"Bible-Based" Culture

 All the time there are voices around us calling for a change to build a society based on "Biblical Values" or a "Biblical Worldview".

SOmetimes those voices become louder or more prominent than others. One example of this would be Turning Point USA and Charlie Kirk. Another would be last week's Alberta Christian Leadership Summit. [SIde Note, a friend and colleague of mine attended this Summit and here are his thoughts.]

Now there are a number of problems with this quest to build society on some "Biblical Worldview".  Among them:

1. It is arguable that there is not one Biblcal Worldview, that the full text of Scripture contains multiple worldviews
2. It is not in doubt that in modern Christianity (in North America these voices always claim to speak for all of 'true' Christians) there are multiple understandings of what one means by Biblical Values or a Biblical Worldview
3. In a pluralistic world it is wholly inappropriate to build society around one religious set of standards
4. Theocracy damages both the faith community and tradition it claims to support and the pluralistic community it is imposed upon.

However I do believe that as people who are guided and informed by our faith we are called to consider the type of world God would have us live in. As people who pray "thy kingdom come on earth" we have an obligation to consider what we mean.

So from time to time I do ponder what a society shaped by Biblical values (as I understand them) might look like...

Such a society would be shaped wholly by love of Creation, the world that God loves.
It would be a place where the newcomer, the stranger, the wanderer, the refugee, the immigrant would be welcomed into the community.
It would not be about enforcing homogeneity, it would name and accept pluralism.
Discussions of Human Sexuality would be focussed on respectful relationships instead of rules and traditions
In this society there would be strong rules and laws ensuring that all are provided for, that their basic needs are met. In Torah there were rules about not harvesting too well, to leave produce for the gleaners to find later -- what is the 21st century equivalent of gleaning?
We would take seriously the stewardship of the earth as commanded in Genesis, we would only take what we need as commanded with the manna in Exodus.
We would know that allowing great inequality is a problem.
We would encourage sharing of things in common so that all would benefit (See Acts 2)
We would be encouraged to subsume self in favour of community, or at least to find a new balance between the two. WE not ME

WHat might you add?

What Is Your Picture? (A Column for the Newspaper)

August 1994. I am a volunteer counsellor at Camp Maskepetoon. Two cabin groups gather on the front lawn by the main lodge for Devotions. The leader passes out paper and invites us to grab some markers or crayons from the bin in the center of the circle. We are asked to write down what the word God means to us. Some of us write a list of words or phrases. Some of us draw a picture. Some do both. Later, we talk about what we had put down and why. We talked about who God was to us, what God meant to us.

In the years since that day on the lawn I have returned to that program idea a number of times. As people of faith we have to share with each other what images we have of God. We have to listen to each other’s understanding of who God is. We do that sharing in the midst of a great mystery. There is no one right answer to the question “who or what is God?”. There are a whole bunch of right answers. There are a whole bunch of images and metaphors and all of them are partially right.

Can we have the courage to allow for images of God other than our own? Can we have hearts open enough to allow our image of God to be enhanced and broadened when we hear how our neighbour sees God? As I read Scripture, which has an incredibly wide variety of ways to describe the Divine, I think we have no choice. In fact I think that is what God hopes for.

On a shelf in my living room is a children’s book written by Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso called In God’s Name. The premise of the book is that all the people are trying to determine what the one, right, perfect name for God is. After all, everything else has a name, surely God must have a name. So each person suggests a name for God. Names like Mother, Father, Bringer of Peace, My Rock, and many others are suggested. Each person argues that their name is the one, the best, the most perfect name and “nobody listened. Least of all God”. Then one day they all gather around a calm smooth lake. They see each other reflected in the water and all together they each say their name for God. When that happens, the book says, “everyone listened. Most of all, God.” To describe God more fully we must use a wide variety of pictures and metaphors.

So how would you answer? If you had been sitting on that lawn with us what words or pictures would have been on your paper? If you were one of the people in that book what name would you argue was the best name for God? I am sure that day 28 years ago there were people who named the old man with a long white beard. As a child of the Star Wars generation I have always found the idea of the Force to be one of my metaphors for the Divine. One member of St. Paul’s, when asked this question, used the image of a hen gathering her chicks under her wings (an image drawn from Scripture). For Christians God is revealed uniquely in Jesus of Nazareth, the Risen Christ. Many faiths see God revealed in their sacred writings. God is revealed in all of Creation. Who is God for you?

In the first story of Creation in Genesis we are told that we, humanity, are created in God’s image. I think that calls us to to see God’s image walking down the street in every person we meet. That means that God is Caucasian, African, Asian, and Indigenous American. It means God is male and female, cis-gendered, trans, and non-binary, straight and gay and bisexual. It means God is the centenarian and the newborn baby. It means God is seen in the addict, or the person resorting to theft to get money for food. It may be challenging to see God in all these ways. But we have no choice. If we truly believe that humanity is created in God’s image then all humanity needs to be part of our image of God. Otherwise we risk reversing the words of Genesis and create God in our image.

In one of the United Church’s statements of faith God is described as Holy Mystery. God is within and beyond all our words and pictures and metaphors. We can not claim that our understanding is the one right understanding. We have to share the wide variety so that we can try to capture the Mystery. What picture of God feeds your soul?

In The Face of Evil -- Newspaper Column

In the March 11 edition of her e-newsletter “The Cottage” Diana Butler Bass writes:
“War is a sin. War is evil. And yet it continues. War is one of the rare things in human history that doesn’t vary. It is what humans do... You might say that our inhumanity to others is a sobering characteristic of being human. That’s really depressing. And it is painfully true.”

It is my firm belief that pacifism is the most faithful way to follow Jesus Christ. Violence of any sort is incompatible with the Jesus I meet in the Gospels. And yet when I see things like the Russian invasion of Ukraine, or the Rwandan genocide, or almost innumerable other examples of one group using violence against another there is a part of me that wants to call out for the use of violence and force to protect the vulnerable. Do we have a duty to protect, even when the only way to do that is inflict pain on another?

What is our best response when we see evil being lived out in the world?

In that same e-newsletter Bass explicitly names what is happening in Ukraine as sinful and evil. She also predicts that it will get worse. Since it arrived in my mailbox the news reports out of Mariupol have proved that prediction accurate. Siege warfare has always been a brutally and punishing form of conflict. It has always meant that non-combatants are going to be killed and wounded. This was true in medieval Europe, in Aleppo a few years ago, and in Mariupol today. Deep in the evil and sinfulness of warfare is the fact that non-combatants are killed, wounded, left homeless, have their lives destroyed.

So what is our faithful response when we see evil being lived out in the world? Do we respond with thoughts and prayers and protests? Do we volunteer to be observers and human shields? Do we resort to the use of violence ourselves to counter the violence we wish to end?

To be honest I find myself conflicted on this one. As I said earlier, I honestly believe that the most faithful way to follow the path laid out by Christ is pacifism. Before being accepted and co-opted by the Emperor Constantine the church was a pacifist group. In the earliest church you could not be both Christian and soldier. At the same time extreme pacifism seems a little bit idealistic in the face of the evil done by empires in our world. What can we do?

