Who wants to be powerful anyway?

In the Gospel this week, Jesus’ opponents change, but the question still is, “Who is this man and where did he get the idea that he is in charge?” (Matthew 21.23-32) His opponents are the Sadducees and the Elders – the ruling class who living in Jerusalem and have authority over the people because it was given to them by the Roman Empire. These are the folks that were offended when Jesus cleansed the Temple and disrupted the on-going commerce and rota that was going on. Why had Jesus don this and who told him to where questions on the rulers’ minds.

The rulers and elders fear the general population and how they would react to Jesus and his claim that his authority came from God and so feared to act against him. At the same time, they were not willing to admit to his authority coming from heaven for the implications that would have in terms of what is would mean for the Jewish nation (province) and what it would mean for them personally. Rome would throw them out of office for failing to control the population. It would be the end of their power, control.

So, they confronted Jesus in the Temple area, hoping that he would claim openly Jesus would flat out say his power and authority were from God. For doing so would allow them to charge Jesus with blasphemy. To deal with the situation, and to avoid the obvious trap that was being laid for him, Jesus asked a counter question: “What about John? Where did his authority to preach and baptise come from? If you tell me where John got his authority from, then I will tell where I get mine from.”

It does seem obvious in this passage that fear of people, fear of loss of control, power and position, denial of heaven all lead to compromise and paralysis. The people in power down want to admit that some else might be operating under divine power and certain don’t want to empower others to remove them from their own power. Therefore, they chose not to answer Jesus’ question though making it clear where Jesus got his authority from, without saying a word.

And at this point, do you notice the difference in how power and authority are used? The ruling class use it to fortify and to penalize people. Jesus uses his power to serve so that they outcomes are different. Jesus brought people together into community. There was restoration and healing, people being realised from demonic powers, the blind receiving their sight, the deaf hear, the lame walked up right and the dead rise to life. He worked and walked to find and build relationships with the least, the last and the lost and used his power to protect and build them up not for self preservation, adulation and advancement.

These are the people who are entering the kingdom first, not the religious and the powerful. They gave little or no need of God and his help. What they have not realized yet is that they are on the wrong side of their equation. They have fallen into their own trap and displayed their own folly.

So, who do you say that Jesus is, and where do you think is power and authority comes from? What will you do with the power and authority Jesus has put in your hands?

Jason+

At work in the Lord's Vneyard

I have been working away with and struggling over what the Parable of Matthew’s Vineyard (20.1-16) is trying to teach us. I remember times when things had to be don in preparation for the coming season. Hay had to be put into the barn. Firewood had to be cut for the coming winter to keep the house warm in the cold of the winter. Gardens had to be finished up and turned over for the next planting season. Defrosters were placed in the horse’s water troughs and plugged. Grain was bought and stored. Even as I describe what it was like to get ready, the memories educe the smells of the animals, the fields and the rest of creation.

The first thing that we need to do is to consider with the Gospel this week is to ponder the nature of the kingdom of God. It should not be of surprise that the time of the harvest is a busy time. Extra workers are sought – day labours to help with the demands that the vineyard puts on the Owner and his normal staff. The owner goes out early in the morning and draws in those who are ready to work at 6 am. Again, and again over the day, until there is only an hour left and he is still sending people into the vineyard to work.

No comment is made about the quality of the workers and the work being done. And when the time comes, each worker is paid the same. This creates upset amongst those who started early – they bore the brunt of the heat and the work over the course of they day and they believe that they have been unfairly treated by the Household owner.

It is a reminder that every ministry in the Church is important and that they are of equal worth in the eyes of the Lord. One is not more important than another – all work together to draw in the harvest. All have their assigned tasks and all are treated equally when it comes time to be rewarded for a job that is finished. Being first is not a reward, just a reality. And those who came late receive mercy because their situation must need it for one reason or another, the giver determines the gift and the grace and mercy that goes with them. The receive cannot demand what they think they are owed when it is a gift. The kingdom continues to grow and so does the demand for those who will come in and labour with God to bring in the harvest.

