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?”

Passage: Genesis 1:1-2:3    

  Description: What do you think about rules? Are you a “by the rules” person who is dedicated to doing things according to the standards and practices set out by society? Or do you resist the rules, find ways to creatively or quietly work around them, or at least protest loudly (even if it is just in your mind)? What is your relationship with rules? And how are you at making rules for others? As a teacher, parent or grandparent, do you set rules and boundaries and stick to them? Or do you make the rules but then bend them a little here or a lot there when protests or tears come from the children? Then there are the rules & policies set by our elected government. In Alberta, we have an interesting relationship with government. It is often said in Alberta that we want less government and more freedom for individual choice. At the same time, we all realize that well-functioning government rules mean that we have safe drinking water, stable communities and quickly accessible health-care. Now, I’m not here today to tell you whether you should be a rule follower or a rule breaker, whether you should love government rules or resist them. What I do want to do today, based on faith tradition and scripture, is to talk about the paradox of rules and freedom. Here is what scripture says: Rules set you free! Rules set you free! As a young child in the 60’s, that is not what I remember being said in society about rules. The 60’s were a time of protests, challenges to rules and traditions, and experimentation with drugs, lifestyle, and music. Institutions were no longer valued for what they had meant in society. Individual needs and wants now took precedence over the good of the community. Rules, rituals, traditions, boundaries – all those were seen as bad. Creativity, individualism, uniqueness were named good! Each and every one of us – whether we love rules or resist rules – have been affected by the 60’s. We have embraced individual choice in everything from cell phones to dairy products. Some of you will remember the day when you walked into a store and had 2 or 3 choices at the most, not 50 kinds of yogurt and 40 kinds of cell phones. Now, most of us would feel quite disturbed if we suddenly were reduced to 2 kinds of yogurt or only 1 kind of bread on the shelf. We have fully incorporated and welcomed having a multitude of choices so that we can meet individual needs. And some of that is very good – for example, it means that people with particular food needs or allergies can buy nut-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, and more – to stay healthy and be well. But the shadow side of all those choices is how much time they take in our lives.

Passage: Galatians 5:16-26 & Ephesians 3:14-21    

  Description: I was scrolling through my Linked In news feed earlier in the week and noticed a post by an acquaintance of mine, Tim Neubauer, who worked with Samaritan’s Purse as part of the recovery efforts here in High River. His post, asked the simple question, “How then, shall we live?” Which is a very significant question for us who choose to follow in the Way of Jesus. In fact, it’s the same question that rests at the very root of today’s passage from Paul’s letter to the Galatians. A close read of Paul’s letters to the early churches always starts with words of introduction like: I Paul an apostle… to the church at Corinth, Philippi, Ephesus, Galatia. Then words of greetings, blessing, thanksgiving. Paul uses the same formula every time. His opening words are always gracious and polite—every time in every letter… except to the Galatians where he skips the customary words of blessing and thanksgiving and instead expresses astonishment and amazement at their foolishness. Paul is highly frustrated with them. His letter to the Galatians is one of the clearest expressions of his theology and answers the question, “how then, shall we live”, perhaps better than any of his other letters. Why? Paul’s frustration is caused by some zealous agitators in the Galatian community who are arguing very convincingly that to be a good Christian, the Galatian men need to be circumcised. They need to make the same form of physical and outward commitment to the faith following the Jewish custom. This infuriates Paul, because on the one hand, the Galatians are not Jewish and don’t need to be, and on the other hand the agitators are saying essentially, “it’s up to us to prove we are worthy of God’s love as something to be earned by our doing.” Paul disagrees in the strongest possible language and argues that the agitators are operating from the wrong end of the relationship. It’s not about joining an ethnic group, or custom based on one’s capacity to produce merit. Instead, it’s all about God’s relationship with us as the provider of love that is unconditional and not something to be earned. In God’s love, as Paul argues, “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (3:28). Therefore, no need for circumcision. Period. Paul seems to calm down as the letter continues, but his passion does not abate. The answer to the question, how then shall we live? is to live according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. It’s another way Paul goes after the bad theology surrounding circumcision. To understand the essence of Paul’s argument, we need to think like a 1st century Greek Christian mystic. Because, that is who Paul was.