The Third Sunday after Epiphany, Year A Sermon Series Pt 3

Truth and Reconciliation: An Ongoing Process

Readings: Isaiah 9:1-4; Psalm 27:1, 4-9; 1 Corinthians 1:10-18; Matthew 4:12-23

I begin this sermon by acknowledging the First Nations in whose territory we live and express my thanks for this opportunity to meet here today. And once more I put before you two questions. How will you in this parish share in the ministry of truth and reconciliation? And more importantly what does it even mean?

It is no mistake that during the season of Epiphany the consistent theme is our call to discipleship. Epiphany is about the many ways in which God is revealed to us. From the revelation of God to the Magi to the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan to our own call as Christians, it is about our relationship with God. It is about how God's coming to us changes us.

God calls us as a society. Isaiah speaks to Judah, a nation in exile. They have lost their relationship with God. Here finally he gives them a message of hope. In spite of their lack of faithfulness, they will know joy in the midst of darkness. God will not abandon them. It is such good news to people who are experiencing pain and suffering. Isaiah links the coming of new light with regaining their freedom, with bringing an end to the oppression that has caused them to abandon their faith in the first place.

God calls us as Church. Paul writes to the churches in Corinth tackling the problem of their many divisions. He reminds the people that their loyalty must be to Christ and not to the particular leaders in their community. It is God who calls them. It is God who gives them their unique gifts. Their relationship needs to be with God and it needs to be a strong one that moves them past the quarrels and divisions so that they are able to be the people of God and bring transformation to their community.

And God calls each one of us as individuals. Matthew recounts the story of Jesus calling the disciples. What has gone on before is of real significance. John baptized Jesus in the river Jordan. Jesus went into the desert by himself for forty days. He was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. He refused to use his divine powers for his own ends. Now he is ready to begin his ministry in earnest. He settles in Capernaum, rather a strange choice of place. It is a harbour town, home to cutthroats and pagans, not the easiest setting in which to begin his ministry. The words of Isaiah about bringing light into darkness flood into his consciousness. Empowered by those words, he realizes that God is with him illuminating the path. He sets out to find disciples to assist with the work.

The story of the call of the disciples is really pretty simple. Jesus sees Peter and Andrew casting their nets into the sea. He must have seen them on many occasions. He invites them to follow him. "I will make you fish for people," he says. They respond immediately. James and John are also fishermen. They are helping their father mend the nets. He calls them. They leave their father and the boat and follow Jesus.

Being a disciple involves making decisions. If they were to do God's will they first had to respond to Jesus' invitation! As Christians, we too need to respond to the invitation. We need to make a conscious decision about what we will and will not do. Only then can God reach out to a society in need of transformation. So what is our response to the invitation? What will we do to bring light and healing into the lives of others?

God calls us at this time and in this place. God calls us where we are. Where is God calling this community of faith? Are we being faithful to our call? I believe with my whole heart that God is calling us at this time and in this place to a ministry of Truth and Reconciliation. First Nations People need to experience first hand what Isaiah is speaking about. They have experienced, indeed, they continue to experience, pain and suffering because of Canada’s colonial attitudes and our continuing racism and apathy to their situation. The dream that one day our nation will live up to its promises remains largely unfulfilled. Darkness continues to cover the land. They need that sense that God is with them to bring light, to increase joy, and to break the rod of the oppressor. They need to experience joy in the midst of darkness. It is in this moment that we hold out hope that light will shine in the darkness.

The mood of the passage is one of celebration and trust that God will shine into the darkness. It is one of trust in God even if events seem to be anything but joyous. Let us continue to bring light to bear on the oppression under which they have lived. Let us find ways of turning that oppression into hope and freedom. Then we will have achieved reconciliation.

But what is reconciliation anyway? How will we know when we have achieved it? It starts with doing what we are doing right now, educating ourselves about our complicity in their plight, acknowledging that we are the problem and that we need their forgiveness. When Michael Peers issued an apology on behalf of the Anglican Church of Canada in 1993, it began the process of reconciliation that continues to this day. He told the people of the shame and humiliation he felt in listening to their stories of abuse and thinking of the part that the Church played in that suffering. He confessed his failure. He did it on behalf of all of us; even those of us who did not at that time know the story. He did it knowing that it could result, as it did, in costly suits against the Church. He did it because he knew that the Church needed healing every bit as much as First Nations People. We are sorely in need of reconciliation.

