Love Thy Stranger: Message for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Message: Love Thy Strangers

Christian Family for the sake of the Stranger

Christ Church United, Deux-Montagnes and

Ecumenical Celebration with Christian from St-Eustache and Deux-Montagnes

WP Xian Unity Jn6 Samaritan Woman 2015

 

And The Gospel According to John 4:1-30

Please Pray with me: Creator God, Holy one who made all things that breath. Open our minds, our hearts, our spirits and our bodies so that we can receive a message of hope. Illuminate, inspire and move us to greater understanding of your deep, deep love. Amen.

First of all I would like to thank the wonderful team who come together every year to prepare this day for us. Thank you for giving me this honor and opportunity today, to share a piece of myself through the Story of Jesus and the Samaritan Woman.

 I have to be honest, I actually feel quite comfortable in front of an inter-denominational community. That might be because I have been involved in an ecumenical relationship my entire life. Inter-church is a deep part of my identity, of who I am. My mother and father have always had deep faith and both have been going to church every Sunday for all their lives, a practice they have pasted down to at least half their adult children. But my parents were both faithful to their own faith tradition, my mother Roman Catholic and father Protestant United. I was raised in both, I quite literally went to two Sunday Schools every Sunday since before I started kindergarten.

You see, When my parent moved us into the west island, my father found the perfect faith community in which to raise his family. There is one building that is home to two communities… the Roman Catholics celebrated Mass at 9am, where I would begin in Sunday school, and then join the rest of the church for the celebration of the Eucharist; and at 11am I would begin in worship with my United Church Community waiting in anticipation of children’s time , knowing very well that this was the prequel for Sunday School number 2.

And we did this every Sunday, well pretty much every Sunday, throughout my entire childhood and adolescences. Both my parish and my congregation fully supported me in faith, and for that I am truly grateful. The support of my community is one of the deeper sources of my faith even today. I grew up in a spirit of hope, and love and as a child I truly believed that although we might celebrate God differently we were all really one Christian family.

My family went to most of our church community’s non-Sunday events and celebrations, especially all the children’s activities and family activities. We did church to the whole 9 yards, which I’m sure many of you here can relate to, you are here in church to pray with other Christians on a Sunday afternoon, after all.

My two traditions did a lot of events together throughout the year; there was a social committee which had members of both the parish and the congregation working together. And members of one were always invited to the non-Sunday morning events of the other. We had a lot of brunches in between the two services. We also would join forces to feed our community in need, housing a community food cupboard and worked to host refugee families to enter Canada together.

The community continues to pray together during Advent in a lessons and carols evening; the priest and minister pulpit swap, which means one preaches at both Sunday services one week and the next the other does the same; and the teenagers of both communities spend all of lent working on the production of the Passion Play, performing for a Good Friday Evening of reflection and prayer. This annual services consistently fills the church, it has been for over 20 years. I grew up in an environment which gave me every reason to believe that God’s family was just like my family; we didn’t agree on everything but at the end of the day we really do love each other.

Yes I truly believed that God’s Church was One, in many colors, in many shapes, but until I was 13 I really believed that Christians got along.

                    At 13, my parents brought me and my sisters to an international conference on and for inter-church families; families like mine. This was when my bubble burst, this is when I found out that I was wrong about us all getting along, after all this was in the mid-90s. I met children younger than me  who had taken their first communion in their mother’s church one week, and then were refused at their father’s church the very next Sunday. I met teens my age and older struggling to make a choice on confirmation, a decision that seemed to boil down to “am I going to choose my father, or my mother.” But what really opened me to a world I had a hard time fully comprehending at 13 was a presentation given by a young couple from Ireland who were inter-church. They shared their personal experience of the violent clashes and real fear that they encountered consistently in their home country. 

                    The night of my 13th birthday I went for a walk, and I grieved over my beloved church. I cried and honestly asked God why; I prayed until I found peace in the hope that I could help and do something about it. I felt empowered by the Spirit that day as I sang and danced all by myself, in the middle of a field, trusting that my God wanted oneness in the church of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Yes I was certain that this was a divine hope, and at 13 I felt that this was what I wanted to help God do. 

I laugh when I think of how colored, or effected I was by my circumstances, my surrounding, my context… I mean I was at a conference on the subject and I was turning 13 and I was in a strange place. But I guess that is when transformation can occur, when you experience something new, when you are taken out of your comfort space, when strangers become friends and friends become family. Yes, church as an unconditional love kind of family.

                    That was almost 20 years ago and since then I have continued to interact with people of different faith traditions, spending time participating in a Baptist vacation bible camp,  a Pentecostal community, the evangelical movement called Inter-Varsity Christian fellowship, I was educated at an Christian Missionary and Alliance Bible College, lead a lay Roman Catholic young adult movement and did a year of discernment with my home diocese, and I lived with a Mennonite for two years. I have many friends in many different Christian tradition, friendships that I cherish, friendships that inspire me in faith and friendships that inspire me in action. I continue to feel encouraged to deepen my understanding of God, doing my best to live a life of hope and love, seeking justice and loving kindness. I am blessed with a diverse family of God’s children who help me in my humble walk with God. We all have our own calling as different traditions, but we are also called to work together, support each other, we are called to encourage each other. As a Christian family we are called to reach out to the hungry, the sick and the strangers together.

                    Today we heard of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan Woman at the well. She was out at the well in the middle of the day, which can lead us to see her as an outsider in her own community. In that place in the world, it was hot in the middle of the day, this was not the normal time for the women to come to gather water, in fact noon was the least likely time anyone would be out at the well. The Samaritan was at the well at noon probably because she was looked down on by her community. We also find out that she has been married 5 times and she was living with another man who was not her husband…             …                    … Today, it is very dangerous to be a woman, if you are homeless and on the streets, even in our own country. Often women who live on the street will ’marry’ men mostly for protection, and in most cases this protection comes at a price, often in the form of violence and abuse from the very man trusted to protect her. I wonder if the Samaritan woman was kind of like a homeless woman today, just trying to survive. 

