Passage: Genesis 1:27 & 1 Corinthians 12:1-12    

  Description: I was too young to remember, but there’s a story told about me when I was 2-3 years old. One can be pretty convincing at that age and apparently, my mom had to sew patches on the knees of my perfectly good pants so that I could look like my dad. Sameness. It’s the instinctual desire to be like and a primary point of connection that helps us form relationships. If you ever watch two people meet for the first time, you will hear their conversation search for something in common. “Oh, I saw Downton Abbey, too!” “Oh yes, Maggie Smith is my favourite actor, too”. “I can’t believe we both grew up in Inglewood! My goodness isn’t that amazing”. Now… As a pre-schooler I could look like my dad and go to work just like him. Sameness. I watch sameness work its magic after church, as we seek to establish relationship with one another. We talk about hobbies we have in common. We find common connections around where we’re from… “Hey, I grew up in Saskatchewan, too. What’s the name of your hometown?” I hear conversations around favourite kinds of tea, favourite gardening tips, and least favourite books of the Bible. We find sameness with people in our generation—any Carpenters fans here? Theologically, we find sameness as people of God. We are created in the image and likeness of God. Even though we have different abilities and skills, we find sameness in the body of Christ. There is oneness in our sameness. As ones created in the image of God and linked together as members of the body of Christ, we find comfort. We find a welcome. We feel connection. We honour the human need to be together. Sameness is the primary glue that bonds relationships generally, and for Christians in particular it helps form community. We celebrate sameness through our love of eating together, praying together, studying together, and holding a set of values together such as practicing compassion and unconditional love, growing community and extending the table of hospitality, as well as seeking a just, sensitive and inclusive community that chooses to embrace diversity despite differences. Theologically, these are principles and practices that we hold in common that help us settle into relationships where these values are generally the same. We gather around each other knowing that our expression of sameness is grounded in our image and likeness of God and our life together as members of the Body of Christ. Sameness. Sameness helps us begin relationships. And that’s a key understanding where the operative words are: “helps us begin”. Sameness is a rather shallow expression of relationship. Its roots are not very deep. And while it works to help us enter into relationship, by itself it doesn’t lead us very far. There’s an inherent murkiness to sameness if we remain stuck there. It is a point of connection, an entry point that provides opportunity for relationship but, it’s shallow and has a shadow side.

Passage: Revelation 21:1-6    

  Description: I think that’s absolutely key to understanding the deeper aspects of John’s words in Revelation 21. This is a passage about relationship. It’s a text about how God seeks relationship and goes to great extents to remove any barriers that serve to separate people from God and each other as God’s people. The watery and chaotic deep that serves to separate us from love and disturb creation is no more; the pang of separation due to pain and death is eased as God so compassionately wipes away our tears—how intimate is the love of God that approaches us in these deep moments of loss and separation. In John’s words, we hear echoes of the apostle Paul who proclaims that, there is nothing that a can separate us from the love of God—neither death, nor life…. nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom.8:38-39)

Passage: Matthew 20:1-16    

  Description: Labour Day in Canada has its roots in a social movement that successfully managed to stop slave-like labour practices and begin the process of providing reasonable, just and safe work environments including the practice of 8-hour workdays. For our reflections here, we have a story from our tradition that infuses employee relations with compassion and generosity. At the end of the day in the vineyard, everyone has a living wage—not based on seniority or merit but based on compassion and generosity. The invitation of today’s gospel is clear: we who follow in the Way of Jesus are to practice God’s generosity, not begrudge it. That’s how life in Christian community functions. It’s not a merit-based system based on how long we serve. Instead it’s a compassion and generosity-based way of living a life of love and service one for the other. The owner of the vineyard acts with love towards those who lack income and purpose. His love is made real through acts of compassion and generosity. While the question of “what’s in it for us, dear Jesus?” is real and very human, the answer is surprising. As one’s who follow in the Way of Jesus, no matter one’s tenure, all are the recipients of God’s compassion, generosity and everlasting love. These gifts are ever eternal and ever present. And they are ours to embody, imitate and proclaim. When we practice and imitate divine compassion and generosity, we root our lives more deeply in God’s abundance and love. And that’s way more profound than living according to whatever merit we think we deserve or might be entitled to receive.

Passage: Acts 4:32-37 & Acts 5:1-11    

  Description: Sunday worship with Linda Ormson

Passage: Romans 12:9-18 & Luke 15:11-32    

  Description: Be joyful for other peoples Joy.