Are you coming or are you staying?

Where would you look for a powerful king? In a castle? On a boat? On a throne, dressed in dreadful splendor and wearing a crown of mighty splendor? Where would you look for your king? Would it be in a place of crying? Would you find him on a hill of pain and suffering; on a tree of agony and death? Where would you look for and find your king?

I have to admit that I was surprised when I realized where the Gospel was going to take us this week. Good Friday seems like it was so long ago and yet here is it in all of its brutal reality. The people who wanted him dead stand there now and observe the pain and suffering that has been inflicted. They acknowledge, however tacitly, that he is the king or more likely that he pretended to be the king and they challenge him to be great and terrible one last time. “He has saved others. Let him now save himself” some of the onlookers scoffed! Most of the crowd watched in silence as they stood by and did nothing. They leave that awful place beating their breasts and wonder, “Oh God, what have we done?” everyone including his own followers believe that this is the end of it all. All the hopes and dreams of the future are nailed to that terrifying tree with its victim. We haven’t fully realized yet that god in his Christ is on a mission and that this mission cannot be deterred, diverted or stopped by us. We can ridicule it. We can refuse to participate in it. But we cannot and will not stop the mission of God in Christ.

And as we stand there on that ugly little hill outside the city looking up we only begin to realize that our secret is out: that we aren’t the people that God wanted and created us to be. That we have become in a real sense the very opposite of what we were intended to be. In this king and in this little realm this is how God is going to draw us in and bring us back to him and to ourselves. Our hope does not live within ourselves except that it comes from acknowledging the mercy that only the king can provide. From his mercy he gives us grace and in that grace we find the peace he provides. And in know the king’s peace we find that hope and that life which is so freely offered. Those who live in denial, find it easier to stand there and mock the savagery we have inflicted while we fail to recognize the brutality we have become.

So as we stand there in the lowly, blood stained realm of our king… which will you choose? Will you go with him or will you stay behind with the mob? Your king makes this demand of you in this moment, “Are you coming or are you staying? It’s up to you. This is not a democracy. I am your king. Do you love me or do you reject me. Are you coming or not?” there will always be moments to be powerful – at least by human standards – and there will be moments to be impressive or to look intelligent. These are all fleeting, mere shadows of things.   

I welcome you to the throne. This is our king. Are you coming or are you going? You decide. 

Its the end... but not just yet!

Perhaps you have seen the large desk diaries that many of the clergy carry with them. I know that mine is very important to me and I cannot think of what I would do without it. I have carried one since the summer of 1990 when I was given my first one by a supervisor and was encourage to write everything I need to do and everything that I had done down on paper. It has helped me to do things and get things done. My calendar has even helped me to have the occasion rest on a day off and get me organized for an annual holiday. I’d like to think that my life because of this particular book is organized and helps me to be productive for the Church and therefore faithful in my priesthood to God.

And then I reminded that it is the end… but not just yet. I was recently reminded that the Church is what you have left after the building has burned down and the clergy has fled town. I often think of a particular moment in ministry when I walked into the local store to get things for New Year’s Eve and the little gathering we were planning with friends at their house. There was lots of fear that particular year around the turn of the century because of something known as Y2K. Remember the Y2K bug? People were discussing the heavy subject of the end of things, time in particular when I walked in the store. Of course when I was spotted, some said in a loud voice. “O look there is the Minister. Ask him!” One of the regulars came to me and asked the question they all want to know, “What’s the world coming to, sir?” In one of moments of clarity, I pulled off my cap and scarf and boldly pronounced, “An end.” The once bustling store, thrumming with enthusiasm and excitement fell suddenly quiet. You could have heard the proverbial pin drop.

Realizing I said something that could be earth shattering to the folks around me, I asked for a few minutes to go and get what was on my list and then I would come back to them and we would talk.  This gave me time not only to pray, furiously, it gave me time to organize my thoughts so that I might help these folks understand that thought things are crumbling, God is still with us. And having just come through the feast and were still in the season of Christmas I realized that something really powerful had happened. God’s salvation had come to us in the form of a child; someone who is small, is weak and who to most of the world anyway is hidden from plain sight. And look at what the Church has grown into. It has grown. There was a time in the life of the nation of Israel where the place of meeting was a tent. Yet we as humans fell the need and desire to manage things. And because we take charge the walls once soft and supple, allowing the Spirit to billow through have instead become stiff, rigid, calcified. The tent has filled with lots of furniture. And the Church builds its weight and height until it is unmanageable and is ready to topple in on itself.

