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Showing posts from 2015

Fire and Soap

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“ I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord , as in days gone by, as in former years.” (Malachi 3: 1-4) Advent. The anticipation of Christmas. The waiting for when “the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come.”     For a fabulous rendition of the central parts of this passage, wonderfully recorded, put on your headphones or ear buds, plug them into the computer and hear Emma Kirkby in Handel’s “But who shall ab

Christ the King

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Colombian Orchids - Courtesy of Agnes Epp It's Christ the King Sunday today. I didn't know that until the pastor announced it at Hively Avenue Mennonite this morning. The sermon was about king, kingdom and the role of subjects of the kingdom of which Jesus speaks when Pilate asks him if he is, or isn't, a king. (John 18: 33-37) I'm not enthusiastic about kings and queens generally; to me the terms and the political structures they represent are anachronistic at best, archaic at least, and probably representative of multiple evils of power, pomp and class systems . . . always. But in order to emphasize that Jesus is the maker, the finisher of the Christian faith, and God's “governor general” on earth, there had to be a time when the right word was king.   Then there's the even more used “Lord,” and the question of whether written in capitals ( LORD ) as opposed to Lord is significant. I read somewhere that LORD should be used only f

Signs of the End

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Burning flax straw bales east of Rosthern As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!” 2.“Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” 3.As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, 4.“Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?” 5.Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 6.Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. 7.When you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 8.Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains. 9.“You must be on your guar

God is Good

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November 1; Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary “As much as possible, youth workers should do their best to teach the whole message of the Word of God so that young people in both subcultures [the upwardly-mobile strivers and the 'punk-rock' groups] will know what they're called to become instead of believing in gods that only affirm what they already are.” (Campolo, Tony: The Church and the American Teenager, 1989 – p.49) I'm sure much of what Campolo wrote in his analysis of teen subcultures and the church would be different if he were to rewrite the book today. Teen subcultures shift and change so rapidly in this technological age that it's hard to pin them down into identifiable groups as he did in 1989. But the question his book raises is no less pertinent to youth ministry today than it was then: how does the church faithfully raise its children in a multicultural, multilingual, everything-and-everybody-is-technologically-connected kind of

For all the saints . . .

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St. Julian Ukrainian Catholic Church near Rosthern For all the saints who from their labours rest, Who Thee by faith before the world confess, Thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest, Alleluia! Alleluia! Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress, and their Might; Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well-fought fight; Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light. Alleluia! Alleluia! (Click HERE and play while you read. Or not, as you wish.) Today is All Saints Sunday. Pastor Charles reminded us in his sermon here at Hively Mennonite that we are all part of a “cloud of witnesses” who have courageously gone before us or walk beside us and others who will carry the torch after us. It's a consciousness we often neglect, the sense that we are both sheltered and challenged by the “saints” who uncompromisingly put their faith into practice in whatever time and place they find themselves.  There were stories of Christians of the past who gave everything they had to be salt

Hebron, New York and the doctrines of intolerance

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“ It turns out a settler executed a Palestinian on Shuhada Street outside the Beit Hadassah settlement - we can see this spot from our roof. After which, soldiers (caught on video) planted a knife on the 18 yr old boy's body to claim he attempted to stab someone - that's been happening a lot recently. Don't believe all the stabbings being reported, some are real and some are bogus and simply an excuse/justification for executing Palestinians. The settlers proceeded to rejoice, they were handing out sweets and cups of tea and dancing around the boy's body. There are photos of this.” ( Reliable witness ) “ Six church leaders and parishioners now face charges including manslaughter and assault for a brutal beating in the sanctuary last Sunday that left Lucas Leonard, 19, dead and his brother Christopher, 17, in hospital. (CBC News at http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/church-beating-death-1.3276674 ) The beatings were an escalation of a “counseling session” trying t

