January 22nd 2023

Sermon By Rev Joel Crouse

History documents that during the Reformation many people were killed over the difference of opinion about God and the nature and divinity of Jesus Christ. Many Christians were being killed by other Christians. In the Upper Ottawa Valley, local stories say that up to only 60 years ago the people of Eganville who were divided by the Bonechere River—Protestants on one side and Roman Catholics on the other—would actually have fist-fights on the bridge that connected them. Christians were hurting Christians. In this day and age the religious strife around the world needs no retelling. The tension that exists in our own country over increasing polarization, the division between progressive and conservative theologies, and other issues that increase the blood pressure of many people, sustain the underlying discomfort and in some cases even hatred. Christians are in conflict with other Christians. What do you say when a person asks you what religion you are? If you’re like me you are probably in the habit of declaring your denominational status. And here-in lies the problem. You see, the option of choosing a particular congregation to be a part of wasn’t available for the Apostle Paul when he wrote his letter to the Corinthians. But as he addresses the divisions in the Corinthian congregation, he does give us direction for how we should perceive ourselves as modern-day Christians, and how we should move ahead as Christ’s church into the future. First of all Paul would point out that it is wrong, if not bordering on heresy, to say we were baptized Lutheran, Pentecostal, R.C., or any other denominational label including non-denominational. He asks those who in the Corinthian congregation said, “I belong to Paul”, “were you baptized in the name of Paul?” So I ask you, were you baptized in the name of the Luther, Calvin, Zwingly or the Pope? Let’s remember that it wasn’t denominational water that was poured over us in baptism. It was common ordinary water - the same water that comes out of every church tap in this city. And it was the same Word of God, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” It was grace, God’s doing that claimed and named us as God’s children. Whether we like it or not, want it or not, we are bound together to God and each other by our baptism in Christ. Secondly, we are bound together by the gospel, the good news of God’s grace and love in the life, death and resurrection to redeem and make us whole. I think if the Apostle Paul were writing his letter to the modern day Canadian Church, he wouldn’t be too happy about the different denominations that have grown up out of the same root. Paul was very sensitive to different congregations leaning to one side of the gospel or another. Paul really wanted that first group of Christians to remain as close to their roots and as true to the gospel as possible. Once a year, Christians around the world celebrate “The week of prayer for Christian unity”. Online and down the street at St Andrews Presbyterian church, Christians from different denominations will join together to celebrate the unity we all share - the gospel. 352 member churches that make up the World Council of Churches have declared “the mutual recognition of each other as churches where the gospel is preached and taught.” Like Paul we say, “we are not ashamed of the gospel. It grants freedom to EVERYONE who has faith. Like Paul, we are called to live and preach the gospel. Like Paul in our lesson, we center that gospel in the cross of Christ. I ask you, is there such a thing as a denominational cross? Is the cross in our church, a Lutheran Cross? No! It is the cross of Christ. Marked by that cross in baptism, saved by that cross, taking up that cross by following Jesus in faithful discipleship, by seeing that cross before our closing eyes in death - in life and in death, we are all united in the gospel, through the cross of Christ. But now the hard part in our lesson. Because of our baptism and our faith in the gospel, the Apostle Paul says, “I appeal to you, sisters and brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree that there be no dissension among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.” Isn’t he asking for too much? He and the Apostle Peter didn’t always have the same mind and there was certainly dissension between Paul and John Mark. As long as you have two people, you’ll always have some difference of opinion. Collect more in a congregation and collect congregations into a church and the differences will multiply. I don’t think Paul is asking, nor am I suggesting, that we leave our denominational heritage behind for some generic no-name brand of religion. I love my Lutheran heritage and will always stand up for Article IV of the Augsburg Confession. And I am known in this City to have thrown the gloves off while debating with new line Christians about their beliefs. But I always depart in peace knowing that the roots of our faith are not so different. These words of Paul hold, “Let there be no dissension among you.” We are not enemies fighting the “I’m right and your wrong” battles, or playing the “I’m better than you are” games. And while Paul’s appeal, “to be united in the same mind and same judgment” might seem to be asking for too much, it is not too much if he means the same mind about Christ, about our baptism, about the gospel. To be of the same mind should mean to see ourselves as brother’s and sister’s with each other -- to see ourselves as partners in the gospel supporting each other in our common mission to the world. If not, if our churches see ourselves in competition with each other, then as the apostle Paul ends the lesson, “the cross of Christ will be emptied of its power”. So what does it mean for you and I to call ourselves Christian? Hopefully it means we take our calling seriously enough to nurture our individual lives, the lives of others within our churches, and the Holy Christian church throughout our community and around the world. Our church, which is Christ’s church, will be richer if we as individual Christians learn to honor the differences and celebrate the similarities of each other. In this way, we indeed fulfill the calling to which we have been called - to be the church - to be Christians in every way - to everyone. Amen.