To begin with we need to be ready to tell the truth about what we see. As people of faith we need to be ready to name the evil that is being done, no matter who is doing it. Even if it is done in the name of faith. Even if it is done by the empire we support (though it could be argued that to faithfully follow Christ means we support no empire). And then we need to make a stink, shout out into the world, refuse to be silenced. We need to speak truth to power and call people to account for their actions. It is the least we can do. Maybe it is the best we can do, or maybe we need to call for more concrete responses.

Right now we have evil happening and making the front pages. Because there is such a strong connection between Canada, especially in the prairie provinces, and Ukraine we have a heightened sense of outrage. Some call for more militant action, some prepare to support refugees either in Europe or here in Canada. As a multi-national society we are trying to determine how we will respond. Is a no-fly zone the best response? Will other nations need to put boots on the ground? Will those things contain the evil or make it worse? These are complicated questions with no really clear answers.

There is evil happening elsewhere in the world that does not make our front pages. Aleppo was besieged for years during the Syrian Civil War. Terrible things have been happening in Yemen for years. The same thing can be said of Gaza. The invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan earlier this century led to great evil. How did we respond then? How can we respond to the evil that continues?

As a follower of Christ I am called to seek justice and resist evil. As a follower of Christ I am called to proclaim that there is another path to follow. Invasion and warfare, violence that destroys lives, is evil and sinful and wrong. The challenge is to figure out how Christ wants me to respond to that evil.

May God help us all.

What Do You Hear? -- Newspaper Column

“As a Christian leader, how can you allow that to be hanging in the window?” So began one of the most memorable conversations in my ministry career.

The question came from a member of the community who had seen the Pride flag hanging in our front window. It seems that this bothered (or angered) him because his understanding was that to be LGBTQ+ makes you unacceptable in God’s eyes. My response was and is that to be a faithful follower of Christ requires me to support full inclusion regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation. The conversation quickly got very heated and I am sure neither one of us convinced the other of anything. I believe we were hearing God differently.

As a person of faith I firmly believe that God is still speaking to the world. I believe that God speaks through the words of our sacred stories. And God speaks through those who have gone before us in the faith. And God speaks new words in new ways, constantly challenging us to grow. I am reminded of Paul’s great hymn to love in 1 Corinthians 13 where he says “For now we see in a mirror, dimly... Now I know only in part; then I will know fully”. God’s hope and plan is that our vision will grow less dim, that our knowledge will grow more full as the years pass. So God keeps speaking to us, challenging us to grow in faith, in hope and in love.

Because God is still speaking and calling us to grow in faith, in understanding, in love there are times when we will be confronted with a vision of the world that is different than the picture passed down to us by those who have gone before. Some times we will understand that our past practices and beliefs have been an inaccurate reflection of God’s hope for the world. If we are listening carefully those realizations will force us to change how we live as faithful followers of Christ.

Many years ago now Gracie Allen said “Never place a period where God has placed a comma.”. In the early part of the 21st century the United Church of Christ made use of that quote as a part of their “God is Still Speaking” campaign. That campaign pushed people to consider what God continues to say to God’s people. God still speaks to our hearts and souls and minds.

Admittedly it is not easy to follow when the voice of God leads us to a new place and a new way of seeing the world. I remember a story I was told that came out of the 1960’s, as the Roman Catholic church changed the rules about eating meat on Fridays. An older gentleman was trying to make sense of the change, saying “All my life they have told me God did not want us to eat meat on Fridays. Did God change his mind?”. New understandings come hard. But if we truly believe that God is still speaking, if we are intentionally trying to listen to what God is saying we need the courage to explore.

I think this is the harder path to follow. I think it would be easier to assume that God said what needed to be said long ago and all we need to do is follow the old wisdom. I think it is harder to constantly be asking ourselves if what we are hearing is God’s wisdom or just following the social trends. But we are called to the harder path of careful listening and discernment. If everything we hear confirms everything we have ever been taught, then maybe we are hearing the culture and not God. If everything we hear leads us to act just like everyone else in the world, then maybe we are hearing the culture and not God. If what we hear challenges us and makes us think seriously about how the world should or could be, then maybe we are hearing God over the culture.

God continues to speak to the world. God continues to give us a clearer vision, a fuller knowledge, of what it means to live as God’s people. Listening to God has pushed us to rethink how we live in a variety of ways. Listening to God will continue to push us to rethink how we live, will make us change our understandings of how the world works. It has been, and will continue to be, hard work but it is part of being faithful. Martin Luther King reminded us that the moral arc of the universe is long but bends toward justice. We only follow that arc if we listen carefully to the God who is still speaking. What do you hear?

A Letter to the Local MP Regarding Conversion Therapy

RE: Bill C6 An Act to amend the Criminal Code (conversion therapy)

Mr Warkentin,
Grace and peace to you this fine February afternoon.

I hear that you are meeting with the Grande Prairie Ministerial Association this Thursday to discuss any concerns the members may have with Bill C6, the much needed legislation to limit and almost ban Conversion Therapy in Canada. I am unable to attend that meeting but I wanted to share my thoughts and feelings on the legislation with you.

I am asking you to support the proposed legislation. I can see no moral, ethical or theological grounds for offering, providing or condoning conversion therapy. Some years ago some members of your party espoused the creation of a “barbaric practises” hotline. As conversion therapy is something that damages the mental and spiritual health of people I would list it as something reportable should such a hotline exist.

We all play many roles in our lives. As I write this letter I want to offer comments from the perspective of the two central roles I play in my life: that of a clergy person and that of a parent.

I have been in ordained ministry for 20 years this May. Before that I was raised in a family that was very active in the church. Learning what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ has been part of my existence since before I can remember. The Gospel has shaped my understanding of what it means to live in community with others. In the hymn to Creation that we find in Genesis 1 the ancient poet shares that humanity is created in the image of God, and that God calls that has been created very good. This tells me that wherever one may find themselves on the spectrum of sexual orientation or whatever one’s gender identity is we all carry within us the imago Dei, the image of God. Conversion therapy seems to suggest that God made a mistake in creating my neighbours who are LGBTQ+. Who are we to make that claim? At the same time the primary Christian ethical principle, indeed the primary commandment given by Jesus, is that we are to live love for our neighbours, family, friends and enemies. Openly choosing to engage in a practise that is known to be hurtful and damaging to another is in direct contravention of this principle and therefore contradicts the Gospel.

From following discussions in various other places on this issue I am aware that many of my colleagues across the country in various denominations see the ban on conversion therapy as infringing on freedom of religion. Specifically they seem to want to hold to a traditional belief that to be LGBTQ+ is sinful, that LGBTQ+ individuals are flawed, and that the church has a duty to bring them back to the correct way of being. I categorically reject this argument. To begin with LGBTQ+ folk do not choose who they are. They are born and created (in God’s image) as the person they discover themselves to be. Further, discussion of rights is never a discussion of absolutes. Rights are almost always about balancing between competing claims. In the case of conversion therapy the rights of people not to be subjected to harmful treatment far supersedes the rights of a religious institution to hold onto outdated and harmful beliefs.