Jesus calls to those who live in the rubble of this exiled age and invite them to follow him into a new way. A way that is not easily determined nor is it found with quick decisions or undemanding choices. Jesus offers the courage and the trust necessary to way a new way of life, a life that will in the face of the culture and society that we live in will face ridicule and persecution. And some of those who will pursue you will be those you would call family and friends. Yet, we to not walk this new path alone. Jesus walks the path with us. Jesus has promised that we will not be alone. He has promised that he will be with every step of the way. Whenever we gather in twos and threes for prayer in his name, he will be there. Whenever we gather to share in the bread and wine through thanksgiving, he will be there. When he is actively proclaimed by word and deed, he will be there. Whenever the least, lost and the last of his brothers and sister is served, it is him we serve. And we wait for the kingdom that is here and yet we are still waiting for it in full. Until then Jesus is with us and we are not, in the face of disaster, alone. That is in short, what I told those folks at the store more than ten years ago. I told them it was the end... but not just yet. He is with us and we are not alone no matter what date or time it is, no matter what the calendar says. Thanks be to God Christ is with us.  

God is making all things new

When I was last out to my home, I had to opportunity to go through the two neighbourhoods where I lived as a child. It wasn’t hard to tell that things were different from when I lived there. But then that was – relatively speaking – a long time ago. Of course there had been more development in the last 30 years. There were a lot of houses in the fields where my friends and I road our bikes and played. There are no more backyard rinks to skate on. No roar of the go-cart engines as we putted around our homemade track. There was no game of ball hockey out in the middle of the street. There were parents teaching their kids how to ride their bikes, chasing behind them as the rider learned to hold the balance. Families and individuals have come and gone from the neighbourhood. Some have grown up and moved away while others have died and still a few remain as if lingering and waiting for something. I fill in the people that I remember and fill in their place… how they sounded; the things they used to say and do. I remember the way things used to be.  

Things are much quieter now than I remember. To my eyes, things in the old neighbourhood have grown old and tried. Things have changed and we wish that they could have stayed the same, thinking that we could be forever here and forever young.  I wish that I could make it all new again. I wish I could walk down those familiar streets, seeing familiar faces and greeting friends. I wish I could go for one more ride with my dad to the local arena and score one more goal to be able to feel the thrill of it all. I wish I could make my family and friends young again and take away the pain and struggles that time has placed on them. I wish I could but I can’t. I wish I could do these things but I can’t. But God can. In fact he promises that he will make all things new.

This is why Christ came at Christmas and that is why we not only remember his death; we also proclaim his resurrection from the dead and his ascension to glory. In fact we celebrate that through this month – that Jesus is King and that he is coming again in glory to judge both the quick and the dead. Christ came to begin the process of the new life and the new creation. It is why he was found in a manger by shepherds and crucified by spiteful people who wanted a demonstration of power before they would believe the message, and though his death was the sign that he wasn’t able to deliver. But they were wrong, way wrong. They took Christ’s death as his defeat. It was the path Christ had to walk to free those who would believe from sin and death. We need to stop and realize this is going on today; that the new creation and the new life starts here and is still coming. God is still working out his new creation that Christ made possible through his incarnation. God still works to make all things new. Thanks be to God that he does and that he calls you and into this work with him.    

I just wanna be a sheep - and a saint too!

When I was leading a ministry to and of children a few years back, traveling across Southern Ontario, I would teach the following song to children (and adults too!):


I just want to be a sheep, bah, bah, bah, bah

I just want to be a sheep, bah, bah, bah, bah

I pray the Lord my soul to keep,

I just want to be a sheep, bah, bah, bah, bah


I realize that being a sheep these days is probably a negative thing. It is used for people who just follow the rest of the flock and never critically consider what is going on. No… in this day and age everyone is expected to be a hero or heroine; a person who is master of the destiny and who takes orders and nonsense from no one. Everyone has to be super. And you cannot be super if everyone else is super. And this is as true inside the Church as it is outside of the Church.

