Watch sermon video here:

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Hespeler, September 14, 2025 © Scott McAndless – Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28, Psalm 14, 1 Timothy 1:12-17, Luke 15:1-10

There is no denying that some of the biggest problems that people are dealing with today are economic problems. We could talk about housing and how it has become completely unaffordable throughout much of this country, especially for people who are just starting out. We could talk about inflation and how prices have gotten out of control for so many everyday goods. We could certainly talk about unemployment which, especially for youth, seems to have reached a crisis level.

These are problems that are affecting all of us. Even if you personally may be in a strong position and somewhat insulated from these problems, they are affecting your community, and the fallout is spilling over and affecting your personal life.

Answers We Can Relate to

So, I think that we can all recognize that there are some big and important economic problems. But, when the economic experts start to talk to us about what is causing these problems and what to do about them, what happens? They start talking about things like supply and demand and yield curves and lagging indicators and, for most of us, our eyes glaze over. We tune out. None of it helps us to understand why so many people are struggling or what to do about it.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have somebody who can relate to us – somebody who can bring the very wisdom of God to us – who could explain it all to us and tell us what to do? Wouldn’t it be nice if Jesus did that for us?

Jesus and Money

But unfortunately, Jesus doesn’t seem to have had much to say about money during his life. In fact, he seems to have been so unfamiliar with the currency itself that, once, when somebody showed him a coin, he had to ask whose face and title was engraved on it.

But there is at least one parable – we read it this morning – that is all about money. And I know that it is very short, but I’ve got to tell you that there is more wisdom about the use of money in that short parable than you might realize.

So let me tell the story to you – tell it in a way that might make you better realize how people in Jesus’ own time might have heard it when he first told it.

10 Silver Coins

She had ten silver coins. It was not, to be clear, a fortune. Just one of those coins would have been considered fair wages for an entire day of work. So, having 10 days wages saved up was hardly something that would have offered much of a buffer for her in the case of some catastrophe.

There were people out there, the wealthy elite in places like Jerusalem and Tiberias, who had stored up thousands upon thousands of these coins. Such hoards made them feel safe in ways that she never would be able to attain.

But, inspired by the successes of such people, she had managed to scrimp and to save and to set aside ten silver coins. It was an extraordinary accomplishment.

Most of the people around her never managed to set anything aside. If they were lucky, if they were fortunate enough to get enough work that paid well enough, most of them could only manage to break even on a day-to-day basis and there was never any surplus to set aside for a rainy day.

Security

But she had ten silver coins. Maybe they didn’t actually provide security for her, but they made her feel as if security was attainable. That’s why she was kind of obsessed with them. She always knew exactly how many coins she had and where they were. She literally counted them every day so that, if one went missing, she would know immediately.

And one fateful day, the one thing that she dreaded happened. She was there at her little counting table. It was actually her only table and she used it for everything from cooking to eating, but in her mind, it was the counting table because that was the most important thing that happened on it.

Counting

She took out her purse and poured out the coins and relished, as she always did, the satisfying clatter that they made. And then she took them and counted them one by one as she dropped them on the table. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9…

Wait a minute, that couldn’t be right. She was certain she had counted ten just the day before. She started over again counting very deliberately. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9… No, no, there was definitely one missing.

Robbery?

A sense of panic quickly settled over her. Her first thought, of course, was that she had been robbed. But that made little sense. Why would anyone steal one if they had the opportunity to steal them all?

What’s more, she knew that nobody had had the opportunity. She was certain that no one had been in her house since she had last counted. Nor had she taken the coins out.

Basically, out of a fear of this very possibility, she isolated herself from all of the people around her. She never had anyone over to her house and she never went out unless it was strictly necessary.

Frantic Cleaning

The only other possibility, therefore, suddenly came over her as a wash of relief. The coin had to be somewhere here in this house. It must have fallen and rolled away the last time that she counted.

And, with that realization, she was finally able to channel her panic and nervous energy towards something productive. She carefully secured the nine coins and then she lit all of her lamps and got out her cleaning supplies. She began to sweep and dust and scrub every corner of her entire house. She carefully cleaned under every piece of furniture and deep into every nook and cranny. Oh, the house had never been cleaned like this!

But, while this managed to channel the energy in her body, her panicked thoughts continued to race. As silly as it seemed, she began to question her own priorities. Had she really chosen to focus on the right things if it all led to such frenzied outcomes?

A Shepherd’s Tale

She had heard a story in the neighbourhood just recently. There was a local shepherd who had a hundred sheep in his care. He cherished his sheep much like she cherished her coins.

And of course, he would count his sheep regularly. And one day as he was counting – 1,2,3,4… –  always a difficult task, of course because by the time he got to 96, 97, 98, he could barely keep his eyes open. But when he hit 99, he was suddenly wide awake because there was no sheep 100!

From what she had heard, he immediately started acting crazy. He abandoned all 99 sheep out in the wilderness and started searching high and low for the one lost sheep.

She would never act so irresponsibly, of course. Hadn’t she been careful to bar all the windows and doors before she began to search? She was not about to risk the loss of her other nine coins. But she could not help but wonder whether her shepherd neighbour had learned something from that experience that she had not yet understood.

Strange Reaction

She had heard that when he had finally discovered the errant ruminant, he had been so relieved that he completely lost his mind. At least that was the only way that she could make sense of what he did next. He took the sheep and laid it on his shoulders and brought it back. Fortunately, it seemed, nothing bad had happened to the other 99 that had been abandoned in the wilderness.

So, once he had recounted all of them again (falling asleep several times in the process) the shepherd decided that the next thing to do was send out invitations to absolutely everyone he knew. He had them all come over to his house and he threw a great big party.

The woman did not go. She was not inclined to participate in such foolishness, and she had to stay home so that nothing would happen to her precious coin. But from what she had heard, the lamb stew had been excellent.

Beginning to Understand

That had been the one thing that she had never understood. Here was this neighbour who valued his precious sheep, so much so that, when just one went missing, he had dropped absolutely everything else in order to find it. But having found it, his priorities changed so radically. Suddenly there was something that mattered more than a sheep, and that was the opportunity to celebrate with all his neighbours. And he was even willing to sacrifice his precious sheep in order to celebrate.

She had never understood that. But now, perhaps, she might be beginning to. She had put so much importance into the preservation of her collection of coins, that she had missed out on everything including the party with the neighbours. And now that she had lost one, she was struck by the thought – what had she been saving it up for? What would she miss out on if she didn’t find it? Was she supposed to be fulfilled by its mere existence in her collection? Was that enough?

Her Strange Reaction

Her frenzied cleaning continued for at least another half hour, but in the end, she finally found it. It had rolled underneath a cover on the... piano. It was a welcome sight, to be sure, all bright and shiny in the lamplight. But now that she had found it, to have it was not enough. It was like it had no value on its own anymore. It only had value for what she could do with it.

And she suddenly knew what to do with it. She had to celebrate. She had to throw a party, and she had to invite everyone – all her neighbours, even the shepherd – especially the shepherd.

Soon her house was filled with music and dancing and laughter. Her neighbours joined in a veritable feast with wine and food. Why the party favours alone must have cost several silver coins.

Odd Twists

I have always puzzled over those two parables of Jesus – the lost sheep and the lost coin. Both include these frenzied searches that are deeply focussed on finding this valuable thing that has been lost. But, once the search is over and the object is found, the story takes on a strange twist.

They don’t end like you might expect them to. The endings are not about relief or taking steps to make sure that such a loss doesn’t happen again. That would be the responsible response, right? But no, the endings of these stories are all about gathering people and celebrating together. And the implication of that is that the celebration is of greater value than the object found.

What are we to take away from this strange twist ending? One lesson, the one provided by the gospel writer, is that this parable is about how happy God is when someone turns away from sin and comes to God. That’s a perfectly good interpretation but note that it is supplied by the gospel writer. There is no indication in the original gospel text, that Jesus said that part. So, I do think that there are other applications that we can make to life in this world.

A Lesson About Money

And I have come to think that Jesus may have told this story to make us think again about the things of this world that we have learned to value. In particular, there is a strong lesson about money.

The world is constantly telling us that money is the beginning and the end of what matters. We, like the woman in Jesus’ parable, hoard up money, worry about not having it and exhaust ourselves trying to get it. But the experience of losing and then finding the money seems to give this woman a different perspective. Money, she learns, has no intrinsic value in itself.

That is absolutely true, by the way. Money really only has any value because we have all agreed that it has value. If that consensus were just to go away, and that could probably happen easier than you might think, all of our money will have no value.

No, what the woman learns is that the value of money is only in what you do with it. And, if you save it as a goal in itself, it really is worthless. Jesus is saying that the kingdom of God is something that breaks out when we choose to use whatever we have to gather God’s people to celebrate.

Hoarding Coins

Did you know that there are a lot of people storing up money these days. It is not the ordinary folk. Many of them are just living day-to-day. But the billionaires are storing up unheard-of amounts of money, mostly, of course, in offshore accounts where governments can’t touch them. And corporations, they have record cash surpluses sitting around these days. In many ways that is the biggest economic problem that we are facing. There is just too much cash sitting around and not circulating. There are too many piles of 10 coins that no one is using.

Jesus told this story to change our discussion about money. It is meant to be used, and it is meant to be used for people and not to serve the needs of those who already have it or give them illussions of security. It is meant for celebration and joy. And when we learn that lesson, that’s when we will discover the kingdom of God among us.

Watch Sermon Video Here:

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Hespeler, September 7, 2025 © Scott McAndless – Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Jeremiah 18:1-11, Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18, Philemon 1:1-21, Luke 14:25-33

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Come, go down to the AI design studio, and there I will let you hear my words.” And so, Jeremiah went down to the place where the designers sat at their computers and each one was required to come up with hundreds of designs a day.

He watched as one of the workers typed in, “Okay, Midjourney, give me a design for a new style of ceramic pot.” And, while Jeremiah watched, the Artificial Intelligence went to work, surveying a million pictures and designs of various styles of pots from many different cultures and time periods in fractions of a second. It processed them all and projected certain trends and fads to come up with a design that was a homogenized mix of every other pot that had ever been made.

And then the designer looked at the result and declared, “No, I think the colour is a bit off, try again.” And, using vast amounts of electricity and other resources, the Artificial Intelligence program restarted the entire process.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah saying, “Am I not like the Artificial Intelligence designer with my people? But Jeremiah said, “No, no, that is not quite right.”

Ceramics Factory

Then the word came again to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Come, go down to the ceramics factory, and there I will let you hear my words.” And so, Jeremiah went down onto the factory floor and he observed the fabrication lines. He watched as the great machines mixed the clay until it reached a perfect consistency. And then the clay was slip-cast, injection-moulded, or perhaps dry-pressed into perfectly consistent shapes. Then the pieces were dried, glazed and fired in turn.

All along the line, the workers surveyed the process. If there were any pieces that contained any flaws or imperfections or if they diverged from the design in any way, they were removed and thrown in the trash. At the end of the line Jeremiah saw all the pots, bowls and vessels lined up, each one indistinguishable from the next of the same design.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah saying, “Am I not like the ceramics factory with my people? But Jeremiah said, “No, no, that is not quite right either.”

