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Trinity Sunday

Isaiah 6
1In the year that King Uzziah died, [a] I had a vision of the LORD. He was on his throne high above, and his robe filled the temple. 2Flaming creatures with six wings each were flying over him. They covered their faces with two of their wings and their bodies with two more. They used the other two wings for flying, 3as they shouted, "Holy, holy, holy, LORD All-Powerful! The earth is filled with your glory."
4As they shouted, the doorposts of the temple shook, and the temple was filled with smoke. 5Then I cried out, "I'm doomed! Everything I say is sinful, and so are the words of everyone around me. Yet I have seen the King, the LORD All-Powerful."
6One of the flaming creatures flew over to me with a burning coal that it had taken from the altar with a pair of metal tongs. 7It touched my lips with the hot coal and said, "This has touched your lips. Your sins are forgiven, and you are no longer guilty."
8After this, I heard the LORD ask, "Is there anyone I can send? Will someone go for us?"
"I'll go," I answered. "Send me!"


In the spirit of the summer weekend, I present excerpts from the files of "Operation Safe Journey," a initiative of various Ontario Police Services and they attempt to crack down on bad drivers:

An Acura driver caught travelling on a highway shoulder at 100 km/h had passed over 300 vehicles before he was finally stopped.
"He told police there was a chance his car was going to break down between Toronto and North Bay and he wanted to be already on the shoulder when it did," an officer said.

At least a dozen motorists were charged with drinking and driving, including one man who was spotted weaving in and out of traffic on Highway 400 near King City by other motorists who alerted police. "This happened at 8:30 a.m. He actually passed out behind the wheel when the officer pulled him over."

Of the more than 400 speeders charged, the dubious distinction for the top high miler of the weekend was a young rider atop a red Yamaha motorcycle, clocked at 220 km/h. "He said he just wanted to take it out for a run."

More than 200 people got nabbed for simple seat-belt offences.
Among these was the driver of a minivan whose children were so happy to see a police cruiser they started jumping up and down in the rear seats, waving to the officer behind the wheel.

A couple having sex as they drove caught the attention of an astonished police officer on County Road 90 south of Barrie.
"Both occupants of the vehicle were engaged in activities other than that normally expected of persons driving an automobile," the rather deadpan officer said. They were charged and encouraged to go home.*

There is something about human stupidity that we find very compelling. We love to laugh at the foolishness of other people, and I think it is even more humourous when we can relate to the foolishness in some direct way. Drivers in particular, if you can recall your first traffic ticket or near ticket, will likely find the Operation Safe Journey files a little more amusing. You may have your own funny story to share, and I encourage you to confess freely at coffee. We're here for you.

I like to start conversations about human sinfulness at a more fun, accessible place rather that head for the really egregious ones. If you read the paper or watch the news you will be well acquainted with the shocking and maddening examples of sinfulness and will no doubt have developed your own means for assimilating this information and living your life. The Post prints a map of Toronto every Monday that situates the criminal activity that took place over the weekend. Like most, I check out my neck of the woods first and then marvel at the fact that some form of criminality touches every neighbourhood of the city.

I think our challenge is to put sinfulness in some sort of context beyond "it's wrong, don't do it" and then begin to imagine together a way forward. How does God perceive all of this? How can we be "a forgiven people" and still confront sin? Can we overcome our own discomfort with the entire topic?

***

4As they shouted, the doorposts of the temple shook, and the temple was filled with smoke. 5Then I cried out, "I'm doomed! Everything I say is sinful, and so are the words of everyone around me. Yet I have seen the King, the LORD All-Powerful."
6One of the flaming creatures flew over to me with a burning coal that it had taken from the altar with a pair of metal tongs. 7It touched my lips with the hot coal and said, "This has touched your lips. Your sins are forgiven, and you are no longer guilty."

This is one of those cases when we say "if he thinks he's a sinner, than what am I?" Isaiah, prophet to those in power, spoke as a participant in the unfolding of the history of Judah. He gave counsel to four kings, and managed to remain in place despite the severity of his initial message and the troubled times in which he lived. His critique is mostly self-directed. He speaks to his society and does not deny that he is a participant. In his vision, recounted this morning, he is quick to say "I am doomed! Everything I say is sinful and so are the words of everyone around me."

