Category: News

Sunday's worship service

https://youtu.be/9yalwzRnGLY

Hespeler, September 15, 2024 © Scott McAndless
Proverbs 1:20-33, Psalm 19, James 3:1-12, Mark 8:27-38

I

n the Second Letter of Timothy, you will find this famous passage: “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the person of God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.”(2 Timothy 3:16-17) And we could probably talk for a long time about what, exactly, those verses mean. But one thing I have always understood is that they mean that I can take any passage in the Bible and that I should be able to take from it some useful lessons around which I can construct a sermon.

Do Not be a Teacher

Imagine my surprise, therefore, when I open up our passage this morning from the Letter of James to see that it begins like this: “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will face stricter judgment. For all of us make many mistakes.”

So, apparently all scripture is useful for teaching but, maybe I shouldn’t be teaching at all? Or is it perhaps that all scripture is useful, but maybe I shouldn’t teach this scripture? Is this passage particularly full of pitfalls? I believe that is the warning that James is trying to give us. Because it is a passage about the dangers of the human tongue. So, another way to see it is to say, you can use any scripture to write a sermon, but you would be crazy to use this one.

Risks in Preaching

And there is a lot of truth in that. James is absolutely right that what you say – even sometimes one word out of place – can have a devastating impact on somebody’s life. And this is especially true if you speak as someone with authority in the church. Any preacher who doesn’t realize that and doesn’t recognize that she or he has probably hurt someone with something that they said is just not paying attention.

I’ll make a confession. I was once praying and included a petition for people who struggle with or have struggled with mental health issues. A good thing to pray for, I think. Then I shifted to prayers about people with other kinds of ailments. But when I made that shift, I said something like, “And we pray for those who deal with real health issues too…” and went on to pray for some people with bodily ailments. But I put one very problematic word in that transition, didn’t I?

“Real” Illness

Do you know how many people a word like “real” can harm in that context? People who have mental health issues are often made to feel by others as if their illness is illusionary, that they are imagining it or making themselves sick. This is often said to them in a way that strongly implies that it is all their own fault if they are clinically depressed or bipolar or suffer from any number of mental illnesses.

Now, I know that that is not true. I know that mental illness is real illness and that it is not something that can simply be fixed with a change of attitude. But do you know what? When I use a phrase like “real illness” in a way that contrasts with mental illness, it actually doesn’t matter what I know or what I believe. It doesn’t matter what I intend to mean.

Anyone who has been told all their life that what they struggle with is fake, is only going to hear that word “real” and all of the negative messages that they have heard all of their lives will just start playing out in their minds all over again. One ill-chosen word might well set them back and leave them to conclude that the church is no better than all of those people in their lives who have failed to appreciate what they struggle with.

James is Right

When I did choose that wrong word many years ago, one person did challenge me and correct me, something for which I am immensely grateful. It gave me the opportunity to apologize for my words and the harm that they caused and thankfully that person did understand. But I honestly don’t know how many other people I could have hurt with that word or with some other ill-chosen word spoken at some other time. So, I absolutely agree with James that this is a perilous thing that I dare to do when I seek to teach people about the word of God.

And surely, as James prefaces this particular passage with that warning, I would be a great fool to choose to take it as the text for my sermon. It might just reflect badly back on me. But what this passage is saying is so important, not only for me but for all of us that, as perilous as it may be, I believe it is extremely import that we pay it some close attention. The truth that this letter proclaims, that words matter and that they can do more harm than many other things, is one that we ignore to our peril.

The Housing Crisis

Let me give you one example of a word that I have come to see in a very different light just in the past year. One of the huge crises that we have been facing in our society for a while now is a lack of affordable housing. It is, in fact, the crisis that is fueling many of the other problems we are dealing with including inflation, the overdose crisis and problems with immigration. So, it is obviously very important that we talk about it.

But you may have noticed that many advocates and agencies addressing the problem have changed one of their ways of talking about it. We used to talk about the problem of homelessness. But now you are more likely to hear officials talking about people living without shelter, houselessness or even people “living rough.”

Why Change the Language?

Now, if you noticed that shift, you may well have thought it as just an example of wokeness or of weird language policing. What does it matter what we call it, after all? What matters is what we do about the problem, right?

Now, it is true that sometimes we do have this habit of thinking that if we just change the ways we talk about our problems we can make them go away. That is foolish. Adjustments to language on their own do not change reality.

The Problem with Talking about “the Homeless”

But that shift in language regarding the housing crisis did not come from language police. It didn’t even come from advocates or agencies. The people caught up in housing crisis spoke up about the need for change.