Amazon Retail

Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah saying, “Okay, why don’t you just go online and order a nice pot from Amazon. And so, Jeremiah went on the website and picked out a pot that looked like it might do. He put it in his online cart and, with one click, requested overnight delivery.

An entire distribution system kicked into high gear with boxes flying through warehouses and pickers, sorters and distributors working long hours with limited breaks and no ability to sit down. The product was loaded onto a truck that went careening through the town and less than 24 hours after it was ordered, it showed up on Jeremiah’s doorstep. He opened the package, decided that it was not quite right and went back to his computer to click return.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah saying, “Am I not like Amazon in my ability to distribute blessings with abundance and speed? But Jeremiah replied, “No, no, that is not right.”

If God Made Pottery Today

No, none of those are right, are they? Those are the ways that most pottery is designed, manufactured and purchased these days. It is mass produced in ways that promote consistency, uniformity and efficiency. It is all done in such a way as to maximize profit, by giving people what they are used to at the best possible prices.

And I can’t help but think that if somebody said that God was like a maker of pottery today, we would be inclined to think of God in such terms. In many ways, I think that we do.

We look at many of the expectations that modern life puts upon us and just assume that God is looking for the same from us. When we look at ourselves, we often measure ourselves against the standards of the larger culture. If I am not beautiful in the way that an AI generator would define beauty – an amalgam of the most beautiful pictures ever taken – well,  then I can’t be beautiful. If my life does not look as fulfilling and uplifting as everyone’s pictures on my Instagram feed, well, then my life must suck. And if I just don’t make the cut in that and so many other ways, then how could God value me?

Productivity and Consumerism

The world tells us all the time that our productivity is all that matters – that we are all only as good as the last bit of work that we did. And so, when I look at my accomplishments, I just don’t feel like I am any good. It makes us prioritize doing over being and, once again, we transfer that thinking onto God and assume that we need to earn God’s love with our works.

And, above all, our world is constantly telling us that the way we exercise our freedom and the way that live out our success is by being consumers. The more stuff you own, the more expensive experiences you have enjoyed, the more fulfilled you are supposed to be. That is the constant drumbeat of our world!

And of course, there are so many ways that we turn our God into the patron of that ideal of fulfillment. The Prosperity Gospel, the teaching that God wants to make you rich and fill you up with many material blessings is quite possibly the fastest-growing Christian teaching in our world today. So, yes, we have definitely turned God into some sort of cosmic Amazon network where we purchase whatever we need with one prayer instead of one click.

Jeremiah Wanders into a Pottery Shop

But the Prophet Jeremiah lived in a very different world. And when he was kind of discouraged one day because the people of Judea were being foolish and they wouldn’t listen to him, he didn’t wander into an AI design studio or a factory or a warehouse. He wandered into the local pottery shop.

And after he had watched the potter work away at his wheel for some time, he said, “Aha!” He said, “I didn’t just happen upon this place at random. No, my wandering footsteps had a purpose behind them. God brought me here because God had something to show me. God is like a potter and we are like the clay.”

What did he mean by that? Obviously he didn’t mean it literally. He didn’t mean that we are just mud or that we are spinning around on a foot-powered wheel. He wasn’t saying that God is literally squeezing and pinching us with clay-covered fingers.

No, he was rather saying that God relates to us like a potter relates to the clay. And let’s explore some of the things that that means and that we sometimes miss in our frenzied modern life.

Uniqueness

First of all, let’s look at what it says about your uniqueness. One of the key differences between ancient and modern manufacturing processes is how unique each item that is produced is. The potter may work according to some basic idea while the wheel spins, of course, but since the clay is actually formed by human hands that naturally vary in position and tension, every vessel produced is absolutely unique.

Even more than that, ancient potters were artists and often gave to their vessels unique touches in terms of design. And I think I know a few things about artists. I am no potter, and I can’t draw worth beans, but I do consider myself something of an artist in the art of storytelling. And I have had people ask me which of the stories that I have told is my favourite.

I find it an impossible question to answer – like asking a parent which of their children is their favourite. And the best answer I’ve ever come up with is that my favourite story is almost always the one I am presently working on. That is what makes an artist, I think. It is when you love the work you are doing.

You are God’s favourite Vessel

And I believe that God works the same way with you. You are God’s favourite vessel because God is molding you. God loves every unique bump and twirl and flourish on you – both on your surface and in your inner being. God loves you because God is working on you and because you are unique.

And what a different message that is from the message we are constantly receiving from the world around us that we are only acceptable if we can measure up to some standard and if we don’t deviate from the norm. Never let anyone take away from you the joy in knowing that God delights in the uniqueness of who you are.

Dealing With Flaws

Now, none of that takes away from the truth that we do have flaws. We do often fail to measure up to the potential of who we could be. This is actually a central concern in what Jeremiah observes in the potter’s shop. He observes this as he watches, “The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.”

And I think that says a lot about how God deals with our flaws. Notice how different this is from the ways in which we deal with flaws in modern manufacturing processes. What happens to the bad pot or the cracked vessel on the assembly line? It is removed and unceremoniously dumped in the garbage.

And that is how we tend to deal with flaws and deviations in our world. You show your shortcomings, you get cancelled, rejected, thrown on the trash heap. Our modern and fast-paced world just finds it much more efficient to dispose of you than to give you the chance to improve yourself.

But the potter God that Jeremiah discovers is not like that. God is always going to give you a chance to start over, even to reimagine yourself. God doesn’t lose patience with you and is always ready to put the lump of clay that you are back on the wheel and start molding all over again. That is the promise of the God who is like a potter.

Not Just Personal

But there is one other thing that I do not want you to miss as you think of Jeremiah’s powerful image of God as a potter. The thing that provoked him to see that deep truth was not that he was discouraged about what was going on in his personal life. We are often tempted to make passages like this all about our spiritual journeys as individuals, but Jeremiah wasn’t thinking about that.

He was concerned about what was going wrong with the whole nation of Judah. The thing that he was imagining God balling up and putting back on the wheel was not him or any other individual, it was the Kingdom of Judah as a whole.

So, we should not leave this passage behind today without asking what it is saying to us about who we are together as a church. You may have come here today with an idea of who we are as a congregation. And, if you are like most Christians, you probably have an idea of who we are that is based on what you have experienced of the church in the past.

The Church as Clay in God’s Hands

But Jeremiah would remind you, me and all of us that, when it comes to the church, God is the potter and we are the clay. We imagine the church like clay that has already been hardened and fired. It is rigid, it can only take the form that it has always taken and be used in the ways that it has always been used.

But, in God’s hands, the church always remains the soft block of clay – always ready to be formed anew to face the challenges of a new time, always ready to be put back on the wheel and take a new form that God can use in a new situation.

We want to be the ones who chose our form, who tell the potter who we want to be. But that has never been how God has related to the church, so if we insist on that, we might just end up broken pottery shards lying on the ground.

God is the potter, we are the clay. It is an image that is meant to inspire and encourage us. It is meant to lead us into a deeper understanding of how we are related to the great Creator of the universe.

Watch Sermon Video Here:

https://youtu.be/HeKF1IDBB_U

Hespeler, August 31, 2025 © Scott McAndless – Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
Jeremiah 2:4-13, Psalm 81:1, 10-16, Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16, Luke 14:12-24

Earlier this summer, I was asked to perform a funeral for a man named Johnny. The family that requested this are not really connected to this congregation. But, whenever I am given the opportunity to minister to a family in such an important moment of their lives, I always agree, at least if it is at all possible for me to do so.

Making it Personal

But it is also really important to me that a funeral service be very personal. And so, if I never did know the person, I make a point of getting to know them by talking with the people who loved them.

So, I gathered with the family and learned about Johnny. He was a man who lived all of his life with severe disabilities. He was never able to speak. He could only walk with a great deal of help, and eventually he could not walk at all.

A Passage for Johnny

I believe that every person’s life has important things to teach us about the kingdom of God. It is with that idea that I approach every funeral. And so, I spent a considerable amount of time thinking about what Johnny had to teach us about Jesus’ idea of the kingdom of God. My reflections eventually brought me to our reading this morning from the Gospel of Luke.

I can honestly say that Johnny, this man that I never actually met in person, has taught me more about what Jesus was saying in this passage than all of the commentaries and sermons that I have read about it. It’s kind of amazing how often that happens. And I’d like to share with you today what I learned about this passage.

A Hot Dinner Guest

Jesus made a big splash wherever he went, and people often vied with one another to invite him to dinner in their houses. You know how it works. You invite the hottest local celebrity to come and eat at your house, then you invite all the most important people in town too, so that the celebrity’s fame and reputation rubs off on you. I’m pretty sure that the host of the meal that night thought that he had pulled off the social event of the season.

But at some point during supper, Jesus looked around the room and saw all of the rich and important people who were sprawling on the dining couches and he turned to his host. “When you give a luncheon or a dinner,” he said, “do not invite your friends or your brothers and sisters or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid.”

A Crazy Thing to Say

That was, to be clear, a crazy thing for Jesus to say. The entire point of this dinner party had been to enhance the host’s social standing. The whole point of it would be lost if he didn’t have all the “right” people there! So, I imagine that the host was upset when Jesus said this. But he was about to become enraged.

“But when you give a banquet,” Jesus went on, “invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you.” Now that was just ridiculous. It was one thing for Jesus to suggest that he should not invite people who would enhance his standing. But here Jesus was suggesting that he should actively invite those who would destroy his reputation in the town!

Marginalizing People with Disabilities

In Jesus’ day, it was generally taken for granted that if you were poor or disabled, it was basically your own fault. We still sometimes think of poverty that way these days, though we really shouldn’t. We often assume that if somebody is poor it must be because they are lazy or lack ambition.

But we generally accept that we can hardly blame people with disabilities for their limitations. They did. They just took it for granted that, if you had a disability, you must have sinned in some way.

Because of those false assumptions, they pushed people who struggled with poverty or with disabilities over to the margins of society. They certainly didn’t invite them to dinner parties and, if such a person were to show up, it would have had the effect of lowering the host’s social standing.

People Were Confused

So, I am sure that everyone present was kind of scratching their heads and wondering what Jesus could mean by saying such a crazy thing. And one of the people who was there thought he had figured it out. Such a thing made no sense in the real world, so maybe Jesus was saying something about another world – a world after death.

Maybe Jesus was saying that, if you performed insane acts of charity, like feeding the dregs of society, it would earn you a ticket to another life after you died. And so he shouted out, “Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

But that wasn’t what Jesus was saying at all. He wasn’t talking about another life. He wanted them all to understand that he was talking about encountering the kingdom of God in this life.

Jesus’ Picture of the Kingdom

But their minds were too small to imagine the picture of the kingdom of God that Jesus had in his mind – the picture of a feasting hall filled with the poor, people with disabilities and other marginalized folk. And so, Jesus did what he always did to expand people’s minds. He told a story.

Jesus was a master storyteller, so he knew exactly what to do to make them feel comfortable. He opened with a scenario that would have made perfect sense to them. He described a host who does what they all would have done. He plans a dinner, and he invites all the “right” people, all the people whose presence will enhance his reputation.

The Twist

Then, just when he had sucked them in, Jesus threw in the twist. As soon as the dinner is ready, it turns out that nobody – none of the “right” guests – can make it. Now this is a crisis because there is only one thing that is worse for a host’s reputation than having the “wrong” people at your dinner, and that is if no one shows up at all!

