Julie's Last Saskatchewan Sermon

We're in a season of "lasts" as we prepare to leave our parish and Saskatchewan. Here is my final sermon to the parish, given in Hudson Bay Sept 16 and in Arborfield Sept 23:

From www.keepcalmandcarryon.ca

We’ve probably all heard the song “Don’t worry – be happy!” But have you heard of  “Keep calm and carry on”? That was the original saying, but people have made up a bunch of parodies along the same lines. Here are a few of them:

•    Keep calm – and have a cupcake.
•    Keep calm – and drink beer.
•    Keep calm – and party on
•    Keep calm – and go shopping
•    For Star Wars fans: Keep calm – and save the princess.
•    Or one of my favourites – Keep calm – and call Batman.
•    And probably the most honest one – Keep calm – Now panic and freak out!

These are funny, but the original poster had a serious and important purpose. It was designed in 1939, during the beginning of World War II in Britain. The idea was to encourage the British people, if the enemy invaded. And as we know, that eventually happened. In their tough times, they needed every kind of support they could get, to keep their spirits up. And whatever they did could make or break them, so having the peace of mind to make good decisions was essential.

“Keep calm – and carry on” is not a bad summary of today’s Gospel lesson, Matthew 6:24-34. It’s an especially good message for us, when we’re in a time of transition together. Our reading begins in verse 24 with a decision - serving either God or money. From that beginning, it sounds like this is going to be a sermon on money. But you can relax – because that’s not what I want to talk about today. My apologies to our treasurer! Although money is named here as a master we can serve instead of God, I think that something even more fundamental is at stake than money. We’ve all seen cases of people who hoard. There are lots of extreme cases on TV, but it also comes closer to home. It seems like we all know of someone who hoards to extremes. One of my great-aunts lived very modestly her whole life, and she didn’t even own a home. But when she died, we found out she’d been saving and hoarding thousands and thousands of dollars her whole life. And in Steve’s family, I remember visiting one lady who had kept everything she’d ever received as a Regal representative – so her apartment was so chock-full of stuff, with piles to the ceiling, that you could hardly move in there. She wasn’t rich in money, but nobody could deny she was a hoarder.

Probably you know people like this, too. And the thing is, we all have this tendency, at least to some extent. You never realize it more fully than when you move – especially when you’re trying to downsize, like Steve and I are now. Where did all this stuff come from? Why do we still have things that date from almost 20 years ago, when we lived in another time, another place and another life? The things were good, we appreciated them fully, and we used them. Back then. Not now. And not for the past five, ten or sometimes even 15 years. Yet we’ve always been reluctant to give them up. In many cases, it never even occurred to us – even though we knew we hadn’t used them in forever. Maybe you can identify. It’s not the monetary value, in most cases, that keeps all of us from letting go of things, and, as a result, makes us all amateur hoarders in our own way. What is it, that keeps us hanging onto these things that had a place, but are no longer useful to us? And in many ways are getting IN the way of our current lives, cluttering up our spaces and minds?

I said earlier that I think money is not, fundamentally, the other master we can serve instead of God. It can be – but with all of us amateur hoarders, I think it’s security. Even the hoarding of money boils down to security, really. We want to keep it on hand “just in case” or “for a rainy day.” And that goes for all our stuff, too. We might keep a spare. Or several spares. I know someone who is so security-conscious that they buy not one spare item but six! And even all that unused stuff we keep around, which was useful to us 5, 15 or 35 years ago, I think is still around in our basements and closets as a security blanket. We don’t want to let go of those memories associated with each item – and we fear we’ll forget, if we let go of the stuff. We don’t trust ourselves to remember. Or to be able to cope with forgetting.

So back to our Gospel. I think reading our choice as one between God and security is pretty fair. We all have a tendency to hang onto things – from the past or the present – instead of trusting God. He is the only one who can be trusted with those precious memories from the past. Our mementoes might literally rot in our closets, or we and everyone else might forget what they once meant. But if we commit those memories to God, he can be trusted to never forget. He will keep them safe, and when we meet him face to face one day, He will re-member those memories. Not just re-think them for us, but he’ll mould them into something we can see and hear and share with others for eternity. And He’ll show us the big picture, of how they were even more significant than we once thought. So we can let go of those old, dusty things, that gradually become kind of pathetic and sad over time, and exchange them for God’s permanent memory, with more to come in the future.

