Jennifer and I just returned from a visit to Nigeria were we attended the burial ceremony of my father Cyril. It was indeed a glorious celebration of life. At 90, my father lived a full life (if there is anything like that). And so his funeral was occasion for a joyful Anglican Church service, attended by a congregation of more than 700, followed by a post burial fanfare of cultural dances.
Gone is this great man who gave me life. Watching his shinny-golden casket brought a flash of memories and images of the wonderful father he was to me. Gosh! Could I but be a fraction of what he was to me to my sons! Like I could hear him celebrating in the words of Paul to his 'son' Timothy-"...the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fit. I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me a crown of righteousness..." (2 Tim. 4:7-8).
That is my message here. The sweet paradox of death in the Christian faith is that it opens the doors of new beginnings. For my father, your loved ones and all the faithful s who die in The Lord, the door of endless life in eternity with Christ is opened. Survivors on their part are faced with new realities- gaps to be filled, new responsibilities, readjustments in family dynamics, and so on.
We realize that we deny ourselves the benefits of the opportunities presented by these new beginnings when we hang unto and fail to let go of what is passing. The season of advent not only marks the beginning of the church year, it's message of Hope, Joy, Love and Peace remind us of the promise of a new Messianic order.
As a generation, we live in an era of massive institutional and corporate failings and disappointment. Though painful, our challenges are fresh opportunities of grace. They underscore the beauty of our faith. Christ incorporated us heirs of His kingdom through His atoning death and glorious resurrection. Through His death, we have hope of new and everlasting life with Him-hope of a new beginning. Lo,He Comes
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Friday, May 4, 2012
Molly’s Arthritis
Last Sunday at the church, we were all moved by the beautiful sermon Suzanne preached. I'm sure I was. So, without diminishing the overall effect of the words broken from the pulpit, I’d love here to speak about a part of it which brought the whole sermon together for me. I was touched by the simple but deeply rich parable she shared about Molly(?). Remember Molly’s Arthritis? Amazing how some of these simple stories of live drive home the whole message. Here’s the story:
Molly (a little old lady) was making her usual visit to her local post office one afternoon. Unfortunately, there was a long queue of customers waiting to do business that day. Wanting to be helpful, someone pointed Molly’s attention to the stamp machine, since her reason for waiting in that long line was presumably just in order to get some stamps. “Thank you, but no,” said Molly, and as if she wanted to pass a polite joke Molly added what is actually a profound reality: “the machine will not ask me about my arthritis.”
What a powerful story this is! Got me thinking about my first ‘encounter’ with arthritis. Growing up, I remember my mother’s swollen knees and ankles, the pain in her face as she laboured to walk in slowed steps and often with a limp. Though my young mind couldn’t quite grasp it all, I felt her pain. Somehow, I also foolishly felt a different kind of pain-disappointment if you like from living through the arthritis experience with my mother.
My grouse came from times when my mother would ask that I massaged her swollen knees and ankles with a local ointment meant to sooth pains. Of course, my young limbs were never idle. For me, such requests always meant a disrupted soccer game, or times away from my favorite television shows and so on.
How like a child I was! Is it not true that mama could have applied the ointment herself if she so wanted? Could there have been more reasons as to why she asked her many children-ten of us in all- to take turns at different times massaging her arthritic knees and ankles? Indeed it may have been more about the joy of human touch and relationship. “Sigh.” What a beautiful community we’ll make together when/where we recognize that the most effective of stamp machines will never ask Molly about her arthritis?
Whose “ARTHRITIS"” might you need to ask about or give a loving touch today?
Molly (a little old lady) was making her usual visit to her local post office one afternoon. Unfortunately, there was a long queue of customers waiting to do business that day. Wanting to be helpful, someone pointed Molly’s attention to the stamp machine, since her reason for waiting in that long line was presumably just in order to get some stamps. “Thank you, but no,” said Molly, and as if she wanted to pass a polite joke Molly added what is actually a profound reality: “the machine will not ask me about my arthritis.”
