August 3rd ~ Seek the Things That Are Above

Click above to listen to a recording of Sunday's Sermon

Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23

Psalm 49:1-12

Colossians 3:1-11

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon by Pastor Ronald Nelson (filling in for Pastor Joel)

(The content of this sermon was 100% written in Canada by a human)

We always hope, or perhaps we just pretend, that summer will be lived at a slower pace.  But the Sunday lessons and especially the gospels do not match that vibe.  If anything, they challenge us even more to look at how we are following Jesus the Christ.  Today Jesus warns us against greed and making one’s life about possessions.

Our first lesson certainly follows up on that, which is what most first lessons are chosen for, and ‘boy’ Ecclesiastes sure does that for us today.  Then Paul goes even one step further in our second lesson and exhorts us to, “seek the things that are above” and put to death whatever is earthly.  Now that I have summed up my sermon for today, you can take a nap.  “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”  “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for ones’ life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”

Now if you are not napping, let us dig further into today’s lessons. One of the reasons I keep writing sermons is because of lessons like today’s.  It is amazing that lessons like we have today, written thousands of years ago, are so up to date.   Maybe there is something to this Bible!  The phrases from this Sunday’s readings are a prophetic voice addressing the 1 % of people who own the world’s wealth.  It is no secret that money has power, and power is gained through money.  Look at the recent Stephen Colbert and the CBS joke.  Like a person in the CBS hierarchy said, “bend your knee or get the guillotine.”  So, CBS sold out to the bully and fired Stephen Colbert.  Some of the wealthiest oligarchs reside in the wealthiest empire nation, the United States.  These oligarchs, together with the techno feudal lords, are reshaping the global economy and the future of the planet. Just look at what is happening to our beloved country, we took the easy way out, by allowing the Americans to use us for the last fifty years and here we are in this mess.  A couple of years ago, Elizabeth Dwoskin wrote an article in ‘The Washington Post.’

Elizabeth outlined the plans of, $22 billion, billionaire Peter Thiel, longest-serving board member of Facebook, who stepped down from the social media giant, dissolving one of silicon valley’s most powerful partnerships.  [incidentally, Peter Thiel claims to be a Christian.]  Why did he step down?  Because he wanted to create a parallel economy fueled by the far-right and their political candidates to whom he contributed millions of dollars to secure successful campaigns and to win elections.  Now beneficiaries from his donations are Donald Trump, Josh Hawley, Blake Masters, J.D. Vance and Ted Cruz among others.     Some familiar names, eh?

Thiel’s aim was/is to transform American culture through “anti-woke” business ventures that would pressure CEOs to avoid environmental, social and political causes.  He did not/does not support socially responsible investing, or the reduction of oil production to meet environmental goals, or anything that will hurt “the bottom line.”  The one thing he does support is the controversial cryptocurrency.  Add to that the powerful donors like the Koch brothers, and they have five USA Supreme Court Justices being nominated and confirmed; John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.  The bottom line is; money has power, and power is gained through money.

Thus, this Sunday’s readings are a clarion call to realize that all efforts rooted in self-aggrandizement and enrichment are nothing more than “vanity of vanities,” steeped in political and economic greed that has funded people into powerful positions who create and support new forms of ideology and idolatry, most often sustained by untruths.  Now I know I use the USA as an example too often, but I do it, I guess, because I was born in the USA and I heard all the propaganda on how they were “one nation under God,” and “out of many, one nation.”  But in the meantime, they have moved so far from the truth as they continue to think of themselves as the “City on the Hill,” a metaphor from “the Sermon on the Mount,” and they try everything possible to punish us ‘infidels.’  Thank goodness our Biblical texts today bring us back to reality. 