Don't be afraid

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Eigenheim Mennonite Church, 1896 So do not fear, for I am with you ; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10 There are fully 70 admonitions in the Old Testament alone that urge the Children of Israel not to be afraid, not to be discouraged because God is on their side and will prevail. Add to that the roughly 20 references in the New Testament that urge us to be fearless in the face of a hostile world and you begin to approach 100 repetitions of that theme. It's amazing that so many Christians have swapped that obviously-Judeo/Christian value for its opposite: a doctrine of intolerance and self-defense borne out of fear of “the other” and the prevailing view that security lies in military might. What can that mean but that we have lost confidence in the God whom we purport to worship and in Christ who said, “ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not

Nostalgia, regret and the memory of meadows

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As Jesus made his long journey down to Jerusalem , anticipating there the final clash of worlds, I wonder if he brooded nostalgically over the pungent smell of sandalwood, the heft of a hammer in his hand, the vision of his father bent over a block of sycamore planing it to a smooth, aromatic finish. Did he long to feel again the warmth of his mother's hand on his forehead, her quiet movements around the house as she prepared the evening meal? As he lay awake at night, did he long for the countryside of his youth, the hills and valleys around Nazareth where he spent long summer days of discovery with friends, the beach days skipping stones on the sparkling surface of the Sea of Galilee? For what was Jesus nostalgic, what did he long to retrieve when he cried out in agony in Gethsemane, “ Abba , Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me.” It comes as no surprise that age longs for youth, that the river imagines brilliant, sparkling mounta

Safety, risk and the refugee crisis

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Peace, safety, serenity It gets complicated. Or does it? The voices are many and loud urging Canada to take in more refugees from Syria, and to do it quickly. Meanwhile, other voices are cautioning that this mass migration is a perfect opportunity, for instance, for ISIS to infiltrate Western countries for the purpose of terrorizing us. How can we both take in many refugees quickly and ensure that they're truly refugees and not hiding in the migration population with sinister purposes in mind? There's an old saying that no good deed ever goes unpunished. As an MCC volunteer in Europe, I facilitated the relocation of a refugee family from Hungary to Canada under the sponsorship of a Mennonite congregation. Despite the best efforts of the congregation to welcome and settle the family, it was very soon clear that the church and MCC were being used; the family disappeared shortly after arrival and turned up in a Hungarian expat community in Toronto.  All involved

Star-bellied Mennonites

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My favourite watercolour artist and neighbour, Brian Hicks It seems tragic to me that we have now reached the point where the defining factor in a person's Mennonite identity is his/her opinion on whether or not the church should honour gay persons' desires to solemnize their commitment to each other in their church. In the USA, the large Lancaster Conference is working on plans to separate from MC USA; except for the gay marriage issue, this wouldn't be happening. I'm reminded of Dr. Seuss' The Sneetches where a physical attribute is allowed to divide, where a certain feature—or lack of it—escalates to become blatant and unnecessary discrimination blocking out the central truth—which is discovered at the end: WE ARE ALL SNEETCHES.  It's a children's book, not the Bible, but the core of Dr. Seuss' parable might be something we want to revisit: the unwarranted escalation of one apparently important difference has the power to obscure

John 7

(From Edmonton) John 7 strikes me as political as the gospel gets, almost as if it's a chronicle of the ambivalence in the Jewish Community of the time with regard to the identity and role of the awaited Davidic Messiah. Rumours abound about this Jesus who claims that identity; the people wait for leadership to decide, they in turn are torn between recognizing his deeds and teachings as God-inspired or killing him as an impostor. I'm not sure what one should make of the brothers of Jesus urging him to go up to Judea for the Festival of Tabernacles, his refusal to do so . . . And then going anyway. Once there, of course, he's recognized as the one who's raised a following potentially capable of challenging the status quo. So the debate is on: how could a Galilean, of all people claim to be the fulfillment of the Messianic hope? Described in it's most raw firm, I am a spiritual descendant of the Gentile converts post-resurrection, not of the Jewish followers of J