And so, the host panics. In desperation he implores his servants to drag in whoever they can find. And so it is that the end of the story sees the dining couches filled by people who are poor, people with disabilities and all manner of people who live on the margins of society.

What was the point of that story? I believe that the reason why Jesus told this story was all for the sake of the bizarre picture of the dinner party at the end of it.

Jesus was trying to impress on them that the kingdom of God is something that breaks out in the here and now and it breaks out when we give places of honour to those who are poor or disabled or otherwise on the margins of society.

Such a thing was so unimaginable that Jesus had to tell this strange and convoluted tale of a dinner party that went so disastrously wrong that the host was forced to invite all the wrong sorts of people. He told them this story just so they could get their heads around such a bizarre scenario.

Johnny

Yes, Jesus really taught that the kingdom of God worked like that. And many struggle to understand such a teaching; I always have. But, like I said, I was given a wonderful opportunity to reflect on what Jesus might have meant earlier this summer.

I never met Johnny, but I got to know him by meeting with his family and hearing from his friends and family at the celebration of his life. And yes, Johnny had disabilities. He could not speak. He could not walk.

Johnny did not live a marginalized life to the extent that such people would have in Jesus’ time. We have come a long way in terms of integrating those with such limitations into society. We probably still have a long way to go, but we are light-years ahead of how things worked in ancient times.

But some marginalization was unavoidable. Johnny did spend some time in institutions where he was mistreated in ways that I will not go into. His inability to speak also caused some serious medical problems as he could not tell the doctors what was wrong and so they often didn’t know how to help him and got his treatment wrong.

So. Johnny really does seem like a good example of the kind of marginalized person that Jesus would have imagined taking an honoured position in the kingdom of God. And, as such, his life taught me a lot about what Jesus was really trying to get people to realize when he spoke about that kingdom. I believe that Johnny has many things to teach us about what Jesus was really announcing

Defying Expectations

He has taught us, for one thing, that it is the nature of the kingdom of God to defy our expectations of what is possible. When Johnny was young, the doctors who directed his care confidently predicted that he would not live past the age of twenty. Well, when we gathered to celebrate his life, Johnny was just a little bit shy of his seventieth birthday. And we gathered to celebrate a life that had been full and meaningful.

But it was not just in terms of lifespan that he exceeded expectations. Johnny’s friends and family spoke at his celebration, as did some of the people who had supported him and given him care. They also counted him as their friend.

A picture quickly emerged of a man who, despite having suffered and despite many limitations, was able to radiate love and friendship. He was a man who could do little more than love you, but when he loved you, you knew it. It came to mean the world to you.

Advocate

I will admit that there was one thing that particularly took me by surprise as I listened to people share their love for Johnny. People spoke about how he would advocate, how he would argue for what was just and right and acceptable and act for those who were struggling.

I would ask you to think about that for a moment. Here was a man who could not speak, but he “spoke up” demanding action when needed. Here was a man who was confined to a wheelchair, but he “stood up” for what was right and just. Here was a man who could not walk, but he would regularly “step up” for others who needed help.

“Speak up – stand up – step up.” Have you noticed how so much of our language for activism and advocacy is hopelessly ablest? Hidden in the way we talk about it is the assumption that you have to be able-bodied in order to make a difference in this world.

How many of us excuse ourselves from taking a stand or speaking up for the injustice that we see in this world? “I’m no public speaker! I can’t take the risk of doing something! I wouldn’t know where to begin!” Johnny had all the excuses, and yet he made sure that the demand for rightness and justice was heard!

Laughter

One other theme also came up over and over as we celebrated Johnny’s life and that was laughter. He had a big belly laugh that everyone found to be infectious.

And I am pretty sure that laughter was a very big part of what Jesus was talking about whenever he described the kingdom of God. That picture of a big dinner party where the dining couches were filled with “the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame” was always and forever a picture of a room filled with laughter.

I know that, when we think of the kingdom of God or, as it’s often put in the Gospel of Matthew, the kingdom of Heaven, we often imagine another life that comes after this one. I am sure that that was a part of what Jesus was talking about, though probably not the main part.

So, while it is good to imagine Johnny today in a new kingdom where the voiceless speak and where those who wait upon the Lord can run and not be weary, they can walk and not faint, to take comfort in that vision of the otherworldly kingdom alone would be to miss out on the dream that Jesus was trying to put before us.

He was talking about a kingdom that can break out here and now and it will happen, Jesus assures us, when we are bold to give place and honour to those whom our society has left on the margins.

Watch Sermon Video Here:

https://youtu.be/ZgS6VkYAN5E

Hespeler, 27 July 2025 © Scott McAndless
Psalm 82, Luke 10:25-37

A few months ago, the Vice President of the United States, who is a newly minted Roman Catholic convert, was doing an interview. He began to speak about a Roman Catholic teaching known as Ordo Amoris, or the Order of Love.

He explained that the Ordo Amoris meant that you needed to prioritize who you love and that you have to start with those closest to you. Family came first, then you needed to take care of your closest neighbours and community, then your country and only after that you could think about immigrants and foreigners.

Limited Love

The assumption behind that statement was that love is a limited thing – that the more you love somebody, the less love there is to go around. And so, you need to make sure that that love goes to the people closest to you first.

Now, I’m no expert on Roman Catholic moral teaching, so I’m not going to argue with him. I’ll just note that he got some pushback from people who are experts, including a certain American Bishop named Robert Provost who tweeted back at him that his explanation was wrong. And, given that Robert Prevost has since changed his name to Pope Leo XIV, he might just have known what he was talking about.

We Want to Define Our Neighbours

That is what we struggle with when it comes to loving our neighbours – we always want to define our neighbours in such a way that we only have to love those we already want to love.

When a man asked Jesus who his neighbour was, he knew that that was exactly what that man was trying to do. But Jesus was brilliant. He didn’t just tell the man that it meant loving people who he didn’t feel like loving. That would have made the man defensive.

So, Jesus told a story. He knew that stories can get in under people’s defenses and help them to see complete strangers in sympathetic ways. But his story was more powerful than we often realize.

What We Get Right

People know this parable well and get a number of things right about it. They recognize that Samaritans were people that Judeans (people like Jesus) despised. And so, it is generally understood that Jesus is saying that loving your neighbour has to include loving people who are not like you.

So far so good, but he was also saying more than that. For one thing, he doesn’t seem to be saying to his fellow Judeans that they should love Samaritans, at least not directly. Instead, he is giving an example of a Samaritan who loves a Judean. And given the twisted relationship that Samaritans and Judeans had, that was a much more powerful thing to say. But you really need to enter into the story to appreciate that. So, let’s do that.

Hiel of Samaria

Hiel of Samaria was finally on his way home from Jericho. He never liked to go there, for it was deep within Judean territory. But Jericho was an important hub for trading throughout the entire region.

Hiel had done pretty well for himself in business lately. He had his own donkey for the transport of goods and more than a couple of denarii jangling in his purse. But the trade he was engaged in passed through Jericho and that made periodic trips unavoidable.

A Dangerous Road

The main road out of Jericho went directly across the plain and up into the hills towards Jerusalem. He had no intentions of going to the big city which he despised, but it made sense to follow the well-worn trail for several leagues before turning off north towards Samaria.

He was aware that because valuable trade goods often passed along this road, it was a frequent target of bandits and thieves. He’d been lucky so far on his journeys, but he always felt vulnerable when he traveled here – always aware of his surroundings and always viewing everyone else with suspicion. He sighed and urged his donkey to a faster pace.

Judean Hate

The journey always gave him a lot of time to think. “Why is it,” he asked himself, “that the Judeans hate us so much? It is not because we have ever done anything to them. We have never attacked them, confiscated their land or desecrated their temple, have we? No, come to think of it, those are all things that the Judeans have done to us over the last century.

“No, the only grievance that they have is the way that we worship. Oh, we worship the same God and follow the same scriptures (or at least they’re pretty much the same). No, it is just, they say, that we worship God in the wrong place and have some different traditions. That’s it.

“And it is not as if we could do anything to change their opinion of us. We aren’t welcome to worship in their temple in Jerusalem. And no reform of our worship will ever be good enough for them. So, it’s really nothing that we have done to make them hate us and nothing that we could do to make them stop. Is it any wonder that I feel so helpless every time I pass through Judea?”

A Priest

As Hiel continued down the road, there was a man approaching from the other direction. He was – as was abundantly clear from his fancy robes and high attitudes – one of the priests of the Jerusalem temple. As he went past, Hiel fully expected the man to insult him or maybe even spit at him, as such priests loved to do to Samaritans.

Much to his surprise, though, the priest did nothing of the sort. Rather than displaying the haughtiness for which the priesthood was famous, he appeared flustered and spooked, as if he’d seen some horror.

A Levite

Soon after him came a Levite. The Levites also worked in the temple carrying out more menial tasks. As this man approached, his attitude was much like the priest’s had been. He was so upset and hurried that he scarcely gave Hiel a glance, much less the customary sneer he usually would have received.

The Samaritan did not understand what was going on, but he was happy enough to see these men having a hard time. The Judeans had done enough to destroy the worship and priesthood of the Samaritans over the years.

Persecution of Samaria

Just over a century ago and entirely unprovoked, the Judeans had come and attacked Galilee just north of Samaria. In a series of bloody battles, they had seized control of the land dispossessing Samaritans and Syrians alike. That alone would have been affront enough.

“But even worse,” Hiel said to himself, “about twenty-five years before that, they came into the heart of our land and destroyed our most holy place. They razed the temple of the Lord at Mount Gerazim and killed our priests. Ever since, they have prevented us from rebuilding.”

Hiel had been to the mountain many times to attend festivals and to sacrifice. There, among the ruins, the Samaritans continued to worship in defiance of what the Judeans had done to them. “They tried to make it so that we couldn’t worship,” he muttered, “but we show them. We worship among the ruins as a continual reminder to ourselves of their cruelty and impiety! We will not give them the satisfaction of stopping us from worshipping God!”

Something on the Road

Hiel was so caught up in all of the reasons he had for hating Judeans, that it took him a while to recognize what seemed like an odd pile of rags by the side of the road just ahead of him.

Every step brought him closer, and the realization quickly began to dawn on him that this was not just garbage that someone had left. It was a person – or maybe it had recently been one. As he made out human features that were bruised and bloody, he began to understand what it was that had made the priest and the Levite so upset.

Clearly, this man had been assaulted by one of the brigands that this road was famous for. They had beaten him, taken everything he had and left him to die. As he saw this, he wondered why the others hadn’t been willing to stop and help him. Weren’t they all Judeans? They all worshiped in the same place, according to them, in the proper way. And yet, despite that, the priest and the Levite had seen no need to pause and help a fellow Judean.

Excuses

And sure, they might have given the excuse that, if they did touch him and he died (which he seemed close enough to be doing), it would have rendered them incapable of serving in the temple. No one who had come into contact with a dead body was allowed to serve without going through the purification rituals.

But surely, that was a silly excuse. The law was clear that the obligation to save someone’s life was more important than any purity law. And anyways, neither of them had been traveling up to the temple but rather away from it, so they did not have any temple duties.

No, they had clearly shown in their actions that having things in common – even worshiping the same God in the same way – did not mean that they had to love one another. Perhaps seeing him had made them feel a bit uncomfortable, but they had felt no obligation to take care of him.