The letter to the Colossians, our second lesson today, indicates that the writer, too, was dealing with many of the same issues facing people of conscience today.  Yes, I believe you will still find people with consciences today, but not in the White House.  Then and now, we continue to struggle with disrespect for diversity.  Let us be honest, often, people - even those in the church, cannot unreservedly believe that Christ is all, in all, and for all.  Racism, sexism, and homophobia continue to fuel laws that divide us instead of unifying us.  The writer reminds us in Colossians, “there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free,” gay, straight, rich, poor, black, white, indigenous, male, female, only Christ, only the divine in us all.  The Pauline Disciple responsible for the letter to the Colossians writes as timely today as it ever was. We are told, two-thirds of the world’s population is living in poverty, many living right here in Canada.  Today’s parable in Luke highlights the folly of selfishly hoarding wealth that cannot secure life, which, as the reading from Ecclesiastes and the Psalm, “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.”, reminds us that, life is short and whose end humans have no control over.  What matters in life is having a generous and open heart.

Finally, if the gospel of Luke is read from a perspective of the disenfranchised and from the margins, then this parable presents a stirring challenge to all of us who profess to be Christian.  The challenge is to tear down the “barns” of all who greedily amass more and more power and wealth at the expense of the world’s most vulnerable, human and nonhuman alike, whose lives and countries’ resources and habitats are repeatedly exploited, leaving all species and the world devastated.  Today more than ever the world is in turmoil, we are experiencing seismic shifts.  But as long as people of conscience are breathing, hungering for and committed to a new justice, hope remains alive and negates that “all is vanity.”   It takes time to make changes in the world and in ourselves.  Today many still struggle with recognizing Christ in gay, lesbians and transgendered persons, add to that the perennial problem we have with recognizing Christ in women, as we have just seen in news, and we have a long way to go, and a lot of contradictions still to explore.

Yes, today’s counterculture message about possessions is not new.  But it has a special meaning for us focused on consumerism and led by the Trumps, Bezos, Musk and the like.

How can we tame our own wants?  How do we reconcile our role in our economic successes, our membership in a capitalistic society, and our concerns about our financial security, with the scriptural messages of today?  Quite frankly, the writer of Colossians tells us to be ruthlessly honest in discerning whether we have taken off our old selves and put on our new selves in Christ?  So once again, our lessons for today, like most weeks, interrogate us; What is truly important in our life?  Some say we can discern a person’s most honest answer by observing how they earn and use their money.  For others, it is the way they spend their time.  Jesus said, “take care!  Be on your guard against all kinds of greed…  One’s life does not consist of possessions.”  Today’s lessons invite us to learn how to take hold of the freedom we have and to help it grow like bamboo, the fastest growing and one of the most useful plants on the earth.  To do this, we need to cultivate new attitudes through asking and answering serious questions.  Our lessons today are invitations for us to be gutsily free to make our life as meaningful as our baptism promises it can be. To be brave, courageous and determined to stand up to the bullies of the day.

July 27 ~ In Prayer We Become the Hands, the Feet, the Hearts, and the Faces that Reveal God to Others

Click above to listen to a recording of Sunday's Sermon

Genesis 18:20-32

Psalm 138

Colossians 2:6-15 [16-19]

Luke 11:1-13

(The content of this sermon was 100% written in Canada by a human)

One of my gurus, [sad to say he is now dead] Roger Karban said this; “Some years ago when I was commenting on this set of readings, I had a friendly disagreement with the editor of one of the diocesan papers carrying my articles. She strongly objected to my talking about Abraham ‘haggling’ with Yahweh, believing that the term bordered on anti-sematic language. I immediately called a rabbi friend, asking his opinion. He assured me, ‘Roger, there’s nothing wrong in speaking about a Jew haggling. We are not only known for it, but we are also proud of it.’” Now let us be clear, we do not take this haggling between Yahweh and Abraham literally. But the writer is trying to demonstrate the negotiating prowess of Abraham, and also Abraham’s unique relationship with God. Yes, we can talk to God, just be careful where you do it, or they might haul you away.

