- Philippians 1:3-11 - read this passage online here »
Opening Prayer: Gracious God, this morning I ask you to hold my words and all of our thoughts in your heart with loving compassion and care, knowing who we are and where we are on our life’s journey. I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord and Saviour of all. Amen.
I am very grateful and thankful to God this morning for God’s grace and mercy that has allowed me to come to this time in my ministry and service. I am also very grateful and thankful to God today for our mutual ministry together in this time and place. Many years ago, I asked God for a group of people I might be part of and love in the name of Jesus Christ. I believe God answered that prayer five years ago when we began this journey of mutual ministry here at OYM. For those who are visiting friends today, OYM is our affectionate name for Oriole York Mills United Church. So I am here this morning with a heart filled with joy and gladness because of our ministry together. And a heart filled with love for you because of our friendships over these years.
I also believe that any growth we have experienced of our faith in God and in caring for one another and for our neighbours is the result of God doing his good work in us as individuals and among us as Christ’s church in this place for the love of neighbours both nearby and farther away. When we become disciples or students of Jesus and cooperate with God in sharing the word of the gospel of Christ and in doing the work of the kingdom of God in showing love, mercy, hope and justice for all humanity, I believe God will continue that good work in us and through us.
Today is a celebration. We celebrate one another in many ways. Today we celebrated the children and youth in “Sunday’s Cool.” So I commend to you the work of Sunday’s Cool (our Sunday school) under the direction of Carol MacLean and her dedicated team. We will also celebrate Holy Communion -- where Jesus invites every one of us to remember his love for us and for all humanity, to remember his death on the cross in order to accomplish the final defeat of all that separates us from God’s presence. So I commend to you the ministry and service and sacrificial love of Jesus for all humanity.
Actually, every Sunday is really another time and another opportunity to celebrate the presence of God among us, to renew our response to God’s loving embrace and to recommit ourselves to our mutual ministry and service to one another, to our community and to the world. So, my friends, as your pastor for these past five years, I want to celebrate our mutual ministry as our time together comes to a natural close. I have patterned my message after Paul’s prayer for the Philippians. He says he loved those people with the love of Jesus Christ. And I hope you experienced a similar love in our times together as pastor and people of God.
I pray that your love for God and for your neighbour will flourish. May your love be overflowing – a love that does not retreat in the face of adversity but advances and becomes even stronger in endurance, character, joy, hope and with even more love.
If I had my ministry to do over, what would I do differently to allow God’s love to grow and flourish more and more within me? I would trust God more! I would trust God more! I would open my life to God’s challenging yet compassionate presence more and more so that fear of risk and failure or even success in my life and ministry -- which really is a lack of trust --would fade into the background more and more.
When we were children, we were often afraid of things that go bump in the night. By the time we were teenagers we were not usually afraid of what might live under our beds. But we may well have been afraid of what our friends would say about the way we combed our hair or how we dressed.
What do I fear now? To put it simply, I do not want to live a life that does not matter. I do not want to leave the world exactly as I found it, no different for my having been here. There are some things that can have an impact now and also eternal value and consequences in God’s eyes. Acts of justice, mercy, forgiveness, compassion and grace are merely a few mentioned over and over again in both the Old and New Testaments. If I want my life to count, to be significant, then I will try to live my life God’s way as much as possible with these attitudes and actions.
I pray that your love for God and for your neighbour will flourish – and be real! As many of you know, one of my favourite paraphrases of the Bible is The Message, which puts part of the passage from Philippians 1 this way:
How does the love of God grow or flourish with knowledge in a disciple or student of Jesus? There is a beginning to every person’s spiritual journey. Some can tell you the date and time while others are not as clear about the beginning of their intentional spiritual journey to follow Jesus -- but they know they are clearly on that journey now with God in Jesus Christ. And everyone on the journey knows something else: they may have started on their journey but there is still a long way to go and grow. There is still more to understand and know. And with the Holy Spirit’s help, there is still more for us to do in being God’s loving people in the world. That is why we take the Christian Scriptures seriously. We need to know God’s ways and to discern God’s living word – Jesus – and his kingdom mission for the world in the written word of the Bible.
Let me illustrate the beginning and the life-long growth in knowledge of God with this true story:
Josie's hearing was restored. But that restoration introduced her to a daily adventure of learning to distinguish each new sound in the hearing world. She could hear, but there was still much to learn. In a kind of similar way, as students of Jesus, we have only begun to love. As students of Jesus, we have only begun to know and to discern. As students of Jesus, we know there is so much more love for us to learn and to give.
