Today is a day set aside to honor mothers.  It is a wonderful opportunity for us to express our gratitude to those who have been mother to us.  It is also a challenge to us as a congregation that celebrates the diversity of gender expression and seeks to avoid gender role expectations.  I think it is helpful to consider how God can be both Mother and Father to us.  We can recognize the life giving nature of God in those who have carried us in their womb and gave birth to us.  We find God’s sacrificial giving in those who have nursed us and fed us.  We find examples of God’s unconditional love in those who loved us and cared for us at our worst.  We celebrate, honor, and thank those today who have been mother to us regardless of gender expression or biological connection.

Part of what makes the mothers in our lives so beloved by us is the ways in which they have reflected God for us.  I miss my mother every day of my life.  I miss having the physical presence of someone who I knew loved me no matter what.  It didn’t matter to my mother if I had preached a good sermon, she never got to hear me preach; it didn’t matter if I was being successful at work; it didn’t even matter if I had been an attentive son, my mother loved me.  I do not have children and I am very aware I am in no position to judge how others cope with the demands of child rearing.  However, on one occasion I was visiting my brother’s family and my nephew was being particularly hard to treasure and was particularly rude to his mother and my brother said, “Your mother and I can’t love you when you act like that!”  I spoke to him privately and told him your mother never said that to you or me no matter how much we tried her patience.  As children of God, we too should reflect the unconditional love of our heavenly Parent.

I found mirrors to pass out this morning so we could stick them to our foreheads so we can mirror God like the passage from Revelations says.  I know you are probably all excited about being able to stick something to your foreheads this morning.    What does your mirror reflect?  Mirrors do not have any power of their own; they can only reflect what is presented to them.  Despite the many fables about mirrors they can’t speak to us or provide us important information, mirrors cannot provide us with any information other than what is presented to them.  I wonder if I am the only one who wants a mirror that makes me look the way I want to look rather than the way I do look?  Mirrors are all about cold hard reality.  If we want the image in the mirror to change we have to change what is presented to the mirror.  If you take a mirror into a dark room, it will not provide you light to see by.  If you point your mirror at the gutter, then the gutter is reflected in the mirror.  If you point your mirror at a light, then it will reflect light.  So, someone looking at the mirror on your forehead is going to see what you are looking at, if you will, what you are focusing on at that moment.  We can only reflect the light of God if that is where we are placing our focus.

I would hope we all desire to reflect God to the people we meet.  So, we need to work on how we make that our focus.  Our heavenly Parent has given us many examples of how we are to live in a way that honors and reflects God.  Some of those examples are found in the sacred writings where God has revealed God’s self to us.  Some of those examples are found in the lives of those who have been mother to us, loving us unconditionally, nurturing us, and teaching us how to care for ourselves and how to treat others.  We also find God’s guidance in the Spirit God has sent to us out of God’s desire for us to know and understand God and ourselves in new ways.  We reflect God in the many ways we serve God’s world.  When we think of the examples God has given us, we find God consistently calls creation into service.  When the Spirit speaks, we are moved into desire to share what we know of God with those who are desperate to know God.  It is not so much in the way we say that we reflect God.  Too often when we speak we are drawing attention to ourselves, it is like the mirror wanting to generate its own picture or light.  We reflect God by living lives of God honoring service.

There are many opportunities for service here in our congregation.  Worship team leaders need to have people willing to help with worship.  The trustees need people willing to care for our building.  Fund raising needs people willing to participate in and support fund raising activities.  There are many opportunities for us to be in service to the larger community around us.  People are needed to support Angel Food ministry, and Pride activities and events.  People are needed to bring God’s love and healing to those who are isolated by illness or fear.  There is no shortage of answers to the question what is there to do?  The challenge is to ask the question, “What has God called me to do and how do I do it in a God honoring way?”  If we take on a task of service so that people can see how good we are, or so that we can make sure it is done our way, or so we can tell others how to live their lives, then we are not being mirrors of God and our service is not God honoring.  I suggest you take your mirror with you, put it in with your change or somewhere else you are apt to look often.  Then, when you look at it, remember to ask yourself, “What am I reflecting in what I am doing?”  The honest answer will be based on what is your focus at the time.  If you are focusing on yourself or the things the world says is important then that is what you are reflecting.  If you are focusing on your heavenly Parent then God will be what you are reflecting.  Amen.

I love the story of God teaching Peter to accept the Gentiles as acceptable because God has declared them to be clean.  It is easy to see Peter as representing the church and the Gentiles representing people marginalized by their sexual expression or gender identity.  People like Troy Perry, Nancy Wilson, Delores Berry, and Justin Tanis speak God’s words to the church, do not reject that which I have said is acceptable.  We love to hear this story from the point of view of the Gentiles challenging the privilege and bigotry of the established church in Jerusalem.  How often do we read the story from the point of view of the Christians in Jerusalem?  How willing are we to consider the ways we cling to calling others unacceptable when God has challenged us to see them as part of God’s family?  Here is what Kayla McClurg wrote in an article entitled, “What about the Other?”