God can also be trusted with our present. Our Gospel today reminds us of several reasons why he is trustworthy. First, in verse 25, Jesus reminds us that life is more than food and clothes. And of course we know that’s true. Food and clothing will help you survive, but without all those other things that God gives us, that we really can’t make happen for ourselves – especially love and joy in life – we haven’t got much. Another reason God is trustworthy is in verse 26. Jesus reminds us that birds don’t do a single thing, to make sure food will be there for tomorrow, and they certainly don’t hoard. Yet God looks after these little creatures that we often don’t even notice, and they live carefree as a result. Since we’re worth much more than a little bird to God, we can count on him caring for us just as well and better than he does for the birds.

A third reason God is trustworthy is in verse 27. This one makes good sense, too. Jesus asks us, “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” In other words, If we choose not to trust God and to worry instead, will that worry do us any good at all? The answer is common sense. No. In fact, worrying can actually cause us all kinds of mental and physical anguish, as we’ve probably all experienced, at one point or another.

I especially like the fourth reason God can be trusted, in verses 28-30. Jesus reminds us that God doesn’t just keep his creation alive, he gives it abundant life. He even does what we might consider wasting creativity and care on it. The example is flowers of the field. You might think of them as canola or flax flowers in the fields, or maybe wildflowers in the thick of the woods. There are thousands – millions – of these tiny flowers just here in our part of Saskatchewan, so many that nobody could possibly see them all. And so many of them are never noticed by anybody at all. Yet God, for his own pleasure, and their own dignity as part of his creation, makes these little flowers, and he lavishes his creativity and beauty on them - even though nobody sees them and they only last a short time anyway. He thinks they’re worth it, regardless. It’s as if he makes one daisy, and is so tickled by it, that he says, “Let’s do that again!” And again. And again, until there are fields and fields, full of them. God goes over and above all expectation, for even the most insignificant little bit of his world. And he’ll do the same for us.
   
With all of these reasons as background, Jesus finally gives us the key to living a life of trust in God. In verse 33, he tells us, “Seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” I like how The Message version of the Bible puts it: “What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.” I think we need to hear the end of that again: “Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.” I really like how he puts that, because a lot of the time we read “Seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness” as yet another item on a long to-do list, to make sure we’re really being good followers of Jesus. We see Jesus’ instruction as something WE do. But here we’re reminded that it’s GOD’S kingdom and GOD’s righteousness – not OURS. And as the Message puts it, we can only find this by steeping ourselves in God’s reality, God’s initiative, and God’s provisions.

In other words, it’s all about remembering that everything we are and have, together and as individuals, is a gift from God. Most of the significant things in our life we didn’t make happen. We didn’t make our husband or wife love us. It was a gift from God. We didn’t really even create our own children – God did it, and we really just watched. We didn’t really “make friends” as we like to say, because you can’t make someone like you. All of these things are gifts from God, and some of God’s greatest gifts. And then there is God’s forgiveness. Through knowing with absolute confidence that he’s really and truly forgiven us, we can live with ourselves. We can let hard things in our past finally go – not that it’s easy. We can live in the present, without obsessing over whether we’re doing the right thing or not, because we stand forgiven before God, even if we make a mistake. And we can go into the future, with hope and optimism, knowing that God can be trusted with our future in this life, and that the Great Beyond awaits us and is beyond our wildest dreams. Knowing that we’re forgiven, also makes it possible to live well with each other. We can offer that same forgiveness that God gives us, and we can receive it when we do wrong and apologize to each other. The church is the only group I know of, where forgiveness is supposed to be our reality together. We can live freely and lightly and honestly together, when we all practice it.

