Category: Minister

Minister’s blog

Bluebirds

Posted by on Friday, June 5th, 2015 in Minister

"Ooh, that happy little bluebird has left a happy little do-do on your hand!"
-Broomhilde (Robin Hood, Men in Tights)


During the Friday morning siderent of the 141st General Assembly, I noticed that one brief presentation caught the imagination of more than a few commissioners.

Robert Geddes, convenor of the McLean Estate Committee and also an avid birder, drew a parallel between the population of bluebirds in Canada and population of Presbyterians in Canada. Both populations have been in serious decline in recent decades. But, Mr. Geddes added, there was some good news because populations of bluebirds have been recovering.

I think that people connected with that because it sounded a note of hope to some. If the bluebirds could recover, why couldn't we? Others, I am sure, saw it as a statement of pessimism - seeing the contrast between the bluebirds hopes and ours.

Now, I know that Mr. Geddes was not trying to make any sweeping statements about the future of the church - that he was just glad to find a way to include his passion for birds in his presentation about his passion for the work of Crieff Hills Community and it was well done.

But his image has fired my imagination over lunch and I'd just like to share. I wonder if we are like or unlike the bluebirds in what we are facing.

The causes of the decline of the bluebirds are probably plain enough. Chances are that the bluebirds declined for a few reasons: loss of habitat, toxins in the environment and, perhaps, climate change. All of these reasons for decline are pretty clearly the result of human choices or actions. Bluebirds and their choices had nothing to do with their decline. Nor could they do anything about their decline. Their only possible option for response, evolution, they simply could not pull off with enough speed to deal with the rapid change.

If there has been a recovery, it is because the cause of the problems (we humans) have at least started to mitigate some of the harmful causes of the decline. Only we could have done what was needed.

How does that compare with what we are dealing with?

There are parallels to our situation. If the Presbyterian Church has declined, some of the reasons might have to do with what you call loss of habitat. The communities from which the Presbyterians traditionally have drawn their membership have changed or disappeared. I can't necessarily identify any toxins that have affected us (maybe some others can) but if there is a parallel to climate change, I would have to point to the rather massive cultural change within Canadian society - a change that has left little place for what we would recognize as organized religion.

We are like that bluebirds, I would suggest, in that we really can do nothing about these causes of decline. As much as we would like to, we cannot change the culture back to what it was. Nor can we reestablish the habitat in which we once thrived. Does that mean that we, unlike the bluebirds are out of luck?

Well, I would suggest, we have an option that the bluebirds don't: evolution.

I would invite us to consider that evolution is a God-led process. It is, I believe, the mechanism that God primarily used in the creation of life. But it is a brutal process that includes species being placed into dire circumstances, extinctions and extreme competition. And yet I would still affirm that God is in it.

If our habitat and climate have changed, we need to ask if this is not the work of God? Instead of fighting against it, isn't it time for us to embrace it and decide that God has a plan in it. Isn't it time to get on with the difficult process of evolution.

Note that I'm not just talking about change. We've been talking about change for a long time and it has changed little. We have mostly just been fiddling with structure as a way to avoid dealing with the evolution that is before us. Evolution is about changing the things at our core - not our essential beliefs, we can't let go of those, but our culture which often goes to the core of our identity.




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How the LGBTQ conversation has changed. A subtle shift that actually means a lot.

Posted by on Saturday, May 30th, 2015 in Minister

Several years ago, one of the young women in my congregation reached out to me via Facebook. She had participated in an event organized by the Gay-Straight Alliance at her high school as a way of supporting her gay and lesbian friends. She was upset and somewhat confused by the reaction of another friend, a Christian, who told her that, if she was a good Christian, she should not support such an event - that no Christian could because the Bible so clearly taught that LGBTQ people had to be rejected. She contacted me because she wanted to know if her friend was right and if I thought she was not a good Christian because of her support of the Gay-Straight Alliance.

I reassured her that, while there were many Christians who I thought and acted like her Christian friend did, it was definitely not the only faithful Christian way of looking at the issue. Her friend's interpretation of the Bible was not the only one that people who take the Bible seriously could come to.

I resisted telling her what she ought to think about the issue because I really didn't want to act like her friend, but I did try to steer her towards approaches that would help her work this out for herself in a way that remained faithful to the scripture.

Anyways, I tried to do my best to help her through what she was dealing with. I know that some might not I agree with my response and some might think that I didn't go fair enough, but I think it was the right response at the time.

But Now it is Happening differently


The reason why I bring up this past event today, though, is because I've noticed that it doesn't actually happen like that anymore - at least not for me. The young people connected to my congregation are still experiencing their own struggles as they work through LGBTQ issues and they are still looking to me for some help, but the issue isn't presenting itself in quite the same way now. 