If we who have entered the new community of those who claim a common bond with Jesus are to be faithful to that bond, how shall we respond to the "other" in our midst? (Or, for many of our churches, the ‘other’ not in our midst?) What tree did we come from? Who are we in relation to one another? 

Scripture is fairly clear on this issue. We are one. We are to treat those we think of as foreigner, alien, stranger as we would treat ourselves or our friends. There are no longer outsiders and insiders. Those with whom we do not have common bonds, who are not our friends, who are foreign to us, are to be loved with the same priority as anyone else.

‘And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt’ (Deuteronomy 10:19).
‘You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien’ (Exodus 22:21).
‘The alien who resides among you shall be to you as the citizen among you’ (Leviticus 19:34).
‘Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers’ (Hebrews 13:2).
‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ (Leviticus 19; Matthew 5,19, 22; Mark 12; Luke 10; Romans 13; James 2; need I go on?)

But wait a minute. Is this practical? No, definitely not. Is it fair? No, probably not. Is it reasonable? No, not at all. Unless we're talking about the absurd reasonableness of love. Love makes the craziest things possible.

Last Sunday after worship, a couple of people were discussing the immigration question. One of these good folks felt strongly that Arizona's governor should be praised for her action, and I thought, regardless of our opinions, the gift is that we now have a reason to come out of the closet with our opinions. We will get to know each other better than before ... and we might learn that there are indeed strangers in our midst!

What does it mean to ‘love those who are aliens,’ ‘treat them as though they were citizens,’ ‘not neglect to show them hospitality’? Does it mean to treat people politely as we deport them back to their homes? Does it mean let anyone at all live among us without question? Does it mean accept only those who are within the boundaries of the law?

‘Love of stranger’ is a pivotal issue for pilgrims on the Way because it represents so many other issues. ‘Love your enemies’ comes to mind as another complicating rule in a time when we are the main actors in more than one war. ‘Show kindness to those who mistreat you’ challenges us not only in the area of how to treat terrorists but all of us who wish to set healthy boundaries and learn to say "No." How will we balance being good caretakers of ourselves and our society with being good followers of Jesus? Or could it be that truly following Jesus is the way to create a civil and just society?

Maybe if we risked living the rule of Jesus, we'd discover that there really is enough for everybody and that perfect love casts out fear and good order is accomplished when ‘the last shall be first.’ Maybe we just haven't put God's way into action yet.

Personally, I appreciate most of the laws of the land, but do I equally appreciate God's laws? Oops. Wrong question. The question is, do I love God's law more? So if my country makes a law that says those who speak ‘other’ or in any way appear to be ‘other’ will be arrested if they don't carry the proper papers, and God has a law that says I am to lovingly welcome all who are ‘other’ and treat them as citizens of the land as much as any of us--then whose law will I follow?

Let's look around our church worship group as a starting place. Do we see a microcosm of the family of God in all its glorious ‘otherness,’ the so-called insiders and outsiders praising the God of creation together? Or do we see people who appear to be pretty much like ourselves? After worship ask two or three if they are like you. Be ready with some questions to find out who these people you think you know really are.

Only then will we have a shot at falling in love with all the ‘others’ in our midst and beyond. Who knows, maybe our own inward alien parts will begin to emerge and we'll fall in love with those, too. Maybe then we'll no longer question who belongs and who doesn't.”

Just because we belong to a denomination and a church with a ministry to the marginalized does not mean we are without our own sense of privilege and our prejudices.  What behaviors, ideas, or beliefs do we think have no place in our worship community?  Do we have subtle ways of communicating to others how they must be if they want to be welcome here?  Are there things about ourselves we will not let others of this congregation know about us?  Kayla challenges us to ask others question to find out if they are really like you.  This will only be effective if we can expect to receive honest answers.  I also received a post this week from Rev. Kharma Amos of MCC NOVA on telling the truth in church.  She sums her thoughts up this way, “what it boils down to for me is this: We really should be able and invited to tell the truth about our lives in church. These lives we are living--in all their complexity and variety--are the contexts for our questions, hopes, doubts, fears, and aspirations. These lives we are living (with their specific pains and struggles, joys and triumphs) are the ones in which we long for our faith to make some meaningful contribution. And, I believe that it is specifically in these lives we are living that God wants to be engaged and active and alive. I hope that MCC NOVA can be the type of church where people can tell the truth about their lives, and where the truths of our lives can be the raw materials from which our insights, prayers, rituals, and actions in the world flow freely. These lives we are living are gifts, and they are probably also the best testimonies we have to offer.”

If we are going to create a congregation where the alien, the Other, feels welcome and a place where we feel safe to be honest with each other, we must consider why we are concerned about otherness and about our true nature.  The church in Jerusalem was angry with Peter for inviting the Gentiles in because it wasn’t the way it had always been, they hadn’t earned the right to be among God’s chosen people.  Letting the Gentiles in was going to change everything.  We must be willing to risk everything changing if we are going to live into God’s promise to make all things new.  I think we confuse the unchanging nature of God with the importance of not allowing change in ourselves and in our churches.  God never changes but God does desire to work change in us.  God loves to make all things new.  The new heaven and new earth are not reserved for the time after this mortal life, it is not about when Jesus comes back and God changes everything.  We are supposed to be working toward the new heaven and the new life every day.  The new heaven and new earth is not a destination, it is a way of living we strive to achieve throughout this life time.

