For our inspiration and encouragement, every Friday in Lent we will be viewing films exploring the lives of Christians who have  made a difference by taking a stand for God down through the ages.  Each evening begins with a pot-luck supper in the Fellowship Hall at 6 p.m., followed . . . → Read More: Lenten Film Series 2012]]> “Taking a Stand For Christ”

For our inspiration and encouragement, every Friday in Lent we will be viewing films exploring the lives of Christians who have  made a difference by taking a stand for God down through the ages.  Each evening begins with a pot-luck supper in the Fellowship Hall at 6 p.m., followed by the film upstairs in  the sanctuary (bring a cushion!), with discussion following.   The films to be shown are as follows:

Feb. 24th: “Luther” (2003; 123min.)

Biography of Martin Luther, the 16th-century priest and major leader of the Christian Reformation who opened up new possibilities in exploration of faith. The film follows his journey from the monastic life to his awakening to justification by grace through faith, his challenge to the abuses of the church and the opposition that inspired.

March 2nd : “Amazing Grace” (2006; 117 min.)

The story of William Wilberforce, the great crusader for the British abolition of slavery and evangelical Anglican.  Wilberforce fruitlessly fights both public indifference and moneyed opposition determined to keep their exploitation safe. Nevertheless, Wilberforce finds the inspiration to rejuvenate the fight with new ideas that would lead to a great victory for social justice and God’s kingdom

March 9th: “The Hiding Place” (1975; 150 min.)

Corrie and Betsie ten Boom are middle-aged sisters working in their father’s watchmaker shop in pre-WWII Holland. Their uneventful lives are disrupted with the coming of the Nazis. Suspected of hiding Jews & caught breaking rationing rules, they are sent to a concentration camp, where their Christian faith keeps them from despair and bitterness. After the war, Corrie must learn to love and forgive her former captors.

March 16th : “Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace” (2000; 88 min.)

What is a moral person to do in a time of savage immorality? That question tormented Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German clergyman of great distinction who actively opposed Hitler and the Nazis. His convictions cost him his life. This film dramatizes Bonhoeffer’s last years, his participation in the German resistance and his moral struggle and sheds light on the little-known efforts of the German resistance.

March 23rd  “Beyond the Gates of Splendour” (2002; 96 min)

Set in the Amazon basin of Ecuador, Beyond the Gates of Splendor tells the story of the Waodani, a violent and isolated tribe, and five North American families who contacted them. All five of the North American men were killed (Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Pete Fleming, and Ed McCully). Elisabeth Elliot, the wife of one of the men, and Rachel Saint, the sister of another, went to live with the Waodani.  Later, Steve Saint, the son of one of the slain men moved his family from Florida to live with the same Waodani family that had killed his father.

March 30th: “Of Gods and Men” (2010; 122 min.)

Under threat by fundamentalist terrorists during the Algerian Civil War in 1996, this is a true story of a group of Trappist monks stationed with an impoverished Algerian community giving medical and spiritual minsitry.  There is immense pressure on the Christians who must decide whether to leave or stay.

This service prepares both our hearts and the ashes for Ash WEdnesday.   The “Alleluia” is buried.   Parisihoners are invited to bring their palm crosses from last Palm Sunay to be burnt . . . → Read More: St. Aidan’s Lenten Programme 2012]]> Worship at the Beginning of Lent

Shrove Tuesday, February 21st

Pancake Supper, 5:30 pm

Vespers & Preparation of Ashes, 7 pm.

This service prepares both our hearts and the ashes for Ash WEdnesday.   The “Alleluia” is buried.   Parisihoners are invited to bring their palm crosses from last Palm Sunay to be burnt for the ashes.

Ash Wednesday,  February 22nd

 Holy Communion with Imposition of Ashes

• 12 Noon    (traditional – with hymns) and
• 7 pm    (contemporary – with praise songs).

Pastor Ken Turnbull will give the address at both services.

Lenten Sermon Series:
Divine Requirements for Mortal Believers”

Each Sunday in Lent, sermons will look at a portion of the well-known verse, Micah 6:8

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. ”

• February 26 – Lent 1: “He has shown, O mortal, what is good”
• March 4 – Lent 2: “Act Justly”
• March 11 – Lent 3: “Love Mercy”
• March 18 – Lent 4: “Walk Humbly”
• March 28 – Lent 5: “With Your God”
• April 1 – Palm Sunday:  “”Jesus the Servant King:  The fulfillment of the divine requirements”

Pancakes and sausages will be served in the Fellowship Hall, 5:30 – 6:45 pm.

Ticket info:

Bring your friends!

Epiphany 4; 8:30 and 10:00 a.m. Holy Communion

Opening Prayer:

Lord Jesus, you are the same yesterday, today and . . . → Read More: God at work in the midst of change]]> St. Aidan’s Sermons
Winnipeg, Manitoba
The Rev. Canon Dr. Brett Cane, January 29, 2012

 “God at Work in the Midst of Change”

2 Corinthians 12:7-10; Mark 1:9-15

Opening Prayer:

Lord Jesus, you are the same yesterday, today and forever; help us now, by your Holy Spirit, to embrace the challenges and opportunities of the changes coming in our lives that we might experience the transforming  power of that same Spirit in order to live out our calling as your Body to the glory of God the Father.  Amen.

Introduction

I don’t find change easy to handle – I never have, and as I am getting older, I find it even less so!  And now as a church and for myself, we are entering a season of change.  The anticipation of change can make us sad, angry, anxious, and fearful.  We wish things could stay the way they were.  But we know they can not.  But don’t be afraid of change as automatically bad – it can actually be a good thing!

This morning, I want to show you why change can be a good thing.   More than that, I want to show you where God fits in the midst of change.  As things are in a state of flux all around us we might feel he is absent – but that is not true; in fact, I hope to show you that God works most powerfully in the midst of change!  This is the subject of my final sermon to you as your rector because I want to open up to you the opportunities of the challenging but exciting days ahead as you move into a new season of the Spirit here at St. Aidan’s.  We are going to look first, at change and the Gospel, then the value of change, and finally the challenges and opportunities of change.

