The Second Sunday after Epiphany, Year A

Come and See

Readings: Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 40:1-11; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9; John 1:29-42

Invitations come in many shapes and sizes. They may come in the mail, or by email. They may come by telephone or by word of mouth. They even come on street corners, or in unexpected ways. Some are personal, almost intimate. That first date kind of invitation! Whatever the form, invitations always ask the same question, “Why don’t you come and see?”

“Come and see,” is almost the first thing that Jesus says in John’s gospel. He says it to two of John’s disciples. They had gone out into the desert to see John the Baptist, to hear him preach, to be baptised by him. He had announced the Messiah to them. “Look! The lamb of God!” he had said of Jesus.

And so they went looking for Jesus. “What are you looking for?” Jesus asked them.

“Where are you staying?” was their response.

And then the relationship really begins. For that is when Jesus issues the invitation. “Come and see!” Isn’t that a wonderful way to begin a relationship? With an invitation? Isn’t that the way a truly good relationship unfolds? “Leave behind whatever you have to leave behind,” Jesus is saying. There is always something that needs to be abandoned. “Come, leave your nets and boat,” Jesus said to James and John. “Leave your counting table and ledgers,” he said to the tax collector, Matthew. “Leave everything you have and follow me,” he said to a young wealthy man. “Leave your past. Leave your home, your friends, your enemies, and come and follow me. Come and see what lies ahead.”

Why do we come? What are we seeking? What are we willing to leave behind? ‘Come and see’ is an invitation that is offered to each of us over and over in our lives. Come and see what lies ahead. Leave your work, leave school, leave retirement. Leave your old self behind, because the fact is, you cannot take any of it with you. What’s more, you probably won’t need it when you get to where you are going. Abandon your accustomed world of IPhones, computers and coffee cups.

“Come and see” invites us into an alternative world, a place we have never been. And after all, you cannot have one foot in Leamington and the other in some far away, exotic South Sea Island. You cannot begin the journey without leaving. That is why “come and see” is such an amazing invitation.

I consider the times that I have accepted that invitation to come and see. As a young teacher it took me up to James Bay where I taught for Indian Affairs in a Residential School. What a journey that was! I look back on that first experience of teaching and realize that God was in it, preparing me for a lifetime of listening and responding to God’s call. I had so many new experiences. I got a wider perspective of the diversity of our country. I was able to use my gifts and talents as I responded in faith.

But it was not an easy place to be. It was a lonely experience for a teenager away from home for the first time. I often went weeks at a time without hearing from family or friends. I was teaching children who were lonely, far away from their homes, grieving their loss of language and culture. Later on as we began to hear of the abuses of the residential school system and the history of our First Nations People began to be told, it became a source of great pain to me that I had been a part of that abuse. That too, led to a new invitation to come and see. During the Truth and Reconciliation process I became an Ambassador for the Anglican Church of Canada. I learned so much in that process about the history of our First Nations People, about all that they suffered. I began to do workshops and to do what I could to right the wrongs of the past. I was able through listening to their stories to find a place of reconciliation for myself.

My call to ordained ministry was certainly a call to come and see. I left behind many facets of my life – my teaching, a good salary, music, my home down on the lake in Etobicoke. I took up the uncertainty of becoming a student once again. There was even the uncertainty of whether or not I would ever be ordained. It is a long and involved process of discernment. I knew that it was not just something that I thought should happen, that I wanted to do. It was something that needed to be discerned by the wider church. But I had a sense of trust that whatever God was calling me to come and see was a part of the journey that I needed to experience. Indeed, perhaps the most important thing I learned was to be the best Ann I could be.

We need to learn and discern about out call. Yet there is another, perhaps even more important aspect to the invitation. It is an invitation that we as Christians need to offer to others. Jesus says ‘come and see’ through us. A simple invitation can be life changing. Come and see … That invitation can come in so many ways. It might be in a letter, or a look, or a simple act of unselfish love. When we invite others to faith, we invite them to encounter Christ, to join us on our faith journey.

“Come and see the Lord,” we are saying. “He will show us new ways of loving. He will show us new ways of living. He will give us a new identity as a Christian. He will show us the way to God. Come and see …”

How have you influenced others to become Christ-like? Have you extended them acts of love? Have you invited them to join you at church? Have you offered to pick them up and bring them to church? Have you invited them to stay for coffee and meet others in the congregation? Have you shared your own faith journey?

The story begins as it did for the disciples who wanted to meet Jesus. “Come and see,” Jesus said to them. And they followed him.

This whole congregation needs to be alert to the needs of those who come to see, those who are seeking Christ. That is our job as Christians. Is this a welcoming community of faith? Have you made an honest assessment of how welcoming you are? Our churches can be so inaccessible to people. There are many barriers to overcome. I was speaking to someone some time ago and I invited her to come to church with me. She told me she wouldn’t know what to wear. What keeps people from coming here?

What about once someone enters an Anglican church? How user friendly is our service? First of all there are the acronyms that we use so freely. The BAS, the BCP, PWRDF, the ACW. It must be very confusing for someone who comes to church for the first time. Then we flip pages. And as if that is not enough we have not one, but two books to handle. Are you attentive to those who are visiting or who are checking the church out? Do you make sure they know their way around the service?

What about where you sit? Do you always sit in the same seat? What if you happen to come in and someone is sitting in your place? What do you do? A little story about one of the churches that I served in. It was a tiny church in a village that was growing rapidly. The church also was experiencing great growth, especially young families with children. A long-time member of the church came in, looked around, and then searched me out. “There are people sitting in my pew,” she said to me. I turned to the sidespeople and asked them to find her a place to sit. I continued to get ready for the service. When I entered the church, I was flabbergasted to see that she was sitting in her pew by herself, while the family were on chairs at the back. That is a pretty extreme example, but does it happen here? What if you were to sit in different places just to get to know other parishioners? Would it give you a new perspective?

