Camel-lot

The first thing we have to do

is to notice
that we’ve loaded down this camel with so much baggage
we’ll never get through the desert alive.
Something has to go

Then we begin to dump

the thousand things
we’ve brought along
until even the camel has to go
and we’re walking barefoot
on the desert sand.

There’s no telling what will happen then.

But I’ve heard that someone,
walking in this way,
has seen a burning bush.

That Francis Dorf poem is going to accompany me  through Advent.  I shared it at a recent Presbytery meeting and I intend to repeat to myself until I learn it by heart. 

That’s my Advent spiritual practice.

I like that idea that even the magi may have brought along too much stuff. If camels have their limits, I suppose we do too.

 

 

The Tragedy In Newtown, CT.

The whole world has been sharing in the sadness this week.  With our communication systems, we have been drawn into the grief of the community of Newtown, CT. 

 

We shared in a Sunday School pageant this morning.  As the children came up in costume, sheep, angels, shepherds, the shadow of that grief was present for me and I am sure for others. 

 

A colleague shared that Martin Crebbin and the Newtown Congregational Church have opened their doors and hearts to the broken-hearted around them.  Martin’s family is safe but he and his church are doing the job of Christian community, following in the steps of the Wounded Healer, being present and caring to the people around them. 

 

Those churches, like us, will continue to light Advent candles and trust in a light that no tears can erase and no darkness can put out.

 

Hands And Feet Of Jesus

The film, The Hobbit, makes its debut shortly.  What a wonderful story about dragons and elves, a guiding wizard named Gandalf, and a most unlikely hero, a little furry creature named Bilbo Baggins.  Bilbo is the one who goes in search of a great treasure guarded by a fire-breathing dragon.  (Spoiler alert!) After a long journey, many dangers, toils and snares, the dragon is defeated and peace returns to the land.

 In their song of celebration, the people sing of rivers running with gold, just as the old songs had prophesied.  Bilbo says to Gandalf,

 “Then the prophecy of the old songs have turned out to be true, after a fashion!” 

 “Of course!” said Gandalf.  “And why should not they prove true?  Surely you don’t disbelieve the prophecies, because you had a hand in bringing them about yourself?” 

 I know film studios release films at this time of year not because its Advent but because of potential profits.  If Tolkein  was still around, this dialogue between Baggins and Gandolf suggests his deeper thinking could be about potential prophets.

Like you and me.

 

 

 

Quiet In Advent?

It's only a few days until Advent and I am finding life is as hectic as ever. Is it that way for you?

As this season begins, I am paying attention to Kent Groff, who reminds his readers that silence is an important step in creativity. He cites Nobel Prize winner Werner Heisenberg known for his uncertainty Principle of quantum physics, Heisenberg tells his researchers in the midst of a perplexing problem. "Wait, I think we have touched something very important here. Let's not talk about it...Let's wait for two weeks, and let it solve itself."

Some of our greatest insights simmer or bake beneath the conscious mind. This is a reminder of out need to regularly sit quietly, maybe meditating in silence, or listening to some quiet music as I am doing right now, or walking in the snow. Find your way to lie fallow this Advent, even if it's just for a little while each day.


Peter

Faith Shared...Faith Enriched

I spoke to a young couple this morning after church about a baptism for their son. I told them how baptism happens in our congregation. They were quite accepting of our practice.

Then I asked if they had any thoughts or questions on the baptism. Yes, it turns out they had several.

They were not born in Canada and in their tradition there are a number of godparents. There will be seven godfathers and seven godmothers. Usually, he explained, there are many more. Maybe they don’t want to overwhelm us who have one or two or more often none.

They also would like to sing a blessing while we walk out into the congregation with their son. So the whole extended family, which is a choir, will come forward and sing their blessing.

We are so deeply blessed and enriched by the faith-filled, intercultural traditions that our ever-expanding community share with us.