I fully believe that God is still speaking to the world in a variety of ways and one of the things I have heard God saying is that traditional attitudes toward LGBTQ+ folk need to be changed. In the past the church has been very sure that God condoned racism and sexism. The church has, to a large degree, realized that this is not what God wants for the world. We have come to see the sinfulness of racist and sexist attitudes and actions. Heterosexism and transphobia are just as sinful as racism and sexism. We are called to repent of our sinfulness and take a different road forward. As a person of faith, as a person called to leadership within a faith community, I call on the church to put heterosexism and transphobia aside and see God’s image in all our neighbours. Actively working against conversion therapy is part of how we do that.

Now I speak as a parent, father of 4. This would be a role you and I both have in life, one we share with countless others across the country and around the globe. I ask you, what parent would ever want their children subjected to something that intentionally does them harm? If one of my children were wrestling with trying to understand who they were as a sexual being the last thing I would wish for them is condemnation and attempts to change them. I would want them to be surrounded by people who would support them as they discover who they are and live into that reality. That reality may be to name themselves as heterosexual, or it may be some other orientation. It may mean they claim the gender assigned at their birth or it may not. My job as a parent is to support them in who they are. My experience as a parent shapes my hope for all the children of the world. I want them to be assured of that sort of loving support as they live into who God created them to be. Conversion therapy, telling people that they need to change who they are to match some traditional understanding of what is ‘correct’, is antithetical to this vision of loving support and acceptance.

Conversion therapy damages people. Over the years many LGBTQ+ folk have suffered greatly at the hands of society members who refused to see them as the beloved children of God, made in God’s image, that they are. We have made great progress as a society, we have a ways to go yet. Banning conversion therapy is another needed step along the road to the Reign of God. Therefore I once again ask you to support Bill C6 when it comes to a vote in the House of Commons and to actively encourage your fellow Members of Parliament to support it as well.

Peace be with you.
Rev. Gord Waldie B.Ed M.Div

We Could Use a Mulligan...

(This was written for the church newsletter. It is also posted on my "Ministerial Mutterings" blog but since Facebook does not like that blog I am cross-posting here so I can share the post)

I am not a golfer. I do have a set of clubs (that were my grandfather’s and are older than I am) but I have not swung one since Miriam was a baby. But for three years in the 1990’s I worked at a golf course and since I could golf for free I went periodically, usually with fellow staff who were much better than I. That is when I learned about mulligan’s – because they took pity on me at times and granted me one. If you don’t know, a mulligan is a second chance, a shot you can retake without having it count against you. With all that has happened in 2020 is there a chance we can get a mulligan for the year?

Or maybe we need a Bobby Ewing moment. Years ago, in the prime-time soap opera Dallas the show killed off Bobby Ewing. But it turns out Bobby was a very popular character and they needed a way to bring him back from the dead. So in the closing moments of the last episode of the season Bobby’s wife found someone in the shower and when her turned around there was Bobby. The plot device used to explain it was that the whole thing had been a terrible dream. It allowed the whole story-line to be wiped out. I suspect that there are some who would not mind finding our that 2020, with oil prices crashing, and a pandemic, and the recent shootings in Nova Scotia has just been a terrible dream.

A third image. IN the second act of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar Mary Magdalene and Peter sing the song “Could We Start Again Please?”. It falls just after Jesus has been taken to see Herod, and before his final trial in front of Pilate. The text includes the lines:

(I found the words here https://tinyurl.com/ycmqze5s )

I'd been very hopeful so far

Now for the first time I think we're going wrong

Hurry up and tell me

This is just a dream or

Could we start again please?

I think you've made your point now

You've even gone a bit too far to get the message home

Before it gets too frightening

We ought to call a halt so

Could we start again please?

Mary and Peter think things have gone off the rails and maybe a restart would take them down a different path, one with less fear and destruction. This image seems to match the feelings I see expressed on Facebook some days.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but none of those things are going to happen. Unfortunately history is neither a merciful golf move nor a TV soap opera. This is not a dream. We do not get a do over. But we might be able to start again (please). But what exactly do we want that re-start to look like?

Daily I see people asking when things will get back to normal. Daily I see people insisting that we have to hurry up and “re-open” the world so we can get back to normal. I am going to suggest if all we envision as our re-start is a return to some semblance of what reality was back in January then we will have missed the boat.

That is the mistake Peter and Mary make in the song, they seem to envision a restart that looks very much like the first go-round. But of course that is not what the resurrection is. The story of Easter does allow a chance to “start again” but it is not a simple reboot. Resurrection is more of a new start. I suggest that this is what we, as people of faith, need to be hoping, looking, and working for after this period of disruption. Otherwise we may well have missed a great opportunity.

I think we are learning a lot in these weeks. We have been challenged to think about what is really essential for good health in our lives. We have also been challenged to think about what really is not essential. The government programs to provide financial support should make us ponder what adequate support for healthy lives are – and then to ask why some people do not get that support in a non-pandemic time.

I believe God is with us in all this. I believe God is always calling us to look for resurrection, not a reboot. I believe the life of resurrection means a life that is different, maybe not even recognizable at first glance (note that most people in the Easter stories do not recognize Jesus at first). I also believe it would be much easier, much more comfortable to look for a simple reboot, or to call for a mulligan, and go right back to the way it was before. But God does not usually call us to take the easier or more comfortable route.

What do you hope life will be like when we climb out of the pandemic? What do you hope life will look like when we re-build an Alberta economy threatened (perhaps as never before in the oil age) after the most recent price crash? Where do you think God may be leading us into resurrection? Right now is a time of disruption and grief for what we think is being lost. But after grief comes the hope of new life and we are a Resurrection People.

Gord

For the Easter Week Newspaper

Living in Saturday Time

Normally this weekend is a time of full churches and triumphant songs and celebrations. This year our buildings will sit empty and quiet, with the Alleluias shared in the comfort of our homes. Assuming, of course, that we find a place for Alleluia in the midst of our anxiety and grief.

What does it mean to proclaim the Good News in the middle of a global pandemic and economic turmoil?

This year the high point of the Christian Year comes at a time of great anxiety. This year the story of Life defeating Death comes at a time where people are grieving many things. We are grieving the loss of things we used to take for granted: going for coffee with friends, a restaurant meal, going to the gym, any social gathering at all. We may be doing some anticipatory grief for things that may never come back, for businesses that may not reopen, for changes that may turn out to be permanent. Some of us know people who have been diagnosed with Covid-19, some of us may know people who will not survive the disease. And we have the unknown length of time. Will this last till Victoria Day? Canada Day? Labour Day? Longer?