What Would He Do?

But, as Hiel stood there, looking down upon the bleeding Judean, he was left with one question. What about him?

He had no doubt whatsoever that if their places were exchanged, if he were the one lying beaten by the side of the road instead, this man would not help him. He would see only a cursed Samaritan who didn’t worship properly. The Priest and the Levite would not give him a second thought either, unless that thought was that he deserved to be beaten. If they had not helped their own countryman, they certainly would not have helped him.

Not Acting Like a Judean

But did that let Hiel off the hook? Did he really want to become like them? No, the last thing he wanted to be was like a Judean. He did not want to become someone who judged and rejected someone else just because they were different or did things differently.

And so, in that moment, Hiel decided to do the most un-Judean thing that he could think of. He opened his packs. He took out a bottle of the wine he was bringing back for trade and a jar of the oil. He took his second-best tunic and began to rip it into strips to make bandages.

He took care of the wounded Judean by the side of the road and then he put him on his donkey to take him someplace where he could recuperate.

A Strange Twist

When Jesus was asked, “Who is my neighbour?” he answered with a story. The story had a strange twist to it. He was speaking to fellow Judeans. You might expect him to tell them a story where a Judean performed an extraordinary act of love towards a hated Samaritan.

But he didn’t tell that story. He told the opposite. He told of a despised Samaritan who chose to love someone whom he had every reason to hate.

Who We Owe Love to

That’s what makes what he did such an extraordinary act of love. And that says so much to us today. It certainly provides an answer to the question of who we owe the greatest love to. If we want to live out the kind of love of neighbour that Jesus was talking about, we cannot limit that love only to those most like us and closest to us.

Jesus tells the story as a way of illustrating that choosing to love those who are far away from us, doesn’t limit how much love we have. On the contrary, it only allows love to grow. For love is something that is limited only when we fail to share it.

Samaritans and Judeans

I also think that Jesus’ story has many things to teach us about those that we are tempted to look down upon and despise. The Samaritans really had never done anything to hurt the Judeans other than live their own lives and worship God in their own way.

But the Judeans had attacked them, taken away their land and destroyed their rituals and customs. I think that Jesus was saying something very powerful when he suggested that it was easier for a Samaritan to act in love towards a Judean than for it to happen the other way around.

Our Attitudes Towards Those We’ve Hurt

For, you see, when we have acted in hurtful ways towards others, it is always easier for us to think of them as somehow less than us. So long as we don’t come face to face with their humanity, we fail to come to terms with some of the things that we or our ancestors have done to them.

It is only our own failure to live up to everything that God has called us to be that prevents us from loving.

A Story to Meditate on

The story that Jesus told about that man beaten and left by the side of the road is a story that is meant to shake up all our assumptions about human relationships. It is meant to challenge you to think about those who are different from you in new ways. That is not easy to do. But I’m really thankful that Jesus gave us this story for us to remember and meditate upon. Please take this story with you and do exactly that.

Watch sermon video here:

https://youtu.be/wDj2dt7tuW8

Crieff, 20 July, 2025 © Scott McAndless – Baptism
Isaiah 7:1-7, 10-16, Psalm 78:1-7

I want to start out today by acknowledging the incredible gift that Erin and Bryce have given to us today. They have allowed us the wonderful privilege to be a part of their celebration of this most amazing and wonderful thing that has happened to them: the birth of their son.

We have all been given the privilege of participating in this very personal and family event. They have chosen to share it, not only with the church where Bryce is a member, Knox Crieff, but all four of our congregations today. We all get to be part of it. Isn’t that simply amazing?

And the best thing about all of that is that this is not just a personal celebration, or a family celebration, nor even a single congregational celebration. We have been privileged to be part of a cosmic and world-changing event that is meant to give us all hope.

The Opening Scene

Let me explain what I mean by taking us into the opening scene of our reading from the Prophet Isaiah this morning. Our reading opens with a whole bunch of names and places that I realize don’t mean a thing to any of you. One king makes an alliance with another king and together they decide to go up and attack another king. It all sounds serious but, who cares, since we don’t know any of these people or places.

So let us put it in terms that maybe we can relate to. In the days of Carney, son of Carney son of Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, Israel and America went up to bomb Iran but did not conquer it and Netanyahu was bombing the people of Gaza. And Ukraine and Russia were sending squadrons of deadly drones against each other.

An epidemic of measles was quickly spreading across the land, and tariffs were causing economic turmoil. The forests were on fire and the rivers were rising in deadly flood. “And the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.”

Why Their Hearts were Shaking

Does that sound a little bit more relevant? Does that make a little bit more sense and do you understand why the heart of the people was shaking? Everywhere you look these days it seems as if things are falling apart. Things that we once took for granted – things that made us feel safe and prosperous – just no longer seem reliable.

So, the people are shaking and the king, Ahaz, is trembling. No one quite seems to know what to do. I don’t know about you, but just about every time I look at news these days, there seems to be something that sets my heart to shaking like the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

And, on top of everything else, the church – which is supposed to give us a grounding and foundation in our lives so that we are not shaking – is going through times of difficult change which are disturbing.

A Message of Hope

And, amid all that shaking, God sends the Prophet Isaiah to the king with a message of hope. Oh, Isaiah admitted that things looked troubling but insisted that shaking was not in order. He said that the people threatening them were like “two smoldering stumps of firebrands” – that it was all smoke but little fire.

But things were going so badly that the king was unconvinced. So, Isaiah went on to offer him something that would convince him. “Ask a sign of the Lord your God;” he said, “let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” Ask God to do something – anything – to prove it to you, the prophet invited him.

But I guess that the king was too discouraged because he refused to even ask for a sign. “I will not ask,” he insisted, “and I will not put the Lord to the test.” So, Isaiah did something extraordinary. He said, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.”

The Sign

And that brings us directly to why we are here today. What is the sign that God offers? “Look,” Isaiah says, pointing no doubt at the thing that the king is supposed to look at. “Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel.”

Apparently, Isaiah is pointing at a young woman who is there with the king’s entourage. Perhaps she is one of the king’s new young wives. He points at this woman with a growing belly, and he makes the bold but not particularly wild prediction that her pregnancy will lead to the birth of a child. And the child will be the sign given to the king by God.

And how, exactly, is the birth of this child going to be a sign from God that we should not lose heart despite all that’s happening in the world? For that, we look to the name of this child. “The young woman… shall name him Immanuel.” And “Immanuel” is a Hebrew word that means “God is with us.” So, this young child is a sign from God which means that God is with us.

Matthew’s Use of This Verse

This was a message given to that king at that moment when the hearts of the people were shaking. Isaiah was speaking about a child who would soon be born and would be a sign of hope.

And I realize that Christians, as soon as they read that verse, lose sight of that original setting. We have been told every Christmas of our lives that that verse is only about the birth of Jesus – that Jesus was born of a virgin and that he and he alone is the one whose birth means that God is with us.

That is, of course, because the Gospel of Matthew interprets this prophecy of Isaiah as being about Jesus. And, let me be clear here, Matthew is not wrong!

Jesus is the one whose birth brings us hope and he – in his own body – has shown us what it means that God is with us more clearly than anyone who has ever lived. He was also born of a virgin – which was not the word that Isaiah used when he spoke to the king, but it got translated that way in the Bible that Matthew was using when he wrote his Gospel.

Something that Continues to Happen

But just because Matthew’s application of this prophecy to Jesus is correct, that doesn’t mean that Isaiah wasn’t talking about a young woman who was present that day. He clearly was. What Matthew’s insight actually tells us is that there was something eternal about Isaiah’s prophecy that day. He was also talking about something that would continue to happen over and over again.

And that is what we are here celebrating today, because what Isaiah said, I’m here to tell you today that it has happened again. God has spoken to us today, even as we are shaking like the trees in the forest before the wind, because of all that is going on in the world. God has spoken to us in the same way – a young woman has conceived and borne a son, and she and her husband have brought him to us today as a sign.

Why Denny is a Sign

How exactly is Denny a sign for us? In so many ways. He is a sign because he is new life in a world where there is too much death these days. He is new life for the church, a sign that God will continue to bring children and young people into our churches as we act in faith and minister to them in trust.

He is also a message to us in the same way that a newborn child was in Isaiah’s time. One thing Isaiah was trying to do was give them some perspective on the disasters they were obsessing over.

Isaiah goes on to say this about the child who was to be born: “He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.” That is just a fancy way of saying that the child will grow up and by the time he gets to a certain age, the threat they’re all worried about will have disappeared.

Perspective on Troubling Events

What that means in terms that we might understand today is that Denny is going to grow up. Before long he will begin to walk and talk and try different foods and do all kinds of things. It will go by so fast. And when he does grow up all the things and people and political leaders we are so worried about right now will be gone.

This is a truth that I have observed repeatedly throughout my life. There are always things to be anxious about. This is true in our personal lives, in the church and on the world political stage. But the things that we get hung up over almost never turn out as we fear.

Yes, they may turn out differently and still be bad. And once the present threats have disappeared, no doubt something new will come along. I’m not promising that everything’s going to go great. But what I’m saying is, let’s not waste any energy fearing specific scenarios that we can't do anything about and that might never come to pass. Denny is a promise that the world will change in unexpected ways and sooner than we think. There is comfort in realizing that.

A Sign of God’s Salvation

But, more than anything else, I believe that Denny is a message to us today that God is with us. God is reaching out to save us, and we have baptized him because we believe that God has anointed him to do that for us.

I’m going to speak directly to Denny here, if you don’t mind. You’re welcome to listen in. I know he may not remember what I say, but I’m going to give him a copy of my words so that he can keep them.

Denny, we have baptized you here today because we believe that there is incredible potential in you to bring hope and life and new beginnings to our world so that the whole world may know that God is with us.

Unlimited Potential

I do not know how you will do that. We celebrate newborns because we know that their potential is unlimited. That is true of every child, but I hope you don’t mind if I say that my expectations are particularly high for you.

For one thing, look at this incredible family you have been born into. I know you don’t know this yet, but your mother is not just the person who gave you life, she is a brilliant scientist and public health doctor who is working to protect the people of Hamilton Region (and we who live nearby too) from the spread of devastating diseases. She is the kind of hero that we need these days, and I believe that her role is only going on get more crucial.

And as for your father, he is not just your hero. He is a dedicated educator who is doing his best to prepare our young people for some of the significant challenges that we know they will face in the years to come. Where would we be without people like him?

So, if you were to follow in the footsteps of either of your parents, you would definitely be a sign of God’s presence among us. But the amazing thing is that you don’t even have to do either of those things. You can take all the gifts and abilities and wisdom they share with you and set your own course.

An Act of Faith

We have baptised you today as an act of faith that, whatever course you eventually take, it is going to be amazing. We’ll all be looking forward to seeing what you do, and we have all promised – and especially the people of Knox Crieff have promised – that we will do whatever we can to encourage and support that amazing outcome.

And Denny, your great gift to us today is that you have allowed us to be part of the beginning of the amazing journey that lies before you. Thank you, and all thanks be to God!

