christmas sermon 2012

As a little girl, I thought Christmas was perfect the year I got my doll house. 

I had slipped out of bed on Christmas Eve night to sneak a peek at gifts under the tree 

But I remember getting to the bedroom door,

stopping, and turning going back to bed. 

Something stopped me from spoiling the surprise,

and what a great one it was the next morning! 

Christmas felt perfect

As a young teen, I thought the perfect Christmas

was one where we didn’t have to go to my aunt and uncle’s house in St. Catherines! 

I didn’t have to sleep on the floor in the basement bedroom

with the old blue shag carpet that smelled strongly of moth balls. 

I didn’t have to watch my cousins play with all their friends on Christmas day,

instead, I got to call all of mine and talk for hours on the pink phone

I got from the Esso Christmas party,

laying upside down over the edge of my bed. 

Rousing myself for yet another Clementine… and some homemade treats.

As a young adult, I remember the adventure of my first Christmas working retail!

hardly a perfect start!

I was exhausted at the end of the day,

filled to the brim with cheesy Christmas carols

like grandma got run over by a reindeer and the like. 

But when I got home, things were different. 

Things were peaceful. 

There was a roaring fire burning up all the scrap wood from Dad’s latest project,

actual choral Christmas music playing on the stereo.

I got to spend it at home, with grandma and papa and nana,

mum, dad and my sister Laura round the fire, roasting chestnuts,

and burning all the coloured wrapping paper

and watching the flames turn the loveliest shade of blue or

the most shocking shade of green! 

That felt like a perfect Christmas.

What I realize now, is that none of those Christmases were perfect.

The year I got my dolls house, I’m sure something went wrong in the kitchen

family was late,

there were arguments… usually petty ones,

Somebody probably broke something, either a dish or a toe!

and all those years family came to stay,

I was off ousted from my nice comfy bed and forced to slept on a too short couch

but I'd take all the petty arguments broken dishes and couch surfing to have those days back

it’s very different without my grandparents and my dad.

I know that the naivety of youth has faded, and I see the reality

I can see the darknesses

as well as the light

Sometimes it would be nice to just have the fantasy though

Maybe that’s what we strive for when we try to have the perfect christmas

the perfectly set table

the perfectly adorned tree, the right music

enough candles and a roaring fire.

Maybe we want to have a moment of perfection.

because maybe then it would feel like everything in the world made sense

the illusion that we are completely in control!

But it never quite lives up to our imaginations does it.

There is always something missing. 

What I think we are trying to do is turn off the dark

but as much as we try, I don't think that's possible.

We can't stop the sadnesses in our world

we can't stop the tragedies

we can't stop missing those we love but see no longer

Sometimes the darkness seems overwhelming

We have seen tragedies this past week with murders

and horrors and much darkness

debates over how to solve the problems of gun violence

how to address the problems of mental health

and keeping society safe.

and we each have our own darknesses

things that hide deep within our souls

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It's not possible to turn off the dark

we never know what someone is going through.

You can’t tell by looking at someone if they’ve just lost their job

You can’t tell by looking at someone if they’ve just had a fight with their spouse and are afraid of the future

You can’t tell if someone is angry at their kids

Saddened by a sick friend

Hurt by a lie

Blaming themselves for hurting someone else because of their carelessness

Grieving the sudden death of a loved one.

YOU JUST CAN’T TELL.

We don’t often let others into our world of

Hurts, pains, fears, "unforgiveness", lies, sorrows

We don’t let them into the cracks that life has etched into our beings

But these cracks, these places of vulnerability have amazing potential

They have the potential to let the light in – if we only have the courage to let it.

Its like Leonard Cohen said,

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in.

It's not possible to turn off the dark

But it is possible to turn on a light

--------------

Isaiah tells us "The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who lived in a land of deep darkness

on them light has shined."

Christ is our light in the darkness

Christ reminds us that we don't have to take the world as we see it

that we can change it,

that we can change us

We can choose to walk in this light that Christ promises us

It's not possible to turn off the dark

But it is possible to turn on a light

light dispels the darkness

They say in perfect darkness the human eye can see a single candle flame several miles away

which is good because sometimes all we can muster within ourselves is the light of a candle

Christ breaks down those boundaries where only a single candle burns

and makes us realize that even though all I can do is be the light of a lone candle

When two or three of us are together,

we are bright enough to eat by

bring in a few more and we're bright enough to read by

bring together a whole community

and we're bright enough to live by

On this, the eve of Christmas,

When we prepare to welcome Christ,

the light of the world back into our midst, into our hearts and lives

Give some time to think about where the cracks are in your life.

In your relationships

In your families

In your friendships?

Who is it you need to forgive?

Who is it you need to hug

Who is it you need to laugh with

Who is it you need to reach out to?