For one thing, the habit of referring to “the homeless” as a problem, a habit that has become very ingrained over the past few years, has a very dehumanizing effect. It makes it too easy to gloss over individuals and families who are just trying to do their best in trying circumstances – to treat them as some nameless mass problem.

Who Makes a Home?

Even more important, though, it is just not accurate. The problem that we have as a society is not actually a lack of homes because developers and landlords and governments don’t sell or rent people homes. I know they may sometimes market them that way because the word “home” carries such positive associations, but all they can provide is housing or shelter. You may buy a house, but only you can make it a home. And you make it into a home with community and family and all your own personal touches.

Turning the place where you are living into a home is something that all humans do, even if they do not have adequate shelter. Somebody these days who is living with their family in a tent may not have a house, but they will make whatever they have, as much as they are able to do so, into a home. That’s why these days you see people living not in isolated tents but in encampments. The shelters may be rudimentary, but by creating some sort of community by pitching tents together, people are doing their best to create a sense of home.

Changing Our Approach

So, a shift in how we talk about the housing crisis is not going to solve the problem. But failing to make that shift may harm some people. Shifting our language may also affect how we approach the problem. It may help us to think about the real individuals and the homes they are doing their best to create. It help us to understand better why people make some of the choices around housing that they do. And it may make us think twice before we come in and tear apart whatever home they have been able to create for themselves.

So how we talk about our problems is not going to fix everything. But it still matters how we talk about them. It affects our approach and can make a real difference in how we think about people and what they are dealing with.

A Powerful Image

The Letter of James uses an image to talk about the power of words that has very much been on my mind as I prepared for this Sunday. “Look at ships:” he writes, “though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.”

So, the tongue is like a rudder. I couldn’t get that image out of my head. Not being an artist, I couldn’t draw a ship with a tongue as a rudder, so I asked an AI program to draw one for me. And then I couldn’t get this picture out of my mind! But maybe I need to keep it in my mind, because I think that what James is saying is very true. In fact, I would like to invite you to imagine your tongue as a rudder that has that kind of power.

The Power of Your Tongue

You have people in your life – your friends, your families and your significant others. You also have people who cross your paths from time to time. And you also have this church and other organizations in your life.

Each one of those people or groups are like ships. They are on a course. They are being pushed forward by the winds of change that affect their lives. And everyone is on a course to build up their own self-esteem, to create a home for themselves and their loved ones or to find a new future. That voyage is not easy for anybody, but we are all working at it.

Setting People Off Course

But did you realize that you, by saying something hurtful, can very easily set that voyage off course. You, with your tongue, can say something that in a moment can undo all of the progress that somebody has made. You don’t need to do it intentionally or even knowingly. Perhaps you are just having a bad day and your let your own feelings of bitterness or disappointment overflow onto them. Perhaps you are not at all upset with them, but just failed to give thought to your choice of words. It doesn’t matter; your tongue can change the course of their voyage.

So, let me give a little bit of practical advice. Before you speak, ask yourself a few questions. Does this need to be said? If it is a criticism, and criticisms do sometimes need to be spoken, is it constructive, or is it something you are saying to make yourself feel superior to someone else? And, if you can, try and take a moment to put yourself in the place of the person you are speaking to and ask yourself how they might hear what you are saying.

The Other Possibility

James is quite right. It is unfortunately very easy to hurt someone with just a word or two. But I would also remind you that the metaphor that he uses, the idea that a tongue is like a rudder, can also work in the other direction. Yes, with a few words, you can set somebody off their course. But do not forget that, with a few words of encouragement and support you can do the opposite.

You can build somebody up. You can encourage someone on their voyage to take charge of their own life. You can let them know that you’re willing to listen and to understand what it is that they are dealing with. Rudders swing both ways. And please do keep that in mind whenever you have the opportunity to speak to someone who might be struggling.

Listen to the Letter of James. We should all think twice when given an opportunity to speak or to teach. But I think it is pretty clear that the upside of being able to say something that encourages and blesses someone on their voyage does make it worthwhile to open your mouth and use your tongue once you have given some careful consideration to what it is that God is calling you to say.

LUNCH WILL BE SERVED THIS THURSDAY; NOON - 1:45 PM

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Hespeler, September 8, 2024 © Scott McAndless – Baptism
Isaiah 35:4-7a, Psalm 146, James 2:1-17, Mark 7:24-37

We have all been greatly blessed and privileged today to take part in a very significant event. A young woman has made the choice to declare her faith in Jesus and willingness to be part of his church, a commitment that has been sealed by her baptism. I am continually amazed at how we as a church are given the opportunity to be a part of some of the most meaningful moments in an individual’s or a family’s life.