Put in context, Isaiah's vision follows a chapter of "woes" that serve as the thesis for his argument. The latter half of Isaiah 5 lists the failings of his society and forms the indictment that will ultimately lead to exile. Isaiah wants his reader to understand the consequences of their actions (or inaction) and see the correlation between sin and eventual conquest. We know that the "woes" were a favourite of Jesus (he had a few of his own) and served as a pointed way to wake up an audience. It might also be helpful to note that another way to translate "woe" is "death." Nothing focuses the mind faster that someone saying "death to you!"

Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field,
Until there is no more room,
So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!

[Woe to you] who justify the wicked for a bribe,
And take away the rights of the ones who are in the right!

Woe to those who enact evil statutes
And to those who constantly record unjust decisions,
So as to deprive the needy of justice
And rob the poor of My people of their rights.

It's interesting to note that the last "woe," found in Isaiah 10, was the basis for a sedition charge for an article written during the Winnipeg General Strike in 1919. The crown rather sheepishly dropped the charges when they discovered that the author of the article was a clergyman, J.S. Woodsworth, and that the words were from the Bible. Amazing how Isaiah's words still threaten people in power, even 2500 years after the fact.

***

At the annual meeting of Toronto Conference we spent three days discussing our faith, issues confronting the church, and the things we would wish to say to the wider society. This is a General Council year, and when the Council meets in August participants will receive "Proposals" for some sort of action from across the church. We are fortunate in that two of our young people (Isaac and Anthony) will be going to Thunder Bay in August, and I will also be on hand to try to keep the two of them out of trouble.

Many of the proposals have to do with social justice. Poverty, inequality, the environment: all the topics we normally associate with a more compassionate society will be addressed. There were even some new ones that came up when Toronto Conference met. For the first time that I can recall we discussed gun violence, and in good United Church fashion we considered the context of poverty and hopelessness when we tackled the issue. We continue to believe that violent young people are a product of their environment and that we need to tackle the larger issues before individual choices will change.

Imagine my surprise when a rather traditional United Church "motherhood" motion was addressed and there was real debate. The topic was lowering corporate income tax, and as you might imagine, the UCC view is to maintain corporate tax levels for the sake of health care and other social programs. Suddenly there were people at the microphones talking about "competitiveness" and our place in the "global marketplace." Whatever happened to being "latte socialists" and "the NDP in robes"? I'm still a little traumatized.

I mention all of this because we are the church of "context." In the "nature vs. nurture" debate, the United Church has been on the nurture side all the way. We have been the first to look beyond the sinner and try to understand the context of the sin. We (following Barth) are the church with newspaper in one hand and Bible in the other. We have always been the church obsessed with corporate sin of both kinds: the kind we do together and the kind that happens on Bay Street.

***

Woe to those who enact evil statutes
And to those who constantly record unjust decisions,
So as to deprive the needy of justice
And rob the poor of My people of their rights.

My relationship to the food bank is changing. At first I was delighted that a new congregation had discovered such a relevant mission focus. I was thrilled to get to know volunteers who were giving so much to their community. I described to many people the blessing of serving this congregation and the "success" of our mission. Each time, however, I include the idea that the "success" of a food bank is also a "failure."

I go downstairs week by week and am alarmed by the number of young people, and children who depend on us for their food. I am struck by the fact that volunteers and clients are neighbours, and there are no obvious was to tell them apart aside form the fact that volunteers wear nametags. I expect that most who "pass through" would say "but for the grace of God go I..." Somehow this is not enough. Lately my main emotion is frustration, bordering on anger: at an affluent city, in a "have" province, in one of the riches nations on earth where such poverty exists.

Now, if I can feel anger and then go home to my little rowhouse and my tiny garden and try to relax, what are the actual clients feeling? What does it do to a child's sense of community to know that their parents have to endure the shame of seeking food help when lots of other people head to Loblaws? What happens to young people who remember anger and shame and then encounter voices that condemn our society? Do you see where I am going?