                    During the time of the first disciples Jews and Samaritans did not associate, Jews saw Samaritans as lesser even if their ancestors were cousins. They treated each other at the very least like strangers and at the worst like enemies. When the disciples find Jesus with such a stranger they are shocked and don’t think this was a good idea… they were allowing difference and strangeness to get in the way of compassion, empathy, kindness. They were blinded to the value in the proverbial Samaritan Woman, their fear of the stranger lead them… at least at first… to withhold love; yes the disciples were withholding love from a child of God. 

                    Let us be like Jesus, our Christ, unafraid to reach out to the stranger, to reach out to those who are in need of care and compassion. The world is just a little crazy, and there are even more people who are hungry, lonely, sick, in prison, refugees; there are more orphans in the world today than when the disciples began preaching the Good News of God through Jesus of Nazareth, called Christ. I guess we have our work cut out for us, and today  I do bring you Good News, because I have seen, I have experienced a church community that over-flowed with love. Yes I bring you Good News, for I have seen the beautiful and awesome things that can happen when people of different faith traditions work together, serve together, walk humbly together, pray together and even raise children together… in my experience the result of such engagement, of such relationship, of such dialogue is a renewed and deeper love for the stranger. Amen.

A Century of War

I preached this sermon this past Sunday for our Remembrance Day Service. The text is the Gospel According to Luke 8:26-39. Thank you to those who encouraged me to post this :)

One hundred years ago, a war that many believed would be the war to end all wars, and even called it the Great War. 100 years ago began the war that would create further un-rest, that would lead to the Second World War, which in turn created the strife that lead to the silent Cold Wars which included the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Afghanistan war of the 80s. In the last 100 years we have seen wars in Bosnia, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Israel, Palestine, and that doesn’t include the almost constant rebellion in Southern Africa, and the Revolutions in South America, and uprisings in Asia, and the countless civil wars all over the world. The more I think about it, the War to end all wars, was instead the beginning of 100 years that would experience some of the largest number of casualties related to warfare.

-Jesus lived in occupied territory, the Roman Soldiers enforced Roman rule… violently. The people’s own leaders were a part of the domination system of the day; the Aristocrats and Priests of the temple taxed the people to the point of poverty, all in the name of God. In the Story Jesus asks the “evil spirit” for its name, the answer is a military charged word: Legion. In the War torn world Jesus was raised in, he had seen the devastation that war brought to the regular peasant people; bringing disease, famine, and mental illness. I wonder if today we might have a new phrase to describe this man’s evil spirit; we call it Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder, or PTSD.

-Everyone loses in war. Children lose out on childhood, many go hungry, most did not get the opportunity to go to school. After Canada dropped food for the Polish people after D-Day, a boy grabbed some food from the box and ran to his mother. “look mom, I got a cake” she smiled and said “that’s not a cake son, that is bread.” Civilians lose their lives, their dignity, their ability to take care of their family. Two Ally soldiers were trying to take advantage of a young German women, when two Canadian soldiers came along to send the conquerors away. And Soldiers in many ways lose their mind, the devastation that they witness, that they cause, breaks down the human spirit until fear and suspicion takes over in their mind.  Everyone loses in War, Children, Civilians and Soldiers alike.

-Jesus faced the war of his time with a non-violent manner, the most aggressive action He ever took was throwing tables. I wonder if he knew how broken the system he lived in was; because it’s as if he knew that he would die in the effort for peace, whether he lifted a sword or not. The reason we remember him, the reason our history continues to tell his story is because of this strange situation; his choice to fight with words instead of a sword.

I am proud of my grand-father, he answered a call to go and help liberate people. He did not see much action, and he never had to fight. He went to do what he could to help, and his strength did not include battle. He often tells me that this was a simple choice; Hitler needed to be stopped. So he followed the lead of others who knew more about the fighting part, while he fixed trucks and armored vehicles, for mechanics he knew.

In my mind, that war, the Second World War, as if one hadn’t been enough, changed something, for it was made clear that a few powerful people could cause great devastation, and that misdirection and manipulation of information could be used to miss-inform the people.  It is the poor who lose in war; for even if they survive the fighting, they will then be faced with the battles of hunger and disease. War kills soldiers and civilian alike, in sometimes surprising ratios. We now have the power to destroy the world 7 times over.

This is what a century of fighting as taught us… is it not time to stop.

For me, there are two camps of people, those who believe that the world will always have war, so there is nothing we can do about it and then those who even if it seems crazy believe in hoping for peace, real peace, true peace. This second group is the one I put Jesus in; the crazy guy who hopes for peace, calling the illness of war to come out of a madman. For only when we are all free, will any of us be truly free. Remembrance day for me is about hoping for the peace that those who went to war fought for, but I worry that the lesson hasn’t been learnt, for we have continued to war ever since.

For the sake of those who died, and those who lived to tell the story; let us learn how to better tell their story, so that the lesson of this century, this century of war; that this lesson will become a call to peace, instead of a remembrance of war.

Amen.

Parable of those in power and those caught up in their mess

I have been reading a lot about the Jian Ghomeshi over the last couple of days and I have been surprised over and over again.  I do want to share my opinion, but to be honest I am not ready yet. But I have been inspired to share a sermon a preached on October 13th of last year on Luke 18:9-14. I have been inspired by my cousin Teffer Ruth in her blog post she calls out religious leaders to start speaking out, so here is my start. As already stated I wrote and preached this sermon last year, so it is in no way connected directly to the current bad situation (which ever way you look at it, its bad).  It came from a reflection on the Parable about the Pharisee and the Tax-Collector, or as I like to say the Parable of those in power and those caught up in their mess. This sermon was original shared at the United Theological College in Montreal. Thanks for the Challenge Teffer :) 

The deepest stories of truth can only be told in story. Some truths are so real and important that boiling them down to one sentence in unfair, and leads to serious misunderstandings and repercussions. Like rape is wrong… it’s a true statement but boiling it down to this one small sentence as left society unsure of how to react when the wrong act occurs, just because it is wrong does not mean that that we know how to fix it.