This is where it occurred to me that the nature of the kingdom of God needs to be the nature and reality of the Church militant here in earth. The Church by design, should grow like the kingdom. If it is not growing then should we stop and ask why? Ought we not to want to know why the Church Is not expanding and drawing people in? If a young married couple are trying to have babies and don’t seem to manage to conceive, do they not go to the doctor to get things figured out? So why is it reasonable to expect the Church to make disciples when it hasn’t for a long time and see the kingdom grow without figuring out what the problem is?

Life in the Church these days makes me believe that the Vineyard could be in disarray. That’s the bad news. The Good News is that God is in the process of sorting things out and is drawing more labours into the harvest.  He wants everyone to be involved and for no one to be left out. Each worker, no matter how long each has worked, is offered the same pay and the same grace as those who have been around longer. By human standards, that must feel and seem unfair. Mercy is given to those who have not been there as long. Those who have done so much and been so much for the community over a long period of time, might feel that they have been cheated, but they have done what their faith has led them to do.

As I consider that thought, I cannot help but think of the sermon that was preach at my installation, where the preach pointed out clearly that the ministry that was done 30 years ago is now enabling the ministry that is going to go forward from here. That tells us that what we do and even don’t do in this moment, in the Lord’s Vineyard, will have impact and ramifications for decades to come, should the Lord tarry.

As the Lord of the Harvest to send out workers, into the fields, into the vineyard, to send out messengers into the highways and byways of the Land and call people in. The fields are white. The fruit is ready and there is a fest to prepare for.

Jason+

Make forgiveness a habit, not an event.

Many years ago now, I encountered a Roman Catholic priest who was covering the same area of Newfoundland as I was. When there was the occasion, I would go over to the Roman Catholic Church and, because of a love for music, I would sit with the choir. They thought it was “far out” that the Anglican Minister would do this, and the first time it caught the new priest Father Joseph off guard. After one such service – a funeral for a much love town employee who, amongst other things, collected the community’s garbage – we were stand out side waiting the for the funeral home to come out for the trip to the cemetery. Father Joseph grabbed me by the shoulders and loudly announced to those gathered around, that we, Him and I, were brothers.

Now you need to understand that Father Joseph could not look more different if it were possible to make it so. He was very tall, me not so much. He was very thin and me, not so much. He was from Ghana and black. I am from Canada and white. The people were confused as to how we might be brothers. So, I was quick to point out that we are brothers from different mothers. We were adopted by our heavenly Father and we are brothers and heirs with Christ in the kingdom and in the life that is to come. “We are brothers, because Christ made it so.” Then, there were smiles and the nodding of heads and clapping of mitted hands in approval.

We need to consider the Gospel this week in the same light. In Matthew 18.21-35, there is an important discussion about forgiveness and about how often one needs to extend forgiveness to another. Peter says to Jesus, Should I forgive my brother seven times? Conventional wisdom of the day was that you forgive a person three times. After that you can respond how you like. So, Peter, more than doubling the total, thought that he was being lavish and generous to think seven times. No doubt, Jesus’ response to his generosity was bone jarring.

There is lots of debate about whether it was 77 times or 490 times that you must forgive a person who has wronged you. How hard is it on the 78^th or even the 491^st time? The point of the lessons was not to keep track of sins so that at some point down the road you could hold it against the offender. That makes a person merciless and pitiable because they do not understand compassion at all. They cannot have experienced mercy and compassion when they were suffering and in need becoming merciless (anileos). Mercy, compassion and forgiveness are fundamental to being a follower of the Lord Jesus and in staying healthy as a human being.  If there is no capacity for forgiveness and compassion (which leads to the offering of grace) then there is no hope for there to be a reserve for grace to be lived into.

Think of the merciless servant that Jesus talks about in the parable. What did he do with his new found new lease on life that he had been given? He used the old system to brutalize someone else. He got forgiveness from the king but then he turned around and throttled the next person in the chain not allowing the forgiveness, mercy and grace that had been given to him to follow to some one else. One cannot claim to be a good Christian and to love God and then turned around and hate your brother. If you love God, you must also love your brother and sister. (1^st John 4: 20) Otherwise, you make yourself out to be a lair, because you do not love the people you can see and know but claim to love Someone others cannot see.