Now I not suggesting that everyone give up the hopes and ambitions, fall back in line with bowed heads behind the Shepherd, unless you find yourselves in the position that you need to. In fact I would encourage us to ask and try to imagine what this world would be like if the Church really was following the Shepherd. What kind of difference could we as Church make in the world if we were the sheep we ought to be, as often as we can be?


Christians are supposed to be people through whom the grace, love and mercy of God flows; the Church are people through whom the Son shines. In a word, we are supposed to be saints. Saints, not sheep. There is nothing particularly holy about sheep until you stop and consider that the Shepherd is also the Lamb. And that the Lamb surrendered his life so that we as his sheep, his flock might live. We follow the Lamb through the Valley of the Shadow of Death and we recognize his power to feed us, to clam us and to and protect us. We know that he has the kind of grace and mercy that will pursue us right into the House of God. That is the kind of sheep, the kind of shepherd he is.

As sheep, as people who are living the risen life, we can live in ways that take us beyond the limits of just life because we know the powerful grace of a willing Saviour and the love an eternal Father. Eternity is not just what happens at the end of life. It is happening right here in the middle of life, just as God has intended. Heaven is no reward for being a nice or even a good, law abiding person. Life with God is not an extension of this life. This life and this world have been overcome by Christ through his death and resurrection. This means that the old has going and the new is coming. And in all this, God binds them together, guiding us into the new life in the new creation. God still lives, still works, continues to transform and to reign in the lives of his people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. People like you, like me. We are made God’s people, God’s flock through the Spirit of Christ who is leading us on the way to home pastures. So, may you find yourself whistling, humming or sing, I just want to be a sheep and discover that you are a saint too!

The humble path

Bishop Fulton Sheen once said, “I am certain that there will be three surprises in heaven. First of all, I will see some people there whom I never expected to see. Second, there will be a number whom I expect to be there who will not be there. And, even relying on His mercy, the biggest surprise of all may be that I will be there.” I find that as our generation ages, we start to concern ourselves with things beyond this life. I have people ask me what I think will happen after death. I have people ask me how long I think this world will last. I have people ask me what I think the lives of our children and grandchildren will be like. And I have people ask me if there will be a church in the future.

Yes, I believe that there will be life after the life after death. That is to say that I believe that there will be a resurrection and that following the resurrection the will be judgment. And after the judgment, there will be a new life in the new heaven and the new earth. I believe that this is made possible by the life of Jesus Christ who came down to us, bled, suffered and died for us, and now lives to sustain us into the new life. Like Bishop Sheen I will be surprised at not only who is there in the new heaven and the new earth but I will be more surprised at who is not. And I will be most surprised, that through the tender mercy of God, I might find myself there too. But how do I get there? Will I get there by being a good parish priest and pastor? Will being a good husband and father make possible for me to enjoy the new life? I believe that the new life is offered to me through Christ because of what Christ has done for me. It is not about who I am, what I have done or if I am worthy. All that God asks of me is that I live into all that he offers. So how does one do that?

At the risk of making a “to-do” list or worse a “ta-da” list (you know… the kind of list that allows you to try wowing someone by telling them how great you are list), the path seems to begin with not just being a religious person. It seems to begin with being a humble person. Is it possible that the truly religious person is a humble person? There is no doubt that a humble person is thankful to God because they acknowledge before God who they really are: a mortified sinner and a beloved child. The humble person will acknowledge freely that they have received the grace and mercy of God when they could have been overwhelmed by whatever circumstances they found themselves in.  In short, the person who wants to live with God will aim at living towards God every single day.

The clarion call of the gospel is not to be religious by yourself. We are called by God through the Gospel into the community of the Son to live out all of life in the midst of that community so that we might learn the humility that will be needed in the new life of the new creation. If we aren’t willing to live such a life out now, to learn the humbleness we need before God now, why would we be satisfied to do it later? Does this not tell us something about what God expects of us and about our own nature as human beings? Like the Pharisee, we cannot depend on being religious or spiritual and think that this makes God happy. And at the same time, we need to do more that simply stand back, thump our chests and cry out mea culpa, mea culpa (my fault, my fault). This is as true for us as community as it is for us as individuals.