Change and the Gospel

a. Change at the heart of the Gospel:   It is interesting that the first recorded teaching of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark has to do with change: “The time has come, the kingdom of God is near.  Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15).  Repentance (metanoia) means “to turn back,” “return.”  It contains within it the sense that God calls us to change by turning from our self-centred ways to go his way.  Change is at the heart of the Gospel as Jesus later affirms, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3).  The assertion of the Gospel is that, in our present state of separation from God, we are “dead in our transgressions and sins” (Ephesians 2:1); we need to be “made alive with Christ” (Ephesians 2:4) – we need to be changed.  Transformation and change are to characterize our relationship with God: “We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).  This transformation and change is, as the epistles show, for both individuals and congregations, a continuous process.  We are “to grow up into him who is the Head, that is Christ” (Ephesians 4:15).  Growth implies change and this process does not finish in this life until we hear the last trumpet which, when it sounds, “the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52).  Change is at the heart of the Gospel!

b. Changelessness at the heart of the Gospel:   At the same time that we are undergoing a process of continuous change, there is One who does not change.  Referring to change in the created order, the writer to the Hebrews quotes the Psalms affirming God’s changelessness: “You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed.  But you remain the same, and your years will never end” (Hebrews 1:12).   The writer adds later, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).  This is what enables you and I as individual Christians and we as a congregation to carry on in the midst of the unsettling and often chaotic nature of change and even to thrive under it.  “We serve a sovereign God who is unchanging and unchangeable.  There is nothing chaotic about him.”[1]  Stephen Covey has pointed out that “People can’t live with change if there is not a changeless core inside them.  The key to the ability to change is a changeless sense of who you are, what you are about and what you value.”[2]  This assurance of knowing we are known by God, of being rooted in the centre of all there is, allows us then to be open to change where necessary in terms of mission and ministry.  Because our security is in God, we do not need to rest our identities in how we have always done things or the institution of the Church or its ministry.  Change and changelessness are both at the heart of the Gospel.   On these two foundations of change and changelessness, let us now look at the value of change.

The Value of Change

Living “on the margins”:   In looking at the value of change, especially for the church, I have been particularly helped by a little book by a Canadian pastor, Al Roxburgh, The Missionary Congregation, Leadership, and Liminality.[3]  Now, the title sounds very technical but his chief point is not – it is very down-to-earth!  “Liminality” means “being on the margins” – at the edge of things.  He points out that the church, which used to be at the centre of society, now finds itself pushed out to the edges – nobody cares too much about what we say or think any more.   Now we might think that this is bad thing – he shows that it is a good thing.

To do this, he uses the picture of what happens in rites of passage from childhood to adulthood in many pre-industrial cultures.  A young person is sent off into the wilderness with limited resources and while in this marginal or “liminal” state is to accomplish certain feats, to survive and grow through the experience and to return and re-enter society as an adult.  During this “liminal” state, there is an initial period of confusion and vulnerability with the sense of being an “outsider.”  You want to return to your familiar situation, but you can’t – you have to move forward and change to develop a new identity and sense of purpose.

Roxburgh points out that this is what is happening to the church.  Pushed to the edges of today’s society, we have lost our identity and have become “outsiders.”  We want to return to the way things were but we can’t.  But there is light at the end of the tunnel!  The value of being on the margins means that we have a great opportunity to reassess who we are in Christ and his call on us as individuals and a church.  On the margins, we are challenged to throw aside compromises with non-Biblical ways of doing things that have hindered our nature, mission and ministry in recent times.  There is much vulnerability and anxiety in this process but there is also much promise for transformation and becoming more the kind of church and people God wants us to be.

Old Testament examples of being on the margins: Scripture abounds with examples of spiritual growth or benefits for future generations that resulted from God’s people undergoing changes while living on the margins.  The journey of Abraham and his family from Ur to Canaan and the experiences of the early patriarchs from Genesis as nomads on the fringes of settled pagan society are the first examples of this.  The Joseph stories (Genesis 50:20) are full of pain brought about through extreme change and marginalization which is used by God to great advantage in the history of salvation.  Moses’ time of expulsion from Egyptian society and functioning as shepherd in the wilderness of Sinai was the opportunity for the reforming of his character and equipping as leader for God’s people.  The Exodus wanderings were a time of living on the extreme margins for the children of Israel, with no country to call their own and under social, religious, and militantly threat.  And yet it is during this time that God revealed his character as the saviour of the nation and gave his law which was to form Israel into a culture which would be a vehicle of blessing to all nations.  The experiences of Elijah as a marginalized prophet under Ahab and Jezebel (1 Kings 17-19) and those of the later prophets are all examples of God speaking to and through people who were “on the margins.”  Then, it was while in exile in Babylon, experiencing marginalization as a conquered race, that God’s people finally learned his holiness and universality and understood their call as a missionary people.

Jesus and the Church on the Margins: Moving on to the New Testament, we have the experience of Jesus himself during his temptations in the desert following his baptism that we heard about in the gospel reading.  This was an intense time of liminality for him during which he set the pattern for dealing with the temptations he was to face throughout his ministry to abandon his God-given mission and the suffering that would entail.  Then, the ultimate example of being on the margins was the cross where Jesus became a curse for us, being excluded from the human race, in order “to redeem us from the curse of the law” (Galatians 3:13).  This exclusion and marginalization is graphically described to the recipients of the letter to the Hebrews who were in danger of losing their salvation because they wanted to avoid the marginalization they were experiencing and return to the mainstream of Jewish religious society:

The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp.  Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.  Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore.  For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. (Hebrews 13:11-14).

The epistles and the book of Revelation assume the context of congregations on the margins which was to be the pattern of the persecuted Church during which time there was such tremendous growth.  Throughout church history the life of God’s people has often been found on the margins and it is there in the midst of “liminality” and change that crucial spiritual victories and advances have taken place.  It seems that God uses times of change and marginalization to purify his people and prepare them for new things.  I think the relevance of this reality to the situations of change ahead of us is obvious.  What does God have in mind for you and me as we go through this time of change ahead?