The plan isn’t for us to achieve perfection and then rigidly hang on to it for the rest of our lives.  The plan isn’t for Eternal Joy MCC to find the perfect mission statement and never deviate from it.  The plan is for us to open ourselves up to all the possibilities God has for us as individuals and as a congregation and then live into them as best we can.  It is less important that we get it right than it is that we live honestly in the struggle.  We cannot refuse to act unless we are 100% sure it is the right thing to do.  We cannot vilify each other if we try something and it doesn’t go as planned.  We cannot criticize others for lack of faith or vision when they question what we believe or what we are doing.  We must sincerely believe that it is okay to be different and to change.  I believe the foundation of the Tea Party Movement in this country is fear of difference and fear of change.  Many of them are afraid of having an African-American president, they are afraid of having a female Speaker of the House of Representatives, they are afraid of giving away too much to others and they won’t be special, privileged, and they are afraid the world is changing and they will be lost.  There is truth in their belief the world is changing but they will only be lost if they refuse to learn their way around in a new world.  Your world here at Eternal Joy MCC is changing and the only reason to fear is if you are unwilling to learn how to live into the change.  You see change is inevitable, the choice is whether you work to make the change as positive as possible or whether you fight the change every inch of the way.

God is making all things new and this will require CHANGE!  Amen.

We are a people of faith, we accept the reality of things hoped for and we believe in all that is unseen.  We have been preceded by other people of faith who have shown us the wisdom of living in faith.  We have their witness to convince us of the wisdom of moving forward in faith.  We must not let fear or doubt stand in our way of doing what we are called to do by God.  We must keep our eyes on the example of Jesus who continued in his earthly ministry confident he was doing what God had called him to do.  This is my paraphrase of Hebrews 11:1 and 12:1-2a. 

The faith of Eternal Joy MCC has been, is, and will be tested by the circumstances of this world.  You will survive this testing only if you claim the reality of your hope for the future of this congregation to serve God by serving this community with your witness to God’s love for all of creation even those marginalized by society.  You must believe in your strength and your resources even when they are not apparent to the eye.  Faith is not required if we live only on that which we have and what we can see.

During the coming year our challenge will be to examine our past, celebrate the joys, lament the times of grief, and achieve a peace about what has past so we can honestly let the past go.  It will be important for us to accept that what has past cannot be changed and cannot be brought back.  Forgiveness means giving up any hope of a better past.  If we cannot forgive and release, the wounds of the past will continue to weaken the body of this congregation.  We must also be willing to let go of the desire to live in the good times of the past.  Times have changed, people have changed, and we can never again be who we are.  We must live expectantly into who we are to become.

We will work together to discern who we are called to become.  We will prayerfully consider the call God has for Eternal Joy MCC and we will consider what tasks will be necessary for us to move forward in faith toward the vision the faith gives us.  It is important for us to remember being people of faith does not mean we abandon our reason and we just sit back and wait for God to bring about what is hoped for.  We must examine who we are, identify our strengths so we can maintain them and discover our weaknesses so we can work to strengthen them. We will develop a clear picture of who we are and where we want to go.  Hopefully we will achieve this by encouraging participation by as many people as we can in identifying how we can live out our faith and bring hope, justice, and peace to the people, community, and world around us.

Our final task will be to identify the skills and talents you will need in a spiritual leader to take you into the future or your hope.  This is the final task because it is necessary for you to have done the hard work of healing and releasing your past, taking inventory of your strengths and weaknesses, and finding your vision for the future before you can even begin to consider who you need to lead you into that future.  There will be a temptation to rush through the hard work but our faith tradition reminds us that Abraham and Sarah had to wait in faith into their old age for God to provide the child they desired.  Moses, Miriam, and Aaron in faith lead the people in the desert for forty years before reaching the Promised Land.  The people waited hundreds of years for the coming Messiah.  Our tradition also shows us that attempts to rush God’s time resulted in complications and disappointment as in the conflict that has resulted from the birth of Ishmael.  Waiting for God’s timing may stretch our patience as it did the people who followed Moses in the desert.  And, waiting can cause complacency resulting in our missing God’s signal to proceed just as many missed the coming of the Messiah because they were preoccupied with the concerns of the day.  We must be willing to wait for God’s time, we must not allow ourselves to become discouraged and long to go back to a past that is no more, and we must also stay focused on the tasks set before us so we do not fail to see when God has opened the door for us to move forward and we do not miss when God sends to us the one God has called to lead us.

What we are called to do as a people of faith is to always move forward into the future trusting that God has prepared the way for us, trusting in the unseen forces and resources that will carry us into that future while never avoiding the work we must do to equip ourselves to fully live into God’s promise.  It is my hope and my prayer that we will covenant together as a people of faith to do what is asked of us.  Amen.

