25 Years of Marriage, 25 Years of Suffering!

On the 28th of January, 2014, Valerie and I have been married 25 years. Wow! As a younger man, when I heard of someone talking about their “silver” anniversary, I would have thought or said something like “man, you’re old!” The truth is that 25 years of marriage does bring one into the category of “old.”

So much has changed throughout our 25 years together. 

When we first met and started dating, Valerie was all I could think of. My priority of love was Valerie, our children, and then God. Now it is God, Max (our dog), lawn tractor, and a toss up between Valerie and our children! (hehe, only joking!). We have certainly changed over time, but we have changed together.

There are many, many joyful and happy memories to recall. Yet as I reflect back over our shared life together, and as I acknowledge where we are now at almost 50 years of age, suffering has been a very real and present component of our lives.

There is suffering and brokenness in all of our lives. Valerie, as a community health nurse, cares for individuals and families who are wounded and broken on a daily basis. At the heart of my own life as a parish priest, is the persistent call to enter into people’s suffering on every conceivable level. 

When I was a young man, a young husband, a young father, and a young priest, it was only “other people” who had trouble and who suffered. As an older man of almost 50 years, and a husband and father of 25 years, I too am aware of my woundedness.

Suffering is part of life. It is not optional, it cannot be avoided, you cannot run from it. So the question is: how can a person still know happiness, joy, and love even in the midst of pain and suffering?

The only answer to this question is a spiritual answer. The larger part of who we are as human beings is Divine, made in the Image of God, the one Spirit or Source that is common to all life. It is part of who I am, it is part of who you are, but we have to do some work to discover and live out of this treasure that is within us. We have to learn to be less consumed with self, our ego, and more open to that large and spacious life within us. Then we are open to our very truest self, which is Divine and Eternal.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd who leads us to this place of Risen and New Life, and He teaches us how to live out of this Divine place. Even in the midst of suffering there is new life.

I am blessed with a wonderful wife and companion of 25 years. I am blessed with children whom I love and adore. And I am also blessed with a deepening faith that offers joy and happiness even in the midst of all the struggles and pain that are such a real part of all of our lives.

I’m ready for another 25!

To be Alone with God

The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord marks the end of the Christmas season and it is an invitation for us to journey deeper with Jesus into the Life of the Spirit. As we read the stories of John the Baptist’s ministry on the Jordan and in the wilderness, and of Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness, we come to recognise that there is a similar call on our lives to learn how to be alone with God.

Learning how to be alone with God changes us: it changes our sense of expectation, and it changes how we see and what we see.

The seasons of Advent and Christmas are about watching and waiting and expecting God to enter into our lives. During this time, the Church calls us to gather together expecting something to happen to us and to others, expecting the Lord to minister to us, to change us, to heal us, and to love us.

But we need to have eyes to see and ears to hear.

There were lots of people on the banks of the Jordan when Jesus was baptised, but not everyone heard the Father say “this is my beloved Son, listen to him.”

“After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “you are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:13-17

The feast of the Baptism of the Lord is an invitation for us to learn to see and hear the Divine Life more simply and clearly. John the Baptist could hear the Father  and see the Spirit descend upon the Son. But John was trained in the wilderness and his heart was expectant. He was full of desire for God and knew how to be alone with God.

In other words, he desired Love and knew how to be present to Love.

The Christian’s life is built on Baptism and prayer. The cleansing power of the death and resurrection of Christ and our growing desire for His Love alone are the gifts that enable us to begin and finish our journey into God.

The Anglican Church Versus the Pentecostal Church

My wife Valerie and I have just returned from a Hill Song music and leadership Conference in New York City . I didn’t know much about Hill Song, only that Valerie uses some of their music in our liturgy. When she said she was going to a conference in New York, it wasn’t Hill Song that I was interested in, it was the experience of visiting New York!