In Luke we find the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax collector, Jesus is telling a story to show people that when they think too highly of themselves, in the process they put other people down.  It is possible that this parable holds a catch-22, for if we try and create modern categories of who is in this full of yourself Pharisee group, we might be building ourselves up creating in ourselves the very problem Jesus is speaking of. Today instead of placing ourselves into this story I ask for us to remain viewers, allowing the story to demonstrate a real truth that our world is facing today.
Now I will proceed with caution and please know that I have no desire to offend anyone or be too graphic, but as I read the prayer of the Pharisee words that I heard a few weeks ago out of the mouth of a teenage boy came back to haunt me.  Last year a picture started going around a high school in North Carolina of two high school students engaged in sex, when the girl who was in the picture saw it she went to police with her father. She had been invited by a boy she liked to a party, but when she got there realized she was the only girl, with 4 boys. Not having a way home she stayed, and after a couple of stupid comments from the boy that invited her, she began drinking. After enough shots to get her drunk two of the boys began trying to take off her clothes, she resisted, left the room and passed out on a couch in the basement. She woke up and one of the boys was on top of her, but the picture brought back some of the fuzzy memory she had. One of the boys’ parents was a police officer and the boys and their parents were quick to  hit the news, saying that the 3 of the boys had had consensual sex with the girl that night, one of the boy’s mother even said that the only thing her son was guilty of was pre-marital sex. The ring leader within the boys group said:   “I'm not a rapist. I had consensual sex with a girl and she wanted to. I've never apologized to the girl because I haven't done anything wrong. In the Bible it says to forgive, but it's hard because she isn't telling the truth.” We have a similar story on our side of the boarder; Rehtaeh Parsons committed suicide last April after 17 months of harassment from both the 4 boys who had raped her at a party and their parents. The boys were convicted of nothing and were allowed to taunt her for months, at her funeral the boys’ parents were seen putting up “support the boys” posters, still claiming that she had wanted and asked for the sexual exchange.

Jesus told this parable to people who were sure of their own goodness and despised everybody else. Lk 18:9. Now I know I am on a slippery slope, because my metaphor means placing the victim in the place of the tax collector which might insinuate blame, but the sad part is that this is exactly what our society does.  We read headlines Ann was raped by Joe, or Ann was raped, or Ann is a rape victim, so quickly our society drops the actual subject in the situation, making sure we seldom hear the words Joe is a rapist. Our world turns these victims into the tax collector, forcing them to put their head down in shame. ‘she asked for it, she shouldnt have had alcohol, she should not have even gone to the party, just look at what she is wearing, my boy shouldnt be blamed because she is a flirt.’ (Julia Penelope). And for our Pharisees we have high school boys and their parents saying, He is a good boy, he is a good student, he gives back to the community, he has universities who want to give him scholarships, he goes to church, he is not a liar like her. So sure of their own goodness they despised everyone else. This case of building self-up at the expense of another is an extreme example, and it is to you I give the task to balance it back out. Looking at an extreme can give us a new perspective. Things are changing, new laws are being created, we to can make a change.

“I tell you” said Jesus “For those who makes themselves great will be humiliated, and those who are humiliated will be made great.”

The Golden Rule... something about compassion

This is a very edited version of a sermon I gave at Christ Church United this past Sunday, October 26th 2014.

Matthew 22:37+39

So he said:

you will love the Lord your God

with your whole heart

and with your whole self (life/soul)

and with your whole mind (understanding/thought)

and the second, is just as great

you will love your fellow-human just like yourself

This is Jesus’ answer to the question; what is the greatest commandment?

Do unto others as you would want them to do for you.

Compassion is central to many, if not all of our world’s religions, and even many of our human philosophies. Many religions have their own variation of what is sometimes called the Golden Rule, and I thought I would share some of these with you.

I thought we should start with Judaism, for this would have been known by Jesus. It is from the Talmud, which is a Jewish holy book that would have been familiar to Jesus. The Talmud says; “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellowman. This is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary.”

Unconditional love is not black and white love, it’s more complicated than that.

Love them as if they are your very own, means to love them as if they were your family. Now in family there comes a time for some tough love. It is an important part of growing. Also, just as within a biological family, abuse, whether emotional or physical, is simply unacceptable. You see it is not always straight forward when trying to figure out what would be the good for another, but we do know what we would not want to suffer ourselves.

Our Muslim brothers and sisters have their own version, growing out of both the Hebrew and Christian idea; they have this to add to the conversation “No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself.” I am surprised at how often I still hear people saying that Islam is violent and therefore Muslims are dangerous. My response, No, their religion is not violent, for their practice, just like all other pious religious practices, is centered on compassion.

But fundamentalism, extremism, does exists in Islam, just as it does in Christianity. Hitler claimed himself a Christian, made sure his army had “god is with us” on their belts; the KKK was a Christian organization doing the will of god; and my Christianity, being a lesbian minister,  is nowhere close to the Christianity professed by the Westboro Baptist Church.

Fundamentalism, extremism, is not pious practice.

The second thing that surprises me is hearing:  “you see they are indoctrinating our youth.” If they are our youth, then it is our responsibility to share the depth of our Gospel message with them; in their own language; on their own terms; within their own context. For if they find meaning for their lives within our stories then they will not go elsewhere looking for Gospel. ‘Hope for others, as you hope for yourself.’ This is Islam, this is Good News.

Now back to the Gospel according to Matthew. I would like to share with you my version of this Golden rule, it include my interpretation which is based on text (translation) and context (Exegesis).

Love our Creator God, Serve the universe that God creates,

with all that we are, all that we hope, and with all of our special and unique selves

Just as you

Love the stranger, the one who is different than you,

Love them as if they are your very own.