The Original Testament reading for today is selected for Palm Sunday because Christians see in it the prophetic vision of what happened to Jesus when he came to Jerusalem for Passover week.  The passage is called the Third Servant Song and The Song of the Suffering Servant.  “Exalted YHWH’ has given me a skilled and well trained tongue, so that I can sustain the weary with a timely word.  God awakens me morning after morning—wakens my ear, to listen like a student.  Exalted YHWH’ opened my ears and I have obeyed, I did not turn away.  I offered my back to those beating me, offered my cheeks to those who would humiliate me.  I did not hide my face from insults or spitting.  Because Exalted YHWH’ helps me, insults cannot wound me, for I have set my face like flint, because I will not be put to shame.”  Clearly this passage describes the ministry of Jesus.  But it should not be considered unique to Jesus.  The prophet Isaiah was not describing what only the Messiah would do.  There is no indication the Jews associated this text with Messianic prophecy at all.  This text is a description of what it means to be servant of God.  Listen to the words of Archbishop Oscar Romero spoken one week before his assassination in El Salvador, “No one can quench the life that Christ has resurrected. Neither death nor all the banners of death and hatred raised against him and against his church can prevail. He is the victorious one! Just as he will thrive in an unending Easter, so we must accompany him in a Lent and a Holy Week of cross, sacrifice, and martyrdom. As he said, blessed are they who are not scandalized by his cross.  Lent, thus, is a call to celebrate our redemption in that difficult combination of cross and victory. Our people are well prepared to do so these days: all that surrounds us proclaims the cross. But those who have Christian faith and hope know that behind this calvary of El Salvador lies our Easter, our resurrection. That is the Christian people’s hope.”

 We are all called to be Christ like, to be suffering servants in God’s call for justice, peace, and love in this world.  Being Christ like is not about being important, or being in charge, or telling others how to live.  Being Christ like is about being in service to others, healing those who are diseased in mind, body, or spirit.  It is about sharing the truth of God’s love for others, even those who betray us, those who deny us, and those who abandon us.  We are to prepare ourselves to go into a hostile world and proclaim God’s word and Good News even to those who are not eager to hear.  We are called to speak truth to power on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves.  Jesus tells us to arm ourselves before we go.  We do not arm ourselves to do battle with a hostile world; Jesus told them to take swords but rebuked them when they used the sword in violence.  We arm ourselves with our strength of conviction, not to harm but to be able to stand in the presence of power and not back down.  We use the strength we are given so we live the message of God’s justice, peace, and love just as Jesus modeled it for us.

In my role as an intentional interim minister, I am called to live as Christ lived, bringing a message of God to people who are sometimes hostile to the word God has for them.  At first, I thought it arrogant to compare my ministry to that of Jesus but then realized if my ministry is not Christ like then it is no ministry at all.  I go to churches that are struggling with their history and their future.  Much like Jesus came to a people struggling with their historic understanding of being a chosen people while facing a future of political domination.  I challenge the congregations to examine their past, celebrate the joys and mourn the grief and let them all go so a new work can be begun in them.  Jesus challenged the Jews to remember their history celebrate their close connection with God and mourn the way they treated the prophets and abused the law and then let them all go so God could do a new work in them.  Some of the people are frightened and angry when confronted with their past and challenged to consider being different in the future.  Most of us are uncomfortable with change and we find it easier to attack and vilify those who institute the change rather than do the hard work of changing into what we are called to be.  I challenge congregations to do the hard work of changing into what God has called them to be.  Jesus challenges each one of us to do the hard work of changing into what God calls us to be.  We have the choice of responding with “Hosannas!” or “Crucify him!”  Which do you chose?  Amen.

I see today’s topic building on my thoughts the last time I was here about examining what we believe so we can find our strength in what we believe.  Unfortunately most of you don’t know what I had to say last time since a hurricane prevented us from gathering together on that Sunday morning.  So I will summarize.  My message for that day was that we are all people of faith, the distinction lies in what we place our faith in and the challenge is to examine how that faith influences the way we see the world and what strength we draw from our faith.  We may place our faith in the goodness and wisdom of collective humanity, in a divine being, in political institutions, in economic systems, and/or in science.  One of my beliefs is these are not mutually exclusive options.

What we place our faith in is generally based on what we believe.  Our beliefs act as a short cut for us as we live each moment.  If you believe in the theory of gravity, you won’t spend any time checking out the ceiling to locate a dropped object.  What we believe comes out of what we have been told about someone else’s experience and from our own experiences.  We do not have to go to the Sahara Dessert to believe that it is hot and dry there.  We can believe it from the reported experience of others.  The problem with using our beliefs as a short cut to understanding our world is that, like all short cuts, we can miss some important aspects of our journey.  Unless we examine our beliefs periodically, confirm that the source of the belief is still trustworthy; we can be making serious errors in the way we respond to the world around us.  Some of our beliefs may come from what we were taught by people who had biases and prejudices that were not based in real or accurate experiences.  Some of our beliefs may be bases on experiences we have had and expanded beyond what happened.  We may have a belief that certain people are dishonest or unreliable based upon an experience with one or more persons who are members of that group and we expand our experience to apply to all members of the group.  If you were cheated or threatened by someone of an ethnic group, you may believe you are not safe in the presence of other members of that ethnic group.  You may have a belief that believing in the Christ story makes one irrational and therefore all Christians are basically irrational.  Accepting these belief shortcuts without examination will keep us from getting to know others on their own merits and will limit our honest communication with each other.