What a powerful story this is! Got me thinking about my first ‘encounter’ with arthritis. Growing up, I remember my mother’s swollen knees and ankles, the pain in her face as she laboured to walk in slowed steps and often with a limp. Though my young mind couldn’t quite grasp it all, I felt her pain. Somehow, I also foolishly felt a different kind of pain-disappointment if you like from living through the arthritis experience with my mother.
My grouse came from times when my mother would ask that I massaged her swollen knees and ankles with a local ointment meant to sooth pains. Of course, my young limbs were never idle. For me, such requests always meant a disrupted soccer game, or times away from my favorite television shows and so on.
How like a child I was! Is it not true that mama could have applied the ointment herself if she so wanted? Could there have been more reasons as to why she asked her many children-ten of us in all- to take turns at different times massaging her arthritic knees and ankles? Indeed it may have been more about the joy of human touch and relationship. “Sigh.” What a beautiful community we’ll make together when/where we recognize that the most effective of stamp machines will never ask Molly about her arthritis?
Whose “ARTHRITIS"” might you need to ask about or give a loving touch today?
Monday, November 22, 2010
Lo! He Comes
I had a conversation with Tim Cribdon yesterday which tickled my fancy. Tim talked about his time with the youth group (coffee with Christ) during the day and the interesting topic they wrestled through. Of course it was about our preparations for Advent. Thinking of the millions of people in the West that trooped to the theaters during the week to watch the new Harry Porter movie, Tim had the kids wondering what it would look like if Christians created such hype and interest around the coming of Christ.
Sometimes the clouds seem to gather to precipitate same thoughts in us. Therefore Fr. Lorry in a pep talk to the music ministry of our parish later in the day had all of us thinking along those same lines. How is it (he wondered) that Canadians in Montreal this day will fill a ninety thousand capacity stadium in a -19’ temperature, while heated 150-200 capacity Anglican churches will consider themselves lucky to be half full at any of their services?
Being an ardent football (soccer) fan, this is an issue I’ve found myself struggling with for a long time. Watching English Premiership (thanks to television) is my major weekend leisure. If a game is not on television, I follow it up on the internet. Part of the hobby for me is to follow the number of people that fill stadia across England Saturdays and Sundays to watch football games, come rain or shine, come heat or cold. At the same time, churches are getting emptier and emptier and closing down. What is turning people away from the church? Why don’t they come on Sunday morning?
A good way of looking at this problem is for us to play our own kind of game-the blame game. This seems to be the preferred way. “They have lost interest in things of God” or any of the many reasons we adduce. Wake up children of God! Recriminations won’t lead us any further than where we are. It is time to “examine ourselves to see if we are holding to our faith.” (2 Cor. 13: 5). It is time we look at our branding. It is time to look into ways of generating Harry Porter Movie-like interest around the church and create football (real or American) fans level interest around what we do in church on Sunday morning.
Each year the Church invites us to remind ourselves of God’s plan of salvation for us sinners. Each day throughout Advent we are presented with yet another prophet providing further insights into the Messiah who will be sent by God to take away our sins and to restore our friendship with God.
Advent is rightfully called a “new beginning” since God’s plan of salvation is lived out yet anew year after year. Our challenge is to find suitable and appealing ways of offering this now beginning. “Lo He comes with clouds descending.” How can we make it a real new beginning? How can we generate the interest and create the hype?
Sometimes the clouds seem to gather to precipitate same thoughts in us. Therefore Fr. Lorry in a pep talk to the music ministry of our parish later in the day had all of us thinking along those same lines. How is it (he wondered) that Canadians in Montreal this day will fill a ninety thousand capacity stadium in a -19’ temperature, while heated 150-200 capacity Anglican churches will consider themselves lucky to be half full at any of their services?
