A Celebration of Mutual Ministry: My Prayer for You!

• 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:

“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

oympastor@rogers.com

OYM Oriole-York Mills United Church, Toronto

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Come and Drink! Go and Pour!

• John 7:37-44 - read this passage online here »

The text for this morning’s message is from John’s Gospel, Chapter 7, verses 37, 38 and 39:

On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and said in a loud voice: “Whoever is thirsty should come to me, and whoever believes in me should drink. As the scripture says, ‘Streams of life-giving water will pour out from [within].’” Jesus said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive. At that time, the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not been raised to glory.

Some images are quite appealing. This is one of those. Most people, I imagine, would like their hearts to be like a deep mountain spring overflowing with rivers of life-giving, thirst-quenching water. Even before we have a clear idea of what this image is referring to, we yearn for it. We yearn for it because it implies fullness and completeness to the point of overflowing. Because it implies sweet coolness and refreshment. Because it implies moisture, not dryness; growth, not decay; and life, not death.

But we will miss the point if we merely respond to Jesus as a poet who knows how to make us feel good with beautiful words and positive images. Because these very moving words refer to something real and true. These words are not meant to make us feel good because of their beauty and natural associations; they are meant to put us in touch with something hopeful – actually, Someone powerful and real. Jesus is offering to connect us with his life-giving Spirit.

Last week my wife, Marg, titled her message “Why I DO believe in God.” Here is my extension of her meditation: Jesus stands up in the middle of our feasts – our religious festivals, our church services – and cries out to us through his Spirit too, as he did 2,000 years ago, that he has come to satisfy our deepest thirsts and longings for a life of fullness, wholeness and love. Jesus has come to satisfy our deepest thirst and longing for the very presence of the life-giving, loving, living God. His invitation includes a promise: if we come to him, he satisfies our thirsty hearts. That’s the “Come and Drink” part in the message title.

Two years ago, I spoke about Jesus as one who is worth following in our time. Not only does he satisfy our own thirst but he also pours into us a deep desire and compassionate need to care for one another – to care for a hurting and broken humanity. That’s the “Go and Pour” part in the message title. As believers in the Risen Christ, we not only drink the living water of life but we also become channels of that same living water in order to bless a thirsty world.

In the midst of all the distractions and other noises around us, we, too, are invited by Jesus – “in a loud voice,” the Scripture says -- to come and drink. The invitation is universal. There are no ethnic, cultural, intellectual, gender or social qualifications for drinking at Jesus' fountain. The invitation goes out to everyone, everywhere. No one is excluded. Anyone, anywhere, has a personal invitation from Jesus himself to come to him and drink. There is, however, one condition: we have to be thirsty. An obvious condition, you would think! We are not likely to want to drink unless we are thirsty. But, we might ask, thirsty for what? What do we really desire?

I believe all people thirst. But – and this is the decisive point of the issue -- not all realize and understand that the thirst deep down within them for all that is good is ultimately a thirst for the living God. We are the only species of God's creation afflicted and blessed with chronic longing. Dolphins seem content to frolic in the sea. Cats seem content to lie in the sun. Frogs seem happily content to bump on their bellies from lily pad to lily pad. But human beings are not content. We are afflicted with chronic restlessness. Some even fight without success against an epidemic of personal boredom. Fad after fad, fashion after fashion, and challenge after challenge – all leave us still thirsty in the end. Why? I wonder if our chronic thirst is really a hidden blessing. I wonder if our thirst is one of the ways God nudges us to seek him.

But I don’t find this matter of conveying thirst easy. How do I encourage people to be aware of their thirst – and not to ignore it or seek to quench their thirst with what does not truly refresh or satisfy their thirst?

A man once talked to a minister, asking for some bullet points on Christianity to help him make sense of the dinner conversations he was having with his wife, a new believer in the faith. The man made it clear he was very busy, very successful, and he didn't really have time to study her beliefs. So, just the Christian faith in point form, please!

The minister observed it would have been easy to hand him a book or pamphlet. (That can be helpful sometimes.) But instead, he said, “I can see you are a very busy, very successful person, so I don't think this is a good idea.”

“Why not?” the man asked, frustrated at the response.

I like what the minister said next: “Because, if I were to give you the bullet points, and you were to really understand them, they have a way of working into a person's life so significantly that your life could really get messed up. You would have to rethink the meaning of success, of time, of family … of everything, really. I don't think you really want to do that, do you?”

Here was the minister’s effort to raise the man’s thirst by not giving him quick and easy answers.

Are you thirsty for the things of God? This is a simple question from your pastor who cares for your soul. Only you carry the answer in your heart.

If we are thirsty, then what does it mean to come and drink? Jesus is not with us in a visible or tangible way today. So we know he cannot be approached in the same way his followers did when he was with them in the early first century. But even in that time, our text indicates that coming to Jesus was more than simply hearing his teachings and even acting on them. (Although you and I know that coming to him includes learning what he taught and obeying him.) Coming to Jesus Christ also involves an act of the heart – that place inside us where we live with our conscience and soul. That place inside us where dreams and hopes and plans grow that affect our character and our actions and the rest of our life. Our heart is the centre not only of spiritual activity but also the centre of all the operations of our human existence.

What might this movement of the heart – this coming and drinking with our soul -- look like?

I remember the first time I travelled at night in northern Saskatchewan and saw the Aurora Borealis -- the Northern Lights. I stepped out of the car and “drank in” that awesome glow of colourful lights in the clear night sky. What do we mean when we talk about standing before a scene of beauty and drinking it in? We mean, don’t we, that we have put ourselves in a position not only to behold the beauty but also to intentionally enjoy it. In effect, we have said “Yes” to all that it is. We do not disregard or dispute or debate the beauty or call it unreal. We affirm its worth enthusiastically and with awe and we let ourselves enjoy it all – even to be affected by it because we trust its beauty for our good. In that sense, we “drink” in the scene.

I wonder: is it not something like that with Jesus? We first put ourselves in a position to behold him as clearly as we can. One way we do this is through the words of Scripture -- when we read the Bible ourselves. When we hear God’s Word proclaimed in a sermon. When we sing God’s Word in a hymn. When we see God’s Word in action in someone’s life. Earlier in John, Chapter 6, verse 63, Jesus said,

“What gives life is God’s Spirit; human power is of no use at all. The words I have spoken to you bring God’s life-giving Spirit.”

We meet the life-giving Jesus in his words. And when he calls us to come and drink the living water from him, we respond – or not -- to his words. When we read his words with thoughtfulness and love in response, we say “Yes” to all that it is. We affirm the worth of the One – Jesus – who spoke. We give ourselves to Jesus Christ unreservedly and open ourselves to be affected by him because we trust him and his words for our good. We rest in the confidence that here is truth that will not leave us empty!

In one edition of the devotional booklet Our Daily Bread, the writer put it this way:

“Lord, I crawled across the bareness to you with my empty cup, uncertain in asking for any small drop of refreshment. If only I had known you better, I'd have come running with a bucket.”

What Jesus means by drinking is the same thing he means by believing or trusting. After he says, “Come to me and drink,” in verse 37, he immediately says, “Whoever believes in me.” So the essence of drinking in the words of Jesus is trusting him -- banking on him and on what he says with our very life. And the reverse is true too. The essence of believing in Jesus is finding in him the satisfaction of our deepest soul-thirst. Drinking is believing; believing is also drinking.

But the passage in John says more.

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his [or her] heart shall flow rivers of living water.’”

What does Jesus mean? The promise is not only that we will be satisfied but that we will be satisfying to other people. Jesus promises not only that our cup will be full but also that it will be overflowing for the good of others. In drinking from Jesus, we become not merely a receptacle that receives but, at the urging of his Spirit who fills us within, we will become a spring or a fountain that gives out. Jesus promises that if we drink him into our hearts, he will flow out from us through the Holy Spirit with rivers of living water for others who are thirsty too. I find that remarkably humbling and challenging!