How do you make coffee hour more welcoming to newcomers? There is an excitement in this congregation as you chat with one another. It is wonderful. There is no doubt that it is a friendly place. But that can be intimidating to someone new. It can feel like a club. I challenge you to talk to someone each week that you have never spoken to before.

God uses us, each one of us, to communicate the faith. Every day of our lives, that welcoming message needs to come across loud and clear. “Come and see! Come and see where God is leading you. Come and see what wonderful things God has in store for your life. Come and see Jesus. Come and get to know him. Come and see…”

The Third Sunday after Epiphany, Year B

Fish Stories

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

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 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 my niece 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. Only then did my niece get up and do as her mother demanded.

Confronted with calls for action from God, we can find all sorts of excuses. “I didn’t hear you!” “I don’t understand what you want!” “It’s too hard!” “Find someone else!” “ I’m not the right person for the job.” “You couldn’t possibly mean me!” All along, the real reason is more likely to be “I don’t want to” or “ I will never help that person” or perhaps to give the benefit of the doubt, “I’m afraid of what you are asking me to do”.

Consider the story of Jonah. And to do so we need to look at the whole story, not just the part that is assigned as the Old Testament reading for this Sunday. Jonah was a prophet – not a very good one as it turns out – but a prophet nonetheless. God called him to action. He was to go to the people of Nineveh to give them a message from God. It is important to understand that as far as Jonah was concerned, Nineveh was the archenemy. It was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, a brutal occupying force, the destroyer of Israel. In his estimation it was unreasonable that God would ask him to do anything for the people of Nineveh. Yet here was God wanting to send him to tell them that he was going to overthrow them because of the evil things they had done. He was being sent to give them a chance. As far as Jonah is concerned it would be just fine if they fell off the face of the earth. It would be an end to the problem. 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. In fact, he ran in the other direction as fast as he could.

Fortunately for Nineveh, God did not give up. God went to great lengths to move Jonah to action, to allow him to answer God’s call. A huge storm arises and threatens to sink the ship that Jonah is on. The crew casts lots to see who might be responsible for the storm. Jonah confesses that he is actually running away from God. The only way to save the ship, he tells them, is to toss him overboard. As the situation becomes even more hopeless, they finally do exactly that. They throw him into the sea. The sea immediately quiets down.

But God is not done with Jonah. He has him swallowed by a great fish and thrown up on the shores of Nineveh. Still Jonah is reluctant to act. He sulks for a time, but when he sees that it is doing no good, he begrudgingly does what God has asked of him. He begins his walk through the streets of Nineveh. “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” he cries out to the people. And, much to Jonah’s astonishment, perhaps even disdain, they hear and believe. They repent. They change their ways. They proclaim a fast and everyone puts on sackcloth. The whole of Nineveh’s society gets involved in changing their ways. God spares the people.

It is not just the people of Nineveh who are called to repentance in this story. Jonah also needs to repent. There is no doubt about it. He is being racist. The Book of Jonah was a prophetic word to its time. It challenged the nationalism that limited God’s love to one people. It is a prophetic word to our time as well. In our day and age, we need to ask what Nineveh’s we are called to minister to. It is a challenge to those who would define God’s grace by their parochial boundaries. It is a challenging message to the modern day Church in which Ecumenism seems all but dead. This is the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Do we understand that “one church, one faith, one Lord” does not mean “my church, my faith, my Lord”? What a tragedy it is that we cannot eat at the same table? What a tragedy that we allow differing traditions to stand in the way of unity! How do we work together to hasten the kingdom of God?

It is a challenge during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity for us to put aside denominational boundaries. But it is an even greater challenge in the multicultural, multifaith world in which we find ourselves to put aside our racist attitudes and embrace all of God’s people. What transformed ways of being together do we seek?

Perhaps the answer lies in a different fish story, the one we hear in today’s Gospel. Jesus calls the disciples to leave their nets, follow him, and begin their ministry of fishing for people. It is amazing how immediate the response it. It seems unreal. And yet on reflection, I can see how it could happen. Some people are just sitting on the edge of life waiting for the call to something worthwhile. If the right person comes along with the right call they are up and away. They have been secretly longing for it. Life has prepared them for it. They did not choose it. It chose them.

I think sometimes when we see what is going on in the world we would just like to get off. That is what Jonah wanted to do. “Stop the world’ I want to get off!” he is saying to God. “I want to hide out and ignore every terrible thing that is going on!” That is what we are like when we hearken back to what we consider to be better times, times when churches were full; Sunday Schools were burgeoning with children. Or when we latch onto the latest fanatical movement! Jesus, in calling us to be fishers of people does not make it comfortable or easy for us. He does not give us permission to opt out of society. Rather he calls us to follow, to serve and to accept the consequences. I have found in my own life that to do so results in a sense of security that cannot be eradicated by tragic events.

God calls us, not once, but again and again throughout our lives, to renewed life in Christ. It is a call to choose new priorities, to leave behind the things that impede our discipleship, to find new ways of serving God and humanity. Like Jonah, God calls to us through the crises of our lives. God may even call us to seek out the Nineveh’s of our world, the last place or the last person on earth that we feel called to serve.

The truth about following the call of God is that we cannot let our fears and insecurities about what might happen hold us back. We need to discern that it is indeed God calling us. We need to discern what it is that God is calling us to do. We need to bring it to God in prayer. If it rings true, then the way forward, the way to respond, will emerge. We can be sure that we are all called – called to repentance, called to transformation, called to be the people of God, called to be witnesses to the love of God in Christ Jesus – called to be. Amen.

