Thursday 14 March 2024

Let it grow

“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”


The gospel of John tells a story of two Greeks, visiting Jerusalem for the Passover festival, who come to see Jesus. Literally, it seems. They very politely ask one of the disciples, who asks another and they go and tell Jesus. You know how that happens: when you want to meet a celebrity, you have to get past their entourage or security. You might even need a backstage pass or something like it to get into the “meet and greet” that’s your opportunity to meet this famous person face to face, shake their hand, maybe even get a selfie.


Except, I don’t think that’s what’s happening here. Not for us, anyway. Jesus is definitely a celebrity by now. John places this story after Jesus’ big arrival in Jerusalem that we now call Palm Sunday and before his arrest. As John tells it, this is Jesus’ last public words. So I think it’s safe to say that these people had heard of Jesus. Foreigners, likely not Jewish, who’d heard about the signs, the healings, the preaching and came to see for themselves what this is all about.


They might well have said “show us Jesus.”


I have to think that’s why the author of John includes these characters. Either the author then left out a paragraph - the one where Jesus says “hi, how are you, I’m Jesus” - or they’re incidental filler and seemingly ignored or: there’s something else going on here, something reflected in how Jesus answers. 


“Show us Jesus.” Jesus answers that it’s time, then, time to be “glorified.” I don’t think Jesus means that his death will be glorious or that he’ll shine in a Transfiguration-like moment, but rather that something will come of his life, something greater than these moments of love, healing, compassion and grace that he’s lived. Jesus changed lives he touched, but that’s only the beginning: he’s a seed that’s been planted.


And that’s exactly what he tells them. The seed must be planted, it must be nourished and grow in order that there is fruit. He’s planted the seed of love and showed us that the divine spirit and human soul that is him is in us, too. It’s not about Jesus the person, it’s Jesus the Way, Jesus the spirit, Jesus the love. It’s the Jesus that’s in all of us. That’s what Jesus has shown all of us. 


Every now and then, people wonder what Jesus would make of the world today. The classic is “what would Jesus say if they were to show up at church on a Sunday morning?” I think they’d look around the room, look everyone in the eye and say “show me Jesus.”

Thursday 7 March 2024

Context, Context, Context

If you’ve never been to church or read the bible, you might still recognize “John 3:16” thanks to born again christian Rollen “The Rainbow Man” Stewart. He first held up a John 3:16 placard at an NBA game in 1979 and since then, others have regularly brought the sign to baseball games, hockey games, football games, even the Superbowl. No explanation, no other words, just John 3:16.


Not Stewart, though. He's currently serving three consecutive life terms in prison relating to a botched kidnapping attempt. He should have read John 3:16.


“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."


Thing is, we often treat John 3:16 just like that placard. Like it’s a single, stand alone saying, as if we don’t need to know any more than that. It’s all right there. Even Martin Luther apparently described it as “the gospel in miniature.”


But that’s not how it happens. According to the author of the gospel of John, Jesus says this in a conversation with a Jewish leader named Nicodemus who seems open, at least, to hearing what Jesus has to say. So they talk and Jesus has a bit of a monologue in which he talks about the Spirit and being born again from above. That’s a loaded sound bite for another occasion, but, as he continues to talk, Jesus moves on to talking about himself using a metaphor he thinks someone like Nicodemus would understand. He reminds him of a strange story involving a bronze serpent that heals.


It’s recorded in the book of Numbers, the fourth book of the Hebrew bible. It’s a story from when the Hebrew people were in the desert with Moses. They’d left slavery in Egypt far behind, but they hadn’t yet come to the Promised Land. They were complaining, as they did a lot in those days, rebelling against Moses’ leadership and complaining about how God was — and wasn’t — taking care of them. They doubted.


So God sends poisonous snakes that kill many of them, causing the people to come to Moses and beg forgiveness for complaining and doubting. Wait, it gets weirder. Moses talks to God and God tells Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. Those that look at it and believe will be healed and saved from the snakes. They do, they have faith, it’s all good and everyone moves on.


So Jesus tells Nicodemus that he, Jesus, is like the bronze serpent. He will be lifted up and those who believe “may have eternal life in him.” Then, he hits him with John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."