I have discovered that I am blessed when I drink the refreshing and thirst-quenching words of Jesus. I am also most blessed – and most satisfied – when my experience aligns with the Scripture from the Book of Acts, chapter 20, verse 35, which says: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” There is a wonderful sense of blessing that happens because of giving to others. I have also discovered that the overflow of my heart for the good of others is an essential part of my contentment. My deepest soul-thirst is not simply to be a receptacle but also to be a river – to be a channel of blessing for others.

When we drink of the water Jesus gives, we are also drinking the water of the Holy Spirit – the water of eternal life in God. The Holy Spirit is the unseen yet all-pervasive presence of the living God in the lives of those who believe in him, love him and obey him [John 14]. When Jesus shouts out his invitation to anyone who wants to have the water of life bubbling inside them and flowing out to the world around, Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit as that water of life. Jesus is promising, for anyone who believes in him, that the Holy Spirit, God’s refreshing personal presence, will come to live within. Do you sense God’s Holy Spirit within your heart and soul?

A minister friend calls the Holy Spirit “the gracious and quiet Helper.” He writes about how the Holy Spirit is with us and quietly helps us in the following ways:

• in the sincere concern of a friend for our health,
• in those who take a stand against injustice,
• in the grace of folk who go the second mile,
• in the inner resources we discover in times of crisis,
• in those who dare to go against the tide of popular opinion.

The Holy Spirit is with us and quietly helps us

• in the grace that enables us to admit when we are wrong,
• in the resilience of people who fight for the rights of others,
• in those who surrender some of their rights for the larger good,
• in times when we share the Gospel despite our inadequacy,
• in taking on responsibilities that we once thought beyond us.

The Holy Spirit is with us and quietly helps us

• in refusing to let the greed of society take over our soul,
• in giving thanks always, even through the hard times of life,
• in rising above past failures and putting past hurts behind us,
• in finding a central core of peace in the midst of turmoil,
• in daring to laugh in situations where some would curse.

The Holy Spirit is with us and quietly helps us

• in knowing ourselves to be children of God,
• in knowing ourselves loved [by God], even when we have been very unlovable.

This Holy Spirit is real, life-giving and personal. The Holy Spirit is the unseen presence of God, of the resurrected and ascended Jesus, with us and within us. And John wants us to understand that the coming of the Holy Spirit to the Church happened after Jesus was “glorified.” A strange word to us, perhaps. But it refers, first, to Jesus’ crucifixion -- his moment of true glory. For only through Jesus’ death on the cross for the sins of the world can we be forgiven and our human hearts be made clean and fit for the Holy Spirit to live in as Jesus promised. And only then can the Holy Spirit fill us to overflowing in the way God longs to do for our own blessing and for us to be a blessing for others whom God also loves so dearly. Jesus being glorified also carries the meaning of his ascension to be with his Father. It was only when Jesus went to be with his Father that the Holy Spirit came to live within those who believe and love God.

A few years ago, a teacher asked her fourth-grade students to name the person they considered the greatest person alive in the world today. Their responses were varied and interesting.

One boy said, “I think it’s Joe Montana because he led the 49ers to all those Super Bowl wins.” A girl said, “The President.” And another girl named Oprah. On and on it went with the students mentioning a wide variety of celebrities.

But then it was Donnie's turn. Without hesitation Donnie said, “I think it's Jesus Christ because He loves everybody and is always ready to help them.”

The teacher smiled and said: “Well, I certainly like your answer, Donnie, because I'm a Christian too and I also admire Jesus very much. But there's one slight problem. I said the greatest living person and, of course, Jesus lived and died almost two thousand years ago. Do you have another name in mind?”

I love Donnie’s simple, innocent, confident, wide-eyed response. He said, “Oh, no, Mrs. Thompson, that's not right at all. Jesus Christ is alive! He lives in me right now!”

That's the good news of our faith! That’s the truth of our message! Jesus is alive! The living God is with us right now in the person of the Holy Spirit, working from the inside out and giving us the true water of life that truly satisfies us and flows through us like rivers of living water. Through the life-giving presence of the Holy Spirit, the Risen Christ does quench the thirsty hearts of those who come to him, believe in him and drink. And through the life-producing presence of the Holy Spirit, the Risen Christ makes his people a channel of blessing as we go and pour out our lives in love for the world God so loves.

May this blessing of the life-giving, thirst-quenching water of the Holy Spirit’s presence be so for you and for me. Amen.

Rev. Chris Miller
May 22, 2011

oympastor@rogers.com

OYM Oriole-York Mills United Church, Toronto

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Why I DO Believe in God!

Life Is a Long-Distance Run: “Run Your Race With Endurance”

• Psalm 19 - read this passage online here »
• Philippians 2:5-11 - read this passage online here »

An increasing number of books, articles, interviews and statements from people eager to say they do not believe in God prompted me to set down (briefly) four reasons why I do believe in God!

First, I believe in God when I look at creation.
Every morning I turn up a page on my computer from NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. I look at the Astronomy Picture of the Day and try to understand the astronomer’s explanation! The vastness of the still-expanding universe boggles my mind! So too the magnificent grandeur and microscopic complexity of the Earth. Geological formations, lavish vegetation of beauty and flavour, animal life and human beings. The observable order and delicate balance that make life possible. The human body – and DNA, all three billion “letters” of the human genetic code. It seems obvious and logical that the universe cannot have evolved by random chance without a Designer and Maker. However God did this, there has to be an intelligent Designer. There has to be a powerful Maker of the heavens and the Earth who initiated the Big Bang science points to, who created dependable natural laws allowing for scientific investigation and conclusions, who planned things to work with intricate precision. As minister and author Robert Morgan wrote, “We’re not accidental blobs of dying chemicals mysteriously evolving from primordial sludge without purpose or meaning.” Even Antony Flew, a world-renowned philosopher and atheist whom people of my generation studied and discussed, came to that conclusion. For years he relished publicly debunking the existence of God. But eventually he “followed the evidence” honestly and came to believe there has to be a God who designed and created the universe. In 2007 he wrote the book There Is a God with the publisher’s subtitle How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind.

Looking at the world of nature helped author Philip Yancey change his perception of God. The strikingly beautiful desert wildflowers, the vibrantly colourful tropical fish and some of the comical creatures God created corrected his misconception of God as a “frowning Supercop.” “I began to see God as a whimsical artist,” he writes. I, too, smile with delight and awe at God’s creation. The animals show God’s love of diversity and fun. There are animals that are beautiful and odd, great and small, agile and lum-ber-ing, serene and frenetic! Some have fantastically long necks or long noses or long beaks or long tongues or long legs (or lots of legs)! But these beautiful and odd amazing creatures are all suited to contribute to and enjoy the Earth by God’s creative power and genius! They give evidence, Yancey says, that “The heart of the universe is a smile not a frown!”

So I believe in God for the same reason King David said in Psalm 19: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” And so does the extraordinary beauty and complexity of the Earth. All give clear, convincing evidence of a great and good Creator. And everyone on Earth can know this. Romans 1:19-20 states: “What may be known about God is plain to [people], because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.”

Second, I believe in God from studying the Bible.
After reading the Bible for many years and reflecting on what it says, I find it filled with realism and the ring of truth. Theologian John Stott writes: “Scripture is equally the Word of God and the words of human beings. Better, it is the Word of God through the words of human beings.” And that is how Jesus regarded Scripture.

Ancient historian Paul Maier at Western Michigan University says the Bible is unique among the books of all other religions because of its “solid historical base.” Its 66 books were written by more than 40 authors over 1,600 years, yet it has amazing unity. And when the Bible is examined like any other ancient historical document, the majority of scholars regard it as reliable and reporting the truth. Besides, the Bible is a historical record of God interacting with real people at specified times and places. So its documented events can be investigated. And over the past 100 years or so, much has been verified by archaeology. This gives me confidence in what the Bible states about God, about humanity and about Jesus. So I believe in the God who reveals himself in the Old and New Testaments as awesomely great and powerful, totally holy and good, amazingly gracious and compassionate, wonderfully loving and forgiving because there is convincing historical evidence that what the Bible states is true.