St. Matthew the Apostle (Patronal Festival)

St. Matthew the Apostle
September 21, 2014

Responding to God’s Call

Readings: Proverbs 3:1-6; Psalm 119:33-40; 2 Timothy 3:144-17; Matthew 9:9-13

Today we celebrate our Patronal Festival, the Feast Day of St. Matthew for whom this parish is named. What we know of him comes from Scripture, from the Gospel according to Matthew, which is ascribed to him. The Gospel message today is one of inclusion and of living faithfully in response to God's call. Both are wonderful themes as we celebrate our Patronal Festival. They are also powerful reminders of the promises of our Baptism as we bring four people into the Body of Christ.

As Jesus was walking along, we are told, he saw a man called Matthew sitting in the tax booth. Jesus issued an invitation to him. "Follow me," he said, and the amazing thing was that Matthew got up from his work, immediately got up from what he was doing, and followed Jesus. He did not ask where they were going. He simply got up from his work and became a disciple of Jesus. Had he been waiting for that invitation? Had he witnessed the works of Jesus and the disciples? The simple fact of leaving what he was doing and following Jesus should amaze us, but there is more to the story. Matthew was a tax collector. Tax collectors were despised by the Jews so much so that they were disbarred from even walking in the door of the synagogue. They were considered unclean by Jewish law. You see, Jewish tax collectors worked for the Romans collecting Roman taxes. They made a healthy commission for their work and were the wealthiest people in town. We believe we are taxed heavily, but at least we receive the benefit of social services, whereas in Palestine the money went straight into the coffers of Imperial Rome. And the taxes were punitive. First and foremost, there was a Land tax, which would have provided the bulk of taxes gathered. It was linked to the amount of produce grown on a piece of farmland. In cities and towns it was replaced by a house tax. Secondly there was a head tax levied on males, and finally there was a Customs tax, which was likely what Matthew was collecting. These were collected on goods passing through city gates, and at ports on goods and produce coming ashore.

And yet incredible as it seems Jesus called Matthew, a tax collector, a social outcast, to become one of the twelve. Not only did he call him to be a disciple, he went to his home for a meal.

When we think of the word “call” our immediate response is likely that it refers to the call to ordained ministry, the call to be a priest or a deacon in the church. We do speak of our priestly vocation as a calling. But 'call' can also be translated 'invite'. Perhaps the most astounding fact of all history is the call of Christ, the invitation of Christ, to all of us sinful people to follow him. It is not an invitation to casual acquaintance or weekly worship. It is not an offer of help when we are in trouble. It is a call to follow, to love and to serve. It is an invitation issued to each one of us. It is an invitation that we celebrate today. As sponsors take on the responsibility for these three children, as Caitlin as an adult seeking Baptism takes on her Christian responsibility, as we renew the promises of our baptism, we are responding to the invitation of Christ.
So what does it all mean? What is baptism all about? Baptism is a radical moment in the lives of each of us. For by baptism, we share in the same relationship and mission that God had with Jesus. Baptism is a gift and a calling. It initiates the work of God and Christ in and through us. It commissions and empowers us for ministry. It is, if you will, our ordination as the people of God.

For most of us though, it does not seem to be a very radical occurrence. If you are a “cradle” Anglican, that is you have been an Anglican all of your life, it is highly unlikely that you even remember anything about your baptism. Your parents likely brought you for baptism as an infant. Your experience is probably rather like mine. I was baptised on the afternoon of May 24th in the little church in Byng. I was a little over a month old. My parents, Godparents, a few assorted relatives and my older siblings gathered around the font. I wore the family gown, as did my older siblings and seven generations of Smith’s before me. My father, an Anglican priest, sprinkled me with water. He had immersed my brother David, but was forbidden by my mother to ever again do that to one of her children. They named me Ann Martha. Then they had a family party. It does not seem very significant in the whole scale of things. There were no voices from heaven. There were no claps of thunder, although being the 24th of May there may have been fireworks. And yet my understanding is that something very significant happened that has sustained me my whole life. It made the death and resurrection of Christ applicable to my life. It identified me as Christ’s own. It is the most important event in my Christian life.

The first baby I baptised was when I was doing On Call Chaplaincy at Toronto General Hospital. She was premature and was not expected to survive and in fact, had been expected to be stillborn. The family had gathered together and wanted her to be named. We found a basin of water and I held her in my arms. She was so tiny she would have fit in one hand. There in that room with her mother, father, aunt and uncle she was named Katy Harper Hall. For a few minutes we were held in a bond of love that I have experienced very few times in my life. Katy's mother later shared with me that during the baptism she felt caught up into God's presence.

One of the most meaningful baptisms I have attended took place some years ago in the parish in which I was organist. A whole family – parents and two children – came for baptism. Some friends had brought the children to the church. They joined the choir and Sunday school and became quite active. Mother and father came to a potluck supper and were overwhelmed by the welcome they received from parishioners. They too became regular attendees at worship. They asked about receiving communion, and on discovering that baptism was the requirement asked that the whole family be baptised. The church was jammed that Sunday with supporters. It was a moving experience for all of us.

I use those illustrations this morning as examples of the place of baptism in the mission of the church. None of the examples represent mission in the sense we have come to expect of the word. But all three happened as a result of mission, of evangelism. There was no hell and brimstone preaching. There was no altar call. But there was mission. Like Jesus’ call to Matthew there was an invitation to come and see. There was a response – openness to the movement of the Holy Spirit in the life those who were baptised.

Shortly we will renew our baptismal covenant. We will affirm our faith. By water and Spirit we will bring into the family of God, four people. As they are baptised we take on a responsibility to continue to invite, to support and uphold them in their Christian journey. It is not easy to bring your children up in the church. It is not always easy to get yourself out to church. So many things keep us away; it takes commitment. So pray for them, encourage them to continue on the path they have begun.
Let us be as willing as Matthew to respond to the call of God. Let us follow in his footsteps as we grow in faith. Let us live out our Baptismal Covenant. Amen.

The Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year A

Abundant Life

Readings: Acts 2:42-47; Psalm 23; 1 Peter 2:19-25; John 10:1-10

Each year on the fourth Sunday of Easter we celebrate Jesus, the Good Shepherd, the one who cares for the sheep. We who have no agrarian background strangely find great comfort in that image. Perhaps it is because it appears so often in Scripture that it becomes familiar. To name just a few of the places, the shepherds come to the stable to visit the baby Jesus. Herod quotes that the one to be born is the one who is to be the shepherd of Israel. Jesus is a descendant of David, the Shepherd King. Jesus sacrifices himself as the Lamb of God.

While the Good Shepherd imagery is comforting, those in John’s Gospel are just plain confusing. Jesus does not say that he is the shepherd. He says that he is the gatekeeper. Or is he the gate? Or perhaps he is the one who enters by the gate. While it remains confusing, they are all fine images. They portray Jesus as the one who gives humankind access to God. How badly humanity needs those who can open the way against the burdens of inhumanity! We serve a God who includes all those in society who are without power, the little ones, the lowly, the no account, the expendable, the least, the uncared for. All these are children of God, the very ones that need access to God’s grace and mercy. And so it is fitting that the passage ends with one of the most profound promises in all of Scripture. Jesus says, “I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly.”

That is, after all, what we want out of life isn’t it? Abundance is particularly attractive to our insatiable western culture. We are collectors of things. We spend our lives accumulating possessions. On the whole, even those who consider themselves poor by Canadian standards have their basic needs and many of their wants met. We look to things for fulfillment. Businesses thrive on our desire to live abundantly. Ad companies have discovered that emotion based ads outperform factual ones because they make people feel as if things will be fulfilling to them. They will run faster in a certain brand of shoes. They will make friends if they drink a certain kind of beer. They will be happier if they buy the right car or live in the right neighbourhood.

But when it comes down to it, that is not our experience. The accumulation of things rather than satisfying us tends to make us want more. And so we remain spiritually impoverished. How do we access the kind of abundant life that Jesus is offering? He is not talking about accumulating stuff. He is not telling us that being faithful to God will result in untold wealth being ours. That is the message that some interpreters of Scripture would have us believe. I have heard it espoused by televangelists. “Support my ministry,” they will say. “Send money and it will come back to you a hundred fold.” In telling us that he is coming so that we might have abundant life, Jesus is saying that he is the way to fulfillment, enrichment, meaning, and purpose in life.

How do we tap into that source of abundant life? How do we begin to access the generosity of our God? Jesus knew that his shepherding of people was about accompanying every human being to the place where they could be at home. It is about mutual trust, about opening up our lives so that we can trust in God’s promises. It is about awakening our inmost selves and bringing to light something we have known but deeply hidden, so that we can put it into words and recognize it again. It is about speaking in words that we can understand. It is about walking with us on the road of life and showing us how to live.

Jesus the good shepherd speaks in words we can understand. Lives are opened up. Change takes place. And isn't that kind of shepherding that we as Christians are called to? Loving and leading are the two ministries of the church. First we communicate caring for those to whom we minister. That is balanced with leading which allows change to take place in the lives of those to whom we minister. Ministry challenges. It challenges people to become everything they are intended to be.

The reading from the Acts of the Apostles is a reminder to us of the vitality of the early church, its exuberant mood as it began to live with the knowledge of the resurrected Christ at work in its midst. Today we read about that community as it begins to live out its baptismal covenant in the knowledge of the resurrection. "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."

It is a picture of a community working together, living out their faith in their daily lives, and reaching out into their community in love. They were convinced that they were equipped with the Spirit. They tried to show it in their lives, not only by telling others about the faith, but also by expecting that the Spirit would work through them to reach out to others in real and tangible ways. Wonderful things happened in their lives because they believed. "Awe came upon everyone," we read, "because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need." The call to be the Church was the call to assist one another, to help the poor and needy, to expect the Spirit of God to work in and through them.

The church today has the same call to teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer. These are surely the marks of a Christian community that is truly alive. We are reminded of them each time we celebrate a Baptism and renew our own commitment to God. What difference do those words make in our daily lives? How can we become a Christian community that is truly alive? Do we recognize our own call to reach out to others in Christian love?

For it is not the specific call of the clergy, but rather the call of every believer. We are all called to shepherd God’s people. As I retire from this place it gives every one of you ample opportunity to respond to that call. If I have done my work as a pastor, then you are already exercising your ministry. Together you can discover how to develop and exercise the gifts of everyone as you learn to share leadership. As you move into what is always an uncertain future, God will give you a vision of your ministry together.

What a church this will be! Like the early Christians it will be a place filled with enthusiasm and spiritual vitality. You will be fulfilling your call to teaching, fellowship and breaking of bread. You will be reaching out to the poor and needy. You will be applying your faith to your everyday life. 'And day by day the Lord will be adding to your number those who are being saved.' You will be the Church.

Third Sunday after Epiphany, Year A

Called to Discipleship

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

It is no mistake that during the season of Epiphany the consistent theme has been 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 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. 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.

Many Christians in South America and Africa have experienced first hand what Isaiah is speaking about. Consider the end of apartheid in South Africa. It took the faith of a nation led by political leaders like Nelson Mandela and faithful leaders of the Christian church like Desmond Tutu to bring that kind of joy in the midst of darkness. Archbishop Tutu is widely regarded as South Africa’s moral conscience. His work with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission made him the voice of the voiceless. He called the people, not just to freedom, but to condemn corruption and deal with the social issues of the nation. When I visited South Africa in 1998 as part of the Women’s Festival celebrating the decade of the churches in solidarity with women it was electrifying to experience the joy of the people in the community of Seshego where I stayed. They had a sense, not only of freedom, but of everything that God was calling their nation to be. They considered that they had a calling to bring light into the darkness of the world. Nothing, not the suffering of the past, not the continuing violence of their society, not even the scourge of AIDS, could keep them from expressing their joy and hope in serving God.