In learning to forgive from the heart, is the crux of the matter. In choosing to forgive, from the very centre of one’s life, you do not allow for anger, bitterness and resentment to settle in. These things can lead you to sin, to be come separated from others and from God. Not allowing these things in prevents sin from having a toe hold in your life. Living this way in turn promotes healing, reconciliation and community which are God’s desire for us. Allowing anger, bitterness and resentment to remain means that we are making our feelings and desires paramount which leads to us making our feelings and demands are more important than what God expects of us. This is an idolatrous notion.

We need to remember that forgiving someone is not an event; it is a process. Old feelings of anger and the desire for retribution and revenge are going to surface. In that moment, we need to stop forgive and forget: not for the offender’s sake, but for your own. Forgetfulness is key to forgiveness and our own well being. It is a godly thing to do as well so that we are not consumed by our own issues, desires and demands, including the need for revenge.

This is especially important for the health and well being of the community of Christ in which we participate. Learning to forgive and forget where members of the Church, of our family are concerned is one of the ways that we can best witness to a world that is bent on revenge and one-up-men-ship.  Learn to forgive from deep within and do not allow your anger to cause you to sin. Learn to love as Christ loves.

Jason+

Making Reconciliation the Goal, the mission

The Gospel this week (Matthew 18.15-20) is an important issue for the entire Anglican Church in Canada these days. It is about how to treat people when they have sinned against you. But it made me stop and consider if we really know these days, what a sin is. I have been watching reaction to an article that was written for the September Anglican Journal by the Most Rev. Fred Hiltz. I have been watching and listening to the reaction towards this article because the Primate talks about “good disagreement”.  Personally, I find that when someone uses such language, they consider themselves the victor in a dispute. Everyone got heard and many opinions were expressed and then the right decision was made, favouring the side that declares victory.  The problem I have with this method of handling conflict in the Church, is that despite the declarations of being inclusive and that everyone’s thoughts and opinions are going to be listened to and honoured, it is increasingly clear that this is not true.

As I consider the Gospel, I must ask, do we as a Church know what a sin is anymore? The only real sin I see castigated against is anything that is capable of curtailing choice of the individual. This is utterly against what the Gospel clearly teaches. Sin is not just a personal matter between you and God, because sin affects and infects the community and well as our connections with God.

What is sin? The Greek word most used in the New Testament is hamartano. It means that a person, in living one’s life, misses the mark and thus does not get to share in the victory and its prize. Living in a state of unexpiated (unredeemed) sin (which is hamartia), constantly and consistently leaves a person away from God. There is never a victory, there is never that which is enjoyed after a victory. And it might be important to know that there is no list or worse grading of sin that says that one must be address an is worse than another. We are to confront and help each other on an ongoing basis with living the life that God calls us to. It is not easy to do but we are not alone in it, the community that is the Church is responsible for making sure that we live out the Gospel – together. The unity of our message in the common life of the Church, which helps people to see the Lord Jesus Christ.

We need to learn to deal with our conflicts in a more fruitful way that builds up the unity of our community rather than seeking the winner and losers and creating division in the Body of Christ. In saying this, I think of St. Paul’s words to the Corinthians on conflict in their Church. He tells them point blank:

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. – 1^st Corinthians 12.12-31

The process is not about right and wrong and making winners and losers but about righteousness and holiness between God and us and between each other. It is about building up the Body of Christ and drawing people into the reign of God’s kingdom – that is the work that we are called to. We are to be that presence to help one another to be reconciled to God and in the process become family to one another. What welds the Church together is a common faith in the mission that God has given them and a trust in each other that is like family.

I rejoice that we are in the time we are in this Church and in this country because this is a time where we can, as a community, no longer a weak gospel. The “its no biggy” approach to preaching the reconciling message of God will no longer work in Canada. We need to preach and live so that people will feel the wind and experience the flame. This world is destined to be transformed and to experience holiness – life that is animated by the things of heaven. Our life and ministry need to help people to keep short accounts with God and with neighbours through loving them into the kingdom.

