Religion And Protest - The Ukraine

Today there was an interview on the CBC in which a photographer in the Ukraine described religious leaders in the streets of Kiev, pouring holy water on the protesters.  Christians have too often been associated with defending the status quo and aligning themselves with powerful constituencies.  But the church has never been of one mind.  Christians in Eastern Europe, in the Philippines, in Central America have also aligned themselves with those struggling to confront unjust regimes and move the world in a better direction.  They see this as being faithful to a God who is found among the powerless.

The interim president in the Ukraine, Oleksandr Turchynov, is a Baptist preacher.  In the Ukraine, Baptists are a tiny minority, 135,000 out of 45 million.  Most of the pro-democracy protestors are Ukrainian-speaking Catholics says Olga Rudenko of Religion News Services. 

The new president is reputed to be a great organizer but not so good relating to people.  In this time of political chaos can he represent his people?  Can his skills make a difference?  What kind of spiritual leadership can he offer? 

Our hopes and prayers are with our sisters and brothers.

 

 

 

Peter

Will Religion Rise Again?

Will Boomers return to church?

 

The jury is still out on that. But never say never because Boomers do like to buck the trends, says a recent Christian Century article by Janice Lloyd.

 

Vern Bengston, a professor emeritus of gerontology recently published “Families and Faith” based on a 35 year, six generation longitudinal study of families in California.  Bengston says that as we age, we have more time to consider the meaning of our lives.  We also recognize the march of mortality as friends get sick and die and grandchildren ask deep questions.

 

The “nones,” those with no traditional religious affiliation are growing but they are a varied group.  Some are anti-religious but others are still searching for a religious group that fits their experience.

 

Bengston is an example of someone who has made a shift toward religion late in life.

 

“ I came from a conservative religious family. When I started to question my faith during college, my mother said if she had to do so she would pick Jesus over me. She ended up rejecting me. It broke her heart and mine. I was an atheist for 35 years. But when I retired, I walked into a progressive church on Easter Sunday, heard the choir singing and was utterly surprised by joy, as C.S. Lewis described his own later-life religious experience. I haven’t stopped going to church. If there is a heaven and if my mother is there, I think she’d say “I told you so.”

 

 

 

 

 

Thrice Reflected

Worship at it's best is a dialogue. In my experience, a prayer or a sermon is inspired by some person in the community, past or present.

After I share my reflection on that inspiration, I get still yet another wave of the Spirit wash over me when another member of the community offers their reflection on my reflection on their reflection.  This past week I have been meditating on Priscilla of whom there are only a couple of tantalizing references.  This is Carol's poetic response:

Captivated, Chosen

Who was she –

That Priscilla of so long ago?
What mystery unfolded
To awaken our re-imaginings?
How did she work her way through
The aperture of our consciousness?

Once, long ago
In the days and nights
Of Christ-Light beginnings,
In the time when the very air
Still shimmered with holiness,
Still vibrated with new awakenings

She was there: captivated, chosen

By the holiness of Spirit
To participate, to walk beside
The Saul who had been transformed,
Inspired to record messages
For the suckling church.

Was it she

Who offered courage,
Comfort, solace
To her friend and brother
In his journeys abroad,
To the Paul who gave his all?

Perhaps by our re-membering,

We can read, reflect and dream her back
Into our collective consciousness,
Until, with Prisca and Paul,
We participate in the sacred work
Of resurrecting our faith to new levels of love.

Carol Grace Scott

November 11, 2013

 

 

Prayers of the People

Every Sunday as our community gathers we get a fresh reminder of the our need for one another.

That happens as names are added to the list that is passed from hand to hand among the congregation and then offered up in the Prayers of the People.  It also happens in conversations over coffee after the service. 

This Sunday there were names on the list that refer to situations that are heart-breaking:  the loss of a dear friend to cancer, the death of a wife and mother, the tragic death of a child in Kenya.  There were mentions of illness, and operations and daily struggles of various kinds.

