A Year-Long Exploration of the Sermon on the Mount: Week 40

Chapter 40 – The Good Eye

 

As we get into the final few weeks of our exploration of the Sermon of the Mount, we begin to delve into some of the more difficult verses. Matthew 6:22-23 talks about eyes and lamps, darkness and light. Quite a curious pair of verses.

 

If your eyes are working properly, they will take in the light of the room and allow you to see. If they aren’t working, you will be in darkness. This same description is used in Luke 11. Timothy Keller links both metaphors to money, materialism, and greed. He declares that “Jesus says … this darkens your eye spiritually.” (p. 254)

 

According to Keller, the darkness comes from not wanting to talk about greed, not wanting to admit that we are quite likely greedy, we just don’t realize it. We compare ourselves to someone richer than us, and there’s probably always someone richer than us, and decide that because rich people exist, we aren’t greedy. But just because someone might be more extravagant than you, doesn’t mean your greed is non-existent. Did you choose your job because of enjoyment or money? Or are you turning a blind eye to the damage your employer is causing to the environment?

 

The darkness of materialism is everywhere in our society. Perhaps it’s time for us to reassess how we spend out money. Even just by focusing on buying Canadian and/or local, we are letting our eyes see the reality of where our money goes after it leaves our hands.

A Year-Long Exploration of the Sermon on the Mount: Week 39

Chapter 39 – Lasting Treasures

 

Not only is humanity full of selfishness and greed, but it also seems to be incapable of letting go of things and stuff. It’s as if the accumulation of “stuff” is the most important thing to many people. And the richer you are, the less likely you’re willing to let go of anything, especially money. Basil the Great states, “if everyone took for himself enough to meet his immediate needs and released the rest for those in need of it, there would be no rich and no poor.” (p. 249)

 

I took economics in school, and I still couldn’t tell you what’s happening in today’s economy. Pries are skyrocketing, especially when it comes to food and other necessities. And how about the salaries for professional athletes? Why do they need all of that money? Probably just to buy more stuff. It’s hard to comprehend why the few richest people feel like they need more when so many people have nothing, can’t even buy food to feed their family.

 

And it’s not like you can take it with you when you die. All these earthly treasures that are being accumulate will just be left behind once you’re gone, so why not spread the wealth while you’re around to see the joy on someone else’s face? As Clement of Alexandria says, “In the end it is not the one who keeps, but the one who gives away, who is rich.” (p. 251)

A Year-Long Exploration of the Sermon on the Mount: Week 38

Chapter 38 – Deliver Us

 

…but deliver us from the evil one. (Matthew 6:13)

Now that we’ve asked God not to lead us into temptation, or to save us from the time of trial, our next request is to be delivered from evil, or the evil one. But what is this evil, or who is this evil one? Our minds automatically go to Satan. Makes sense that we’d ask God to deliver us from Satan and his evil ways. This feels too simple, though.

Romana Guardini says, “The evil I have to contend with is a distillation from past evil that comes from others or myself.” (p. 240) The evil we come across in our lives is not Satan, but humanity. The selfishness and greediness of God’s creation have done more harm in this world than Satan ever has. Guardini continues, “Wars are not started by the force of nature, but by selfishness everywhere.”

Repeatedly we hear how humanity is destroying the planet, and how if we were to take better care of our resources, there would be enough for everyone. And yet, the world is run by a select few with millions barely able to get their hands on a loaf of bread because “the real evil does not stem from nature, but from the coldness and hardness of selfishness, the negligence of the indolent, the thoughtlessness of the superficial and pleasure-loving.” (p. 240)

The good news is that God can deliver us from this evil, if only we would put our faith into God and follow God’s lead. Jesus has given us the roadmap to deliverance, now it’s up to us to listen.

A Review of the Book "The Fire Sermon" by Francesca Haig

Title: The Fire Sermon

Author: Francesca Haig

Publisher: Gallery Books

Year: 2015

370 pages

From the Back: Four hundred years after a nuclear apocalypse, the Alphas have inherited the earth - or what's left of it. All humans are born in pairs, the deformed Omegas getting split from their flawless twins and exiled to bleak farming villages while the Alphas exploit and oppress them almost unto death. But despite their claims of superiority, the Alphas cannot escape one harsh fact: whenever one twin dies, so does the other.