I have also found, again like King David in Psalm 19, that reading the Scripture every day “refreshes the soul,” “makes wise [or “wiser” at least!] the simple,” “gives joy to the heart,” “gives light to the eyes”! And God’s word, David said, is “sure,” “true,” “righteous,” “more precious than gold,” “sweeter than honey.”

So I believe in God from studying the Bible. And I find the Bible relevant to all situations of my life – the good, the bad and the ugly. Like Asaph, author of Psalm 73. There was a time in his life when he seemed to face a new problem every morning – “punishment” from God, he mistakenly thought at first. He says he almost lost his faith. But although he was confused, full of doubt and even bitter, he kept talking to God and listening for God. The psalm does not say God solved all his problems, but Asaph came to revel in his discovery that the God who created the universe and spoke through the Scripture was “near” him. He said: “As for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Lord God my refuge.” I have too – and have sensed God near me and holding me in some difficult times.

Third, I believe in God after considering who Jesus is.
In 2010 we had a wall calendar called Bible Tails (t-a-i-l-s). It’s about things in the Bible from the animals’ perspectives! The cartoons made me smile or laugh out loud! But one made me sad. June showed a mother fish out for a swim with her seven little ones. Suddenly, one youngster looks up and shouts: “MOM! That man is walking on water!” Mom’s response? “That’s nice, dear.”

For many people today, Jesus is a nice man to be admired but no one to be really excited about. But the Jesus I read about in the Bible and believe in is someone to be very excited about. And I have to consider seriously how I respond to him. Like everyone else, I must answer the question Jesus asked his disciples: “Who do you say I am?”

C. S. Lewis suggested three alternatives. He said Jesus is either the Lord, or he was a liar or he was a lunatic. Jesus, a liar? when his teaching and life give evidence of such genuine integrity? Jesus, a lunatic? Yet listen to some of the astonishing claims Jesus made about himself:

• Jesus said he existed before Abraham and before the world was created.
• He said no one has seen God except him.
• Jesus said he is the only way to God.
• He said “the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms” all speak of him.
• Jesus said, “I am the light of the world!”
• Jesus said he has “all authority” in Heaven and on Earth.
• He said whoever has seen him has seen God for he and God are one. (And people then understood his meaning. They replied, “You, though only a human being, are making yourself God!”)
• Jesus told people to honour him as they honour God, and he let people worship him.
• He said whoever believes in him believes in God and whoever rejects him rejects God.
• Jesus rose from the dead with flesh and bones, demonstrating this by eating broiled fish and inviting people to touch him.
• He included himself in the Triune revelation of God, telling his followers to baptize people of all nations “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
• Jesus said he will raise people from the dead to new life forever with God.
• And Jesus said he will come again in all his greatness and he will judge the whole world, deciding everyone’s eternal destiny – he said his judgment will be right and fair.

That is some of what Jesus said about himself! Bono, of the rock music group U2, understood the implications. He said either Jesus is who he said he is or Jesus was “a complete nutcase.” So, was Jesus seriously delusional? Or was Jesus a fraud? Or is Jesus the Lord God revealing himself in human form? This is what the worldwide Church and most biblical scholars still teach about Jesus: Jesus did say these things about himself and Jesus is God seen in human form! As Philippians 2 states, Jesus is “in very nature God” before whom “every knee [will] bow” one day.

So I believe in God because Jesus did. And I stand in awe of who Jesus is because I believe the ancient eyewitness documents of Jesus’ life that are regarded as truthful and accurate by most scholars. And I believe in Jesus’ bodily resurrection from the dead because the evidence is so convincing – even for some authors who originally set out to disprove his physical resurrection!

The universal hope for life after death could be regarded as only a sentimental hope were it not for Jesus’ resurrection. The reality is, Jesus’ resurrection gives humanity our only substantiated hope for life after death in real, recognizable, transformed bodies. To religious sceptics 2,000 years ago, Jesus clearly stated there is real resurrection life for us [Matthew 22:23-33, Mark 12:18-27, Luke 20:27-38]! And when Lazarus died, Jesus said to Martha [John 11:1-44]: “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live even though they die … Do you believe this?” I join Martha saying, “Yes, Lord, I believe!”

Fourth, I believe in God because I am experiencing God!
Having a relationship with God was not something I expected. For years, I believed my standing before God had changed when I accepted Jesus’ death on the cross for my sin: I was forgiven! But I did not seek a more personal relationship with God because I did not think more was possible. Then about 13 years ago, I became starving hungry and thirsty to know God better. And about 10 years ago, I was surprised to begin enjoying God in very personal ways! I have experienced Jesus’ promises [John 14:15-27, Revelation 3:20]: to reveal himself to us personally, to be with us as our helper through the Holy Spirit and even to be our friend when we invite him, believe in him, love him and obey what he says (in the Scripture). William Barclay wrote: “God’s voice comes to those who listen for it.” And Our Daily Bread: “God speaks to those who take time to listen.” Most often I hear God’s voice in the Bible – in helpful timely Scripture passages and in amazing converging passages. But God’s voice comes to me in other ways too. And I record it all in my journal. So I believe in God because God keeps convincing me he exists!

Do I ever have doubts? Sure! Author and minister Frederick Buechner says: “Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep [faith] awake and moving.” How? When a doubt catches me off guard, I don’t want to wallow in doubt; instead, I rethink the evidence, and my faith is refreshed. I DO believe in God (1) because the heavens and the Earth need a Designer and Maker, (2) because the Bible has proved reliable historically and personally, (3) because what Jesus said about himself and about God and what the eyewitnesses wrote about him all ring true and (4) because I am experiencing a relationship with God. So what does this mean for my life?

I have a few books by Alister McGrath, former professor at Oxford University, now chair of theology, religion and culture at King’s College, London. McGrath also has a background in molecular biology and has debated well-known atheists about the existence of God. One of his books is entitled What Was God Doing on the Cross? What was God doing on the Cross? It leaves me absolutely stunned that God the Creator loves humanity so much God himself in Jesus died on the cross to forgive our sins! And in Isaiah 43:25, God says he forgives us “for [his] own sake”! Astounding!

So I do believe in God and I also love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. Not merely because this is “the first and greatest commandment,” as Jesus said [Matthew 22: 34-40, Mark 12:28-34], but because the better I get to know God the more I want to love God with my whole being!

With all the loud talk these days from people who are eager to say they do not believe in God, do we give much intentional thought to God and to why we do believe in God? If God does exist, we need to seek the truth about God because the truth about God matters. If God does exist, God is too important to virtually ignore in our daily lives, or treat casually or take for granted. If God does exist, we need to respect God seriously, listen to God carefully and respond to God wholeheartedly, with reverent and joyful faith and worship. And If God does exist and did reveal himself in Jesus, what more could Almighty God have done to show how much he loves us?

And us? How much do we love God?

Margaret Miller,
May 15, 2011

oympastor@rogers.com

OYM Oriole-York Mills United Church, Toronto

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Life Is a Long-Distance Run: “Run Your Race With Endurance”

Life Is a Long-Distance Run: “Run Your Race With Endurance”

• Hebrews 11:1-6, 12:1-3 - read this passage online here »

What does it mean to run the race of our lives with endurance, with determination, with perseverance? Here is one way:

Two frogs fell into a can of cream,
Or so I’ve heard it told.
The sides of the can were shiny and steep,
The cream was deep and cold.
“Oh, what’s the use?” croaked number one.
“’Tis fate, no help’s around.
Goodbye, my friend! Goodbye, sad world!”
And weeping still, he drowned.
But number two, of sterner stuff,
Dog-paddled in surprise.
The while he wiped his creamy face,
And dried his creamy eyes.
“I’ll swim awhile at least,” he said,
Or so I’ve heard he said;
“It really wouldn’t help the world,
If one more frog were dead.”
An hour or two he kicked and swam,
Not once he stopped to mutter,
But kicked and kicked and swam and kicked,
Then -- hopped out -- via butter!