The Challenges and Opportunities of Change

God uses change to place before us challenges and opportunities.  Leith Anderson, in his book “Dying for Change” uses the term “the Neutral Zone” to describe living on the margins and summarizes the challenges and opportunities of change as follows:

The Neutral Zone is a period of reorientation, an “in-between time” that is often unstable and uncertain.  We feel disconnected.  We have neither the comfortable familiarity of the old nor the fresh assurance of the new…However, when rightly understood, the neutral zone becomes positive – an opportunity to celebrate and grieve the past without rushing into permanent commitments for the future.  This is when new ideas can be considered and new directions explored.[4]

This is the purpose of the interim period ahead for you as a parish.  Here are some challenges and opportunities for you in this time of change – sometimes the challenge and opportunity are two sides of the same coin.

1. Let Go:   The first challenge is to let go. Letting-go is a major theme of the Gospel.  Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:34-35).  God may be calling you to let go of aspects of your experience and expectations of what the church is and should be for a new vision of what he has for you.  Things have been good these past ten years – but God may have a new direction for you for the next ten.  Another way of looking at this is to let go of your strengths so that you can depend more upon God to show you new ways of moving ahead in the future.  We heard earlier Paul’s affirmation that “(God’s) power is made perfect in weakness…when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).  Os Guinness describes this as the paradox surrounding success: “On the one hand, in matters of the spirit, nothing fails like success.  On the other hand, in matters of the spirit, nothing succeeds like failure.”[5]  Look back to the Biblical record and history of the church we spoke of earlier – it was only when the people of God were on the margins and chastised that they became open to God’s working amongst them.  Therefore, the letting-go, the dying to self, will also involve repentance: how much have we loved our traditions more than God; how much have we loved our institutions more than people?  Ask forgiveness for hanging on to the familiar instead of being open to the new things God may want to do amongst you. Look to God to take you in new directions. Be willing to let go.

2. Step out in faith:   Secondly, be willing to step out in faith.  Leith Anderson points out that, because the Church is a naturally conservative body, we reward faithfulness, not changeableness.[6]  We are not inclined to take risks.  Twenty centuries of tradition, older leadership, the need to faithfully transmit our heritage, and natural inertia, all militate against taking the risk of change.  But this faithfulness to what we have received must be matched by faithfulness in obeying the Spirit now.  Stepping out in faith is at the heart of the Gospel as we have seen, beginning with Abraham’s obedience to move his home and his later risking his son’s life, to the simple step of commitment by today’s child challenged to “make Jesus his or her special friend.”  There is the cost that “we should no longer live for ourselves but for him who died for us and was raised again” (2 Corinthians 5:15).  At our “Listening to God” conference last Fall, Stewart Wakeman told us of Rick Warren’s analogy that faith is the experience of having left the first trapeze before the new trapeze has arrived![7]  This requires an increased dependency on God to trust him in uncertainty.  Take risks and step out in faith.  This is both a challenge and an opportunity.

3. Practice community:   The next opportunity (and challenge) is to practice community.  This was the term Stewart used in his talk last Fall.  It is the theme of my final “Dear Friends” letter in “The Window.”  One of the things I spoke about when I first arrived was the importance of the church as both the agent and demonstration of God’s plan to reconcile the world in Christ.  It is in the church and through our relationships with one another where we first see worked out the salvation we have received – through loving relationships. Here is a great opportunity to move away from the merely privatised version of faith that we have inherited from our culture to the more corporate experience we see in the Scriptures.  Many feel that an interim time is when people begin to fall away from the parish – “Things are not the same; I’m not getting what I need.  I’ll move on.”  This is the opposite of what should occur.  This is the opportunity to grow in community, for new voices to be heard and for new leadership to develop as new challenges are faced.  Here again are my three practical ways you can demonstrate love for one another and the reality of community in the months ahead:

1.      Come to worship:  In the last interim, attendance dropped by over a third!  Part of our commitment to one another is showing up on Sundays!  Please do not underestimate the importance of your presence at worship.  Your presence is an encouragement to others – to say nothing of the value to yourself and the Lord!  (plus, you don’t want miss out on what God is doing!)  Show your love for one another by showing up!

2.      Continue to give: It is easy for parish giving to drop off in an interim period and this is a source of great anxiety to those in leadership – remove this anxiety by giving even more!  Costs will rise (e.g. travel costs for prospective candidates, moving expenses, etc.) during the Interim, so pray about whether your giving should be increased.  Show your love for one another by giving generously.

3.      Meet together: One area of parish life where St. Aidan’s needs strengthening is small groups for fellowship, learning, prayer and pastoral care.  The ideal is for every parishioner to be involved in some form of small group because this is the best place for primary pastoral care to be exercised and where love can be shown in practical ways, spiritual gifts exercised and leadership skills developed.  Show your love for one another by meeting together.

These are three ways to practice community which is especially vital in a time of change.

Conclusion

Change is at the heart of the Gospel and creates challenges and opportunities for you to grow as a parish and individuals.  As you experience “living on the margins” in the next few months, may you experience in brand new ways the presence and power of the One who lived on the margins for us to make us a people for himself, sanctified by the Spirit to the glory of God the Father.

Epiphany 3; 7:45 p.m.  Evensong

Opening Prayer:

Lord Jesus, the heavenly Angels heralded your birth with a great chorus of adoration; help . . . → Read More: Gloria in Excelsis]]> St. Aidan’s Sermons
Winnipeg, Manitoba
The Rev. Canon Dr. Brett Cane, January 22, 2012

 “Gloria in Excelsis Deo”

(Psalm 148:1-6; Colossians 1:15-20) Luke 2:1-15

Opening Prayer:

Lord Jesus, the heavenly Angels heralded your birth with a great chorus of adoration; help us now, by your Holy Spirit, to grasp the impact of that praise and so, too, be moved to worship and give glory to our Father in heaven.  Amen.

Introduction

Tonight we heard a magnificent rendition of Vivaldi’s “Gloria in  Excelsis” and in this homily we will be looking at the words of this canticle which are based on the verse from  Luke 2 we heard read earlier, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests” (Luke 2:14).  We will look briefly at how the canticle is used in worship and then at what it tells us about God and then about us.