    Cass is a rare Omega whose mutation is psychic foresight - not that she needs it to know that as her powerful twin, Zach, ascends the ranks of the ruling Alpha Council, she's in grave danger. Zach has a devastating plan for Omega annihilation. Cass has visions of an island where a bloody Omega resistance promises a life of freedom. But her real dream is to discover a middle way, one that would bring together the sundered halves of humanity. And that means both the Council and the resistance have her in their sights.

Personal Thoughts: This was a very entertaining book! The story was engaging, the characters enthralling, and you couldn't help but compare events to what's happening in our society. As with most dystopian science-fiction, the story doesn't fall far from reality. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.

"Anything You Can Do": A Sermon for the 20th Sunday After Pentecost

May only truth be spoken and may only truth be heard. Amen.

 

Sometimes life feels like a giant competition. We are always trying to one-up the other person – better job, bigger house, faster car, cuter child, larger bank account. Social media hasn’t helped one bit. We are constantly in a state of comparison and vying for the most likes and shares. With people posting pictures of their lives, we only ever see the best parts and the good days but none of the struggles or bad days. The perfect family photo – but no sign of how long it took to get everyone ready and looking at the camera. With digital photography, you know right away if you need to keep taking more pictures until you have the perfect one for social media posting. So, when you look at your friends’ Facebook post and see perfect, smiling people, you can’t help but compare your life to theirs and wonder why yours looks so different.

 

Today’s parable also seems like a competition – the Pharisee against the tax collector, each vying for God’s affection. These are two characters that couldn’t be more opposite. The Pharisee was a highly religious man who knew all of the laws that would have needed to be followed in order to be considered properly pious. Based on what we read here, he was a good man. He isn’t a thief or an adulterer. He fasted and he tithed more than what was required. He peeks over and sees the tax collector, off in the corner with his eyes to the ground. The Pharisee prays to God, which is what he was there to do, but he does so in such a way to show people how good of a person he is. “Look at me,” he says, “I’m so glad I’m not a tax collector. Look at all the good things I’ve done.” It’s almost as if rather than giving thanks to God for all that he has in his life, the Pharisee is giving God a run-down of his resume as proof of having earned his position in heaven.

 

And then we have the tax collector. A real scumbag. He harasses his fellow Jewish community for money on behalf of the Roman empire and then skims a little off the top for himself. He’s as dishonest as you can get and cruel to his fellow countrymen. Compared to the Pharisee, a tax collector would never have been considered good or pious. And yet, he also finds himself in temple each week, praying to God with a simple declaration, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”, as his beats his chest while keeping his eyes on the floor. This tax collector knows that he’s a sinner and all he asks is that God forgives him. According to Jesus, this tax collector would have been more justified than the Pharisee. In Paul’s vernacular, this would have been justification by works versus justification by faith.

 

And the justification championship goes to – the tax collector! Hardly seems fair, though, does it? The tax collector who does everything wrong during the week that he possibly could receives God’s justification over the Pharisee who does everything right by the law. There should have been no comparison. But as with social media posts having more behind them than meets the eye, so does the comparison between the Pharisee and the tax collector. God isn’t looking for the one who is perfectly pious. God is looking for the one who is truly penitent. The new standard is no longer the code of the law the Pharisee is following so closely, it’s the love of God on which the tax collector threw himself.

 

The Pharisee is showing off to God and to anyone in earshot, listing off all the ways he is perfectly following the letter of the law which should put him closer to God. The tax collector knows who he is and asks for God’s forgiveness, week in and week out, casting himself onto the mercy of God. And week in and week out, he gets the mercy and forgiveness he seeks. That’s called grace. Robert Farrar Capon tells it this way. The Pharisee is like the perfect church member. He does everything by the book. He gives everything he has to the church. He gives thanks to God for everything that he has (or at least makes it seem like he is). The Pharisee is the perfect candidate for vestry, and any church would be lucky to have him on their parish list. But what about the guy who takes a twenty from the plate as it passes by? The guy who spends Monday through Saturday crossing off every deadly sin as if it were a checklist? The guy who comes in every Sunday morning, staring down at his feet, and saying, “God be merciful to me a sinner?” Probably not the first one you’d ask to join the vestry or any other church committee, for that matter.