But he’s not done yet, he moves on to one of John’s “go to” images: light. Jesus says that those who believe will come to the light and those who don’t will stay in the darkness. In the light, good will be seen for being good, but evil will try and stay in the dark where it can’t be seen.


I feel like I just went to a bible study there for a minute. But that’s just my point: I don’t think that one verse can stand alone without the context of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus.


We might also get mired in the debate about exactly how that verse is translated. The “so” part, I mean. Is it about how God loves us “so much” or how God loves us “like this?” And, before you know it, we’re measuring the value or the manner of God’s love.


But it’s not about that. I believe God’s love is immeasurable and God’s gift is Jesus’ life. The love is immeasurable, unconditional and freely given and Jesus is the demonstration of that love at work. I don’t think the point here is God’s generosity in loving or giving, it’s our choosing to accept it, believe in it and do something with it.


Just like the bronze serpent story, it’s not enough to look up at Jesus and proclaim “we’re saved!” I think John includes this story of Jesus and Nicodemus to talk about how we love, not God. This is Jesus saying “God loves you, God sent me to show you how to live that love, now what are you going to do?” It’s your choice: what are you going to do?

Thursday 29 February 2024

Sometimes the Way is Messy

Jesus gets angry. You may already know the story I’m going to refer to, and I’ll get to that in a minute, but I think it’s worth noting that it’s not an isolated incident. There are a few stories where it’s abundantly clear that Jesus can be irritated, frustrated, even out right angry. Jesus also cries, forgets, learns and gets tired. There doesn’t seem to be any biblical account of Jesus laughing, but there are certainly moments of humour in some of the parables and I feel pretty confident that someone as passionately human as Jesus would have covered all the emotions.


I think we do tend to play that down, though, and it’s unfortunate because connecting with Jesus’ humanity is an important part of understanding how Jesus shows us the way to the divine spirit that is in our own humanity. The way to God isn’t out there somewhere, it’s in here, in each heart and soul, in the wholeness of each person.


Let’s get back to angry Jesus. The story I’m referring to has historically been called “Jesus Cleanses the Temple.” Jesus goes into the Temple at Passover, sees the animals being sold for sacrifice and the moneychangers working overtime (it’s a busy festival) and he gets angry. He overturns their table and chases people and animals out.


The story appears in all four gospels. Matthew, Mark and Luke place the story in the last week of Jesus’ life, just days before the crucifixion. In their story, Jesus angrily denounces the profiteering behaviour of the sellers and tells them they’ve made the Temple “a den of thieves.” So Jesus is angry, not because of the selling, but of the cheating, unjust behaviour of the sellers, it seems. After all, pilgrims to the Temple need all those things: various animals were required for sacrifice and you couldn’t take the everyday Roman coins into the Holiest of Holies, they had to be changed into Jewish shekels. There were rules around the rituals to be performed when meeting God and even in the era of the Second Temple, this was still where God lived. For Jesus, the unjust behaviour was an affront to God. You can also see how annoying this would be to the Temple authorities and how it played into the end of Jesus’ life.


The author of John, though, tells the story differently. Even while the basic features are the same, I think they had a different reason for telling the story. In John, this happens near the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, right after the miracle of changing water into wine at the Cana wedding. He says nothing about the behaviour of the sellers and money changers, but focuses on the things, the animals and money, saying they’ve made God’s house a “marketplace.” He upsets things and chases the animals out and, when the people ask for a sign of his authority to behave this way, he simply says “destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” John says they don’t understand that he means himself, the temple of his body, but later, after his death, the disciples remembered.


In this telling of the story, I think Jesus, right from the start, saw all those things people needed for ritual as just that, things. And things can get in the way between us and God. An open, honest and true heart’s all that’s needed to meet God. And that’s why Jesus talks about “the temple” of his body. That’s where God lives, not in a temple of stone, but in the bodies of all living things. That temple has physical shape, spirit and intellect, all of which we use to live the wholeness of God into the world. There’s more to it than just the stuff that can get in the way, there’s the stuff we need in order to care for the temple and build our relationship with God.

 

So what does that for you? How are you caring for your temple? What helps you be whole? What brings you closer to God in you? 