Watch sermon video here:

https://youtu.be/z2LaO05L2nM

Doon, July 13, 2025 © Scott McAndless – Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
Acts 27:13-14, 18-38, Psalm 25:1-10, Colossians 1:1-14, Luke 10:25-37

The sailors have been fighting a ceaseless battle against the wind and the waves for two full weeks. Caught in a storm of change, they have been unable to escape the power of its winds that have driven them at an unrelenting pace. And the crisis that the church is facing is so dire that they have worked themselves into utter exhaustion. They have not even been able to eat properly, and the lack of sustenance has caused them to become mean and irritable with one another.

They have also been making hard choices. They have had to do whatever they can just to keep the church afloat. They’ve already had to sacrifice the ship’s tackle and gear, those items that are supposed to be used to give the ship purpose and direction. They have had to throw these things overboard, sacrificing it all just in order to gain a little bit more buoyancy so that the ship does not go under.

And, after fourteen days of this, of course they are all feeling discouraged and fearful for the survival of their “boat.” They may just feel ready to give up altogether. That is where we find ourselves in our reading this morning from the Book of Acts.

Heavy-Handed Metaphor

And I know I what you’re thinking. “Okay, Scott, we get it. You don’t need to hit us over the head with such a heavy-handed metaphor. The ship is a traditional symbol of the church. The storm represents the tumultuous times of change that we are living through. The tackle thrown overboard is our vision which gets dumped when we’re afraid for our survival. And we are the poor overworked sailors who are getting irritable because we are spiritually malnourished. We get it! But do you really have to read our specific situation into every story you find in the Bible?”

Ah, but you don’t understand me. It is not me who is putting the struggles we are facing into this story, I am convinced that the author of this passage has given us no choice but to take this story and apply it directly to the life of the church, and that is because of what happens on the fourteenth day.

The Eye of the Storm

On the fourteenth day of the storm, there is a sudden break in the weather. The storm clouds have not disappeared. They still surround them on every horizon, dark and menacing. But, for a few moments, the sky directly overhead clears, the winds slack off a bit, and people get a few moments to breathe.

It makes me wonder whether they may have actually been caught in a hurricane and have just come into the eye of the storm, which may seem like a place of safety. But any experienced sailor knows that it is not. But whatever has caused this, it is a moment of much-needed calm.

And during this calm, something extraordinary happens. A man steps forward. As he stands before them, one pure ray of sunlight breaks through the clouds and falls directly on his bald head. The entire crew looks toward him in surprise and wonder. And he speaks to them words of comfort and encouragement – words of life when all that surrounds them is death.

Shipboard Communion?

And then he takes a loaf of bread and, giving thanks to God, he lifts it up and breaks it before them. And he eats a mouthful as they watch. And then, one by one, the sailors and the passengers on the boat come forward, and they take a piece of bread and eat and find comfort and strength.

Oh come on! Are you trying to tell me that we are not supposed to recognize what just happened as a church service? We just had a sermon and communion! At the time that this Book of Acts was written, the earliest rituals of worship and communion were already established. The first readers would have immediately recognized it, and so should we.

And so, there is no question in my mind that the writer of the Book of Acts (traditionally called Luke) intentionally told this story in order to say something about the challenges facing the church in his own day. And if it spoke to the challenges that the early church faced, it surely speaks to the challenges that we face.

Our Present Storm

It is not hard to compare the situation of the church today to a storm. The winds of change that are whipping around all of our churches are many, and they are blowing strong. There are societal shifts and demographic shifts. We are facing a crisis in clergy leadership – both in terms of finding them and in terms of paying them. And I’m sure we could go on.

Let’s be clear here – this is not new. The church has been in the storm many times before in its long history. As I say, the author of the Acts presents this story as being about the church in his day, but it has happened again and again.

Every storm is different, and each brings its unique challenges, but the messages and the promises that speak to Paul’s storm continue to speak to the church just as clearly as we face our contemporary storm.

Not a Boat Full of Christians

So, what are the messages to the church that we need to pay attention to in this story today? I’m going to start with the one that people might want to point to to say that this story is not actually about the church. There is the simple fact that the boat in this story is actually not full of Christians.

Paul is on this ship because he is a prisoner who is being transferred to Rome. It is never explicitly said, but it does seem like he has a few companions with him. One of them is even telling the story using the first-person plural – “we” did this and this happened to “us.” But there is no explanation for why Paul would have been allowed to bring friends with him, and it really doesn’t make much sense that he would have.

But clearly, even if there are a few Christians, everyone else on the ship is a pagan. There are soldiers, other prisoners, sailors and other people who have bought passage. So, when everyone gathers on the deck of the ship in the eye of the storm, this can’t be a church gathering, can it?

For Whom the Church Exists

Well, of course it can! This is one of the most powerful misconceptions that we have about the church. We assume that the church exists for the sake of Christians. But it doesn't. The church exists for the sake of those who are not part of it, or, at the very least, for those who are not yet part of it.

And as Paul took that loaf of bread and broke it, he did not do it only to feed his companions. He knew that their small presence on the ship would mean nothing unless it also brought strength, hope and meaning to the lives of everyone on board.

Paul and his few companions are therefore a metaphor for how a small church can have a big impact on the whole society. And that continues to be the mission of the church to the whole world, even if we are in the midst of a storm.

Paul’s Leadership

Another odd thing about this whole story is the important role that Paul plays. He is only a prisoner and should have no status on the ship. And yet again and again throughout this story, we see him taking on a leadership role. He gives opinions about when and where to sail. He tells the captain and the centurion what to do at various points. And, of course, he even gathers the entire ship’s complement to address them.

This all makes little sense from an historical perspective, of course. Why would a prisoner be given any sort of status in that situation? But again, I think there is a message in that for us in the church today.

Finding Relevance Today

There was a time – and many of us remember it – when the church was given automatic respect and deference in our society. But today, thanks to numerous church scandals in most denominations and the spiritual diversity of society, we no longer get that. And we often conclude, because of that, that we are now irrelevant and can have no impact on society.

But Paul’s importance on that ship, despite having no status or position, is a message for the church today. If we, like Paul, can dare to stand up and speak in words of hope and purpose into situations where people are lost and despairing, we will earn that relevance and voice that is no longer given to us automatically.

Irrational Sailors

During the storm, there is an odd incident where Paul particularly steps up in leadership. “The sailors tried to escape from the ship and had lowered the boat into the sea on the pretext of putting out anchors from the bow,” it says.

And this, many readers have noticed, really makes no sense at all. The sailors are not acting rationally. If the bigger ship is in danger of sinking or capsizing in the storm, there is absolutely no way that even the most experienced sailor is going to survive in a rowboat.

Importance of Working Together

It makes no sense, therefore, that the sailors would have done that, but that is exactly the kind of nonsensical thinking that we fall into far too easily in the church these days. As soon as the waters get rough, we start to think only about our own little lifeboat. We huddle in together and concentrate on bailing. We even make the ridiculous assumption that, if we just let all the other lifeboats go down, ours will become miraculously more buoyant.

But it just doesn’t work like that when you’re caught in the storm. As Paul insists, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” If we stay isolated in our own lifeboats, the storm will overtake us. But Paul speaks to offer us hope. If we all work together, we will be able to thrive.

I Told You So

There is one particular thing that we need to understand about the hope that Paul offers to us today, though. He is very specific about it. At another point, he addresses the ship’s company to explain exactly what God is committed to preserving.

“Men,” he proclaims, “you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and thereby avoided this damage and loss.” Yes, Paul actually got up and said, “I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so.” And we usually say things like that to make ourselves feel good and to put other people down.

No Loss of Life

But Paul actually says this for very different reason. He is about to give them good and hopeful news. “I urge you now to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you.” But he also wants them to understand that this salvation is not because they have done the right thing. They have made the wrong decision again and again. But he is telling them that God will save them anyway.

And God will save us. We may make the wrong decisions in our churches. We may foolishly act in self-centred and self-serving ways. We may let our pride or fear guide us rather than our trust and our faith. But God is faithful. God is committed to you and you and you as believers and will not fail you. God is committed to us as the church, the body of Christ. God will save you and not just in the next life but in this one.

But Only of the Ship

But – and yes, Paul adds a but. “There will be no loss of life among you,” he continues, “but only of the ship.” And I will leave it to you to reflect on what the ship represents in our present context. As the story continues, what Paul predicts comes true as various parts of the ship – the tackle and ropes, the lifeboats, its precious cargo of grain – are jettisoned one by one. Finally, the ship itself is broken apart when it runs aground at Malta.

What might we have to jettison in the present storm – what traditions, independence, how many “we’ve always done it that ways” will have to go overboard? I don’t know. But we will have to remain open to all of that. And will some or even all of our physical structures be broken up on the reefs of the Island of Malta? I cannot say.

All of what may come may be traumatic, but do not doubt for one minute God’s promises to you – both to you individually, but also to you as the church, the gathered people of God. If you trust in midst of the storm, not one of you will perish.

An Invitation to Hope

Once all those pagans on that ship had eaten the broken bread with Paul, they found the courage to hope and to do what needed to be done. “After they had satisfied their hunger, they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea.”

And so, I invite you now. I found this bread in the hold of the ship downstairs this morning. The storm has been raging, and you have been in suspense and lacking sufficient spiritual nourishment for some time now. Therefore, I urge you to take some food, for it will help you survive, for none of you will lose a hair from your heads. Thanks be to God who will always provide what we need most.

Watch sermon video here:

https://youtu.be/YG1EjXrVe6E

Hespeler June 29, 2025 © Scott McAndless – Third Sunday after Pentecost
1 Kings 19:15-21, Psalm 16, Galatians 5:1, 13-25, Luke 9:51-62

Of all the time management tools that I have ever tried, the one that I can never quite get a handle on is the to-do list. The time management gurus will tell you that this is the great tool, the tool that will set you free. You just create a list of all the things that you have to get done, breaking them up into the smallest steps, and you put one of those infernal check boxes to the side of each one.

It’s motivational, they say. Every time you finish one small task you get to check off the box and you feel this little endorphin boost and it makes you feel like you have the energy you need to tackle the next one.

Don’t Work for Me

It doesn’t really work for me. When I make the list, I am much more likely to feel overwhelmed than motivated. It reminds me more of what I haven’t done than it makes me think of what I could do. And making and maintaining the list itself just feels to me as if I am adding another task to the ones that I already have too many of.

But that is just me. Maybe they do work better for you; in fact, I hope that they do. But as one of the to-do list challenged people of this world, I am just glad to know, in our reading from 1 Kings this morning, that I am not alone.

Elijah’s Crisis

Last week we read the story of how the Prophet Elijah went through a major crisis. In a moment of great emergency and danger he performed one of the most amazing feats of running away in the history of running away. He ran away from Queen Jezebel who had threatened his life and he ran all the way from Samaria to Mount Horeb. That is an incredible distance of over 600 km. It would normally take someone walking at a reasonable pace about 18 days.

He was running because he didn’t know how to respond to the crisis. He went to Mount Horeb, that place where God had appeared to Moses, because he clearly wanted God to tell him what to do. And, in our reading this morning, God actually does that. God appears to Elijah in the midst of the sound of sheer silence and gives him a to-do list.

Short List

The list is mercifully short. There are only three check boxes. He is to anoint Hazael as king over Aram, anoint Jehu as king over Israel and anoint Elisha as prophet in his own place. And that really seems like a wonderful thing that God does for Elijah, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t you love to receive a clear and concise list like that directly from God? Wouldn’t you love to know with absolute clarity what you needed to do in order to obey God?