 

Between the Pharisee and the tax collector, we can all admit to ourselves who we’d be more likely to welcome through our door. But God does things differently. To God, the Pharisee is no better off than the tax collector. In fact, the Pharisee is worse off because at least the other guy can admit that he is a sinner. According to Capon, “The fact is that they are both equally dead and therefore both alike receivers of the gift of resurrection.”

 

And this is good news for us! How many of us can claim that we had the perfect week? A week where we committed no sin, or error, or mistake? We can’t! The good news is that we can come here every Sunday, give everything we’ve done over to God, admit that we are sinners, and start over. Why? Because Jesus died for our sins on the cross so that we can have eternal life with God alongside the resurrected Jesus.

 

As church people, we aren’t supposed to have it all together. We are human beings who fail daily at perfection. And that’s okay because God doesn’t expect perfection. God’s justification is based on love, faith, and trust, not perfection, pride, or piousness. God expects us to love God, to love ourselves, and to love one another. God expects us to have faith in God’s plans for us. And God expects us to trust that God knows what God is doing.

 

The point of today’s parable is not to see who the best is at praying to God. It’s not about creating competition amongst the people of God to see who deserves the most justification. It’s not about who has scored the most points with God in order to get closer to heaven. God doesn’t keep score of our deeds, good or bad. God doesn’t monitor to make sure you’re praying properly. The point of today’s parable is a lesson in trusting in God’s grace and mercy, for if a tax collector can find mercy before God, then who could possibly be excluded?

 

God’s greatest act of mercy is found in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. All people are drawn into the mystery of redemption through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now, at the foot of the cross, we can make the tax collector’s cry for mercy our own: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” In Luke’s Gospel, we see this enacted in the penitent thief who says, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus replies, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

 

Amen.

Resources

"New Collegeville Bible Commentary" New Testament" edited by Daniel Durken

"Luke for Everyone" by N T Wright

"Feasting on the Word" edited by David L Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor

"The Parables of Jesus" by Neal F Fisher

"The Parables of Grace" by Robert Farrar Capon

pulpitfiction.com

episcopalchurch.org

Be Persistent for Change: A Sermon for the 19th Week After Pentecost

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O God. Amen.

In the Parable of the Unjust Judge, Jesus selects a widow as the model for discipleship. This widow, as any other widow in Jesus’ time, had no one to intercede for her in the decisions of the judge. The widow, as a woman alone in the first century, was vulnerable to being taken advantage of in any number of ways. She was easy prey to those who would take advantage of her dire financial straits and her physical vulnerability. She was probably up against a wealthy opponent and his bribes, but she was so poor that she had no money by which to bribe the judge for herself.

 

The question of bribery is not out of question for this parable, for this judge was one who had “no fear of God and no respect for anyone.” The person who would have heard these words while listening to Jesus speak would understand that the lack of fear for God naturally entailed lack of respect for human beings, since the two were closely related throughout the Hebrew Bible. A judge in Israel was not only expected to be an unbiased umpire, but a defender for those who had no defender, the champion of the oppressed – the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the foreigner. Because God was the one who cared especially for the victims of persecution, it was necessary for any judge to see that the rights of the powerless were heard.

 

The judge in the story today did not fear God and therefore considered himself under no mandate to be a defender to the defenseless. The widow came to the judge asking him to secure her rights, but the judge refused to act on her behalf. There is no indication of what her cause is, who has wronged her, or what she wants. And no details about the judge’s reluctance to do so. We don't know what the opponent she wants justice from has done to her, but whatever it is, she is not going to stand for it. The woman persisted in her demands for justice.

 

Finally, the judge succumbed to her persistence and said to himself:

“Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone,

yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice,

so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.”

 

The translation that she will “wear him out” has been diluted over time. A more literal translation of the judge's grievance is that the woman "is giving me a black eye." Like all black eyes, the one the widow's complaints threaten to inflict have a double effect, representing both physical and social distress. That is, the judge complains that the widow's relentless badgering may not only cause him physical harm but also risks publicly embarrassing him. For this reason, he says – perhaps justifying his actions to his wounded sense of self – that he relents not because he has changed his mind but simply to shut up this dangerous widow.

 

After the judge grants the woman’s request, Jesus proceeds to put the questions to the hearer: “And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?” Here, Jesus is not holding up the conduct of an unjust judge for commendation. He is saying that if even an unrighteous judge will grant justice out of fear and self-interest, will not God, who is the champion of the poor and the oppressed, grant them the justice that they pray for and seek day and night?