Last week we heard of Abraham’s hospitality after he had talked to God in the form of the three messengers. Then today the three messengers, [God] left to investigate what was happening at Sodom and Gomorrah. Now God also remained with Abraham, and yes, God can be in two places at once. Now Abraham recognizes that Sodom and Gomorrah should be punished for their doings, but he takes up a prophetic role and intercedes for the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham calls for God’s justice which will be to extend mercy to the innocent. Abraham presses God for mercy but he also reveals humanity’s relative lack of innocence, even among those we love the most. Many people have taken the story of Sodom and Gomorrah as proof of God’s ire and readiness to punish sexual immorality. Sorry, that is not what it is about. The story is portraying God asking Abraham, “Ok, ask me about what is bothering you.” Underneath the question of the innocent suffering because of evil people - a blatant fact of life - Abraham is ultimately asking what we all ask; “Does evil rule the world? Do the innocent make any difference in the world?” We sure must be asking those questions in our world today.

So Abraham puts God on trial, as it were. “Should not the judge of all the world act with justice?” These questions come from a belief that God is in charge of everything that happens. God decides and creation, be it people or nature, cry God’s will into action. Another question that comes from Abraham’s story is, “Why bother to pray if God has already written the script?” Or do we believe, as some say, that if we pray hard enough, God will relent in punishment or cure our beloved’s cancer, or make the sunshine for the picnic, etc.? Do we really think that prayer functions to change God’s will about hard things that are in process? I have one friend in particular who is always asking, “What would Jesus say? What would Jesus do?” I hope it is obvious that this story is much more than that.

Then in our gospel, Jesus is offering a comparison to the scene with Abraham. The disciples ask, “Teach us to pray.” “How are we supposed to relate to God?” “What can we expect from God?” Jesus’ response is simple. Go to God as a child or a parent, trusting in God’s love. Also, look around you and see creation, let yourself be carried away in wondrous awe, then say, “Hallowed!” “Blessed!” “Overwhelming is your very name!” “May your desires for creation come true!” “Your will be done!” Jesus reminds us that the creator of the universe has given us what we need. ‘Our daily [Epiousios] bread’ is a phrase Jesus seems to have invented. It means more than day-to-day, it suggests something like the bread of tomorrow, or the coming age, that is the bread that is consecrated by how it is shared and nourishes. You see it is much more than a piece of bread. Thus Jesus is cutting to the chase, he seems to be saying; “Lead us to be like you, seeing possibility, believing like Abraham that evil does not have the upper hand.” In other words, if we really want God’s rule, then we have to keep badgering those who have the power to make it happen; to feed the hungry, to give children what they need, to rise above retribution, and to value justice and harmony over being supreme, over winning. Do you think Trump’s gang of Christians believe that?

And then we hear Jesus say, “Ask and you will receive.” Now notice, Jesus is not promising a new car or a cure for cancer or anything like that. No, what Jesus promises is that God’s spirit will be with us. So we hear; “When you pray say, ‘behold I am your servant, do with and in and through me according to your will.’” To pray then is to participate in God’s desire for good in our lives. If prayer does not change God, it often changes us. If prayer is not simply presenting a list of our wants and wishes to God to be automatically, even miraculously, fulfilled, it actually engages us in doing our part to meet human need. When we pray, we are inspired and motivated to act. Grace joins our effort and our perseverance to find the outcome that is best for us and others. Do we trust God enough to take our needs to God in prayer? If we do, not only will our relationship with God deepen, but we will learn to be instruments of divine purpose. In other words, the hands, the feet, the hearts, and the faces that reveal God to others.

Yes, if we pray, it means we will be haggling with God. Given the example of Abraham and the teaching of Jesus in our lessons today, each of us gathered in worship might give some consideration to the quality, style, and attitude of our own attempts at prayer. If Abraham seems too bold and daring, then perhaps we are not sufficiently at ease and familiar with God. If Abraham’s manner appears too irreverent, then perhaps we are not completely convinced of God’s desire to become personally involved and available to each of us. Perhaps we have yet to believe in the doting, patient, and parental love of God, but only in so believing can we truly pray as Jesus taught us and as we ought to pray. The effectiveness of prayer is often found in the change it effects in us, not in God. While it is true that our prayer may not change the situations for which we pray, it is also true that frequently ‘we’ change in our praying. By persevering in prayer, we may come to acknowledge that all things are in God’s hands, and that we can rest content to leave them there, trusting the situation will be cared for as God sees fit. It seems trite to say God hears all prayer and sometimes the answer is no! It is better to say God respects the freedom of people and will seldom intervene to change the way events unfold. Prayer can change the one who prays and also the one for whom the prayer is offered, if only human need is recognized and divine solitude is acknowledged.