Thursday 22 February 2024

Something To Get Behind

I don’t think Jesus was really one for name calling, but sometimes he just has to call people out for their behaviour.


“Get behind me, satan!” Jesus says to Peter. (Mark 8:33) Seems like a bit of a slap in the face, especially for one of his key followers, but Jesus had good reason. He’d been talking about what’s ahead for him: the suffering, the rejection and death and the resurrection after three days, basically predicting the future. In Peter’s defence, it was pretty dark stuff. So Peter tells Jesus to stop talking like that. “You’ll scare people off,” I imaging him saying, and it’s demoralizing for the disciples who’ve already given up their lives to follow him. Nobody wants to follow someone to death, especially someone who teaches love, grace and kindness. If that’s what you get for living that way, well, you can see how Peter might think Jesus could spin it a little more positively. Besides, that isn’t the way Peter hopes the messiah is headed.


But calling Peter the devil, that seems a little harsh. Maybe it is. And maybe he didn’t. 


I think it’s easy to assume Jesus was annoyed with Peter and that he’s telling Peter to get out of the way, that he’s just as threatening to Jesus’ ministry as the devil. But we assume that tone. Satan is an ancient Hebrew term that can mean a legal adversary, a questioner or accuser. In this sense, it’s not inherently evil, nor is it destructive. So, first of all, maybe Jesus wasn’t doing anything more than pointing out that Peter was questioning what he was doing.


But even if he was suggesting Peter was doing more than that, what if we didn’t read this as Jesus telling him to get out of the way, but rather to get onside. Get behind me and back me up, Jesus could be saying, bring your questions, bring your criticism, even, but bring it to my mission and follow me. Because he has more to say about following him.


What if we heard Jesus then tell Peter (the tester) to start thinking differently. Open your mind to what’s really true, Peter, what’s really important in life and stop thinking the way human beings usually do. Think beyond your personal comfort, think beyond the stuff, the power and the certainty that comes with control of things. Open your mind and your heart to what life really is about. Otherwise, you won’t understand this next bit: “those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it” (Mark 8:35).


Let go of the stuff we associate with this life, the things like wealth and power, and pick up kindness, compassion and love. Those are the things that are life-giving. The Jesus I know would never invite anyone to suffering, brokenness and death. He acknowledges the struggles of life and sees so much of it in his ministry, but his response is always love and life. That’s what he wants Peter to get behind.


If you want to follow me, take up your cross, he says, and follow me (Mark 8:34). I don’t think he means the instrument of pain and death, but the individual challenges each of us may face in living the life of Jesus in the world. Love, compassion and grace aren’t always easy, whether it’s loving others, loving ourselves or even loving God. But the world is changed when we do and I, for one, could really get behind that.

Wednesday 14 February 2024

Where To Begin

Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, was on Valentine’s Day this year. That happened three times in the last century and it’ll happen three times in this one (2018, 2024 and 2029) and then we’re good until the next century. It happens because Valentine’s Day is a fixed date and Ash Wednesday isn’t. The forty days of Lent are tied to the date of Easter which is the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or after the spring equinox. It’s complicated.


I mean no disrespect to anyone who’s confounded by the two traditions happening at once. I would say, though, that it’s a pretty good reminder of life being more than scheduling and more than rituals.


I wonder also - and I’m pretty sure I’ve said this before and will again in ’29 - what Jesus would say if he were here. A conversation with Jesus might be helpful right now.


I think he’d find it funny that we have one day to celebrate love and forty to wonder about our sinful selves with prayer, fasting and almsgiving (the hallmarks of Lent). But wait, we might say, Valentine’s Day isn’t about your kind of love, Jesus. I think he’d find that even funnier because I think Jesus is about the wholeness of love as much as he’s about the wholeness of our being. Love is love, Jesus might say, and it’s for every day. And when you’re wondering about yourself and your relationship with God and the world around you, there isn’t a better place to begin than with the fullness of being love. What, Jesus might say, do you think I was doing in the wilderness?


