Keep Extra Batteries Handy

With respect to anyone who already has their tree up, I think there’s still time. Christmas is coming, for sure, but there’s still a few weeks left before Advent - the “time of preparation” for Christmas - and it’s worth noting a couple of things about November. 

The month begins with All Saints Day and then Remembrance Day. It’s an opportunity for a season of remembering. It’s worth taking the time to remember all the saints and heroes, known, unknown and unexpected, the sacrifices made by many for the good of all, and the many people we know that are making the world a better place still today. Remembering them and reflecting on their example grows and inspires all of us.

Then, before we come to Advent in our church, we hear stories of Jesus talking about being ready for what’s ahead, for the “end of the age” and his eventual return. We have a lot of different thoughts about what that “second coming” means, when it’s happening and how. 

This year, we begin with Jesus telling the parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids in Matthew’s gospel (Matt. 25:1-13). Half have brought enough oil for their lamps, half did not. It’s the first century, remember. These days, we’d keep extra batteries or candles handy. When it's time for the groom to arrive, at midnight, half need to go to find oil - that’s the foolish ones - while the wise welcome the groom and head into the wedding feast. The foolish, coming back later, are locked out. So be prepared or else you're locked out and you don't get in to the party.

That seems pretty unreasonable to me. After all, if God's love is for all, especially the most needy, it seems pretty unfair to lock them out of the party just because they weren't ready. And besides, the command at the end of the story is "keep awake" and everyone seems to fall asleep waiting, foolish and wise alike.

I imagine this story a little like that joke about Peter at the Pearly Gates, letting in just the "right people." Gabriel comes by because he's concerned that there seems to be more people in heaven than Peter's letting in. He goes to investigate and comes back to tell Peter "it's okay, it's Jesus - he's pulling people in over the wall." The door may be locked, but somewhere, somehow, Jesus is helping people get in anyway.

It's just that the journey's different.

It doesn't mean that we shouldn’t be prepared, of course, But every journey's different and how we prepare and what we need is different for each of us, isn't it? And even with all the preparation in the world, sometimes we fail.  And when we fall down, the first hand that reaches out to us to help us up? It’s Jesus.

Perhaps that's the real preparedness that we need. That we are open and ready to welcome Jesus, whoever and however we are, whenever we encounter Jesus, whoever and wherever we might find them. That may be with lamps lit and the door open or it may be sitting in the dark waiting for the coming of the light.

Be mindful, too, that it may not be just preparing for the next “Christmas” or the return of Jesus, the Second Coming as promised in the Bible, the Big One. But all the little ones, those moments when Jesus breaks into our lives unexpectedly, suddenly reminding us of what's truly important on our journey.  Sometimes in the middle of the night, sometimes in the middle of day, and all the hours in between.  Are you ready?

Finding Saints

Halloween’s a big deal for lots of people, children and adults alike. Trick-or-treating, costume parties, scary movies, haunted houses, it’s all part of the fun of that one night we can pretend to be someone else, maybe even someone not of this world.

I don’t think there’s anything evil about it, no matter how hard some people try to go there. Sure, some of its history is Celtic pagan traditions and the notion that this is a time when the veil between this world and the next is thin, but that’s all tied to our connection to the earth, seasons changing, fertility and life and death. We’re part of the earth and divine, after all.

It should be no surprise that christians decided to put All Saints Day on November 1st. That’s why the day before is called Halloween. It’s All Hallows (or All Saints) eve. The time of year when people are already remembering their ancestors is an especially good time to remember the ones that were saints. While the official saints of history get their own individual days, having a day to remember “the whole company of saints” is a good idea.

There’s more than one day, though.  In some traditions, it’s Allhallowtide: All Hallow’s Eve, All Saints Day and then All Souls Day. The special day for saints is followed by a day to remember the ordinary folks who’ve died.

Hmm. So there’s saints and there’s the rest of us.

While I think we’ve always had the best of intentions when it comes to saints, I wonder if we haven’t made them something so special and unique that they’re unreachable, untouchable and certainly something unattainable. We want them to inspire us and be an example for us, but it seems, instead, that we’ve put them up on a pedestal, cast them in stone or stained glass, named churches after them and put them out of reach. We make them something we’re not and will never be. Just like Jesus, they’re out of our league.

But they’re not. They’re you and me. I think they’re just flawed and broken human beings who discovered they were perfect just as they are and, in discovering that, found their connection to both the divine spirit and the earth that’s in them. They found good. They found grace, kindness, compassion and love and - and here’s the important part - lived it. That’s what makes them an example to inspire, not an idol to worship. Just like Jesus.

