The Hope of Summer 2021

I have recently received the first dose of the Covid 19 vaccine, and am scheduled for the second dose in August. This day of vaccination has been a long time coming. In March of 2020 when the world was shut down because of the pandemic, and we were told that it would be a year or more before a vaccine would be available for distribution, I remember feeling the burden of uncertainty for our society. With the heavy Covid restrictions in place for the spring and summer of last year, I also remember the summer not being as restful and life giving as I needed it to be. I remember being Covid tired both psychologically and spiritually, even when the summer had come and gone. 

 

Although still being Covid fatigued, as many or most of us are, I am filled with a hope that I did not have this time last year. The reality of the vaccination roll out is lifting my spirit with the hope of a further lessening of community restrictions as we look forward to the fall. That hope, not there last year, is changing the energy within me heading into this summer season. There is a lighter energy, a hopeful energy, a life giving energy. This Spirit of hope is drawing me into the restful months of summer with a more open stance that should allow me to lean into the more gentle and restorative nature of summer. 

 

For us Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, with such a short summer season, the May 24th weekend is when the collective provincial psyche shifts, and we get into summer mode. This year, more than any other year, we need to use these summer months - holding a vaccinated hope for the fall and lessening of restrictions - to get outdoors, to connect with the creation that we are part of, and allow it to help heal us and restore us. 

 

Many parts of the world continue to struggle with the devastating spread of the virus, especially densely populated and poorer regions. We hope that our governments will do what needs to be done in the sharing and distribution of vaccine resources around the world. In the meantime, us vaccinated and travel bound Newfoundlanders and Labradorians live in a sparsely populated land that is spacious and full of beauty. I for one, am looking forward with hope, to a summer in my garden, on the trails, and in the kayak on the water, with spaciousness and intent on restoring my Covid burdened soul. I hope something of the same for you.  

Easter People: Known and Loved by God

Christians are on the Easter journey.

A journey of growing and maturing in our awareness that we are known and loved by God. And that we are called to live the Risen life of Love in Christ now and forever.

We need a Shepherd

Seeking to know Christ and to enter more into His Risen life is not something we can accomplish on our own. We need a shepherd to lead us and direct us into the truth of who we are.

“I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.”

Just as the Father knows the Son, and the Son knows the Father, we are to come to KNOW Christ, just as He KNOWS us.

It is the relationship between Lover and Beloved.

God is the Great Lover, and each and every one of us are God's Beloved. 

Being “Known” by God

Part of the Resurrection experience is the growing realization that we are “Known” by God.

1 Corinthians 13:12

“…then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

There is a love that is always present to us… despite ourselves. A love that we cannot merit or win, it is just there.

Whether we know it, want it or accept it……we are fully known and fully loved by God.

“Recognizing” this Loving Presence within us and amongst us is the heart of our Resurrection experience. 

This is what makes Easter people.

This is what makes Easter people different than those who have not yet turned to or woken up to this Risen love of God in Christ. 

And it is Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who leads us into this realization and loving relationship. 

The Church’s mission

We are known and loved by God, the Great Lover.

Let us enter more deeply into the realization of this Risen Love that is Christ.

And let us continue to be ever more creative in loving the world around us and drawing others into New and Risen Life.

People, Places and Things: Looking for Relief from Pandemic Weariness

Living life, even on a good day, is hard. Suffering is a non-negotiable component of the human condition. Too many people spend too much of their lives trying to outrun or cover over this reality. This is why people awakening to Deeper Reality and the spiritual path not only have the courage to embrace their suffering, but they also know the need and have the desire to intentionally practice Loving Presence. The truth and hope of Easter is that, through the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, we can come to know a new and risen life (which Christians call Christ), a Loving and Healing Presence living among us, within us and as us. Alleliua! This is Good News indeed! 