January 15th 2023

Sermon By Rev Joel Crouse

It’s January, the high of Christmas is gone, the sun has gone missing, the snow is falling heavily, you’re back at work or staring down exams or bored with inside living. There is a sense in our fair city of grin-and-bear-it until spring arrives. So let me tell you two stories that cheered me up this week. The first is about an 11-year-old named Jude Kofie in Colorado. Money is tight in his house: his parents are from Ghana, and they are working hard to raise their family in the United States, while still sending money back to Africa to help relatives there. Jude has autism, but one day, he finds a battered old keyboard in the home his parents rent and start playing. He had never had a lesson, and yet, he was making wonderful music. Along came Bill Magnusson, a piano tuner. He didn’t know the Kofie family, but he’d heard about Jude. Using money from an inheritance, he bought a grand piano for the young prodigy, and offered to tune it every week, and cover lessons for Jude. “All for free,” Jude’s father said. “Who does that?” A few days later, another story caught my attention: This one was about a veteran named Butch Marion, who, at 82, was still working as a cashier at Walmart to pay his bills. Rory McCarty happened to cross paths with him one day and decided this was an injustice he could correct. Using his following on Tik Tok, he raised $100,000 and gifted it to Butch – enough money for him to quit his job and finally retire, and maybe visit his kids in Florida. A few days after that, a study came out: a group of researchers in Ohio had divided up patients with anxiety and depression into three groups: two groups received regular treatments such as therapy or social activities. But the third group was assigned acts of kindness – they had to perform three acts of kindness a day, for at least two days of the week. The acts were simple – they gave a ride to a friend, or left a happy message for their roommate, or baked cookies to cheer somebody up. All three groups saw their mental health improve – but researchers suggested that the acts of kindness had the edge – people in that group felt more deeply connected to others. And in fact, when I sat down to read the gospel early this week, it all came together. Bill Magnusson created a connection with Jude Kofie and his family. Rory McCarty created a link with social media followers that led to Butch Marion. Those acts of kindness in the study created more connections – tying people – strangers – together into community. And that’s what our gospel is essentially about: the power of the gospel to spread, to connect strangers, to build community. We can see how that story grew – John the Baptist meets Jesus. Two men standing by encounter them together the next day and are welcomed into the fold as disciples. From there, more disciples are added, more followers join the crowd. The community grows. And it travels, not on the dusty roads of Jesus’s day, but through time, across thousands of years, to connect to us sitting here in 2023. We are all connected. But not by hate or fear. We are connected by the welcome one stranger showed another: by the generosity of acquaintances, and by the kindness of friends. Without that welcome and generosity and kindness, there is no story at all; the link would be broken. “Come and see,” Jesus says to those two newcomers. Come and see. And in this way, Jesus calls them into his circle. This week, our Service Committee met together – and it was another heartwarming experience to observe. People coming together from our three congregations full of ideas not for how to save money or pay bills – but how to be kind in giving. How to answer the question: Who will we be? How to respond to the call from Jesus: to come and see what the gospel can do. Now I know I talk about kindness a lot. But there is a reason for that. I fully believe that kindness works best when it is a deliberate practice, when we get a booster in how to accomplish it. But also, I see every day, the truth of those stories. People who become happier and feel younger when they focus on giving to other people. And I see what those actions offer those who receive them, reminding them of good in the world often when they need it most. January can be a grumpy month. But only if we let it. We are connected to those first disciples who, in our reading this morning, are meeting Jesus for just the first time. We know the life-changing epiphany that awaits them; how their lives will be forever changed. They answered the call: “Come and see.” The same call we hear from Jesus. The same calls that connect us. Come and see who I am, Jesus says. Come and see the need of the world. Come and see the kindness we can accomplish together. Amen

Story of Bill and Jude

https://www.facebook.com/1077TheIsland/?comment_id=Y29tbWVudDoxMDE1NzYwNj IxMjczODM4N18xMDE1NzYwNjIxNTk4MzM4Nw%3D%3D

Story of Butch and Rory

https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/82-year-old-retires-from-walmart-afterfundraiser-goes-viral/442537