Be ready to preach, pray and die at a moment’s notice. Be prepared to seek out the least, the last and the lost for the sake of the One who would not live without us. Be ready to forgive and to make reconciliation work in your life and in the life of your faith community. Most of all, let us strive to love one another as Christ love us and gave himself up for us that we would be the victorious Church when we get to be the Church at rest.

Jason+

Confessing Christ in the midst of everything

In the Gospel (Matthew 16.13-20)  Jesus is on the move , going to Caesarea Philippi, on the South slopes of Mount Herman. It is important to know this bit of geography because it is on the edge of the old Davidic Kingdom. Caesarea was not unlike many of the cosmopolitan cities of the ancient world. It was full of different kinds of people, languages, faiths and beliefs. The Gospel recounts the first time that the disciples, and specifically Peter, call Jesus, Kyrios or Lord. There are moments when the Gospel has called him such but this is the first time the words come from the mouth of one of the Twelve.

For being willing to confess this insight, Jesus blesses Simon and calls him “Peter” or in modern English parlance, “Rocky”. Jesus gave him a nickname. I don’t know about you but I have carried many different nicknames in my life. Some of them I would only allow certain people to use while others, like my high school nickname “Haggy”, were widely used to the point where people did not know my given name. One of my favourite nicknames was ‘giihii-inzi’. I was given to me by a elderly priest from Old Crow. It means, “kindly one who speaks the Truth”. I was given that nickname because this elderly priest liked the fact that I would take her places in town when she needed to get around during diocesan events. I felt both honoured and blessed by the experience.

Simon Peter or “Rocky” was blessed for being willing to proclaim Jesus as Lord (Christos est kyrios) in the midst of all of the choices and temptations to make some one else, something else more important in your life. Peter chooses to stand out, from the culture, from the city and maybe even amongst those who are closest to Jesus and that is a risky thing. It is easier to keep one’s mouth shut and have people think you a fool than to open one’s mouth and confirm it. 

Peter’s confession of Jesus as Messiah starts with the question, “Who do others say that I am?”  the answer comes back, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, more say Jeremiah or one of the other Prophets of old.” After a pause, Jesus asks the Twelve, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter in his usual, brassy manner blurts out, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus points out that Peter has been listening to the Father and that the Father has revealed that Jesus is the Anointed One – the Messiah. But there is a problem, and that we will cover next week. For now, let us remember that the Twelve have a general understanding of what they think Jesus is all about, in terms of who and what the Messiah is. Jesus is going to have to help them unlearn this thinking. Peter and the other disciples have accepted who Jesus and this has not been thought up by flesh and blood. The Twelve know that Jesus is the Messiah is a revelation from God and the Father himself has made this known. This confession is the beginning of a revolution and a transformation that will make this world a different place.

And more than this, Jesus is declared to be the Son of the living God. Caesarea was home to many monuments, temples and statues devoted to different gods. The God that is declared in this confession is not a god made of stone or wood. This God is a living spirit. Having faith in this God, means that you have considered who he is and completely given yourself over to him; you have completely turned your life over and have entrusted it to God. This is what it means to have Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour.

So how do we live this out on a day to day basis? Our Epistle Lesson (Romans 12.1-8) can help with that. Because Jesus has died for us, we are called to live in him. We are to make our lives living sacrifices to God. If our lives are sustained by God, they become more and more like his – sustained by his presence and will. We offer to him, as believers, lives that have been redeemed by Christ. We live in Christ to give praise to God and witness to the world that Christ is Lord. We are to learn to live a faithful, fruitful life not to perfection – that is God’s work in us. We are called to allow God to transform our lives in the midst of the fact that world is going to try to do its best to shove you into its mold. We are encourage to live our lives in such away as to have them become liturgy or acts of worship to God.

True worship is offered when you hold nothing back. You give yourself totally and utterly to God, warts and all. The spiritually dead and the physically dead cannot do what we can – live and worship as living sacrifices.