And I would argue that we don’t need to believe in God to believe that humankind is compassionate. Here is an explanation of the Golden rule by a Humanist Philosopher.

“Trying to live according to the Golden Rule means trying to empathize with other people, including those who may be very different from us. Empathy is at the root of kindness, compassion, understanding and respect – qualities that we all appreciate being shown, whoever we are, whatever we think and wherever we come from. And although it isn’t possible to know what it really feels like to be a different person or live in different circumstances and have different life experiences, it isn’t difficult for most of us to imagine what would cause us suffering and to try to avoid causing suffering to others. For this reason many people find the Golden Rule’s corollary – “do not treat people in a way you would not wish to be treated yourself” – more pragmatic.”

Saying it in the negative is the way most eastern religions say it. I think this gets at something that the positive can’t. We do not always know what the other would like done to them, but we do know what we don’t want done to us.

Don’t do to someone what you wouldn’t want done to you, don’t say something about someone else that you wouldn’t want to be said about you… don’t even think things about someone that you wouldn’t want thought about you.

I couldn’t find a direct golden rule in Sikhism, but I thought these two sentences would do, just fine.

“Whom should I despise, since the one Lord made us all.”

 “I am a stranger to no one, and no one is a stranger to me. Indeed, I am a friend to all.”

When you believe that God is one, when you believe in one Creator, you therefore believe that every living being is made by God, whether plant, animal, fish, bird, or human. There is no us and them within humanity, all division is created by man… we are One in God.

Love our Creator God, Serve the universe that God creates,

with all that we are, all that we hope, and with all of our special and unique selves

Just as you

Love the stranger, the one who is different than you,

Love them as if they are your very own.

You see, there is no more us and them, no other. We are one humankind.

Do not do to someone what you wouldn’t want done to you,

Love the stranger as if they are your own,

And Hope for the other as you hope for yourself.

This is compassion, this is pious practice, this is religion, and to me… this is Gospel. 

The Parable of the Good Dishes

Parables are awesome... ok maybe I should explain that... I find that often parables have 2 meaning, or two lessons to share. They are told in story mode so that it is easier to remember. And parables in a way are 'truer' than some other forms of story telling, but that is because a parable doesnt even try to claim historical authenticity, for it is meant to be timeless, a timeless lesson, one that is good for all the ages and all the generations, even to come. My personal favorite of Jesus' parables in of the Two Sons (also known as the prodigal son), it's double meaning comes from learning both the lessons of the younger child and the lessons of the older child. Jesus is not the only Teacher to use parables; the prophet Nathan told King David a parable; and we also have modern parables too. 

So today I share with you a parable I wrote. It is inspired by the true story of my Great-Grand-Mother (who I never met myself). My grand-father has taught me a lot about the care and love that he received from his mother, and now I am happy to share her life lesson in "The Parable of the Good Dishes"... ok if you have a better title idea... let me know :) I hope you enjoy.

She set out the good dishes and smiled…She thought of her past, thought about what brought her to this moment. 30 years had past since she watched 4 little talcum coffins being lowed into the ground. Disease took all four of the children in 28 days. Those were dark days, some disease show no mercy, especially on children. They spent no more than a few weeks, in a state of living dead, until gracious death arrived bringing peace to broken and disease battered bodies. Talcum was needed to contain the disease and the heavy burden of cost was the responsibility of the parents alone.

The now middle aged woman looked at the special plates through blurred vision; some wounds leave deep and painful scares. She turned and moved around the kitchen putting some final touches on dinner.

It had been over 30 years since she came to Montreal, although she had little education she had taught herself to communicate in a second language; she learnt English, although her heart always spoke Gaelic.

She returns to the present to see a young man in his early 20s walk through the door, coming in from work. She smiled as she looked up and saw her youngest child. For just like Job, she was blessed with 4 more children to love and to raise. All of them could read and write English, something this mother was proud of. Seeing the good dishes on the table the young man asked: 'Who is coming for dinner?'

She thought of the days events; she remembered placing the last couple of coins down on the counter, Mr Bunnier smiled graciously as he accepted the money and put a zero in a little black book. It had been more than a couple decades since the corner store master started her tab, but now she smiled at her son, and said 
“No one is coming for dinner son.” 
“Then why the good dishes.” 
“Today, son, we owe no one anything.”

After a joy filled meal with her family, the woman is in the kitchen drying the good dishes when her cousin drops in. 

“Sorry, I didn’t know you had company.” 

“No it was just me and my boys.” 

“what is the occasion then?” 

“I paid off our tab at the corner store today.” 

“Congratulations! You know, now that you have paid off your tab, you should go to the STOP and SHOP, the prices are much better there.” 

“I will not!” Said the woman in a stern voice, “When I didn’t have he took care of me, and now that I do have, I will take care of him.”  
She never did go to the STOP and SHOP.

Teaching Prayer

I do not think that the Our Father is some type of magical incantation, but I do believe that it has become a traditional way to pray. Even 2000 years ago people wondered at how one communicates with something that is invisible. In the Our Father, or Lord's prayer, Jesus offers more than words to help us engage with the Invisible, but also a structure in which to do this. 

This is my extrapolation of the Our Father that I shared with my congregation a couple weeks ago.

Teacher, please teach us how to pray…

 Our Father in heaven, O Creator God, Guider of the Cosmos, Mover of the Universe, a God who calls humanity; God’s own, the people of God, the children of God.

Hallowed be your name, Reveal who you are, we come here trusting in your ways of justice and compassion, you alone are God, always creating, always loving.

Your kingdom come, Set the world right, help us to be apart of the solutions to the problems here in this world, help us to show others the possibility of truly living in joyful, creative peace.

Your will be done, Do what’s best— We trust in something bigger than ourselves allowing us to continue to live a life of positive thinking and right action, through the good times and the hard times.
On earth as it is in heaven, help us to bring your way of hope and joy through love to this world, for peace is true paradise.