Being an ardent football (soccer) fan, this is an issue I’ve found myself struggling with for a long time. Watching English Premiership (thanks to television) is my major weekend leisure. If a game is not on television, I follow it up on the internet. Part of the hobby for me is to follow the number of people that fill stadia across England Saturdays and Sundays to watch football games, come rain or shine, come heat or cold. At the same time, churches are getting emptier and emptier and closing down. What is turning people away from the church? Why don’t they come on Sunday morning?
A good way of looking at this problem is for us to play our own kind of game-the blame game. This seems to be the preferred way. “They have lost interest in things of God” or any of the many reasons we adduce. Wake up children of God! Recriminations won’t lead us any further than where we are. It is time to “examine ourselves to see if we are holding to our faith.” (2 Cor. 13: 5). It is time we look at our branding. It is time to look into ways of generating Harry Porter Movie-like interest around the church and create football (real or American) fans level interest around what we do in church on Sunday morning.
Each year the Church invites us to remind ourselves of God’s plan of salvation for us sinners. Each day throughout Advent we are presented with yet another prophet providing further insights into the Messiah who will be sent by God to take away our sins and to restore our friendship with God.
Advent is rightfully called a “new beginning” since God’s plan of salvation is lived out yet anew year after year. Our challenge is to find suitable and appealing ways of offering this now beginning. “Lo He comes with clouds descending.” How can we make it a real new beginning? How can we generate the interest and create the hype?
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Of Peace of Mind and Forgiveness
Bishop James rightly alluded to the various beautiful themes emanating from last Sunday’s readings. From the gospel reading alone, there are many: “Sunday Worship,” “Upper Rooms of Fear,” “Peace,” “The Joy of His Presence,” “Doubting Thomas,” (of course we find something of Thomas in all of us), and so on.
In verses 22 and 23 we meet with the powerful theme of forgiveness. Oh yes! “Receive the Holy Spirit” Jesus said to all of us when he breathed on the disciples. Then He added; “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained”
Hold your thoughts there! Let me share this story with you.
Once upon a time, a man, attempting a bank robbery, shot and killed a young woman who was a teller. He was a worthless man, a drug addict, an abuser of women, a cruel, vicious, evil gangster. The young woman's family was Catholic. They hated the man. They could hardly wait for the trial. They sat in the courtroom, their eyes filled with hate throughout the trial. When the jury found him guilty they cheer. When the judge sentenced him to death, they yelled with exaltation and exchanged high fives. They waited impatiently for the day of his execution. They told the media that they would experience "closure" to the tragedy only when they watched the lethal chemicals flow into his body and his face twist in death agony.
They waited years for all the appeals to be exhausted. In prison the man went through a conversion experience and begged for forgiveness. The family refused to grant it. It's a fake they said. He just wants to save his rotten life. He asked for forgiveness from the execution chamber. They spit in his direction. They cheer again when he died. As they were leaving the prison, the dead woman's sister said to her brother, I don't feel closure, do you? No, he said, I don't either.
Why couldn’t they find closure? You and I and the church are in perspective here. It seems to me that on this lies the abundance of PEACE in our lives and relationship or a lack thereof. I came across a saying that “to forgive is not a right to be jealously guarded, but an obligation to be exercised generously.” Why? Is it not simply because we do not earn our own forgiveness by forgiving others? Rather we manifest the generosity and implacability of God's forgiveness of us.
It is only true to conclude that it is impossible to find closure when we fail to forgive. This is true of any relationship. Don’t you think so?
In verses 22 and 23 we meet with the powerful theme of forgiveness. Oh yes! “Receive the Holy Spirit” Jesus said to all of us when he breathed on the disciples. Then He added; “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained”
Hold your thoughts there! Let me share this story with you.