This brings us to my thought for today.  What we believe about a rational world and the potential for mystery can be a shortcut that limits our ability to fully experience our world.  To me, we are all too prone to seeing everything in a binary way.  A person is either male or female, married or single; an idea is either right or wrong, a statement is either true or false, and an event is either rationally explained or a mystery.  My life experience has created a belief longcut which says things rarely fit in the this or that binary.  There is so much more to gender expression and identity than just male or female; there is so much more to our intimate and family relationships than just married or single; ideas can be right and wrong and neither; a true statement can lead to false understandings and a false statement can sometimes show us an important truth, and the presence of awe and mystery does not require us to deny rationality.

The history of human meaning making seems to take us in broad swings of perceiving everything as being a mysterious divine action above examination and questioning to a belief that everything can be examined and understood as a predictable and rational outcome.  I accept that most faith traditions have an indefensible history of denying the truth of scientific inquiry and explanations of our universe with tragic results.  I also believe the tyranny of science and scientific explanations has the potential for equally disastrous results.  My sense of the world is that some of the things that make life wonderful are mysteries.  Why I can find such beauty in a painting or sunset that another finds uninspiring.  The same with why some music makes me soar or makes me weep while other music makes me run for the exit or the off switch.  And what rational explanation is there for our passion for different foods some of which are actually harmful to us.  Why not just create some formula of required nutrition and fiber and eat that as necessary to sustain life?  One of the greatest mysteries to me is our capacity to love.  How many of us can really explain why we love another person?  Even more to the point how many of us can explain why another loves us?

From my understanding of rational thinking, love doesn’t make a lot of sense.  If we base our understanding of life forces as being a survival of the fittest ethic, than loving another actually is irrational.  Love causes us to put ourselves at risk, to be vulnerable to another person, and to put another’s needs ahead of our own.  If we think purely rationally, there is little reason to raise and care for children.  They are certainly an economic drain, they cause us concern, and sometimes we even sacrifice our security and health for theirs.  Some would argue the rational basis for our care and nurture of our children is needed for the survival of the species, but, rationally speaking, what do we care what happens to the species when we are dead?  Would any of us chose to live in a world without love, would any of us chose to live a life without mystery?

I suggest it is not only important that we believe in and embrace life’s mysteries, I believe it is irrational not to.  Let it be so.

Imagine with me answering your phone and hearing a voice say, “Please hold for God.”  When God comes on the line, God says, “Look! I've just put my words in your mouth—hand-delivered!  See what I've done? I've given you a job to do among MCC congregations—a red-letter day!  Your job is to pull up and tear down, take apart and demolish, and then start over, building and planting."  And now you know my call from God.  In my case, God sounds a lot like Rev. Elder Jim Mitulski, Rev. Margaret Walker, and Rev. Elder Diane Fisher.  I am called to come to MCC congregations who are in transition and analyze them, get them to share with me the stories of their past, good ones and ones they wish weren’t part of their past.  Then I get to dismantle everything they do without thinking and ask them to think about it.  I ask them to imagine who they want to be and then make a plan as to how to get from who they are to who they want to be.  Sometimes this requires me to challenge beliefs they have come to think of as sacred.  I ask them to let go of the core statement of almost every congregation, “But we have always done it this way!”  Then we are ready to start building the church they are committed to becoming.  And, when they have their feet underneath them and the future is looking bright, I have to walk away.  Doesn’t that sound like fun?  I don’t know that I would call it a red-letter-day as Jeremiah does.  But it is my calling and I have said yes.

Now imagine you answer your phone and a voice says to you, “Please hold for God.”  And when God gets on the phone you hear, “I have called you to be a prophet in the Halifax Regional Metropolitan Area, Nova Scotia, beyond.  You have been called to speak the Good News to the people in your community.  You may be rejected, you may be threatened, and it may appear no one is listening to you.  But I want you to keep on speaking truth to the people, to the institutions, and to the government.  You are called to bring justice to the oppressed, release to the captives, and health to those who are sick in body, mind, or spirit.”  This is your calling.  The voice may sound like your pastor, or your partner, or your neighbor, or your own voice, or maybe even the voice of your enemy.  They can all be God to you and you should listen.