Hmm. Well, here we are at Lent, the forty days before Easter set aside by the church to mirror the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness (a story told in each of the gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke). It’s traditionally been a time of repentance and preparation for Easter, kind of like Advent is for Christmas. Lent has always been a solemn time of self-reflection, prayer and contemplation observed with fasting and penance. Some people still give things up for lent, a symbolic denial of things that tempt us.


Ash Wednesday begins that time with the ceremonial marking of a cross on the forehead, a cross made with oil and ash from the burning of palm branches from the previous year’s Palm Sunday. It’s accompanied by the reminder that we are from dust and will return to dust (Genesis 3:19) and the admonition to repent. We enter the season of Lent, then, suitably prepared: we acknowledge that we are mortal and sinful.


Okay, says Jesus, I see what you did there, but hang on a minute. That’s not how I went into the wilderness, is it?


In each of the gospels, the wilderness is preceded by an account of Jesus’ baptism by John. Mark says that there was a “Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’ And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness” (Mark 1:10-12).


So first of all, Jesus goes into the wilderness knowing that he is loved by God and that God’s happy that he is who he is. Second, it’s that same Spirit that comes to him at baptism that sends him into the wilderness - drives him there, Mark writes. Jesus doesn’t go out there alone. Whether you believe the point of the story is for Jesus to confront the devil or, like me, you think this is really a story about Jesus wondering and learning about himself, he doesn’t go there alone. He goes loved by God and inspired by the Spirit.


And all this happened before Jesus begins his ministry. I think Jesus went out there to wonder about himself, his relationship with God and with other people, to wonder about the world and what was happening. To reflect without any distractions and contemplate things with an open mind. Of course, with that freedom and openness to wonder came temptation, it always does.  But with the Spirit, Jesus faced it and overcame it.


Then, Jesus embarks on his ministry. He lives his true self - the divine spirit and the earthly being. He lives love.


Valentine’s Day, a day of love, on Ash Wednesday? Seems like a good coincidence to me. If you’re going to take some time this lent for self-examination and prayer, begin with loving yourself and knowing that you, like all God’s children, are loved by God just for who you are. Remember that you come from the dust of the earth and will return there, but remember that life is for living. And remember that both the divine spirit and the dust of creation that is in you connects you in a profound and intimate relationship with all things.


Now. Where shall we go next?

Thursday 8 February 2024

When It Feels Like Everything Everywhere All At Once

You know that feeling like you’re right in the middle of something? Pretty sure you do.


Could be the middle of anything, from life to a time to a task, a game, a book or a show, a walk or a ride. If there’s a beginning and an end, there must be a middle, right? Sometimes it can feel good to be in the middle of something, sometimes not so much. We might even prefer the beginning or end of something, feeling the excitement of just getting started or the satisfaction - or relief - of concluding. Sometimes, being “in the middle of something” isn’t even the literal middle, so much as an expression we use to describe just being involved. We’re engaged, we’re doing. Sometimes, being in the middle is about being in between things. It’s a middle ground, a transitional space. Sometimes it’s all of these things, like the movie title “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” That’s what the world feels like today, globally, nationally, in our communities and neighbourhoods, in our homes. We’re just in the middle of it all.


We’re experiencing a little of that with church these days (minus the threat to the multiverse and the unravelling of reality, I hope). We’ve come to the end of Epiphany, the period after Christmas whose theme is light, enlightenment and the revealing of Jesus in the world. We’re about to the embark on the journey of Lent, a time traditionally observed as being for self-reflection, wondering about our relationship with God and preparing for the most important “light” of the year, Easter, and the resurrection story. We’ve been using that season of light to explore some of the key pieces of our faith tradition: the Bible, images of God, Jesus, the Trinity and inclusivity. It’s certainly been enlightening, though, again, it feels like we’re just in the middle of it and now, it’s time for Lent.


But wait. In the middle, between Epiphany and Lent comes a particularly enlightening story. Transfiguration (Mark 9:2-9). Jesus takes three of the disciples and goes up a mountain where he is transfigured - he shines with a bright inner light. Eugene Peterson translates Mark’s account like this: “His appearance changed from the inside out, right before their eyes. His clothes shimmered, glistening white, whiter than any bleach could make them.” Moses and Elijah appear and talk to Jesus. The disciples want to mark the occasion by building three memorials, but Jesus says no, and then the voice of God is heard in a cloud saying “this is my beloved son, listen to him.” Then they’re alone again and Jesus asks them to not tell anyone about it until after his resurrection. 