A Question

And I would like to take this opportunity to reflect for a bit on the confession of faith that has been made and what it means. I asked this question of Danielle today: “Do you turn to Jesus Christ, accepting him as Lord and Saviour, trusting in his grace and love?” All of you, if you have become a member of this or any congregation have been asked that question or a question very much like it. You are a member of Christ’s Church because of how you answered. But I would like to reflect for a little while on what that question means when it is asked of you in a church.

If someone on the street were to ask you, “Do you believe in Jesus?” what might they mean by that? If a random person asks you that, they are usually enquiring about the things you may believe about Jesus. They may be asking, “Do you believe that Jesus really existed?” Or, “Do you believe that he was born of a virgin?” Or that he rose from the dead, or maybe they are asking if you believe that Jesus is, in any sense, God.

Believe About Jesus

But when I ask that question before a baptism, am I asking you what you believe about Jesus? No, I am not. That is not to suggest for a moment that you shouldn’t seek, by studying and growing, to believe correct things about Jesus. Of course we should do that, but that is not the kind of belief that I am asking that question about.

There are, in fact, all kinds of people who believe all kinds of things about Jesus. They often believe these things passionately whether they are correct beliefs or not.

I have met people who believe that Jesus travelled to India in his youth, that he was white, that he was a supporter of supply-side economics and that he thought that the poor ought to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. These things are all demonstrably false (or at least have no good evidence to support them) but people believe them.

What You Believe Matters

What you believe about Jesus – true or false – matters, of course. I hope we promote the right beliefs about Jesus. But what you believe about him is not fundamentally what makes you a part of his church. The Letter of James, which we read from this morning says this about correct belief: “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder.” (James 2:19) Faith has to mean something more than just believing a bunch of correct things.

And I hope that this is something that can give you some comfort. I have met many Christians over the years who get hung up on the whole question of believing the right things. “I have a really hard time believing in a virgin birth,” one might say, “does that mean that I can’t be a Christian?” Or another might say, “I just can’t get my logical mind to come to terms with that whole notion of the Trinity.” (To which I respond, by the way, “Welcome to the club!”) “Does that mean I can’t be a Christian?”

Don’t be Anxious

Do your best to study and believe the right things about Jesus, but do not have any anxiety about getting something wrong or incomplete. God, who knows and holds all of the deepest truths of the universe, whose knowledge of all things vastly outstrips what any human knowledge will ever achieve, cannot look at any of us and fail to see that we all believe things that aren’t quite true. Why would God judge us for that? And so maybe it is past time for us to stop judging one another over differences in belief!

Free of All Doubt?

Another thing that the question, “Do you believe in Jesus?” might mean if someone asked it of you on the street has to do with doubt. For many people, believing in Jesus, in God or in anything to do with the church means that you never, not even for a moment, struggle with any doubt.

Indeed, I have often heard people boast of that – that they never feel even a moment’s doubt when it comes to believing even some of the wildest things in the Bible.

“Do you ever wonder if perhaps, when the Bible says that the world was created in six days, that the entire face of the earth was covered by Noah’s flood or that Jonah survived after being swallowed by a big fish that maybe, just maybe, it might mean something other than that those things literally happened exactly like that?” you might ask them. And they respond by saying, “Yes, I never doubted any of that for even a moment! The Bible said it, I believe it, that settles it.

I don’t personally see such a complete lack of doubt to be a sign of strong faith. It might be a sign of a lack of curiosity or perhaps even of critical thinking, but it is more blind acceptance of whatever you’ve been told than it is faith.

Trust in Jesus

So what is the question, “Do you turn to Jesus Christ, accepting him as Lord and Saviour, trusting in his grace and love?” really asking? It is not asking about intellectual belief or about a lack of doubt. It is simply asking about your willingness to trust in Jesus. The faith that Jesus is looking for from all believers is simply that. Jesus wants to know, “Are you willing to trust me?”

An Old Chair

Allow me to put it in terms that I think we can all relate to. Imagine that I had a chair here. And let’s say that this chair is really old. It has survived two world wars. The varnish is chipped and faded. It probably spent many years sitting in Sunday School classes where people carved their initials into the seat. If you dared to run your fingers underneath the seat, you would likely find many well-chewed pieces of gum.