In 2008 then Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued an apology. “The government recognizes that the absence of an apology has been an impediment to healing and reconciliation. Therefore, on behalf of the Government of Canada and all Canadians, I stand before you, in this Chamber so central to our life as a country, to apologize to Aboriginal peoples for Canada's role in the Indian Residential Schools system.”

And here we are almost ten years later still pondering what Truth and Reconciliation means. What more do we need to do?

The first step to reconciliation is an apology. The second step is forgiveness. That is certainly never a given. People can be so hurt by what has happened that forgiveness is the last thing on their mind. When we have hurt someone we think that forgiveness should somehow be automatic. “Of course,” we think, “if we apologize then we should be forgiven. Whatever happened to forgive and forget?” Much work needs to be done to regain trust, to assure First Nations People that the apology stands, that we are doing everything in our power to make amends. And so I believe that the ball remains in our court.

There is a story about reconciliation that I want to share with you. I am not certain where it comes from. There was a woman, a weaver, who was renowned for her beautiful tapestries and carpets. People came long distances to buy them from her. They knew that there was something unique about every piece that she did. One of her customers spoke to her about it. “It must be painstaking work,” he said. “No two carpets are alike. How do you do it? What happens when you make a mistake? You must take hours going back and fixing your mistakes?”

“No!” replied the woman. “You see! My mistakes are the reason that each piece is unique. When I make a mistake I weave it into the pattern.”

We cannot undo the mistakes of the past. We cannot forget. In fact it is important that we not forget. Reconciliation calls us is re-member the past, to weave it into the tapestry of our lives.

How do we re-member First Nations People? How do we honour them and ensure that the darkness in which they are living does not continue? It begins with our own acknowledgement of our complicity in their circumstances. It continues with our making certain that it is not forgotten, that we know our history, that our children are taught the real history of Canada and the contribution of our First Nations People. As Christians that is our call.

As our Primate, Archbishop Fred Hiltz writes in the response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, “We will continue to share in the work of healing and reconciliation, respectfully following the leadership of Indigenous communities and leaders, and to offer leadership among non-Indigenous Canadians where that is appropriate.”

“May the Creator guide us as we continue in the work of healing, justice, and right relations for the generations it will take to address that harm “and guide this country on a new and different path”. (Remembering the Children prayer, 2008)”

And to that I say, Amen!

Third Sunday after Epiphany, Year B

God Don’t Sponsor No Flops

Readings: Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Psalm 62:6-14; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20

God calls us, not once, but again and again throughout our lives. God calls us to renew our baptismal covenant, to renew our life in Christ. Sometimes we are called to choose new priorities. Sometimes we are called to leave behind the things that have been keeping us from God, things that impede our discipleship. Sometimes we are called to make changes in our lives. Often a call comes to us when we are facing crises in our lives, for those are times when change is not only necessary, but even welcome. Whatever our call, it is a call to action. What is happening right now for us as individuals, as a church, as a nation? More importantly, how will we respond? Those are good questions for us to ponder during this season of Epiphany.

I was visiting my sister many years ago. I was sitting in the living room with my then teenaged niece. We were chatting, getting caught up. My sister called her to come and help with setting the table. She ignored her mother completely and kept on talking to me as if she had heard nothing. My sister called again a little louder. Once again it was as if Deirdre had not heard a word that was said. I asked her, “Why aren’t you answering your mother?” Her reply: “She isn’t mad enough yet?” Of course, my sister did eventually really lose her cool. Then Deirdre got up and did as her mother demanded.

When God calls on us to act, it can present a very similar reaction in us. We can find many excuses. “I didn’t hear you!” “I don’t understand what you want!” “It’s too hard!” “Find someone else!” “I don’t have enough knowledge.” “You couldn’t possibly mean me!” The real reason is far more likely to be “I don’t want to” or “I’m afraid.

Consider the story of Jonah. God’s call to Jonah was a call to action. No ifs, ands, or buts! He was to go to the people of Nineveh to give them a message from God. God wanted him to tell them that he was going to overthrow them because of the evil things they had done. Jonah was their last chance. And you know! He refused. Like my niece with her mother he heard what God was saying to him. He ignored the message. God went to great lengths to move him to action. He even had him swallowed by a great fish and thrown up on the shores of Nineveh. Still Jonah was reluctant to act. Finally God got through to him. He began his walk through the streets of Nineveh. “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” he cried out to the people. And, much to Jonah’s astonishment, perhaps even disdain, they heard and believed. They changed their ways. They proclaimed a fast and everyone put on sackcloth. The whole of Nineveh’s society got involved in changing their ways. Nineveh was spared.