Moment Of Awe

There are awesome moments that take place everyday. Sometimes I give them my full attention; other times I glance at them, smile and then forget. Yesterday I had one of those very special moments that I will put down in my journal.

It took place in a quiet family memorial service. A woman stood up in the little semi circle and began to read a poem. Already it was a transcendent moment as she was reading a poem that I dearly love, John Donne’s “Death, be not proud.” The poem and the circumstances caused the reader to tear up. Suddenly the four-year old granddaughter stepped forward.

She had already had an important part to play as she lit a candle for her great grand-father. She had slowly and carefully moved the stick match to the large candle and then so carefully blown it out. Her actions had the reverence of a Japanese tea ceremony.

This time she came forward, put her little arms around her grand-mother’s legs and hugged her. Then she took her elder’s free hand and kissed it gently.

Just one of the God-moments in that time together.

Slowing Down

I have two framed photographs on the wall in my office that remind me to slow down.

One is a winter scene of a trapper’s tilt in North West River, overlooking Hamilton Inlet in Central Labrador. There are no people in the scene, just deep snow, snow covered tilts, snow speckled trees and a pale blue winter sky. Just looking at the picture reminds me of my walks around town. You didn’t need to drive in the village and the paths through the woods were lovely, especially on a winter evening. There were no streetlights so you took your own flashlight. And you always looked up at the brilliant stars and northern lights. I look at the scene, and can’t help but breathe more slowly.

The other photo gives me almost the same feeling. A friend took a picture of me from a distance, standing by the Sea of Galilee back in 2001. The sun was just rising over the Golan Heights in the distance. It was the quietest moment of the day. In 10 minutes I would be on a noisy bus headed to the dig site, but for a few moments each morning, I stood and contemplated what had taken place on this lake so long ago.

Do you have icons on your shelves or walls, that take you to a quiet place? Maybe it’s a place in your imagination, which re-orients you, re-stores you, re-news you. Take a deep breath. Where is that scene for you? What are the sounds, the smells, the tastes? Where is the place for you that ushers you into the peaceful presence of God?

Strands In The Wind

I notice that as the weather begins to slowly cool, at least at night, that I am beginning to close windows and move inside. That’s too bad as there is something about summer that brings more of us outdoors. We read the paper on the balcony. We sip a coffee on the patio. We get our hands dirty in the garden. We float in the river, cycle, jog and walk around the neighbourhood.

Summer is over but we are now two weeks into the new Season of Creation. Through the first four weeks of September we are exploring our relationship with this marvelous world of ours. It’s a new time of year and the outdoors still has marvels in store for us. I wish for you a season to explore the new colours, smells and changes to the strands of life around us.

In and with God,

we can direct our lives toward right relationship

with each other and with God.

We can discover our place as one strand in the web of life.

A Song of Faith

Still Green

Thirty years ago Jan and I started a church newsletter in our first pastoral charge in Gaspe. We called it, The Evergreen. That came from a verse in Psalm 92.

“Still bearing fruit in old age, still full of sap, still green, they proclaim your constancy.”

Thirty years later, I have a greater appreciation for what the aging process does to us.

I am conscious of the reality of slowing down and feeling the aches. I have joined the group that think about physical and mental decline.

But here is some good news! The most recent Smithsonian Magazine tells us that one recent study reported that despite losses in short-term memory and visual spatial processing, older air traffic controllers maintained a high level of expertise because they were so proficient in navigating, juggling multiple aircraft and avoiding collisions.

Another study showed that when giving advice in “Dear Abby” letters, adults 60 years and older did a better job in dealing with social conflicts. Compared to younger subjects, these older adults were better able to imagine different points of view, consider multiple resolutions and suggest compromises.

I could go on but it might be too depressing for the under 60s.

Apparently the psalmist’s words were not just wishful thinking. The golden years may also be green years.

Bethsaida - Connected Through Time

For a week in May, the rocky ruins of Bethsaida in Galilee was home to a group of seventeen volunteer archaeologists. Or maybe we were just movers of sand and rock. But now and then a little treasure would emerge from the sand or from the sifters and we felt like so much more than labourers.