“Gloria in Excelsis” in worship

The term “canticle” is taken from the Latin for song and has come to be applied to ancient hymns taken directly from the Bible or using expansions of Biblical texts.  The names of canticles are taken from the opening word or words in the original language, mainly Latin for us.  In traditional Anglican liturgy, the five most frequently used are Te Deum and Benedictus in Morning Prayer and Magnificat and Nunc Dimitis in Evening Prayer and “Gloria in Excelsis” in Holy Communion.  What is fascinating is that four of the five are taken from the first two chapters of Luke’s Gospel.[1][2]  Gloria in Excelsis is an expansion of verse 14 of Luke 2 and its translation is as follows:

Glory to God in the highest
and peace to his people on earth.
Lord God, heavenly King,
Almighty God and Father,
we worship you, we give you thanks,
we praise you for your glory.
Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father,
Lord God, Lamb of God,
you take away the sin of the world:
have mercy on us;
You are seated at the right hand of the Father:
receive our prayer.
For you alone are the Holy One,
you alone are the Lord,
you alone are the Most High,
Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

It was originally a Greek hymn composed on the model of the psalms, and was used during the regular morning service of the Eastern Church as early as the fourth century.  It is thus one of the oldest hymns of the Church.  It was used in Rome in the next century, but then only on special occasions such as Christmas or for bishops before coming into more general use in the later Middle Ages.[3]  It was set at the beginning of the Communion service, after a penitential beginning, to open our worship to God.  This is where it sits in our modern services and although we do not use it at our 10:00 a.m. service, we follow the spirit of it through singing hymns and songs of praise at that point.  Archbishop Cranmer translated it and used in the Book of Common Prayer Communion service, eventually placing it at the very end, as a great peon of praise to God for all he has given us in salvation which we have just celebrated and shared in the Sacrament.  This is where it sits for our 8:30 a.m. service.

It begins with the verse from Luke, then expands into praise of the Father, moves into “penitential” adoration”[4] of the Son and then back to pure praise of God including the Holy Spirit.  Glory is not only the opening word, it is the theme of the whole song; Sue Careless[5] has used the colours of precious metals to help describe it – an overall aura of gold as we join the angels in heaven around the throne of God as in Revelation (4:8, 5:12-13, 7:12, 19:6) – pure white or precious silver for the middle section as we mediate on Christ’s sacrifice for our sins and back again to gold for the closing lines.  It truly is one of the great hymns of the church!

About God

As we move on to look at the verse in Luke which lies at the beginning of the canticle and is expanded by it, we begin with God: “Glory to God in the highest.”  Before looking at these words, we note that it was sung by “a great company of the heavenly host” (Luke 2:13).  Angels figure prominently in Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth – Mary and Zachariah are both visited by angels to set the stage for Jesus’ arrival so important is the news.  But here, it is not just one but a whole host – only rarely in the Bible do we see such an array and it is always in the context of God’s glory in heaven (e.g. Daniel 7:9-10 and Revelation – see above).  Outside of heaven, we read that the angels rejoice at beginning of creation:

Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?  Tell me, if you understand.  Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!  Who stretched a measuring line across it?  On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone – while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”  (Job 38:4-7).

This now happens at the birth of Jesus and these words are purposely echoed in Bishop Philips Brooks’ carol, “O Little Town of Bethlehem”:[6]

For Christ is born of Mary
And gathered all above
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love
O morning stars together
Proclaim the holy birth
And praises sing to God the King
And Peace to men on earth.

Here, the only other example of angels praising God outside of heaven, it is also a beginning – but this time, it is the new creation which Christ brings.  Jesus is “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation (Colossians 1:15).  Hebrews refers to this occasion, saying, “When God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, ‘Let all God’s angels worship him’” (Hebrews 1:6).   This is the event the whole of creation has been waiting for  - God come to earth as “Immanuel” – God with us as we are told  in the Christmas story in Matthew (1:23).

This is why we give glory – glory represents all that is true and magnificent about a person – “She sat there, in all her glory!”  This hymn of praise by the angels acknowledges God for all he is and what he does.  This praise of God is expanded in the “Gloria in Excelsis” as it goes on to say:

Lord God, heavenly King,
Almighty God and Father,
we worship you, we give you thanks,
we praise you for your glory.

We can’t express more clearly our great joy and thanksgiving that God has revealed his love for us by coming to us in Jesus.

About Us

However, one of the great reasons we praise God is for what he came to do for us in Jesus which we see through the second half of verse 14 in Luke 2: “On earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.”  This is not to be translated “Peace to those of goodwill” but to those who will receive that peace – God’s people.  Jesus is the means through which we are given peace and this is why we give glory to God.  William Barclay[7] points out that the Shepherds keeping watch were special shepherds.  Bethlehem is very close to Jerusalem and was the location where the flocks from which the temple sacrifices were chosen were kept.  He says, “It is a lovely thought that the shepherds who looked after the Temple lambs were the first to see the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”[8]  This is the meaning of the personal name the baby is given by the angel in Matthew 1:21: “You are to give him the name Jesus (Jeshua – meaning ‘God saves’) because he will save his people from their sins.”  The baby in the manger is to be saviour on the cross giving his life for our forgiveness.

This is clearly revealed in the middle section of our canticle as it expands on this:

Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father,
Lord God, Lamb of God,
you take away the sin of the world:
have mercy on us;
You are seated at the right hand of the Father:
receive our prayer.

Through this baby heralded by the angels we receive peace with God – the forgiveness of our sins.

The canticle then moves on to the final climax of praise:

For you alone are the Holy One,
you alone are the Lord,
you alone are the Most High,
Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

The baby in the manger is no ordinary human.  Only God himself, come as human, could do this great deed for us – he is indeed “the Lord and the Most High” who has come to invite us to receive his peace and join the eternal fellowship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Conclusion

“Gloria in Excelsis” has taken the verse from which it sprung and expanded its true meaning in a cascade of praise.   No wonder the great musicians down through the ages have wanted to set its words to  magnificent music to give glory to the mighty and loving God who has come to save us and give us his peace.  To God be the glory!

8:30 am.   “O Antiphon’s”  & Holy Communion (traditional) 10 am. service       Nine lessons and Carols.    Advent Candle Lighting.   Dedication of Elevator (lift) at beginning of 10 am.  service.   Special reception following this  service. . . . → Read More: Photos from 2011 Christmas Services]]> Open links below for photographs from service.

Sunday December 18, 2011    Fourth Sunday of Advent

8:30 am.   “O Antiphon’s”  & Holy Communion (traditional)
10 am. service       Nine lessons and Carols.    Advent Candle Lighting.   Dedication of Elevator (lift) at beginning of 10 am.  service.   Special reception following this  service.