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 that 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.

It is a call to us at this time and in this place. As we end the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity we are faced with the challenge of where God is calling us to end the divisions in our own faith communities. The conflict experienced in the early church is not far different from what we face today. The challenge is certainly how to celebrate the diversity of styles, gifts and leadership without descending into destructive rivalries. It is especially poignant for us in the Church Centre as the Lutherans go through the painful process of closing. They are, I am certain, reflecting on where God is calling them as Church. Those are reflections that need to be before us constantly as a congregation. Where is God calling this community of faith? Are we being faithful to our call?

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. But it raises two big questions, at least in my mind. The first is about Peter and Andrew. Jesus sees them casting their nets into the sea. He invites them to follow him. "I will make you fish for people," he says. They respond immediately. Why would two fishermen respond to an invitation from a total stranger?

Then the second question! James and John are helping their father mend the nets. He calls them. They leave their father and the boat and follow Jesus. Why would Jesus even ask James and John to desert their father in the middle of their work? Didn't Jesus care about their father, Zebedee, who depended on their help in the family business?

The crux of the matter is that 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?

We live in a society that is dehumanizing in so many ways. Many people in this day and age relate far more to a machine than they ever do with other people. Many of our friendships are in cyberspace. The sheer number of people who live and work in our cities also does not allow for relationship. I experienced that over this past week. For two days I went on the Go train into Toronto to attend a conference at Trinity College. Union Station is a maze of corridors meant to lead as many people as possible in the right direction. People become very goal oriented as the work their way as fast as possible to their destination. Despite the number of people I found it strangely quiet. I was unsure of exactly where to go, but the crowd carried me in its direction. I did end up in the right place, but I felt a total lack of connection to those very people who were compelling me to follow. I felt like a rat in a maze just going through the motions of making my own decision about where to go and how to get there.

As I reflect on our call as Church I believe our most important call is to be a warm and welcoming community that stands in contrast to all in society that dehumanizes. I suspect that most of you come to St. Francis because you find it to be exactly that, a warm and welcoming place that you call home. If it is that for you, then what action are you taking to make certain that it continues to be a place of nurture? How do we bring this church alive? How do we become a community of faith that engages society with a vision of God's kingdom? How do we convince people that we really do serve a loving God? Would they know it by the way we live our lives?

Our community needs the commitment of every one of us. We need to make a faith commitment that says that we are not simply a rat in a maze being carried along by the crowd not really knowing where we are headed. We must be disciples, each one of us, leaving the nets and following Jesus to learn at his feet. It takes a commitment to being in regular attendance at church. It takes a commitment to read Scripture, not just on Sunday, but every day; to take in and understand the Word of God; to become literate in the Christian faith; to prepare ourselves spiritually to be Christ in the world.

Our community needs each one of us to make a commitment of time and talent. This church depends on volunteers. As we approach Vestry it is a good opportunity to take seriously you call to give your time and your talents. It is easy to leave it to the faithful few until they simply burn out. Consider how you might serve. What are the skills that God is calling you to share in this community?

Our community needs each one of us to make a commitment of treasure. God has richly blessed us. We are privileged to live in one of the richest countries of the world. We may not be the wealthiest people in our country in the whole scale of things, but we have enough and more than enough. Yet we often live as if we are impoverished. Can we learn to give to God from our abundance?

Our community needs each of us to be so committed to the faith that people will be drawn in. For me that really is the only reasonable option. I must be so committed myself that people will be drawn in. I cannot be lukewarm about my faith and expect to encourage other people. It only takes a spark, but the spark has to be there. Bishop Victoria said that people are drawn to the faith because they smell God on you. There is a wonderful truth in that. The best way I know to bring people to faith is to live it out in my life. That means constantly inquiring further into the spiritual, learning all I can about God. It means setting aside time for reading the Scriptures and for prayer. It means examining my life and realizing that I fall short of God’s glory. It means asking God for forgiveness. It means seeing things the way God sees them. It means watching for the opportunities that God gives me to share the good news. It means following where God leads me. It means seeking out people in the way that Jesus sought out the disciples. It means engaging others in the vision and agenda of the kingdom with light and compassion.

I invite you to do exactly that! Amen.

The Second Sunday after Epiphany, Year A

How To

Readings: Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 40:1-11; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9; John 1:29-42

One can find out how to do almost anything on the internet. There is actually a site called exactly that. It offers information amongst other things on how to teach an old dog new tricks, how to service your car, how to cook, how to run a garage sale, how to write a will or get a divorce, and even should you ever need to know, how to raise mealy worms. Now I have not checked out the information, but there are, of course no guarantees that what you might discover on such a website actually works.

The readings this week, on the other hand, present us with many useful ‘how to’s’ tried and trusted over many centuries. The psalm suggests how to find inner strength, how to tap into our hidden gifts and resources. It is a psalm that praises God for deliverance from a tumultuous experience of desolation. In it, despair turns to praise as the psalmist remembers how trustworthy God is. Even in the midst of his troubles he remembers the times that God has been faithful. He opens his heart in praise.

Paul writes a letter to a Christian community not noted for its harmony. It is a fractured and divided community. They are richly endowed with spiritual gifts, but love often seems to be lacking. Paul knows that God has chosen them. God only knows why. Paul’s actions give us a good model for ministry. He continues to pray for them, to give thanks for their gifts, and to understand that part of his call is to bring back those who are struggling with the faith. He affirms the work they are doing. He affirms their gifts. Somehow or other God does get it right. Everything comes together.