Yet, living with the various levels of Covid-19 restrictions over the last year and into the foreseeable future has made living life even harder than normal on all of us. Of course there is the virus itself which, when contracted, has been making people very ill, and in too many cases, has been fatal. There is the economic suffering that has been widespread, and has negatively affected every form of business and employment. There is the community suffering. Even when in level 1 restrictions, to be kept to physical distancing without being able to touch another and draw close in conversation - this is not normal and we suffer because of it. There is the suffering of families living apart at greater distances and not being able to travel to visit and connect. And there is the collective societal suffering of not knowing what our future will be while not only still working through the pandemic, but in the long reaching aftereffects. This is just to name some of the areas of our Covid-19 struggling. 

In the midst of all this suffering and uncertainty, there is light and hope. And you don’t have to go very far to find it. It is within you. The Easter hope of life in Christ, of life in Love, is within you waiting to be discovered or rediscovered, and then lived out of. This larger Life of Love is your deepest truth and reality, it is your deepest identity. It alone will set you free from your suffering and bring you into the light of a new day filled with new love and hope. 

Realizing this hope is best done with the company of others. My friends in the Resurrection’s Addictions Recovery Groups regularly refer to the importance and wisdom of “people, places and things.” If the company we are keeping, or the places we are going, or the things we are doing are not deepening loving connection and hope, then we need to hang around with new people, in new places, doing new things - whether virtually or in person. A healthy church (and there are healthy churches out there!) that is open to and leaning into a deeper love and hope would be worth finding and participating in. It could help bring you more hope and deeper love in a Covid-19 restricted world. 

Something is Missing

There is loneliness in my spirit, a pandemic induced and bodily loneliness. On March 22, 2020, our church communities were shut down because of the Covid 19 pandemic. That is almost a full year ago. With the development and distribution of the Covid 19 vaccines there are rays of hope that our society and our churches will be more opened by the fall of this year, 2021. That is still a long way out, and I feel it in my body and spirit. As a community of faith, since last March, we have been adjusting to recorded liturgy and other forms of community gathering online. In September we began the process of in person liturgy and other gatherings with physical distancing and required restrictions. I am truly grateful for every form of gathering, both online and in person, even with Covid restrictions. But having said that, I am aware of a loneliness about me - a bodily loneliness. Our bodies are equally as important to being part of community as are our minds and souls. We are not long out of the Christmas season when we were celebrating the Incarnation of God in Jesus of Nazareth. This is the same Jesus who teaches that “I am in you, and you are in me.” Each and every one of us is an incarnation of God. This means everything. God is “in” all of creation. This means that our bodies are good and important, and that physical presence and physical touching is a non negotioninable component of being in healthy community. I am grateful for the love and physical embrace of my family and Covid Bubble. But that is not enough. I need the Church, the Body of Christ. I need to physically hold the Body of Christ. I need to be physically held by the Body of Christ. That is what I am lonely for. That is what I most miss during this season of Covid restrictions. Something as simple as a hand shake at the door as the church physically gathers. I miss that. Being able to stand close to another in conversation. I miss that. Being able to embrace anyone who wanted or needed an embrace. I miss that. Although a restricted number of people are allowed to gather as church, there is, for me at least, a loneliness about it. Something is missing in our presence and connection. I long for the day when we can embrace one another again. It is a hope that is full of the Spirit drawing us forward and together. 

Conceiving of the Holy

Advent 4, 20 Dec 2020

Lk 1:26-38

John the Baptist

Many Christians throughout the world are celebrating the last Sunday of Advent, a season of preparing ourselves spiritually for the coming of the Christ.

John the Baptist has led the way through Advent calling us to repent and prepare our hearts to be baptized by Him who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

When we deepen our spiritual living, we realize that everything we do is about Christ and not about us. “He must increase, I must decrease.”

Remember Jesus saying “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”: your life is not about you, you are about life. In other words: 

Your life is not about you, you are about Christ.

The Church’s ministry is about Jesus’ Kingdom of Love, and about drawing us and all those around us into that freedom and love.

Mary, the Mother of God, has something to teach us about drawing others into God’s kingdom of freedom and love.