It is only an approximate link from poverty to shame to despair to anger to contempt to violence. We already know that many of the young people with guns gave up on our society long ago and make the worst possible contribution because that is all they feel they have to give. Now we are confronted by what some are calling "domestic terrorists." If they are terrorists (recalling that they are innocent until found guilty--something the media seems to forget) then how much hatred is based on religion and how much hatred is based in hopelessness and despair? There is no good reason for violence in our society, but if we remain people of faith who examine context, maybe all of these issues require a second look.

Isaiah began his ministry with confession. He gave his sin to God and received forgiveness and a mission. His life as a prophet began not in a "holier than thou" place but in a place of humble repentance. He saw his role in the injustice around him and he set himself before God seeking deliverance. It was there, from God's gift of grace that he began his ministry. It was there, reconciled and made new, that he was able to speak to his community. May God grant us the grace to look within, and then continue our unique mission, in Christ's name. Amen.

______________________________________________________
*http://www.murmurs.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-35360.html

posted by michael jacob kooiman @ 1:17 PM 0 comments

Pentecost Sunday

Acts 2
1On the day of Pentecost [a] all the Lord's followers were together in one place. 2Suddenly there was a noise from heaven like the sound of a mighty wind! It filled the house where they were meeting. 3Then they saw what looked like fiery tongues moving in all directions, and a tongue came and settled on each person there. 4The Holy Spirit took control of everyone, and they began speaking whatever languages the Spirit let them speak. 5Many religious Jews from every country in the world were living in Jerusalem. 6And when they heard this noise, a crowd gathered. But they were surprised, because they were hearing everything in their own languages.

Ezekiel 37
11Then he said to me, "Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, `We have become old, dry bones--all hope is gone.' 12Now give them this message from the Sovereign LORD: O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the LORD. 14I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I am the LORD. You will see that I have done everything just as I promised. I, the LORD, have spoken!"


It is the preacher's prerogative to alter the "cut" of the Bible passage of the day. The makers of the lectionary, the three-year cycle of readings we use worship, did a great job in creating an overview of the life of our faith as reported in scripture. All the key passages are there, every theme is lifted up and for the most part the readings of the day simply happen upon us and we worship.

Sometimes, but not often, the "cut" is wrong. The passage is too long. The passage is too short. The passage chops the text into little bits and leaves us with the scriptural equivalent of papier-mache. Or in today's example from Acts 2, the scripture is just cruel:

Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs--we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.

Is it reasonable to ask Marg to list half the towns in the Greco-Roman world? What kind of cretin would make someone repeat "Phryia and Pamphylia" out loud? And where the heck are they anyway? And why are they included in the passage? Would it not have been easier to simply say "people from all over"?

In truth, I removed the list of towns and regions to save Marg but also to draw them to your attention. It is an old preacher's trick to remove the things we really want to highlight and build a little interest. For those reading along, the question becomes "why did he skip that stuff, why not leave it in?"

Luke (who wrote Acts) is trying to tell us a couple of things, beginning with the truth that there were Jews living everywhere in the ancient world. This may seem self-evident, knowing that after centuries of exile Jews had managed to disperse to every region of the known world. It also reminds us that when the exile ended and Jews returned to Israel, there were many that were unable or unwilling to return and formed the first wave of what we now call "the Diaspora." In this sense, the events that Luke describes for us are international in scope, and not limited to the earliest followers who were still largely Galilean.

***

The Holy Spirit took control of everyone, and they began speaking whatever languages the Spirit let them speak. Many religious Jews from every country in the world were living in Jerusalem. And when they heard this noise, a crowd gathered. But they were surprised, because they were hearing everything in their own languages.

Clearly this was an international gathering, something international in scope. But this is where I begin to argue with myself. It was international, but also profoundly local. The speaking and the hearing was language-specific, it was not some global tongue from the mouth of the Most High, but rather words spoken in languages and dialects that individuals could hear.

Anyone who has spent time in a foreign land can tell you about happening upon a conversation in your own language. Some describe it as being "transported" to a sense of home or experiencing a moment of welcome in an unfamiliar place. Anyone who has lived away for an extended period will tell you about ex-patriots, people who form a community, some from the same place and some simply made up of people "from away."

