Hopewit

1893 Google Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned. (James 5:12) Imagine this. In a country far away, the language is such that every utterance includes a syllable at the end that signals whether it’s true or not true. In that country, if the judge asks the accused, “Did you steal Jacob’s cow-truth?” The answer might be, “No, I did not-lie.” “Since you have lied and said you did not steal the cow, then the truth must me that you did steal Jacob’s cow-truth. Next case-truth.” Every observant parent knows that we have a rudimentary system like this; when we suspect that a child is fibbing, we order the child to repeat it while looking directly at us, and there in their eyes is the signal that what’s claimed is true . . . or not.” The guilty/honest look. (The principal is the same as that behind lie-detectors; lying may...

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy. When the Lord returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes. Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God. (Isaiah 52: 7-10) The window this morning opens on a green, climbing vista rising to the bare peak that is Volcan Baru, the highest point in Panama and the only place on earth from which one can see both the Atlantic (Caribbean) and Pacific Oceans at the same time. If the Lord were to “lay bare his holy arm” at the apex of Volcan Baru, nations from Colombia to Mexico, from Cuba to Venezuela might be able to...

When peace like a river attendeth my way. Mission: (n) a specific task with which a person or a group is charged. We chatted about Christian mission yesterday morning in an adult study group. About how some churches see themselves as a mission, as in Evangelical Mennonite Mission Church or that Anglican church in Northern Saskatchewan that gives the settlement of Stanley Mission its name. It’s the oldest church structure in Northern Saskatchewan, serves as a reminder to us that some European Christians of earlier centuries saw themselves on a mission; “charged with the specific task” of converting Indigenous people of North America to the Christian faith. But the New Testament charges us with a variety of “specific tasks,” including “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.” (Mark 16:15) Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and prisoners, inviting strangers into our homes are also pretty specific tasks. (See Matthew...

Between the crosses, row on row . . . I’ve decided to wear a poppy this year. In the past, the November 11 th commemoration of Canadians who died in past wars has generally been conflicting for me—as it has long been for many who were raised in pacifist faith communities. Some have worn a pin coloured similarly to a poppy with the motto, “To remember is to work for peace.” Others have worn both the pin and the poppy. Still others have chosen (and this has been me in the past) to basically ignore the day and its ceremonial marches, displays of medals and laying of wreaths at cenotaphs. But it never felt right. Was I dishonouring the grief of families whose loved ones died in war, who believed unequivocally in the righteousness, the nobility of the cause that cost them their lives? It felt less like I was protesting the madness that killed them and more like I was refusing to acknowledge the pain war had exacted from so many Canadians. From now until Nove...

It takes time, time and more time . . . . . . and many cups of Turkish coffee.  But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving. (II Corinthians 8:7) To excel in the grace of giving. II Corinthians 8 is an appeal to the generosity that ought to result from the blessings of “faith . . . knowledge . . . love” and a zeal kindled by the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Corinthian Church included persons with means, persons with good educations, a people who had been extraordinarily blessed. But privilege doesn’t automatically result in generosity; Paul’s admonitions in this chapter imply that there’s a glaring omission in the Corinthian community: they have members who have and members who don’t have , and equity ought to characterize the fellowship. Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard press...

Someday we'll all grow and buy our food in dignity and sufficiency Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:The old has gone, the new is here! 18. All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation : 19. that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation . (2 Corinthians 5:17-19). “And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” I led an adult study yesterday morning on the word reconciliation. The theme is ubiquitous in Paul who would, no doubt, concur with Merriam-Webster’s definition: "Reconciliation is the act of getting two things to be compatible with one another." It’s about getting from incompatible to compatible, from broken to whole, from messy to orderly, from conflict to peace. It’s being able to live together amicably “in the same house” once again. We’v...

Metropolitan Cathedral, Panama City I remember hearing long ago that a human was worth $11.50. The astoundingly audacious pronouncement rested on the assumption that some marketable chemicals could be extracted from a cadaver.  A horse, one guesses, would be worth much more. . Dismissing that absurd evaluation, we could consider how much we individually are paid for our skills and labour. By that measure, a surgeon is worth about ten times as much as a McDonald’s employee. Strident anti-abortionists—I’m guessing—would argue that a living human is of immeasurable worth, and that a fetus is a human being.  The indiscriminate bombing of Eastern Aleppo this week by Russian and Syrian militaries demonstrated again that to some persons, various of our fellow humans are considered immeasurably valuable while others are discarded as less than worthless. In a capitalist economy, people are inevitably layered into levels of worth by at least so...

The Church I used to attend Have you ever asked—possibly even prayed—“what must I do to do the works God requires?” According to John’s gospel narrative, Jesus has just been teaching the crowd, a crowd containing seekers, agitators, adversaries and friends: a motley crew. I’m not sure how such a crowd can ask a question, but John seems to condense the predominant sentiments in “the crowd” with two questions, actually. The first is, “What do we have to do to please God?” and a second, “What miracles are you going to do to prove that you speak for God?   John 6:28-35 New International Version (NIV) 28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” 29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to.” 30 So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I...

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1, KJV I reviewed Sam Harris' book at http://readwit.blogspot.ca/2014/10/the-end-of-faith-sam-harris.html. I would encourage reading the review and the commentary by Hugh Savage that follows.(Cut and paste the URL.) Do I have faith ? Do I know what people mean when they say they’ve lost faith ? Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen.” The interpretation of this verse seems to have been a struggle among translators and theologians forever. For a long list of a variety of understandings, click HERE . Hebrews 11:1 sounds like Paul’s attempt to define faith as if he were writing a dictionary entry: Faith (n.) \f ā th\ the substance of things hoped for; evidence of things not seen. In other words, If you are hoping that there will be peace on earth, for instance, and although there isn’t ...

The Mennonite Preacher Anslo and his Wife - Rembrandt Salt and Light (Matthew 5: 13-16) You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its flavor, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled on by people. You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill cannot be hidden. People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they can see your good deeds and give honor to your Father in heaven. Salt is not steak; salt and pepper are not egg. Steak without salt is bland, bleak. Egg without salt and pepper is, well, just egg. Nobody says, though, when eating a steak, I’m enjoying barbecued salt . Nobody says, I had salt and pepper for breakfast . And you are light , that wonderful quirk of the laws of physics that allows you to act both as a wave and as a particle, making possible the...