In the Gospel there is a very simple ‘how to’ about evangelism that gives a demonstration of what God calls us to do. Two of John’s disciples overhear a conversation in which John the Baptist proclaims, “Look! The Lamb of God!” It is enough to pique their curiosity. They follow Jesus. Jesus engages them in conversation and finally invites them to see where he is staying. It is an invitation they immediately accept. But it does not stop there. Andrew, one of the two disciples heads off to find his brother. He can hardly wait to share his experience. When he finds his brother he says to him, “We have found the Messiah.”

What can we learn from these simple ‘how tos’? Many people are calling for a return to faith in God. People are searching because they are reeling from the brokenness of the world in which we live. The drug culture, the violence of our modern society, the breakdown of family values, the failure of marriages, terrible events like 9-11 and the Tucson rampage of last week, the murder of a police officer on the streets of Toronto, the impact of the natural disasters which seem to be happening in every corner of the globe! People are more and more aware of the uncertainty of time. That is when people begin to ask deep faith questions about life and about life to come. That is when they look for fulfillment in their lives.

That makes it a fruitful time for the Christian church, a time of opportunity, a time in which we should have increasing relevance. And yet often we don’t. We remain stuck in old ways of doing things. We should be reaching out to the seekers and the unchurched in our society. We should be finding ways to meet the spiritual needs of the community. In this season of Epiphany during which we celebrate the many ways that God is revealed to us, we have an opportunity to reflect, not only on our baptismal call, but also on our responsibility to do exactly that, to reach out to those who are seeking.

The gospel does not simply tell us that we are called to discipleship. It demonstrates it for us. It gives us a wonderful model to follow. The first thing, the very first thing that Andrew does when he is introduced to Jesus is to take his brother to see him. He does not worry about his lack of qualifications. He does not consider what his brother might think of his actions. He does not wait for someone else to do it for him. He acts. We think that it is such a big deal to share our faith. It is so 'unanglican'. It was natural for the disciples. How do we make it natural to share our faith in our workplace and in our community? How do we begin to share our religious experiences?

It surely begins by considering our own call. Why do you go to church? Seriously, why? Why are you called? What difference does being a Christian make in your life? If you don't know the answer to that question, you are not ready to share the gospel.

What really counts is that Jesus Christ calls us to this tradition. We are still reading the same Scriptures that were read two thousand years ago. We are breaking the same bread and sharing the same cup that have been broken and shared for two thousand years. Our baptism calls us to share in a tradition that goes back two thousand years. Either we are in a terrible rut, or God is calling us to do something about it. What does God want from us? How do we live that out in a changing society?

We are called to discipleship, to share our faith, to have an impact on society. Most of us just say that it is an impossible task. We become so immobilized by anger or fear or insecurity that we cannot do anything to bring about change. But surely if we are creative, we can do something to improve conditions. We can feed hungry people. We can lobby the government for adequate housing. Think of the wonderful outreach our parish accomplished during the last year. We gave money to FaithWorks that funds community ministries like the Dam and Anglican Houses. We provided services at Credit Valley Hospital, Erin Meadows, Edenwood and Heritage Glen. Our ACW raised funds for many wonderful projects. We provided families with Christmas hampers. We made over twenty gift boxes for Samaritan's Purse. We provided hundreds of dollars in food vouchers for needy people in our community. The list can go on and on.
But there is more to discipleship, isn't there? We need to show people what God is like. And truly it may not happen as it has in the past. People who have no memory of church or what impact faith can have in one’s life will look for fulfillment in other ways. We may need to explore new ways of being church. We may need to find what are being called “Fresh Expressions” of church. We may even discover that we already have some fresh expressions of church happening here.

The question still remains, how do we get across to people what God means in our lives? John knew Jesus because the Spirit remained on him. And that same spirit is given to us. It remains with us, strengthening, guiding and leading us on to experience more and more of God. We in turn share it with others.

About your own call, you wouldn't be a part of the church if you weren't called. So know that you can make a difference and do something about it. Share with others what God is like, what God has done in your life. Live out your calling. And do not worry about how to do it. God will provide the words. God will provide the way. Amen.

The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany, Year B

Called to Be Prophets

Readings: Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalm 111; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13; Mark 1:21-28

I was leading a study group some years ago. The topic for discussion was how can we as individuals or as a community serve as prophets to one another? One person in the group replied. "Oh that's easy. We're Anglicans. It's a non-prophet organization." Although she was not serious, I think that it is easy for us to really believe that. We are not certain exactly what prophecy is. We think it has something to do with foretelling the future. Surely to be a prophet is to be at best strange and at worst fanatical. It brings to mind people such as the group in Waco, Texas. Ordinary people just don't do that.

But I have news for you. We are all called to prophetic ministry. And I know, you'll protest. "I'm in business. I'm no prophet." Or "I'm just a housewife." Or "What do we pay clergy for anyway!" And so we need to take a look at what prophecy is. What is it that God is calling us to do?

The word prophecy comes from the Greek prophetes, "one who speaks before others." It translates a Hebrew word which meant "one called to speak aloud". Often it has been taken to be some kind of ecstatic speech, but in Scripture the prophet is a person who is totally grounded. One who is speaking what has been discerned through a close walk, a close relationship with God. The prophet is one who listens to God and then passes the prophetic word on to the people.

There are prophets in our time. Perhaps a look at them can give us some insight. I have a friend who worked for many years as a prophet. He was in a much maligned profession. He was a meteorologist and worked at predicting our weather. He explained to me that weather predictions are based on past experience. The weather is tracked for a period of thirty years, and predictions are made based on the norms of the past. Farmers' Almanacs work on the same premise. They look at the past and make a prediction based on reasonable expectations.