Give us today our daily bread. Keep us alive with three square meals, help us to make good choices, in how we care for our physical bodies.

Forgive us our sins We know that we are not perfect, help us to do better everyday, help us to be kind even when its hard, and patient even when it is difficult, Keep us forgiven with you.

As we forgive those who sin against us. Remind us to be kind to others, not everyone has learnt the same lessons in the same ways. Help us to let go when someone truly demonstrates the desire to make amends. And help us to know when we must ask for forgiveness too.

Save us from the time of trial, Keep us safe from ourselves, give us the support we need to face any adversary that might come our way.

And deliver us from evil We face difficulties that hold us down, help us to better understand what it is that we are facing so we can better react and finding solutions to the problems, both in our own lives and for people all around the world.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, You can do anything, our hope is in you, You are our creator, we are Your people, You are that which is too great to be named.
Now and for ever. Amen. Yes. Yes. Yes.

WYD in a few minutes

World Youth Day 2008 is over, with lots of up and it's share of downs. Here is a sort of recap. For the World Youth Days accomidations my group was lead to the olypic park in sydney, then onto the DOME, where we sleept on solid concrete for 5 straight nights. We got used to it over time but never did get enough sleep. However that could have been because of the early morning cathecisms that my group lead, and the late night youth festival events that I just didn't want to miss.
A little on the cathecisms. We were given a stadium as our location the first day we cleared 3000 pilgrims. I ran and danced as I got people up on their feet to sing nad dance along with the choir. The third day was a little more frustrating. You see, we couldn't give the words out for the songs because of copyright issues, so the pilgrims were depending on learning small amounts of words in order to join is. Now up beat wordy songs not bad because they can still dance and do actions, but quiet wordy songs just put people to sleep. The choir director was worned about this problem but didn't change her song outline. I had to run extra hard, and put so much more energy into it to make sure everyone didn't just fall asleep. However My efforts were rewarded as pilgrims and pilgrim leaders asked to have pictures taken with me. God came through and the people left happy, and full of the spirit.
The youth festival was awesome. I, of course choose all the praise and worship events. In the 3 days I saw teh Matt Maher's band, Fr stan the rapping fransiscan, hillsong and much more. I danced, I jumped, I sang and I praised God, until my legs hurt and my throat gave out.
The stations of the cross were beatifully done. They acted in out and Jesus travelled through the streets to various places where different stations would unfold. MY group where stationed in the garden of gethemany, watching Jesus in the garden and the arrest. We watch the rest of it on big screen.
The next day we walked for just over 3 hours to ranwick, where the vigil would take place. The vigil was beautiful lookign at all the candles lite up was something else. However my experience was kind of interupted as we realised that one of our guys had there bag stolen. I eventually found it abandoned by the bathrooms, where some cold pilgrim had taken the pants and blanket out before discarding it. It was cool however the manor in which I found it. I prayed that God made me look to my right where I bag was there unattended. God is good.
it was a cold night, but we all got through it, and in the morning the Pope rewarded us all by driving all over the stadium in the pope mobil;e the next morning. He went by my groups twice, I even got a vidoe of it.
We are now in a youth hostel, ready to enjoy a bit of sydney before we go. However the pilgrimage of faith did not end with the mass. We saw 24 young people being confirmed by the pope and we all reafirmed our baptism. We have "received power, when the Holy spirit" came upon us, and now we will be "witnesses".
Returnign to the roots, our baptism, that is at the heart of our worship.

I will not be getting in a habit of one a day, but I have a little time and alot to share.
Today I went out on the great reef barrier, the 7th wonder of the world. And now I know why it is considered a wonder. I got suited in a wet suit with snorkel gear and stuff and sliped out the back of a boat into thousands of miles of water. As I got acustom to the different breathing style a very large and very colorful fish swam by about 2 yards away from me. Then I got into it. I was one of the first people off the boat at both stops and I was among the last to reboard. I loved it. I daw thousands of fish small and large, some yellow, some red and some a brillant blue. The ocean was captivating.
I watch coral move and flex as fish nibbled and the currant moved, I watch other coral reflex itself shut for protection. It was beautiful. it was an experience that I could never put down into words.
I experienced God in a new and stunning way today, but in a very simple manor; by watching.
I watched fish swim and eat and hide and move, I watched coral change color, move and stay still, and and watched people getting excited at the beauty of it all. Sometimes I had to watch one fish for a really long time before I could get the picture I wanted, but patience will bring about the desires of my heart. I have alot of pictures of sand, cuz the fish swam away, but perserverance will make me a better follower of Christ.
Stop. just watch. You might see something that you never saw before. You don't always need to be acting in order to learn and grow, sometimes you just need to watch.
On the boat ride home I found myself up on top of the boat with miles of ocean on every side thinking of the beautiful world that God has created for us. Right as I was about to sing God of wonders, I saw a whale. I do not remember that last time I got so excited. And again all I had to do was watch.
So stop, wait, and watch. God has something to show you, sometimes it is spetacular, and sometimes it is simple, but it will always be beautiful when you expereience God.
Waiting and watching patiently and with perserverance; that is at the heart of worship.