 

The reign of God is vindication of the oppressed. It is glimpsed when the oppressed get justice, even when they have to take it from an unwilling and an unjust judge. It is glimpsed when we see one who is powerless demand and obtain for herself the justice that is hers.

 

Luke’s point with this parable seems to be that we need to be persistent. Where has the persistent widow showed up in your life? Or, maybe better, who has been the persistent widow in your life? Perhaps it was an advocate for 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusion, motivated by the love of a gay son, lesbian daughter, or transgender child, pushing for rights in school, government, and church. Perhaps it’s the mother of a child in a wheelchair demanding better accessibility at school. Perhaps it’s people you know on either side of the climate change debate, one passionate about care of creation and the other against the economic cost of proposed climate protections. Perhaps it was you, fighting for something you believe in even if no one else was on your side.

 

Persistence is important when encouraging ourselves and those suffering injustice to continue complaints and demands for justice. Persistence is needed for not only continual demands for justice, but also for change in the systems that are doing the oppressing in the first place. Jesus calls on us to “pray always and not to lose heart,” reminding us that faith is not a passive undertaking. The things we toss and turn with in the night call out for our attention, advocacy, and justice. To fulfill this call, we must be willing to be persistent. We must be willing to bring our prayers to God unceasingly, trusting that our petitions will be heard. God, the Bible has persistently insisted, gives special attention to those who are most vulnerable; therefore, we should persist in our complaints, even to the point of embarrassing the powers that be in order to induce change.

 

But as you fight alongside God for the widow, the orphan, the poor, the foreigner, and anyone else who has been oppressed, remember this one word…Empathy. Empathy for the person on the other side of the conversation. Empathy for the widow or judge or someone in between. Empathy for each other and for ourselves. For while we are fighting to right an injustice, we must remember that we are all human beings who deserve to be respected and who crave the mercy, care, and justice of the God we know in Christ.

 

Amen.

Resources

pulpitfiction.com

workingpreacher.com

A Year-Long Exploration of the Sermon on the Mount: Week 37

Chapter 37 – Temptation

 

And lead us not into temptation…. (Matthew 6:13)

 

Do we really think that God is leading us into temptation? “How easy is it to blame someone else when we’re tempted to sin. It’s “his” fault, “her” fault, or when all else fails, it’s God’s fault.” (Bad Girls of the Bible, p. 57)

 

God does not lead us into temptation. That’s ridiculous. This is not something God would ever do. Leading us to temptation is Satan’s work. That’s why Pope Francis called for this particular line of The Lord’s Prayer be changed. In 2019, Pope Francis called for the traditional translation “Lead us not into temptation” be changed to “Do not let us fall into temptation”. Francis explained, “I am the one who falls; it’s not him pushing me into temptation to then see how I have fallen.” (www.desiringgod.org/articles/reading-the-bible-upside-down)

On page 234, N T Wright says that there are three levels of meaning in the verse “lead us not into temptation”:

1.      “Let us escape the tribulation”

2.      “Do not let us be led into temptation that we will be unable to bear”

3.      “Enable us to pass safely through the testing of our faith”

In the more modern Lord’s Prayer, it states, “Save us from the time of trial.”

There are so many ways we can look at this verse without thinking that God is leading us towards temptation. It is more likely that God wants to walk with us through temptation, helping us to get through whatever trouble we find ourselves in.

A Bit of Bread Goes a Long Way: A Sermon for the 18th Week After Pentecost

May only truth be spoken and truth received. Amen.

 

“Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” What a powerful final verse to our reading today, the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, a time where many of us will gather with family, eating to our hearts content. Turkey, stuffing, gravy, pie, and, of course, bread.

 

For thousands of years, bread has been the symbol of necessary food and the sustenance of life. It is easy to understand why. It is nutritious, providing carbohydrates, starch, and protein to the body. Bread is essential and it’s more than just nutrition. It’s comfort. The texture, the weight, the taste, all combine to make bread both the staff of life and the number one comfort food. And yet, so many people lack access even to a small amount of bread. A little bit of bread could be everything to someone who is hungry. It’s a staple in most households, and yet we take it for granted that that loaf of bread will always be available to us.