Most of the young people connected to the church that I know have already decided that their gay, lesbian or transgender friends are okay. There really isn't any debate or question about that and, if they think about it in relation to their faith, they would just think of it as the kind of attitude that Jesus would have.

But here has what has changed. The people who are challenging them over what some would see as the contradiction between their acceptance of LGBTQ people and their Christian faith are not their Christian friends. The people who are challenging them are their atheist, agnostic or generally anti-religious friends. They are the ones who are telling them that hatred of LGBTQ people necessarily goes with religious faith, that there it's no other way to look at it and that that is a major reason why religion must be rejected. 

I'm sure that's not everyone's experience, of course, but I expect that it is definitely becoming much more common.

What does it mean?


I would suggest, first of all, that it means that the those who would take the view that Christianity demands the rejection of LGBTQ people have won the messaging battle. They have successfully convinced the vast majority of people that their approach is the only Christian approach. That makes it much harder, and yet so much more important to stake out a moderate place to stand. 

The other thing this means to me is that the major cultural debate is over. Acceptance of LGBTQ people is here and it is here to stay. That doesn't mean that there won't continue to be problems and issues, but the direction is clear. What is in question is whether the Christian church will find a place in this new culture.

I am not writing this to say that we ought to take a specific course of action (though I certainly do not promise that I won't make suggestions in future posts), I just want us to recognize this important shift in our context.

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Packing for General Assembly

Posted by on Wednesday, May 27th, 2015 in Minister

In less than a week I will be hopping onto a plane headed for Vancouver British Columbia as a commissioner to the 2015 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada.

One of the first things I decided when planning my travel was that I don't want to check any baggage. Anyone who has flown frequently knows how much a checked suitcase can tie you up upon arrival and I want to avoid that problem as much as possible. That means that I am going to have to fit everything I need for a week into a space that 21 in. x 9 in. x 15 in. plus a personal item. Can I do it?

I think I may have to make some tough decisions to make. I've already decided that I'm not going to take my laptop and I may have some withdrawal issues there! And, as much as I like to talk up my book, I'll probably only be able to bring a few copies. But what else might I have to leave behind? What will I just not be able to fit?

An Open Mind


As many will know, this General Assembly has received an unprecedented number of overtures that touch on LGBTQ issues. Normally, when these kinds of overtures are received, there isn't a lot of discussion to be had during the assembly because they are simply sent off to some committee or another to bring back a report to a future assembly. I was glad to see that this time that is not what is going to happen. There are plans to block out a substantial amount of time to discuss the issues and the impacts of change in table groups and in other ways. This process will be led, most ably I am certain, by the Moderator, Karen Horst.

I am glad that there will be a way in which I may speak my mind. I also recognize that I will be engaging with people who do not agree with me and I know those kinds of discussions can be hard. I will pray that the process goes well and that we can really listen to one another.

I recognize that no one can go into discussions like that with a mind that is completely open. Everyone will have limits to how much they are willing to accept or consider. There are certain things - certain attitudes and teachings - that I know I can't accept largely because of the harm that they do to marginalized people. (Too many gay, lesbian, transgendered young people have been deeply wounded and even pushed towards suicide by some traditional church teachings. We have to find a way to make that stop.)

So, as I eye my carry-on bag, I'm really wondering: how much of an open mind can I fit in that thing?

Scriptural Baggage


Nope, I don't have room to pack my Bible. The thing will just take too much space. But that is okay because I do have the Bible on my Ipad mini. Anything I read during the week, it will have to be from that. But it's not just about how much physical space my Bible takes up. I am also wondering how much space the Bible will take in our considerations.

There are basically six passage in the Bible that have anything to do with the LGBTQ discussions:

1) Genesis 19
2) Judges 19
3) 1 Timothy 1
4) Leviticus 18 / 20 (Both chapters say basically the same thing)
5) Romans 1
6) 1 Corinthians 6

As far as I can see, Genesis 19 and Judges 19 do not really apply to our discussions. They are accounts of attempted gang rape that is rightfully condemned. We're not talking about tolerating rape so they hardly apply. Since 1 Timothy is merely a reference to the immorally of what happens in Genesis 19, it also doesn't apply.

The Leviticus passages also don't really apply. They are part of a holiness code - intended to set the Hebrew people apart from their neighbours in primarily cultural ways. We regularly ignore many of the precepts of the holiness code and conclude they don't apply to us so there is no real reason to think that these teachings should apply to us.

That leaves the two brief passages that come to us from the Apostle Paul (no, I don't think that Paul wrote 1 Timothy, but that is another discussion). I tend to think that, what the apostle is rejecting in these passages is the sorts of same sex relations that he observed or heard about in his world - relationships that were not consensual and that generally reflected one person exercising power over another. We wouldn't want to affirm those kinds of relationships either.