Add in the economic slump brought on both by the pandemic control measures and the crash of the global oil market and we have to wonder if we will have the same lifestyle that we had even a few months ago.

So much grief. Are we indeed walking through the valley of shadow right now? We could use some Gospel, some Good News in the world today. But we aren’t there yet. I think we are in the midst of Saturday Time (assuming we have indeed gotten past Good Friday). I think we will be in Saturday Time for a while yet.

Saturday Time is an awkward time. We are caught between the disaster of Good Friday and the triumphant words of Easter morning. Saturday is the day when we live with our grief, where we wonder what future there might be, where we just don’t know what will come next. In fact on Saturday we do not know for sure that Sunday will come. I find our culture does not do well with Saturday Time. We want to move quickly from the darkness of Good Friday to the triumph of Easter morning. We don’t like having to wait.

But we have to live in the Saturday Time. We have to allow ourselves to feel the grief and the uncertainty. Only then will we be ready for the surprise that comes next.

We are all, the whole globe, living on Saturday. We are all waiting. We may not not know what we are waiting for but we are waiting. So do what needs to be done on Saturday, that day between death and life, between disaster and triumph. Name your grief and sit with it. It is ok to be sad. Be honest about what makes you anxious or worried. It is ok to be a bit on edge. Be gentle with yourself and others. We are in the middle of a generation-shaping event. We don’t know what will be changed forever as a result. Some things will end. Some things will come back very much as they were before. Some things will come back in a new form. Life may never be the same again (or it might be very much the same, predicting the future is really hard).

But even in the midst of Saturday Time, with the grief and the anxiety and the uncertainty, we are people of hope. That is why we wait. We wait and we watch because we have hope that something will come. The promise of Easter is the promise of life and hope. Life will still win. What it looks like on the other side might surprise us. The Gospel accounts make it clear that Jesus’ closest friends were not expecting Easter. They were not expecting the world to be changed like it was. In the midst of their grief and fear some women went to a tomb on Sunday morning. They went to weep and mourn for the one they loved, for the world they had dreamed was coming. And then they had a shock. Jesus was not there, he had been raised. The darkness of Friday, the mourning of Saturday gave way to joy and wonder mixed with fear. What would happen now?

We will only get to New Life by living through this Saturday Time. But we remain people of hope. Life will still win. Christ is alive. The world will be changed, but Christ is Alive! God is with us! We are not alone! Alleluia!

Spirit Word for 2020

Extravagance!

During worship on January 12^th we were invited to draw a Spirit Word for the year, a word to reflect upon and ponder how it impacts our lives (or perhaps how it could do so). I drew the word EXTRAVAGANCE, which is now hanging with the calendar in my office.

Now what might that mean?

A few early thoughts...

How is God extravagant? As people of faith we proclaim the extravagant grace, love, and mercy of God. God gives prodigiously and extravagantly. Pondering the word calls me to think about where I have been the recipient of the extravagance. This leads me to reflect on how I am blessed. Hopefully it leads me to a place of deep gratitude.

How are others extravagant? Where do I see people giving prodigiously and extravagantly to me and to others? This is one of the places I see God’s extravagance in action. Hopefully looking for this pushes me to not only recognize it happening but comment on it. Again a practice of gratitude.

How am I extravagant? How could I be extravagant? A place of challenge perhaps, a place to push myself to be more generous, more merciful, more gracious. Maybe I do a better job of avoiding political debate on social media? Maybe I push myself to be more patient with my children? Maybe I find time to do different things this year?

There is another side to extravagance. I think of the show biz term of extravaganza. An extravaganza is showy, fabulous, over the top. Where do I see that sort of showiness in life? Where do I see the need for more of it? An extravaganza is often less than serious, sometimes even frivolous. Where do I see that we need to be more frivolous in the world? Something to watch for over the year. And then maybe something to help shape my choices.

Who knows what else pondering extravagance will bring me this year?

Fear

Fortuitously, this popped up on my Facebook feed today

This post has been gestating for a week or so.  But given the events in Ottawa this past Wednesday it became more important that I actually put it into words....

80 years ago, in the depths of the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt told the people of the United States "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself".

Centuries ago Isaiah spoke the word of God that had been revealed to him saying:

But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. (Isaiah 43:1,2)

Indeed, one of the most common phrases we find in Scripture is some form of "do not be afraid".  Angels say it almost any time they appear.

So why are we so afraid all the time?

What really started this post was the pondering if we are becoming MORE afraid.  Which really doesn't make a lot of sense.  I mean my parents grew up in the era of "duck and cover", or as Billy Joel put it "under their desks in an air raid drill" leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis and the politics of brinkmanship.  In the 1980's I remember concern over the possibility of a Soviet invasion of Poland during the Solidarity "crisis", and the Iran-Iraq war, and at least one day when school lessons were pre-empted by discussions of nuclear war following the aring of the TV movie The Day After (especially since it was commonly assumed that the Edmonton area, with many oil refineries, was relatively high on the target list).  Then there was the Kuwait invasion and the first Gulf war.  And 9/11.  And the growing environmental awareness.....

But still I wonder if we are becoming more afraid.  Actually I think we are becoming more afraid.  So really the question is why...

I don't think it is because there is any more reason to be afraid.  I don't think ISIS or other "terrorist"/paramilitary/radical groups or Ebola are a greater threat than the idiocy of mutually assured destruction and brinksmanship was.  Different threats definitely but not greater.  And let us be honest, various populations have lived in the shadow of possible violence for many years.

I think part of the blame is in the power of the military industrial complex, which only makes money when there is a demand for militarization and warfare(open or covert, hot or cold).  But that is easy picking.  We have known since the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower that this was a problem.

I think the big cause is the media, both traditional and social.  I have long believed that the 24 hour news cycle and the movement away from real journalism and into "sound bite news" in the haste to break a story first )sometimes without really worrying about confirming factual details) has been detrimental to how well we actually understand the world.  But add that to the premise that "if it bleeds it leads" and the news media serve to breed fear (Fearbola one TV comedian termed it recently).  Hearing the same story, or half story, over and over again also increases the spread of fear and changes our focus on the events around us.

Social media is no better.  It takes little to no time for sensationalized accounts of events to meme their way through social networks.  And fear is a contagious thing so everytime we click "share" or "retweet" we make a choice to increase fear or to limit its spread.

A prime example took place this week.  Even before the story was close to being over there were people making assumptions about what was happening and who was to blame.  Our Prime Minister, even before details were known about the shooter (at least publicly, it is plausible the PM had more information than had been released) was quick to use the terrorist word and link this event even if only through implication, to ISIS/ISIL and other radical groups.  AS it turns out an equally plausible explanation to the event was that a mentally-ill/troubled individual had a break and acted violently.  But of course that doesn't make us afraid and therefore willing to support actions like expanding military action in Syria/Iraq or advocating the further breakdown of civil liberties in the name of security and safety.