In short, the chair doesn’t look great. But it does have four solid looking feet extending to the floor, even if one seems a bit shorter than the others and it might wobble a bit. The back appears to be firmly attached to the seat which doesn’t have any holes in it. So, I ask you one simple question: do you have faith in this chair?

Do you Have Faith in the Chair?

Now, if you were to answer my question by giving me a detailed description of the composition, manufacture and the history of this chair, would that prove to me that you have faith in this chair? Of course not. It would only indicate that you know a number of things about it.

If you were to provide me with a scientific study that proved to me that such a chair of such an age would collapse only 0.00001% of the times that somebody sat on it, I might be impressed with the thoroughness of your investigations, but I would not conclude that you had faith in this chair.

Most of all, if you insisted that you believed in this chair with all of your heart and that you had no doubt whatsoever that it could adequately support the weight of a human being, but you absolutely refused to sit on it anyway, I would have no real reason to conclude that you had faith in this chair.

Trusting the Chair

But if, on the other hand, somebody walked up here without knowing any of the history or construction of this chair, had no understanding of the engineering that makes chairs stable or the load-baring ratings of such furniture, could they have faith in this chair? Could they have faith even if they were plagued with all kinds of doubts about whether a chair could support someone such as them? Yes, they could.

And I would immediately know they did if, without hesitation, they just sat in it. Faith is what happens when you take what you know and believe, and you are actually willing to do something with it.

You see, that is what Jesus requires of you – not intellectual assent, not correct understanding or belief as important as those things may be. He doesn’t mind if you have doubts. All he needs to know is if you will trust him.

The Letter of James

The great reformer, Martin Luther, kind of famously didn’t much like the Letter of James that we read from this morning. He called it an epistle of straw and probably would have been happier if it wasn’t part of the New Testament at all. The reason why Luther didn’t much like this letter was because he insisted, and rightly so, that salvation is based only on grace through faith.

In other words, God will save us in whatever ways we need to be saved, but we cannot gain that salvation by doing good things or by earning it in any way whatsoever. The only way to gain it is to receive it as a gift by faith.

The problem that Luther and many others have with the Letter of James is that it goes on and on about the things that we do and the importance of doing the right things. That might certainly leave the unwary reader with the impression that James is teaching that we can earn favour with God by doing the right things.

Faith and Works

Now, it is true that the Letter of James seems to be in conversation with the teachings of the Apostle Paul regarding salvation. He does seem to take exception with some of the ways that people have interpreted Paul’s teaching about the importance of faith. But I ultimately do not think that James and Paul are disagreeing with each other.

James writes, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Surely that faith cannot save, can it?” But he is not really disagreeing with Paul by saying that. He is not saying that faith doesn’t save, he is just insisting that his readers remember what faith truly is. So long as you remember that the kind of faith that God is looking for is trust – the kind of trust that allows you to sit on a chair whether or not you have seen all of the engineering reports on its manufacture.

In other words, if you have faith in Jesus, if you really trust him, then you will not just stand around proclaiming that you believe. You will actually take that trust and act according to it.

Faith Without Works is Dead

James sums it all up by saying, “So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” Standing around and saying that you believe – even if you believe all the right things – is not what God is looking for. God is looking for trust, and trust naturally leads to action.

What James is absolutely not saying is that you can earn your way into God’s good graces by doing good deeds. He is saying that, if you truly learn to place your faith in Jesus – the kind of faith that saves – it is going to change the way that you see everything.

As you live by forming the habit of placing your trust in Jesus, you will come to see how he is always there for you. And as you come to see as a result that God loves you just as you are, forgiving you when you need forgiving and liberating you when you need liberation, the kinds of actions that will naturally result are actions that demonstrate love and acceptance for the weak and the forgotten, the poor and the oppressed. That is where faith in Jesus will naturally lead us if we allow it to prompt us forward.

So, you see that that question, “Do you turn to Jesus Christ, accepting him as Lord and Saviour, trusting in his grace and love?” is a question that contains so much. I would ask us all to consider yet again how we answer that question and how it has transformed our approach to the ways that we live.

We're back worshipping at St. Andrew's Hespeler regularly!

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Preston, 1 September 2024 © Scott McAndless
Acts 20:1-12, Psalm 16, Luke 7:11-17

Everyone loves to read a good travelogue. You are familiar, I hope with this very popular form of literature in which somebody writes about their experiences while travelling to and from exotic locales. Some of the more popular travelogues you may be have read include Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” and Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Eat, Pray, Love.” People love to read them because they allow them to experience danger, discovery and adventure, all from the comfort and safety of their own armchair.