But here is the thing that has always puzzled me about this story. Of those three simple tasks, the Bible tells us that Elijah only ticked off one to-do box. We read the story this morning of how he called Elisha to be his disciple. He didn’t literally anoint him with oil, but he definitely called him. So the final item is checked off the list.

The Other Two Items

But what about the other two? Well, that is quite the story. You see in both of those cases, the person to be anointed was someone serving a ruling king as a subordinate. They were not the heirs. They hadn’t been chosen to succeed the previous king. In both cases they killed the ruling monarch. So, what God is telling Elijah to do is engineer a coup by telling these men that they can become kings of their countries.

God is telling Elijah to meddle in the politics of two nations – his own and its biggest neighbour. What’s more, he is being told to do it in the most disruptive and destructive way imaginable. This will lead to endless death and violence, as God admits by summing up, “Whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall kill, and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill.”

Engineering Coups

Can you imagine such a thing today? Can you imagine one country deciding to bomb another in order to bring about regime change? Even worse, can you imagine a Canadian Christian clergy person going to Federal Cabinet Minister Chrystia Freeland and telling her that, if she were to mount a violent coup to take out Prime Minister Carney, that God would be with her and she would succeed? Can you imagine that preacher then going to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and telling him to do the same thing to Trump?

Of course not! That would be madness! That would be seen as an unacceptable intrusion of religion into politics. And it is a disturbing reflection of the deeply troubling times that we are living in that I actually wouldn’t be surprised if we did see something like that happen (at least in the U.S) before the end of this year?

Disturbing Idea

But that is the disturbing idea that is raised in this story – this idea of people of faith intervening in the world of politics and not even to try to make things better. God is not asking Elijah to advocate for laws and politicians that he supports – that would be one thing and not necessarily a bad thing if done appropriately.

No, this is about people of faith intervening in order to stir things up and cause violence and chaos. This is about disrupting the entire system in the hope that maybe, once the dust settles, there might be a chance of building a better system from the ground up.

Modern Like-Minded People

And yet, even as I say that, I realize that there are at least some Christians in our world today who are rooting for exactly that. They are hoping that the latest troubles in the Middle East or Iran or on the streets of Los Angeles blow up into World War III so that the world comes to an end and Jesus can return. And, once again, it is a symptom of the times that we are living in that that seems somewhat possible these days.

In any case, that is what is at stake in the to-do list that God gives to Elijah. And if Elijah were to have followed through on two of those bullet points, I think I would be troubled by that. I would wonder how we are supposed to apply that to our modern Christian lives and particularly what it would say about how we are to live as people of faith in such troubling political times.

He Didn’t Do It

But, as I say, Elijah didn’t do it. We know that he didn’t do it because we are told, later on in the Second Book of Kings, that other people engineered those coups, and they did so after Elijah was gone. Jehu was anointed by an unnamed prophet sent by Elisha in the ninth chapter of 2 Kings. (9:1-13) And Elisha himself provoked Hazael to rebel against his master in the eighth chapter. (2 Kings 8:7-15)

And you may say, “Big deal. So what if Elijah didn’t do the anointing himself and it didn’t happen for a while. It still happened, which means that God is still in control. Who cares if there is a little glitch in the text and that Elijah doesn’t complete his to-do list?”

A Message for Us

Well, I care. As I have said many times, I don’t believe in glitches in the text. Sure, sometimes there may be contradictions and plot holes and historical errors, but I have accepted that this is a book inspired by God, which means that I have to struggle with all of those things and try to find the message in those things for us.

And I think there is a message for us in Elijah’s to-do list failure, and it is a message that is particularly helpful for these tumultuous times in which we find ourselves.

For one thing, anyway, I’ve got to admit that I really appreciate Elijah’s hesitancy to wade into such disruptive political acts. There is a long history of the Christian faith that has demonstrated again and again that some very terrible things can result when that line between politics and religion is breached.

Many of the worst abuses of power, the massacres and the atrocities that nations have carried out in their history have occurred when political leaders took their cue from religious leaders. I think we should definitely hesitate to open the door to such possibilities again. And yet, there is always the question of how to balance that hesitancy against the demands of living faithfully.

Declaration of Faith Concerning Church and Nation

It was 76 years ago that the Presbyterian Church in Canada wrestled with this problem. At that time, the church produced a document called the Declaration of Faith Concerning Church and Nation. (Click to download)

This was produced at a time when our denomination still had a fair bit of political influence in this country. At that very moment, we were enthusiastically participating in the government program of Residential Schools for indigenous children – something that the church saw as greatly benefiting itself at the expense, as we have since been made abundantly aware, of the welfare of the indigenous nations and people.

Wise Counsel

And yet, this document wisely counselled that the church must approach such things with care. “Christians must always do their utmost to honour the civil laws, and to fulfil all statutory obligations whether financial or personal, as unto Christ the Head. Nevertheless, no citizen is thereby relieved of his constant responsibility to work for the remedy of any unjust statute, or iniquitous assessment, or violation of conscience.”

That statement is still considered to be so important that, when ministers and elders are ordained, we accept this document as one of our standards. And I do not think we should forget it because it can be so hard to sort out that tension between supporting the state and advocating for what is right and just within the state.

And so, yes, let us continue to hesitate to jump on in, let us always be ready to give sober and careful thought as this document shows us. I have actually printed a few copies of the document. It isn’t long and you should read it if you haven’t.

Disruption

So, I do appreciate Elijah’s hesitance. Of course, none of that ultimately stops the kind of disruption that God seems to be calling for from occurring. The men did eventually get anointed with all of the negative and violent consequences that came with that. I see a message in that as well.

The reality of this world seems to be that these kinds of disruptions do occur. We may do everything that we can to make sure that we set up good and just systems. But no political system is perfect.

Cracks will begin to form sooner or later, especially when there are big disparities in wealth and power in a society. Those who have a lot tend to create rules that will get them even more while those who have not increasingly feel that they can no longer succeed without breaking the rules.

Tumultuous Times

One way or another, whatever order is created in this world will break down sooner or later. And I don’t necessarily want to be the one making predictions here, but it does seem that we are moving into such a time. And I think that God giving these disruptive to-dos to Elijah, even if Elijah himself does not follow through on them, is a way of saying that we cannot completely avoid this kind of turmoil in life.

Yes, let’s do whatever we can to find other ways to bring about positive change. But also take comfort from knowing that, even in the major disruptions that sometimes erupt in this world, God can be at work.

In the end, Elijah is put in a difficult spot when he encounters God at Mount Horeb. God seems to be saying that they are coming to a moment when the only way of acting is in this disruptive political way. I am glad that Elijah hesitates to do that. I hesitate too.

But let us also take some wisdom from the to-do that Elijah actually follows through on. He calls Elisha as his disciple. He chooses, in other words, to enter into partnership and community. He finds someone who he can support and who can support him. That creation of solidarity is always the right thing to do. And if we can build our coalitions of those who are committed to God’s justice in this often-unjust world, we will be well placed, no matter what difficult times may come.

Watch sermon video here:

https://youtu.be/b92O_AjCZDU

Hespeler, June 22, 2025 © Scott McAndless – Second Sunday after Pentecost
1 Kings 19:1-15, Psalm 42, Galatians 3:23-29, Luke 8:26-39

How would you react in an emergency situation? Would you know what to do when the alarms went off? For some strange reason, one that I can’t quite put my finger on, that was a question that was very much on my mind as I prepared for this morning’s service. It is an important question. Emergencies are situations that naturally provoke confusion, panic and fear. When those sorts of emotions are in play, it can be very easy to react in the wrong way.

And that can be a big problem because emergencies, by definition, happen when you don’t expect them. Why, one could even break out amid a Sunday morning worship service. And that is, of course, why we sometimes carry out drills so that people can work out how they will react before the emergency occurs. But the reality is that we may never know how we will react until we find ourselves in the actual situation.

Elijah’s Emergency

The prophet Elijah had been feeling pretty good about his accomplishments lately. He had engineered a confrontation with the prophets of the god Baal, and he had beaten them at their own game. He had pressed his advantage and led the people as they attacked and slaughtered the priests of the foreign god.

But his good mood was suddenly destroyed when a messenger arrived from Queen Jezebel, who was a patron of the god. It was short and to the point. “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.”

As you can imagine, that set off immediate alarm bells in Elijah’s head. Honestly, he shouldn’t have been surprised. He had been the first to resort to violence. It shouldn’t have been unexpected that violence might be turned back against him. But there is a great difference between thinking that there might be some consequence and having that consequence suddenly spelled out for you in such stark terms. This was not a drill!

Elijah Chooses Flight

And how did Elijah react? Not particularly well. He was filled with confusion, fear and panic. These emotions immediately triggered that part of his brain that makes us react to danger with either fight or flight. And which option did Elijah take? “Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there.” And let’s recognize that reaction for what it is. Not only did Elijah run away, he fled the country. Beer-sheba is about as far as you can go from the Kingdom of Israel without leaving civilization altogether. And, of course, he was not yet finished running.

Now, let’s be clear here. Flight is absolutely an appropriate response to a dangerous situation. It is often the best thing to do. When the building is on fire, yes, you should get out. But how you do that is also important. Unhelpful reactions like panic and disorderliness can make the whole situation worse. The worst outcomes often take place because people do not flee the scene in an orderly and calm manner.

So, let us not judge Elijah for running away. But let’s take a critical look at how he ran because we might well learn something that will help us to deal with the crises and emergencies that we encounter in our lives.

Isolation

Here is the first thing I notice about how he responded that is often problematic for us as well. “But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree.” Here we see Elijah isolating himself, and how many times have you seen people respond like that when things go wrong?

For many people, their automatic response when anything happens that makes them feel vulnerable is to cut themselves off from anyone who might give them support or help. They are afraid, perhaps, that other people might see them struggling, that they might appear to be something other than self-sufficient. The very idea that they might need help from somebody else seems even more intolerable than anything else in the situation.

Depression

I understand where the temptation comes from, of course, but it only makes a bad situation worse. We human beings were made to live together in community. We were made to need each other. And you only make things worse when you isolate yourself because things have gone wrong.

Not surprisingly, therefore, when Elijah isolated himself, things immediately began to spiral for him. He fell into a deep depression. “He asked that he might die, ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.’”

And, yes, depression is always a danger when we go through difficult times. But I think that there is also a lesson for us in how he handles his situational depression. Sometimes we may be tempted to bottle up all of those negative feelings inside – to hide them from others, from God or even from ourselves. We think that not expressing it all is a way of being strong and faithful. But that is a big mistake.

Learning to Lament

Holding it in can make it rot and fester, and that is what makes those feelings toxic. That is what can turn situational depression into endless cycles of inescapable depression. And so, take note of how Elijah let his feelings out. He didn’t hesitate to express them to God.

And I know some who struggle with that. They think that expressing their gripes to God means that they have lost all faith.

If you ever think that, remember the example of Elijah. Remember the example of the psalmist who wrote that incredible psalm of lament that we read together this morning. Do not be afraid to express your negative emotions to God. God will always appreciate your honesty. What’s more, God’s feelings are far from fragile enough that you could hurt them with a genuine display of your emotions.

Where is God?