The conference was held at the historic Radio City Music Hall on the corner of 7th and 50th Avenue, one block from Time Square. The Music Hall was filled to capacity with over 6000 Christians (the majority  of which seemed to me to be in their 20’s and 30’s). The music and worship was amazing and uplifting. The various speakers were inspiring and encouraging. The place was electric and alive with the Presence of God. And the whole thing - the conference and Hill Song - are Pentecostal.

There are aspects of the Pentecostal expression of Christian faith that don’t particularly sit well with me: the tendency toward biblical fundamentalism; the gospel of prosperity; the “are you saved” approach, to name some. I don’t like the repetition of the “amen” “allelulia” and “in Jesus Name”. Nor am I particularly fond of the hands in the air and jumping up and down.

Having said that, Pentecostalism seems to attract young people, and those who commit themselves to Pentecostalism, really commit themselves. In other words, Pentecostalism is doing something right.

As an Anglican within the more catholic stream of our diverse tradition, I tend towards a quieter spirituality. I like the practice of silence, of meditation and contemplation. I value the the sacraments and the rhythm of our liturgy and liturgical year. These are all good and important, but they do not necessarily attract and retain the unchurched or the young.

Having now visited the 9/11 memorial at the site of the Twin Towers in New York City, a horrible reminder of the evil of intolerance and hatred, I am reminded of our need to be open to learning about and learning from those who are different from ourselves.

On a very much smaller scale, as an Anglican, what can I learn from churches and traditions that are different from mine? What can I learn from churches that are connecting with younger people? What can I learn from churches that are growing and are making a difference in people’s lives?

A story of goodness out of Auschwitz: Maximilian Kolbe

Today the Church is honouring Maximilian Kolbe. During the Nazi occupation of Poland, he helped thousands of refugees, including Polish Jews. He was arrested by the Gestapo in 1941 and imprisoned at Auschwitz. Three months after Maximilian's arrival, a prisoner escaped and, in retaliation, 10 men were chosen at random to die. One of them was a young father and Maximilian offered to take his place. His offer was accepted.

In October of 1982, Pope John Paul II canonized St.Maximilian. At the Vatican for that ceremony was the family and descendants of the man that Maximilian exchanged his life for. Wow.

What a powerful story and witness.

As Christians we are called to strive for justice and peace among all people, and to respect the dignity of every human being. We are called to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

Maximilian Kolbe knew and experienced at a deep level the one Life that we all share in Christ. He recognized that Divine Life in the Polish Christian and Jewish refugees whom he risked his life to help. He recognized that Life in the young father who was one of the 10 chosen for execution - when he offered his life in exchange.

Maximilian Kolbe knew and followed the Master of Life. He respected the dignity of every human being regardless of cultural and religious differences. He served the needs of those around him by offering his own life.

Let us be inspired by Maximilian to come to know Christ more, and to offer our lives in serving and responding to the needs of others. This is the hope of the world.

New Life, Even in the Midst of Suffering

All of our lives are filled with suffering, pain and loss. There can certainly be joy and happiness, but suffer we will. 

The question for us is: “how do we still live and love even in the midst of suffering and loss?”

In Sunday's Gospel, Luke 7:11-17, a mother’s only son has died.

• the mother is dealing not only with the grief of the loss of her only son, but that only son was the one to look after her into her old age.
• to her understanding, she has lost her life, her everything.

It makes me wonder about how Mary felt when Jesus was crucified.

• at one level, the death of a young son or daughter has to be excruciating. 
• but Mary knew that there was something more to Jesus.
• She knew that he was the Son of God, and shared in the Divine Life.

It is this Son of God who has taught us and shown us that there is more to life than the physical and material.

It is this Son of God who has shown us that in death, life does not end, it only changes.

But Jesus is not yet ready to reveal this wonderful truth to this mother who has just lost her son.

So what does he do? He has compassion on her.

This is what Jesus does. He has compassion and love for all whom he encounters, and in whatever circumstances they find themselves in.