It isn’t easy to be a prophet in your own country and that is why you need to gather here.  It is in gathering here that you will find the things you need to equip yourself to answer God’s call to you.  Here is where you will find God’s word spoken; here is where you will sing the songs that will lift your heart.  Here is where you will find the friends you need to help you carry the burden and you will find the ones who will pick you up when you stumble.  We cannot do God’s work alone.  Consider that Jesus surrounded himself with others to do the work of being God’s prophet.  Consider also Jesus did not pick people who were all alike.  Jesus did not pick people who would always agree with him.  Jesus even picked people who would try his patience.  Peter, the rock on which the Church is built caused Jesus to call him Satin and to get out of his sight.  The church lives up to this foundation with amazing frequency.  Safe Harbour MCC you are called by God to be a diverse community with many voices, many ideas, and many ways of being prophets.  Do not sacrifice this diversity for the sake of appearing harmonious.  Find your joy in the struggle to be and do what God has called you to be.

God has called us to be prophets together for a period of time and now we are being called to go our separate ways.  I want you to know and to believe that Safe Harbour MCC as a church and as individuals will always be close to my heart.  I hope and pray you will make a success of being the prophets this community, province, nation, and world need from now until the end of time.  Amen.

We are the resurrected body of Christ!  Really!  Can there be anything anymore exciting then to know we are the body of Christ in this world.  Today we celebrate the addition of new members to our part of the body of Christ.  A body that does not continue to grow and to change is dead.  Our bodies must continuously replenish themselves in order to survive.  Today we participate in the ritual of replenishing Safe Harbour MCC so it may be healthy, grow, and perform the tasks we are assigned as part of Christ’s resurrected body in the world today.

I had originally planned to speak on the importance of each one of us finding our gift or function in Christ’s body, to challenge our new members and the congregation to find the ways they are called to serve and to recognize what is not your function in the church.  I would challenge you not to be envious of those whose function appears more important or glamorous but to be content in knowing there are no unimportant body functions.  The health of the body depends upon each part functioning well.  It is an important message and I hope you will ponder on what gifts and talents you bring to the body.

Events of the past couple weeks convince me I need to speak today about the health of Christ’s body.  The body of Christ today is wounded and diseased and in need of healing.  The body of Christ, which I believe is all of creation, has been critically wounded by natural disasters.  The earthquake in Haiti has opened a huge gash in the body of Christ and it is essential that the rest of the body respond in ways to stop the loss, bring nutrients and pain relief to the wound area.  Drought in East Africa and Australia has threatened the body of Christ with dehydration and the rest of the body must work to bring the needed life sustaining water to that part of the body.  God has chosen the body of Christ to preach Good News to those who hunger and thirst, and to those who mourn.

The body of Christ has been assaulted by war and violence.  Parts of the body of Christ are living with open warfare around them.  The body of Christ struggles with the need to provide safety and order and the cost of military solutions in terms of life and our own humanity.  The body of Christ is threatened by those who practice terror even those who practice terror in God’s name.  The body of Christ is injured by those who take from the weak to satisfy their own greed and by those who physically and emotionally hurt those with whom they live.  The rest of the body must respond with protection and comfort to those who are frightened and those who struggle with ethical decisions about the use of force to achieve safety.  God has chosen the body of Christ to preach Good News to those who are frightened and troubled in mind and spirit.

The body of Christ is threatened by the diseases of bigotry and hatred.  Parts of the body of Christ are told they are of no value or told they should be destroyed.  Parts of the body of Christ are attacked because they are different or perceived to be different.  Human bodies have antibodies in them that are designed to attack foreign intruders to the body that threaten it with harm.  Some of the most painful and debilitating diseases we suffer is when these antibodies become overzealous and attack parts of the body that belong in the body.  It is also true in the human body that too much attention to protecting the body from bacteria compromises the body’s ability to fight of disease.  These things  happen in Christ’s body also.  People, institutions, churches become overzealous about protecting themselves from what is perceived as threat because it is different or because they agitate the person, institution, or the church.  The over-zealous protectors force out parts of the body that the body needs to be whole and to be prepared to defend itself against criticism.  The body of Christ becomes debilitated when we drive out what is essential for us to function and grow.  We all have the potential to be a parasite when what we think we need or deserve keeps us from seeing the needs of the whole and from seeing the damage we are doing to the community that hosts us.  The rest of the body of Christ must respond by calling back the over-zealous antibodies that would drive out difference and dissent.  God has called the body of Christ to bring the Good News of moderation to the zealots that threaten the very body they seek to defend.

The body of Christ is threatened by parasites that would seek to use the church for their own purposes.  Parasites do not concern themselves with the health of their host; they care only about getting their own way.  Parasites in the church seek to satisfy their need for power by ignoring the rules and the voices of others and press forward with their personal agenda regardless of cost.  Parasites in the church also threaten the church by using it as a means to get even, to settle a score.  Parasites will suck the life blood out of a church for the sole purpose of starving one part of the church without concern that their actions may kill the whole church.  The rest of the body of Christ must respond by changing the parasites into contributing members of the body or distancing itself from the parasite if its nature cannot be changed.  God has called the body of Christ to preach the Good News of living for the well being of the whole to those who have lost sight of the world beyond themselves.