Also, I think that Paul is clearly operating out of a very different understanding of the issue from the one that we must confront. We understand the issues in terms of sexual orientation and how people may best live out their lives with the orientation that is a given for them. This is a way of talking about these things that was completely foreign to any understanding in the ancient world. That means that we and Paul are not exactly talking about the same thing.

So I don't necessarily see these passages as a strong argument against change.

But... what if I am wrong. What if a deep examination of the passages, the original language, the full historical context demands that I conclude that Paul really intended for these passages to apply to our judgments in the modern world? Would that make me change my mind? I don't think so. I am not inclined to allow a couple of passages, even if their interpretation were crystal clear, overrule what I see as the central Gospel message of treating the outsider with respect - a message of acceptance and grace.

I have always viewed myself as a Christian who takes the Bible seriously (though not literally). I have always thought it better to grapple with the passages that make us feel uncomfortable than it is to take the passages that we like and turn them into platitudes that make us feel good. But how much of that Biblical approach am I willing to make room for in my little carry-on? That is a question I am asking myself.

What Actually Matters


I know that a lot of people are already thinking of the LGBTQ overtures as the big issue at General Assembly. I don't think that should be true. Given the paucity of passages on the subject, it is clearly not a major biblical obsession. The Bible devotes so much more attention to the issue of poverty within society then it does to this particular issue. I would love to see our discussion follow Biblical priorities. Imagine what we could accomplish by focusing half of the energy that we're devoting to this issue to poverty!

And there are also very pressing issues that are before the General Assembly and the church in general. There is a great need to revitalize our churches. We need to make sure that we have a national church structure that is genuinely supporting the work of the local congregation. We need to think very carefully about what we are investing assets (financial and otherwise) in in order to build a church for the future. These are the important issues for the church. 

But, of course and unfortunately, whenever a national church meeting is talking about anything that has anything to do with sex, the topic very quickly seems to suck all of the oxygen out of the room and there doesn't seem to be enough left to allow our focus to be on anything else. (Our modern society, you see, is far more obsessed with sex than the Bible ever was.) So there is a real question whether I - whether all of us - will manage to fit in the time and attention to focus on what really matters on this trip. My biggest worry is that we won't.

Packing

So here I am packing and wondering how much biblical baggage, how much of an open mind and how much energy to focus on what really matters I'll be able to fit in my little carry on. At this point, I don't know what the answer is. I do intend to keep you up to date, though, and to blog about my experiences in Vancouver if you are interested in finding out how much I actually manage to cram into that little bag.

No matter what, I am certainly looking forward to it.
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Spiritual Meaning in Secular Songs

Posted by on Wednesday, May 13th, 2015 in Minister

Spiritual Meaning in Secular Songs

Starting on June 14, the congregation of St. Andrew's Hespeler will be making an exploration of various secular songs that may belong to many different genres to discover how and why we sometimes find deep spiritual meaning in songs that are written for a secular audience and context.

The following secular songs have been nominated by people in the congregation. They are songs have often helped people though dark or difficult times. Though we will make efforts to relate our explorations to all of the songs that have been named, we would like to identify a few that resonate with the most people. Therefore over the coming weeks we will be voting on the most meaningful secular songs on Sunday mornings.

To allow people to listen to all the songs, we would like to provide the following links that will allow you to hear the songs and review the lyrics.



Better Way by Ben Harper (Lyrics)





Imagine by John Lennon. (Lyrics)





Let it Be by the Beatles (Lyrics)






Live Like you are were dying, by Tim McGraw. (Lyrics)





Pacing the Cage by Bruce Cockburn (Lyrics)






Pride (In the Name of Love) by U2. (Lyrics)







Samson by Regina Spektor (Lyrics)







Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver (Lyrics)







The Climb by Miley Cyrus (Lyrics)






The Great Mandala by Peter, Paul & Mary (Lyrics)





The Remedy (I won't worry) by Jason Mraz  (Lyrics)







The River of Dreams by Billy Joel (Lyrics)







The Rose by Bette Midler (Lyrics)






Turn, Turn, Turn by the Byrds (Lyrics)






Wondering where the Lions are by Bruce Cockburn (Lyrics)







You Raise Me Up by Josh Groban (Lyrics)




Please note that there are some songs that were nominated that we have not included in this list.

Some of the nominated songs were really what must be labelled sacred songs (even if they are sometimes performed by secular artists). We are not rejecting these songs, especially as they were often nominated because they had been deeply helpful to people. We will include these songs in our discussions and include performances of them when and as possible. We will just not include them in the voting process.

A few nominated songs we have decided will be performed and explored anyways. These also will not be included in the voting, but they will be included in our discussions.

Please come out over the upcoming Sundays to learn how we will be voting for these songs.

And finally, here are a couple of nominated songs that we would have loved to include but cannot because we cannot secure permission to perform or sing them in church.