Saturday Christmas Eve December 24, 2011

5 pm.  Family Service with Communion
8 pm.  Holy Communion  (Contemporary)
11 pm.  Holy Communion (Traditional)

Christmas cake and eggnog served after both later services.

Sunday Christmas Day, December 25, 2011

10:30 am.  Holy Communion with carols.

3rd Sunday in Advent; 8:30 am and 10:00 am, Holy Communion

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

Opening Prayer:

Lord Jesus, you were sent and anointed to lead us into . . . → Read More: An Inspired Job Description]]>

St. Aidan’s Sermons
Winnipeg, Manitoba
The Rev. Canon Dr. Brett Cane, December 11, 2011

“An Inspired Job Description”

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

Opening Prayer:

Lord Jesus, you were sent and anointed to lead us into freedom; empower us now, by the same Holy Spirit, that we might fully grasp and obey the commission you have set before us, and so establish the kingdom of our Heavenly Father.  Amen.

Introduction

I often have people tell me that they are not sure what God wants them to do, how to serve him best.  They are looking for a detailed job description from God.  Sometimes he gives it to us very clearly; sometimes he does not.  However, he has given us something that is very clear: the overall goals and objectives he wants to accomplish through us.

Last week, we heard God calling out to someone to comfort and speak tenderly to his people, to declare to them that their hard service had been completed and their sin paid for (Isaiah 40:1-2).  This week, we have the reply 21 chapters later: “The Lord has anointed me to preach good news…to bind up…to proclaim freedom and the year of the Lord’s favour…to comfort all who mourn” (Isaiah 61:1-2).

Now we know this was fulfilled in the short run with the Jews being brought back miraculously from exile in Babylon.  They did “rebuild the ancient ruins” (verse 4) and see some encouragement and restoration of their land.  However, the prophet was inspired to look beyond the immediate situation to the long-term.  There was to come the establishment of an everlasting covenant (“everlasting joy” – verse 8).  And it was this very chapter that Jesus took as the description of his mission when he spoke at the synagogue in Nazareth at the beginning of his ministry “The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me…Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4: 16-21).  These verses in Isaiah 61 describe Jesus’ ministry that was to come.

But not only does it describe Jesus’ ministry, it describes ours also, because he has told us that “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you” (John 20:21).  Here is our job description as Christians!  Here are the overall objectives God wants to accomplish through us.  They do not give us details; but they show us what the specifics of our lives – our unique gifts, our particular tasks – are to be used for.  Let us examine them to see what his ultimate objectives for our lives and ministries are.  We shall look at our equipment, our commission, and the specifics.  This is our “inspired job description”!

Our Equipment

As we start to look at the various elements of our job description, we see first what equipment God has given us to carry out his work.  It is interesting that Luke begins his account of Jesus’ early ministry in Galilee with some general comments and then goes straight to the story of Jesus reading this passage from Isaiah in the synagogue in Nazareth.  From Mark, we know this event happened sometime into his ministry (Mark 6:1-6).  Why does Luke want us to hear about this right away?  Because he wants it to be heard as soon as possible after the description of Jesus’ baptism.  He wants us to see the two are related.  At his baptism, Luke says, “The Holy Spirit descended on him In bodily form like a dove” (Luke 3:22).  A few verses later, Luke tells us, “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert” (Luke 4:1).  After this, Luke tells us that “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit” (Luke 4:14).  Then he follows this with the reading in the Synagogue, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me” (4: 18).

Do you see the connections?  There is no doubt that God’s ministry can only be accomplished through the empowerment or anointing of the Spirit.  If Jesus had to receive the anointing or empowering of the Spirit, so must we.  This is why, just after Jesus says, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you” in John 21, it continues: “And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (John 20:22).  The one element common to Isaiah’s prophecy in the Old Testament, Jesus’ own ministry, and ours is the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

This anointing of the Spirit now comes to us from Jesus as John the Baptist declared just after the passage read as our Gospel, “The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit” (John 1:33).  As we go to Jesus in repentance and confession, obedience and faith, with empty hands, desiring to be filled – he will indeed fill us with the Spirit for ministry.  Unless we receive this anointing, which is a repeated filling (as we read in Ephesians 5:18 – “keep on being filled with the Spirit”), we can not carry out our job description.  By ourselves we wallow in failure and despair; with that anointing we can do everything God has called us to do – it is the essential equipment he has given us.

Our Commission

Now we can move on to the commission that God has called us to undertake.  It is to extend the ministry of Jesus which is to preach good news to the poor, bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release for the prisoners, and to proclaim that God is setting all things right.

What does this mean?  Is it to be taken in a literal or a spiritual way?  Both.  Because Jesus taught us to love people, we will want to care for their immediate needs, such as providing food and clothing and shelter to those without.  We will want to stand for justice and set free those wrongly imprisoned.  It is wonderful how many movements to eliminate injustices in society have been led by Christians – although, not without opposition by others – often by Christians themselves, as we saw in South Africa.  But when we are involved in this immediate way it is because it is part of a larger deliverance that Jesus has made possible.

This is demonstrated for me when I visit people in prison.  For some, because of Christ, even though they are physically restricted, they are free – free from the very chains that led them into the activity which got them into prison.  I think of a parishioner from my last parish in prison whose joy was unmistakable.  He had come to recognize the sin that got him in there and repented of it, willingly serving his time for the crime he committed.  Why is this?  Because, while in prison, he was led to Christ by a prison guard and found freedom for the first time in his life.  His liberty of soul and spirit was such a contrast to people I know on the outside who have physical liberty but are held back by chains of addition, self-hatred and despair.  They are the captives that need to be released.

It is to these people that we can bring the message of hope Isaiah describes.  It says the people of God will “rebuild the ancient ruins” (verse 4).  God has called us to help people rebuild the ruins of their lives.  This is done spiritually, psychologically, and physically.  Spiritually, we can lead people to be “clothed with garments of salvation and arrayed in robes of righteousness” (verse 10).  With the gospel of Christ, we can lead them into deliverance from guilt and the power of sin through the death and resurrection of Jesus.  In the psychological realm, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can lead them into freedom from the effects of sin – both theirs and that of others done against them.  This has also physical manifestations as people are rescued from addictive and harmful behaviour.  In this way, through our ministry of care, proclamation and deliverance, in the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is able to release people from their spiritual poverty, moral imprisonment and emotional brokenness.  This is our commission.