 

Based on data from the 2023 Statistics Canada’s Canadian Income Survey, 10 million Canadians, including about 2 million children, live in food-insecure homes. That’s about 25% of our population wondering where their next loaf of bread will come from. Those numbers have doubled in two years, and I fear that they aren’t getting any better.

 

The Bible is unambiguous about our duty as Christians to feed the hungry. In the Hebrew Bible, God provides manna from heaven to feed the Israelites in the wilderness (Exodus 16). The prophet Isaiah exhorts his listeners to respond to God’s abundance with acts of justice and compassion, including sharing our food with all who hunger and dismantling systems that produce hunger in the first place (58:7). Perhaps most significant of all is Jesus’ instruction in Matthew 25 that how we treat people suffering from hunger, thirst, and other vulnerable situations is how we treat Christ himself (31-46). As we sit down to our dinners over the weekend, let us remember those who won’t have that same opportunity and ponder what we, as Christians, can do to live up to our duty to protect our neighbour.

 

Let us ponder once again that final gospel verse, “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

 

Every culture has bread in one or many forms. There’s white bread, wheat bread, pumpernickel, French, Italian, pita, tortilla, sour dough, and the list goes on and on. Say the word “bread” and chances are some good image, or taste, or smell, or texture is bound to pop up in our heads. All of those breads will grow stale and inedible in a relatively short period of time. Even the manna from heaven that fed the Hebrews in the wilderness was temporary.

 

But Jesus came offering a new kind of bread, one that doesn’t go bad, one that isn’t temporary, one that nourishes perpetually and lasts forever, one that sustains relationships and bolsters hope. Jesus is pure love and compassion for all people on the earth. Jesus is the source of life, the source of eternal life, the source of the values of our daily lives, the pattern of love for our daily lives. Jesus is never just regular old bread. Jesus is the bread of life.

 

As we consume physical bread, it gives us nourishment and energy for our physical lives. As we consume Jesus into our lives, his indwelling presence becomes the source for compassionate energy without our lives. He becomes the nourishment and energy for our spiritual, emotional, and moral lives. When we absorb Christ into our daily lives, we take in the mind and heart of God who loves all people as God's children. That is what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit, what it means to have the Spirit of Jesus living inside of you. It means to have the heart and mind of God living inside of you. Jesus is the Bread of life and whoever eats of Christ will never hunger again. When we eat and absorb Jesus’ words, spirit, and love into our lives, Jesus lives in us, and we will never die.

 

The basic food staple of the world is bread, and Jesus is the basic spiritual staple of the world. There is a shortage of physical bread in this world of ours, but there will never be a shortage of spiritual bread. God's nourishment is not the old bread of life which fed some, but the new bread of life who feeds all. The true bread is the bread of God that has now come down from Heaven in the person of Jesus.

 

Jesus points to bread beyond bread, to that gift from God which not only comes to the world through Jesus but is in fact Jesus himself. The bread which endures to eternal life is this relationship which has been made possible by the incarnation of the Son. In fact, the bread which endures is the Son himself, whom God gives for the world. As we absorb the spirit of Jesus Christ and his love, justice, and compassion, these qualities live more fully in us.

 

While we celebrate this weekend, let us not muddle our understand of thanks as praising God for material possessions. Jesus’ greatest gift to us is not the clothing, cars, computers, all the other physical gifts we earn or receive that are temporary. As wonderful as all of that is, it is Him, His teachings, His example, and His undying love that leads to eternal life…that is the greatest gift.

 

If we want eternal life, we must eat the food only God can give. We must believe that Jesus was the One sent down from heaven, by God, to show us the way to eternal life. This good news of Jesus’ life and teachings is enacted in the Lord’s Supper – where bread and wine become our way of connecting again and again with Christ, the Son of God. We are to then go live out that example and that connection, and to be grateful for the gifts of nature and neighbour. So, we are invited to come to Him, to study His word, follow His teaching, and put our trust in Him.

 

We are hungry for so many things in life. We are impatient in our hunger and want to satisfy our perceived needs as quickly as we can. Yet so much of what we hunger for doesn't last. When we eat food, we are hungry again. As we turn toward Jesus in our hunger for life, we find forgiveness, we find hope, and we find love. We are fed something that doesn't perish but rather something that flourishes – if we nurture it. In our everyday lives, we have seen it: the gift of bread, of mercy, of beauty, of healing. What can we possibly say, except thank you? For all that is, for all that has been, for all that still will be, O God our God, be above all and in all and through all, we give thanks for providing us with the bread of life, your Son, Jesus Christ.