And we also have to know, it was only by perseverance that the snails reached Noah’s ark!

It is baseball season again. Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista seems on track for another remarkable year of hitting home runs – nine in the month of April. And when he comes to the plate, his determination is obvious. In a previous generation, Babe Ruth was called the Sultan of Swat. He too knew about perseverance and determination in playing baseball. To achieve his lifetime total of 714 home runs he also struck out 1,330 times! But he just kept on swinging!

Thomas Edison gave some wise thoughts regarding failure and perseverance. It is said the famous inventor made thousands of trials before he got his celebrated electric light to operate. One day, a workman to whom he had given a task said, “Mr. Edison, it cannot be done.” To which Edison responded, “How often have you tried?” The man replied, “About two thousand times.” Edison said, “Go back and try two thousand times more. You have only found there are two thousand ways in which it cannot be done.”

The author of the book of Hebrews wrote about “the race that lies before us.” We each have a course stretched out ahead of us in life. And for each of us the course is unique. For some, life is a relatively straight run but, for others, life is all twists and turns and hurdles. For still others, their course in life seems all uphill. For some, the course may be long; for others it may be shorter. But we all must run our own courses -- I cannot run your course and you cannot run mine.


So how will each of us run the race of our life? Does it go without saying that we will take God seriously in our life’s race? Well, we live in a society where we know the answer is no. Some do but many don’t take God seriously at all. Did you catch the statement in the Scripture reading this morning: “Whoever comes to God must have faith that God exists and rewards those who seek him”? Or as The Cotton Patch version of Hebrews 11 puts it:

“Anyone who is serious about the God-life must stake everything on the fact that God is, and that [God] amply rewards those who make him their quest.”

The Message Bible has it:

“Anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that [God] exists and that [God] cares enough to respond to those who seek him.”

It is one thing to believe God exists; it may be quite another to stake our lives on the fact God cares enough for us personally that he rewards us or responds in some way to those who take him seriously enough to come to him in worship.

What happens when we encounter deep ruts or fallen trees across our path? What happens when our life gets ripped apart by an unexpected tornado – literally or in a manner of speaking? What happens when we are tempted to call it quits? How will we run the race of our life then?

We could trust ourselves to self-help approaches. “I think I can! I think I can!” said The Little Engine That Could as it pulled its heavy load up the long steep hill in the well-known children’s story. We could continue to kick and kick and swim and swim and maybe succeed. We could even keep on swinging and swinging our bats. Or we could trust ourselves to God – who exists and who rewards or responds in some way to those who come to him.

We can run our race in life, with its twists and turns and hurdles, with determination and endurance when we run the race of our life with trust in Jesus Christ. Let’s hear again the Scripture from Hebrews Chapter 12, verses 1 to 3:

“… let us run with determination [with perseverance] the race that lies before us. Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for him, he thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross, and he is now seated at the right side of God’s throne. Think of what he went through; how he put up with so much hatred from sinners! So do not let yourselves become discouraged and give up.”

In 1940, Clarence Jordan founded Koinonia Farm in Americus, Georgia, as a haven for racial unity and co-operation. Jordan was the translator of The Cotton Patch version of the Letter to the Hebrews that I quoted earlier. He was also a primary influence for the founding of Habitat for Humanity. In 1954, the Ku Klux Klan burned every building on Koinonia Farm’s property except Jordan's home.

In the midst of the raid, Jordan recognized the voice of a local newspaper reporter. The next day, the reporter showed up for a story about the arson while the rubble was still smoldering. He found Jordan in a field planting seeds. He said to Jordan, “I heard the awful news of your tragedy last night, and I came out to do a story on the closing of your farm.”

Jordan kept planting and hoeing. The reporter continued prodding him with questions but with no response from Jordan. Finally, the reporter said: “You've got two PhDs, you've put 14 years into this farm and now there's nothing left. Just how successful do you think you've been?”

With that statement, Jordan stopped hoeing. He said to the reporter: “You just don't get it, do you? You don't understand us Christians. What we are about is not success, but faithfulness.”

To be faithful to God in our lives means running with perseverance -- with endurance – because we are always wanting to connect with Jesus. That is what we consistently say in our weekly bulletin and on our website. To be faithful means enduring even the worst life throws at us. To persevere includes staying the course and starting all over again as Clarence Jordan did -- if that is what it takes.

Let me tell you another story – about Bill Broadhurst. In 1981 Broadhurst entered the Pepsi Challenge 10,000-metre race in Omaha, Nebraska. In 1971 he had had surgery for an aneurysm in his brain that left him paralyzed on his left side. But, 10 years later, Broadhurst stood with 1,200 agile men and women waiting for the race to begin.

The starting gun sounded! The runners surged forward. Broadhurst threw his stiff left leg forward, pivoting on it as his foot hit the ground. His slow plop – plop -- plop rhythm seemed to mock him as the rest of the runners raced ahead into the distance. Sweat rolled down his face, pain pierced his ankle, but he kept going. Some of the runners completed the race in about 30 minutes but it took Broadhurst almost three hours before he reached the finish line. From the small group of remaining bystanders, a man stepped out and approached the exhausted runner. Bill Broadhurst recognized the man as marathon record holder Bill Rodgers, who had won medals in both the Boston and New York City marathons. Rodgers then did something remarkable. He took his newly won medal and draped it around Bill Broadhurst’s neck. Why? Because Broadhurst finished the race, and his finish, though he finished last, was as glorious as that of the world’s greatest! Why? Because he ran with perseverance. His determination was deliberate and steady and he refused to be distracted from his intended goal. No obstacle could deter this determination nor could any discouragement take his hope away. Nothing was going to make him quit!

It is quite within the reach of every one of us to live with persevering patience – even if it feels as if we are struggling to put one heavy foot in front of the other until we reach the finish line. The race in life is not for sprinters who flame out after 100 metres or 200 or 400 metres. It is for faithful plodders like you and me. Fast or slow, strong or weak -- all of us can persevere and finish well.

Only one focus can make consistent endurance possible. You won’t be surprised when I tell you the focus is Jesus -- our Good Shepherd. The Message Bible puts the first few verses of Hebrews Chapter 12 this way:

“Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed -- that exhilarating finish in and with God -- he could put up with anything along the way: [the] Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honour, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility [Jesus] plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!”

To say the Church exists to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, we certainly must take seriously this Scripture in Hebrews: “Keep your eyes on Jesus,” we are told. In fact, this is the central theme of the book of Hebrews. Throughout Hebrews, we hear the theme stated in various ways: “But we see Jesus …” (Chapter 2, verse 9). “Fix your thoughts on Jesus ...” (Chapter 3, verse 1). “Since we have a great high priest [Jesus] … let us then approach [God’s] throne of grace with confidence” (Chapter 4, verses 14 and 16). It is always heartening to remember the witness of others who have gone ahead of us for they can inspire us, encourage us and bring us hope by their example. But, above them all and above all else, we are being challenged to fix our attention on Jesus Christ, for he can do for us what no one else can.

Jesus Christ can inspire faith in us. He can bring us to a faithful finish in this life and bring us into God’s presence both now and at the end of our lives. In fact, that was Jesus’ greatest joy! To be with his Father -- and to make it possible for us to be there too! That’s why he endured the Cross and its shame – whatever it took to finish well and do God’s will. And since his resurrection from the dead, Jesus is now waiting for us to be in his resurrected presence when we reach the finish line of our life’s race. But in the meantime, through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is also with his people daily – every hour, every minute, every second as we open ourselves to him. He is with us to strengthen our faith in the midst of life – “to shoot adrenaline into our souls,” as The Message Bible puts it. So when we find ourselves flagging in our faith, we must go over Jesus’ story again and again – line by line, event by event – even the long hard times of hostility he went through. Yes, we do look at other men and women of faith for inspiration and encouragement but then, or perhaps even first, we look higher -- to Jesus Christ.