The Specifics

Now, these overall objectives do not give the specific details as to how we are to carry out our commission.  This is both the excitement and the frustration of being a Christian.  Each one of us has to discover the details of how things are to work out for the specific tasks to which God has called us.  How do we do that?  First, ensure you are filled with the Holy Spirit.  Live an obedient life of growing dependency and intimacy with God.  Then, examine the gifts and opportunities God has given you.  How can you use your gifts either in paid employment or in your free time?  If you have the gift of mercy, it is easier to see different routes through which that gift can be channelled to bring release to people bound up in sin or sickness,  What if you have the gift of administration?  You could be used by God administering an airline or helping a Christian counselling agency run its office more efficiently.  Be God’s agent for transformation whether it is in the secular or Christian sphere.  The details are up to you and Christ to work out together.

The starting point in all our thinking, though, must be the basic attitude that I want my gifts, resources, and position to help establish Christ’s kingdom of power and release in the world.  Then I ask how can I be used best in spreading the good news in word and deed that people may come to find Christ and his freedom in their lives.  Jesus came into this world to set us free and then to equip and commission us to bring freedom to others.  This is your inspired job description – now go and do it!

2nd Sunday in Advent; 8:30 am and 10:00 am, Holy Communion

Isaiah 40:1-11, 27-31; Mark 1:1-8

Opening Prayer:

Praise be to you, the God and Father of . . . → Read More: Two Great Questions for God]]>

St. Aidan’s Sermons
Winnipeg, Manitoba
The Rev. Canon Dr. Brett Cane, December 4, 2011

“Two Great Questions for God”

Isaiah 40:1-11, 27-31; Mark 1:1-8

Opening Prayer:

Praise be to you, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort; by your Holy Spirit, speak now through your written Word, of your care and power for us who wither and fall, that we may see him who is your Living Word, even Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Introduction

Last week we sang,
“O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.  [1]

Do you ever feel like you are languishing in exile being held captive?  Oh, I know that most of us here have not had an experience like those held hostage by Columbian drug lords or Somali pirates, but I am speaking of other kinds of captivity; to some physical or emotional disability, to some bad habit or besetting sin, to a mistake of the past or disqualifying background.  Many of us wrestle daily with things that hold us in bondage and we long to be free.  We feel exiled from the wholeness of life that we know God wants us to have.  We are struggling and we need support and comfort in our struggles in order to keep going.  In the dark times, we wonder whether God cares about our situation and if he does, does he have the power to change things for us?

These two great questions – Does God care?  Does God have the power to change things? – lie behind many of the laments and cries for help in the Bible.  They also lie behind the pain and anguish of people everywhere throughout history.  “If God is God, then why has he not acted to help us in our dilemmas?”  “Does he not care?  Is he powerless to act?”  This is the theme of our sermon today from Isaiah, chapter 40.

The Exile in Babylon

These two questions lay behind the cry in Isaiah 40:27, “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God” – this was the cry of a people in despair.  In the 6^th century BC the nation of Israel was in exile in Babylon, their country and holy city deserted and in ruins.  Where was God?  What had happened to his promises?  Had God abandoned his people?  Did he care about them?  Did he have any power to change things?

For many years, Israel, the People of God, had disobeyed him and fooled themselves into thinking everything was all right.  They had settled for the externals of religion and had neglected the heart of the matter.  They had compromised their faith and substituted materialism and exotic experience for holiness and true religion.  Through His prophets, God had sent them repeated warnings and calls to turn back, to repent, but they had paid no heed.  They had accused the prophets of mixing religion and politics and claimed their religious pedigree as their iron-clad defence and protection.

Finally, around 600 BC, as a last resort, God gave their nation into the hands of the Great Powers of the day who occupied Mesopotamia – modern Iraq – to the north-east.  The bulk of the nation that was not killed was transported, lock, stock, and barrel to the great and sophisticated cities of Nineveh and Babylon.  Here, the remnant of the people finally realized what they had done in rebelling against the Lord.  But now, there was a new problem.  As they gazed in wonder at the mighty buildings and wide boulevards, the magnificent temples and exotic ritual, was their God really God after all?  The people of Assyria and Babylon seemed to prosper under their gods.  The Israelites were a conquered nation; were the pagan gods more powerful than the God they knew?  Where was he?  Was he able to rescue them? Did he even care?  There had been a prophecy that they would be in exile for 70 years and this time was now almost completed – yet where was God?  They languished in despair.  “By the waters of Babylon, we lay down and wept” (Psalm 137:11).  They needed comfort and encouragement.

A Word of Comfort

Then came the word: “Comfort, comfort my people says your God.  Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for” (Isaiah 40:1-2).  The command rings out through the heavens that God’s people in exile are to be comforted, that their sin has been paid for, that their exile is over.  They are going home!  The shortest way would be through the wilderness of the Syrian desert – humanly impossible.  But now there was to be a highway through it – far more magnificent than the grand boulevards of Babylon.  “In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (verse 3).  This was to be the highway of the Lord – he would go ahead of his people to lead them out – the desert would be no barrier, the valleys would be raised up and the mountains made low and all obstacles would be removed from their path.  This mighty act, seemingly impossible against the physical and political realities around them, would reveal God’s glory, his true nature, what he is really like, that he is a God of comfort, of caring and a God of strength.

The Word of the Lord

Then comes the prophet’s questioning response, “What shall I cry?  All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.  The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them.  Surely the people are grass” (verses 6-7).  Isaiah is saying that the situation looks hopeless!  Then comes the reply: “Yes, you’re right.  Left to yourselves, it is hopeless,” – “…the grass withers and the flowers fall: but the word of our God stands forever” (verse 8).  This is the key to our comfort.  This is the central message of these middle fifteen chapters of Isaiah: God’s Word accomplishes that which it describes.  “As the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish…so is my word that goes out from my mouth; it will not return empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10, 11).  At the beginning of creation it was so: “And God said, ‘let there be light!’  And there was light” (Genesis 1:3).  God’s word is not just a series of letters strung together; it is the very expression of his being.  This is why Jesus is called “The Word of God”, because he is the expression, the action of God amongst us.  He is the “Living Word.  How does God communicate his Word to us now?  Supremely through His Word written, Holy Scripture.  “We do not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

How does this work?  Are there set Scripture verses for every situation?  Is this how I get my comfort and support?”  No, not necessarily, although some specific verses are very helpful.  The greatest use of Scripture is to show us, through God’s actions in history, how he has operated in the past, and thus how he will do so in the future, although in an even deeper and more glorious way.