I share the list aloud in the time of prayer but there is much more taking place than that.  People listen and add their prayers and then in the hallways, further conversations lead to a word of support or follow-up action.

Being part of a community of faith offers all kinds of support that makes us more resilient in times of difficulty.  Some times we get to offer that support and some times we get to receive it.  Both of these are a blessing.

The Big Picture

Last month Michael Dowd and Connie Barlow led a workshop in Ottawa on Evolutionary Christianity.  Dowd claims that “science and religion can be mutually enriching forces” in our world.  In one of his books, Dowd quotes Barbara Marx Hubbard’s grateful reflection on the fourteen billion year journey that has brought humanity to our present.

 

“Every entity that ever moved or swam or crawled or flew, every being that reproduced itself, all the vast numbers of species now extinct and presently living who have invented the amazing capability which we have inherited as our eyes, our ears, our organs, our very atoms, molecules and cells – all of these preceding us are represented in our emergence now.

 

We bow down in awe and gratitude for the past.  Without all that came before us, none of us would be awakening now.”

 

There’s a big picture reason to feel thankful this season.

 

 

Birthing Pains

On March 17, the Wesley and Emmanuel church communities will vote on whether to amalgamate into a new community.  From the looks of it, this will happen!

 

 If the vote is “yes”, there will be some change ahead.  Even though we are keeping the Emmanuel name and the Emmanuel site on Smyth Road, the way ahead has been altered.

That change holds promise for us all but if it’s like any other change in our lives, then the shift has the potential for disagreement, upset and spiritual growth.

Parker Palmer, a Quaker and a voice of wisdom that I have often appreciated, speaks of five habits that we can cultivate which will continue to move us forward in positive ways.

1.      An understanding that we are all in this together.

2.      An appreciation of the value of “otherness.”

3.      An ability to hold tension in life-giving ways.

4.      A sense of personal voice and agency.

5.      A capacity to create community.

As a participant and an observer in the steps of this journey toward amalgamation, I have noted that questions and fears have been out in the open and treated with respect. Experienced Presbytery leadership has been crucial.  Individuals in both congregations have taken the initiative to engage and that has made a significant difference.

 

The above five points have been evident in the conversations and meetings that have taken place, which makes me feel hopeful.  If we vote “yes” on the 17^th, then in the coming year, as we explore what this new community will be and do together, it may be helpful to continue to keep these points in mind.

 

We’ve had a couple of new babies born recently at Emanuel.  Another one may be coming soon.  Every new birth shakes up our lives but what joy there is in every new creation!

 

 

Peter

 

Walking By Faith

Our moderator, Gary Patterson, recently had the opportunity to meet with other church leaders in the Canadian Council of Churches. He discovered that other church leaders, from across the liberal/conservative spectrum were facing distrust of institutions, spiritual not religious people.  Apparently we're in the same boat.  Says Gary in his blog,

"Willard Metzger, head of the Mennonite Church of Canada, described his sense of what was happening by imagining the church leadership as being in a boat, trying to go forward but being surrounded by fog. You can’t see what the future church looks like or even where it’s going to be found. But you keep peering ahead, watching carefully, trying to read the currents, hoping you won’t hit the rocks. Always staring ahead, trying to discern what’s out there. Then the fog clears for a moment, and you catch a glimpse of the “new church”…but it isn’t anything like what you thought it would be. And then, just as you reset the tiller, the fog closes in again, and you’re forced to steer by faith once more.

There was talk about this being God’s work—that what is happening to the churches, to all of us, is the movement of the Spirit, similar in many ways to Jeremiah’s understanding of the exile of Israel into Babylon. We are not being called to “fix it” but to discover new ways of being, to discover where God is already doing a new thing and join in.

There's something in the New Testament about walking not by sight but by faith.

with thanks to Gary and to Christine who passed this on.

 

Peter

 

 

 

 

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