The Little Crab that Really Could

Good Day,
I know I haven't blogged in a while, but today I have something special. I am writting to you from Cairns Australia. I with 7 of my friends decided to come here to World Youth Day together.
Three years ago I decided to have no money so that I could afford this trip, and now the experience begins. For those of you how don't know WYD is the largest gathering of youth in the world. Mostly catholic young people from around the world come together to learn, to grow, to experience, to share and to worship. In about a week we will all come together from different areas of the country in Sydney, where we will be joined by Pope Benedict 16th. I am totally excited.
So far we have been here for 3 days and we have already experienced so much. After 48 hours of travelling we made it.
I think now of how incredible our God is. I am amazed at the beautiful and perfection of His creation. He has made everything work together in such a beautiful and self preserving way. I have now seen the rainforest, the oldest in the world, in three different ways. We walked through it during the day learning about these ancient trees that are sometimes not much taller then me. Then we went through it at night, hearing and seeing some of the most interesting animals. Then I flew through the top canopy looking down at the rainforest floor on a zip line.
Then I swam in a little fresh water hole in the middle of the forest, a little oasis.
All this got me thinking of how God's planning is so detailed and intricate. There is a little crab that lives in the rain forrest and this little species is responsible for the greatest eco systyem in the world. These little guys dig mini holes in the ground which is mostly mud, very thick mud. These holes allow the roots of the trees to breath much needed oxingin that they need to survive. Then the tree in trun hold the ground together stabilizing the earth to its best ability. The plants and trees that grow take in water and purify it. The water then flows into the ocean, has crystal clean water, which then helps thousands of organisms to grow and live. The eco system created and sustained by these little crabs, is the Great Barrier Reef.
It is incredibule that God put a little crab in charge of so much. And He does the same with us. Sometimes we feel small, and unable, and then God comes in and gives us a job that we think is to large for us to handle. However if we start the work, He strengthen us, like the trees, He guides us, like the ground guides the water, He protects us, like the plants purify the water, and he makes us shine, just liek the Barrier Reef.
Let us be willing to begin the task that are so much bigger than us and trust that God will make it all fall into place.
It is beautiful here, and I am loving every second. And mom don't worry the guide wouldn't let me jump out of the boat to restle the crocodile.
Take the challenges God gives you, no matter how big they may seem, just like that little crab; that is at the heart of our worship.

Thirst for Righteousness

'Therefore confess your sins to each other an pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective'. James 5:16
I wonder how much power my prayers have? I mean I don't feel, or think that I am all that righteous. So does that mean that my prayers are ineffective and weak?
It is strange that today I don't feel as drawn to the first part of this verse, the part that is often suggested to back-up the Catholic practice of Reconciliation. It is the part I used to be most concerned about, but now my questions leave this beginning behind.
Do my prayers have a lesser chance of getting a response when my righteousness has failed? Are my prayers quieter in God's ears? Does He even hear these prayers at all?
This reminds me of the whole; at the hardest times God carried us thing (you can find this theme in the poem footprints ). Maybe when our righteousness fails us, it is the words that we feel the most unworthy to speak that God hears the loudest.
Thirsting for truth, compassion and righteousness; that is at the heart of a life of worship.

Hebrew Bible Questions

Hey, I know it has been a long time (almost a year, ouch), since I have loaded anything here, but I have something to say now so here I go.
I have just started my masters in Biblical Text linguistics, focus on the Hebrew Bible. It is funny, maybe actually strange how the study of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), as actually at times challenged my catholic faith. From the ancient use of the title Son of God, as an adoption formula, to the concept of hero stories, that sheds interesting light on the Nativity Story. I was facing some minus inner turmoil concerning these breaches in my faith understanding.
Last night I was having a conversation with a friend who was talking about a peer of hers that she enjoys listening to because he only speaks of the big truths when it comes to faith. That comment actually made me worry a little. I was like, how can I take any one's word when it comes to truth, especially when they are as inexperienced in life as I.
Wondering how these two fit together, well it has to do with a newer philosophy of mine, that is to hold fast to the better truth, and trust God for the rest. An explanation; study presents some difficulty when seeing the nativity as an actual event as the Bible tells it. But what is important about this passage. First that Jesus became Human, that could be the best truth that the story portrays. Location, visitors, journey those are not necessarily literal, but does that change the best truth that Jesus is Human, I don't think so.
So the best truths that I have learnt so far,
We are called to Love,
Because....
God created in Love,
Jesus came to Love,
Jesus died for Love,
Jesus rose because of Love,
The Holy Spirit guides us to love.

Searching for the best truth, and trusting God for the rest, that is at the Heart of Worship.

Stages of Me

A couple of days ago I was asked by a real deep teen about identity. They wanted to know about sharing their real selves to people, and the fear of rejection. At the time I was stump at what to say. Because she was right not everyone can or will accept the true selves within; the selves that God created. We are called as Christians to be that person that God created and not to be phony. But it is not that simple.

We have been made unique, individual, special and deep people. And there are things about us that are different, unique and individual about us. And because of this not everyone can understand us, because they are different, unique, and individual. So not everyone can understand everyone.

Also because we are individual, special, unique, and have different experiences, different things excite us, surprise us, and scare us. So it is impossible to assume that everyone will understand us, even within the same faith community. I have different friends that understand different parts of me. I have one friend that I talk a lot about soccer with, and one that I play video games with, does that mean that I am being fake with both of them, because I am not sharing my whole self with both of them. Well of course not.

So, why do we have a hard time seeing this when it comes the deeper sides of ourselves? Well the only answer I got is that we complicate it. Let me explain. I have heard the onion idea, where we are at the center and have different levels that we build up to protect ourselves. I have decided I don’t like this idea, I have another idea.

I have a bunch of friends, some I talk about different things I do, some I talk about what I believe that some I talk about myself. I display different levels of who I am with different people. Just because I just talk about soccer with one of my friends does no mean that I am not being myself.

So I think we are like onions but that each level is simply another level of who we are. We are the entire onion. But we choose to show different levels to different people, because each person is different. The difficulty is in knowing which level to show what person (but I will leave that for another day).

Yes we do do things that are not truly who we are, and we do this to protect ourselves. But I suggest that instead of displaying someone we are not, instead for protective reasons we should show different levels of ourselves.

I mean, let me talk to you about soccer, and when I feel comfortable I will talk to you school, and when I feel comfortable I will talk about what I believe, and when I am comfortable I will tell you why I believe and when I am comfortable I will talk to you about my struggles, and when I am comfortable I will talk to you about my success, and when I am comfortable I will show you my failures. It is okay to hide parts of ourselves from others, actually it is biblical “guard your heart because it is the off-spring of life”.

But even with all this, you need to be true in all you do. You need to be yourself (even if you haven’t figured out exactly what that means), no matter what level you share. I mean I will talk about soccer without excitement, because soccer excites me.