But did you know that travelogues are not just a modern publishing trend? They have been extremely popular since the beginning of writing. Ancient travelogues like the Histories of Herodotus and the Odyssey of Homer were widely popular throughout ancient times and there were many imitators that were on Athens Times Bestseller lists. The really fun thing about ancient travelogues is that they always bring with them the possibilities of supernatural and divine encounters. Gods and demigods seem to be hiding around every corner.

Luke’s Travelogue

The reason I bring up travelogue literature is that many scholars today believe that, when Luke wrote parts of his book that we call The Acts of the Apostles, particularly the parts that recount the missionary journeys of Paul, he did so in a way that consciously imitated the popular travelogue literature of his day. He uses the same vocabulary, tropes and pacing as you would have found in those popular books.

And I don’t think that the biblical author did that by accident. He wanted his readers to approach this book with the same kinds of expectations as a travelogue – as a kind of metaphor for how they might encounter God and Christ and the Holy Spirit on their journey through life.

I think that that makes our reading this morning from the Book of Acts very fitting. We have been on a journey this summer, haven’t we? In fact, if Luke (the traditional author of the Book of Acts) were to write the story of our summer experiment, I suspect that it would go something like this:

Our Journey

“And lo, they travelled even unto Doon where they discovered truths about God among the trees. From there they set out to Crieff where a lesson was learned when the preacher failed to properly apply sunscreen. They set sail for Hespeler where the people just wouldn’t stop passing the peace and then onto Duff’s where a totally unplanned organ and piano concert broke out.” Yeah, I think that Luke could probably do justice to our summer journey.

Today we come to the end of our summer journey here in Preston. We, who have made some great friends and connections, are together for the last time. I certainly hope that we will be together again, but right now, we do not know how or when that might happen.

And so, it seemed fitting to focus on the story of what happened when the Apostle Paul gathered with the church in Troas. It was a significant meeting because, after many adventures and many lessons learned among many churches, Paul was leaving that part of the world to go to Jerusalem. Nobody knew when or if he might return. Does that feel a little bit like where we are today? So, my question is how might Luke describe our meeting as the church of Crieff, Doon, Duff’s, Hespeler and Preston today?

Our Meeting Today

On the first day of the week, when we met to worship and enjoy fellowship, the preacher was holding a discussion with them; since it was the last time that they would be together and they would all return to their own congregations the next week, he continued speaking until noon. It was a hot summer day on a long weekend and churches didn’t have air conditioning in those days and the air was scarcely moving.

A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the window, began to sink off into a deep sleep while the preacher droned on and on and on. Overcome by sleep, he fell to the ground three floors below and was picked up dead.

The First Day of the Week

Is that how it is going to go today? Well, no. I (perhaps unlike the Apostle Paul) do have a sense of when I have said enough. But, I do think that this is the perfect passage for us to reflect on where we are today.

If you look through the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts, you will notice that the author of those books keeps returning to a particularly powerful image. He describes people gathering on the first day of the week – that is on Sunday.

It comes up often, for example, in his description of the appearances of the resurrected Jesus at the end of his gospel – in his story of Easter and of the walk to Emmaus – Luke makes a point of repeating that these things happened when people gathered to eat on the first day of the week.

The point of this seems clear. One of the things that made the Christian movement distinct from almost the very beginning was their strange practice of gathering on Sunday. This set them apart from the Jews, of course, who had their Sabbath on Saturday, and from every other religious and cultural group in their society. Gathering on Sunday was one of those things that made the church a church.

Luke’s Symbolic Use of Sunday Gatherings

And despite the fact that this habit had not yet been formed in the weeks immediately after the resurrection and possibly not even in the time of the Apostle Paul, when Luke wrote his books, mentioning that a group of people gathered on the first day was a quick and easy way to let his readers know that he wanted them to understand that he was saying something important about the church.

So, when Luke tells us that the people in Troas met and broke bread with Paul on the first day of the week, our alarm bells should all be going off. “Warning, warning! This story is here to teach us something about what it means to be the church!”

The Tired Church

And so, let’s look at Eutychus and ask what he might have to teach us about being the church. And the first lesson certainly seems to be a caution, doesn’t it? He seems to be a warning that the church can fall too easily into slumber. And slumbering and sleeping can apparently have some dangerous consequences.

You know, one of the loudest complaints that I hear from all of our churches these days seems to be exactly that: “We’re tired.”

And I know that it is not coming from nowhere. People are feeling that there is more and more work to do and there are fewer and fewer people to do it. And it is not just a feeling mind you – studies have shown that that is exactly what has been happening in all churches across all denominations and the theological spectrum. Even churches that are growing at high rates are not escaping this trend.  Fewer are doing more of the work. When people in churches tell me they are tired, I believe them!