We need to consider that God does not just judge the clothes, the lips or even the words of our prayers. God looks past all that and judges the heart. The Pharisee in the parable is absolutely right: he is not like other men. He is not only religious; he is in his own way, righteous. And yet it is the tax collector that goes way having found mercy and forgiveness. And if this has meant anything to him there is going to have to be room for change. Does this mean that he will go out and admit to everything he has done? We are not told that he did. But perhaps the life of this particular tax collector has been changed so that he will begin to change his ways and thus transform the lives of those around him. Perhaps in time he will make restitution to those he has harmed. Maybe he will work to make things better for those around him. Perhaps he will be more honest in what he does in the name of Rome. Only time will tell. What is certain is that the heart that is open to God at least has the possibility of new life in the new earth while the heart that is full of pride for itself only needs the sound of its own voice.

Perhaps this is a moment when we can stop and consider how we pray and what we pray as individuals and as a parish. How do we build ourselves up in prayer and how do we plead for mercy both for others and for ourselves. Then let us take the opportunity to go and find out what this means: “I desire mercy not sacrifice.”  If we can seek mercy and grace of God with some humbleness and humility, then new creation, new life and the life of the Church will be in better focus for all of us. 

Life in the home office

Ah, life in the home office. Or at least that is how I think of the Parable of the Talents from Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 25.14-30). The Boss is going away on a long trip to other places where he is needed and there is a need to keep things up here in the home office. So what will the troops be doing while the Boss is away? Well, in a real sense, it depends on who it is that we are talking about.  The Boss calls a staff meeting and has his people join him. To one, he gives the responsibility of five bags of gold. To another employee, the chief gives three bags of gold. To a third person, the Boss gives a single bag of gold. He encouraged them to work hard and to do well with what they were entrusted and then the Boss left on his trip.

When the Boss returned to the home office, he called another staff meeting and brought together his staff to see how things had gone in his absence. The first worker came and brought came and presented 10 bags of gold. The original five bags of gold where turned over along with five more that had been earned. The Boss was very please and invited the worker to come along to the great return party that he was throwing. The second member of staff came along and with his three bags gave back three more bags of gold. The Boss was very please indeed to see the bags of gold that had been earned while he had been away. This second worker was also invited to come and join the party to celebrate the Boss’s return.

Then came the employee who had the one bag of gold. He had been afraid to use it, to do anything with it and so he kept it safely hidden and tucked away and put that single bag of gold back in front of the Boss. The Boss rose in a great rage and said to this employee, “You wicked and lazy worker. You knew did you that I was a hard person to work for? You knew did you that I expected more of you that simply to hide my money away? Even if you had put it in the bank it would have gained a little interest! Get out of my sight. You are fired!” And with the press of the button in came two burly men who took the lazy worker and flung him out in the street and into the night. The unemployed worker found and lamp post sat down beneath it and began to cry his eyes out.     

Now let us remember that Jesus told this parable to show what is going to happen to the person who tries to live his or her life in a sort of religious paralysis. Jesus chided those who wanted to bury what God had given them so that when the time came, they could hand it back to God in the pristine condition in which they received it, leaving it unused.  We need to in the Church stop and realize that we too can be guilty of such a thing. We think that our non participation in the life of the Church is okay and acceptable. Or we look at someone else and think I can participate because I am not like him or her. I could do such a thing so I won’t do anything. I am not good enough. I am not smart enough. I am not bold enough. We look for an easy way out and a reason not to act putting ourselves and thus the Church into a kind of spiritual paralysis.

This parable pointes out at least two important things to the Church. First it reminds us that all of us have gifts and talents that we can offer. And we are also reminded of where these gifts have come from – God almighty. God has gifted all of us that we might work together for the building up of the Church and to enable the coming of his kingdom here on earth. When some of the members of the Church don’t offer what they have to give or absent themselves from participating in the work and from the fellowship, it diminishes the work and life of the Church.

