Being double yoked with Christ

When you look around this city and at its people, what do you see? When you look at this congregation, what do you see? Can you see them as children of God? Can you see how and why God is coming near them?  The Gospel this week (Matthew 11.16-19,25-30) helps to shift the focus from the preachers, John (the Baptist) and Jesus (of Nazareth) to those who are responding and not responding to the message that is being preached concerning the presence and the coming of the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus uses a parable to point out the differences between the preachers (John and Jesus) and those who active oppose the message and the things that the preachers are teachings. John came to play the “Funeral Game” – he sang a dirge and the religious people refused to mourn their sins and repent of them.  Jesus came to them, eating and drinking with outcasts and public sinners. They labeled Jesus a glutton and a drunk because the Messiah would be about the things that the religious people cared about and achieve the political goals to usher in the neo-Davidic period where Israel is totally free.

The thing that most folks don’t seem to understand about Jesus, is that he ushers in a new life with a new way of living that does necessarily or always conform to the social thinking and norms of the religious and political elite – we just like to think God thinks like us. The things, the miracles and acts of grace and kindness that have been done by Jesus in his Father’s name, point to who he really is: the Messiah, the Christ. We know who he is by what he does, not just about the declared goals and objects of a few people in power. Christ’s presence among the people means that there is a new way of living that is different and is life giving because it is lived in friendship with God.

Most people in this city and maybe even in this congregation want to believe that they are in control and that they are capable of saying to God, “You’re not the boss of me! You cannot tell me what to do”. It might help to remind ourselves that being heralds of the Gospel in this poet enlightened society is not an easy thing. People are more interested in what they can get out of something so long as it cost them as little as possible than in actually committing to something or someone beyond themselves because it is scary and they could get hurt. It has not changed that we, as communicators of the Good News still have to earn the opportunity to be heard before we will be heard by others.

What gets us through this? Notice what Jesus calls God? Father, right? Father and Lord of heaven and Earth. God is always God and Jesus submits himself to the Father. The difference come with the changes in the relationship that there are with and within Christ: Father with the Son and Christ with his Church. Because there are these relationships, there are two things above all else that we possess because of these relationships: Intimacy and authority.

God the “Father” or in Greek, “Abba”, is all that for Jesus and for us. We have the Daddy-Father. He loves us and he sent Jesus we might know him and have life in is kingdom with him. We are the Daddy-Father’s children just as Jesus is the Son of the Father. We are adopted into the family. This gives us the love and intimacy that we need in order to know what genuine love is and then to be able to share that love with others.

We also have authority to do ministry because we have been given it by Christ who receive all power and authority in heaven and on earth from the Father (Mt.28.16-20). We are competent to minister because we have been and are with Christ in his world in the world. We are competent not because of degrees and knowledge, or because people think we are. As we abide in Christ we are competent to minister with him and for him. Through us, Christ is building his Church and drawing people into the new life and the new creation.

That’s why Jesus came to us and played the “Wedding Game”. But the people he called, many would not come and dance and play. The religious could not, would rejoice in everything that was going on – that the poor and the needy were coming into the kingdom. Instead, the religious and the politically minded attack the personal character of the preacher without addressing the message.

Interestingly enough, Jesus has a surprise response to the ‘haters’: in that hour, he rejoices and he gives thanks to God, praising and confessing the greatness of God in making himself known to ‘simple and insignificant’ and ‘unenlightened’ people instead of the rich, the wise and the powerful. This is why even in this day and age, there the Church still struggles in actively proclaiming Christ to contemporary people. The Church has always struggled to reach out and to make Christ known, no matter what the date is. Yet those who have been with Jesus are recognized as such are participating in what Christ is still doing. They are ministering in the presence of Christ to the people who, in whatever estate we find them, the children of God.

I was asked recently who was responsible for reconciliation ministry in this parish. Answer: we all are! We’re all ministers of the Gospel and we are all ministers of the covenant (treaty) that we have with God. We are all ll children of the Father and the Lord of heaven and earth. Each and all of us are responsible for participating in making each other and other people whole again. Therefore we must first be reconciled to God and to each other so that we can go with Christ and work to see others reconciled to the kingdom, even when it is hard and the people are being all negative.  We are called of Christ to come and be refreshed by him, again and again in order that we would go and comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, that they too might come to Christ.

We are double yoked with Christ, so that we can learn and work because the burden is easy and light. So what does the city and the world see when they look at us? Do they see people who care and are reaching out in love for them and out of compassion for what we see? Or do they see people more worried about the future and hoping they can return to the good old days to escape what’s next? It is a challenge that we must face and live thought it. 

