It took faith in Christ and his word to make that happen. It was not the act of going or the contact with the water that made the man see, but faith in Christ.

At the same time, there were people, including the Pharisees and the man’s parents who could not or would not accept that this was the same man. They are shown to be blind to the wonders of God’s works in the world and deaf to what God is saying to them through Christ. It is as if they have turned both ‘a blind ear and a deaf eye’ to all that was going on. All the while, continuing to insist that they were correct and that Jesus was the one in the wrong – that Jesus was the sinner for not follow Moses, Abraham and the traditions.

The presence of the healed beggar caused a schism amongst his neighbours and friends rather that leading to praising God for the gift of this man’s sight. The people argue about where this is the man and they refuse to believe him when he identifies himself, “I am the man!” He cannot explain why these things have happened to him. He does not know the man that did this for him and cannot even identify him because he has not seen him. He can only reply it was the man they called ‘Jesus’. When questioned as to where Jesus when he could only proclaim his ignorance: “I do not know.”

The healed beggar’s encounter with the Pharisees shows that when the religious hear that Jesus has broken the Sabbath law, it is all that they can focus on. They believe that they have the evidence that Jesus cannot be from God because he broke the sanctity of the Sabbath by making mud and doing a healing. This is a common argument between Jesus and the Pharisees. Doing work of some kind on the Sabbath breaks the rules. The Messiah would never break the rules, dishonour the tradition of the nation! But as they continue to question the truth, they discover that the man who was healed now considers Jesus to be a prophet.

The only way the Pharisees can think to debunk this miracle then becomes the idea that the beggar was not blind from birth. They draw in the man’s parents. These folks are well aware of what happens to people who go against the religious leaders. They do not want to be blackballed and thrown out of the religious life, so they refuse to answer how they think that their son received his sight. “He is old enough to answer for himself – ask him” they reply to the questions of how he might have his sight. In the constant telling and retelling of the miracle, faith in Jesus moves from being in possession of the facts; from “He did this” to who Jesus is as the giver of eternal life and as the Light of the world.

Not everyone is ready or willing to confess who Jesus is for them. I can see the parents being excited for their son – he has his sight. They understood that if they told the Pharisees what they believed, there would be consequences and that would be too much for them to bear. And at the same time,  I cannot help but think of this man who has had his world turned over and upset by the actions of a man he only knew by the name he was told. He had gained his sight but lost his profession. He gained the help and support of people around him while his parents had to turn their backs on him. He was thrown out and treated as a liar and an imposture for telling the truth.  

This unnamed beggar underwent an amazing journey. He went from believing that Jesus was a man to thinking Jesus was a prophet to discovering that Jesus is the Sent One from God and falling down in worship before him.

So let me ask you: who is Jesus to you? Will you let us know or will you continue to turn a blind eye and a deaf hear to what God is telling you?

Jason+

He did choose. What will you choose?

Nicodemus came after supper to Jesus, to have a conversation and see if he could not understand what Jesus was teaching and how he, as a teacher had gotten it wrong (John 3.1-18). The Gospel this week, introduces some themes that are important to the Faith and asks a question that every person needs to answer at some point. The question? Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God?

In this section of John’s Gospel, ideas and themes like salvation and condemnation, being sent, the Son of Man being lifted up, rebirth and the gift that God has given humanity (all flesh) in sending his Son to us are just some of them.

But first, let’s deal with who or what a disciple is. In a recent conversation, I pointed out to someone that a disciple is not someone who gets to flaunt their own opinion and do whatever they feel is right and forget the consequences. As Jesus demanded of Peter when Peter insisted that Jesus was going to be the Messiah that the people thought he should be, that Peter get behind him and get back in line as a follower. Peter needed to hear this and to get his mind on the same agenda as Jesus. This is something that Peter struggled with throughout the rest of his ministry, including in the Garden of Gethsemane when he pulls out a sword and cuts off the High Priest’s servant. He is still right to the last, trying to build a different kingdom from what Jesus was working on.

A disciple is a person, who first and foremost, is a person who has been given a rebirth, a spiritual birth, a new life by God. A disciple is a person who has been birthed through the physical (water) and the spiritual (the Spirit). A follower of Jesus has been rescued from death and given life (birth) from above. Such a life comes from seeing and recognising Jesus for who and what he is: the Son of God and God’s messiah.

This means that each and all of us have a simple choice to make when we see Jesus for who and what he is – do we believe it or not? Will we participate and trust God in this faith or not? Because as it is pointed elsewhere in Scripture, “There is no other name given under heaven to men (flesh) by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4.12-13) Either you accept what God has done for you in Christ or you choose to reject it. The choice belongs to each of us.

And as we make that consideration of what to do and to believe, we need to remember that God sent Jesus to us because he loves us and desires us to be with him. God reaches out to this God hating empire by sending his one and only Son so that those who choose him should have to perish but have eternal life. The purpose of the Incarnation was for people to have a choice because apart from God there is no life; only death. It is only in Christ that we begin to truly live. You cannot have a relationship with a dead person, only a memory whether it is Christ or someone else.

Followers of the Lord Jesus are not perfect. What they ought to be is repentant and they know where to seek forgiveness. Disciples are people who are on their way to being made perfect in their relationship with God and then with creation. There is no health, no help, no rescue that we can accomplish in our own flesh that can do what Jesus has done for us; not just on the cross and in the grave, but even more so in the life that he lives towards the Father in the here and now. Seeing Jesus and participating in his risen life, gives us life; eternal life, his life.

Like Nicodemus, we have a choice to make: we can live with the status quo and hope that we get enough things right to be good enough for God or we can choose to accept and participate in the life and community Christ is building which will lead to eternal life. And if it is consolation, Nicodemus is not recorded here as having an answer, but he is shown to be with Joseph of Arimathea when the Church needed them most on Good Friday. He did choose.

What do you choose?

Jason+