We have an example in today’s Old Testament and Gospel readings.  For the people in exile, elsewhere in the book of Isaiah, the prophet refers them back to the Exodus, when they were delivered through the sea out of Egypt.  e.g. “This is what the LORD says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters” (Isaiah 43:16 and ff).  Then he says, “Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing…I am making a way through the desert and streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah 43:19).  If God did it before at the Red Sea, he can do it again, yet only more powerfully, this time in the Syrian desert.

Then, did you notice in the reading from Mark, the same words from Isaiah 40 were applied to John the Baptist: “…a voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him’” (Mark l:8).  Just as Isaiah prepared people for the return from exile, so John the Baptist was preparing people for a new return from exile, only this time it was even more glorious.  This exile was not from captivity in Babylon, but captivity to sin.  The Lord himself was coming in the person of Jesus to lead people, not to an earthly promised land, but to life forever in his eternal kingdom.

God’s written word has led us to God’s Living Word, Jesus.  Jesus is God’s greatest action in history.  It is in Jesus, that we see and have ultimate confirmation of what God is really like.  In Jesus, we see that God does care for us – “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son” (John 3:16).  In Jesus, we also see that God has the power to change things – but not in the way we might expect.  Our Advent collects tells us that he came “to visit us in great humility.”[2]  That humility led him to the cross (Philippians 2:8) which was the greatest display of power the universe has ever seen.  Only it was not a display of naked coercive might, it was the ultimate power that can only come through total self-giving love.  It is the release of that power, through God giving his own self on the cross, that we are set free from our exile and captivity to sin.  In the Incarnation, God becoming human in Jesus, we see most powerfully the answer to our questions, “Does God care?” and “Does he have the power to change my situation?”  The answer is a resounding YES!  This is the heart of the Christian Gospel.  This is why all religious systems that do not see God acting supremely in Jesus fall short.  This is what the joy of anticipation in Advent is all about.  This is what we celebrate at Christmas.

The Application for Us

Let us return to the message of Isaiah to see the application of all this for us.  We can read this passage and apply the picture of God we see there to our own situations.  The God who led the exiles back from captivity is the same God who wants to lead us out of our exile and captivity to sin and suffering and sorrow, through the ravages of this desert journey of life, to the promised land of his heavenly kingdom.  We are on a journey.  As the exiles were comforted, so can we be.

Or, we can join the poor left behind in Jerusalem, who are told to go up on a high mountain – “You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain” (verse 9).  We look and peer across the vast desert expanses and see on the horizon a mighty throng with the Lord at its head.  What do we see?  “The Sovereign Lord is coming with power” (verse 10).  His arm is strong to defeat all the dangers of the long journey home.  Then we look again; “He tends his flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young” (verses 10, 11).  This mighty God is a caring God.  He lifts up the young and frail and carries them; he helps those with young, those burdened with the responsibilities of life.  For those who see the God of the Old Testament as a stern God and the God of the New Testament as a loving God, here is a certain negation of that lie.  The God of the two testaments is both a powerful God and a caring God.

This God, pictured leading his people home through the desert, is the same God who is leading us home, on our journey through this life.  He is strong enough to defeat all that assails us on our journey, the robbers of despair and defeat that want to take away our joy, the emotional ups and downs of the terrain that make our way discouraging, the dangerous places of temptation we must walk through that seem capable of taking away our very life.  He is able to protect and keep us.

But not only is he powerful, he is caring.  Like a shepherd with lambs, he takes us in his arms and carries us; he helps us with our burdens and responsibilities.  We have a God who loves us dearly and carries us close to his heart.  He is a caring God; he is a powerful God.

Conclusion

So when you are tempted, like the exiles, to complain “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God” (40:27b), remember his Written Word, the Scriptures, and his Living Word, Jesus, where we see the answers to the two great questions: Does God care?  Does he have the power to change my situation?

“Do you not know?
Have your not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.”   (Isaiah 40:28-31)

This is the word of the Lord.

The Rev. Canon Dr. Brett Cane, November 13, 2011

Remembrance Sunday; 8:30 and 10:00 a.m. Holy Communion 

Opening Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, your love for us is complete and uncalculating; teach us now, by your . . . → Read More: Surprise! Surprise!]]>

The Rev. Canon Dr. Brett Cane, November 13, 2011

Surprise! Surprise!

Matthew 25:31-46

Opening Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, your love for us is complete and uncalculating; teach us now, by your Holy Spirit, how our love for God, whom we can not see, is expressed through our love for others, whom we can see, that we may live out the life you won for us in service and sacrifice to the glory of your name.  Amen.

Introduction

Remembrance Sunday is an opportunity to do many things – not least of which is to remember the horrors of war and to stir us on to work for peace.  But chiefly, Remembrance Sunday is an opportunity to give thanks for those who have served and for the many who have given their lives in the distant and recent past in order that others might be delivered from tyranny and oppression.  We remember that those who served did so at great cost and it is an opportunity for us to consider how we can serve in the less spectacular but genuinely needy situations where God has placed us today.

This leads us into the Gospel passage and its emphasis on service to those in need.  It also ties in with the call to be good servants and stewards of all that God has given us.  I have called it, “Surprise! Surprise!” because this is the picture Jesus gives us in the parable of the sheep and the goats at the final great judgement. As people receive their rewards of everlasting life or eternal punishment, the words on everyone’s lips are “When did we do (or not do) this?  When did we do (or not do) that?”  For some, it is a pleasant surprise.  For others, it is a devastating surprise.