John 6 - the gospel is not for snacking

(Written on my Blackberry; no picture today) John six begins with the feeding of the five thousand and "walking on water" signs and more or less duplicates the stories in the other gospels. I won't repeat the comments  I made during my Matthew reading about these events. I just participated in an inter-church communion service last night and so the metaphoric "eat my flesh, drink my blood" pronouncement is still fresh in my mind. In John's record, so much is made of the image and the fact that hearers were extremely disturbed by it that one wonders why Jesus didn’t choose a more palatable metaphor. As I understand it, it's a simple declaration that following Jesus requires that his word, his teaching, his sonship must be absorbed in their totality; this is not a hobby or something that one does on weekends. You don't snack on Jesus; he must be your main course, your total spiritual sustenance. That has to be the message; not much is as repugnant

John 5: testimony weightier than that of John

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 Eigenheim Church - Photo by Maryvel Friesen - thanks, Maryvel John 5: Jesus vs. the "Jewish leaders." Now here's a story that should bring a chuckle. Near the pool of Bethesda lies a paralytic on a mat, hoping someone will help him into the healing waters of the pool. Jesus walks by, sees him and heals his paralysis. The man gets up and walks away. He's spotted by some elders/rabbis/pharisees — John doesn't make their identity clear — who charge the man with breaking Sabbath law . . . by carrying his mat. The oddities of other people's beliefs was in the news lately when Stephen Harper defended the refusal by a citizenship court to allow a woman wearing a Niqab to take the oath. Some dozen years ago, we were all bent out of shape here in Canada because a man of the Sikh religion wanted to wear a turban AND be a Mountie. I imagine there are people who find the Christian choice of a cross as its symbol somewhat odd, or the importance they pl

John 4 - Drink up

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The imagery is of a well, and water, and thirst. That the woman Jesus meets at Jacob's well while the disciples are shopping for food is Samaritan probably had more impact on early readers than it does on us. Central to the story is Jesus' use of the quenching power of water in a dry land to introduce the woman to a life that is more than the daily drawing of physical-life giving water, that promises fulfillment for the spirit, a fulfillment for which she thirsts. It's a thirst we all experience, a wish to be more like eagles that soar than like worms that drag themselves along the ground, grinding out their daily lives. Jesus offers the Samaritan woman only the news that the Messiah who will bring with him the spirit-raising water is here, sitting on the side of the very well where the ancestral hope for his coming was given birth. There is no “born again” transaction here; John's story is for the edification of the early church, a continuation of his def

John 3 - the "born again" mystery

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John 3 provides a concise, if enigmatic, summary of what has come to be the core of evangelical theology . Mankind is flesh, food, earthy. He is, by all accounts, an animal that is born, feeds reproduces, ages and dies. According to John, though, there is a possibility for more, and that more is hard to embrace because, like the wind, it comes and goes invisibly from and to wherever it will. It is therefore different from the material world that we sense on a daily basis and so it must be apprehended differently. The spirit comes to the one who believes, the one who is, as it were, born over again into a spiritual realm where all is new and different. Nicodemus apparently comes prepared to be inspired to something more than he has so far experienced as a mortal being; he recognizes in Jesus a teacher who possesses something more than life has offered him so far. He comes at night because the niceties of his formal life as a person of importance in the ruling class would

John 2 - How long should it take to erect a temple? 46 years? 3 days?

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John 2 is a short chapter – 5 minutes of reading tops. It relates only two incidents: the wedding at Cana where Jesus is purported to have turned water into wine and the cleansing of the temple, the latter appearing surprisingly at what would appear to be the beginning of his ministry; the other gospels place it near the end. I have occasionally quipped that if Jesus had been born into the Mennonite congregation of my youth, he would likely have arrived at such a wedding early and turned the wine there into water. Wine was objecta non grata at Eigenheim weddings . . . and still is. We could debate the significance of this miracle , and one is tempted to do so. John makes the points that his mother has confidence in his ability to help the host out of an embarrassing situation, that the jars Jesus had filled in order to produce the new wine were jars normally used for ritual cleansing, that the water-into-wine event “was the first of the signs through which he revea