Once upon a time, a man, attempting a bank robbery, shot and killed a young woman who was a teller. He was a worthless man, a drug addict, an abuser of women, a cruel, vicious, evil gangster. The young woman's family was Catholic. They hated the man. They could hardly wait for the trial. They sat in the courtroom, their eyes filled with hate throughout the trial. When the jury found him guilty they cheer. When the judge sentenced him to death, they yelled with exaltation and exchanged high fives. They waited impatiently for the day of his execution. They told the media that they would experience "closure" to the tragedy only when they watched the lethal chemicals flow into his body and his face twist in death agony.
They waited years for all the appeals to be exhausted. In prison the man went through a conversion experience and begged for forgiveness. The family refused to grant it. It's a fake they said. He just wants to save his rotten life. He asked for forgiveness from the execution chamber. They spit in his direction. They cheer again when he died. As they were leaving the prison, the dead woman's sister said to her brother, I don't feel closure, do you? No, he said, I don't either.
Why couldn’t they find closure? You and I and the church are in perspective here. It seems to me that on this lies the abundance of PEACE in our lives and relationship or a lack thereof. I came across a saying that “to forgive is not a right to be jealously guarded, but an obligation to be exercised generously.” Why? Is it not simply because we do not earn our own forgiveness by forgiving others? Rather we manifest the generosity and implacability of God's forgiveness of us.
It is only true to conclude that it is impossible to find closure when we fail to forgive. This is true of any relationship. Don’t you think so?
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Lenten Season
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still.
-- T. S. Eliot
How can I sit still?
Endure the relentless, internal chatter?
The chatter that says,
"Do more!"
"Achieve more!"
How can I embrace the Mystery...
Or be embraced by the Mystery
When I'm so busy
Running from place to place...
and from myself (and God!)?
Appropriate caring;
Appropriate activity;
Appropriate not caring;
Appropriate stillness;
Balance!
The elusive, dynamic fullness
that comes from emptiness.
Not striving to be so
Full of stuff, so
Full of self.
Another Lent -- a few days to
Repent.
Reflect.
Reorient.
Return.
While I've been busy.
God's been waiting to teach me
To care.
To not care.
To sit still.
Forty days.
So long.
So short.
I hope I'm ready
To (re)learn my lessons.
Teach us to sit still.
-- T. S. Eliot
How can I sit still?
Endure the relentless, internal chatter?
The chatter that says,
"Do more!"
"Achieve more!"
How can I embrace the Mystery...
Or be embraced by the Mystery
When I'm so busy
Running from place to place...
and from myself (and God!)?
Appropriate caring;
Appropriate activity;
Appropriate not caring;
Appropriate stillness;
Balance!
The elusive, dynamic fullness
that comes from emptiness.
Not striving to be so
Full of stuff, so
Full of self.
Another Lent -- a few days to
Repent.
Reflect.
Reorient.
Return.
While I've been busy.
God's been waiting to teach me
To care.
To not care.
To sit still.
Forty days.
So long.
So short.
I hope I'm ready
To (re)learn my lessons.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Saved to Serve
It’s been a while since I last left any impressions here. (Please don’t count). If you stopped by all that while, thanks for the magnanimity of not confronting me with “why”...Why have you tired out so soon? Why are you not living up to your own promise? Why…?
You know what? I was wondering whether anybody really cared. I was wondering why I got no reactions for four weeks in a row. But I got my wake-up call from the program I use to send out our weekly e-news. They made it possible for me to track and see that folks have indeed been visiting. Thanks for stopping bye.
Problem is, I only send out the e-news to faithful Anglicans, and Anglicans are good, good consumers. As a friend of mine said recently, we Anglicans come to church early to “secure the back seats” so we can relax and watch.
I know it is difficult, but may I encourage you not to do that here. May I encourage you not just to look around but to find ways to engage and be an active participant in our community? Henceforth, I’ll be making the discussions here are user friendly as possible-no theologising or philosophising. We’ll be talking about ourselves in the most honest and simple expressions possible to bring the weekly gospel readings alive among us. Yes! These are stories of events that took place more than two thousand years ago. How do they relate to us in our present realities?