Why did Jesus tell this parable in Matthew 25?  Was it to give everyone an air of uncertainty about the Last Day and keep us guessing about where we will end up?  No; Jesus went to great pains to assure those who believe in him they were precious to God and would not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16).  Why did he tell it then?  It was a warning.  It was a warning to all of us who count ourselves part of the people of God that true faith is shown in how we live our lives – more specifically in how we treat those in need.  Jesus tells us that we can fool ourselves into thinking we are living life the way God wants us to, that we really are his followers.  The acid test, he tells us, is how we treat those in need.  How we treat others is to be uncalculating, unspectacular and unexpected.

Uncalculating

Now, maybe some of you are like me – when I hear that the test of my faith is how I treat those in need, I stop and start to calculate. “How am I doing?  How’s my score at helping others?” That’s not quite what Jesus was getting at.  The righteous folk – the sheep – in the parable did not sit down and calculate how much they were loving others.  Actually, they were quite surprised that they had been.  “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?” (Matthew 25:37-29).  Isn’t this “salvation by works” – i.e. how many eternal brownie paints can I get by helping so-and-so, by doing ministry, by giving to this or that charity?

Not at all.  This was, in fact, the attitude of the cursed – the goats.  They said, in effect “Gosh, if we had known it was you, Jesus, and that it would count for something, then we would have done it!  We didn’t think it was worth helping so-and-so.”  Jesus is not asking us to do things to win his approval.  He is asking us to examine our hearts to see if there is flowing out from there natural, instinctive and uncalculating loving actions.  This is the test of true faith.  John tells us that “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).  Our actions are a response to the loving action of God within us.  Out of that love will flow all kinds of goodness, not because we calculate what we should do, but because we can’t stop ourselves – it is a natural result of receiving God’s love, an uncalculating response.

Unspectacular

How is this love for others shown?  What mighty deeds must I do or what vast amounts of money must I give?  Here again is part of the surprise in the parable.  “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me” (verses 35-36).  Love is shown in the everyday, the simple things of life, the unspectacular.  It is shown in welcoming the stranger, cheering the sick, visiting the prisoner, showing genuine hospitality.  It is simply a case of meeting the needs of people God brings across our paths or to our attention.

“Oh,” you say, “That sounds easy.”  But the parable shows us it is not so easy.  We forget that we filter out certain people because they are not important enough, not our background or colour or language, not from our country.  How do we treat those who do things for us, even if we pay for them – for example, bus drivers or those who serve us in restaurants or stores?  Do treat them as if they were machines or do we, in some small gesture, acknowledge they are made in the image of God and worthy of receiving our attention and thanks?  What about folk who beg on the street?  In our society today, I do not think that giving in to a request for change is the best response.  However, acknowledging that person as human, by a smile or an explanation of why you don’t want to give or offering some helpful alternative like paying for a meal or a cup of coffee is what I think Jesus expects of us in the short term – simple acts of kindness.

In the longer term, he calls us to address the underlying issues of poverty and homelessness – but, again, we do not have to be a William Wilberforce or Mother Theresa – we can start small – like showing-up for a meeting to address housing or walking in a demonstration about missing women.  We can help through informing ourselves of the issues, through writing letters and e-mailing our local political representatives.  These are ordinary, routine and unspectacular actions.  Then, of course, there is helping out at our school to address the underlying issues in the lives of individuals.  In all of this, God is not asking us to solve the entire poverty or homeless problem by ourselves, simply to do our part.

This is how we are to show our love, in the simple, unspectacular ways that are offered to us day by day.

Unexpected

Then comes the unexpected, the biggest surprise of all. Jesus tells the sheep and goats that their attitudes and actions were all done or not done to him.  “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (verse 40).  What does this mean?  Is there some mystical identification of Jesus with the needy?  Is it the same as saying God is everywhere and in everyone?  No.  It is saying that the way we express our love for God is through ministering to others.  The apostle John writes, “Anyone who does not love his brother or sister whom he has seen cannot love God, whom he has not seen…Whoever loves God must also love his brother or sister.” (1 John 4:20-21). A contemporary writer has put it this way:

“You love Jesus as much as the person you love the least.”

That really cuts me to the heart.  I may say all I want about how much I love God, but if I treat someone near me like dirt, Jesus is saying that that is how I treat God.  This is a person made in God’s image, for whom Christ died.  If I do not love that person whom I can see, how can I say I love God whom I cannot see?

William Barclay records a story about Martin of Tours.

He was a Roman soldier and a Christian. One cold winter day, as he was entering a city, a beggar stopped and asked for alms.  Martin had no money; but the beggar was blue and shivering with cold, and Martin gave him what he had.  He took off his soldier’s coat, worn and frayed as it was; he cut it in two and gave half of it to the beggar man. That night he had a dream. In it he saw the heavenly places and the angels and Jesus in the midst of them; and Jesus was wearing half of a Roman soldier’s cloak. One of the angels said to him, “Master, why are you wearing that battered old cloak? Who gave it to you?” And Jesus answered softly, “My servant Martin gave it to me.” [1]

How we treat others is how we treat Jesus. Jesus is the unexpected recipient of our love.

Barclay summarizes, “When we learn the generosity which without calculation helps (men) folk in the simplest things, we too will know the joy of helping Jesus Christ himself.” [2]    Uncalculating, unspectacular, unexpected.

Stewardship

What does all this have to do with stewardship?  A great deal.  Stewardship is more than how we give money to God; it’s how we give of all that God has given us – our time, our abilities, our resources.  As we consider what our financial commitment to St. Aidan’s is to be for 2012 when we come next week to present our pledge cards, they represent the whole of our lives being offered to God.

How does God call us to exercise the stewardship of our time, our talents, as well as our treasure?  Like the sheep – we give without calculation, naturally, with generosity flowing from a loving heart, without trying to figure “What is the least I can give and still be in God’s good books?”   We give unspectacularly with what God has given us – in what may seem routine or ordinary ways: of time – in cleaning the kitchen or volunteering at the school; of talent – in fixing electrical systems or leading Bible studies; of treasure – in our regular tithes as we set aside money for God’s work in our parish or wider afield.

Finally, we are really giving to God – not to St. Aidan’s, not to the wider Church – but to Jesus Christ himself.  He is, to us, the unexpected benefactor of our stewardship.

In all of this, our stewardship is a natural, loving response to God’s love and giving to us. It is so natural, that when we realize what we have done, it will be a complete surprise!