So even if one of our candles is burning a little lower today

with your help

with all your help

and through the light of God who loves us more than we can ask or imagine.....

we are not only bright enough to live by,

we have the love and hope and joy of this little baby of light

born within us over and over

giving us courage and compassion

For the light does shine in the darkness

and the darkness has not..... will not.... and CANNOT overcome it

Thanks be to God

Rain

When the clouds roll in and the sky turns dark, people everywhere run for cover. Newspapers, book bags, and coats pulled up over heard as they run to keep dry. If I have somewhere to go, I'm one of them, seeking out anything to keep my hair dry, so I don't look so waterlogged when I get wherever I'm going. But if I'm at home, I get to indulge. If I'm at home, I might sit on the front porch as that stormy darkness takes over the sky and makes everything glow with a strange greenish light. Sometimes the wind is cold and the rain falls sideways, sometimes it's just a wee mist of a rain. But sometimes, like tonight, it is the perfect combination of light and darkness where the air is still except for the huge drops of rain that bounce and dance on the sidewalk out front. Sometimes, when the day is as hot as today was, and my temper could use as much cooling off as the overheated sidewalk, I fling open the porch door, march down the steps and plant my feet beyond the reach of the porch overhang, and look up. I feel the rain fall in heavy thick drops on my face, and I smile.  Simple pleasures.  When was the last time you enjoyed the simplicity of creation around you?  Isn’t it time to find that again?

of Psalms and limericks

I have absolutely nothing profound or particularly inspiring to say today.  I have been writing tomorrows sermon using the psalms and I was reminded how Psalms are Hebrew poetry.... which lead me to revisit some of my old poetry.... which took me to witty limericks.  Circle of life stuff.  But I have to say that there is something to be said for laughter, so here are some of my favourites.


The hapless church tenor, young Horace,
Had skin that was terribly porous.
Sometimes in the choir
He’s start to perspire
And nearly drown out the whole chorus.
___________________

There was a young lady named Bright
Whose speed was far faster than light
She went out one day
In a relative way
And returned home the previous night.
___________________

A flea and a fly in a flue
were stuck so what could they do?
"Let us fly," said the flea!
"Let us flee," said the fly!
So they flew through a flaw in the flue!
___________________

There was an old man of Darjeeling
Who boarded a bus bound for Ealing
It said on the door
`Don't spit on the floor'
So he stood up and spat on the ceiling
___________________

A wonderful bird is the pelican,
His bill will hold more than his belly-can,
He can take in his beak
Enough food for a week
But I'm darned if I know how the hell-he-can
___________________

There was an old man from Peru,
Who dreamed he was eating his shoe
He awoke in the night
With a dreadful fright,
And found out that it was quite true.
___________________

An epicure dining at Crewe
Found a very large bug in his stew.
Said the waiter, "Don't shout
And wave it about,
Or the rest will be wanting one too."
___________________

There once was a vicar from Ryde
Who fell down a sewer and died
Then his silly old sexton
Fell into the next one
And now they’re interred side by side

to confirm or not to confirm, that is the question...

Much to my astonished delight, I’ve begun teaching another round of confirmation classes. The three churches and their respective clergy (3 priests and a deacon - sounds like the start of a joke) have gotten together again for this adventure and after last week, I find myself looking forward to tomorrows class. I always make the comment on the first class that if any are there because their parents or their grandparents say they have to be confirmed, and if by the end of the classes the participants decide, for whatever reason, not to be confirmed yet, I’d stand with them and back up their decision with mom and grandma. I make sure they know that we are there to help them explore what it means to be a Christian, what it means to believe, what it means to have faith. We go through the Apostles creed and the questions they will be asked by the bishop in the confirmation liturgy so they feel confident in answering them with integrity.

This latest crop of kids is wonderful. The first question was “Should we be taking the creation story literally or as a metaphor?” They weren’t even thrown off when I asked which creation story they meant, Adam and Eve or the 7 days OR when I asked what they thought! In fact it just prompted more discussion. What about the parables? What about the beasts in the book of Revelation? What about the antichrist? What does prayer do? What is the Trinity?

Tomorrow we’re talking about Teaching, Fellowship, Breaking Bread and Prayers – It promises to be a packed evening, but I can’t wait to hear where the discussions go. My own spiritual life has been dragging for the past little while, so I hope their enthusiasm can enliven me. Sounds like the point I may use to teach what fellowship is… Christians gathering together to encourage each other in our own faith journey.

Top 8 cliche's that are NOT helpful....

I’ve been thinking about all of the rhetoric that has crept into church-speak or christianese – as a friend calls it, and quite frankly some of it is just really bad theology. Most of these are things that are assumed to be scriptural…. that is sooooo not the case! This is far from an exhaustive list, I welcome other contributions!