For the Day by Tanglefoot (Song begins at the 3 minute mark).





Rise up with Fists by Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins

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What I am expecting for the future of the church over the next decade.

Posted by on Tuesday, March 24th, 2015 in Minister

Our Presbytery, the Presbytery of Waterloo Wellington, is presently working its way through a visioning process, trying to decide what the priorities of the church will be in the coming decade. As part of this, our facilitator, Peter Coutts, has challenged us to talk about our expectations for the coming years in the church in an online blog. I have responded to that challenge with the following. I am just speaking to my personal expectations. I am sure that others will expect different things. I would encourage you to join the conversation on the Blog that Peter set up. You'll find it here:

http://www.choosingchange.ca/wellwater

Here is what I have written:

As Peter has said, we certainly cannot predict the future as it has a way of surprising us. Nevertheless, as I look forward, I do it with certain expectations. I definitely expect a great deal of change in the coming years – as I have expected it ever since I first started my ministry. One thing that I have seen up until this point is the change never seems to occur as quickly as I have expected it to. So I must say first of all that I have learned to expect that things will take longer to change that I expect.

Context

I do not expect that the trends that we have seen will change dramatically. Overall membership and attendance numbers will continue to decline. More and more people in society will cease to identify with the Christian faith and with organized religion in general. I don’t necessarily see this as a negative trend but it is obviously very challenging to the church and to its continued work.

Because of this, we are likely to see a number of things develop. We will continue to see national organisational and denominational church structures decline. National offices, strapped for resources, will be ever more limited in what they can offer to support the ministry and mission of the church which will render them less relevant. Regional bodies – such as Synods – will continue to decline in relevance and in the resources that they can offer.

These developments don’t necessarily distress me. The way I see it, we are in the death throes of a way of doing and being the church that hasn’t really been working for a while. Some of that structure likely needs to die in order for there to be a resurrection – a new way of being the church that is really effective in the world today.

Sunday Schools

I just feel I have to say something about the matter of declining Sunday School enrollment. This is just a pet peeve of mine. I do not like the hand wringing we often do over declining Sunday Schools. The distress over this fact has an underlying assumption that is dangerous. It is an assumption that we know how Sunday School is supposed to work. Essentially, what we are doing is holding up the model of our church Sunday School programs as they were in the 1960’s and 70’s when our programs were full of kids and bursting at the seams. That, we proudly declare, is what a successful Sunday School looks like and that is what we used to be able to do.

But do you know what? I don’t really see that as a success. Sure, our programs were full of kids in those times. But do you realize that those were the very kids that we lost when they grew up? That  generation, who were kids in the sixties and the seventies, dropped out of the church in far greater numbers than any generation before them. If we’re going to call that success, then I’m not sure we really have a good idea what success is.

I think a little bit of humility is called for. I’m personally very excited about some of the things that we are doing these days and our children’s ministries. But I that doesn't mean that we've necessarily got it right. Nevertheless, there are all kinds of reasons to be hopeful that, with God’s help, we will do better with this generation.

Congregations

Congregations will continue to be the heart and soul of the church. As larger structures fall away, this will only become more and more true. Yes, we will continue to lose congregations. Some will take longer to die than you would expect but that has always been the case. But, alongside this, we will continue to see congregations of various sizes that remain strong and that get stronger. There will be pockets of healthy, vibrant church life spread throughout our presbytery.

We will continue to see, as has been the case for some time now, that it is congregations that are engaged in their community, that are active in local and larger mission, that have excellent leadership and that can communicate the message of the faith in relevant ways that will be strongest. (Although even congregations that do all of this and do it really well are not guaranteed to thrive as there will continue to be other factors – economic, demographic, etc. – at play.) These healthy and strong congregations will do some really exciting things and will be a joy to their members.

We will likely continue to see that congregations that are strong and vital will seek out the resources that they need to continue to strengthen wherever they can find them. They will not insist on or seek out denominational resources as they have in the past. This will partly be because those resources will not be there, but also because other agencies will be able to adapt to the changing circumstances much more quickly and flexibly.

We will not lose our central focus on essentials of our faith. Jesus Christ will remain our only king and head. We will continue to acknowledge the Scriptures as the authoritative witness to the living Word of God. We will still practice sacraments, pray and seek and find God through faith.
But some things will change. Our churches will likely find the need to set themselves apart from some of the more extremist Christian faith groups. For me, that means we need to:
  • Practice greater inclusion – finding a place for all kinds of people who live and think out their faith differently from us.
  • Clearly reject anti-science strains of Christianity. (e.g. those who reject evolution)
  • Find ways other than substitutionary atonement to talk about what Jesus has accomplished for us.
  • Read the Bible for what it is – a collection of various kinds of ancient literature – rather than forcing literal interpretations onto it.
  • Focus our Christian life and work on this world and not on another world to come.
  • Actively and positively engage the fastest growing religious group in Canada: the atheists
This is the church that I expect and this is the kind of church that we need the presbytery to support.
What that means for me is that the presbytery needs to be careful to use its resources (time, talent, energy, financial and real estate assets) very wisely to support the church that will be.