With the assurance that God is greater than every human need, more powerful than any inconvenience, and more loving than can be imagined… “How much more will God give…” [v. 13]. The Jesus of Luke encourages believers to; ask, seek, and knock, without doubt or hesitation and, like Abraham and the friend in the gospel, with utter shamelessness! Prayer has been a key component of faith for thousands of years. Prayer can be uniquely personal, but today’s readings provide some essential and expansive insights about prayer from both Judaism and early Christianity. Abraham and Jesus both extol the importance of persistence, and Jesus teaches us that prayer at its best is communal. The importance of the body of Christ, us, is that we pray as one body of God’s people. We pray most profoundly, and we dare to pray at all, because God is loving and just.

Lord, teach us how to pray aright,

With reverence and with fear.

Though dust and ashes in your sight,

We may, we must draw near.

We perish if we cease from prayer,

Oh, grant us power to pray.

And when to meet you we prepare,

Lord, meet us on our way.

Give deep humility,

The sense of Godly sorrow give,

A strong desire, with confidence,

To hear your voice and live.

Faith in the only sacrifice

That can for sin atone,

To cast our hopes, to fix our eyes

On Christ, on Christ alone.

Give these, and then your will be done,

Thus strengthened with all might,

We, through your spirit and son,

Shall pray and pray aright.

[ELW 745]

Loving God, we dare to come to you as we have been taught, connected to one another and to you through prayer. The boldness of our ancestors precedes us, and we trust in whatever outcomes you grant us. We pray, because Jesus encouraged us to pray. Amen.

July 20 ~ We are not alone in the work and we are not alone in the stillness, either

Click above to watch a recording of Sunday's Sermon

Genesis 18:1-10a

Psalm 15

Colossians 1:15-28

Luke 10:38-42

(The content of this sermon was 100% written in Canada by a human)

This morning we hear the story of the two sisters—Martha and Mary—a story that has been interpreted through the centuries. It’s one of those gospel stories that seem straightforward, but when we look at it carefully, we find it’s nuanced, and full of tension. The kind of tension we live in every day.

Jesus is welcomed into the home by Martha. She gets to work. She organizes, she prepares, she takes on the invisible labour that often gets overlooked until it’s missing. Mary, meanwhile, sits and listens—she’s present, attentive, grounded. And then comes that moment we all relate to: Martha, overwhelmed and perhaps feeling a little alone in it all, says to Jesus, “Lord, don’t you care that I’m doing this by myself? Tell Mary to help me!”

It’s a fair question. And Jesus’s answer—“Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things, but one thing is necessary”—has too often been read as a dismissal. Over the centuries, we’ve been told that Martha was wrong, and Mary was right. That contemplation matters more than action. That domestic work is lesser work. And that Martha, the doer, should have been more like Mary, the listener.

But maybe we’ve misread the tone. Maybe Jesus wasn’t criticizing Martha. Maybe he was seeing her.

Martha is not being scolded for working. In fact, she is the one who invites Jesus in. She is extending radical hospitality. She is creating the space where listening can even happen. Her labour is not insignificant. It’s important work.

But something is weighing on her. The text says she is “worried and distracted.” The Greek implies not just busyness, but inner turmoil—being pulled in many directions. That’s the real issue here. Not that she is working—but that she is pulled away from her own center.

Mary, on the other hand, is still. She is rooted. She has chosen to be fully present to Jesus in that moment, despite what may have been expected of her as a woman in that household. She resists the cultural norms of the time—she refuses to be shamed back into the kitchen—and Jesus affirms her place at his feet, in the posture of a disciple.