Second, the Church needs to remember that it is trusted by God to come and to fulfill the calling to which it is being drawn. Isn’t that amazing? We often think that we have to learn to trust God and we do. If we go even deeper than that, we are trusted by God to move, live and to be his people, his Church in the world. God trusts us. Such trust should engender the courage to act and to use what we have been given, so that we can extend the kingdom of God in this place. Not everyone is gifted with the same amounts or types of gifts, talents and abilities. Where we are equal is in the effort we can put forth in using those gifts that we have been given and use what we have to the advantage of God and of others. If we are afraid of being judged, does it not make more sense to work and to live faithfully, even if it means making mistakes and taking the risk that we might lose it all? Isn’t that the mistake the fired employee made? Moreover, isn’t true that the reward of ask well done is another task to do? This is not the time for the Church to rest and relax – this is the time to serve! The one who is punished is the one who refuses to serve. If you refuse to do it you cannot lose it. You will not risk it. You will not do anything with it. And everything that God gives is meant to be used to benefit others and to build up the kingdom. Whatever you have, whatever it is that you possess, be prepared and willing to offer it.

Or maybe you will end up like a young man who was courting a young lady. As they stood in front her parents’ front door and under the light of the door way the young man asked if he could kiss the woman. She beamed brightly and batted her eyes at her young beau. Uncertain of what to do exactly, the young man cautiously asked again if he could kiss her. And a second time, she smiled, hoping that he would lean forward. But he didn’t. And when he asked the third time because he had not sensed a response if he could kiss her,  she responded, “ I don’t know. Are you paralyzed?”

That’s life in the home office!     

Where prayer is focused, power falls

I was once taught that where prayer is focused, power falls. I believe that! I wish I could recount the number of times that I have seen prayers answered both in my life in the lives of people around me. Sometimes it is a little prayer that gets uttered in total desperation that eventually turns out to be a much bigger thing later on. And sometimes we think the world is about to cave in and then discover it was not as bad as we thought it was at first.

But what does this phrase mean exactly? Where prayer is focused, power falls. Well first of all we need to operate as Christian people who have their eyes wide open. We need to really see what’s going on. Oh it is easy to pray what I would call the King James type prayers; the kind that every one speaks of when things are going well and we are thankful for what we have and what we’ve got. They usually we praise God with something like “well, bless God!” Or something like we “just” praise and thank you God because … what do we pray when things are not going our way? More importantly are we going to keep praying for what is necessary and requisite for the body as well as the soul when things get rough. Are we going to pray to remain and be faithful or are we going to pray for Christ to come and bail us out of all this mess? Neither of these is wrong. We should in fact move to pray both for the strength to stand (because we would be calling on God’s strength and not our own) and for the Kingdom to come because it is the Father’s world and Christ’s kingdom that is coming to this world. It is not either – or. It both – and kind of deal.

For me, the parable of the persistent widow is about two things – what are we focused on and how ready is God to respond to our prayers. In the parable the widow wants justice and mercy for her situation. She pursues what she wants doggedly, even to the point where a judge who does not fear God and does not respect any other person, is willing to give this woman what she wants. He will give it to her just because he begins to be fearful about what others might think of him because of what she is saying to him and about him to others. He does don’t want or need a black eye on his reputation as a adjudicator or as a man. The woman’s persistence will do just that.

Are we willing to persist in prayer as this woman has pursued justice for herself? Are we willing to go after what we believe we need and keep asking and keep driving towards that goal until we have an answer? Let’s us not forget that answers to prayer are not always immediate. God will answer our prayers in his way and in his time. It’s not like a 3 minute egg or instant oatmeal. Some answers to some prayers take time to be answered and require us to persevere and pray. Not only that, prayer requires not only a response from God, it affects us. It should cause us to be opening the call to be an answer to some of the prayers that are made.       

And let’s not forget the work of the Holy Spirit in the midst of all this – that the Spirit opens windows and closes doors. We as Christian people need to be ready to climb in, not just to walk through the door. By having a heart that is open to the move of the Spirit we can be use of God to be in those places and spaces where we are needed so that we can be an answer to somebody’s prayer. And maybe its our own.

Most of all, let us remind each other of how good God is and how ready God is to answer prayer – the opposite of the unjust judge. God waits for us to pray so that he can respond and so that he can move us to be in those places and spaces he needs us to be as his Church so that we can know him and be a blessing to others who are in need. Never forget: where prayer is focused, power falls.