As far as I am concerned
  • There is no point spending our resources on maintaining structures or infrastructures that are dying or becoming irrelevant.
  • We need to invest in creating strong, healthy and vibrant congregations, especially in places where circumstances like economics, demographics and other factors are in our favour.
  • We need to create and support strong leaders (lay and clergy).
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An Experiment in Sharing

Posted by on Wednesday, January 21st, 2015 in Minister

I have had too many conversations with people in the church lately that have gone kind of like this:

Someone will remark on a church service or something we have done in the church and they will say how nice and meaningful it was. Then they will close by saying something like, "It's a shame that there weren't more people here to be a part of it."

I used to nod my head and agree when people said things like that, but lately I've been wondering why I don't respond in a different way.

Why don't I say, "Yeah, I know. By the way, who did you invite this morning and who did you tell about what we were doing here?"

Actually, I know why I don't ask questions like that -- it's because I know what the answer would be. Most people would never even consider talking to anyone about what goes on in their church.

There is an assumption behind those laments over lack of attendance that people make. People are assuming that going to a church service is something that people automatically see as something worthwhile. It is a kind of "If you build it, they will come," mentality -- the kind of thinking that was highlighted in the movie, Field of Dreams. We assume that if you just build a good church service or program people will just come.

That may have been true in an age when society in general saw church attendance as a good and even a necessary thing -- when there were society pressures that drove people into church.

I don't know if you have noticed this, but we're not living in that world anymore.

People won't just go to church anymore just because it is a good thing to do or because there is a nice service. But they might go if they hear that there is something going on that speaks to them and their life. They might go if someone tells them about it. They're even more likely to go if someone invites them or, even better, goes with them. But they won't just decide to go on their own.

But we don't talk about what we do in church and we don't invite people -- hardly ever. We need to change that mentality because,frankly, we do some pretty good and worthwhile stuff -- stuff that will benefit others a great deal.

That is why I created the following video which introduces my upcoming series of sermons. Take a look at it now.



The reason why I created this was to give the people of St. Andrew's an easy way to share what we are doing at St. Andrew's. It is something worth sharing. And this is my challenge to the people of St. Andrew's: share this video.

Post it and share it on Faceboook. You can just paste something like this into your status:
Here is what we are talking about at my church next month. It should be interesting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63goKgDiuMI
Tweet it -- how about something like this:
St. Andrew's #Hespeler is talking about money in new ways next month. #Money #Jesus #share#money #rootofallevil #share https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63goKgDiuMI

Or you can just email the link to your friends:
Here is what I'm going to be learning and thinking about next month:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63goKgDiuMI

We have set the goal of having this video viewed over 750 times in the next ten days, can you help us get there?
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The Other Visit of the Other Magi

Posted by on Monday, December 29th, 2014 in Minister

I do not usually post my sermons in my blog like this, but I was honestly fascinated by what I discovered in my research around the story of the Magi this year. Did you know that there was another story about the journey of another set of Magi that Matthew might have had in his mind as he wrote his story about the birth of the Messiah?