Let us pray.  Great God, the body of Christ cries out to you today because it is wounded and diseased and in need of hearing your healing Good News.  We are wounded by the events of the world and we pray for your wisdom as to how we are to respond to the needs of those caught in disasters, wars and violence.  We are wounded by the loss of people we love and we have cared for and by life threatening illness in ourselves and in those we love and care for and we pray you send us the comfort we need and the healing touch needed by those who are ill.  We are wounded by relationships that are strained or broken we ask that you send us compassion to respond in ways that strengthen the strained relationship or brings mutually respectful resolution to those that are irretrievably broken.  We are broken by another change in our spiritual leadership in this church and we pray for discernment as to how this church finds new leadership in ways that are honoring to you and that demonstrate this is your church.  The body of Christ is diseased today with personal agendas and power struggles, with hatred and bigotry, and with zealots who have lost sight of the object of their zeal.  We pray your healing touch on our wounds and diseases so we can be what the body of Christ needs us to be.  Amen.

My roles as a social worker and as a pastor have provided me with a great deal of exposure to other people’s experiences with finding and losing life partners.  My personal experiences have been more about looking for life partners.  Most recent statistics indicate that 40% of legally recognized marriages end in divorce which does not reflect the percentage of committed relationships not legally recognized that are dissolved.  I do not see the dissolution of committed relationships as a failure or reflective of some moral defect on the part of those who dissolve their vows.  I realize this may be a controversial topic for some of you and I think it is providential that I am offering my thoughts on it two weeks before I get out of town.

I believe the concept that we will meet the one person God has selected as our soul mate and we will live in harmony with this person for our entire lives may be unrealistic and more than is promised by God.  There are very few examples of lifelong monogamous relationships between two persons found in our sacred texts or in the world around us.  Marriages began as economic and political tools to solidify wealth and power and these marriages had a better chance of survival.  As long as the union maintained the wealth and power in the hands of those involved, the marriage survived.  Marriages based on romance and love have had a much poorer success rate.  As I tell people who come to me for marriage counselling, love is always a choice.  We fall in and out of superficial love easily.  Some marriages fail because one or all parties involved are unwilling to work at keeping the relationship healthy and strong.  I am saddened when people throw out their commitments because of difficulties or because it just isn’t fun anymore but I believe this is the smallest percentage of failed committed relationships.

My experience has been that the majority of committed relationships dissolve because the people in the relationship have changed, they have grown in ways that never could have been anticipated when they made their commitments to each other.  I rejoice in those relationships when those involved have grown individually and together.  Their life changes and changing points of view have brought them closer together and resulted in their shared experiences creating an even stronger bond between them.  While this is a joy, it is not the experience of everyone in a committed relationship and is not a reason for people to remain in relationship that is no longer a good fit.  We, as society or as church, should never attempt to force people to remain in relationships that are not healthy or safe for the sake of appearances.  Only those in the relationship can know whether it is salvageable or not and we should respect their struggles and decisions.

An unfortunate outcome of committed relationships that dissolve is the need on the part of some to punish or hurt in retaliation for their disappointment.  I spoke with a clergy colleague this week whose congregation is on the verge of exploding because of a break up of two prominent persons in the church.  Each person is making accusations against the other and demanding the church censure the other.  The intimate sharing and support they received from each other has turned into rage and they are intent on destroying the other and they do not care of they destroy the church in the process.  It would be so much better if we could develop better skills for entering and exiting committed relationships so that we could continue to treasure and respect the intimacy that once existed and accept our sorrow over the loss of intimacy in ways that did not require an equal or greater infliction of hurt on the other.

When I am asked to celebrate and bless a commitment, I insist the Divine be a central participant in the ritual and in the vows.  I do this because I firmly believe God is the only partner we can find that will never lose patience with us, will never be surprised by the changes of direction in our lives, and who will never find our behaviour unforgiveable or outside of God’s love.  It is only as we are able to draw on God’s love and model our love for each other after God’s love for us that we have any hope of finding and being partners for life.  Amen.

Next Saturday there will be a class for those considering membership in Safe Harbour MCC.  We will review the history of our denomination and the history of Safe Harbour MCC.  We will review the requirements for membership which include baptism.  And we will discuss what it means to be a member of this church.  For those who have not been baptized, we will offer baptism during the service of reception of new members.  I think it is valuable for us to consider what it means to each of us to be a baptized Christian.  Many of us were baptized as infants at the direction of our parents.

Baptism in an interesting ritual within the Christian church.  The Christian church points to the baptism of Jesus as its source for the tradition of baptism but there seems to have been controversy even in the early church about who needed baptism and what baptism should look like.  John the Baptist was practicing an ancient rite of purification when Jesus came to him in the river.  The Jews were familiar with water purification to change a person from unclean to clean.  Jewish households would have large jars of water for purification purposes.  It is my understanding that the jars at the wedding feast in Canaan that Jesus turned into wine were for the purpose of purification.  John states that Jesus has no need to be baptized or purified but Jesus insists.  Clearly Jesus was not in need of purification.  The baptism of Jesus marks the beginning of his earthly ministry.  Despite Jesus saying it was important he be baptized there is no record of Jesus ever baptizing anyone with water.  John states he purifies with water but Jesus will purify with spirit.  The early church debated the need for water baptism from the very beginning.  It appears it was believed that Jews needed water baptism to symbolize their purification from bondage under the law.  Once baptized, they would be under God’s grace rather than law and would never again need water purification.  Gentiles, who would not have been under law, were not expected to receive water baptism.  Water baptism did not produce salvation; salvation came through the knowledge of God’s grace. 