Now, we finally come to the biggest question of all that people face when things go wrong in this world. Where is God in the middle of the disaster? I constantly talk with people who ask why God allowed this disaster to happen or that disaster to take place. They seem to think that, if they can only find some divine meaning or purpose in it, everything will be all right.

But, as Elijah’s story of emergency preparedness continues, I think we might get a different perspective on that obsession. He continued his journey of escape and finally came to a mountain called Horeb. This is a very significant location, of course, because it is the very place where Moses met with God and received the Law. It is also known, in some of the accounts, as Mount Sinai.

So, the prophet had come to the ideal place to answer the question of where God is in the midst of all the terrible events and disasters of life. But let us see how God answered his question. God told Elijah that he was about to pass by him, that he was to stand out on this mountain of God, and he would finally understand.

Three Disasters

And what happened next is crazy. While Elijah stood there, three of the worst disasters that you can imagine passed by. First, he was assailed by a gale-force wind – the kind of wind that destroys whole cities in tornadoes and hurricanes. Next, there was an earthquake, which can be even more destructive. Finally, there was a fire, an emergency so devastating that we actually run drills to prepare for one, all while we fervently hope that we never have to actually deal with one.

So we have the three most stereotypical disasters that you could imagine. Surely we will now get the answer to the question, where is God when disaster strikes? Except that’s not quite the answer that we get, is it? Was God in the wind? No. Was God in the earthquake? No. Was God in the Fire? No! In each case, we are told that God was not.

Now, there are some things that we shouldn’t read into that. That does not mean that God is absent when we are going through trials. For one thing, we believe in an omnipresent God – that there is no place in this world where God is not. It also doesn’t mean that God is not there with us when we go through difficult times. On the contrary, people of faith often find that it is at such times that God actually joins us in our suffering, comforting and sustaining us when things are at their worst.

No Answers

No, what I think this story is saying is that we may not always find an answer to that perplexing question of why from God in the midst of the wind, the earthquake or the fire. In fact, we may never get that answer that we often crave. That doesn’t mean there is no answer or that God doesn’t have a plan; it just means that such an answer may not be given to us.

And I think that God is telling Elijah and us that that is okay. Not knowing the answer is okay. The wind, the earthquake and the fire may not give you any sort of answer when you are in the midst of them. After all, disasters often overwhelm us so completely that all we can do is react. There may not even be time to think, much less come to a deeper understanding of why bad things happen.

You may not find God amidst the disaster. That doesn’t mean God isn’t there, and the story of Elijah shows us how we can become aware of that presence.

In the Silence

Where, then, did Elijah encounter God if not in the wind, earthquake or fire? “And after the fire [there came] a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.” And it quickly becomes clear that it is in that silence that God met with Elijah.

And there is certainly a message for you in that – a lesson on how to navigate the disasters of life: you will find God in the silence. And that doesn’t just mean that, after the storm has passed, you will be able to look back on it and discover what lessons you were meant to learn from it or what new strength you have gained by surviving it, though that certainly does happen sometimes.

But silence, you see, isn’t just something that sometimes happens to you. It is a practice that you can cultivate in yourself and that you can bring with you into any circumstance – even into the wind, earthquake and fire. By cultivating silence, through practices like prayer, meditation and contemplation, you can make it possible for the voice of God – which is always present, which is always seeking to lift you up and walk with you through the wind, earthquake and fire – to break through to you and you will know he is there.

Learning From All of This

As a result of our little drill here today, I do hope you will leave with a better understanding of what you ought to do should an emergency ever arise in a setting such as this. That is some pretty good, useful information to take away with you.

But perhaps the story of Elijah and how he came to terms with his “not-a-drill” situation can do even more to set your heart at ease. This story teaches us how our ongoing relationship with God equips us with resilience to face the ups and downs and challenges that do unexpectedly come into our lives from time to time.

And may you also resolve – each one of you – to build silence into your lives. It is something that everyone can do. Learn about mediation techniques, which are indeed ancient Christian practices. Make a point of finding times to turn off the noise in your life and your brain, which never stops. You might be surprised to discover just how near God has been all along.

Watch Sermon Video Here:

https://youtu.be/I5FcdNdoM3U

Hespeler, June 15, 2025 © Scott McAndless – Trinity Sunday
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31, Psalm 8, Romans 5:1-5, John 16:12-15

Jesus had a very particular way of talking about God. His favourite way to refer to God was to call God Father. He was hardly the first person to speak of God that way, but there was something special about the way he used the word. It was central to his teaching about God. Why else would he so specifically teach his disciples to pray saying, “Our Father,” you know, the one who “art in heaven”?

The word should not be taken literally. Like all language about God, it is a metaphor. Everybody understood that Jesus wasn’t literally saying that God was the biological father of every human being. Nor was he saying anything about God’s gender or genitalia. He was saying that the experience of God can be like the experience you might have with a human father.

Humanity of Jesus

Christian doctrine teaches many things about Jesus. One of the things that it teaches is that he was fully divine. It also teaches that he was fully human and leaves us to sort out the mystery of how both of those things could be true.

Father is an utterly human metaphor. Most every human being who has lived has had an experience of father. And yes, in some cases those may have been bad experiences or simply the experience of the absence of a father, but it is one common experience that we all share. The word means something to all of us.

Deeply Personal

But it is a deeply personal meaning. When I use the word father, it is associated all kinds of memories, emotions and experiences that I had of my own father. When you say it, it may be based on a whole different set of experiences. Since no human father is perfect, those experiences tend to be a mix of both positive and negative.

When I call God Father, I know that I have an image of God that has been affected by my experience of my father. And I do have an overall positive view of God, which I know has a lot to do with the fact that I had a good dad. In many ways, that experience has influenced my view of God more than any theological concepts or scriptural interpretations I may believe in.

Jesus Had a Father

And that made me think. If the metaphor of Father was so central to Jesus’ view of God, what were the very human experiences that gave meaning to that human metaphor for him? Jesus had a father. And I know that the nativity stories insist that Joseph wasn’t his biological father, but that doesn’t matter. Anyone who has had a beloved stepfather or someone else who has stepped into that key role in their life knows very well that biology is not always what makes someone a father.

And so, how could Jesus, fully human as he was, not give a thought to Joseph and what Joseph had done for him every time he spoke of God as Father? More than theology, Jesus’ thoughts about his heavenly Father had to be deeply connected to his human experience of Joseph.

And so, I was thinking. What was it about Joseph and his relationship to his extraordinary son that contributed to Jesus’ understanding of his God? What attributes of Joseph did Jesus associate with his God? And what was he trying to communicate to his followers with that word?

The Little We Know

We are told very little about Jesus’ relationship with Joseph. In fact, Joseph is nowhere present in the gospels apart from the nativity stories. He is not even named in the Gospel of Mark.

Here is what we do know. We are told that Joseph was a carpenter, that he lived in Nazareth of Galilee, and that he had a heritage down in Bethlehem in Judea.

And we should probably not think of that word carpenter like we might think of a professional craftsperson. If Joseph was a refugee from Judea living in a tiny place like Nazareth, he wouldn’t have had a carpenter’s shop. Chances are that he was working as a day labourer on construction sites and he probably had to travel to get that work. So, we really don’t know much. But I think there is a story there.

First Memories

Jesus' very first memory of his father was him leaving. Joseph would go far away for work. He would often leave at first light on Sunday mornings and Jesus’ mother would get him up and dressed so that he could say goodbye. He would always hold his father so tight, almost as if he was hoping that if he could hold him tight enough, he wouldn’t have to go.

And when he was old enough, Jesus remembered putting his feelings into words and asking Joseph why he had to go. And Joseph got right down on his knees in front of his son and spoke to him as an equal.

“Your Abba has important work to do,” he said.

“You mean,” Jesus wanted to know, “you have to build important palaces and walls for the king in the big city?”

“Well, not really,” Joseph smiled. “I mean, sure, I do get some work on some of the king’s worksites, but his plans for his big, beautiful city are not what are important to me. I go because it is the only way that I know how to earn enough money to make sure that you and your mother and your little brothers and sisters have what you need to live. You are my important work.”

A Greatly Anticipated Return

Joseph would go, often for four or five days at a time, and Jesus would wait impatiently for his return. As the days went by, he would stare more frequently towards the distant city, hoping to see Joseph trudging towards home.

When he would spy him coming, he would immediately drop whatever he was doing and run towards him shrieking with delight. He would never forget the smell of his weary father coming home – a mixture of sweat and sawdust and several layers of dirt and grime on his skin. It was the most beautiful smell in all the world.

And, though Joseph always came home exhausted, he would still take the time to sit with Jesus and tell him stories of everything that had happened while he was gone. Jesus would listen in rapt attention. From his childhood, he always loved stories.

Jesus Joins in the Work

As Jesus grew, the day came when he was finally old enough to join his father in the work. He was still young – no hair had yet sprouted on his chin – but he knew that anything he could do to contribute to the household would make a big difference for the growing family.

He had heard his father’s stories so many times that nothing that happened on his first trip to the city really surprised him. But it was still quite different to experience it himself. They arrived early in the morning and went to the marketplace to sit and wait for someone to come and hire workers for the day.

They would come in dressed in their good robes – architects and master builders, masons and quartermasters – and they would call out how many people they were looking for to work on their sites for that day. The men would line up to be inspected with a critical eye.

At first, as you can imagine, they hesitated to hire Jesus. Too young, too small. Joseph had to insist at first that he would not go to any worksite without his son. And that usually persuaded them, for everyone knew that Joseph was a good worker.

Jesus spent many days working alongside his father. They were always golden days when he remembered them, even though the work was exhausting and the hours long. His father taught him everything from the use of simple tools to the most efficient ways of shifting heavy boulders and piles of wood.

When Work was Scarce

That was how their life went for years. Always on the move, going wherever the work was to be found. Sometimes, for several days at a time, there was no work to be had. Those were hard times and Jesus, a young and growing boy, might have grumbled at being hungry, but his father encouraged him, “Ask, and it will be given to you;” son, “search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.” (Matthew 7:7)

And he meant it literally. They would pray and ask God for what they needed. They would also not hesitate to ask for hospitality or to knock on a door they were passing. Jesus was constantly amazed how kind and generous people could be, even when they did not have much themselves.

And, of course, Joseph also demonstrated an equal willingness to share. Whenever he had anything to spare, he would give to anyone who asked of him and do it joyfully. Of all the lessons that Jesus learned from his father, that was the one that drove deepest into his soul.

The Dynamic Changes

As time went by, the dynamic changed between the two of them. Jesus grew bigger and stronger and was more likely to be picked first when people were hiring. Meanwhile, Joseph grew slower. He was not old, at least not by our standards, but he had been wounded so many times in the work by falling stones and bad hammer blows that he bore many scars. The knuckles on his fingers had swollen and were slow to move and often caused him much pain.

But he was still a valued worker. His years of experience outweighed the limitations to his strength. The master masons who supervised the work never would have admitted it, but they often deferred to him when it came to judging whether a foundation was well laid or a structure stable enough. And so, Jesus continued to learn from his father about the importance of solid foundations and building well.

Work Shifts to Tiberias

As the years went by, King Herod Antipas stopped his building projects in Sepphoris to build a new city called Tiberias on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. That meant that the labourers who lived in Nazareth, much closer to Sepphoris, had to travel further and be away longer than ever.