International but local, worldly but other-worldly, together but separate. What is really happening here?

***

So far my academic program involves a lot of reading. A shelf of books on a topic I thought I understood. It turns out that the purpose of school is to remind you that you don't know stuff and then attempt to cram said stuff into your brain. It is a voluntary kind of suffering, since I chose the program, and for that reason I think it only fair that you suffer with me.

Sometimes I read a sentence aware that it appears in my native tongue yet remains seemingly incomprehensible. I read and reread. I try to read it in different ways, and then the light will go on. The following is just such a sentence, and I will read it in a way that makes sense and also may help us today.

What is that God who created the world, who made a people for himself, and who now is moving toward the goal of his Kingdom--what is that God doing, according to the words of this particular biblical passage? (Achtemeier, p. 37)

What is that God doing? For Elizabeth Achtemeier, that God is always acting in human history. Our goal, is to figure out how. If the Spirit moved during the Festival of Pentecost, we need to understand what that could mean. Pentecost, in a pre-Christian understanding, was an early harvest festival, a time of thanksgiving for the bounty of God, but also a time of covenant renewal. One commentator called an end of gestation and the beginning of birth. How appropriate that we have been living with Easter and resurrection for seven weeks, a kind of holy gestation period and only now is something coming to birth.

What is that God doing? That God is birthing a church, a gift of the Spirit that remains a tangible reminder of God's wish for community. Karl Barth described the Holy Trinity as 'Speaker, spoken Word, and response in our hearts.' The church, then, is created by the 'response in our hearts' and remains subject to both the metaphorical 'response' (the Spirit) and a literal 'response' (our work). The Spirit birthed the church and we became her proud parents. How are we doing?

Okay. Maybe not so well. Not sure. While some argue that Christianity remains the world's fastest growing religion, we inhabit the least fertile part of the vineyard. I recall vividly someone arguing that perhaps the 500 year-old experiment called the Protestant Reformation was coming to a close and soon only Roman Catholics and Pentecostals would remain. So what, you might ask, if the name of Jesus is still uttered and the Gospel still proclaimed, what does it matter if mainline Protestant Christianity ceases to exist? Difficult questions, indeed.

Perhaps we should step back and let St. Paul say a word:

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

I can't imagine a better response to the state of the church. Spending 72 hours meeting, eating and sleeping church during the annual meeting of Toronto Conference has the added side "benefit" of focusing the mind on the state of things. If I were grumpy, I would say this:

We are in free fall. The longest discussions were over spending the proceeds from churches now deceased and the scrapping will only increase. We have lost our focus, we tell ourselves things we have long known and are no longer relevant to our life together. 500 people in the room seem to have 500 ideas of who we are and what we stand for. The room was cold and there was no coffee.

If I were less grumpy, I would say this:

We are in a liminal place, on the edge of some new transformation, a barely perceptible edge where the future looks uncertain but potential for new life is limitless. The Spirit has led us to this place and urges us forward. Like the seed that must die before growth begins, the church is in the process of becoming something new, something that with God's help will be more faithful and more relevant to the lives of the people of Toronto. We may not know what to pray for, but the Spirit still intervenes, if only to hear our sigh and strengthen us to keep moving.

***

This morning we also heard the story of the valley of the dry bones found in Ezekiel. We heard the familiar progression of bones and sinews and flesh and skin and breath and the command that the prophet speak to the army of bones and give them this message:

O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel. When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the LORD. I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live and return home to your own land.

We gather for the new festival of Pentecost and we recognize that it is a festival of exiles. There are some who remain nearby but there are many more who are far off, living beyond the region of the church and longing for something, longing for a form of return. Perhaps they do not know us. Perhaps they know and have forgotten. Perhaps they were in our midst but moved away. Whatever place they find themselves, we need to pray for their return, pray for a community that will love them and set them free. We must remain the church of the Speaker, the spoken Word and the 'response in our hearts,' ever seeking to make a home for those who long to return. Amen.

posted by michael jacob kooiman @ 1:20 PM 0 comments