 

Amen.

A Year-Long Exploration of the Sermon on the Mount: Week 36

Chapter 36 – As We Forgive

 

…as we also have forgiven our debtors… For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Matthew 6:12, 14-15)

 

Forgiveness is one of the hardest things we will ever have to do. When someone has wronged us, when someone has hurt us, the last thing in the world we likely want to do is forgive them. Because to forgive means we must forget, right? To forgive means we accept what that person has done to us as insignificant, right? Not exactly.

 

Forgiveness “does not wipe out the consequence of sin.” (p. 228) Even if forgiveness is given, it doesn’t cancel out what was done, and there should still be consequences. A child breaks a dish. They might still have a punishment – cleaning it up, maybe some time in their room – but it is unlikely that the parent will not forgive the child for breaking the dish.

 

“Forgiveness is the re-establishment of right relationship.” (p. 228) To give forgiveness means that you want to repair the relationship that has been damaged by the sin. It’s not forgetting what happened but acknowledging the harm the event has caused and deciding to move past it in order to work on the relationship. Now, if forgiveness is given but no change in behaviour occurs, then perhaps right relationship will not be restorable. Only the parties affected can make that decision.

 

What happens if there is no opportunity to forgive the person directly? If the harm occurred many years in the past and the two people are no longer in contact, can forgiveness be given? Doesn’t it even matter at that point? That would depend on the person looking to give forgiveness, but it certainly can still have an effect on that person. By forgiving the sinner, even from afar and with no current relationship, it can still relieve the burden that is being carried. Forgiving someone longer parted from your life can be a way of letting go of the shadow that might be hanging over your head because of the event in question. Even if you can’t right the relationship, or don’t want to for whatever reason, relieving yourself of the burden can be very liberating. In that case, you’d be re-establishing right relationship with yourself, your own heart, and your own soul.

A Year-Long Exploration of the Sermon on the Mount: Week 35

Chapter 35 – Forgive Us

 

And forgive us our debts… (Matthew 6:12)

 

“It is a basic Christian doctrine that we are all sinners.” (p. 218) This is something we learn right from the start of Sunday school. We are all sinners. As humans, we will never be perfect. It’s impossible to be perfect. We are all sinners. What we get as Christians, though, is the knowledge that God knows we aren’t perfect. God’s level of expectation of creation is pretty low. As equally as we know that we are all sinners, we know that God will always forgive us.

 

An important piece of this doctrine of sin is remembering that “all” means “all”. It doesn’t mean “everyone else but me.” As M Scott Peck states, “Housecleaning, like charity, should begin at home, and we usually have quite enough to do being our own watchdog without having to be anyone else’s.” (p. 218) It is important that we self-reflect on our own sinfulness and ask for God’s forgiveness and not worry about anyone else’s sins. We can only control what happens within ourselves.

 

And what does forgiveness mean? It means to “let go without a sense of guilt, obligation, or punishment.” (p.220) In the petition found in Matthew 6:12, we are asking for God to wipe the slate clean and allow us to start again. We acknowledge what we did today was wrong and we are asking for a new beginning tomorrow.

 

And you know what? That’s exactly what God gives us – a new beginning with a clean slate.

Two Months Later: A Reflection

I think one of the hardest things about change are the endings. Spending weeks of experiencing a slew of "lasts" was both exciting and heartbreaking. Six weeks from my last service in Manitoba, I sat in a conference room in Gimli, looking around at all the faces that I've grown to love and care for, faces that I will likely never see again. Sure, everyone says they will stay in touch, and we probably mean it, at the time. But the truth is that soon there will be almost four provinces between us, two ecclesiastical provinces, and a multitude of dioceses. We all know that despite the best of intentions, staying in touch doesn't always happen.

I suppose part of my wonderings on that day was whether or not I'd be leaving behind any sort of legacy. Would I be remembered? It's human nature to want to be remembered, to not be forgotten, so I shouldn't have been surprised at these feelings. People kept telling me how much they will miss me, how much the diocese will miss me, and how much of a loss my leaving has created. But was it truth or platitudes? If it was indeed truth, why? What have I done that will be missed so greatly? What kind of person am I that will cause my presence to be missed? What is, or was, my story and why does, or did, it matter?