We tried to picture the town in its various stages of history,

     - a vibrant city at the time of David with walls between 20 and 30 feet thick.

     - a smoky ruin 260 years later when the empire of the day, the Assyrians, tore it down. We handled the grain that was burned in that conflagration.

     - a little fishing village in the time of Jesus when he came here to find several of his disciples.

     - Here according to the Talmud, 300 different kinds of fish were served in the same dish. Must have been a bigger dish than we found.

This is a place where one little shard from a 3000 year old pot or a silver earring from the first century invites the imagination to run wild. Who wore this? How was it lost? How long did she search for it?

We touched broken and lost artifacts that were once part of the daily life of people like us. Their stories are lost to us but we were here because one set of stories was told and retold until they reached us, stories of a man strong in spirit and in love who changed our world and changed us.

How To Be Your Own Court Jester

Ed Hays has a suggestion on how we can regain our balance by playing the fool. Hays says that when you find yourself overcome by some worry, “call in the clowns.”

Exaggerate the issue as much as you can, “Oh, God, this is the WORST thing that has EVER happened to me. It’s worse than the Tsunami of 2004.”

In the way of a clown, hold your head, walk around in circles, roll around on the floor, weep fake tears…then have a good laugh. Be both audience and clown. When you are done, you may have the problem in some kind of perspective.

To Ed’s suggestion, I would add this. It’s all about timing. The clown strategy can be a healing one at the right time. On the other hand there’s nothing worse than someone telling you that you should laugh when it is still time for real tears.

So everything in its season.


Peter

The New Church - Transformation

Is the Church going to die out in our lifetime? It is just as possible that the Church will be radically different but still alive in some form.

Take the Solovetsky Monastery for instance. It was founded in the 15th Century by two monks looking for some peace and quiet. It seemed like a good place, 650 miles north of Moscow in the shadow of the Arctic Circle. Their spirituality could be questioned since the monks also served as prison wardens for the czar’s enemies. Stalin took this one step further by turning Solovetsky into a gulag. Half of his enemies imprisoned here died in the 1920s and 30s: 40,000 in all.

In 1990 monks reclaimed the monastery.

(reported in the Jan./Feb. Atlantic.)



Peter

Tears Of Faith

One of the shortest verses in the Bible is “Jesus wept.” Tears are part of our experience as human beings and if we bring all of ourselves to worship, then there will be times when we bring our tears.

Last night was our annual Romero service. With the Salvadoran community in Ottawa, Emmanuel United remembered and gave thanks for the life of Oscar Romero.

In the middle of the service, one of the worship leaders turned to me and said, “Sorry I could not speak there for a moment. I was thinking about my sister.”

Romero was not the only martyr to die in the war in El Salvador. Other innocent people were murdered because of their faith in God and God’s dream of peace and justice. Those are good reasons to bring our tears to our worship.

This morning there were more tears as we dedicated a plaque to recognize the McLeish family’s gift of a grand piano to our congregation. We have enjoyed this instrument for some years now but with the passing of Margaret McLeish in January, this gave us an opportunity to say thank you again. Remembering the ones who offered this generous gift, brought a number of us to tears.

Jesus wept at the loss of a friend and so do we. Which shows that we care.


Peter

An Evolving, Life-Enhancing Faith

On a Sunday when the lectionary invites us to reflect on the 10 Commandments, Dr. Francis Macnab gives us a list of the 10 new commandments by which he lives.

The first and ninth on his list offers fresh language to express what Jesus called the commandment to love God and others as well as oneself.

Commandment 1: Believe in a Good Presence in your life. Call that Good Presence: God, G-D and follow that Good Presence so that you live life fully, tolerantly, collaboratively, generously and with dignity.

Commandment 9: We often focus our lives on many things and pursuits that promise our fulfilment. Study the deeper things of the Spirit, and the things of ultimate concern for all human beings. Be part of an evolving life-enhancing Faith that will also bring a new resilience to the future.

