A Journey with Time

Passage: Psalms 104:1-24    

  Description: A conversation between Rev. David & Rev. Susan about honouring God as the higher power in our lives, why we believe in God, and how science points us in that direction. We bless you today, o God, for you are great beyond imagining. You are clothed with honour and majesty, wrapped in light as a garment, draped in the beautiful deep darkness of space. Your love wraps the earth, underlying all that is. You do not intervene and interrupt the free will you gave us; yet you are always offering the influence & wisdom of your love. You, who are divine, invite us, who are human, to be partners in the mending and tending and repair of this earth. We bless you today, o God, for you are great beyond imagining, and yet, you love and know us, comfort and care for us, calling us to the Way of Jesus, for the healing of lives and planet. You, o God, are our higher power, the greatest gift of all. Amen.

Passage: Song of Songs 2:8-17 & Psalms 150:1-6    

  Description: I believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am passionate about living the Way that Jesus taught, finding ways to love neighbours and those perceived as enemies, welcoming strangers and deepening my love for God. I am committed to following the Way of Jesus day by day, and letting that sink deeper and deeper into who I am, transforming me, and hopefully transforming the world. I am passionate and committed to the Good News of Jesus Christ ---and that can be exhausting. For you, for me – all of us committed in our love for Jesus and his Way. Therefore, I hereby give you permission to delight, to play, to enjoy life! Think about it – how often do we promise ourselves that we will do something we really enjoy, once we have our work done. And then, the list is usually so long, that we never get to that part. We just keep working and working. We create a wonderful meal, a beautiful event, put our whole hearts in, and then we go on to the next thing on the list, never delighting in what has been. Now, I’m not against hard work. I know that it is necessary. But the truth is that we need a balance of work and play. That is the wisdom of the book of Ecclesiastes with which we started our fall season. What I see in our society is that we are working harder and longer hours. I see this happening with our children as well. Lunch time and recesses are getting shorter in some schools. After school is filled with homework and activities. Weekends have their schedules. And all of this is work, not play. It might be enjoyable for some, but it is not play. Let me explain. We need play for our emotional and spiritual well-being. We need play to process what we have learned and experienced. We need to play in times of joy and times of sorrow. What do I mean by play, you’re wondering? Play is not outcome based. It does not have purpose or goals set for it. It is not structured, though it does happen in a way that no one will get hurt (emotionally or physically). Play is not for real. It is engaging and spontaneous. It can not be taught. It does not have consequences. It is a time to explore and wonder and try out possibilities.

Passage: Matthew 6:19-21 & Matthew 6:25-33    

  Description: Guest speaker: David Armour, Director of Philanthropy for the United Church of Canada, was here to share a message and to thank us for continuing our faithful giving through the flood disaster. He noted that we were people that know both the gift of giving and of receiving.

Passage: Matthew 11:28-30 & Acts 2:42-47    

  Description: The energizer bunny thumped across my TV screen the other night. It just keeps going and going says the announcer. On the one hand how awesome for Energizer that they can produce a long-lasting battery—that’s pretty cool. On the other hand, I found myself annoyed by the bunny’s noise and incessant banging that just keeps going and going. And then I thought, gosh… how many times have I heard this annoying bunny become a positive image for resilience and a congratulatory phrase for how someone we know just keeps going and going. Why, she’s just like the energizer bunny. And we all nod with awareness and wonder. Assuming that’s a good thing. As I thought more about the energizer bunny, I literally went down a rabbit hole. We live in a world that doesn’t stop. We work shifts around the clock. We have access to light 24 hours a day. We receive market and business news from around the world at all hours of the day. We have fast food so we can eat and move to our next appointment at the same time. Productivity keeps going and going. This year’s bottom line has to out pace last year’s. We are addicted to work. We can even throw back a shot of espresso, get all the benefits of aroma, taste and caffeine—in, out, gone, next. This is especially useful for morning commuters it’s all about keeping ourselves going and going. This is the normal human pattern of activity in most parts of the industrialized world. We’re all expected to operate like the energizer bunny that just keeps going and going, banging away at our work. And for the most part we are rewarded for it. But a what cost? The pharmaceutical industry loves the energizer bunny because it busies itself by creating anti-depressants, sleep aids, pain suppressors, cold remedies so, we can all get back to work, be our normal productive self and keep going and going. But what about the breakdown of marriages, turn key kids, coronaries, high blood pressure, panic attacks, strokes, burnout, and chronic fatigue… pharmaceuticals merely numb the symptoms, they don’t make them go away. Fact is, humans need rest. There’s no denying it… rest serves our immune systems, restores our body, and provides us with over all well-being. When I read the words from today’s gospel, I feel myself melt. I need that kind of rest. I need to lean into God, into my spiritual practice, into the wisdom of my Judeo-Christian tradition, into the awareness that even Jesus rested and so did God.

Passage: 1 Kings 19:15-20    

  Description: Marco, our little cocker spaniel, and I have recently discovered a night path. It’s the walk we take in the evening, after dark, around part of Sunshine lake. There are no lights, except the soft glow from the windows of neighbouring homes. It’s quiet, this walk we take, except for the jingling of Marco’s tags and the calming sound of the lake’s fountain. There is an absence of brightness, an absence of noise, an absence of other humans and their dogs. The night walk is still, peaceful, and sometimes a little eerie. This is the quiet where there’s space and time for me and God and, one of the best places that provides enough emptiness for me to hear God’s question…. just like the one God posed to Elijah: What are you doing here? There are no rock-splitting winds. There is no quaking earth or fiery inferno on my night path—thankfully. But how often do we mistake these mighty cataclysmic events as somehow being the voice, judgement or will of God? Yet, the writer of 1 Kings makes it quite clear that despite hurricane force winds that tear off roofs or split brick walls, or earthquakes that collapse buildings, or forest fire infernos that consume everything in their path or powerful floods that wash parts of our way of life… God is not in any of that kind of power, despite what divine meaning we try to attach to nature’s way. God is not in any of those catastrophic forces. I find that interesting. Instead God is in a sound of sheer silence. And in the sheer silence the penetrating question about our existence comes to be. God asks, “What are we doing here?”