Rev. Susan Lukey

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: Matthew 5:13-16    

  Description: Be salt! Be light! That’s the mission Jesus gives us. Be salt! Be light! for the world. In your communities. In your families. At work. At school. At play. In every decision. In every activity. In how you use your resources. In how you present yourself. Be salt! Be light! That’s what Jesus said was the Way for his followers. So what does it mean to be salt & light? ....... I’ve been pondering these ideas. We are to be salt and light – but too much salt and light aren’t a good thing. If the only food we had was salt, that would be bad for us and for the earth. If we had only light, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, that would be bad for us and for the earth. What if, what if, Christianity isn’t meant to be the only faith in the world? What if there is meant to be a sprinkling of followers of the Way of Jesus throughout the world rather than a whole Christian empire ruling the world? What if we are here to bring out the hope, the healing, the welcoming, the joy in life – but not to be the whole show or the only show?

Passage: Luke 7:24-35    

  Description: So what is Jesus offering when he speaks of complete joy….Relationship is at the heart of what Jesus is offering – that is why he was accused of being a drunkard and glutton. He was spending so much time sitting down at the table with everyone and anyone that it was held against him. But it really wasn’t about drinking too much and eating too much – though I’m sure Jesus enjoyed the meal. Eating at someone’s table was (and still is) the key way of forming relationship in Middle Eastern Jewish culture. Jesus wasn’t there to eat and drink. He was there to form a relationship, a deep connection, with the people with whom he sat at table. He was there to let God’s love and compassion flow through him – to the tax-collectors & sinners – that’s everyone! When Jesus invites us into his complete joy, he is inviting us into relationship – a deepening relationship with God, a deepening relationship with the Way that Jesus taught us to live, a deepening relationship within this church community, a deepening relationship with family and friends, with strangers and enemies. It is in our relationships with God, with Jesus, with each other, and with unexpected people along the way that we will find the joy of which Jesus spoke. Now every relationship doesn’t bring happiness, and eating and drinking too much and other addictions get in the way of good and healthy relationships with ourselves and with others. That’s why Jesus invites us into something that is more than pursuing happiness. He invites us into a relationship with God and with each other in which we share in each others joys and sorrows, in which we dance together in celebration, and weep together in grief. Such relationships take time – we need time together with God in daily prayer and reading scripture and worshipping together. We need time with each other. The ironic thing is that our culture’s focus on the pursuit of happiness & success takes us away from each other. The pursuit of happiness breaks down relationship. We have less time than ever for having meals together, just sitting at table together in conversation & getting to know each other’s joys & sorrows. We are an exhausted culture, a weary culture – always pursuing, never finding that elusive “happiness.”

Passage: Luke 10:25-37 & James 4:1-2    

  Description: Guess who’s coming to dinner? That’s going to be our theme for worship this spring and, yes, I borrowed it from the 1967 movie. When Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner was released on December 11, 1967 it caused shock waves. A white woman brings home her fiancé to introduce to her parents. As open and accepting as they thought they were, the parents struggle when the fiancé walks through the door. He is African-American (played by Sidney Poitier) – and in the 60’s (even 70’s) it was still hard for people to get their minds around the idea of marriage between blacks and whites, Protestants and Catholics, Jewish and Christian. While we, in 2017, might chuckle at how that was possible, at how that was shocking, the reality is that we have our own versions of the same dividing lines that we find hard to cross. And, it seems that that is an age-old struggle because Jesus told one of his parables just about this kind of situation, the parable of the good Samaritan. We’ve used this parable several times this year, because I think it really speaks to what we need to be about as followers of Jesus in our time and context. This was a hard-hitting parable for those who first heard it from Jesus. They would have been as shocked by his words as were people in 1967 when the movie “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” was released showing a successful inter-racial marriage and the first inter-racial kiss on screen (even though it was seen only through a rear-view mirror image). Why was the parable of the Good Samaritan shocking? We’ve lost the cultural sense of this parable. It’s been made into a nice parable about a good neighbour and used to remind us that we should not be like those bad, bad people who crossed the road and ignored the injured fellow. We have “Good Samaritan” legislation in most provinces of Canada that protects passers-by who stop to help. It is all very nice and good when we talk about the Good Samaritan. But, those listening to Jesus tell this parable would have been very uncomfortable by the time he finished, squirming in their seats, not totally sure about how to take his words. The young lawyer (a student of Jewish law) got more than he bargained for in the answer Jesus gave. He and Jesus had agreed that the greatest commandment was “Love God, and love your neighbour as you love yourself.” Then, in good Jewish scholarly debate fashion, the young lawyer asked Jesus the question that would bring nuance and understanding. “Who is my neighbour?” Good question. If I am to love my neighbour, then I need to know who my neighbour is. If I have the definition clear in my mind, then I can judge which people I have to love and which ones I can disregard. But Jesus turns the tables on the young lawyer by telling this parable, and concluding with the words, “Go be the neighbour.” Be the neighbour.

Passage: Mark 14:1-50    

  Description: This is the second part of the recording of most of the service in which the children dramatized the story of Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem. (Look for Part 1 above) Palm Sunday conversations were the way we imagined street corner conversations in Jerusalem. The African American spiritual, "Were you there?" formed the inspiration for these conversations and was played on flute by Rev. David after every conversation.