1. "Love the sinner hate the sin"

On the surface it doesn’t seem so harmful in and of itself, but it is all too often used as a weapon to legitimize hate or bigotry or racism or sexism or any number of sinful behaviours. It's a simple catch phrase that has a shallow meaning that all too often results in feelings of superiority on the part of the quoter. It's actually from St. Augustine. His letter 211 (c. 424) contains the phrase Cum dilectione hominum et odio vitiorum, which translates roughly as "With love for mankind and hatred of sins."

2. "God helps those who help themselves"
also not in the bible - it comes from Aesop and should read "The gods help those who help themselves" Great news for a capitalist market economy, not so great for any who have read the sermon on the mount.

Following on this theme we have:

3. "...money is the root or all...evil." Not scriptural, money certainly does complicate things – but the root of ALL evil? I wholeheartedly disagree. Not all evil is the same; Power and lack of compassion and many other things contribute to evil so to say the root of it is the same, is (in my opinion) reductio ad absurdum

4. “All you need to do to go to heaven is ask Jesus into your heart.”
This isn't scriptural either - nowhere does scripture tell you this is a requirement. While we’re on the subject I don’t think we have a “Jesus shaped hole in our hearts” either… gahhh!

5. "We are called to be IN the world but not OF the world."
The closest I can see is John 18:36 - but that one says that JESUS is not of this world... not us - we are not Jesus. We have to be OF the world. We don't have to accept all the crap, but we have to be willing to wade in and get dirty. It has airs of "this is good enough for you, but I'm better than all this". What a crock of crap.

6. "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away".... sounds scriptural because the quote is in KJV language, but it’s yet another one not found in the bible! (*correction: See Fr Aaron's note below.... I still think it is not pastoral or helpful - but I appreciate the scripture reference correction!) I cringed the other week when I heard this (without the “eth’s”) told to someone at a funeral. How on earth is this to be comforting?

7. “God needed another angel in heaven” (as an explanation why someone died). Patronizing, horrible, hurtful and just trite. Never, ever ever EVER say this to someone whose loved one has died. I can’t stress that enough. Just say no.

Last and certainly least…..

8. "God Doesn't Give Us More Than We Can Handle"
This is probably one of my most hated sayings. It is utter crap. Some sources attribute it to Mother Tereasa, but others say that's not right either. Either way, this is a good one to get out of our lives too! I know I've been in way over my head and the only relief was to cry out and lean on God and those around me for support. I think God is with us in our trials, but certainly doesn’t give them to us to test our faith and this implies.

This could have originated from a misguided interpretation of 1 Corinthians 10:13.

With love from India

I’m reviving my long stagnant blog, just for today perhaps, but maybe again..... you never can tell.

I’ve been getting a lot of phone calls from telemarketers. One specific variety of scam artist telemarketers. You know the kind, because I know I’m not the only one being targeted. They are the fast talker variety. Ones with Indian accents - this one happened to be from the North of India. How do I know? Certainly not that I can tell the subtle regional changes of his native Hindi language while he spoke English, but because I asked him.
I patiently listened to his spiel, “We are receiving error reports from your windows computer and as I work for the company, I can walk you through the changes to repair the damage”
When he asked if I was in front of my computer, I simply said “no”. He said, “that’s OK, I can wait while you turn it on.” But alas, that’s where the conversation changed. I think it’s because a friend of mine worked for a shyster of a telemarketer here in Canada for 2 weeks, or maybe because I’m just tired of all the scams. But I told him, that I hoped he was out there looking for another job. One that he could be proud of himself for doing. One where he could look in the mirror at the end of the day and know he wasn’t scamming people. He challenged me and asked if I could do that and if I could, what did I do. I told him I was a priest – that some days I was proud of what I did, but I also know that I could always do more – that it was hard. We spoke for 20 minutes. I told him he should get out of that job and find some way to live without profiting through taking advantage of people. I told him he was worth more than just running scams. He laughed and said I was like his mom when I told him that he was better than that. Smart mom. He has a degree in Business Administration, and can’t find a job. This was all he could get. He’s 23 years old, far from his home and staying with friends. He has a sister who has a job and, as he said, “is a good girl, not like me, the hacker.” I could hear the resigned way he spoke. Like he dreamed of something more, but also how he didn’t know if he would be able to do it.

There was a raw honesty in our conversation. He asked me to pray for him. And he asked if he could write down my phone number and call me again when he had a better job. Absolutely.

He is the second person from this particular computer scam that I’ve had this conversation with. The first has called me twice since saying how hard it is to find another job, but he’s still trying – and to thank me for believing in him.

What sort of a world do we live in where so many young articulate people can’t find legal employment? Think of that next time you speak to a company after hours and the person on the other end of the phone has an Indian accent and calls himself “Mike” instead of “Manjeet”. Instead of complaining that our jobs have been exported, give thanks that another person is able to feed their family (probably their entire extended family on that one salary). After all, that could be my new friend in India, finally being legally employed.