Jason+ 

Living in the Lord's Dominion

It is not an idea that plays well in North American society, but as Christians, we are not our own. If we be followers of the Lord Jesus, then there are some things that we need to acknowledge and do something about. For example, we are living in the Lord’s Dominion. We do not often acknowledge this but when Canada became a confederation of provinces and territories in the late 1860’s and early 1870’s, the country was known to be a dominion of the Crown.  We were called Canada from the Huron-Iroquois word “Kanata” for village. It was the preferred word for the country in Quebec until confederation in 1867, and Ontario became Upper Canada and Quebec Lower Canada. From this, the former French colony adopted the name “Quebec” because Canada fell out of favour as the British took control of large portions of North America.

While confederation talks were proceeding, they wanted to call the new country, “The Kingdom of Canada” but folks in London would not allow this because the Americans, just having emerged from a civil war and being a military power, still had grievances with the British Crown left over from the Revolutionary War in the late 18^th Century. The Dominion of Canada was settled on for two reasons: (1) the term Canadian or Canadien, was used to refer to the local First Nations in their traditional territories and then was also applied to the French and later to the English as they grew in prominence and power on the contents. (2) Canada, instead of being a kingdom, was recognized as the Lord’s dominion (Psalm 72.8).  

Why the history lesson, aside from the fact that we are celebrating the sesquicentennial anniversary of the start of this confederacy? The question of how we live in the Lord’s dominion is important if we are truly his followers. The Gospel today (John 15.12-17) reminds us of how we are to live, towards God and towards each other. We are reminded that we are his: his choice, his call, his fruit and his body. We are called to go and proclaim the same kingdom that Christ does and demonstrate it with the same power and wonder that he does. We are to be a community that is bound by the same love that he has for us.

That means that we are called to learn to love him and each as he has loved us. In order to be able to love like that, we need to see and experience that love from Christ himself. Each and all of us need to learn to love the other, by learning to receive the love Christ has for each and for all of us, Until we do we cannot do what he asks. So we need the presence of the Spirit to know Christ and his love. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit – which is more than a onetime event that happens in a lifetime, like confirmation and ordination. Being filled with the Holy Spirit means that we have had that event and that we continue to live out that event and persist in being filled so that we can proclaim Christ and his dominion every day.

Moreover, we are called to go first and minister and then come and pray, so that we will pray rightly. I can think of no more powerful and harsher experience that trying to ministry in one’s one strength, wisdom and power. Learning that we are not all sufficient, in and of ourselves, is important int he long run of proclaiming the Lord’s dominion. When we know what the needs are, then we can pray properly, with earnestness and with compassion. In order to pray for those kinds of needs, we need to comprehend and know what is on the line. And we can fervently pray, “Fill me up, Lord, cause I leak.”

What counts in living in the Lord’s dominion? That we express ourselves, our faith, in loving our neighbours as ourselves, even if that means that we give our lives so that another might live. As the Master himself said, “No greater love has anyone than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus did more than talk a good game like an armchair athlete. He lives a great life so that we might live it with him. We are called to follow in his footprints and see that the nails prints are our own. Our mission is to live out the dyings and risings of Christ on a daily basis and for all of us to become just like him.

We are not our own, we are chosen and we are commanded to bear fruit that will last, not just for this life, but for the life that is to come in the Lord’s dominion as well.

Jason+

We are called to be Giihii

The Gospel this week is about the Christ life and the things we are going to face in it, as we live out the Great Commission (Matthew 10.24-39). Jesus gives those whom he is send out (the Twelve) instructions on how they are going to carry out his mission. He had given them power and authority to learn and teach, to serve and to lead. It is another four fold pattern of living the Christian life, just like the four fold pattern of the liturgy (take, bless, break and give). The mission was simple: make people aware of the nearness of the kingdom of heaven and make them ready for its coming. They need to tell people the truth and to help them get ready for the reality of the kingdom and its impact on us.

As I say that, I reflect on the fact that when I was in Yukon Diocese, I was called “giihii” in Gwitchen or in English, “man who speaks the Truth (Gospel)”. Eventually, as the people of the Northern part of the Diocese got to know me and how I walked as a Christian, I was called “giihii-inzi” or “the kindly one who speaks the Gospel/truth” The first person to call me that was an elderly woman by the name of Ellen Bruce.  I came to discover more recently that Ellen was the first of the First Nations woman in Canada to be ordained to be ordained an Anglican priest.