Mary and You and Me and the Annunciation

Listening: “Hail full of grace! The Lord is with you”

Pondering: “she pondered what sort of greeting this might be”

Consenting: “May it be done to me according to your word.”

Receiving: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you.”

Conceiving: “you will conceive in your womb”

Christ and His Kingdom of Love: “of his kingdom there will be no end”

Mary shows us the way for deep spiritual living, she shows us the way to the feast of Christmas.

Christmas

When we spiritually give birth to God who is Love in our lives, the people around us know it by how non-judgemental and compassionate we are to others and how loving we are in our everyday ordinary lives and activities. 

With Mary, let us say “yes” to the word of the angel.

Let us become pregnant with the holy.

Let us embody God’s compassion and love and joy. 

God is with us. Emmanuel.

Advent Witnessing

Advent 3, Yr. B, Dec 13, 2020

John 1:6-8, 19-28

The first Sunday of Advent we spoke about “watch, stay awake, because you do not know when the Master is coming.”

Last Sunday we spoke about “in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord,” our need to create space within us in order to experience the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Today, the third Sunday of Advent, we are going to reflect on the witness of John the Baptist and our need to tell others about Christ.

John’s Witness 

v.7 “John came as a witness to speak for the Light” (a voice crying in the wilderness).

v.19 “this is how John appeared as a witness…[pointing to Christ]”

John’s witness is by pointing beyond himself to Christ

“he must increase and I must decrease.”

“I baptize with water, but there stands among you the one who is coming after me; and I am not fit to undo his sandal strap. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

“behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”

All of what John did pointed to Jesus!

John wanted others to know

John’s life and witness is “preparing the way of the Lord” by pointing the crowds to Christ. John wanted others to know.

Our Advent preparations, indeed our life and witness in preparing the way of the Lord is to point beyond ourselves to Jesus who shows us the Christ life, the life of unitive Love.

All of us need a Saviour, all of us need someone who can show us the way to the deeper life of God. All of us, in our Christian context, need Jesus.

The mission of the Christian church, in loving our neighbour and creation, is to witness to the way of Jesus!

In this context of preparing ourselves and others for the coming of the Christ…

How does your life and witness point beyond itself to the Love that is Christ?

What are you saying that is a witness to the Love that is Christ?

What are you doing in your life that is a witness to the Love that is Christ? 

Conclusion

In the midst of all the numbing business of the secular world around us, let us learn to be spiritually still and to slow down, to know Christ within us and amongst us and AS us.

May Christ come to us as we love and serve others.

May Christ come to others through us. 

Remembrance Sunday, 15 November 2020

Remembrance Sunday, November 15, 2020

Matthew 5

Today we are commemorating Remembrance Sunday.

I remember …. Walking on the fields of Beaumont Hamel, and being reminded of the horrible loss of lives in the 1st World War…

I remember… my dad’s war medals and six brothers who went over seas during the 2nd World War…

I remember … being a chaplain in the Canadian Forces and preparing soldiers for conflict in Croatia and Afghanistan…

I remember….as an army chaplain, having to deliver the news to the parents whose son died in an IED explosion in Afghanistan. 

I remember …. When my own son was on the front lines of Afghanistan, was in two IED explosions, in constant fire fights. I remember thinking that he would be coming home in casket draped in the Canadian flag.

We remember, as families of those who have served in the Canadian Forces. We remember as citizens of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. We remember as citizens of the nation of Canada. We remember those who have given their lives in the conflicts that we have been involved in around this global village. 

We remember … the ongoing political and economic evils in our world, that subverts the dignity of human life and creation. 

We remember … that Jesus said …

“Blessed are the peace makers, for they will be called children of God.” Matt 5:9

We have a responsibility to find ways to offer something of ourselves for the benefit of those around the world who cannot help themselves.

Jesus asks us to lay down our lives for our neighbours. He asks us to be peacemakers. All people of good will are called to help those who cannot help themselves.

So today, let us remember and give thanks for our men and women of our Armed Forces who have sacrificed themselves for others.

And as a people and a nation, let us continue our stand against evil and injustice in our world.