We’re all created “good.” We’re all born with the divine spirit of life and from the earth. The same potential for sainthood is in all of us. When we find someone who is a good example of those saintly qualities being lived out - the qualities Jesus showed us - we need to see them from the perspective of how we can bring those qualities to our own life. We’re not trying to be something we’re not - them - we’re trying to be more of the good that’s in us, more of the connection to the divine and the earth that’s in all of us.

That’s what saints do. They make a connection that inspires good. And they don’t have to be on a pedestal or a throne, a mountain top or a seat of power. They could be someone you’ve just met or known forever, someone you pass on the street, someone you think you should avoid or someone you might not even notice. They could be you.

A Very Good Thing

Love your neighbour.

Sounds like a very good thing. Imagine how the world would be if we all loved our neighbour, from next door to towns to cities and countries. Wouldn’t that be better than fear your neighbour, ignore your neighbour, control your neighbour or hate your neighbour? Those all seem to be a lot of worry and work anyway, wouldn’t “love your neighbour” be worth a try?

Love’s a lot of work though, too, isn’t it. And we seem to be pretty good at those other things and we also seem to be more comfortable with them sometimes, even if we don’t like them. But those others focus on “me” and love is about “us.” And we are one. 

Here’s some thoughts about it that I get from Jesus. 

When Jesus talks about love, I think he means all kinds of love - as appropriate in the moment. Love makes us whole. The stories of Jesus feature love that’s empathetic, curious and understanding, compassionate, nurturing, full of grace, kindness and care, but I don’t think that means that romance and physical love is excluded. What’s important is that it’s true and authentic and not simply self-serving. Love’s bigger than that.

It’s this big: when asked what’s the greatest commandment, Jesus says love God with all that you are. And there’s another that’s just as important, love your neighbour as you love yourself. Everything hangs on that. (Jesus didn’t come up with this, by the way, he just put two things together. He’s quoting Hebrew scripture, from the law: the first is from Deuteronomy and the second is from Leviticus.)

God is the divine spirit of life that’s in all things, so loving God is loving your neighbour and yourself, loving yourself is loving God and your neighbour, loving your neighbour is loving yourself and God - it’s a trinity. We need all three. Everything does hang on that.

Each of the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke tell a story of Jesus answering this question and each offers a piece of how we should love.

Mark offers the wisdom that we should live this love into the world with all that we are, sincerely and truly. Living love is more important than rituals and acts of worship.

Luke’s account follows up with answering the question “who is my neighbour?” Yes, there are two characters from different backgrounds who are meant to hate each other and one helps the other. So everyone is our neighbour, even (especially) those we might struggle to love. But it’s not just that, it’s that being a good neighbour means offering love - that’s what makes the Samaritan “good” in the story.

Matthew has Jesus remind us that offering love and being a good neighbour means seeing equity in the divine spirit that’s in all of us. We struggle to love others because that’s how we see them, as “other.” They are “them.” They are hard to love because they are different, they are hard to understand, we don’t know them, we come to fear, or even hate, them. It’s them. But it’s not just them. It’s me. Love your neighbour as yourself. We are all of God, we are all worthy of love, we are all deserving of love, just as we are. 

Sounds like a very good thing.

Who We Are

Is now a good time to talk about the separation of church and state?

By all means, please separate church and state. Keep religion out of politics. And politics out of religion, I hope. I believe that religion and politics are both very human and very fallible structures that we’ve built, one to - hopefully - better understand our spirituality and the other - hopefully - to better care for the community. They don’t always do that, though, do they. They’re complicated and messy because, as structured as they may be, they involve people. And people are complicated and messy. So when they turn to partisanship, power, control, management, uniformity, become self-serving or even more cynical things, please: keep them apart. They’ll only hurt each other.

But if, like Jesus - and countless other spiritual leaders in history - you might view this differently and you might see it, instead, as the interconnectedness of God - or however you know that life-giving force of love and creativity, that divine spirit that I’d call God - well, that can be a different thing. 

Let me talk about Jesus for a minute. In the bible, Matthew, Mark and Luke all relate a story in which religious and secular leaders got together and tried to trap Jesus with a question about paying taxes (see Matthew 22:15-22, for example). Should the people pay taxes to the Roman emperor, or not? If he says no, he risks being reported to the state authorities and being arrested. If he say yes, he risks alienating all the people. It’s a trick question and they’re trying to trap him.

So Jesus asks to see a coin and, showing the image of the emperor on it, he says “give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s and give to God the things that are God’s.”

Clever, Jesus, we’ve traditionally thought. And it is, because it somehow lands on both sides and forces them (and us as individuals) to try and figure out what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God. But I don’t think Jesus meant to be clever, I just think he answered sincerely. They just weren’t all on the same page. And we’re not either.