      In May of 2003, the world was treated to a spectacle that it would not soon forget. The Iraq War had begun with an invasion less than two months before. And in those two months the American and allied forces had made some remarkable progress, had taken Baghdad and were apparently in charge of the government.
      And so that May, President Bush took a bit of a victory lap. He landed on the deck of an aircraft carrier that had just returned from the Persian Gulf wearing a flight suit and, standing in front of a banner that read mission accomplished,” he declared that major conflict in Iraq had come to an end.
      It is an event that I hardly need to describe to you. I’d probably only have to say a few key words like Bush and aircraft carrier for you to bring the whole image up in your minds even though it happened over a decade ago. Everyone remembers it. And they don’t just remember it because it had all the pageantry of your typical political photo op and publicity stunt, though it certainly had that. People remember it because that particular photo op was demonstrated to be horribly empty and meaningless and because that happened so very quickly.
      It wasn’t long at all before everyone could clearly see that combat in Iraq was far from over, that the mission was certainly not accomplished and that things were about get a whole lot worse before they got any better – if indeed they ever got much better. People remember it because it turned out to be a perfect illustration of what was wrong with the whole situation.
      Now, I don’t bring all this up today to criticize Bush or the Iraq war. I have no particular axe to grind there. I bring it up just to show you how an event like that one, one that symbolizes the problems within a system, stays in the public consciousness for a long time. Why I would imagine that, even ten or twenty years from now when someone brings up that event, people will still remember it and even be able to picture it even if they didn't see it when it happened.
      I mention that because the Gospel of Matthew was written only about twenty years after a very similar mission accomplished event. It happened in 66 ad. It happened in Rome but was based on the conclusion – or what was supposed to be the conclusion – of a war with Iraq and Iran or, as it was known at the time, the Kingdom of Parthia.
      The war is not important and you hardly need to understand what it was about. Basically, for years the Roman Empire and the Parthians had been fighting over a little kingdom – the Kingdom of Armenia – that lay between them. The Romans had controlled Armenia by choosing the kings who ruled it for years. But the Parthians didn’t like that and so Armenia became the focus of war between the world’s two greatest superpowers. And let’s just say that in the years leading up to 66 ad, the Romans basically bungled the war with Parthia. The result was that Rome and Parthia came to a peace agreement that was absolutely humiliating to Rome.
      The agreement was this: the Parthian king would place his brother on the throne of Armenia and the Parthians would retain the right to name all future kings and heirs to the throne of Armenia. In the deal the Romans only got one thing. They got the right to crown the king that the Parthians chose. Yes, you heard that right, the Parthians would pick the king and then the Roman Emperor would be required to crown him. The Parthians got everything and the Romans got an empty, meaningless symbolic act.
      But in 66 ad the Roman Emperor, a fellow named Nero (maybe you’ve heard of him), decided to turn this embarrassing peace treaty into his own personal mission accomplishedphoto op. He summoned the new Armenian king (the brother of the King of Parthia) to Rome to receive his crown. Sure it was absolutely meaningless that Nero got to be the one to place it on his head but Nero would turn this meaningless act into a grand spectacle.
      And what a spectacle it was! People all throughout Rome and every city they passed through on the way turned out to see the embassy as they made their way to the Emperor. Travelling with the king were a number of priests of the Parthian god Zoroaster. They were astrologers and holy men and they were called magi by the Parthians. If anything, the Romans were more fascinated by the magi than they were with the king. The magi were mysterious wise men who seemed to have so much power and Rome was totally star-struck.
      The king and the magi arrived before Emperor Nero. They knelt down and paid him homage, declaring him to be the ruler of all the earth, though everyone knew it was a lie and Nero had no power over Parthia. Then Nero placed a diadem on the king’s head and then threw an enormous party for the whole city. After the magi left – returning home by a different road – Nero even took the extraordinary step of closing the doors to the temple of Janus in the city. The Romans only closed those doors when they were at peace with all their enemies. By closing the doors, Nero was proclaiming that he had brought about a permanent peace on earth and good will to all men.
      It was all a sham, of course. Within a few months the doors to the temple of Janus were wide open again and Rome was at war. The war with Parthia raged on for about another fifty years and caused no end of suffering. Nero had accomplished nothing with his little stunt and it wasn’t long before everybody knew it. So, yes, the story of the visit of the magi to Rome was told over and over again as the perfect criticism of Roman emperors at their worst. After a decade or two, I’m sure that all you had to do was mention a few key words like magi or king or kneeling down and paying homage or returning home by a different road and everyone knew exactly what you were talking about.
      And a decade or two after this memorable spectacle in Rome, a man that we know as Matthew wrote the gospel that bears his name. Do you think it is just a coincidence that, after a few opening remarks, he started that gospel with an account of some magi who travelled from Parthia (because that is where magi were found) to kneel down and pay homage to someone and then return home by a different road?
      Now, I have no idea how much information Matthew may have had about an actual visit of magi to the home of Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem. I am sure that he did use traditions of the early church as well as many passages from the Old Testament when he wrote this account of the birth of Jesus. But I am also pretty sure that, when he told his story of the visit of the magi (translated as wise men in our reading this morning) he went out of his way to tell the story in a way that reminded many people of the famous story of the time that a bunch of magi came to Rome 
      But why would Matthew do something like that – make a reference to what we would consider a purely political and secular event in his account of the most divine of events: the coming of God’s Messiah into the world? Well, the fact of the matter is that the visit of the magi to Nero wasn’t just a political event. Remember that Emperor Nero was not just a political leader. He was also a god and the whole spectacle of the magi (the priests of a foreign god) bowing down before him had as much to do him flaunting his divinity as it did with him exercising his imperial power.
      I think that Matthew would have been only too happy to remind his readers of Nero’s mission accomplished event because it may have looked pretty impressive on the outside, but it was soon shown to be completely empty. And Matthew knew of another king – one that maybe didn’t look so impressive on the outside – one who was, in fact, rejected by the powerful and the important of this world. But when it came to substance and power that really mattered and when it came to a vision of the world as God had always intended that it should be, Matthew would take that king anytime.
      So Matthew told the story of the visit of the magi to the child Jesus in such a way as to make it clear how different a king Jesus really was – to make it clear that Jesus was not about appearance and photo ops but about changing the world in real and substantial ways.
      And I think that all of this is important because we live in a world where appearance often seems to matter more than anything. It’s important because 2015 will be an election year in Canada. And elections really ought to be an opportunity to talk about big and substantive issues. We ought to get a chance to talk about what kind of country we want to be, what our real priorities are and what policies reflect our deepest beliefs. But do you suppose that is what our political discussions will look like in 2015? Or will we spend a whole lot of time talking about appearances? And will our leaders put most of their energy into setting up symbolic photo ops?
      Please understand, I’m not necessarily blaming the politicians for this. I am sure that many of them would really like to spend their energy on the real and substantive issues. The problem is much bigger than individual politicians. There is a tendency in our society to focus on the surface and the appearance of things and politicians are only responding to that when they set up their photo ops and attack each other over the appearance of things.
      But when you see a politician speaking to the public with carefully laid out representatives of different ethnic and cultural groups standing behind him or her, when you hear announcements that are all about the appearance of commitment to some particular cause but that have no real effective measures behind them, when you hear of committees or commissions that are set up to explore various problems whose recommendations you know very well will be completely ignored – and I promise you that you will see a whole lot of all of that next year – remember one thing.
      Remember that there is another way of doing things. There is a kingdom that is founded on the idea that we can do more for this world than put together photo ops and carry out meaningless symbolic gestures. The kingdom of God is not founded on such things but rather on the foundation of a person who showed us in living and breathing form what the love and compassion of God looked like.
      We don’t have to be taken in and manipulated by meaningless gestures orchestrated by our political class. We know they’re empty long before the rest of the world catches on.
      It is far too easy to get cynical when you look at the systems of our modern world – to think that nothing can ever change. By telling his story of the magi, what Matthew was saying was that the world did change and so it can change. It was that simple to him. Will you believe it?