But what is our response to this Eutychian problem of the church these days? Often it is just to shout at the church to wake up, drink more coffee and work through your fatigue because otherwise your church is going to fall out of the proverbial third-floor window and die! That is our frantic and fear-filled reaction. Does that sound like a compassionate response to you?

The Power of Resurrection

It is not the response to the sense of fatigue that Luke would like us to make. I know that because he does not end his account as a warning. He does not end it with Eutychus lying dead on the sidewalk outside the house. Death is part of the story, but it is not the end of it.

He ends it like this: “But Paul went down and bending over [Eutychus] took him in his arms and said, ‘Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.’ Then Paul went upstairs, and after he had broken bread and eaten, he continued to converse with them until dawn; then he left. Meanwhile they had taken the boy away alive and were not a little comforted.”

What does that mean? It means that the church is a place where we experience the power of resurrection. It is the place where we are “not a little comforted” because we know that Jesus has triumphed over death for us, that he is risen and that because he is risen, we have hope of life and renewal and new beginnings. It is when we stop experiencing the power of the resurrection as the church that we cease to be the church of Jesus Christ.

What We Must Pass Through First

But the difficult question is what do we need to go through to get to that experience. The church in Troas had to go through a pretty harrowing experience of death, after all, before they were given the opportunity to experience that power. There was grief and anxiety and fear and loss. As they stared at poor Eutychus lying on the ground, how could they feel anything else?

So, I guess the question we may need to ask is what sort of grief or loss are we going to have to live through to experience the power of the resurrection that they experienced?

Here is the problem that I see the church facing. If we – if the people who are doing the work – are weary, then the solution cannot just be a question of more coffee, working harder and exhausting ourselves more. That only leads to a harder crash (possibly from a third story window) further down the road. We need resurrection, not stimulus. We need new life, not just something to keep us awake a little while longer. The only model that we have in the Bible for the renewal of the church is death and resurrection.

We May Need to Die to Something

And I know we may not want to hear it, but this means that in order to become the church that God is calling us to be, our congregations may need to die to something. I know in many of our churches, what we need to die to first is the model of the church that used to be. We are constantly trying to live up to our idealized image of what the church was in the past and we are burning our best people out in this attempt to keep up appearances. That is something that we all may need to die to to a certain extent.

I suspect that if this summer experiment has taught us anything, it is that maybe it’s time for us, in some ways at least, to die to the notion that our congregations can make it all on their own. I don’t know about you, but I have been amazed by the energy that we have found in working and worshiping together.

In my experience working in the church, summer time was always a time that you just had to survive. You kept the lights on. You ran the operation with a skeleton crew. But hasn’t it been so much fun to not merely survive this summer as congregations but to thrive in our worship together? I really believe we’re going to have to find ways to keep some of that energy together going moving forward.

Hard Choices

But if I have discovered one thing in the church, it is that nothing really changes unless we make some hard decisions and give certain things up. And that can feel awful. It can feel as if you are falling from a third story window and the sidewalk is coming at you so very fast.

But if the story of Eutychus can teach us anything, it is that such moments are not the end of the story. We are churches that believe in resurrection. We are churches that trust in Jesus’ ability to raise us up even from the dead. There have been so many times in the past when the church has felt as if it was on the edge of death and Jesus has raised us up and challenged us to live in new and exciting ways. I do feel as if we are in such a moment right now.

If Luke were to write the story of our churches and the challenges that they face today, I have no doubt that it would be an exciting story of adventure and that his imagination would be caught by our journeys this summer. Above all, he would teach us to trust in the power of the resurrection which is and always has been the only hope of the church.

Fortunate

Oh, and there is one more thing that I would like you to take away from this story. Did you ever wonder what the name Eutychus’ means? It means fortunate. So if God has put us where we are right now, remember it is because God loves us enough to bless us with good fortune. I hope that we can get to the place were we aren’t falling asleep, but not because we’re overcaffeinated. Let it be that we…

Don’t wanna close our eyes
Don’t wanna fall asleep
‘Cause we miss all this
And we don’t wanna miss a thing
Yeah, there’s a lot of stuff to do
Eutychus was a righteous dude
And we’ll rise again
Cause we don’t wanna miss a thing.

Join us as we worship together for the last Sunday of our Summer Experiment.