As we continue in this time of transition together, I know we’re all prone to worrying. Steve and I worry about what our future will look like, and you worry about yours. And we worry about each other’s futures, too. But today’s Gospel, is for us from God. Let’s determine today to steep ourselves in God’s reality, God’s initiative, and God’s provisions. In other words, let’s commit our past together, our present uncertainty, and our separate futures to God, knowing he is trustworthy. Maybe our present doesn’t look quite like what we want. And maybe our futures won’t be quite what we expect. What we can expect, though, is for God to be there, with us, supplying everything we need. And going ahead of us to make the way clear and good. He’s got a habit of surprising us with his out-of-the-box thinking, and his beyond-our-wildest-dreams, over-the-top lavish care. Let’s make sure we have our eyes wide open, so we don’t miss what he has in store. Let’s keep calm – because we trust God - and carry on. Amen.
   

Aug 31 Devo - The Greatest Victory

Good morning, I'm the Rev'd Steven Page from St Patrick's Anglican Church. We're taking inspiration for our daily ministerial radio devotionals this month from the world of sports. Ideally sports are about fun and fitness. But the better you get, the higher the level of competition, the more it becomes about winning first, with fun and fitness becoming just distant considerations.

This weekend is the kickoff of the American College Football season. It will come to an end next January 7^th, when the national champion is crowned. Last year's winner, you may remember, was Alabama, who thumped Louisiana State in the championship game. Currently, the two teams that meet in the title game are chosen by a complex formula of human polls and computer calculations. In a couple years, college football will move to a playoff system. Good thing, too, because every year there is controversy about the chosen finalists.

Not that the controversy is anything new. For decades, there was no championship game. After all the January 1^st Bowl Games ended, polls of sportswriters would determine who was the national champ. And those human voters could be swayed by how many points your team scored.

That was the case, certainly, way back in 1916, almost 100 years ago. Georgia Tech had a powerful team. Their coach, John Heisman, after whom the Heisman Trophy is named, thought they could contend for the title. But the voters of the day cared about margins of victory as a way of showing how good your team was. So Georgia Tech needed a patsy, someone they could clobber.

Cumberland College, from Lebanon, Tennessee, was the lucky team. They met on Oct 7, 1916. Cumberland got the ball first. They ran the ball on their first play, and gained 3 yards. Not a bad start, but sadly it would be their biggest run of the day. In fact, they would finish the game with a net total of minus-96 yards on the ground on 27 carries. They also lost 9 fumbles. Their aerial attack was not much better. This was an era of football when there was not a lot of passing, but even still, they completed only 2 of 18 pass attempts, for 14 yards. Georgia Tech caught more of their passes than Cumberland did, intercepting them 6 times.

Georgia Tech utterly dominated the whole game. They scored 63 points in the first quarter alone, on 9 touchdowns. They matched that stunning total in the second quarter, taking a 126-0 lead at the half. The only signs of weakness Georgia Tech showed in the game was when they missed two of their eight point-after attempts in the third quarter, and had to settle for only 54 points in the quarter and a 180-0 lead through 3 quarters. They let up a bit in the fourth quarter, settling for only 42 points.

For the game, Georgia Tech rushed the football 40 times, for a jaw-dropping total of 1,620 yards and 32 touchdowns. They did not throw a single pass. Their 222 to nothing win is the most lop-sided game in college football history. It was a massive win, an utter destruction of the opponent.

But as big as that win was, Jesus Christ has an even bigger win to his credit. By his sinless life, his death on the cross, and his being raised to life again by God, Jesus Christ has won the great battle we face against sin, against the powers of evil, and even against death. “Death has been swallowed up in victory,” writes the apostle Paul, quoting the prophet Isaiah (1 cor 15v54, isa 25v8). He continues by almost tauntingly saying, “where, o death, is your victory? Where o death is your sting?” (1 cor 15v55, hos 13v14). Kind of a Biblical version of “na-na, hey-hey, good-bye!”

