An Idle Tale?

An Idle Tale?

(Luke 23:50 - 24:12)

Easter Sunday, March 31, 2013, Windsor UBC, J G White

Have you heard any news lately that was quite a surprise?  Hard to believe?  Or difficult to understand?

A woman, 34 weeks pregnant, is told at the IWK: You are having your baby today!

A man, after brain surgery, is told by the doctor: You have a couple months to live!

A person waiting in hospital for months is told: Your room is ready at Dykeland... tomorrow you can move in!

We also wonder at untrue news we hear, not knowing it is untrue.  Such as...  Kings Transit bus fares are going up!  Jeff White gave his resignation to Windsor Baptist Church!  …

Today, Easter, we enter the lives of some men and women on a day when the news, after the execution of their Leader, was unbelievable and confusing.  Some of the Master’s closest friends at first thought the news an idle tale.  

As Graham read the story from Luke, did you notice the diverse feelings and actions of the people that morning?  The women were puzzled, then terrified, then they remembered, and they rushed to tell others.  Some of the men thought it an idle tale; Peter went, looked, and wondered about what he saw.

The initial responses to God’s action and intervention are the start of a whole new life with the Lord.  A life that follows His.  In His Steps, as the title of one old book puts it.

One simple way to describe the way to follow the Crucified One - who is alive now - is these three steps:  vision, decision, action. So says Dallas Willard in a small group study called The Divine Conspiracy.  I like this pattern.

Vision: a person learns something about Christ, and catches a vision of reality that is new to him or her.  Jesus is real, He truly did live and die for the rest of us, He actually conquered death and evil for us, He opens the door to the heavenly kingdom of God now, as we rely upon Him.  

This is not only good news to one who has never tried to be a Christian.  There are many people who start off in Christianity, and later in life find a whole new hope in God that they had not yet known.  The vision becomes greater!  A deeper conversion can happen when the heart and soul are so moved.  

John Wesley became a famous Anglican preacher of the 18th century.   Well into his ministry, and after a failed revival tour in America, Wesley was depressed and despairing.  This well-loved excerpt from his journal tells of what he experienced on May 24th, 1738.  It sounds like it happened at what we might call a Bible Study or Prayer Meeting.

In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.

The heart strangely warmed is, to me, the vision of the human soul for what God is really doing.  It is a personal thing. It is a real experience of something new.  Good News.

Step two:  Decision.  It takes an act of will on our part to put our trust in Christ, to admit we are powerless against our own sin and slavery, to join those who call themselves Christian.  

We Baptist Christians stand in the centre of a strong tradition of spiritual freedom.  We believe that individuals have the choice to make - for Christ or not.  To trust Him.  To follow and obey Him.  To be saved by and then apprenticed to the Master.  It is never an infant that we baptize into Christianity.  It is a person who can know Jesus for him or herself, and takes his or her own steps to follow God.  

So, part three:  Action.  The first steps of a saved person are just that, the first steps - the prayer to receive God and salvation, the commitment to rely on the Holy Bible, the obedience of submitting to baptism.  The actions of the rest of life are the real living of Faith in Christ.  We develop lots of spiritual practices that help us live with the Spirit in all of the times we are not doing our spiritual practices.  I pray, I fast, I confess, I worship, I study, I meditate, and so on, so that I become more and more like Jesus in all the moments when I am not praying, fasting, confessing, worshipping, studying, meditating, and so forth.  So it can be for Atira and Christina; so it can be for you.

I had us read today from Luke not only the first resurrection events, but also the earlier moment of placing of Jesus in the tomb.  Our vision, and decision, and action, are well-founded when they stem from the complete Jesus, the complete Jesus story.  Our faith and religion will be from an idle tale if our story is incomplete.

Today, there can be no music without silence; no praise without lament first.

There can be no resurrection without a death; no Easter worship without Good Friday worship.

There can be no coming up out of the waters of baptism without going down first.

There can be no washing clean without there being any sins in life to start with.

There can be no solidarity with and obedience to Christ without denying yourself.

There can be no running the race of faith without being still far from the goal.

Vision, decision, action.  On this weekend many catch a fresh vision of Jesus and what God offers.  Here, and many other places, we celebrate individual decisions to act on that vision.  To act upon Jesus’ word, His gracious invitation to join in and follow.  He becomes our way, our truth, our life.  

Following Christ, others can catch the same vision from us.  The news to some seems but an idle tale, an old-fashioned myth.  “Death on a cross?  Resurrection?  Weird!”  To others, the glimpse of an alternate reality - God’s eternal Kingdom coming to earth as in heaven - is a stunning vision.  Some will decide to act on this, when they meet Jesus Christ.  

Take Up Your Cross

Take Up Your Cross

(Philippians 3:4b-14; Luke 9:18-27)

10:30 am, Sunday, March 17, 2013; Windsor UBC; J G White

The tale is told in many ways of the boy who came home from Sunday school talking about an animal that needed glasses. It was a bear, with it's eyes crossed, named Gladly. Actually, the class had leaned a Fanny Crosby Hymn that sings Gladly the cross I'd bear.

As we listen carefully to lessons about the Cross of Jesus, we can hear the call of our Saviour to take up and bear our cross.

That great pioneer of Christianity, the Apostle Paul, wrote the book we call Philippians. As Andrew read, Paul speaks of counting former achievements as losses, because life with Jesus is so much more valuable. Paul wrote, (3:10-11) I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Life with Jesus follows Him to the Cross. It includes the teaching of 'taking up your cross.' What does this mean? What does taking up your cross, or me taking up my cross, look like?