Here is the Zoom link if you need it: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83374180457?pwd=toe8C4iGVfFgL8SFaWt6amw8tYiIVY.1

https://youtu.be/WR90X7kKhXU

Duff’s Presbyterian, August 4, 2024 © Scott McAndless – Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
2 Samuel 11:26 – 12:13a, Psalm 51:1-12, Ephesians 4:1-16, John 6:24-35

Nathan was no fool; at least he could do some simple math. How long, exactly, had Bathsheba been married to David when she had her baby? Let’s see… it all started with the incident in which David used his power and position first to spy on Bathsheba inside her house while she was taking a bath and then to send her a summons that she had no power to refuse. Then afterwards, she sent word to him that she was expecting a child.

How long would it have taken for her to come to that realization? They did not have the kinds of sophisticated tests that we have today, so it likely would not have been until she was maybe in her sixth week.

The Cover-Up

Then David spent a considerable amount of time trying to hide the fact that this would be his child. He used his power as king to call Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, back from the battlefields. They had no telephones; that would have likely taken at least a week before Uriah could answer the summons. Then there were several days of David trying to get Uriah just to go home and sleep with his wife so that people might plausibly think that the child would be his. But Uriah was just too virtuous and noble – far more noble than the king – and he wouldn’t do it, not even when David got him good and drunk.

The Murder

David’s next plan – his plan B– was much more diabolical. He sent Uriah back to his unit with instructions to his commander that he was to be sent into the thickest part of the fighting and, at the key moment, everyone else was to withdraw. This plan did finally work and Uriah was killed. But once again it must have taken a couple of weeks or more to implement. A week or so after that, the news was brought back to Jerusalem that Uriah was dead.

And then there was the funeral to be organized and following the funeral, Bathsheba had to observe a decent period of mourning before David could finally send for her and bring her into his harem.

Of course, Nathan knew none of this. He only observed David’s strange behaviour during Uriah’s visit. What he couldn’t help but notice, however, was the undeniable fact that Bathsheba was barely in the harem for six months before she presented David with a newborn son. Surely Nathan wasn’t the only one to wonder at that!

Betrayed Soldiers

Nathan sought out the other soldiers from Uriah’s unit. These were men who were hardened by years of experience in battle. But when he asked them about the day when Uriah died, he saw them shake with fear as they told the story.

“It was crazy,” one of them said. “Our commander ordered us to attack the strongest place in the enemy’s defences and we were practically surrounded by some of their mightiest warriors. And then, all of a sudden, we looked around and discovered that we were all alone. Everyone else had withdrawn.”

“Uriah fought like a madman that day,” another continued. “He was completely reckless about his own safety as if he knew that he was destined to die anyway. Maybe he knew something we didn’t? But thanks to his bravery, a few of us managed to get out alive.

“But we never should have been put in that position to begin with. I just don’t know what our commanders were thinking!”

Nathan left the interview pondering deeply.

The Lord Sent Nathan

All that the Bible tells us about why the Prophet Nathan went into confront David about what he had done is this: “But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord, and the Lord sent Nathan to David.” And I know how many people understand that. They imagine it all as some grand supernatural event. The prophet had a vision or perhaps awoke from a dream suddenly possessed of disturbing but previously hidden information. We assume that God revealed this secret information directly to the prophet.

And then, when he actually goes and confronts David by telling his little parable, I guess the idea is that David is so shocked by this sudden revelation of his deepest and darkest secret by God that it causes him to make his sudden and sincere confession.

Was This Really Hidden Knowledge?

But my question is this: did Nathan really require some form of supernatural knowledge to discover what the monkey business was between David and Bathsheba? Do people not know how to count months? And can you imagine a squad of soldiers who felt as if their commanders did something that was really dumb and they didn’t tell everyone who would listen all about it?

Come on! I don’t believe for a moment that Nathan needed a divine message to know what was going on. All he needed was a sharp mind, a bit of curiosity and the ability to count to nine. I do not think that Nathan needed God to reveal anything to him about what the king had done. And so, the question is, what does it mean when it says that God sent Nathan to the king?

What If Everyone Knew?

Here is the truth of the matter. The entire palace and most of the city of Jerusalem had been buzzing for weeks about the birth of David’s newest son. For anyone whose eyes were open to simple reality, it was something far beyond the levels of gossip or rumour. Any reasonable person could see that something must have happened before Bathsheba’s husband had been so tragically killed.

Now, that is not exactly the same thing as saying that everyone knew what had happened. We have all seen this, haven’t we? How some people have a hard time accepting evidence that is right in front of their eyes. Were there people in Jerusalem who were going on about how it was all “fake news”? Were there conspiracy theories about how the whole scandal was manufactured by a cabal of globalist Philistines who were intent on destroying the Israelite nation? I have no doubt.