Ohio Study

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/01/230110103424.htm H

January 8th 2023

Sermon By Rev Joel Crouse

In 2017, a woman named Melanie Vogel set out to walk alone across the country - east to north to south. I heard a lot about Melanie Vogel in the week leading up to Christmas – some of you may have seen Erin’s story in The Globe and Mail. Yes, Ms. Vogel eventually achieved her ambition. It took five years. She walked through every kind of weather you can imagine – hailstones the size of golf balls, blizzards, and rain storms. And across every kind of terrain – through prairies, over mountains, across rivers. She had to stop in the Yukon to wait out the pandemic. But eventually, she made it from Cape Spear, Nfld, to Victoria, BC. Along the way, she met a stray dog she called Malo, who won everyone’s hearts - including her own. She was hosted and helped by all kinds of people in every part of the country. She earned the title as the first woman to hike the Trans Canada Trail – the longest hiking trail in the world – reaching the Atlantic, Arctic, and Pacific Oceans. Her hike was 20,000 kilometres. But this achievement, as my wife can tell, was incidental – it was the journey that drew Melanie to the trail, the call to renew her restless spirit in nature. To walk, and think, and experience the world, slowly and mindfully. Journeys captivate us; as a species, we are often tied to one place, we feel attached to that place even when we are away from it. But yet we admire those who get up and go somewhere, who seek out adventure and uncertainty. We talk to ourselves about the journeys of our lives, through time and places. About moving through grief. We look for what lies on the other side: the searching and seeking. The Christmas story is, in essence, a collection of journeys, real and metaphorical. Or, I should say, physical journeys that became spiritual ones. Mary and Joseph start things off, heading to Bethlehem; and their journey is characterized by resilience and determination, for surely it was sheer force of will that kept a pregnant Mary on that donkey, and a resolved Joseph at her side. Then we have the Shepherds, our leading acts last Sunday, whose journey from the field to the manger scene demonstrates courage and curiosity. And now, this Sunday, we follow the Magi, travelling from the East, tangling with and outsmarting Herod, and finally reaching this Baby everyone has been taking about. Everyone in our story had to travel to find God; they had to make a journey. God didn’t just come to them; they also went to God. And they did so, not knowing for certain how it would turn out, only trusting that it would. The Magi knew they were risking their necks to continue on their way, not sharing with Herod what they knew and learned. Yet what we sing most about them is not their guile in Herod’s palace, but the journey they made, travelling far, from the East. It is the ambition of their journey that captivates us. Melanie Vogel started out alone on her hike; but she was not alone, in fact for long. What I found most inspiring about her story is that she seemed, even in times of despair, to get what she needed. Running from a disturbing encounter with a strange man, she encounters a woman who offers her a hug and a place to stay. When she needs more confidence winter camping, a couple she has just met help her practice. When she is lonely, she finds company; when she is cold, she finds a hospitable home. When she is losing her spirit on the trail, along comes Malo, at the right time. When she needs community, she is not alone. This should remind us of all the absent people in the Christmas story whom we don’t read about, who aren’t immortalized along the way. Surely, along all our three journeys, there must have been helping hands – strangers who offered to share a warm fire with a young couple expecting a baby; villagers willing to feed the shepherds; watchful eyes ready to warn the Magi. But of course, what we learn from Melanie Vogel’s story, and from our Christmas journeys, is that community doesn’t just happen. Ms. Vogel created openings for those welcoming gestures by being friendly and taking an interest in the world around her; at times, when she most wanted to stop, and she was all alone, she was her own supportive community. Her journey – like the Christmas story – was external, and internal; it required strength of purpose, strength of spirit, and the strength of people. Now, we are not all of us, readying in on a physical journey. But the metaphor is a good one; we don’t need to be stuck in one place. We can move with purpose in the direction that we want to go. Like the travellers at Christmas, we too can be resilient and curious and crafty – and keep our eye on our destination. But we rarely get there alone. Even our Christmas traveller s had one another to lean on. Community helps us along the way – if we have the openness to welcome it and accept support. I think that’s what really draws me to the idea of a journey; the openness it requires. If your mind is closed, you can’t go anywhere. Starting a journey suggests a desire to be renewed or changed into something better. It says we are not stuck. We can honour a journey for its own purpose; the destination is part of it – and good to have, but it is not the only thing. Journeys can happen at any time in life; the wisest people I know are always travelling toward God. This year is only a week old. A journey just started. May we be resilient, and curious, and crafty; may we slow down enough to find community for ourselves and create it for others; and may we never be stuck. May we keep travelling toward God. Amen.