That’s why the Church around the world has always taken the Bible seriously, as we try to do here at OYM. That’s why we encourage each other to read the Bible. It is through placing ourselves in God’s presence as we read and listen to the Scripture that we can experience the love of God, the grace of Jesus and the companionship of the Holy Spirit. And we can also experience God’s gracious love by coming together -- worshipping God and sharing our lives together, praying for and caring for one another.

The Olympic Games have always captured the imagination of people around the globe. Athletes train hard and long and with passionate determination to achieve their hopes and dreams. If they were not passionate, they would have great difficulty persevering as they do. There is a lesson the Olympics can teach us in our long-distance run in life. Mark Boswell, a Canadian 2008 Olympic high jumper, expressed his passion and perseverance this way:

“Be serious.”
“Be focused.”
“Go hard.”

Remember the Marathon of Hope Terry Fox ran in 1980? His goal was to run a marathon – 26 miles – every day as he crossed Canada. He certainly was serious. He clearly was focused on his goal to raise money for cancer research. And he ran hard every day. He showed determination, perseverance and endurance as he ran across the country. And although he wasn’t the fastest or the smoothest runner, and although he didn’t make it to the West Coast, who would not say that Terry finished his race well and reached his goal, accomplishing even more than he had planned or ever knew in the end.

Leslie Scrivener, at that time a journalist with the Toronto Star, covered the Terry Fox Marathon of Hope. At the time of his death she wrote:

Terry was uncommonly blessed with hope. He refused to be humbled by the disease burgeoning inside him. Even if cancer did claim him, Terry believed he was still a winner. There was no other way he could look at his life. In 22 years, he had contributed more – materially and spiritually – than many who live to a gentle old age. Terry wouldn’t want us to weep for him; he’d want us to hear his message and be uplifted.

Then she quoted Terry Fox:

“I don’t care what percentages the doctor tells me I have. If God is true, I know I’ve got 100 per cent, if that’s what He has in His plans for me. And if I really believe and if God is really there, then I’m not going to lose even if I die, because it’s supposed to be the Pearly Gates I’m going through, and if heaven is there, I can’t lose out!”

So how can you and I run the race of our life and finish well?

We can “be serious” about our relationship with God.
We can “be focused” on Jesus Christ.
And we can “go hard” and, with determination, persevere faithfully no matter the hardships we face in this life.

For we know that, with God, we cannot lose out in the end!

God wants us to finish this race of life and finish it well. So let us run faithfully and with perseverance the race that is stretching out before us -- however long and however successful or however arduous it may be. Let us keep our eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. And let us, as well, think of the joy that is waiting for us too! When we do, that will shoot adrenaline into our souls!

May this be so for you and for me. Amen.

Rev. Chris Miller,
May 1, 2011

oympastor@rogers.com

OYM Oriole-York Mills United Church, Toronto

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Being Christian: Jesus Calls, We Follow

“Jesus Has Been Raised, So We Follow”

• Matthew 28:1-20 - read this passage online here »

“Gracious Lord Jesus, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit so that we can hear what you want to say to us today.”

What if the four Gospel writers had made it very clear that, when Jesus died on Good Friday, he had stayed dead! What if Matthew, Mark, Luke and John had written that, when Jesus’ body was taken down off the cross and put in the tomb, his body had stayed in the tomb -- or that his body went the way of most of the bodies of those who were crucified. You see, their bodies were usually dumped into a pit and left to rot – or to be eaten by dogs. What if the male disciples did not finally wonder about what the female followers of Jesus kept insisting – that they had found the tomb empty when they went to honour Jesus’ body with proper burial spices. (Although I don’t know how they expected to do that when Jesus’ body was sealed securely in a tomb behind a very heavy stone.) What if the disciples did not go to see for themselves what the women told them they saw -- or didn’t see! It would have made things a lot easier for us who follow Jesus in today’s sceptical climate. It would be easier for us to say with some degree of certainty that what Jesus taught -- his teachings -- were all that really mattered. It would be easier for us to say that his philosophy of life was what was of supreme importance because, like all noteworthy ideas, they have stood the test of time. Most people do agree they are good teachings – perhaps even extraordinary. Most agree they are good moral teachings – perhaps even exceptional. Most agree they are ethical teachings – perhaps even outstanding – that are meant to help us become the best people we can be.

But we are in a predicament this morning. We are in a predicament because we cannot be certain that what the women reported they saw and experienced on the third day after Jesus died did not in fact happen as they said! And we cannot be certain that what the men saw and experienced after they finally listened to the women did not in fact happen as they said! A predicament is a difficult and perplexing situation to be in. One dictionary even calls such a situation “embarrassing.” You see, those women followers of Jesus and those 11 disciples came to believe Jesus did not stay dead! They came to believe, in fact, he was raised from the dead just as he had told them several times. Because he appeared to them very much alive and recognizable as the Jesus they had followed merely days earlier. He appeared to them and they worshipped him. Though some had their doubts about whether this really was Jesus or not. And who wouldn’t? At least at first!

It certainly would be easier for Christians in today’s pluralistic society if we could be absolutely clear that Jesus’ body stayed dead. But we can’t be that confident. It certainly would be easier for us because then we could focus all that we mean about the Christian life and the Church on what Jesus taught. We could focus on what Jesus taught rather than on Jesus’ resurrection. We could focus on what Jesus taught rather than on the Risen Jesus Christ being with us and in us and in his Church and in the entire world today through his Holy Spirit.

It is a fact that no one talks about the Buddha’s risen presence -- only his teachings. No one talks about Muhammad’s risen life -- only the writing of the Qur’an. No one talks about Moses’ risen life -- only the teachings of the Torah. No one talks about the Apostle Paul’s risen life – only what he taught in his letters in the New Testament. No one talks about Confucius’ or Aristotle’s or Plato’s or Descartes’ or Augustine’s or Rousseau’s or Socrates’ risen lives -- only their prominent teachings. But we, as the Church and followers of Jesus today, do talk about the resurrected life of Jesus Christ -- not merely his teachings. Of course, the Christian faith does include the rich and remarkable teachings of Jesus. We readily admit that. In fact, they are foundational for the understanding of our faith. But the Christian faith is much more than Jesus’ teachings. The Christian faith is centred on the living God who has come to all humanity in Jesus of Nazareth -- as our United Church’s creed so openly states. The Christian faith is not a mere superb philosophy to live by. The Christian faith is a living relationship with a living God who lives in his believing people – in his believing Church -- through his Holy Spirit.

When Matthew 28 was read, did you catch that intriguing phrase toward the end of the passage? I was taken by Matthew’s honesty to include such a statement because it adds to our predicament this morning. When I read it, I was also impressed that Jesus did not correct or attack the attitude. He seemed to let it be part of the record as if it could be a normal experience for his followers. Did you hear the statement in verse 17: “When they saw him, they worshipped him, even though some of them doubted.” Some had their doubts! After all, people rising from the dead is not the usual experience – either then or now.

We who worship today also have our doubts at times. And even Jesus’ very first worshippers had some doubts about him. I appreciate the way theologian Dale Bruner commented on this passage that he called “Doubting worshippers” [Frederick Dale Bruner, Matthew: A Commentary. Volume 2: The Churchbook Matthew 13-28, Revised and Expanded Edition. Eerdmans, 2004, p. 810]:

“By reporting doubt and worship in the same sentence, Matthew tells his church that the structure of the Christian faith and life is bipolar: disciples live their lives between worship and doubt ... or mixed with worship and doubt. Just as Jesus in the wilderness lived between the ... Holy Spirit and the Unholy Spirit (4:1), so Christians live their discipleship in a war between the spirit of worship and the spirit of doubt. Christians are both believers and doubters, adoring and wondering, trusting and questioning ...

“All disciples experience this bipolarity; and it is not healthy to deny it.”