This is not a story about choosing contemplation over action. It’s a story about the challenge of aligning our inner lives with our outer lives. It’s a story about what it means to be whole.

Let’s bring this story into our own time. Earlier this year, the Canadian Institute for Health Information reported that over the last five years, there has been a 31% drop in mental health-related emergency room visits for young people. Hospitalizations are also down. On the surface, this sounds like good news—and in some ways, it is. But dig a little deeper, and the picture is more complicated.

Doctors are warning that many youth in Canada are still struggling with anxiety, depression, and disconnection. But instead of reaching a crisis point and ending up in emergency, more young people are accessing community-based care earlier—like family doctors, counselors, and mental health programs in schools.

They are learning, in a way, to recognize when they’re becoming overwhelmed—and to choose help earlier. They’re beginning to say, “I don’t have to keep doing all of it alone.” They’re starting to see that slowing down, reaching out, and making mental space is not a weakness, but a strength.

And maybe that’s the kind of choice Jesus is lifting up in Mary—not because it’s better than Martha’s way, but because it reflects a life lived with presence and attention. Because it’s a reminder that we can’t be everything to everyone all the time. And that choosing to listen, to breathe, to be grounded in what matters—that is sacred work too.

Now let’s return to Martha. What if the issue isn’t that she’s in the kitchen? What if the issue is that she feels alone? That she isn’t being seen? She’s not just asking for help—she’s asking to be noticed. She’s asking, in her own way, “Don’t you care about me?” And that is a deeply human question.

How many of us have felt that way? How many of us have done all the work behind the scenes—planned the event, hosted the meal, held the family together—and still felt invisible?

Jesus doesn’t tell Martha to stop serving. He invites her to notice how she’s being pulled away from her own joy. “Martha, Martha,” he says—repeating her name in the style of the prophets, in the tone of love. “You are worried and distracted. But one thing is necessary.”

So Jesus is not saying “You’re wrong,” or “Be more like Mary.” Perhaps Jesus is saying, “Come back to the centre.” In other words, “You are loved not because of what you do, but because of who you are.”

Mary and Martha represent two parts of the human experience. Mary reminds us to pause. To take in the moment. To listen to the voice of God that still speaks, even in the chaos of our lives. And Martha reminds us that care, hospitality, and action are not lesser forms of discipleship. They are necessary. They are sacred. But even the most faithful work must be rooted in love, not anxiety. In purpose, not performance.

Both sisters are faithful. Both are loved. And we are called, not to choose between them, but to embody them both at different times.

This story also speaks to our life in community as a church. We live in an age of deep distraction. We are pulled in many directions—programming, budgets, attendance numbers, social media metrics, cultural expectations. It’s easy to become like Martha—not in her work, but in her worry. We forget why we do what we do. We forget to rest at Jesus’s feet.

And yet, we also know that someone has to make and bring the food for coffee hour. Someone has to unlock the doors. Someone has to plan the next worship service and work on the property.

Martha is alive and well in our churches. And thank God she is. But we also need Mary. We need those people who remind us that listening, learning, and resting in God’s presence are not optional. They are essential. The strategy for a viable expression of who we are in the future requires both.

The good news in our gospel story today is not that one sister is right and the other is wrong. The good news is that Jesus shows up in their home, just as they are. He receives their hospitality, listens to their questions, and calls them both—gently, honestly, compassionately—back to what matters most.

The life-giving news is that we are defined not by the distractions or our duties in our personal lives. We are not more worthy when our calendar is full, or our checklist is complete. We are loved for who we are right now. We are seen now. We are invited to sit and rest and breathe and remember who we are.

It means choosing connection over comparison, presence over pressure, wholeness over hurry. It means knowing that whether we’re making sandwiches or sitting in silence—God is with us. It means trusting that we are not alone in the work, and we are not alone in the stillness either. It means, as our Canadian youth are slowly beginning to teach us, that we don’t have to wait until we’re in crisis to ask for help. We can choose what makes us whole now.

That’s the better part. And it will not be taken from us. Amen.