Yes the world is not what we wish it would be.  Yes there are terrible things that happen.  But we can choose to be ruled by fear or not.  We can choose to trust that things are not as bad as they are made out to be.  We can choose to think about things in a way beyond the sound bite and the headlines.

If Isaiah heard right, it seems God wants us to work through/past/avoid the fear.  Because maybe FDR was right--we only have to fear fear

ANd on a related note, what would your boggart turn into?  

What's Your Accent?

I posted this on a discussion forum recently, thought I might broaden the audience....

Years ago, when I first started in seminary, I remember talking to a classmate. She had gone to University as a mature student and so was older than most of her class mates. In one class the instructor asked if anyone had an accent. She put her hand up. The rest of the class was confused because she spoke like any Prairie Canadian, so she obviously did not speak with an accent. But her point was that we ALL speak with an accent.

I propose that we not only all speak with an accent. We also think and write with an accent. We are all a product of a culture (in some cases we are the product of a fusing of 2 or more cultures). That shapes how we think, how we understand the world, what we expect from the world, how we respond to the world. This accent is the result of many factors. Some would include geography, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status/class, age/era in which we grew up, level of education of both ourselves and the key people in our lives, our religious background.

So what is your accent? What formed it? How does your accent determine how you interact in the world? How do you (or can you) translate/restate/revisualize things from your accent to make it more understandable to someone with another accent? How willing are you to understand one who has a different accent?

It is important to ask these questions. Because otherwise we forget that we have an accent, and then it is easier to complain about other people's accents. And then communication becomes just that much more difficult.

Does God Change?

It is a vexing question over the ages.  Does God change with time or is God eternally immutable?

For some people the idea that God might change weakens God.  For some it raises questions about how we know what truth is, if the basis of truth can change.  For others it is not a big issue at all.  I count myself in camp #3.

This week I have been working with the story of Noah.  And this is one of the stories where God appears to change.  Or at least that has been a line of discussion in a FB group this week.

SO does God change?  Not just in the Noah story but in the scope of Scripture as a whole.  Taken from a literary-criticism approach God as a character in the story certainly changes.  Or at least wears a variety of masks.  God is Creator but also Destroyer.  God is Advocate and Judge.  God is a Tribal God, fighting on behalf of God's People or God is the One God, Universal.  God the character is different, plays different roles, has different priorities in different parts of the story.

But is that change?  Is that change to the essence or change in view?  Is it God changing or the developing understanding people have of God?

Then there are times God changes God's mind.  The Noah story would seem to fit in here.  In fact God seems to change God's mind twice in that story--first God regrets creating humanity then God regrets the flood.  Other examples would be God and Abraham bargaining over the destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah or Moses convincing God not to destroy the people of Israel in the desert.

Are these just changes of mind or are they deeper changes of self-understanding?  I would argue that especially the Moses instance is a change of self-understanding, particularly since that is pretty much the line Moses uses to convince God.

And certainly we see change in Jesus.  Most notably when he is challenged by the Samaritan woman about the children's food going to the dogs.   And if in Jesus we see God most clearly and Jesus changes/grows in understanding what does that say about God?

But in the end, for me, God has to change.  Scripture is clear that God is God in relationship with Creation.  Real relationship means growth and challenge and change.  Certainly the Scripture witness is clear that most of the change and growth happens on the Creat-ed side rather than on the Creat-or side.  And it will always be impossible to know how much of the change we see in God is in fact God changing or the result of a new understanding of God growing in the witnesses and storytellers.  But if God is truly in relationship with us, if that relationship is actually based in mutuality, then yes God is changed by the relationship.

And that need not be a bad or a scary thing.  It will however be difficult to sort out at times...

Newspaper Column -- Why is the Church so Political?

It is a question many church leaders have heard at some point in time. Maybe from a member of the congregation she serves. Maybe from someone in the general public. Usually from somebody who has been “ticked off” by a statement the leader, or the congregation, or the denomination has made.

Why is the church so political? Why does the church need to stick its nose into political issues? Why don't you just stick to talking about the Bible and God and prayer and stuff?

At heart this is asking us what our faith is about. At heart this raises the question of where we should be involved in the world.

My home denomination, the United Church of Canada, has regularly been scolded, even demonized, both from inside and outside, for stances taken by some portion of the Church. At the same time we have been praised for taking those stances. Sometimes it has been a local issue. Sometimes it has been national. We have taken positions and made statements on child poverty, gender rights, issues around sexual orientation and gender identification, various ecological causes, international relations, economic fairness, aboriginal issues, and probably a few other categories.

Why? Because in every case someone, or more often a group of someones, felt led by their understanding of faith, their understanding of God's vision for the world, their sense of God's call, to make a statement and/or take action on a specific issue. In short, the church gets political because God asks us to.

In fact, scripturally speaking, the idea that the faith community should “stick to the Bible and God and prayer and stuff” is not even on the radar. Moses and Isaiah and Elijah and Jesus and David (to name but a few) all meshed politics and faith together. For most of human history there has been no separation between faith and politics.

For people of faith, faith touches all of our lives. Faith isn't a compartment while politics is another compartment and economics another compartment. Maybe we try to compartmentalize our lives but then the boxes all get dumped out and life mixes together. And because life all mixes together our faith and our politics and our economics and our family life all get meshed together. And so to speak to the life of faith, to talk about God, means talking about political issues.

One of the blogs I read on a regular basis (http://revgalblogpals.org) has a regular feature they call “The Pastoral is Political”. Writers for that feature talk about how the life of faith intersects with the political issues in our world.

It is said that to be a person of faith is to bring your priorities to the place where they resonate to the same frequency as God's priorities, to wake up worrying about what God worries about. Which means we take our cue from how God has been revealed through the ages. And there we find that God worries about issues like Peace and Justice and Economic Fairness and Creation. So we have no choice but to be outspoken on those issues as well. To do otherwise would be unfaithful, would be a failure to listen to God's voice in our lives.

So yes, the church will sometimes say things that we wish they would not. But we do it because it is where we hear God calling – which sometimes means we have different opinions expressed as we sort out what we hear God saying. God calls us to talk about life. God calls us to proclaim God's hope for the world. That means we talk about Oil Pipelines, and Missing/Murdered Indigenous Women, and Foreign Affairs, and Economic Inequality. God challenges us to learn about them and ask ourselves what God is saying about those issues. Then we share our questions and our understandings with each other, growing and exploring and learning in community.

We will get it wrong at times. We will tick people off at times. But the church isn't in it to be perfect or popular. The church gets involved in life to be faithful. The church gets involved in the world because that is where God wants us to be. The church gets involved in the world because it is where we already are.

The challenge I have for you, brothers and sisters, is to join the discussion. Help us all as people of faith to explore what God is saying about the world we live in. Help us all discover and live towards God's vision, God's hope, God's promise. Who is in it with me?

God bless us all as we take part wholeheartedly in life and as we challenge ourselves to grow closer to the Kingdom. Amen.

Newspaper Column

Twas my turn this week.  This was the third attempt.  I still don' really like it....