Maybe in telling our stories and recounting our understanding and experiences of the gospel, we could at the same time be relating to what is happening in the life of some other reader somewhere. We could at the same time be quenching the thirst in someone in ways we cannot even think of or know. That is one big plus of this virtual age.
We all experience Christ in different ways daily. If you have had occasion to say “thank you Jesus,” or “thanks be to God,” for any reason in your life, that is a Jesus moment that you need to share for the benefit of others. So is it for what in human language we see as the opposite. Those times when you feel that it only rains on you. When we ask: “Why me, God?” “Why have you allowed this to happen to me?” …and so on. You need to let us know when the gospel message relates to your feelings of sadness or joy.
Do you realize how much people feel and live in isolation, and fear and loneliness in this age? It may well be that your testimony or just some honest random rambling may well speak to their situation and bring them to the knowledge that their experiences are nearly not as isolated as they believed they were.
It is selfless to speak up and discuss where you are in your Christian journey. Talk about how the gospel touches you, what you think, what hurts and what helps as a source of comfort. Don’t ever allow yourself to fall into the pit of what may well be the worst apostasy of this generation that “faith is private.” It is not. Christian Faith gives utterance.
That is LEADERSHIP. In doing that, you are serving others to a large extent in our community. This is one way of making sense of our gospel reading for today: “Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Mark 9: 33-35
Or is it not?
You know what? I was wondering whether anybody really cared. I was wondering why I got no reactions for four weeks in a row. But I got my wake-up call from the program I use to send out our weekly e-news. They made it possible for me to track and see that folks have indeed been visiting. Thanks for stopping bye.
Problem is, I only send out the e-news to faithful Anglicans, and Anglicans are good, good consumers. As a friend of mine said recently, we Anglicans come to church early to “secure the back seats” so we can relax and watch.
I know it is difficult, but may I encourage you not to do that here. May I encourage you not just to look around but to find ways to engage and be an active participant in our community? Henceforth, I’ll be making the discussions here are user friendly as possible-no theologising or philosophising. We’ll be talking about ourselves in the most honest and simple expressions possible to bring the weekly gospel readings alive among us. Yes! These are stories of events that took place more than two thousand years ago. How do they relate to us in our present realities?
Maybe in telling our stories and recounting our understanding and experiences of the gospel, we could at the same time be relating to what is happening in the life of some other reader somewhere. We could at the same time be quenching the thirst in someone in ways we cannot even think of or know. That is one big plus of this virtual age.
We all experience Christ in different ways daily. If you have had occasion to say “thank you Jesus,” or “thanks be to God,” for any reason in your life, that is a Jesus moment that you need to share for the benefit of others. So is it for what in human language we see as the opposite. Those times when you feel that it only rains on you. When we ask: “Why me, God?” “Why have you allowed this to happen to me?” …and so on. You need to let us know when the gospel message relates to your feelings of sadness or joy.
Do you realize how much people feel and live in isolation, and fear and loneliness in this age? It may well be that your testimony or just some honest random rambling may well speak to their situation and bring them to the knowledge that their experiences are nearly not as isolated as they believed they were.
It is selfless to speak up and discuss where you are in your Christian journey. Talk about how the gospel touches you, what you think, what hurts and what helps as a source of comfort. Don’t ever allow yourself to fall into the pit of what may well be the worst apostasy of this generation that “faith is private.” It is not. Christian Faith gives utterance.
That is LEADERSHIP. In doing that, you are serving others to a large extent in our community. This is one way of making sense of our gospel reading for today: “Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Mark 9: 33-35
Or is it not?
Friday, August 14, 2009
Gospel Gleaning: The Seven ‘Excepts.’
Much is been said of the viral expansion of Christianity in the global south. We’ve all heard of the ‘lively’ and vibrant worship sessions, and the passion that draws people to churches on Sunday morning in their thousands. The way I put it is that people back home in Africa generally seem more prone to the promptings of their faith than we find here.