Jesus won the great victory, and we are the beneficiaries. “Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 cor 15v57). That means, when we join God's team, when we bring Christ into our hearts and minds and lives, we, too share in the victory. We can now overcome our opponents like fear, anger, lust, envy. The challenges of life that stump us won't defeat us any longer, because of Christ. May God give you the victory, too! ... It's been fun sharing some sports devotional thoughts with you this month. Thanks for listening. For St Patrick's church, I'm the Rev'd Steven Page.

Aug 30 Devo - Real Before God

Good morning, this is the Rev'd Julie Golding Page for St. Patrick's Anglican Church. This month, our daily devotionals come from the world of sports. They're available in video form at plaideggnog.blogspot.com. Today, we'll continue talking about baseball and its parallels to our Christian faith.

One of the most popular baseball players today is Josh Hamilton. The 31-year-old outfielder for the Texas Rangers seems to be the Wayne Gretzky of baseball, blowing away all sorts of records. At his first major-league start, in 2007, he hit a home run. In 2008 and 2010, he won the Silver Slugger award. Also in 2010, he was named the American League's MVP. He's been an all star every year except his first year in the majors, and this year he set a new record, receiving 11 million votes. AND in May of this year, Hamilton hit four home runs in a single game. He's hot and everybody knows it.
But it hasn't been easy for Josh Hamilton. That could be said about anybody trying to make it into pro baseball. But in Hamilton's case, many of the hard times have been of his own making. In his personal life, he's struck out over and over again, and in front of millions of people. Back in '99, he was drafted as the first overall pick by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. But Hamilton had problems with injuries, and even more serious problems with drug addiction. Those nearly cost him his marriage, as well as his baseball career. But he got into rehab, then he and his wife managed to work things out. And finally, in 2007, he made it to the Major Leagues, with the Cincinnati Reds.
2007 was a long way from the draft in 1999, but it finally looked like Hamilton was getting somewhere. However, that wasn't the end of his addiction problem. It's resurfaced every now and then, throughout his career. And every time, it makes headlines. It must be a nightmare for him and his family, because whatever he does, he does in a big way. When he succeeds, everybody knows. And the same goes for when he fails.
The funny thing is, baseball fans still love him. Usually, his story of falling into addiction again and again would turn people off. Instead, parents hold him up as a role model. And it seems to be because no matter what, Hamilton stays honest about who he is - with his fans and also with God. Josh Hamilton is a Christian who's very upfront about his faith. He knows he has lots to be forgiven for, and he also knows that God will be there every time to forgive him. So he has the freedom to be totally himself with God and everybody else, whether he's on top of the world or fallen in the dirt yet again. He knows God is trustworthy, so he can be the real Josh Hamilton and not some sort of hero who pretends he's something he's not. And fans really respect that.
So does God. Josh Hamilton's story reminds me of someone in the Bible who was larger-than-life, too. That person is King David. You can find his story in the Old Testament books of Samuel and Chronicles. King David was Israel's greatest king, and like Josh Hamilton, he had great successes. He routed Israel's enemies and gave his nation peace and prosperity. But he couldn't seem to lead his own family or keep control of his personal life. His son, Absolom, even led an uprising against him. And then there was David's famous affair with Bathsheba. He committed both adultery and murder, and he didn't even see what he'd done wrong until a prophet confronted him.
Yet after all this, in Acts 13:22 in the Bible, God calls David “a man after my own heart." NIV When you know his very big and public failures, you have to wonder. But it's because David, like Josh Hamilton, knew God personally. He kept talking to him, whether he was succeeding or failing. He was himself with God and everybody else. He was genuine. And as soon as he came to his senses and realized he was doing wrong, he admitted it and asked forgiveness. Then he went on his way as David, the friend of God - not just David the king - confident in God's forgiveness.
Like Josh Hamilton and David, we can be real with God and each other, too. In fact, that's what God wants from us, and it's the only way we'll be truly human. Otherwise, we'll be putting up a facade and never be able to enjoy right relationship with God or each other. It all starts with being real with God. Why not join me in coming to God as your true self, with all your successes and failures, today? For St. Patrick's, I'm Julie Golding Page.