Does Everything Happen for a Reason?

Short answer....NO. There may be a cause, but that is different from a reason that gives it meaning.

I had a plan for this column. I was going to talk about how communities of faith have helped build Grande Prairie over the last 100 years, and muse about how communities of faith can help Grade Prairie develop into the future. But then 5 families in our city lost their homes to fire. Then 3 RCMP officers were gunned down in Moncton. And then there was a shooting at Seattle Pacific University. And I remembered the old saying of Karl Barth that we preach with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. And I remembered a question I was asked to preach about last November.

There are certain phrases that probably should be stricken from our repetoire. And the irony is that many people use them in a desire/attempt to be comforting.

"God must have needed another angel"
"God never closes a door without opening a window"
"God never gives us more than we can handle"
"Time heals all wounds"
"It must be God's will"
Everything happens for a reason"

To be frank most people find these statements, when offered in the face of tragedy, generally unhelpful and sometimes downright infuriating.

One of the most perplexing questions in Christian theology is "Why do bad things happen?" [often with the add-on "to good people" and the corresponding "why do good things happen to bad people?"]

If God is in control then why do young children die of illness or accident or willful action? Why do people get cancer? Why does a person have to watch his/her life partner descend into dementia? Why do we see (over and over again) reports of "ethnic cleansing" and genocide? If God is in control, if God is all-loving and all-knowing and all-powerful why do terrible things happen? Is it all part of a grand plan? Does everything happen for a reason?

To make it a more difficult discussion, it is fairly clear that much of the Scripture witness supports the idea that God is in control, that there is a plan, that things do happen for a reason. And the only appropriate response in the minds of some people of faith is to say "it is all a mystery". [Or as I have been known to say, “if there is a plan it is poorly communicated and the implementation needs some work”.]

But what if God is not in control? What if God is not in fact all-powerful? Then what?

That is where I have come to. I don't think everything happens for some deep philosophical reason. I think life is just like that. This I think is what the writer of Ecclesiastes is referring to in chapter 3 “To everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven”. (As it happens, my Hebrew Scripture professor once suggested that this passage is a little bit depressing and fatalistic.)

So then what do we make of Romans 8:28 "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose."?

That verse could easily support the idea that everything happens for a reason, that there is a plan, that "it will all turn out for the best". OR. Or it could mean that the same God who turned the tragedy of the cross into the victory of Easter is willing to transform things. Not to take away the pain, or the tragedy, or the rampant unfairness of life. Just to, as the saying goes, make the best of a bad situation. So things don't happen according to the plan, they happen and we adjust the plan in light of new information.

Does God want houses to burn? Does God let random acts of violence shatter people's lives? Does God plan that girls are abducted from a school with promises to sell them into “marriage”?

No. These things happen because life is not perfect. These things happen because life is not fair. But even in the unfairness and imperfection God is there to help us live through the tragedy. God has a hope. God has a vision. God has a promise of what the world could be. And we will get there someday. As Dame Julian of Norwich (who lived in a violent, unjust, imperfect world) said “all will be well, all will be well, all will be well someday”.

Not a reason for all the stuff that happens, but instead a promise of support and presence. And a promise that some time we will get to a time when life will be better. God is good. Thanks be to God.

A Newspaper Column

What Do You Mean Forgive?!?

....and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us...

They are words heard in many churches every Sunday. Buried deep in the middle of the Prayer of Jesus (aka the Lord's Prayer) is this line about forgiveness. But is that really what we want?

Be honest with yourself. Do you really want to be forgiven just as well as you forgive others? Or do you want a whole lot more forgiveness than you often offer?

Forgiveness is hard. Several years ago I was leading a study on the Prayer of Jesus. The week we were talking about the chapter in our study book “Jesus' Prayer Calls Us to Forgiveness” more than one member of the group shared how much they struggled with forgiveness. I also have struggled with it. How do you forgive people who have harmed you or your loved ones, who have caused physical and emotional damage? Why should we?

Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. (Matthew 18:21-22)

Forgiveness is at the heart of living as a person of The Way. Forgiveness is at the heart of how we are able to form civil societies. If we, as individuals and as communities, are unable to forgive then life quickly begins to amount to grudge holding and revenge seeking. And that damages all of us.

But forgiveness is hard. It denies our need (or is it really only a want?) for payback, for “justice”. Telling each other, telling ourselves, to forgive makes it sound like we discount the damage done. And surely there are some things that are unforgivable. Right????

Miroslav Volf, in his book Free of Charge [NOTE see a review I wrote here] describes forgiveness as choosing “To condemn the fault but to spare the doer”. This, Volf argues, is what God does with God's people. God recognizes the wrong done but chooses to waive the punishment. And then Volf has the nerve to suggest that this is what God wants US to do with each other. Acknowledge that a wrong has been done, but don't try for payback, don't hold it against the other, erase the debt, live as though no wrong had been done.

That is hard. It doesn't seem to make sense. Why should we forgive? I don't mean the little things, I mean the big ones, the ones where forgiveness seems impossible. God wants us to forgive those too?

Yes. God wants us to forgive those too.

In the end we forgive because forgiveness leads to health. Sometimes that is the health of the other, sometime it is our own health and well being. After all, there is an old proverb which says “holding on to anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die”. When we are unable to forgive we are holding on to anger and hurt.

For many years I carried a grudge against classmates in my Junior High years. They had hurt me. I couldn't confront them (either at the time or later). But neither could I forgive them. Eventually I had to. Holding on to that hurt was still hurting me. Holding on to that hurt was keeping me from living. (Mind you it took several months of therapy to realize that and find a way to let go.) I will never forget, but I had to forgive. I had to stop letting those words and actions control my life.

As people of faith we proclaim that we are forgiven. As people who have been forgiven, we are challenged to go out and forgive others. We are, in the end, able to forgive for the same reason we are able to love. Because we are loved, because we have been forgiven, we can be people of love and forgiveness. We can make the choice.

It will not be easy. But anyone who promises that life can be easy is probably selling something. But if we are to be the people God created us to be we need to forgive each other, we need to forgive ourselves, and we need to accept forgiveness from others. We do it so that we can be healthy. We do it so that our neighbours can be healthy, we do it so our relationships can be healthy. And we do it because God is at work in us.

Maybe, if we are honest, we want to be forgiven better than we are able to forgive. But with practise we get better. The more we forgive the better we are at it. And our model is God, who has forgiven us already.

Now who do you need to forgive?

Gift? Punishment? Blessing? Burden?

Which of those things is death?

Earlier this month I stumbled on to Mythgard Academy.  Both of the last two Tuesdays I have sat in on the free webinars (or at least the beginning of them before having to play chauffeur) exploring Tolkien's Unfinished Tales.  A comment made in the second one sparked the thoughts leading to this post.

But first I think we need some background....