Why is this so? While you and I may not have all the answers here, it is my thinking that this has a lot to do with history and social evolution. Without delving into history books, we can declare with no fear of equivocation that such was the case here. We call them the ‘good old days’ when North American was on fire for Christ and mission. That was how churches like ours were founded. It was how imposing cathedral buildings were built, and communities of faith grew.
There comes a time in the life of a people or individuals when the fire of the gospel- the fire of spirituality and evangelism, is ignited. We get to that tipping point in our journey and experiences when we don’t need a prophet to know that the die is cast. At such times we realize the need for re-evaluation of our journey, and the need to ensure that we are indeed journeying along side God. I hear it expressed in different ways today that we’ve gotten to that tipping point again in North America. Do you think so?
But I was talking about Africa. Yes, I was. I realize that part of the difference there, is the fact that people in the south seem to connect and relate with God at a different and deeper level. If you are in doubt about someone’s religion, the question to ask is not to know what denomination they belong. The common question is “are you born again?” Of course they will belong to churches if they are born again. What is considered important is to know if they have any personal experience of Christ to share. Therefore, the condition that Jesus set before Necodemus in John 3 becomes a measuring rod.
I am reminded of this by the Gospel reading for this Sunday. Being born again is considered a ‘syndrome’ by some. It shouldn’t be. It is one of the ‘SEVEN EXCEPTS’ that Jesus has given as pre-conditions for any one who is seriously committed to making it into the Kingdom of God. We have one in John 6 this Sunday. They are nothing to be afraid of. Each of them offers a measuring rod to our level of our individual experience of Christ.
Here they are:
1. Except you repent… (Luke 13:1-5).
2. Except you become converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3).
3. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3; 1 John 2:29; 1 John 3:8; 1 John 5:1-14,18).
4. Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God (John 3:5).
5. Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you (John 6:53).
6. Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:20).
7. Except you abide in me ... (John 15:4-6).
Why is this so? While you and I may not have all the answers here, it is my thinking that this has a lot to do with history and social evolution. Without delving into history books, we can declare with no fear of equivocation that such was the case here. We call them the ‘good old days’ when North American was on fire for Christ and mission. That was how churches like ours were founded. It was how imposing cathedral buildings were built, and communities of faith grew.
There comes a time in the life of a people or individuals when the fire of the gospel- the fire of spirituality and evangelism, is ignited. We get to that tipping point in our journey and experiences when we don’t need a prophet to know that the die is cast. At such times we realize the need for re-evaluation of our journey, and the need to ensure that we are indeed journeying along side God. I hear it expressed in different ways today that we’ve gotten to that tipping point again in North America. Do you think so?
But I was talking about Africa. Yes, I was. I realize that part of the difference there, is the fact that people in the south seem to connect and relate with God at a different and deeper level. If you are in doubt about someone’s religion, the question to ask is not to know what denomination they belong. The common question is “are you born again?” Of course they will belong to churches if they are born again. What is considered important is to know if they have any personal experience of Christ to share. Therefore, the condition that Jesus set before Necodemus in John 3 becomes a measuring rod.
I am reminded of this by the Gospel reading for this Sunday. Being born again is considered a ‘syndrome’ by some. It shouldn’t be. It is one of the ‘SEVEN EXCEPTS’ that Jesus has given as pre-conditions for any one who is seriously committed to making it into the Kingdom of God. We have one in John 6 this Sunday. They are nothing to be afraid of. Each of them offers a measuring rod to our level of our individual experience of Christ.
Here they are:
1. Except you repent… (Luke 13:1-5).
2. Except you become converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3).
3. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3; 1 John 2:29; 1 John 3:8; 1 John 5:1-14,18).
4. Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God (John 3:5).
5. Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you (John 6:53).
6. Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:20).
7. Except you abide in me ... (John 15:4-6).
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