How did Jesus handle his disciples who doubted? He did two things. First, he drew near to them all. We might think he would shake his finger and say “Don’t doubt me – here I am!” But he didn’t. He came close to them to reassure them. He came alongside them because he knew they would need his loving presence and his power with them. So Jesus also promised to draw near to us as well through the Holy Spirit as he did with the believers in the Early Church. Second, Jesus spoke to his disciples directly and gave them a definite command that the Church has called its Great Commission. It remains the Church’s commission to this day. We heard it earlier in the Bible reading; now, here it is again:

“Jesus drew near [to them] and said, ‘I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. [That is significant for us to know.] Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.’[This is also important for us to know as well.]”

Jesus was teaching his disciples to meet their doubt head-on by obeying his mission command – to go and develop learners for him, to baptize them and teach them to obey everything he commanded them. Jesus was saying that the way to know God is to obey the will of God. The famous missionary doctor Albert Schweitzer who founded his Lambarene hospital at Gabon, Africa, in the early part of the past century knew the meaning of obedience when he declared: “Follow him and you will know him.”

So what are the significant take-away messages for us about the resurrection of Jesus Christ today?

• Our attendance at this service of worship -- and at any worship service -- only makes real sense because Jesus rose from the dead and is here with us and in us as he promised through the Holy Spirit. Why else would we be here?
• Reciting the New Creed of the United Church only makes real sense because the crucified and risen Jesus we proclaim in the creed is here with us and in us – to be our hope in life, in death and in life beyond death. Why else would we say it?
• Taking part in Holy Communion only makes real sense because, once again, we are remembering and giving thanks that Jesus Christ gave his life for us. His body was actually broken and his blood actually flowed from his broken body for our suffering and for the forgiveness of our sins. So we take the bread and the wine not because we are worthy in any sense but because we accept Jesus’ invitation in faith to know him and be nourished and sustained in our journey of faith with him.
• Even though we may have times of doubt and hesitation, listening to the message of the Resurrected Jesus Christ and responding in obedience to his message, as Albert Schweitzer indicated, is the way to handle our doubt.

And is that not also the way to handle our predicament this morning? If we follow the Risen Jesus we have been told is alive and here, we will come to know him. Our theme this Lenten and Easter season is simple really: Being a Christian means when Jesus calls, we follow. It is the same today as it was 2,000 years ago. The first followers of Jesus -- the eyewitnesses -- saw an empty tomb. But that wasn’t all they saw. They also saw a living, breathing Jesus Christ who was supposed to have stayed dead -- but he didn’t! He was raised from the dead, as he himself said would happen. The first followers of Jesus – the eyewitnesses -- saw Jesus in a body they recognized. And he ate with them and talked with them. He was not a disembodied ghost or spirit.

But we live in 2011 and not in AD 33 or so when Jesus’ resurrection occurred. I can only tell you that faith comes by hearing this message about the Risen Jesus and following him as a result. But following him is not automatic. It is a gift God offers us -- a gift called grace. And it is an intentional choice we make. So no one, no minister -- not me for sure -- can really convince anyone to follow. All I -- or you -- can do is witness to God’s grace and hope and love and healing and forgiveness in our own lives. That’s what those first followers did. They witnessed to God’s presence with them and God’s call in their lives. And they were eager to go and tell their world to follow Jesus too because it is through Jesus that people find the abundant life they are looking for in this life and also resurrection life in the life to come – for that is also what Jesus said people will find in him.

A woman once approached a pastor and asked, “So what happened with Jesus after the Resurrection?”

“Well, he ascended into heaven and he's still alive,” the pastor said.

“I know he was resurrected, but he's alive?” she asked.

“Yes, he's alive.”

“Alive? ALIVE?! Why didn't you tell me?!”

Rev. Mark Aitchison is a friend who is the senior minister at Islington United Church in the west end of our city. Mark posted on his Facebook page the following statement:

“The greatest man in history, named Jesus, had no servants, yet they called him Master. He had no degree, yet they called him Teacher. He had no medicines, yet they called him Healer. He had no army, yet kings feared him. He won no military battles, yet he conquered the world. He committed no crime, yet they crucified him.... He was buried in a tomb, yet he lives today!”

My friends, Jesus Christ is risen indeed! When you hear his call, do not be afraid to follow.

Jesus Christ is alive and here for you and for me. Amen.

Rev. Chris Miller,
Easter, April 24, 2011

oympastor@rogers.com

OYM Oriole-York Mills United Church, Toronto

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Being Christian: Jesus Calls, We Follow “Some Follow, Some Don’t”

• John 9:1-41 - read this passage online here »

On Saturday evening, I often watch a television program called Behind the Story. The host will usually have three guests who talk with him about what they think is behind the news stories of the week. There is usually an underlying story behind each story. How true that is for the story of the man born blind in John Chapter 9! If we had read Chapter 8, we would have heard Jesus clearly state [verse 12]:

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

While John – in Chapter 9 -- wanted us to sample Jesus’ ability to restore sight to a man who was congenitally blind, John also hoped we would see the dawning of spiritual light in the blind man who was healed and also the dawning of Jesus’ light in all those who would read or hear his Gospel and be open to believe. That we would see what the man eventually saw – that Jesus is the life-giving light for the world.

Now that particular insight of faith took time to develop in the man born blind. At first, he considered Jesus merely a man who used mud to heal his eyes (verse 11). Then after he had some time to think about what his healing meant, he called Jesus a prophet (verse 17). Then, as the authorities continued to question and push him about the identity of Jesus, he told them he believed that “unless this man came from God, he would not be able to do a thing [to heal my eyes]” (verse 33). Finally, he confessed his belief that Jesus was the Son of Man. In a short time, he had come to believe Jesus was more than a mere man – Jesus spoke and acted in miraculous ways with God’s authority. He now believed Jesus was Lord. And he worshipped him!

In writing his Gospel, not only did John hope everyone would see Jesus as the life-giving light for the world, John also revealed to his readers toward the end of his book -- in Chapter 20:30, 31 [GNT] -- the real story behind all the stories he told in his Gospel (including the man born blind):

“In his disciples’ presence Jesus performed many other miracles which are not written down in this book. But these [miracles] have been written in order that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through your faith in him you may have life [eternal life with God].”

One thing that intrigued me about this story of the man born blind was the confusion among those who knew him as a neighbour and those who had seen him begging when he was blind. 

“Is this the same man? Sure looks like him, doesn’t it? But it can’t be him, can it? How could it be – he was born blind?”

There was also the conflict between the healed man and the religious leaders who had to accept the reality that the man could see – that he had been healed. But they did not want to accept Jesus as the one whom the man said had healed him.

“Say it was God who healed you. Don’t say it was this man Jesus. He’s not from God!”

As well, there was the intimidation the man’s parents felt at the hands of the religious leaders. They were afraid to admit what they really knew or how they really felt about “the man called Jesus” who healed their son because they might be expelled from their place of worship. That would be difficult to accept because all their friends went there. What would they do? Where would they go?

Some elements in the story sound very like articles and stories we might find in our national church magazine, The United Church Observer, asking Who is Jesus? Was he merely a human mentor, a teacher with fine teachings? Or is he truly the Messiah, the Son of God who did perform signs and miracles as the New Testament Gospels and letters record? The story of the man born blind and his healing by Jesus revealed questions and conflict and eventually the call for personal decision in the face of opposition or rejection.

Our basic theme this Lent is “Being a Christian means that, when Jesus calls us, we follow.” But the reality is that, when Jesus calls, some follow and some do not. In his Gospel, John reminds us that what we know happens among people in the 21st century is not all that different than what happened with people during the first century when Jesus physically lived among human beings. Some followed. And some did not.

Why do some people not follow Jesus?