For those interested in the primary historical sources, accounts of the visit of the Armenian king to Nero are found in Suetonius, The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Nero, 13 and in Cassius Dio, Roman History, LXIII, 1-7. The explicit mention that the king brought Magi with him and that they captured the imaginations of Nero and the people is found in Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, XXX, Cassius Dio states that the day was called "golden" by the people of Rome.
      
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Basket Night at Thursday Night Supper & Social

Posted by on Sunday, December 28th, 2014 in Minister

Got a request from The Cambridge Times for a brief description of one of our Christmas traditions from the Thursday Night Supper and Social. Looks like they finally didn't have room to print it. But I still thought that there is something well worth sharing there. This is what I wrote:

Thursday evenings from Thanksgiving to Easter, St. Andrew's Hespeler Presbyterian Church on Queen St. in Hespeler opens its doors to all who wish to come in for supper. The welcome is always warm and the food, provided free of charge, is always tasty and nutritious.

The best thing about the Thursday Night Supper and Social, however, is the community that has formed over the years it has been offered. Both our guests and our volunteers look forward each week to the opportunity to meet and talk and catch up on what has been going on in each other's lives. There is plenty of mutual support and encouragement.


All of this becomes even more evident as Christmas approaches. For example, at the most recent Thursday night, the volunteers wanted to prepare special baskets full of treats for our guests. With the help of many in the congregation and in the community, over forty baskets were filled with a mix of practical and seasonal gifts. These were distributed to all the adults present on Thursday, December 11 in a wonderful party-like atmosphere. Everyone left with a lovely basket to put them in the Christmas spirit. A distribution of gifts to the children and youth who are part of the lively community will take place before Christmas.
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Why Judas the Galilean belongs in my nativity scene

Posted by on Wednesday, December 17th, 2014 in Minister

Why, exactly, did Mary and Joseph set out on such a dangerous journey in such a dangerous time. This is one aspect of the story that has never made much historic sense. The story seems to be saying that the Romans decided to conduct a census in a way that makes no practical sense – that they required that the people be registered, not in the places where they lived, but rather in the places where their ancestors came from. That, when you think about it, is a very silly way to hold a census. The whole point of taking a census, if you’re a Roman, is to find out where people live so that you can find them and tax them later. That is why the Romans always took censuses in the way that they are still taken to this very day - making sure that people were registered where they actually lived. There is no evidence that they ever took a census in a way that Luke seems to be describing.

But what if Luke isn't saying that the people all traveled to their ancestral homes because the Romans made them do it? What if they maybe even did it to spitethe Romans? That might make more sense. Luke tells us that Caesar Augustus ordered that the people be counted, yes, but he doesn't say that Caesar ordered them to return to their ancestral homes – just that the people did that. What if it was someone else who told them to do that? And what if that person was Judas the Galilean?