As I prepared to leave the only life I've ever known, I felt awfully insignificant. And yet, somehow, my story remains newsworthy. The Winnipeg Free Press ran my story one last time - the story of my time as a transgender priest in the Diocese of Rupert's Land. To me, my story isn't that interesting, but everyone seems to be interested in hearing it. Yet when I speak my story, it comes out sounding very boring. Maybe I'm telling it wrong? Do I need to learn how to be a better story-teller?

Despite the fascinating part of being a transgender priest, the rest of my life is relatively dull and normal, and overwhelmingly insignificant. I don't have any abuse in my life. I wasn't kicked out for being gay. I was accepted, to my face anyway, for being transgender. It doesn't feel like I've risked my life or suffered in any way for being my authentic self. This doesn't mean I haven't had awful things happen to me, sad and heart-breaking things, but are they newsworthy? Are they important enough to be part of the story people want to hear?

So, did I leave a legacy behind in Rupert's Land? Perhaps. It's been two months since I left Manitoba and I still haven't been to answer that question. All I can do now is look towards the future and build on the legacy that I want to leave in the Diocese of Islands and Inlets. Onward and upward, as they say.

A Review of the Book "The Wastelands" by Stephen King

Title The Wastelands: The Dark Tower Book III

Author: Stephen King

Publisher: The Penguin Group

Year: 1991

420 pages

From the Back: With The Wastelands, the third masterful novel in Stephen King's epic saga The Dark Tower, we again enter the realm of the mightiest imagination of our time. King's hero, Roland, the Last Gunslinger, moves ever closer to the Dark Tower of his dreams and nightmares - as he crosses a desert of damnation in a macabre world that is a twisted mirror image of our own. With him are those he has drawn to this world, street-smart Eddie Dean and courageous wheelchair-bound Susannah. Ahead of him are mind-rending revelations about who he is and what is driving him. Against him is arrayed a swelling legion of fiendish foes both more and less than human. And as the pace of action and adventure, discovery, and danger pulse-poundingly quickens, the reader is inescapably drawn into a breathtaking drama that is both hauntingly dream-like and eerily familiar. The Wastelands is a triumph in storytelling sorcery and further testament to Stephen King's novelistic master.

Personal Thoughts: I thought I would struggle with taking so long between installments of this story, but King has a was of drawing you into the story each time. He did end reviewing the previous novels at different points in the book so it wasn't hard to get caught up.

    The Dark Tower continues to be an exciting story and, as always, King's writing makes it hard to put the book down because you want to find out what happens next! This book ends on a cliffhanger, at which King even leaves the reader an apology letter for leaving us with a cliffhanger. That said, it's certainly one way to make sure the next book gets sold!

A Year-Long Exploration of the Sermon on the Mount: Week 34

Chapter 34 – Daily Bread

 

Give us today our daily bread… (Matthew 6:11)

 

A little bit of bread could be everything to someone who is hungry. It’s a staple in most households, and yet we take it for granted that that loaf of bread will always be available to us. When we pray to God for our daily bit of bread, that prayer can go a long way. Not only are we praying that our loaf of bread will continue to exist, but that all mouths will be fed. By saying “our daily bread”, we are recognizing that all mouths deserve to be fed. The prayer also extends to all the work that goes into making that loaf of bread, because it doesn’t suddenly appear in our homes.

 

Behind a single loaf of bread, there is an entire string of events that takes place, events that go mostly unseen. Seeds need to be planted, tended to, and harvested. Many people are involved in storing the grain and then, subsequently, turning that grain into bread. Then there are all the stores who are involved in the selling the bread. There is an entire line of relationships that go into making, and then consuming, bread.

 

God is all about relationship, and a relationship with God means maintaining relationship with others. As per Leonardo Boff, “When we present God with our own needs, [God] wants us to include those of our brothers and sisters. Otherwise the bonds of fellowship are severed and we live only for ourselves.” (p. 215)

 

We pray to God for our daily bread, but God doesn’t want us to keep that bread to ourselves. We are meant to share it with others so that no one is in need. If we only give crumbs, are we really taking care of our neighbour? Or would it be better to give a sandwich?