For instance, do some people deliberately disbelieve what they hear or see? Some of the blind man’s neighbours and those who had seen him begging on the street for money were so surprised they didn’t know what to believe at first. They wondered if this man who could see was really the same man who was formerly blind. He said he was! And if they wanted further confirmation, they could have asked his parents and they would have clearly identified him as their son. But most of the real questioning and disbelief came from the religious leaders who were already having clashes with Jesus before this incident. We know this because the man’s parents were very careful not to talk about any possibility of Jesus being the one involved in their blind son being able to see because they already knew they would be thrown out of the synagogue. Then the conversation between the man and the religious authorities also revealed how differently they viewed Jesus. They saw Jesus as a sinner because he did not observe their Sabbath law – therefore, he could not have healed the man despite the evidence standing before them. Interestingly, the man born blind had not yet seen Jesus but he had a different viewpoint and answered honestly:

“I do not know if he is a sinner or not. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I see.”

At the end of this incident, some of these religious leaders overheard Jesus saying:

“I came into the world to bring everything into the clear light of day, making all the distinctions clear, so that those who have never seen will see, and those who have made a great pretense of seeing will be exposed as blind.”

These leaders then asked: “Does that mean you are calling us blind?” [The Message Bible]

In The Magician's Nephew [Collier Books, pp.125-26], a novel from the Chronicles of Narnia series, author C. S. Lewis gives us careful insight into the meaning of spiritual blindness. The land of Narnia was created when Aslan -- the Lion who represented Jesus – sang it into being. That creation song revealed Aslan's majesty and glory. We could call it a grand “call to worship!” But there was one person – Uncle Andrew in the novel -- who refused to hear the song. And the consequences were staggering. Lewis writes:

When the great moment came and the Beast [Aslan] spoke, he [Uncle Andrew] missed the whole point for a rather interesting reason. When the Lion had first begun singing, long ago when it was still quite dark, he had realized that the noise was a song. And he had disliked the song very much. It made him think and feel things he did not want to think and feel.

Then, when the sun rose and he saw that the singer was a lion (“only a lion,” as he said to himself), he tried his hardest to make himself believe that it wasn't singing and never had been singing -- only roaring as any lion might in a zoo in our own world. “Of course it can't really have been singing,” he thought. “I must have imagined it. I've been letting my nerves get out of order. Who ever heard of a lion singing?” And the longer and more beautifully the Lion sang, the harder Uncle Andrew tried to make himself believe that he could hear nothing but roaring.

Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed. Uncle Andrew did. He soon did hear nothing but roaring in Aslan's song. Soon he couldn't have heard anything else even if he had wanted to. And when at last the Lion spoke and said, “Narnia awake,” he didn't hear any words: he heard only a snarl. And when the Beasts spoke in answer, he heard only barkings, growlings, bayings and howlings.

Like Uncle Andrew in the novel and some of the religious leaders in John 9, there are also some today who dislike what they see and hear in Jesus – in his life and in his teachings. So they refuse to acknowledge what Jesus clearly said. They turn away from the light in Jesus. They claim they see what is good but then deliberately reject the author of all goodness. I don’t really understand that. But in Matthew 6:23, Jesus said: “If the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”

Why do some people follow Jesus?

The story of the man born blind and then healed tells us one significant reason. The man is one among many people – countless men and women over the centuries – whose personal lives have been touched or healed or made well or who have experienced deep forgiveness or reconciliation or hope or joy or peace because of what Jesus Christ has done for them and in them through the Holy Spirit. Sometimes Jesus does heal people physically. Why that doesn’t happen more often, I don’t know. But I do know Jesus heals people in many different ways.

In the April 2011 issue of the magazine Christianity Today is an article [p. 42] titled “God of the Schizophrenic.” David Weiss, an ordinary individual like you and me, writes about how he rediscovered his faith amid the ravages of mental illness and the expensive electroconvulsive therapy (electric shocks) and the drug treatments he endured. This is how he concludes the article:

“Though my illness persists, I have finally met the God I had heard about but never truly experienced [before]. A God who heals. A God who loves. A God I cannot logically explain to my psychiatrist. A God who manifests his genius by salvaging good from the evil in our lives. Someone unlike me. Someone unlike the well-meaning inquisitors who judged me and sought spiritually to cure me. Someone I never would have discovered without my affliction. 

“A God who calls himself Emmanuel – God with us.”

Some follow Jesus because they do see that God has truly come to us in Jesus. In fact, that is what the United Church New Creed confesses: “We believe in God … who has come in Jesus.”

In the latest issue of our church magazine, there are a number of letters to the editor written in response to an article in February’s issue titled “Sacred, yes, but is it church?” That article outlined several United Church clergy and congregations whose spiritual journey is more about what they call “sacredness” than about any sense of believing in God who has come in Jesus. It is illuminating and encouraging that many readers had great difficulty with the article. Here is a sampling of what they wrote:

“These post-theistic congregations have turned their places of worship into little more than coffee-houses for self-centered conversations. They have not only thrown out the baby with the bathwater; they are now worshipping the tub.”

“I am uncomfortable with the concept of a church that has God ‘taking a back seat’ to spiritual questing and community development. God is the subject of my spiritual quest, and my community is a community of Christian worship. At my yoga studio, I experience a sense of the spiritual and of community, but it is not a church.”

“In my 84 years, I have never doubted that fact that God is. Many times I have had the assurance of God’s love and care during my life’s journey. I know that my redeemer lives!”

“So let’s say I order a ham and cheese sandwich but say, ‘Leave out the ham.’ Is it still a ham and cheese sandwich? Let’s say I call myself a Christian but say, ‘Leave out the Christ.’ Am I still a Christian?”

And a final letter:

“Neither spirituality nor sacredness defines the church. So what is it? The answer can be found in Connie denBock’s column in the same issue: “Without Jesus, there’s not much to justify church.”

My friends, in this season of Lent, we have the opportunity to look truthfully within ourselves, to approach God with repentance and gratitude and to draw closer to and follow Jesus Christ. As I conclude this message, let us renew our hope in God as we anticipate the joy of Easter by confessing together that “We are not alone, we live in God’s world.”

Please turn to page 918 in Voices United and stand as you are able.

We are not alone,
  we live in God's world.

We believe in God:
  who has created and is creating,
  who has come in Jesus,
  the Word made flesh,
  to reconcile and make new,
  who works in us and others
  by the Spirit.

We trust in God.

We are called to be the Church:
  to celebrate God's presence,
  to live with respect in Creation,
  to love and serve others,
  to seek justice and resist evil,
  to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
  our judge and our hope.
  In life, in death, in life beyond death,
  God is with us.
  We are not alone.
  Thanks be to God.

May this confession be so for you and for me.

Rev. Chris Miller,
Lent 2, March 27, 2011

oympastor@rogers.com

OYM Oriole-York Mills United Church, Toronto

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Being Christian: Jesus Calls, We Follow “Too Close for Comfort – or Not?”

• John 4:1-42 - read this passage online here »
• Exodus 17:1-7 - read this passage online here »

If you are like most people, I suspect you are careful who you let into your personal space and how close they may get to you. Whether we recognize it or not, we each have our own personal space that surrounds us like an invisible bubble. It grows larger or smaller depending upon who we are with and the circumstances at the moment. If the other person is someone who is not a friend or someone we don’t know very well, their presence could become too close for our comfort. So we don’t let them get too close to us – even physically. Those who measure such things suggest we do not let them closer than four feet or so. But if he or she is someone we really like or even love, then the personal space between us may be small or even non-existent. The same is true of our psychological and spiritual spaces as well. Consciously or unconsciously, we are careful whom we allow to come closer to us at different stages in our lives. It depends on who they are – are they strangers? or adversaries? or friends? Do we like them or do we love them? Do we trust them? And do the circumstances of our lives welcome them to come close to us? Will they be helpful to us? What will happen if we let them come closer into our personal space?

We heard again this morning, in the Gospel of John, Chapter 4, the story of Jesus and his conversation with the Samaritan woman. I know she was not given a name but I’d like to give her one because she was a person with character and personality. Let’s call her “Samantha” from Samaria – or “Sam” for short. The relationship between Jesus and Sam focused on each of them opening the entrance to their personal spaces to include the other. As they did so, both moved closer to each other. As I ponder their conversation with each other, I see three movements within their personal spaces.