Judas was a rebel against Rome (we know that from historical records) and Judas was particularly upset about the census that the Romans were holding and the heavy new taxes that came with it. But we also know that Judas was not the kind of rebel who actually employed violence or terror to achieve his goals. There are no accounts of Judas attacking anyone but there are plenty of accounts of Judas and his followers being attacked by the Romans. The evidence seems to indicate that his revolt was essentially nonviolent – a campaign similar to Ghandi's campaign against British rule in India or like Martin Luther King Jr's Civil Rights movement in the United States.

The histories also tell us what Judas’ goals were. He set out to oppose slavery and to allow the people "to regain prosperity and retain their own property." That is what the historian, Josephus, says in his book, the Antiquities of the Jews (18:4-8) But how could he accomplish such lofty goals without resorting to violence? One way may have been suggested to him in the pages of the Old Testament.
There was an ancient law in Israel that required that, every 50 years, a special festival should be called: the Festival of Jubilee. It was a festival to celebrate God’s gift of land to all the families of Israel. And the first thing that was supposed to happen during the Jubilee was that every family was to return to their ancestral home. And there they were to claim the land that God had said was rightfully theirs. And during the festival the land was to be returned to that family.

If we cannot find any basis in Roman law or practice for all the people of Galilee and Judea being required to return to their ancestral homes, perhaps we had better look to the Old Testament to find that basis. There is only one Old Testament law that required all of the people to return to their ancestral homes: the Jubilee law. So maybe the Romans ordered up a census but somebody else must have called for a Jubilee - called on all the people to travel all over the place and did it for the express purpose of messing with the Roman census.

I think that the person who called for that Jubilee was none other than Judas the Galilean. It was one of the few things that he could do, without resorting to violence, that would actually cause a great deal of trouble to the Romans and the process of their hated census. He must have set the entire countryside into chaos as the Romans prepared to count the people.

If that is the case, then Judas the Galilean is an essential part of the Christmas story. He set the whole thing in motion. Yes, Caesar Augustus may have ordered a census of all the people but Judas was the one who got the whole countryside in motion, who convinced Mary and Joseph to make that long and difficult journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. And they weren't just doing it to be good citizens of the Roman Empire like we often assume. They were doing it because they really believed that it was God's will for them to return to Bethlehem and claim the land there that had once belonged to Joseph's family.

So maybe we ought to make some room in our nativity scenes for Judas – for someone who sets out to make the world to conform more closely to the will of God but who does it without violence – who inspires people to claim what God intends for them to possess for themselves: their freedom and the means to be the people that God always intended for them to be. And, after all, isn’t that what Christmas is about too – at least when we get rid of all the things that our modern world has tried to make Christmas about instead?

For more information on the place of Judas the Galilean in the Christmas story, read Caesar's Census, God's Jubilee.
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Book Discussion Series

Posted by on Monday, October 6th, 2014 in Minister

I am very excited to offer a book discussion series on my book Caesar's Census, God's Jubilee.

The Gospel of Luke alone tells the story of the birth of Jesus set against the background of a census taken on the orders of Caesar Augustus. This historical setting has always raised serious questions: Was there ever really such a census? Why does Luke describe the census as being carried out in a manner that does not fit with what we know of Roman practices and policies?

This book struggles with questions like those in a creative way which leads to some surprising new ways to understand Luke's timeless story of Mary and Joseph and their journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Part investigation, part exercise in creative imagination, this book will help you to see the Christmas story in a whole new way.

The discussion will be held on Wednesday evenings from Wednesday, October 15 through to Wednesday December 3, 2014

We will meet at 7:30 pm in the Foyer at St. Andrew's Hespeler Presbyterian Church, 73 Queen St. E., Cambridge, ON

These are the planned sessions:
October 15:            The Journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem
October 22:            Should the Two Birth Accounts be Harmonized?
October 29:            When is Luke Saying that Jesus was Born?
November 5:          The Old Testament Ideal of Jubilee
November 12:        The Jubilee in the Gospel of Luke
November  19:       Two Nonviolent Insurgencies
November 26 :       The Call to Jubilee
December 3:           What is Truth? and Jesus’s Coin Trick
Provided you have read the book, you should be able to join in the discussion at any point



Participation in this group is free of charge but participants will need to have read the book to participate. The book is available in print at Amazon.ca and at select local book stores. You may also purchase a copy at St. Andrew's Hespeler. The e-book is available through many online e-book sellers including Amazon, iBooks and Kobo. Please call the church at 519-658-2652 or contact [email protected] if you need any assistance finding the book or if you have any questions. The print edition sells for $11.95. The price of the e-book varies accord to the vendor, but should be approximately $4.

In addition I will be leading a parallel discussion in a Facebook group called Caesar's Census, God's Jubilee Discussion Group.


I will be posting discussion starters on the chapters at around the same time that I am preparing for the discussion group at the church. The group is public (I hope that doesn't get me into any trouble!) and everyone is invited to join in.

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