As parents you do exactly the same thing. Your child comes to you asking for permission to do something. Based on your own experience you know what will happen. You say no and give a reasonable explanation about why. There are the usual arguments. And if you do give in and the outcome is as you predicted, with any luck your child will come to you and say: "How did you know?" Mind you, don’t hold your breath. It is unlikely that it will happen for about twenty years.

Scripture too looks at past history. Have you ever noticed how often the prophetic word begins with God recounting to the prophet all that God has accomplished for God's people in the past? "Wasn't I with you at the Red Sea? Did I not provide you with manna in the desert? Now go and tell my people...” and the prophet is able to speak with authority. "Thus says the Lord…” The prophet is able to challenge the people on a moral level. He is able to speak what needs to be heard in the light of past experience. The people listen, change their ways, the dire warning is heeded and they renew their relationship with God.

The prophetic word was critical to the people of Israel. They were travelling in uncharted territory. They had grown up in the region of the desert around the Nile Valley. When Moses led them to the Sinai, the new surroundings struck them with awe. A thunder storm among mountains sounds very different from one in flat terrain. It echoes from peak to peak. This intensifies the volume of the tempest. The people became frightened and pleaded with Moses to protect them from the blasts. He agreed to act as a mediator with God. He also told the people that God would send others like him, prophets to fulfill this same function.

Prophets and priests claimed to speak and act in accordance with God’s will and yet there were times when they became conflicted. How do you determine God’s truth? They decided on three criteria. The prophet must be an Israelite. He must speak as God commands. Finally what is spoken will be confirmed by the events that follow. So it was that the people accepted that God would communicate to them through the prophets.

Today's Gospel reminds of the power of God's voice. Jesus speaks in a loud tone to drive out a demon. He is the ultimate prophet, the one who speaks with authority. When Jesus is teaching in the synagogue people are astounded at his wisdom. The ministry of Jesus was on its way. People were beginning to understand that he was extraordinary. It is in healing the demented heckler that he is really marked for who he is. The man shrieked it out at the top of his voice. Those in the synagogue witnessed the touch of God healing a demon-possessed man. That marked him as someone special.

Let’s face it! For us in our time it is a somewhat troubling story. How do we explain the unclean spirit? Is it one of those ‘used to thinks’? People used to think that the world was flat. Now they know it is round. They used to think that the sun travelled across the sky each day. They also used to think that sickness was caused by demons. Whatever the cause, Jesus was able to deal with the problem. His authority overcame such illnesses. That is what marked him as unique. That is what is important to know in our faith journey.

So what about now? The people of today need to hear the prophetic word spoken to them, in real life, in their troubles, in their sorrows, in their weaknesses, in their frustrations. It needs to come from one who knows, from one who lives in the real world, who struggles with all that life brings. God needs us to keep trying. Not to give up, but to struggle on, to prophecy again and again, to renew our effort. God needs our gifts, our talents. They must be offered so that we and those around us can be truly alive in Christ Jesus.

Those who prophesy speak to other people for their up building and encouragement. The prophetic word builds up the church. So yes! We need prophets. We need those in our day and age who are the encouragers, the ones who cause the church to grow. Your witness may be by your actions. It may be by your prayers. It may be by your love and concern towards others. Or it may simply be by your open invitation to come and see. Our call is to be instruments, channels of God's blessing in ways which best use our talents and our gifts.

So you are not just in business. You are not just a housewife, or a secretary, or a truck driver, or a teacher, or a nurse. You are a prophet.

The Third Sunday after Epiphany, Year B

Finding Excuses

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?

I was visiting my sister a number of 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 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.

Confronted with calls for action from God, we can find many excuses. “I didn’t hear you!” “I don’t understand what you want!” “It’s too hard!” “Find someone else!” “You couldn’t possibly mean me!” The real reason is more likely to be “I don’t want to” or “I’m afraid.

Consider the story of Jonah. God called Jonah to action. 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 story of Nineveh is a prophetic word to its time, challenging the nationalism that limited God’s love to one people, the people of Israel. It is a challenging message to the modern day Church in which Ecumenism seems all but dead. This is the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Last Sunday night in our area a handful of people gathered to celebrate our unity together. It was a wonderful, uplifting service. The speaker was engaging as she spoke of her dedication to the Ecumenical movement and her work in the World Council of Churches. Her message came to the converted. How do we get others to understand that “one church, one faith, one Lord” does not mean “my church, my faith, my Lord”? What a tragedy it is that we cannot eat at the same table? What a tragedy that we allow differing traditions to stand in the way of unity! In our own situation here in the Church Centre, what a tragedy it is that we allow petty differences to destroy our common life. We do not meet together for worship. We do not share a common vision for ministry. How do we change that? How do we transform this place, not so that we become one congregation worshipping in one particular way, but so that we share a vision of what it means to be church? I have to tell you, I struggle with it. I dream of being in a building of our own. It is simply too hard to work this way, to deal with the tensions that exist. Yet God has called us to be the church in this place. God has called us to share ministry? How do we work together to hasten the kingdom of God?

A wave of change swept across the whole world this past week as we all watched the inauguration of Barack Obama, the first black president of the United States. In a world that focuses on the differences between people, a world that divides itself culturally, racially, nationally, barriers came down. It is there in his message, “This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed, why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall. And why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.” What a radical change it is! What an amazing moment it was in the history of the world! There is no doubt in my mind that it is a response to God’s call on the part of a nation.

The call of the disciples is a story of how ordinary people are called to serve God. Jesus comes to Galilee with his message of the coming of the kingdom of God. Like John he calls for the people to repent and change their way of life. It is a call to action. He calls them to turn their whole lives around and act on the good news that is being proclaimed. He calls the people to radical change. Sometimes it is a call to leave the comfort and security of one’s livelihood. That is certainly the case as he calls the disciples away from their nets.