The Gospel is about the call of the disciples. Jesus comes to Galilee preaching a message very much like his predecessor, John, a call to repentance. Yet it is a call to far more than simply asking for and receiving forgiveness. It is a call to renewed faith and radical change.

You know the story well. As Jesus is walking by the Sea of Galilee he sees brothers, Simon and Andrew fishing. He calls out to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people."

Surely that is one of the memorable lines in Scripture, even with the change in wording. It cannot help but speak to each of us. It draws us into the story with its very simplicity. At the same time, it raises some questions. How could it possibly be that easy? How could a few simple words spoken by Jesus be heard with such clarity by these simple folk? Did it really happen that way? Had Jesus known them for a long time and built up a relationship with them? How could anyone respond so completely and so quickly to God's call? Would I have responded as Andrew and Simon did? I suspect I’d be more like Jonah in my response.

William Clare Menninger, a distinguished American psychiatrist, toured the states for years as a lecturer and consultant. Frequently people asked him for the secret of a good and happy life. He always said: "Find a mission in life and take it seriously."

It is good advice. Even more important for us as Christians, it is our call. It is our call to find the mission to which God has called us, and to take it seriously. Jesus offers us that mission. He proclaims, "The kingdom of God has come near." The kingdom with all its spiritual blessings and possibilities is here, now, in this place, at this very time. Turn back to God. Repent. Accept the Good news. Have faith. Act on it.

No matter what our worldly vocation, we are all invited to share in the redemptive dream of God for this world of ours. We are called to use our own special gifts and talents to ensure the success of the kingdom. We are called to follow, to love, to forgive, to witness, to serve, and above all to hope, to hope that our offering will make a difference.

I suspect that is the most difficult thing to overcome. We look at the task and think, 'it is just too much. There is too much to do. I can never make a difference.' When we think that way it is very easy to convince ourselves that there is no point. But if we are to live up to the hope of our calling, we must trust that we are part of the solution. We must trust that God's plan will ultimately prevail. We must trust that God will enable us to accomplish what we are called to do.

There is a wonderful story about Ethel Waters, the black actress and singer. She was performing in New York when Billy Graham was holding a crusade back in the fifties. She went one evening and slipped into the choir. Reporters found out and questioned her, "Aren't you afraid to identify yourself with something like this? You're famous. You have a reputation. This might fail." She replied, "God don't sponsor no flops."

God calls us, not once, but again and again throughout our lives, to renewed life in Christ, to choose new priorities, to leave behind the things that keep us from truly serving God. Like Jonah, God may call to us through the crises of our lives. Like the disciples, God may call us from the ordinary routines of our lives. The question remains, how will you respond to God's call? Whatever your call may be, remember that "God don't sponsor no flops!"

The Third Sunday of Epiphany, Year C

As Wise as Geese

Readings: Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a; Luke 4:14-21

There is a consistent theme running through the readings today, that of our Christian vocation. The Old Testament reading is a reminder that God calls us to hear, to understand, and to follow the law, not the law laid out by society, but the law of God. The people of Israel have returned from their long exile in Babylon. Their nation is in a shambles. Not only does the city need to be rebuilt, but the people have forgotten their ways. Law and order need to be reestablished. Nehemiah calls them together for the reading of the law. They are reminded of the things they hold in common, things that set them apart as the people of God. He tells them of their need to draw together as community. They are reminded to rejoice, for they are called back into community with one another, and that is cause for great joy.

We too need to return from exile. Society has exiled us. Our faith, at one time the foundation of western civilization, is constantly being called into question. Our sense of ethics is assaulted on every side. We seem to have lost the understanding that as Christians we are called to live in the world but to live as Christ. We are called to a vocation as Christians. It is our life’s work. That vocation should lead us to an awareness of God's law and its effect on how we live our lives. Do we live differently? If we do not, we are in danger of losing forever the moral precepts of our faith.

Who are the Nehemiah’s, the prophets of our time who are calling us back to the law? Do we need to be reminded of those things we hold in common, the things that make us a community of faith? They are a good reminder as we end the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, for it is a call, not to Anglicans, but to the whole people of God.