The first movement occurred in their public or social space. Sam did not know at that time who Jesus was but she did recognize immediately that he was a Jew. She was really taken aback that he would talk with her – first, because she was a woman and, second, because she was a Samaritan. As The Message Bible puts it: “Jews in those days would not be caught dead talking to Samaritans.” There was strong racial prejudice on both sides. But Jesus took the first step in moving a little closer into her personal space. He was tired and thirsty and so was vulnerable with her. “Please, give me a drink of water,” he said. He simply wanted a drink. Jesus was not impolite or demanding or demeaning. So while Sam may have been suspicious of Jesus, she was not afraid to talk with him. She did not run away or back away from him, and she did not cower before him.

The first movement between Jesus and Sam from Samaria was all about water. It was a strange conversation. After they went back and forth for a bit with Jesus asking for water and Sam being surprised that he would talk with her, Jesus said:

“If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living [life-giving] water.”

How do you respond to that! At first, Sam thought Jesus was somehow referring to water from the well and asked how he would give her this water without a bucket. Then Jesus answered:

“Everyone who drinks this water [in the well] will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst -- not ever. The water I give will be like a spring from within, gushing fountains of [eternal] life.”

Sam’s interest was piqued and she asked Jesus for this water. If he could really give her such thirst-quenching water, she would never be thirsty and never have to make the trek back and forth to this well again and again. With this request, she opened up to Jesus a bit more and allowed Jesus a little closer into her personal space. She realized his water was not ordinary but did not yet understand in what way Jesus’ water was out of the ordinary.

Think back to our Call to Worship:

Like a peaceful stream running through the desert ...
God's Spirit brings life.
Like a powerful waterfall dropping into a deep pool ...
Christ's Spirit pulls us along.
Like a cool, clear cup of water ...
The Spirit refreshes our lives.
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
Here and now, renew our spirits.
Come, Holy Spirit, Come!
Make us vessels
for your presence,
for Christ's presence,
for God's presence
in the world.
Come, Holy Spirit! Come!

What Sam would eventually come to realize is that the living water Jesus offers is the all-important, life-giving presence of the Holy Spirit. We know this because of what Jesus later said in John 7:37-40 [NLT] on the last great day of the Feast of Tabernacles:

Jesus was quite emphatic when he stood up in the crowd and said in a loud voice: “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from [the believer’s] heart.’”

And the Apostle John identified this “living water” with the Holy Spirit who, after the resurrected Jesus returned to heaven, would be given to everyone who believes in Jesus. So the believer is the one who is promised and who receives this “living water” – the Holy Spirit – to experience the life-giving presence of Jesus. The believer is also the one who is the vessel – the channel – for this life-giving presence of God, this life-giving presence of Christ through the life-giving presence of the Holy Spirit to be a blessing for his and her world.

The second movement of the interaction between Jesus and Sam of Samaria was Jesus’ personal advance into her private space – Sam’s private, personal life. As soon as she asked for the thirst-quenching living water, the conversation turned to her personal life. And Jesus let her know he knew all about her – “everything I had ever done,” she told the people of her town later on in the passage. When Jesus moved into her private, personal life, something significant happened between them. He let her move further into his personal life. Now Jesus didn’t do that with everyone he met -- even with those who, on other occasions, said they believed in him. That’s because he knew what was really going in their hearts [see John 2:25]. They considered Jesus “a nine-day wonder,” as William Barclay put it. They only responded to him because he did some miracles. Jesus possessed a keen sense of human nature and knew these people would leave him once the miracles stopped. But he also knew there were others, like Sam, to whom he could entrust himself. In other words, he let people like Sam, who truly believed, into his personal space. He knew their hearts.

Although Jesus knew everything about Sam’s life, it intrigues me he did not say anything about sin or sinfulness with respect to her life. There was no word of condemnation from Jesus against her at all. He simply asked her to call her husband. When she said she had no husband, he said to her she was being truthful because, he told her, she had been married to five men and the man she was living with currently was not her husband.

Sam’s life was quite tragic but not necessarily scandalous. She very easily could have been widowed or, more likely, divorced and abandoned -- in those days pretty much the same thing -- by five men for any old reason they wanted to give. And wouldn’t five such experiences be heartbreaking and demeaning and a reason for local gossip?

According to Sam, what was life-changing for her was that Jesus knew all about her life. Jesus saw her plight and her isolation – there were no other women who came to the well in the hot mid-day sun to draw water. What Jesus saw did not cause him to condemn her. Instead, he moved into her personal private space with respect. She knew he knew all about her and yet, for perhaps the first time in her life, she found someone who believed she had worth and value and significance. So when Jesus spoke of her past both knowingly and compassionately, she realized she was in the presence of someone exceptional -- a prophet, maybe. And because she realized Jesus knew her, she was open to know him.

So we observe the third movement of the relationship between Jesus and Sam from Samaria. She now trusted Jesus enough, even though he was a Jew, to let him move even further into her personal space. She risked talking to Jesus about one of the central questions that had divided Samaritans and Jews for centuries. Samaritans said one thing about worshipping God while Jews said another. She asked a serious and intelligent question, and Jesus gave a serious answer. As one commentator said: “This is no awkward dodge or academic diversion; this is a heartfelt question that gets to the core of what separates her from Jesus.”

What did Jesus tell her? In essence, he said to worship God as God wanted had everything to do with the Holy Spirit. To worship God as God desired had everything to do with truth. And Sam, like us, would discover that this truth was embodied in Jesus himself. He told his followers on another occasion, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Worship then has everything to do with a relationship with God, with Jesus, through the Holy Spirit.

When Jesus told Sam about the meaning of true worship, that led her to speak about the Messiah who was to come. One thing she knew was that, when the Messiah came, he would tell them (Samaritans and Jews alike) everything they needed to know about worshipping God. Jesus then did something he did not do with anyone else in John’s Gospel: he let Sam deep into his personal space by revealing to her that he – Jesus – was the Messiah she expected. “I am he, I who am talking with you,” Jesus said to her. That was startling for Sam. And with the arrival of the disciples at that moment, she went back to the town and told the people there: “Come and see the man who told me everything I have ever done. Could he be the Messiah?”

When Sam let Jesus into her personal space, Jesus also let her into his personal space. She began to see and believe who Jesus is, even if she framed it as a question for the people to consider. Her witness was startling or convincing enough for the townspeople that they wanted to discover for themselves if Jesus really could be the Messiah – the one they had been expecting for so long. Sam may not have known it then, but God’s Holy Spirit was using her as a channel to share God’s life-giving message of love for the people of her town.

The primary theme for our journey through Lent is that being a Christian means that, when Jesus calls us, we follow him. For the woman of Samaria, that meant letting Jesus into her personal space and allowing him to move closer to her. It also meant that Jesus invited her to move ever closer to him. When this movement – actually, this relationship -- was developing with Jesus, it was more than helpful for the woman from Samaria. Her new relationship with Jesus transformed her life! She was filled with new dignity and hope and value.

Who do you let into your most private and personal spaces? Certainly someone you trust. Certainly someone you love or who loves you. Certainly someone who is there to build you up, not tear you down. Today, we live in an intriguing religious and spiritual climate. It is not always clear, even in the church, that Jesus today is someone whom we can invite into our most personal and private spaces.

The Christian faith is not a philosophy or ideology. The Christian faith is not “our” type of morality or “our” social ethic. The Christian faith is the amazing “good news” that truth and beauty and goodness are found in the person of Jesus. Like Sam, we too can find our true humanity as we connect with Jesus Christ. And like Sam, we too can experience our true dignity and worth as we continually open up our personal and private spaces to Jesus. For he has already opened his personal space of love and grace to us -- on the cross.

May this be so for you and for me.

Rev. Chris Miller,
Lent 2, March 27, 2011

oympastor@rogers.com

OYM Oriole-York Mills United Church, Toronto

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