Eventually, the church required all to receive baptism by submersion as an outward sign of having accepted God’s grace and become a child of God.  Infant baptism was instituted by the church to resolve concerns about what happened to the soul of children under the age of accountability.  Church dogma by this time taught the souls of those not baptized would not enter heaven.  Baptism was seen as a life saver for souls so infants were baptized within a few days of birth to protect their immortal souls.  Hospital chaplains are often asked to baptize infants who are not expected to live, sometimes we are asked to baptize infants that are stillborn.  A great deal of power has been attributed to the ritual of baptism over time.  I do not find biblical support for this belief but I also do not deny the power of baptism for those who believe in its power to connect the soul with God.  As is true with all rituals, the power comes from the focused belief of those who participate.  Believing parents have the power to influence the God connections of a baptized child, an adult who receives baptism with the belief the ritual binds their soul closer to God will find this to be true.  The water baptism is only as effective as the spirit baptism it reflects.

I believe it is unfortunate that church tradition allows for one baptism per lifetime.  This tradition also is founded in the belief that baptism sealed a soul for heaven.  Therefore, a second baptism would deny the efficacy of the ritual the first time.  If we think of the baptism of Jesus as the event that announced the beginning of his earthly ministry, then we can think of our baptism as the outward declaration of our inward decision to live our lives in service to God.  Viewed in this way, baptism is very much a ritual that requires the thoughtful participation of the one being baptized.  I think every adult should have the opportunity to choose to be baptized and to be baptized in the way most meaningful to them.  I had a ceremony which I called a remembering of my baptism in which I was baptized by submersion and baptized as an out gay man.  It was a very powerful experience for me.  Not because it had any effect on my salvation, but because it was a public declaration of my faith and my trust in God’s love for me just as I was created.

The real life preserver is not the ritual of baptism.  The life preserver is hearing the Words of God in Isaiah:

“Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me.”  I cannot remember when I learned this little rhyme or who taught it to me but it is one of the most ridiculous things I was ever taught.  The wounds I received from sticks or stones have long ago healed while some of the verbal wounds I received have yet to completely heal.  I suppose the intent of the poem is encourage children to ignore what their playmates say to them but an unintended consequence may be to teach us that our words cannot hurt.  The words that wound us are most often not the ones spoken by the school yard bully; they are the words of a friend or family member.  Friends and family members say destructive things to us out of the guise of concern for us.  We may also use words to wound others either intentionally or unintentionally.  The Bible warns us in many places the destructive nature of the tongue and the need for us to control our tongue.  It is very easy to say things that destroy and wound.  It is much more difficult for us to find the words that build up and heal.

God wants us to bring the Good News, the Gospel, to the people who are desperate to hear it.  The ancient prophets who spoke God’s Word to the people always included the promise of God’s unfailing love and faithfulness.  No matter how difficult the time, no matter how bleak the future looks God’s promise is we can go into that future in confidence.  We are reminded by John that the Word of God has been present from the beginning.  The Word spoke order into the chaos.  The Word built the world and all that is in it from the chaos.  The Word can do the same with the chaos in our lives.  The promise of this Christmas season is that God comes to dwell in us and to bring order to our chaos.  We as individuals and as a church can face the future with the confidence that God is in that future.

This is the Good News for us and the Good News we have to tell to others.  According to Mark, Jesus told us “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all of creation.”  I do not read this to mean we are to go into all the world and tell creation how to shape up.  Most of us would agree it is not good news to have someone tell us how we have fallen short or how we are unacceptable.  It is good news to hear that God loves us and desires to guide us into a fuller richer life.  It is good news when we hear of ways we can grow in our knowledge of God and how we can build stronger foundations of faith.  The Word is meant not to destroy or create chaos, the Word is meant to build and heal.

Sometimes we struggle with knowing whether we are hearing the Word of God or some other voice.  Unfortunately it isn’t always easy to hear what God is saying to us or to be sure it is God speaking.  I can say with certainty if the voice is saying you are not worthy, that you are not acceptable, that there are things about yourself you must change before you are loved by God then you are not hearing the Word of God.  God comes to us to build us up not to make us despair.  Listen for God to speak to you of God’s love for you, listen for God to encourage you into building the life God has planned for you.  You may hear God saying you can do better but never that you are outside of God’s love.

Similarly, if the words you say to someone else tells them they are unacceptable, they are no good, or that they have to be different to be loved by God or by God’s children then you are not speaking Good News.  We are called to speak words that build, that make sense out of chaos, and to bring comfort to those who hurt.  Amen.