Joseph and his son didn’t have any choice – to Tiberias they went. Once they stayed there for ten straight days, pausing only from their work on the Sabbath. Towards the end, everyone had been working so hard for so many days, that they were all getting reckless and cutting corners.

The Disaster

Joseph noticed the flaw in the wall before anyone else did. And when Jesus heard his warning, he knew well enough not to hesitate. He dropped his tools and stepped back immediately, calling on the others around him to do likewise.

One young man was new to the work. He did not recognize the urgency or the wisdom in the old man’s voice. He continued with the task he had been given, fearful, perhaps, that he might not be paid for the day if he didn’t finish it.

It had been many years since Jesus had seen his father move so fast. He grasped the straggler and, with a strength that he had almost forgotten he once had, he bodily flung the young man out of the danger zone.

Unfortunately, having accomplished such a thing, Joseph had no reserves of strength or speed left to get himself to safety.

A Father’s Final Words

When they finally dug him out of the debris, Joseph was still breathing, but everyone understood that it would not be for long. As his son took his hand, Joseph used his final breaths to set Jesus on a course that would change history. He made him promise that he would not spend the rest of his life travelling from job to job, only to earn enough to get by.

“There is something special about you,” he gasped between ragged breaths. “I have always known it. You have been sent to announce a different kind of kingdom than the one that Herod is trying to build up. You must turn your heart fully to that work now.”

The Beginning

Jesus returned his father’s body to Nazareth. There he mourned him together with his mother and his brothers. But once the time of mourning was over, he headed out to the far side of the Jordan where he had heard a man named John was baptizing people.

But he never forgot his father. When, sometime later, he heard of a tower that collapsed in Siloam, killing eighteen (Luke 13:4-5), he remembered holding his dying father in his arms as if it had only just happened. Surely when he taught his followers that you should never blame the victims of such disasters for what happened to them – that they were no more worthy of destruction than anyone else – a few tears must have formed in his eyes.

A Loaded Term

When Jesus taught us to pray and say “Father,” he knew he was using a loaded term – that it came with all of the baggage that came with the role and expectations that were put upon a father in early first century Galilee. But surely it also carried a lot of personal baggage and many happy memories of a man who had played a role in making Jesus the man he became, at least in human terms.

I am very thankful for the positive view of God that I gained from my dealings with my father. I am sure that Jesus, whose essential humanity is central to Christian doctrine, would have said the same.

I know that word “father” is an emotionally loaded term for each one of us. I would encourage all of you to consider all of the ways in which all of that emotional baggage – good, bad or indifferent – has influenced your idea of God. But do not forget, our human experience of human fathers can never define or limit who God is.

https://youtu.be/L9gpAZ3RGdM

Achsah & Othniel: Springs for the Negeb

Hespeler, June 8, 2025 © Scott McAndless – Day of Pentecost
Joshua 15:13-19, Acts 2:1-21, Psalm 104:24-34, 35b, John 14:8-17, 25-27

Two weeks ago, we began our discussions about our new identity, and you were introduced to two people that I call Ancient Israel’s first power couple, Achsah and Othniel. I told you that we needed to know about them because we are like them.

We are like them in our amalgamation, I said, because we too have come together in a somewhat rushed arranged marriage. But we are also like them in that God used them as a power couple to lead the people of God into a new era in a strange new land. That is absolutely what God is calling us to do right now.

Not So Obscure

And admit it, some of you wondered why I came up with these two biblical characters. Out of all the amazing characters in the Bible that everyone has heard of before, and people actually even know how to pronounce their names, why did I have to talk about this obscure couple?

But guess what, they are really not as obscure as you think. Two weeks ago, we read two passages about these people from the Book of Judges. This morning, we read an entirely different passage of scripture from a different book. And yet right there, once again, we were told the story of this same power couple.

And do you think that it is just a coincidence or an editing error that this story is told twice in two different biblical books? No, I don’t think so. I don’t believe in coincidences when I’m reading the scriptures. There is a message in this repetition, and it is a message for us and it is for us where we are today.

There is something else that God is calling to our attention. It is the secret of the success that this couple enjoyed in leading the people of Israel, and it is a secret that we need to reveal as we embrace the next phase in our life together.

A Problematic Conquest

But there is something you need to understand first though. In the Book of Joshua, the Bible tells the story of the emergence of the tribes in the land of Israel in a particular way. It is told as a conquest – something that I know people may find to be rather troubling. In fact, the invading tribes who are led by Joshua often engage in what would absolutely be called genocide today, wiping out entire tribes and peoples at once.

That is troubling – and it should be troubling! And it is doubly troubling when you realize that the story of Joshua’s conquest has also used to justify modern atrocities such as apartheid in South Africa, the treatment of indigenous people in Canada and all over the world, and the ongoing targeting of children, civilians and health infrastructure in Gaza. Again and again, people acting in the name of God have said, if Joshua did it, why can’t we do it too?

Hebrew Origins

But here is the simple historical truth. The conquest, as told in the Book of Joshua, didn’t happen. The archaeological evidence is quite clear. The Israelites did not enter the land of Israel as a large group of outside invaders.

As far as we can tell, the Hebrew tribes had their origins in the hill country of what later came to be known as Israel. It was there that they learned to cooperate together and developed a common identity built around worshiping their common God. But they were not culturally very different from the Canaanite people who surrounded them.

Now there are some reasons, and very good reasons based on their experience with God, for why they came to see themselves as a former slave people who had escaped from Egypt. This was actually a very important part of their identity, and the stories pointed to the truth of that. But the stories of genocidal conquest were much more about understanding how they felt their God was calling them to live in relationship to the land than it was about what actually happened.

Recognized in Scripture

And it seems that they knew, as is often recognized in the scriptures, that they were not in the land as outside conquerors. There is regular acknowledgement that the tribes of Israel were living alongside “the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites,” and were intermarried with them and even joined them in worship. (See Judges 3:5-6)

And the story of Achsah and Othniel, told as it is in both the Book of Joshua (which is about a conquest), and in the Book of Judges (which is an alternate history of the people living alongside their Canaanite neighbours), offers us a unique way to look at the meaning of these alternate views of history.

Moving Out from the Hill Country

Achsah and Othniel start out living in the tribe of Judah up in the hills of Judah and they then move out beyond that traditional territory. They represent the tribe spreading out their influence from the lands where they have been established for generations.

They move out to this place called Kiriath-sepher. Settling there is, in fact, what brings them together. And Kiriath-sepher is in a region called the Negeb. And the Negeb is, kind of famously, a very harsh desert.

If this power couple extended the tribe of Judah’s territory into such a forbidding place, they likely did not do so as violent conquerors. They came as partners working together with the people already settled there. They offered them the protection of being associated with the tribe of Judah and its mutual defence pact with the other Israelite tribes.

Living in the Hill Country

Now, I realize that ancient politics and military alliances don’t mean a lot to us today, so let me put this in terms that we can relate to. The Presbyterian Church in this area, has been established for a very long time. We celebrated our 150^th anniversary as a national church just last week!

But it has become pretty clear in recent times that the church has become more isolated from the mainstream of society. We are like the tribes of Israel, isolated up in the hill country while the society around us has changed and diversified and grown.

And so God (who I guess is Caleb in this metaphor) is coming along and saying to the church, “Who will go out from the hill country where you have been comfortable and familiar? Who will take this message of good news and go out into the Negeb, where it is dry, and resources are scarce, and people are not feeling so secure?”

A Partnership for the Negeb

What’s more, God is saying specifically to us folk who were part of St. Andrew’s and Knox that, if we take on the challenge of living out the kingdom of God in the Negeb, God will give us a partner – a spouse if you wish – to go with us, so that together we will be stronger and more able to meet the needs of the people of the Negeb.

And the wonderful thing is that we have already responded to this challenge from God. I hope you recognize that, when we signed up for this amalgamation – this marriage – together, we accepted God’s challenge to go to the Negeb, to go outside of what is comfortable and familiar, to actually show the love of Christ to people who have lost contact with the churches in the hill country and who are struggling.

So that has all already been taken care of. The marriage of Achsah and Othniel has already taken place. So, you may well be asking why we have not yet left their story behind. Well, it is because these two people do something very important before they head off to take up their mission in the Negeb. They have a very important conversation.

Achsah’s Ask

“When [Achsah] came to [Othniel], she urged him to ask her father for a field.” What is she saying here? This is about resources. She is saying to her new husband that, if they are going to meet this challenge, they are going to need to know that they have what they need to make a success of it.

And the field she is thinking of is a very particular resource that is particularly fitting for where they are going. In fact, having spoken to her husband, Achsah doesn’t wait. She doesn’t hold endless congregational meetings and strategy sessions; she goes straight to the source, her father.

“As she dismounted from her donkey, Caleb said to her, ‘What do you wish?’” What a perfect picture of our God, who can’t even wait for us to get off our donkey, who is so eager to provide us with what we need to thrive that he can’t even wait for us to come inside and sit down to tea!

Springs in the Desert

And Achsah knows exactly what she is going to ask for. “She said to him, ‘Give me a present; since you have set me in the land of the Negeb, give me springs of water as well.’” And so, we discover what sort of field she has in mind.

And, of course, what better resource to have access to if you want to take care of the needs of people in the desert than a steady and reliable supply of water. Caleb clearly approves of her request and immediately gives her not one field but two fields – both the upper springs and the lower springs.

How has God Gifted Us?

Today we turn in our discussions to something that is absolutely key to the new identity that God is giving us as an amalgamated congregation – the question of how God has gifted us with what we need to minister in the Negeb. We take it for granted that God has called us together, that God is requiring us to step out of the familiar hill country and into the unfamiliar desert territory around us.

But if we are going to understand exactly what it is that God is calling us to do in the Negeb, we need to understand how God has uniquely gifted us for that ministry. God has provided, and will always provide for us, streams of living water. But God loves to use our unique gifts and talents in highly personalized ways.

So today, we are dismounting from our donkey and asking God, “If you have sent us to be the church in this challenging place and time, what particular springs of water have you given us and how can we employ them to bring life to a dry and desolate land?”

Abundant Springs

I do not mean to prejudice our discussions afterwards, so I won’t tell you what I think our particular springs of water are. I’ll just say that I know that they are abundant – that God has given us both the upper and the lower springs and a few others on the side. What’s more, I’m going to encourage us to think of those springs in the most open way possible.

For example, we have two key assets as a congregation. Those assets are real estate. We have a field in Hespeler and we have another field in Preston. I’m not sure which one is the upper spring and which one is the lower spring, but it hardly matters. And of course, we live in a world where real estate is seen as a very important asset. In the heart of two of the villages of Cambridge, these are valuable fields, right?

Now, I know that we could just put a dollar figure on those two pieces of property and say that we are finished calculating the value of our assets. But that is not what we’re supposed to do. We are called to see them as springs of water, sources of blessing upon all those who live in this Negeb. That is the challenge we are dealing with.

Assets in Many Forms

And we are not just talking about assets that are valued in the larger economic world. We have assets that are human skills and talents and abilities. We have assets in terms of our reputation in the community. And we have assets in terms of our connection and our partnership with other groups in the community, like the food bank.

These are all springs of water that our Father has given to us and is calling us to use them to minister and to serve in this dry, desert land where we find ourselves. That is the challenge. I am excited to be able to explore all of these possibilities with you.