We need to guard ourselves so that God can strengthen us, and so that the people around us can be used by God. Share but realize who you are sharing with. Guarding our hearts and the way we share ourselves with others, understanding this is at the heart of a life of worship.

Consistency

Hey everyone,
Well at this point everyone seems to be limited to my faithful friends the Barrett girls. That's ok I can deal. I have great plans for you, plans for you to prosper.
Well I am working on a couple of topics to share about but they aren't quite ready yet. Now I coul dmake them ready, but for some reason I am completly unmotivated to do so. You see I feel unmotivated to do pretty much anything right now. I am I kind of person that when one thing is not quite right then nothing is quite right. I am a all or nothing type of person. Which is why everything I do is intensified, I am extreme, in faith, in school, with friends and within leadership roles. This can be a good thing but it can also be distructive. Because I can be extreme in a good sence or extreme in a bad sense. beginning to see the problem. I have a paper due in about 45 minutes and it is no where close to being finished. And instead of doing it I am kicked up into extreme denial mode.
This extreme thing also affects my life of worship. I just got off an incredible retreat weekend, where I deepend some friendships and made some new. I was pumped up with the Holy Spirit and felt a calling of leadership to minster. I had a blast. Now I got to spend alot of time in front of the Blessed Sacrament, and while living in this small area for a couple of days my faith was in extreme mode. But that is the problem. Just because I am on a weekend should not mean that my faith increases or decrease, it should remain constant.
I am beginning to see and learn that consistency in my actions are important, that the extreme ends I seamed to live are destructive. Now I think it is time to be consistent and get some work done, enough to be able to hold on, without making it easy to become inconsistent.
Living consistently (Psalm 51:10), that is at the heart of a life of Worship.

Sometimes it is good to give up

Alright as you can see I haven't been doing this whole bloging thing very well. This is actually my second attempt at a blog, and it doesn't seem to be going well. The last time it didn't work I gave up and started a new one. I thought about doing that again, but I changed my mind. I think instead I need to follow through on my original commitment to share my triumph and struggles when it comes to my attempt at a life of worship.
We all give up sometimes. Sometimes it is a good thing to give up, other times its not. For example on a damaging relationship can be healing, other times we need to keep going and fix that relationship. The trick is to know at what point do we stop trying and give up. Now I am not in any way claiming that I know that point, but I have experienced that point recently in my life and it wasn't easy.
I had a friend who I loved sincerly. I saw greatness in them and really wanted them to continue to grow. I pushed them to grow and expand within their faith. Problems occured when I made a mistake in my own life. Originally this person did not see it as a mistake, but quickyl changed their mind as I began explaining the wrong in my action. Instead of forgiveness, disapointment came into play. Now this offence was not directed to this person but I injured them none the less by not living up to what I was holding them to.
This offence as been forgiven by God a long time ago, but my friend could not let go of it. For me it felt that everything I did was being judged by the mistake that I made. This hurt me because instead of felling forgiven and being able to move on and grow in my faith and life, I was being put down and made to feel guilty over and over again. Guilty does not help you move on and dwelling in guilt does not allw a person to feel like they have been forgiven. Being stuck I could not grow. Everytime I felt good again, felt like I had been forgiven and could move on I would get a look or a comment, and I would relive the pain and the guilt.
I finally decided I needed to do something about it, and I made sure that this person realized my discontent. After a confrontation with this person I decided to give them a second chance. I let go all the hurt and pain and judgement. I talked to God asking Him to help our friendship so that we could once again trust and learning from each other. I was once again disapointed and hurt.
This time I realized that my relationship with God was actually being hindered by the friendship that I had. I could not freely be freed from this sin if I was in constant judgement from someone I thought cared about me. I decided to give up. That is I gave it up to God. I let go of this persons judgements, trust, and painful encounters. I gave this person up to God knowing that I no longer could teach them and that they could no longer teach me. Instead of raising me to Christ my friend was dragging me down.
I no longer consider this person a friend, but I still pray for them. This decision has actually brought peace to me. I feel like I have made the right decision, and the guilt that I have felt is gone, and I feel strong enough to no longer have a need to relive it. I feel more dependant on God because of it. Now I am pretty sure that this person will not read this blog (I don't think they would take the time to do so), but if by chance they do; I am sorry that we are no longer friends, but I needed to do this. I hope that one day we can be reconciled, but for the sake of my own needs and faith, there are something you need to do first.
To live a life of worship we need to cut off the things that bring us down. Like a rose bush that needs to be pruned in order to grow. Throwing off what hinders our faith (Hebrews 12:1): that is living a life of worship.

"God help them see that I am right"

Human conflict is something we all deal with everyday. How we handle it seems to constantly change. As Disciples of Christ we are to always react with love. Obviously that is much easier said then done. So how do we worship God through our interactions with people who don’t lift us up. I guess the answer is to try. When people get mad at us, yell at us, or refer to us in a condescending manner, it is hard to react in love. I know because I, like all human beings, have a problem doing this. I tend to argue back, alienate them, or simply write them off saying that what they say means nothing. The problem is, it that it does mean something. It hurts, it wounds, and it affects the way we dialogue with the person in the future.

I have these kinds of encounters probably just has much as anyone, and how I react is not always Holy, actually most are unholy reactions. Sometimes when someone puts me down I react by attempting to put them down, sometimes I try to be “better” then them. This doesn’t solve anything, it just makes it worst. Sometimes I’ll tell other people about how mean or even unholy the person is, instead of making things better, I stain myself with sin. We all do this to a certain extent, but how do we stop our instincts.

The only two answers I have been able to come up with are prayer and a good friend. I find it healthy to have one (sometimes two) friend to talk to about these unfriendly encounters. I get to vent without gossiping, and usually it helps me realise that what really matters is what God thinks. The other way is to pray, and I don’t mean to pray ‘that God leads the person to see the truth’, because that actually does no one any good. Instead prayer for your relationship with the person, and pray that you can love them has Jesus loves them.