Jesus has compassion and love for each of us, regardless of the circumstances we find ourselves in.

The key is for us to learn to be spiritually open to the light and life of that compassion, and not to be closed up and kept in the darkness of death.

Jesus says “Do not weep”...He touches the pallet...He says “I say to you rise”

Jesus enters into the midst of the pain and suffering, and offers new life.

Jesus wants to enter into our pain and, in the midst of our suffering, to offer us new life.

Invite him into your life and into your pain.

Let him comfort you, heal you, and give you new life.

Palm Sunday Reflection

Palm Sunday, 24 March 2013

Today is Palm or Passion Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, the most sacred time in the Christian’s year.

Jesus journeyed from the transfiguration (the disciples experiencing Jesus' Risen Life) on Mount Hermon to the suffering and passion of Jerusalem, to die and to rise for humanity. 

Jesus Christ is for all of humanity

Jesus Christ reconciles humanity and Divinity.

Jesus Christ reconciles humanity and humanity.

This Good News, this Gospel is for all of creation for all time.

Jesus embraced his suffering for all of humanity because he recognized that his life was not his own, that it was a Life that he shared with the Father .

The whole of Jesus’ life: humility and service

• From His birth in a manger in Bethlehem.
• Being brought up as a son of a tradesman in Nazareth.
• To his being baptized by John in the river Jordan.
• The temptations in the wilderness.
• His ministry to the sick and suffering.
• His ministry to the marginalized and outcasts.
• His living on the charity of others.
• His entering Jerusalem on a donkey.
• His passion and death on the cross.

Today on Passion Sunday, we recognize that His suffering and dying is for all of humanity.

• So that we may be in loving relationship with God and with one another. 
• So that we may be FREE AND EQUAL with one another.
• that human societies may be free and equal.

Our Witness: Is it Hosanna or Crucify Him?

We have to bear witness to this beautiful truth in Jesus Christ – that we are all made free and equal. Do we live our lives in such a way that we are critical of those who are different from us, who challenge us: in other words, "Crucify Him, crucify them." Or are our lives lived in such a way that regardless of the person or issue before us, we can affirm life in the power of a Love bigger than we are? In other words, "Hosanna to Christ who is Lord of Life."

As a Church, let us know and share this Good News with our families, friends, our community and the world, as we seek to live a life of humble service to those around us, and to those most in need.

You who are without sin, cast the first stone

What a journey we have been on during this lent. From the ashes & mortality of Ash Wednesday to the turning of the prodigal son to the love and compassion of the Father. And now...

“The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle.”

• Wow! What a scene.
• What a desire to judge and condemn. 

Try to imagine the shame and guilt of being caught at sin, and then being publicly displayed?

Recall any of your own sins….and imagine being forced to come into the middle of a group of people  to scrutinize and judge and condemn you.

The scribes and Pharisees want an answer from Jesus….and he remains silent…he wrote on the ground with his finger…

• the law of Moses was written in stone.
• Yet Jesus writes our sins in the sand…sins that cannot be remembered and held against us no more.
• He is the one who takes them away.

When Jesus does speak, this is what he has to say

“You who are without sin cast the first stone”

Try to recall some of the stones you have thrown at others.

The judging of others must stop. 

This can only happen as we mature in our surrender to and participation in the life of the Resurrection, being filled with the Holy Spirit, and knowing our unity with the Father.

We are called to love the image of God in every human being regardless of what they do or don’t do, have done or haven't done, will do or will not do.

We are on a Lenten journey to the suffering and death of Calvary, and onto the joy, freedom, life and love of the Resurrection.

As we repent and turn again to the Father, there is no sin in our lives or in anyone else’s life,  that is beyond the power of the Cross of the Son of God.

The risen and glorified Jesus loves us. He does not judge us, but calls us to turn away from our sin, and turn toward Him Who is Love.

Let us embrace one another and help each other up when we fall as we continue our pilgrimage into the fullness of Jesus’ Resurrection.