Orange Shirt Day

The following is a teaching I put together for our Orange Shirt Day service. Within the text, I have indicated my sources.

May only truth be spoken and truth received. Amen.

 

(Quoted from https://orangeshirtday.org/ )

 

In the summer of 2021, the government of Canada declared September 30^th to be a federal statutory holiday called the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It is also known as Orange Shirt Day. It is a legacy of the St. Joseph Mission Residential School Commemoration Project and Reunion events that took place in Williams Lake, BC, in May 2013.

 

This project was the vision of Esketemc (Alkali Lake) Chief Fred Robbins, who is a former student himself. It brought together former students and their families from the Secwepemc, Tsilhqot’in, Southern Dakelh and St’at’imc Nations along with the Cariboo Regional District, the Mayors and municipalities, School Districts and civic organizations in the Cariboo Region.

 

The events were designed to commemorate the residential school experience, to witness and honour the healing journey of the survivors and their families, and to commit to the ongoing process of reconciliation. Chief Justice Murray Sinclair challenged all of the participants to keep the reconciliation process alive, as a result of the realization that every former student had similar stories.

 

As spokesperson for the Reunion group leading up to the events, former student Phyllis Webstad told her story of her first day at residential school when her shiny new orange shirt, bought by her grandmother, was taken from her as a six-year old girl. Here is her story…

 

READ THE STORY

 

The annual Orange Shirt Day on September 30^th opens the door to global conversation on all aspects of Residential Schools. It is an opportunity to create meaningful discussion about the effects of Residential Schools and the legacy they have left behind. A discussion all Canadians can tune into and create bridges with each other for reconciliation. A day for survivors to be reaffirmed that they matter.

 

(Quoted from “Phyllis’ Orange Shirt”)

 

So, each year, on September 30^th, many people, including Phyllis, wear bright orange shirts to honour residential school survivors and their families. Phyllis’ story is only one among many. We must listen to these stories, and we must learn from our past. By doing so, we can walk into the future without making the same mistakes again. When we wear our orange shirts, we reaffirm that every child matters – the children from every nation around the world, the residential school survivors, and the Indigenous children who didn’t come home.

 

Now some people might be wondering why we still talk about this topic, why we still wear orange shirts on (or near) September 30, and maybe even why we continue to give land acknowledgements before every worship service and every council meeting. Let’s talk a bit about why we still need to talk about truth and reconciliation.

 

(Quoted from https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/beyond-94?&cta=1)

 

In March 2018, CBC News launched Beyond 94, a website that monitors progress on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action. Beyond 94 was the result of a year’s worth of research and interviews with survivors, stakeholders and all levels of government. (According to the CBC website, Beyond 94 was updated as recently as April 2025.)

 

The site provides up-to-date status reports on each call to action, as well as extensive summaries explaining those status reports. It includes in-depth features and short video documentaries that tell some of the community stories behind the calls to action. It also features residential school survivors sharing their experiences. (I strongly recommend you go and explore the website.)

 

In researching the progress of each Call to Action, CBC reached out to relevant governments, faith groups, professional and community organisations for comment. [They] fact-checked each response with invested stakeholders. [They] also cross-referenced federal funding announcements with actual and past financial expenditures. [They] also drew information from past and current CBC stories.

 

Beyond 94 measures the progress of the Calls to Action based on the following;

 

“Not started” refers to Calls to Action in which no action plan has been developed and/or no funds have been committed, to implement the Call to Action.

 

“In Progress – Projects proposed” refers to Calls to Action in which the relevant parties involved have either committed to an action plan or funding, but not yet followed through with it.

 

“In Progress – Projects underway” refers to Calls to Action in which the relevant parties involved are actively working towards implementing that call, with both a timeline and (where needed) the funding to make it happen.

 

“Complete” refers to Calls to Action which have been fully implemented.

 

Now I’m not going to list them all, but I will give you a summary. Of the 94 Calls to Action, 17 aren’t even started, 29 have proposed projects, and 33 have projects underway. Have you done the math? That leaves 15 that are completed. 15 out of 94, since the Calls to Action were created in 2015.

 

And that folks, is why we still talk about residential schools, why we wear orange on September30th, and why truth and reconciliation should continue be at the forefront of everything we do.

Amen.