It is as he passes along the Sea of Galilee that he sees Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea. Jesus simply says to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”

It is a memorable line in scripture. It speaks to each of us. We find ourselves drawn into the story. At the same time, we wonder how we might respond, or even if we would respond. Most of us would be reluctant to do as Andrew and Simon did. To simply drop what we are doing and change the course of our lives! That kind of change takes planning. It takes careful consideration.

Yet can we see how it might happen, how they might immediately respond to Jesus’ request? Some people respond to the call of conversion immediately. They receive some flash of insight, a moment of enlightenment or awakening, and they become different people. Perhaps they are just sitting on the edge of life waiting for the call to something worthwhile. If the right person comes along with the right call they are up and away. They have been secretly longing for it. Life has prepared them for it. They did not choose it. It chose them.

The truth about following the call of God is that we cannot let our fears and insecurities about what might happen hold us back. We need to discern that it is indeed God calling us. We need to discern what it is that God is calling us to do. We need to bring it to God in prayer. If it rings true, then the way forward, the way to respond, will emerge. We can be sure that we are all called – called to repentance, called to transformation, called to be the people of God, called to be witnesses to the love of God in Christ Jesus, called to be.

The Feast of All Saints, Year A

To All the Saints

Readings: Revelation 7:9-17; Psalm 34:1-10; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12

To the saints who are in Meadowvale and are faithful in Christ Jesus:

I am speaking to you as Paul spoke to those to whom he wrote. I suspect that many who hear themselves spoken about as saints cringe at the thought. We have a definite picture in our mind of what it means to be a saint, and it is not how we see ourselves. Most of us shudder at the thought of being saintly. It raises all our misconceptions of what it means to be a saint. Saints for whatever reason have a bad image. We imagine them wandering around amongst the clouds, playing on harps. Their heads are piously bent. They have sickeningly sweet smiles on their faces. Their hands are clasped in an attitude of prayer. Their haloes are in place just so. We want to scream at them, “Get a life!”

Or it may be that you simply cannot see yourself as a saint. For most of us it is a stretch. We look at ourselves and see our imperfections. Each one of us is in some way disfigured, imperfect and flawed. On Halloween our children live that out. They dress up as evil beings wearing grotesque masks and costumes. They parade through the streets. Today’s parade needs to be a very different one that recognizes the good that is in everyone. This feast of All Saints is a wonderful one for us to look behind the ugliness of the masks we wear, masks of sinfulness and brokenness, and experience the love of God.

So what does it mean to be a saint? Who are these saints that we remember? Sometimes when we speak about the saints we mean one who stands as a giant of spirituality in a past age. Sometimes we mean someone who embodies for us what we think it is to be Christ-like. Sometimes we mean the figures we see depicted in stained-glass windows.

That is certainly not the portrait of the saints that is revealed to us in Scripture. The readings for All Saints Day offer a portrait of the saints of God in all their diversity. There are certainly the ones we recognize as saints of God, the suffering martyrs, the struggling saints, the priests and prophets, the servants and disciples of all ages. But there are also the ordinary people like you and like me, going about our daily routines but doing so with a sense of integrity and faith.

It is there in John’s amazing vision from the Book of Revelation. What a thrill it must have been for the early Christians to understand that despite the trials and tribulations under which they lived they were not alone. They were part of a vast multitude of saints that no one could count. They were purified through their suffering. It was a time for them not of despair, but of great celebration.

It speaks to us in a similar way in this secular age in which it sometimes seems an embarrassment to be a Christian. There are times in personal Christian experience when one feels horribly alone, isolated and irrelevant. Does it thrill us to know that we are part of a great multitude of saints? We belong to a vast company whose bonds stretch beyond time and space into the ultimate reality of God’s presence.

In his letter John explains to us who we are and who and what we can become. If we do not feel much like saints, we can take heart in our becoming. A number of years ago a scientist broke down the value of a human being. It works out to about four dollars in today’s currency. It included oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, calcium, phosphorous, potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, magnesium, iron and iodine. But I have to tell you, our value is so much more. We are not simply bundles of molecules and atoms. We are offspring of a creator. We are God’s children. That is not something we work at or wait for. It is the gift of God’s eternal love. We have discovered our identity and significance. We know who we are and to whom we belong and where we are going. We may not know the whole story of what we will become. We do know that we are children of God created in God’s own image. We do know that we are made in the image of Christ. And that makes us saints of God.

Yet we do not want to diminish that quest for holiness that is part of our human struggle. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus challenges us to be godly people. It is amongst the most remembered of Jesus’ words. We often sentimentalize what should provoke and disturb us. It is a picture of life totally contrary to everything that is human in our world. It is designed not to be something attained or accomplished, but as a goal of Christian living.

“Happy are the poor,” Jesus says. And the world replies, “You know what makes you happy. Look at the beautiful home you have. Look at how you live. Don’t you have everything you want?”

“Happy are the hungry,” Jesus says. And the world replies, “You need so much more to be happy. Go out and buy some more things. Then you’ll be really happy!”

Jesus says, “Happy are you who weak now, for you will laugh.” And the world says, “Enjoy what you have. Life is too short. Live it to the full.”

Jesus says, “Happy are you when people say nasty things about you, when they exclude you, when they put you down.” And the world replies, “Put them down before they put you down. That will surely make you happy.”

The Beatitudes do not lead to salvation, but by following them we will live a more authentic life that communicates God’s healing power to lives of the sick, lonely, oppressed, broken and unhappy people in our world and community. Living that way will not win us God’s favour. We already have that. We are graced by God. Living authentically will empower us and help us grow as members of God’s family.

The point of our celebration of all the saints is that God is much more generous than we could ever imagine. God is much more inclusive than we could ever think. In Jesus Christ, God is more accepting and welcoming than we could ever dream.

To the church of God that is in Meadowvale, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: grace and peace, this day and forever.

Sermon for Proper 22, Year A