So how do we discern God’s way or the way of love or “choose what is best,” as the Good News Bible puts it, for every situation in our lives? There is, of course, no definite rule in the Bible for every circumstance in life. But as a commentator in The Yale Anchor Bible observes, “A loving heart instinctively senses what to do.” [Reumann, J. (2008). Philippians: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (126). New Haven; London: Yale University Press.]
I have been friends with Bob for more than 40 years. He is struggling now with inoperable cancer. Bob wrote the following in his blog and titled the post “What’s Fair?”
I also pray this morning that your lives will flourish with the character qualities produced in your life by the Holy Spirit because of your loving connection with Jesus Christ. Those qualities are significant. Because the way we live our lives before God with each other and in our society matters greatly to God. The way we forgive one another and seek to restore relationships. The ways we care for each other when we are in need or brokenhearted or troubled. The ways we act justly in our society for those who are poor, treated unfairly, in trouble or regarded as outcasts. For the way we live is grounded in our love for God and for our neighbour. As disciples – as students – as followers of Jesus, we should be known for being generous, compassionate, dedicated to justice, hopeful and committed to truth.
And I also pray that your lives will flourish to the glory and praise of God.
A wise person once said:
And, my friends, what I pray for you, I also pray for myself.
May this be so for you and for me. Amen.
Rev. Chris Miller
“Retirement” Message
June 12, 2011
OYM Oriole-York Mills United Church, Toronto
I am very grateful and thankful to God this morning for God’s grace and mercy that has allowed me to come to this time in my ministry and service. I am also very grateful and thankful to God today for our mutual ministry together in this time and place. Many years ago, I asked God for a group of people I might be part of and love in the name of Jesus Christ. I believe God answered that prayer five years ago when we began this journey of mutual ministry here at OYM. For those who are visiting friends today, OYM is our affectionate name for Oriole York Mills United Church. So I am here this morning with a heart filled with joy and gladness because of our ministry together. And a heart filled with love for you because of our friendships over these years.
I also believe that any growth we have experienced of our faith in God and in caring for one another and for our neighbours is the result of God doing his good work in us as individuals and among us as Christ’s church in this place for the love of neighbours both nearby and farther away. When we become disciples or students of Jesus and cooperate with God in sharing the word of the gospel of Christ and in doing the work of the kingdom of God in showing love, mercy, hope and justice for all humanity, I believe God will continue that good work in us and through us.
Today is a celebration. We celebrate one another in many ways. Today we celebrated the children and youth in “Sunday’s Cool.” So I commend to you the work of Sunday’s Cool (our Sunday school) under the direction of Carol MacLean and her dedicated team. We will also celebrate Holy Communion -- where Jesus invites every one of us to remember his love for us and for all humanity, to remember his death on the cross in order to accomplish the final defeat of all that separates us from God’s presence. So I commend to you the ministry and service and sacrificial love of Jesus for all humanity.
Actually, every Sunday is really another time and another opportunity to celebrate the presence of God among us, to renew our response to God’s loving embrace and to recommit ourselves to our mutual ministry and service to one another, to our community and to the world. So, my friends, as your pastor for these past five years, I want to celebrate our mutual ministry as our time together comes to a natural close. I have patterned my message after Paul’s prayer for the Philippians. He says he loved those people with the love of Jesus Christ. And I hope you experienced a similar love in our times together as pastor and people of God.
I pray that your love for God and for your neighbour will flourish. May your love be overflowing – a love that does not retreat in the face of adversity but advances and becomes even stronger in endurance, character, joy, hope and with even more love.
If I had my ministry to do over, what would I do differently to allow God’s love to grow and flourish more and more within me? I would trust God more! I would trust God more! I would open my life to God’s challenging yet compassionate presence more and more so that fear of risk and failure or even success in my life and ministry -- which really is a lack of trust --would fade into the background more and more.
When we were children, we were often afraid of things that go bump in the night. By the time we were teenagers we were not usually afraid of what might live under our beds. But we may well have been afraid of what our friends would say about the way we combed our hair or how we dressed.
What do I fear now? To put it simply, I do not want to live a life that does not matter. I do not want to leave the world exactly as I found it, no different for my having been here. There are some things that can have an impact now and also eternal value and consequences in God’s eyes. Acts of justice, mercy, forgiveness, compassion and grace are merely a few mentioned over and over again in both the Old and New Testaments. If I want my life to count, to be significant, then I will try to live my life God’s way as much as possible with these attitudes and actions.
I pray that your love for God and for your neighbour will flourish – and be real! As many of you know, one of my favourite paraphrases of the Bible is The Message, which puts part of the passage from Philippians 1 this way:
“You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush.”The Good News Bible has:
“I pray that your love will keep on growing more and more, together with true knowledge and perfect judgement, so that you will be able to choose what is best.”So my prayer for you, then, is that your love for God and for your neighbour will grow and flourish with true knowledge and with discerning judgment.