It is also fitting that we should be reading the passage from Paul's letter to the Corinthians, for it is a call to be community. He is writing to a community that is deeply divided. They are quarrelling about who is to be leader. They are arguing about which ministries are the most valuable to the community. Paul uses the image of the body to express their need to draw together as a community. It is a very clever illustration, and Paul milks it. We all know how the parts of our body work together. We know that we do not have to think about how to get from one spot to another. Our feet simply take us. We do not think about the complexity of vision, at least not until we need bifocals. We simply look and see. His analogy provides an ideal, a norm by which we work as society.

Christ, Paul tells them, exists as a body. The parts of the body are all the Christians. By baptism, we become a part of the body. The body becomes a reality. Nothing can prevent the baptized person from being a part. So we find in the community a diversity of race, of sex, of social class, all interrelated, all necessary to the unity of the church. That unity is the essence of Christian community.

Paul knows that the Corinthians need to work together as a community. He warns them not to dissociate themselves from the body because of their differences. It is their very individuality, their particular gift, which is needed for the church to function. So when someone says to you, “I can be a Christian without going to church!” remind them that while they may be able to function outside the church, the body of Christ is incomplete without them.

Diversity is the real strength of Anglicanism. We are a world wide communion of believers. We worship together in many different ways. What are the implications of Canadian society with its multicultural diversity? Is it an obstacle to growth? Or is it a challenge to change and grow? Who do we leave out because they do not look like us or act like us? Are we open to children and young people? Are we open and friendly to visitors? Do we invite people into our community? How do we work to bring unity into our diversity? How do we work with our Ecumenical partners?

That is the challenge of the gospel reading for today. It is a call to Christian vocation, our personal call to ministry. It calls us to follow Christ in reaching out to others. In this beginning of his earthly ministry, Jesus expresses the mission to which he has been called. Anointed by the Spirit he has been sent to preach the gospel to the poor, the disadvantaged, the exploited. It is the dawning of a new age. Scripture is fulfilled in the person of Christ.

God continues to be shown through individual lives, yours and mine. Jesus fulfilled his ministry through proclamation. He preached. He chose disciples and they preached. Reformations and crusades were launched. Revivals were born. Churches were built. Slaves were set free. Good news was proclaimed. That Christian mission is still being fulfilled in every part of the world. Sometimes the price is tragically high. But then the price for Christ was tragically high.

But the price for not following that mission is even more tragic. Is it a price that we are already paying in Canadian society? What are the signs, the epiphanies of today? If we listen to the prophets of our time, then the signs are of moral decay and an end to Christianity. The latest demographic report of our diocese points out that we are a church in decline. We are more used to closing churches than to building them.

Are we meeting the needs of society? Many who call themselves Anglicans are not even Christmas and Easter Christians. They come to church only for the services we offer. We might call them "hatch, match and dispatch" Christians. Do we know what people are searching for? Do we care? Do we want to make a difference in this place? Do we want to fulfill our vocation as the people of God?

Geese can teach us a great deal about our need to be part of the body of Christ. Perhaps you have read this in some form or other. It is not clear who wrote it or for what purpose, but geese have a sense of interdependence, which speaks some deep truths to us as Christians. When you see geese heading north for the summer or south in the fall, flying along in "V" formation, you might be interested in knowing what scientists have discovered about why they fly that way. It has been learned that as each bird flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the bird immediately following. That “V” formation adds at least 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.

Do we share a common direction and sense of community? We can look back to a glorious past and rest on our laurels, or we build on each others’ strengths and change and grow.

Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone. It quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front.

If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in formation with those who are heading in the same direction as we are.

When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back in the wing and another goose flies point, teaching us that it pays to take turns doing hard jobs.

Geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed. Do we encourage others in their lives and in their ministries?

When a goose gets sick, or is wounded by gunshot, and falls out, two geese fall out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay until the goose is either able to fly or has died, and then they fly together until they catch up with their group. If we have the sense of a goose, we will stand by each other, protect one another and sometimes make new friends who seem to be going in our direction.

We are a Christian community. We are the body of Christ. By baptism, each one of us is called to Christian service. Each one of us is important to the fulfilling of our mission as a church. Let us see the face of Christ in those around us. Let us be a community of love.