Who do we say that Jesus is? Through our worship and the witness of our lives who are we saying that Jesus is? We exist as a community, as the People of God in this place, to proclaim Christ crucified and risen from the dead. We exist solely for the purpose, as Archbishop Cosmo de Lang (Archbishop of Canterbury) once put it, to draw in all those who do not yet belong to the fellowship of the Church into our membership. Are we doing that and how are we doing that? How are we proclaiming Jesus as Lord in our worship and in our witness of our everyday life? How does our liturgy leave the building and become worship outside the walls?

God is calling us to move with him in to the world to make Christ known as Lord. Will we confess to this town who he is?

Jason+

Crumbs for Mercy and Grace

The Gospel this week Matthew 15.10-28 is a tale about traditions and what should be kept and not kept. For example, The Pharisees come to Jesus  in the “near North” of Israel from Jerusalem to confront him about the kind of community that he is building and in particular,, to confront him about his allowing his disciples to be ritually impure because they did not wash their hands at meal times.

The Pharisees were for the most part, zealous for the traditions of Moses in ways that others were not. They spent much time studying the Torah (the Law) and provide rules for Levitical purity and holiness and thereby build a truly Jewish nation that was devoted to God and unstained by the world. Much of this was rejected by the ruling class, the Sadducees as an unnecessary innovation. And not every Pharisee followed this either. It is though by scholars that there was a group within Pharisaic Judaism that practiced this but it was not universal.

Jesus confronts his accusers of being hypocritical or of play acting at things because the words of their lips do not match what they believe in their hearts. It reminds us if the fact that as we think in our hearts, so are we. On hearing this, as the Pharisees are walking away, the Twelve question Jesus about his response by asking, “Do you know that you made them mad?” and are not reassured by the response – “Yup”.

Out of this moment Jesus and the Twelve move North and West to the area around Tyre and Sidon – Lebanon. Jesus moves to areas where such people would be loathed to go to have more time with his disciples, to teach, to test and to encourage them in their faith. This is when they are interrupted by a local woman – a Canaanite woman with whom no self respecting Jew would associate with. All this woman had to go with was her faith in what Jesus could do and her persistence for the sake of her daughter at home.

Jesus first ignores the woman and her pesky request for help for her daughter. Seeing that Jesus is ignoring her, the Twelve insist that Jesus chase her off. So Jesus, following that attitude, challenges and draws out the woman’s faith. He is a harsh way confronts the unnamed woman with what people would expect from a self respecting Jew would say: I am looking for God’s people and I am to minister to them, not for people like you.

The woman responds with the fact that even the house dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table. The dogs live on what little they can find. She is willing to do the same, with whatever Jesus will offer and will do. Because of her trust and faith in Jesus, she not only receives mercy for herself but at the same time has her daughter rescued from evil and that also happens immediately. There is not only healing and mercy there is also peace and grace for them and the family and for the wider community.

It might be important also to consider the fact that the mother made her request from a position of abasement and worship – on her knees. She humbled herself and persisted in her request. In that moment things changed for her and her community. Real change – transformation – happens as we learn to enter into God’s presence and are shaped by his power and glory for ministry in this world.

Remember that faith, where the Bible is concerned, is about being persuaded that you know the Truth. Faith of all kinds in our modern world has become about whether or not you can have the strength to believe that you believe. Faith becomes a psychological condition rather than a trust in the God of the Scriptures, who has and is acting to bring healing and wholeness to this world in and through Christ. Many are struggling as they watch the structures of the Church crumbling, wondering about what to do. We need to be like the woman in the Gospel and pursue the needs of those around us and the welfare of the cities and towns which we inhabit. We lack confidence in our God and because of that we are afraid to boldly proclaim what God has done.

May God grant us the grace to recover our faith and that in that faith we would boldly proclaim Christ and the coming kingdom of heaven.

Jason+

Send us out in the power of your Spirit, Lord

I was reminded after the most recent Sunday when children were baptised, that some of the earliest words that we learn to say as human beings are “Hello” and “Goodbye” and there variations, like “hi” and “bye-bye”. In the past few days, my family and I have being saying a lot of the latter, after several years in the community, to people we have know and served with over those years.