Anger and frustration are not bad, but what you do with them can be problematic.

Finding ways to deal hopefully and lovingly to hatred, anger, frustration and bitterness: that lies at the heart of WORSHIP.

I know he can, I know he can, I know he can

hey everyone. well it's late but for some reason I felt I needed to say my bit for the day. I was just thinking about the many people in my life. Like just today I had a practice with my worship team. The different people, with different experiences and different ideas can make some very interesting (and fun) situation. But it is kind of a random group. All from different parishes, we didn't even all know each other when we first started. But there we were people who used to be strangers working together, struggling together and celebrating together. We are doing an event for the diocese of Montreal in a couple of weeks and the organizers asked if we could put a choir together for it (normally we are 6 vocalist, 3 guys and 3 girls). So next week our random group will welcome anywhere between 10 and 25 new random people to join us in leadership. Yes it is only for this one event but it is still a partnership. These new members are probably even more random then the first group, but that's the point. We don't need to see or understand the link between us, we don't need to know how well we will work together, we don't even need to know how many can sing harmony. Instead we trust something called providence, a cool little gift that well make those who are meant to be there availible. A cool little gift from God. We so often forget that God truly does take care of us, we give Him trust and he won't let us down. And so I trust that there will be a large enough choir, I trust that God will bring guys who want to see, I trust that our key changes go smoothly, I trust that all instruments will be in key, I trust that we will be ready, I trust that He really did call us to this purpose. Now it's my turn to practice, my turn to have the meetings that are needed, my turn to type up changes, and my turn to do my job. I know that if I do my job, God will do His, because that desire to serve lies at the heart of life, it's worship.

Cleaning up

I am one of the most disorganized people in the world, I swear. My bedroom usually is covered by a couple feet of stuff. I end up having to spend an entire day to tidy it up. The funny thing is that sometimes I think my life plays with my room. This is what I mean.
My room is not the only place that I am disorganized. I get behind on my schol work, I forget to do things for my worship team, I leave things I need at home when I am out. I find however that when my room is clean all these other things fall into place. It is easier to get my work done, and I remember things better.
I think it's like my relationship with God. When it's cleaned-up it all seems so much easier, then when their is a mess. Because sin just gets in the way, is meeses the place up. Gossiping on the table, laziness on the floor, resentfulness on the back off the chair. It gets to a point where I can't even get to the bed, the place of rest and peace where God is sitting waiting to have a conversation. And if I can't make it their the conversations end up simply being a raised voice trying to cover the distance.
Cleaning my room as actually become a type of worship to me. Because as I work alone, with my music tuned up, God comes and keeps me company. As I pick the dirk clothes off the floor, He takes the resent of the back of the chair, when I put my books away on to the selves, He clears the gossip of the table. We end up being a pretty good team.
Speaking of which maybe my room is in need of a little cleaning.
try and find your own way to clear out the mess. Because it's at the heart of LIFE.

Supporting our Churches

Hey, today I want to talk about one of the weakness in the Catholic Church. I used to be evangelical, I even went to Bible College, so I end up having different view points on certain things within my now Catholic faith. One of them being the lack of tithing.

Alright I know that this is not a general catholic problem, but it seems to be a pretty serious one in Quebec. Our churches need this support. There is a church near my house that is in desperate need of a new roof, a roof that is going to cost close to one quarter of a million. It seems that everytime they start building up some money for this project that something else breaks down that needs attention. I was discussing this with a friend of mine who is a member at this church and he seemed quite concerned about the issue. After he caught me up on the situation I was left wondering ‘how quickly would this problem be solved if people in that church were tithing.

In the Old Testament it was a Law for the Jews to tithe, because they had to take care of the dwellings of God (temple), as well as the keeper of His house (the priest). We do not find this command in the New Testament, however we do hear Paul referring to taking up collections for the work of the saints. He also says that we must be joyful givers, not resentful of what we “give-up”.

So how about today, should we be tithing? I think it is time that we really look at what we give to the church. Is our Sunday pocket change actually able to support our churches? Well it is at least something to think about. Remember Worship is at the heart of life.

The Power Problem

You know power is a stange thing. I think I am only starting to figure out the human desire for power. For example you look at Genesis Chapter 2. You got Adam and Eve in the Gaden of Eden, they've been given everything they could ever need, but that wasn't enough. No they wanted to be like God, they wanted the power. So many people have told me that the original sin was lust or lack of obedience but a disagree. I really believe that the original sin was pride and the desire to be in charge. let's start at the beginning.
You have the serpent who is the adversary. Then their is the Tree of knowledge of good and evil. The serpent says that the tree will give them the power to judge what is good and what is evil, so that they can be like God. The eating of the fruit, symbolizes the making of a covenant will the serpent. The story continues with the consequences of these actions. Eve is told that she will desire her husband and that he will ruel over her. The ultimate battle of the sexes right? But this was not God's plan, God created them equals, Adam himself said she is like me (bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh), but God says that because they both took the fruit desiring to be powerfull they will both continue to desire to rule over each other.
Now what am I getting at? well it is about figuring out how to live a life of WORSHIP. Knowing the backround to why you sometimes to silly or stupid things is important. But what is even more important is to realise that it is not the human condition to be power hungry individuals, no that is not what we were created to be. God then made them clothing out of animal skin, this is the first blood sacrifice, the first time that we hear about an animal dying for the sake of God's children.
In a world where we all want to be in control, and we all want to hold power even if it is just a little, we need to remember that this desire is what started it all, it's what seperated us from God in the first place.
SO WHO HAS THE POWER IN YOUR LIFE???

Second attempt

This is my second blog. The first one people could not post, so I decided that I needed a new one. I like dialogue, I enjoy critism, and I want to share. Share what? My thoughts, my faith, my life. So this is where I will attempt to share my life, and what is at the heart of life, WORSHIP.