I asked her if I could call her grandmother since I needed someone to keep me in line and disciplined, since we lived so far away from our families and from all that was familiar to us. She agreed that this was okay with a bit of a smile on her face.  She did keep me in line, but did it with lots of humour and grace over the years that I was privileged to serve in the Yukon.

In some sense it was like the Gospel pattern laid down for us in the Gospel: a master and an apprentice. A teacher and a leaner. Ellen taught me about the realities of the land I was living in and how to relate to people so I that could be effective in my living as a giihii amongst the peoples of the North. People in that part of the world will not listen to what you preach until they see how you walk. They find it necessary to see the interior of your life and to consider it, as to whether or not it is truth and therefore whether or not you are worth following. It is important because the Faith needs to be caught and to be passed onto the next generation. We have a message that is both life and life giving for us and for the world. People need to see that.

This is also the way that we can see and reproduce in the lives of others, the life of Christ. People need to be able to see that we can die and rise in Christ, daily if necessary. Every teacher needs to have an impact on a student’s life. Without it, the lessons are probably not learned and the Christian faith is not propagated. I say that also have looked at the pictures from a former diocese, where I served for a number of years and the fact that I have had a hand in teaching many of those new deacons in the pictures about the Christian life and now God has called them to serve as ordained people. God did that, and I helped. There were many people that these freshly ordained people have encountered over the years who have served to help the new deacons to be ready for the tasks that lay ahead. They have been and will continued to be apprentice by priests, the Archbishop and the Bishop elect. What matters is the devotion to God, to the community and to the message.

I have given the last six years of my life, my family’s life and of my ministry to the congregation I serve. It has been a gift that has been freely given. Soon, it will be time to move on because the Great Commission requires it of me. At the same time, I believe that as you pray, God is working on drawing a new Master for you to apprentice under for we are reminded by the Scriptures,

“Moses said to the Lord, “May the Lord, the God who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the Lord’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.” So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit of leadership, and lay your hand on him.  Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence. Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him. He is to stand before Eleazar the priest, who will obtain decisions for him by inquiring of the Urim before the Lord. At his command he and the entire community of the Israelites will go out, and at his command they will come in.” Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole assembly. Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the Lord instructed through Moses.” – Numbers 27.16-23

Ministry belongs to the community and the community belongs to Christ. Authority over ministry is given to a few, who are chosen from the community. This is God’s Church and God will lead us all through.

Jason+

Carrying on with the Great Commission

This week’s Gospel (Matthew 9.35-10.23) has some important things for me and for the people I serve to keep in mind as we move forward into change about carrying out and carrying on with the Great Commission.  

First, we are reminded of the itinerant nature of Christian ministry. Jesus went through all the towns and villages, preaching, teaching the Good News, healing every sick person and driving out every demon and evil. One of the things about this lesson is that it reminds us of the amount of work that needs to be done. It is more than one person can handle. Ministry is not just about one person and what that person can do for God (ie. the Minister). Ministry belongs to the community and what the Church can do about it. Jesus called the Twelve by name, and gave them power and authority for ministry. Jesus saw them for who they were and he called them to the work of the kingdom and to share in his labours.

The Gospel reminds us secondly, that we need to do things the way that the Master asks for them to be done. We need to go to the people we are sent to and we must move swiftly because we carry a message that is important – a matter of life and death. The message of the kingdom is of first importance and must be treated as such. Beyond money, loyalty, friendship, the mission to draw people into the kingdom is of utter import. The Church exists to continue the work that Jesus began to redeem humanity and bring them home to God.

We need to keep in mind that in calling people to faith, that faith is more than an intellectual assent to a set of doctrines and precepts, of holding to a particular set of morals and values. Faith is a verb, an action.  It is an ongoing commitment to a relationship with Jesus as Lord and Saviour and with the missional community that is the Church. Following Jesus into mission and ministry means learning to abide with both him and the others that he has called into ministry. Failing to do that, not working with God and with each other, not testing and examining our faith leads to problems, ruination and the downfall of the local community and ministry.

Even the old devil is capable of saying that there is a God – and he shudders and the thought of God. The devil is capable of having all the right doctrine and all the right words, knows scripture but is not committed to the Master nor the mission that we are called to come and join in. We are called to come and believe into a life with God and those whom God has called to be our family.