I think his questioners saw this as an either/or option only, just as we would today. But for Jesus, God is the divine spirit that is in all things, especially us. It might have been Caesar’s image on the coin, but we are created in the image of God. And the earth. Divine and human. It’s not separate, it’s connected; it’s not an either/or, it’s an “and.”

It might seem to us that we’re far from the kingdom of heaven Jesus envisioned. But maybe that’s part of the point of Jesus and other great figures of love and grace and “godliness.” We live in the world of our making and God’s. Again, however we might know God, there is divine and “earthy” in all things. The structures we might build around our beliefs and our societies are meant to help us understand and engage those things better, to grow and give them life. Ok, so they’re not always doing that. But we could try and see them differently, maybe as Jesus did.

It shouldn’t be just “religion” to love your neighbour and to care for others, especially those who struggle to care for themselves. It shouldn’t be “religion” to feed the hungry, heal the sick and educate people. It shouldn’t be “religion” that we show empathy and offer compassion and grace to each other. It shouldn’t be “religion” that we treat all people with respect and dignity, wherever they’re from or however they come to be here. It should simply be who we are.

Thankfulness Is For Here, Now

Happy Thanksgiving.

Like most holidays, whether a day or a long weekend or if you’re someone who celebrates “birthday week” or even a season, there’s images that come to mind. Harvest, the seasonal colours, family gatherings, turkey and those favourite sides, pumpkins, “the big game.” Everyone has their own traditions. 

For some, it might be simpler. For some, they might feel like there’s not much to be thankful for - there’s lots going on in the world and people are struggling. Food Banks and missions are busy, we’re wondering about the future, winter - and “winter” of all kinds - is coming.

Take a moment and think about something you can be thankful for. That may be easy or it may be a struggle - don’t give up! - there are things for which we should be thankful.

I’m thankful for you. Truly. Not just because you’re reading this, but just because you are. There’s only one of you and the world needs it right now. That’s true of everyone, whether we agree with them, like them, are annoyed by them, struggle with them or would really like it if they’d just stop what they’re doing and do what I want. 

Thing is, we have to live with each other and that can be challenging. Very, sometimes.

I wonder how different things could be if we had thanksgiving every day.

Just to be clear, though, I’m thinking about thanks-giving. More than a few people have pointed out that we often tend to think of feeling thankful - just as I started out with here - and stop there with that warm, fuzzy feeling for us. But it’s not Thanksfeeling, it’s Thanksgiving. Maybe it should even be Thanksliving. 

It’s important to be thanks-full and appreciative, but you can live that, too. You can share it, give it to others by living a life of gratitude. Thankful for each other, thankful for the world around us and all it provides, thankful for simple, ordinary things that we take for granted. And when we share that, we share our food with the hungry, we share our time with the lonely, we share our care with the sick, we share our love with those that are feeling broken and hurt, we share our listening with those who need to be understood, we share our patience with the frustrating, we share our love with the hate-full - we share our thanks with those who struggle to feel thanks-full.

When I read the stories about Jesus, I wonder how often those four or five verse miracle encounters were really hours long. I wonder how they must have begun with Jesus asking them to share their story. And patiently listening, Jesus would tell them how thankful he was for them. His offering of healing and grace is living thanks. I wonder if, every time Jesus met someone, he saw it as an opportunity to be thanksful and thanksgiving. A happy thanksgiving.

Repentance Is For Here, Now

Repent.

Bet you thought that was going to be followed by a “the end is near.” Or maybe you were expecting some fire and brimstone “the gates of hell await you” stuff, or “the fiery pit.” Or even “repent or perish.”

Okay, Jesus actually did say that last one, kind of, (Luke 13:3) but you’d be taking it completely out of context and it’s a bit of a misread to hear it as condemnation. 

That seems to be where we most often go with “repent,” though. Change your ways or you’ll be punished. Or ended. Bad things will happen to you if you don’t change your ways. You’ll get what you deserve in the end (said with a threatening tone). I’m sure you’ve heard it or heard it said about someone else. After all, bad people go to hell, right?

Well, some people might find some comfort in hearing that when it’s said about others. It can be pretty easy to rationalize when it’s said to you (am I really being all that bad?) and we’re pretty good at ignoring it. But knowing bad people are going to go somewhere bad can be pretty powerful. So you better repent or else. 

If you believe that. I don’t. Being held accountable in this life is one thing, we can effect that here, but saying that you or anyone else is going to “the bad place” in the next life just doesn’t seem right to me. If you preach that God’s love is unconditional and God’s grace is for all - and I acknowledge that not everyone does, but I believe it is - then everyone goes to God. There is no hell in the next life. Yes, I said it. There’s certainly lots of hell here, more than enough, but I just think that we are created in love to be good and we’ll return to that love when we die.