“An evolving, life-enhancing Faith.” That’s a belief and faith that makes intuitive sense to me.


Peter

A Unique Way To Raise Money

It’s been awhile since a cell phone went off in our church but I have heard them going off at some recent meetings. That reminded me of a video that has been shown at a Westminster Presbyterian church in Burbank, California.

In the video, those gathered for worship are asked to turn off all electronic and messaging devices. If a cellphone goes off during announcements, the video says there is $25. fee. If it happens during prayer concerns, the price goes up to $50. If it goes off during the sermon, you go to hell.

Must be the minister assigning those fees.


Peter

Religious Dogma or Collected Beliefs ???

How often we hear doctrine referred to solely in negative terms these days. It has become equated with a narrow, out of date religious sensibility. The archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams says doctrine does not have to be a dirty word. Doctrine is a way for Christians to consider how God is present in creation and in transformation.

The archbishop says, "But if doctrine doesn’t make possible poetry and contemplation, then doctrine is a waste of time. This is where the poetic and contemplative touch the prophetic, because the prophetic is all about the diagnosis of dead words and false acts. The prophetic task is to smell out death in a situation.”

And by pointing to what should not be, the prophet opens a door to what might be.



Peter

Testimony - A Matter Of Faith

One of the best of ancient practices that we are recovering in the Christian community is Testimony. Again this Sunday we had fresh examples of Testimony’s relevance and power. Members of our church stood up to speak about their faith. This was not easy for any of them.

We have examples in our communal faith story of scripture of how even leaders such as Moses said, “Find someone else to speak. It’s not my talent.” But despite his fears, he got on his feet, opened his mouth and voila, an improbable Exodus from slavery.

Faith is not just about feeling peaceful and at ease. That is part of the faith journey, but not all of it.

For everything there is a season, a time to sit quietly and a time to speak, a time to take in and a time to give out, a time to sit in the back row and a time to take your turn on your feet.

When individuals like Val and Jeremy, Mary and Norma, Pauline and Theresa tell us what music and faith means to them, the whole community is swept up and carried along. Thanks to the fantastic five for your efforts!

…and to all our musicians this morning. Go onto the website for the full effect !


Peter

Christians - Part of the Israel/Palestine Solution ????

I have been showing my pictures from Palestine and Israel this past week and so the people and the places I visited have been in my thoughts and heart.

Tom Gettman was one of the people I met in Bethlehem and he told the story of the 8-year-old daughter of a Ramallah-based Mercy Corps staff person who wondered about the huge barrier separating Israel and Palestine.

When riding with her mother from Jerusalem along the snaking barrier wall and then passing through the onerous Callandia checkpoint “border post”, she asked,

“Mommy, why do Jews have to live behind that wall?”

The sad thing about walls is that they don’t just shut out the “other” but they also close us off from commnicaiton and relationship.

And of course the Jewish community does not have to live behind a wall. But it will take courage and persistent commitment to find another way, a way to peace with justice in Israel and Palestine.

Christians have historically been part of the problem. Could they also be part of a non-violent solution? The Kairos Palestine document which United Church folks are now studying tells us this is possible, that there are ways to show our support for brothers and sisters suffering in Palestine. If you would like to know more about this document, try the internet or our website can point you in the right direction.



Peter

Poets and Playwrights as Politicians

Vaclav Havel died last month at the age of 75. He will be remembered as the poet and playwright who led the non-violent revolution in the former Czechoslovakia, then went on to become the country’s first president.

Havel enjoyed greater support abroad than in his home country as he took positions that were critical of his own country. He spoke out against the expulsion of the indigenous Sudeten German population after World War II. One of his first actions as a president was to offer an amnesty for those imprisoned by the former regime because they may have been communists. At his death he was a member of the Czech Green Party.

Havel once wrote,

“Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”

I don’t suppose a poet and playwright would have much of a chance in our political system. Too bad.


Peter