In the mythology of Middle Earth as presented in the Silmarillion, there are two races who are referred to as the Children of Iluvatar.  These are Elves and Men.  Elves are immortal, unless they are slain they will live forever.  Men are mortal. Not only do they die of old age but they are far more likely to die from wounds and are susceptible to illness.  It is stated, repeatedly, that this death is teh gift of Iluvatar to men.  They are not bound to the world.  Elves, it is said, grow weary of the world but are bound to it, they do not have the release of death. (It is my belief that this world-weariness is far more a fate of those elves who have left the Undying Lands to live in Middle-Earth proper and/or those who are born in Middle-Earth.  Does one grow weary of living in Paradise?)

But the nature of life is that Men have difficulty seeing death as a gift.  It seems more like an unfair burden.  And they chafe at it.  The downfall of Numenor, the island of the Gift, was brought about largely because of this issue.  The last king of Numenor, in his vanity and arrogance (and egged on by Sauron) sailed with a mighty fleet to the Undying Lands to wrest immortality from the Valar.  To be fair the Elves also have trouble understanding death as a gift, but they may not taste the bitterness of the gift quite as directly (with the notable exceptions of Luthien in the Elder Days and Arwen in the early years of the Fourth Age).

In the webinar last Tuesday the presenter mentioned that Tolkien claimed nothing in his Middle-Earth mythology was in contradiction to standard Roman Catholic theology.  It was then mentioned that questions have been raise in this regard when it comes to the idea of death as a gift (remember Silmarillion, Unfiinshed Tales, and all the other books that have come afterwards -- there are a fair number--have been published after Tolkien's death by his son Christopher so Tolkien himself has  not necessarily been a part of these discussions).  It was also mentioned that there is a hint in one of the volumes of the History of Middle Earth series of a "Garden of Eden" type of story.  So is death the Gift of Iluvatar?  Or is it a punishment because the earliest fathers of men in Middle-Earth had their own Fall at the hands/instigation of Morgoth? 

But what is the "proper" theology of death in our world?  Is death solely a punishment accruing from the Fall as described in Genesis 3, a result of having been turfed out of Eden and no longer able to access the Tree of Life?  Or have we as humans done what the men of Middle-Earth have done when it comes to death?  Have we taken something that was part of ing, part of existence, possibly even a gift and turned it into something terrible and against God's plan?

The Men of Middle-Earth, for a variety of reasons, generally see death as a burden, not a release, not a gift.  They seek ways to avoid it.  They embalm the bodies of their dead in a statement against death's bitterness.  Does this sound familiar?

What if death, particularly a natural death after a life well-lived in old age, is not the enemy?  What if death was always a part of being alive?  Not a punishment for wrongdoing, but merely a part of reality.  What if the Fall was not the beginning of death but the beginning of humanity's struggle with death?

How many people in their later years have expressed a weariness, a wondering why they are still around?  How many families, at the end, have referred to the death of a loved one, particularly after a long or trying illness, as a release or relief too long in the coming?

What if death is, in a way a gift??  A double-bladed bitter gift too be sure.  But is there a way or a time when it is a gift from God? What is the "proper" theological approach to death?

I suspect it is somewhere between simple acceptance and Dylan Thomas' admonition "Do not go gentle into that good night".  It may be part gift, part burden, depending on a variety of circumstances.  In the Appendicies of Lord of the Rings we read of the death of Aragorn.  To Aragorn is given the opportunity to embrace his death peacefully before it is forced upon him in a period of dotage.  It is bitter for Arwen to watch happen, but it is embraced peacefully as a gift.  Maybe there are times when that would in fact be healthier for us too.  SO maybe Tolkien's theology is right after all...

Newspaper Column for December 27

What's It All About Anyway???

Here we are on the third day of Christmas. Did your French Hens arrive this morning? Mine neither. Just as well, I have no room for them anyway.

By now the wrapping paper has been bagged and tossed, the Turkey leftovers are stuffed in the fridge, many of us have eaten more chocolate than we really should (but can you ever eat too much chocolate?), and maybe we have time to sit and reflect a bit. One of my favourite moments in Christmas television is Charlie Brown screaming “Can ANYBODY tell me what this is all about?”, partly because I don't think we talk about that question enough. Maybe now we can pause and ask ourselves what all the hustle and bustle and noise of the last month has been all about.

The Grinch had it all figured out, or so he thought. Christmas was all about presents and toys and food and noise. But he was wrong.

Scrooge had it all figured out too. Christmas was a poor excuse to pick a man's pocket every year. It was a waste of time and money. But he was wrong.

Some in the church have it all figured out. Christmas is about insisting that the story is all important and factual and fighting against Santa or “Happy Holidays” or anything that draws attention from the baby born to a virgin and lying in a manger. Turns out they may be wrong too.

And so I come back to the question Charlie Brown asks; “Can anyone tell me what Christmas is all about?”. Is it the gifts? The holiday? Family? The story?

In the end Christmas is sort of about all those things and yet more than that. It is about the giving of tokens of love and affection to each other. It is about taking time away from being “productive” to spend with those who are important in our lives. It is about a story, a mixture of myth and legend and faith, told in words and songs and pictures of a special baby. But, for me, none of these quite answer Charlie Brown's question.

What is my answer? What does Christmas mean for me? Christmas is about birth. Christmas is about God breaking into our lives. That is the story we tell. That is the reason for our praise. We aren't celebrating the birth of a child over 2000 years ago. We celebrate the fact that here, now, as 2013 turns into 2014, something new is being born.

We don't find the meaning in Christmas by complaining about commercialism. Nor do we find it in the crowds of the pre- or post-Christmas sales. We don't find it in arguments about what “really happened” when Jesus of Nazareth was born. We don't find it in songs about silent nights or songs about bells jingling on a one horse sleigh.

We might find it in the grin on the face of a loved one opening a gift. We might find it in the peace we feel as we gather with friends and family to hear again the story of God being with us in a new way. We might find it in a surprising way, when suddenly we see a glimmer of hope, a spark of light, in a place where once there was only darkness and despair.

The great promise and hope of Christmas is that in the midst of our crises and troubles we hear of God breaking into our world and our lives. We are reminded that there is a light that no shadow can overcome. We listen for the song that brings “good news for all people”. The birth we celebrate may come in a way and place we don't expect, but our story reminds us that God rarely does the expected. Still there is light, there is hope, there is joy.

What is being born this Christmas? Where do we hear angel song? What hope is being awoken? And how will we react?

Now that the hustle and bustle are over the work of living Christmas hope begins. How will you carry Christmas hope, Christmas promise, Christmas light into the New Year?

God Bless US, Every One. Merry Christmas, and a Blessed New Year.

What Defines Christian????

Some of you may have heard of Gretta Vosper. She is a United Church of Canada minister and author of a couple of books. She also appears to many to be an atheist (and sort of claims that for herself). She is also a bit of a pole around whom controversy swirls, because some (many?) of us are not sure that she has moved beyond Christianity and if she has we wonder if she is a good fit for a member of the Order of Ministry in a Christian denomination.