In the days since my resignation from my current parish was announced, people have been asking me, “What about us? What is going to happen to us now that you are leaving?” We are asked by Jesus to pray to the Lord of the harvest for workers to be sent into the fields. There is a need for a new priest and I believe that if God can call me, he will call another faithful pastor for this flock in his time. As I have recently been reminded by Scripture, “Do not fear for I have redeemed you. I have summoned you by name: you are mine.” (Isaiah 43.1) This is true of all who have been saved by Christ and is doubly true of those of us who are called to the leadership of the Church.

God in his own time and way will call a new shepherd for this people. I believe that! God will not leave this people abandoned, because it is promised in Scripture, “that the congregation of the Lord may not be as a sheep without a shepherd.” (Numbers 27.17) The welfare of this city is dependent on the life of the Church in its midst and God will not leave and abandon his own. He chose us, we did not chose him. God chose us and appointed us to go and in the going to bear fruit that will last. This means that as we are faithful, as we seek, see and serve God in Christ through the Spirit, the demands and needs of the ministry will be met so that people’s lives will be transformed starting with our own. Through it all the kingdom glorified and extended.

In the meantime, we need to recognize that there are people who need to be prayed with and for healing and other matters. There are people who are going to need to raised up, even from death. There are people who need to hear the Good News and to be taught how to follow Jesus. There are people who are going to need you to set them free from the devil and evil. Ministry can be, and often is dangerous work. But remember who you are with – even in the valley of the shadow of death, his rod and his staff is there for comfort and for defense. We will not be abandoned. He has called us by name and we are his. Thanks be to God for that!

Jason+

Our Great Common Mission

This is the Sunday that any wise Rector of a parish allows the Curate Assistant to preach, so I have heard. It is Trinity Sunday. Our Gospel is one I love to preach on (Matthew 28.16-20). Most inexperienced preachers will try to tackle the Doctrine of the Trinity and explain it through linguistic gymnastics and mental math or try to explain it away in a similar fashion. What is important is that we use this particular piece of theology to try and describe in human terms what is both divine and indescribable. Such thinking and such language allow for us to imagine what God might be like in his entirety, to anticipate him and celebrate the fullness, the wholeness and the unity of God in mission.

God is in mission in this world and he has created a community called the Church to come alongside him and participate in his mission. In the 1940’s, William Temple, then Archbishop of Canterbury, noted that “The Church exists for the sole purpose of bringing into its fellowship, those who do not already belong to it.” In essence, the Church seeks God out in the world, sees what God is doing and then tell the world all about it so that they will repent believe and receive Jesus Christ as Saviour and learn to serve him as King in the fellowship of his body, the Church” (Primates’ Meeting, Cyprus, 1989).

We see all through the Matthean Gospel, the theme of God: Father, Son and Spirit, active in the mission in different ways. Jesus’ baptism is a prime example. The Father announces his Son to the world and the Spirit descends upon the Son, to overflowing so that others could be blessed, healed and cured. The Godhead in all of the fullness that is possessed, leads into mission. God moves into places and spaces to draw people into himself and into his kingdom. As people, we experience and know God as one and as three. God has revealed himself as such to us. And just as importantly, we are called to follow God into those places and spaces where he already has been and is, that we might call people to repentance and faith in God and thus sign the presence of the kingdom.

I recently was in a church where there was a private meal going on in the parish hall. A gentleman of meager means appeared in the doorway hoping that he might be able to avail himself of some food. He was told that this was a private function but that he could come in and eat. He was ushered to his seat. Others got a meal together while another poured a cup of coffee. Yet another brought him as dessert while some others began to clear away the dishes and wash up. He quickly devoured his repas with gusto. When he was finished, he motioned to me and I went over to him. He asked for me to bless him, me being a priest and all. I hesitated for a moment because I had rules running through my head but then chose to do as he asked. I prayed the familiar words of the blessing of Numbers 6: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” (Num. 6.24-26)

Maybe that man was sent by God to show that Church and I who we are to each other. Maybe we entertained and angel or maybe even Christ himself. We will not know this side of heaven and this side of life what that kindness, that blessing did in that man’s life. What is important is that we sought God, saw him in another person and chose to serve him in Christ’s name. Surely the reward for such service will be in seeing Jesus in one another so that we might continue to seek, to see and to see him in action.

We can spend time considering the nature of God or we can see the nature of God in serve with God in his mission to the world. It is not logical. It is not about sound philosophy or the solution of a mathematical equation. It is about a God who is in mission to a world in need through a church in love. Will you not come and join with God in reaching out to this city and to the world? It is our great, common mission.

Jason+

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+