It has caused me to reflect on some of the things that Bishop Anderson said in his sermon at my induction and installation in October, 2011, as we said hello to each other. In particular, he pointed out that you had spent time praying for a parish priest. Pointing at me, he said, “There he sits. What’s next?” Bishop William went on to talk about the role of a parish priest in the parish and for the necessity of everyone working together for the common good. He also pointed out that having a parish priest is a gift – having been given by God to the community for a time, however long or short.

In recent days, I have heard expressions like, “There he goes, so what about us?” There has been a lot of what I would describe as low level panic as I encounter people from various churches in the city who are genuinely grieving the departure of their clergy, most are leaving because it is time to retire. Others are leaving for family reasons and yet others are leaving because of what God is doing in them and they are needed in another place and space within his dominion. Plus, as a diocese, there is the electoral synod that will take place in October to elect the new bishop. This event will have to dovetail with the path you will walk to draw in a new Rector. I say this to remind you of a promise that was made concerning God’s people as there was transition from Moses to the new leadership under a new leader. The new leader was Joshua. The promise is recorded this way in Numbers 27:

“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.” (Num.27.16-23)

You are not left alone – you are in the care of God, as you and I have always been.

Something important that needs to be sought is what the Scriptures have to say to us this morning. In this moment and if you are like me, there are lots of feelings running around inside. There is encouragement from the Scriptures to remember that the Spirit is here, in the midst of what we are feeling, ready to help deal with the fear, the sorrow, the pain of going on and ot parting. The Spirit aids believers in suffering. The Spirit helps in prayer and groans to communicate well beyond words inexpressible. It is the kind of thing that you see in Jesus in the Gospels, when Jesus is deeply moved; deeply moved from the guts.  The Spirit shares with us and prays for us within the will of God, that God’s will would be done in each of us and in all of us.

To the question, “what about us?” it is time to pray again for the renewal of the ministry of this parish and this diocese. There is a path to be walked that will draw in a bishop elect and a new rector. I will be with you in that. And I remind you of what the Scriptures say, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37.4) We have been blessed over the past six years, and some of blessings have had strange names. We have come a fair distance in the past several years. We have been enabled to do a number of things by God; one or two of them have been spectacular.

If there is a piece of counsel I would offer in this moment, it would be this: be careful what you pray for, you might just get it. As I have reflected on my coming to you, there were lots of worries about this ministry or that class or that service within the congregation. Congregations often seek ministers who will do their bidding and try to this make this parish great again. They might eventry to take you back to a time when things were better or at least less difficult. I would call on you to consider carefully what kind of person you need to come alongside you to enable ministry. No priest no matter how good that person is or how gifted that person might be is going to be able to “save” you – that job has been taken. So it is important for you to look for a priest who will love you and care for you and show you how to do that for each other. Look for someone who will build you up and raise up the level of community in this place – without which there is no reason for this beautiful building to stand.

As for the Gospel, I like the idea that the kingdom is like a net. A net is like a box of chocolates, you just never know what you are going to get. The net does not worry about what (or who in the case of the kingdom) is being drawn in. It draws in all that it touches. The sorting out (the judgement) will happen when the time is right. God continues to draw you together. You are not the same people that you were six years ago. You are not the same congregation I came to six years ago. God has been calling us and drawing us to himself. He has been teaching us and helping us to grow, building us into the Church that he wants us to be. So I encourage you to be ready to be surprised by God and the things that God is going to continue to do in your midst. 

Part of that grow is to be taken, blessed, broken and sent. When we dismiss this morning we will sing these words:

Send us out in the power of your Spirit, Lord,

May our lives bring Jesus to the world!

May each thought and word, bring glory to your name.

Send us out in your Spirit, Lord, we pray. - Ruth Fazal.

Today, God will take us, bless us, break us and send us on our way. And though we are bound by Christ and though we may be a part for a time, we will be together again,  and next time, forever.

Jason+