I have lots more to say about that, for another time, but it brings me to my point about repentance, at least how I think Jesus means it. “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near” kicks off the ministry of both Jesus and John the Baptist. That wording’s in Matthew’s gospel, at least, and I think the intention is there in the others and throughout Christian scripture. I think it’s fundamental to understanding Jesus.

Repentance is about making a fundamental change, turning away from the bad/evil/wickedness/sin - you can pick your religious or non-religious wording here, they’re all complicated - and returning to the good, turning back to God. I’m saying “returning” and “turning back” because I believe we’re created good, created with the divine spirit in us (it gives us life) and we wander and become distanced from it. I often quote the old anglican prayer, “turn from your wickedness and live” because I think that’s what we do: reconnecting with the divine spirit that’s in us is life-giving. Repentance turns us to the spirit that is good, loving and creative, filled with grace and compassion, connected to all the world around us. It turns us to the life that brings heaven here.

I think it’s really easy to read many of the stories of Jesus as offering condemnation and threatening judgement on “sinners.” But, if the kingdom of heaven is so close, maybe Jesus is simply offering a challenge to change, to repent, and the grace to make space for that change in this life. It’s not about where we might go next, it’s about what we can be and create and live here. So. Repent.

How Do You Know?

There’s so much information out there, it can be overwhelming. Not all of it’s true, of course, and I don’t mean just factually accurate, I mean true. As in genuine, the heart of the meaning of things, not just the facts. Just as saying something should be right should mean more than simply correct.

Based on that information, as much as we get, we imagine and form opinions. We make decisions, we make choices on how we live, who we live with, and what kind of community we want to be. 

So how do you know what information you can trust? How do you know what’s true and right, what’s genuine and real?

With all the “stuff” that comes from the media, social media, governments, non-government agencies and businesses, not to mention those people you have coffee with who have suddenly become experts on everything, how do you decide what’s true? Especially when what’s true might not be what you want to be true.

There’s a simple enough answer, of course. Be discerning, fact check, find sources that are educated and knowledgable about the topic, look to qualified experts who’ve studied and researched by fair and reasoned methods and put some thought into it yourself in order to better understand everyone’s viewpoint. Try and be objective and take into consideration what would be best for everyone, as well as you, and make an informed decision that cares for people and the earth in a loving and peaceful way.

Please don’t just go with that person on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok who had an entertaining video. They can sound pretty convincing. Or at least certain that they’re right. 

We live in a time when we are most likely to feel authority as power over others, control, and the enforcement of society’s structures. Even the projection of ideologies and the ensuring of compliance with them. We see title, status, elected and un-elected positions with power as authority.

But that’s no guarantee of truth or authenticity. It doesn’t make it right or just.

Maybe we want to say that’s new, but it’s not. We’re human beings. I think it’s always been like this, and with all our ways to communicate, flawed though many are, we’re just challenging it more.

Jesus was always challenging the hierarchy of his day, people in positions of “authority” that were put there by tradition, election or the use of force (soldiers or money) to exert their power. Particularly with the Temple authorities, the chief priests and the elders, he pointed out the disconnect between the heart of the law and their behaviour. And please also remember that the stories do generalize about that. There was the occasional leader, priest or elder, even a centurion, who came to Jesus in good faith.

But they also challenged him. Here’s the scene: the leader arrives in town and a crowd gathers to celebrate their arrival. The crowd’s big and unruly, but happy, so nothing gets out of hand. Next day, the leader heads to an obvious seat of power and authority where they do get out of hand and totally trash the place. No charges are laid. They come back the next day and make speeches and share their views on some things. The authorities come out to challenge the leader, hoping to dislodge them and disperse the crowd. So they ask the leader “by what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”

Seems a reasonable enough question. And a familiar one, one that plays out a lot in the world today. Except, in this story, it’s Jesus arriving in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, “cleansing” the Temple, teaching and preaching, and being challenged by the chief priests and the elders of the people.

And, because it’s Jesus, we might observe this as just another moment that Jesus challenges the status quo. Good for Jesus. But wait a minute. It’s a fair question: what is the source of Jesus’ authority? Not only is the question legitimate, I think the answer can help us with navigating that sea of issues, crises and information.

I think that Jesus walks the talk, for sure. He lives what he teaches, but I don’t think it’s just that. People connect with Jesus because they also connect with the divine in Jesus and the human in Jesus. Both those things are in us and they find their way out, not just in talk about love and grace but in living that. And that’s most evident when we care for each other, especially those who struggle to care for themselves. It’s most evident in us when we put what’s right, what’s good for the community which is our world, ahead of our personal desires. It’s most evident when we don’t let ignorance, envy, hate or fear cloud our judgement and infect our decisions. It’s most evident when we look for wisdom, follow the light and see that we are part of something greater than just ourselves.