How does the love of God grow or flourish with knowledge in a disciple or student of Jesus? There is a beginning to every person’s spiritual journey. Some can tell you the date and time while others are not as clear about the beginning of their intentional spiritual journey to follow Jesus -- but they know they are clearly on that journey now with God in Jesus Christ. And everyone on the journey knows something else: they may have started on their journey but there is still a long way to go and grow. There is still more to understand and know. And with the Holy Spirit’s help, there is still more for us to do in being God’s loving people in the world. That is why we take the Christian Scriptures seriously. We need to know God’s ways and to discern God’s living word – Jesus – and his kingdom mission for the world in the written word of the Bible.
Let me illustrate the beginning and the life-long growth in knowledge of God with this true story:
A little girl in England, Josie Caven, was born profoundly deaf. Growing up, she often felt isolated because of her inability to hear. But that changed after receiving a cochlear implant [in her ear]. At the age of 12, she heard clearly for the first time. The first sound she heard was the song “Jingle Bells” coming from the radio.
Was Josie's hearing restored? Yes -- completely. Was she hearing well immediately? Not exactly. Her mother said: “She is having to learn what each new sound is and what it means. She will ask, ‘Was that a door closing?’ She has realized for the first time that the light in her room hums when it is switched on. She even knows what her name sounds like now, because [at first] she could not hear the soft 'S' sound in the middle of [Josie]. Seeing her face light up as she hears everything around her is all I could have wished for,” her mother said.” [“Christmas Carols Music to the Ears of Deaf Girl,” Yorkshireposttoday.com, December 21, 2005]
Josie's hearing was restored. But that restoration introduced her to a daily adventure of learning to distinguish each new sound in the hearing world. She could hear, but there was still much to learn. In a kind of similar way, as students of Jesus, we have only begun to love. As students of Jesus, we have only begun to know and to discern. As students of Jesus, we know there is so much more love for us to learn and to give.
So how do we discern God’s way or the way of love or “choose what is best,” as the Good News Bible puts it, for every situation in our lives? There is, of course, no definite rule in the Bible for every circumstance in life. But as a commentator in The Yale Anchor Bible observes, “A loving heart instinctively senses what to do.” [Reumann, J. (2008). Philippians: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (126). New Haven; London: Yale University Press.]
I have been friends with Bob for more than 40 years. He is struggling now with inoperable cancer. Bob wrote the following in his blog and titled the post “What’s Fair?”
“A couple of times the thought has come that what I'm experiencing is ‘not fair.’ But when I analyze the thought (or take it captive to use a biblical image), what I'm really feeling is that I deserve better than this and, moreover, God owes me something better than I've been given. [This thinking] robs me of peace and joy and makes me quite dissatisfied. It amazes me [however] how quickly my thoughts will change if I return to a core belief that I have; namely, that God is good and completely trustworthy in how he treats me in life. This quickly leads me to consider a posture of thankfulness and, soon, I'm no longer thinking things aren't fair.
[He also wrote,] “On another level, though, it isn't fair. This isn't what God had planned for us and, deep within, we know or sense this somehow. Our whole world -- despite all its beauty -- is broken, sick and 'fallen.' And I, along with many who suffer, protest against the effects of sin on God's design. I look forward to the day when all will be set right and all will be ‘fair,’ if we want to use that language.”Bob is a disciple of Jesus who knows God and loves God deeply. He knows that God is good and completely trustworthy for every situation in his life.
I also pray this morning that your lives will flourish with the character qualities produced in your life by the Holy Spirit because of your loving connection with Jesus Christ. Those qualities are significant. Because the way we live our lives before God with each other and in our society matters greatly to God. The way we forgive one another and seek to restore relationships. The ways we care for each other when we are in need or brokenhearted or troubled. The ways we act justly in our society for those who are poor, treated unfairly, in trouble or regarded as outcasts. For the way we live is grounded in our love for God and for our neighbour. As disciples – as students – as followers of Jesus, we should be known for being generous, compassionate, dedicated to justice, hopeful and committed to truth.
And I also pray that your lives will flourish to the glory and praise of God.
A wise person once said:
“Preparation for old age should begin not later than one's teens. A life that is empty of purpose until 65 will not suddenly become filled on retirement.”So my prayer includes a longing that everyone here will experience a God-filled life of purpose -- an ever-maturing knowledge and experience of God, an ever-deepening life of love for God, and an ever-growing character that becomes more and more like Jesus Christ.
And, my friends, what I pray for you, I also pray for myself.
May this be so for you and for me. Amen.
Rev. Chris Miller
“Retirement” Message
June 12, 2011
OYM Oriole-York Mills United Church, Toronto
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