There were also likely people who were arguing that since David was the king, he had absolute immunity anyway so anyone who even raised the question of what he had done was engaging in malicious prosecution and weaponizing the judicial system against political opponents because they were trying to steal the next election for… well, maybe not exactly that, but you know what I mean.

What God Gave Nathan?

So, what did God do for Nathan? Did God reveal to him something that he didn’t already know or at least strongly suspect? I don’t think so. But that doesn’t mean that God didn’t “send” Nathan to David. I suspect that Nathan woke up one day to the conviction that, if he had an understanding about what had happened with David and Bathsheba, maybe God had allowed him to figure that out. And maybe he realized that, if God had given him the brains to figure that much out, maybe that meant that God wanted him to do something with that knowledge.

But most of all, I believe that God gave to Nathan the courage to do what I have no doubt that many others in the court and in the family of David did not have the courage to do. God gave Nathan the strength of character to go and challenge David directly.

A Creative Approach

One more thing, I would also credit God with giving to Nathan is the creativity of his unique approach to the king. That was absolutely brilliant.

Nathan could have gone in there levelling a direct accusation, and do you know what would have happened? David would have immediately put his defences up.

But Nathan went in with a story. And a good story always has a way of breaking down your defences and helping you to see something from a whole different angle. Watch out for the storytellers; they will get you every time.

That is why God loves the storytellers, just like God loves the artists and the composers and all those who use their creativity to make people see the world from a whole different angle. I honestly believe such creativity has always been one of God’s greatest gifts to humanity. So yes, God granted to Nathan creativity in his approach to the king.

But did God need to tell Nathan something he didn’t already know? I don’t think so. And I believe that is something that all of us need to understand. Because many of us have the potential of being a Nathan in our world today.

We Need Nathans

We need people who are going to use their God-given intellect to interpret events and see what is really going on in our world today. And a lot of what is going on in our world today is very disturbing.

Do you need to wait for some vision from God to recognize that powerful people are using their power and wealth to fix the system so that it works only in their own favour?  Do you require a supernatural messenger to come to you in order to see how marginalized people are abused and how their work is not paid what it is worth? Are you waiting for divine revelation to come to you before you see how various minority groups like immigrants and international students are being unfairly scapegoated – pinned with the blame for all the woes of our society? I hope not. You are smart enough to employ your intellect to see these things. You are smart enough to be a Nathan.

Using Creativity

What’s more, I am certain that you are creative enough to be a Nathan. Nathan used a God-given talent that allowed him to spin a tale about a cute little lamb and its devoted owner that was somehow able to get past the defences of a man who was so powerful, who was so convinced that he had absolute immunity, that he could do whatever he wanted.

And I would absolutely challenge you to think about the creative talents that God has given to you and how you can use them to break down the defences of a system in this world that perpetuates evil and harm.

My Calling

I believe that God has given me that kind of calling. Apart from my work as a preacher, I also put out a podcast on a regular basis. I do this because I believe God has given me certain gifts as a storyteller. And so, on my podcast, I retell Bible stories in a way that is not targeted at preaching to the church. I do that on Sundays and in my regular job of sermon preparation.

In my podcast, I try to find a way to tell these stories for the world outside of the church, using these amazing stories to suggest to people that they might just try out a different perspective, not just on the Bible, but on how things work in the world.

Have I persuaded anyone to take on a different perspective? I don’t know for sure, but I do believe this is one of my callings. It is simply to use my creativity in a way similar to what Nathan did.

Various Ways of Using Creativity

Now, I know we’re not all storytellers. But there are lots of different ways of being creative. Some may paint or colour or draw. Some have a gift for describing the world in ways that fire somebody’s imagination. Others are really good at using humour or organizing people or even the presentation of numbers and accounting. These are all ways of presenting truths to the world that can change somebody’s perspective.

I do believe that God has gifted each one of us in unique ways to be creative and to use our skills to connect with and influence people. God has gifted us with the ability to persuade people to open their eyes and see truths about how the world is working. I would strongly encourage you to prayerfully meditate on how you can use your creativity to have an impact on the world.

In any case, I hope the story of Nathan might blow up your understanding of what it means to be a prophet. You don’t have to be in receipt of divine hidden information in order to proclaim the word of the Lord. You just have to pay attention to what is really happening and use the brain that God has given you. You just have to use the creativity that God has put into you. I truly believe that anyone can be a Nathan and that we definitely need more of them.

All services start at 10:00 am