Confused and fearful disciples, epic special effects, callbacks to an earlier story (Jesus’ baptism) and Hebrew traditions, wisdom and the prophets, and there’s Jesus, in the middle of it all, just being the most Jesus. And while we sandwich this story in the middle between Epiphany and Lent, the author of Mark puts it right in the middle of Jesus’ life story. Jesus has been baptized, he goes into the wilderness, then into his ministry, healing, teaching and preaching, rising in fame. He’s at the top of his game. And then this story. And then, down the mountain and on to Jerusalem, challenged by the authorities and eventually killed, and then the biggest light of all coming from the empty tomb.


Standing in the middle, looking back at where he’s come from and forward to what’s ahead, standing with his own followers and visions of Moses and Elijah, and the presence of God, in the middle of all that, what does Jesus do? He shines.


In the middle of it all, Jesus shines with the light of his true self, the light of the divine spirit and his earthly being. I believe that’s part of what Jesus is about: to show us that we too, have that divine spirit, “the image of God,” and earthly being in each of us. He shows us that we can live true to it and love true to it, and shine with the true light of it. Whatever is happening in our lives, wherever we are, on the mountain top or in the valley of shadow or anywhere in the middle of things, the light is in each of us. Shine.

Thursday 1 February 2024

Look At This

I’m just going to talk about my wife for a minute. Like most people out being Jesus in the world, she won’t be too thrilled with that, but frankly, I think when you see Jesus in the world, you should point and say “look! Jesus.”


Lori has a lot of gifts, and I couldn’t cover them all, but I want to talk about one of the places where she uses them: amateur theatre. I’m saying “amateur” because I first got to know Lori through community theatre, but this is going to be about school kids.


Part of Lori’s job as Wellness Worker in our little community is that she spends most of the year in the school. In addition to the wellness of the students and staff, she leads the theatre program for both junior and senior high students. With a K-12 school population of about 250, the pool of kids is relatively small and it’s a class, so, basically, if you’re in the class, you’re in the show. You might audition for a particular part you’d like, but just being there puts you on stage or in the tech booth. Lori works with a teacher, but there’s no choreographer, vocal coach, set designer or  builders, costumer or live band. There’s some parent help, but the kids also do some of that work. I’ll come back to that.


At junior high age, a few of the kids might have some theatre experience, or have sung in a choir or maybe been in a church Christmas play, but most will be acting on stage for the first time. And singing and dancing and doing choreography because Lori picks musicals. Not only because they involve more kids, but because they involve more skills.


The junior high kids just did Frozen (the junior version - it’s about an hour and ten minutes instead of two hours). Certainly one of the most familiar shows of the last ten years, with songs you just can’t get out of your head, it’s also one of those Disney shows that has to look and sound like the real thing. It did. And it was really good. And when you take into account everything you just read, it was amazing and, best of all, full of joy. But the three performances after weeks of learning and rehearsals isn’t why I’m talking about it.


Lori has a gift for seeing the potential in people. She then works with that potential to encourage it, support it and draw it out. She has a vision of where things are going, but gets there with the gifts of each individual living into their potential. She does that by creating a safe, encouraging place where kids feel they can be vulnerable and try new things without fear of embarrassment or that they’ll be made fun of or criticized. They’re honoured and respected for who they are. There’s compassion and empathy. There’s care and support. They learn to work collaboratively because there is a willingness to learn and grow. They build community. Kids can feel like they belong, not just because they’re fitting in, but because their gifts are contributing to building that very community. And as each of them discover those gifts, learn how to use them and to share them, they grow in confidence as people and how they express themselves. That isn’t found in the performances, but in the weeks getting there and in the weeks after, as they learn how to share those gifts beyond that one experience. It can be life changing. It’s not perfect, but we’re not either.


So, “look! Jesus.” But also, Look! What a great model of community! The kind of community Jesus had in mind. Jesus didn’t seek out conformity or control but diversity and inclusion, because that’s what creates an engaging, caring, growing community. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it because we are worthy of it. Just ask Lori.