Anyway, as a result of a number of recent discussions about Gretta (as she has not entered into them) on various FB pages I made the following post in the United Church of Canada FB group:

Key to all the discussions sparked by Gretta Vosper's musings has been a simple, yet very complex, question. And it is one that I think we need to lay open for discussion so we can then talk about where the boundaries of the community are...

What does it mean to be Christian????

THe United Church of Canada is a Christian denomination. Therefore to belong to the UCCan is to be a Christian (with the only membership boundaries being those laid out in the New Testament, not signing on to any other creedal statement). THere are a wide range of opinions on the details of what it the term "Christian" means but I believe that there is a common kernel.

What is that common kernel? What is the least you can believe/say to be a member of the Christian community?

As the one who posted the question(s) I think it is incumbent on me to try and provide my own answer....

To be a Christian is, at a base starting point, using the example of the New Testament community, to be one who proclaims "Jesus is Lord" (the earliest creedal statement).

Again using the witness of the New Testament as the base, to be a Christian is to be one who proclaims a crucified and resurrected Jesus/Christ.

To be a Christian is to be one who affirms the reality of God and that God is (somehow) active in the world.

To be a Christian is to be a follower of The Way, one who strives to live out love of God, neighbour, and self.

To be a Christian is to affirm that the life of faith needs to be lived out in community.

To be a Christian is to affirm a future hope, that which we call eschatology, for a world where the life of the Kingdom/Reign of God is made fully real in our presence.

To be a Christian is to affirm that in the writings and experiences of those who have gone before, especially the books we call Scripture, we can learn about God, about God's hope/plan for the world, and about how others have struggled with questions similar to ours, therefore we continue to read Scripture and ask where/how it intersects with our lives today.

I think that to go beyond that is to go beyond the base ground, the common denominator.

Edit to Add:   While cleaning the bathrooms (because insights hit us at the oddest moments) I realized I had forgotten two statements:
To be a Christian is to proclaim that somehow in the "Christ event" (the life death and resurrection) God was doing something to bring God's creation to a state of "at-one-ness" with God in a way that had not happened before.

To be a Christian is to announce that God was revealed in the life, ministry, death and resurrection of the man we know as Jesus of Nazareth, who with the eyes of faith we also call the Christ, the Anointed One of God.

Letter to the Editor on Wealth Redistribution

September 17, 2013


RE: “Robin Hood” Editorial of September 16.


I need to begin by saying that we live in a society of , generally, caring people. But I also believe we can do SO SO much better in order to actually be a caring society. And reading this editorial yesterday morning pushed many of my buttons.


Full disclosure. I am a Social Democrat/Democratic Socialist. I fully believe the role of society, through its elected government is to create a more equitable distribution of wealth. My faith requires nothing less. And the measure of whether that is being done well enough is not in the measures listed in the editorial (which I assume came from outside Alberta since it references an progressive tax system that we sadly did away with under the reign of Ralph Klein and Stockwell Day). The measure of how well we are redistributing wealth is in a basic question.


Does everybody have their basic needs to food, shelter, clothing, education and medical care met?


Now I ask you can you honestly say that is true of Canadian society? No, most certainly not. And so we have to do better.


But instead the editorial complains that we are “robbing” the rich and then suggests that not only are we giving those at the bottom end too much but that it is their own fault that they are poor. I quote: “That's still a shame. Not just because everyone else is shelling out for this. But because these people clearly aren't living up to their potential.”


Frankly the top earners in any country, particularly when they make several hundred times more than the lowest earners should pay the majority of the tax bill. If you earn over 500 000 and pay 66% as a practical tax rate (which I am sure NOBODY does) you are still taking home more than a whole slew of Canadians. Isn't that enough to do to ensure that you neighbours don't have to choose between food and rent?


I agree, let us try and grow, sustainably, the economy. But lets also let our neighbours live in dignity while we do it. In then end, it will make growing the economy easier if more people have money to spend.

Down TIme

This is a Newspaper Column for the end of September...

I made a mistake this summer. OK, to be honest I probably made many mistakes this summer. But there is one I made, one I constantly make, that I really know I shouldn't.

I checked my e-mail.

More specifically, while I was on holidays I repeatedly checked my work e-mail (sometimes everyday). Even though I know that there is no real need to do so (and very good reasons to NOT do so), I routinely check my work e-mail when I am on study leave or vacation. And I have to stop it. Because Down Time is mandatory for my health, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you...Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day. (Deuteronomy 5:12-15)

There it is, right in the “Big 10”, the commandment to take down time. Because we aren't slaves and we can choose, we are to take down time. In the words I skipped to conserve space we are also told to ensure that those around us have the chance to take it as well. Down Time is important. So why don't we take it?

 I am sure I am not the only person in town who has trouble fully separating from the workplace on my day off or on my vacation time. It is just so EASY to say “well I'll just quickly check my e-mail” (or voice mail), or “swing by” on the way to something else. The gift of modern communication is that we can always be in touch. The curse of modern technology is that we can always be in touch. Are we becoming enslaved by the ease of having work with us whenever we want?

The problem, for me, with those little contact points is that I never fully find myself “off”. I check e-mail on vacation and I make myself think about work. So I don't get the break that is intended and I don't get the refreshment I need. And who suffers?

Well without that down time, without that break for refreshment, my energy level sinks lower. I may feel it physically. I may become more short-tempered (just ask my family). I may not be able to focus well. I may start to feel drained, that the reserves are gone. I may start, unconsciously, to feel resentful. And how can I perform well at my tasks (whatever those tasks may be) if I am exhausted?

This is not what God wants for us. God wants us to live balanced lives. Which, I believe, is why God commands that there be down time in the rhythm of our lives. Not for God's benefit. For ours. Jewish thought is clear that the commandments in Torah are a gift from God. The commandment to rest is a gift from God.

When the people of Israel were slaves they could not choose whether to rest or not. Are we slaves or can we choose?

Can we choose to shut off the cell phones, to not click on the webmail link,to not check the voice mail? Can we choose that for a day or a week or longer we will not work, not talk about work, not think about work (admittedly for some of us that last one is REALLY hard)? Can we choose to take down time? Well yes, we can. Maybe the real question is will we? Maybe the choice is not so much if we have the option (as any moral employer will ensure we have the option of taking down time – and the really good ones will encourage us to do so) but actually letting/making ourselves do it.

God knows that we are not meant to be “on” all the time, so God instructs us to take down time. Somehow it has become a status symbol in come circles to brag about working all the time, about always keeping in touch with the workplace. Somehow we have bought into the idea that we always have to be productive or else we are “wasting” time.

God knows that to truly be productive we have to have time where we are not being productive. God knows that few of us are so important or irreplaceable or wise that our workplace will sink if we are gone for a while. God knows that we need a break. God wants us to be physically, mentally emotionally, and spiritually healthy. Taking Sabbath Time, or Down Time is a big part of how we care for our health.

Do we have the wisdom to listen to God's call for Sabbath?