We talk of 'the cross I have to bear' once in a while. It's a common enough idiom in English. Look it up online and you even get examples like this: Someone has to look after mother and because I live the closest it's a cross I have to bear. The phrase gets attached to all manner of hardships and troubles that good people must endure: illnesses, extra demands placed upon us, personal weaknesses or flaws. Crosses we have to bear?

These are really poor uses of the word cross. For the Bible is not speaking of these circumstances when we read of bearing our cross. The late John Stott, British scholar and preacher, in his book, The Cross of Christ, wrote: Our 'cross', then, is not an irritable husband or a cantankerous wife. It is instead the symbol of death to the self. (p. 279) Death to the self. To take up my cross is to take the path, like Jesus, with Jesus, that lets go of getting my own way, for the sake of many others.

Look with me for a moment into Christ's words in Luke 9, what Judy read.

If any want to become my followers... Want to follow Jesus? He calls you: come follow me. Want to be more than a fan?

...Let them deny themselves, He says. Deny yourself. This might be a big learning curve for you, or you may know enough of this now to sense what the rest of your denial may be. You must give up on your kingdom in this world – it gets handed over into the Kingdom of Jesus. You let go of getting your own way from moment to moment. You drop the game of working to have people to like you and do good to you. You get set free from needing to have enough willpower to make personal changes. All this can get taken over by Jesus and God's provision – as we deny ourselves. You get to live in His Kingdom, where He gets His way, God loves and esteems you highly, and the Lord has grace to do more in you than you can do yourself. How great is that?!

...let them... take up their cross daily and follow me. There it is, a daily plan; a moment-by-moment journey with the Saviour. And the image for it is Jesus with His Cross. I like to keep this as a picture, a real story, rather than mere explanations and theologies. Jesus, bearing the cross, for the sake of millions of us. There He is, going to His execution. And He invites us.

John Stott (can you tell I skimmed his book?) wrote, one might say, every Christian is both a Simon of Cyrene and a Barabbas. Like Barabbas we escape the cross, for Christ died in our place. Like Simon of Cyrene we carry the cross, for he calls us to take it up and follow him. (pp. 278-9)

We follow, we follow; and keep learning more of what this is. Look again to what Paul wrote about pressing on, in Philippians 3:13&14 ...this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Paul has such enthusiastic persistence. There is energy and hope in his walk with the Lord. Because it is all about Jesus.

Our Faith has this amazing claim upon people's souls. We hear and answer the call of Jesus to a great and challenging life. Deny yourself, take up your cross daily, follow me. Do you know the deep appeal of this invitation?

It is claimed that the following ad appeared in a London newspaper: "Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful, honor and recognition in case of success." Signed by Sir Ernest Shackleton, Antarctic explorer. Apparently, the ad drew many respondents, eager to risk everything for the prospect of meaningful adventure.

The adventure with Christ is meaningful because it is about human souls: your soul, and the souls of all the others. “Follow me and take up your cross daily” fits hand-in-glove with Jesus' earlier call, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of wo/men.”

Close to twenty years ago, Dr. Harold Mitton was interviewed about his life story. At one time he was Pastor here; at another he was professor of Preaching and Worship at Acadia Divinity College. With great interest I watched these interviews on Youtube a few weeks ago. Among his insights at the close of the interviews, Dr. Mitton spoke of his concern with some congregations about the lack of redemptive passion. He said, The churches tend to become inward looking instead of outward looking. ...It seems to me that the church of Jesus Christ should be providing answers to the deep spiritual hungers that are gnawing at people today. But it seems to me there is this lack of passion to reach people with the Gospel of Christ, which bothers me sometimes.

The Cross of Jesus shows us Jesus' deep compassion for all the people of the world. As we follow in His steps, that loving compassion is supplied to our own hearts and minds.

John Stott wrote, It is only when we look at the cross that we see the true worth of human beings. (1986, p. 282) Canadian Theologian Douglas John Hall, in his book, The Cross In Our Context, makes the same point by saying, The [theology of the] cross… is [nevertheless] first of all a statement about God, and what it says about God is not that God thinks humankind so wretched that it deserves death and hell, but that God thinks humankind and the whole creation so good, so beautiful, so precious [in its intention and its potentiality], that its actualization, its fulfillment, its redemption is worth dying for. (2003, p.24) We humans may be said to be unworthy, but we are not worthless; we are worth a great deal to our Lord. Remember Jesus' words – from His so-called Sermon on the Mount? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Yes.

Elizabeth Clephane composed the well-known hymn, Beneath the Cross of Jesus, in 1868, with this phrase in it:

And from my smitten heart with tears

Two wonders I confess,

The wonders of His glorious love,

And my own worthlessness.

This is the original, what we sing from Favorite Hymns of Praise. But recent edits, such as in our 1973 Baptist Hymnal, have us sing this: The wonders of His glorious love,

And my unworthiness.

John Stott, and other theologians, suggest this change is for the better, because God does find us so valuable and precious that the Son is sent to die for us. As William Temple pointed out: My worth is what I am worth to God; and that is a marvellous great deal, for Christ died for me. (Citizen and Churchman, p 74)

To take up our own cross is to give up our lives out of love for the lives of others, just as Jesus did. Looking to Jesus, we see how worthwhile the others around us, and around the world, truly are. With God we value people more and more. Our hearts break for them. Our lives bless them. Our priorities grow greater. Our pleasure and satisfaction shifts: we rejoice in those who need the Shepherd. My life is no longer mostly about me, anymore; it is about everyone, and about our God.

Douglas John Hall says …in the scriptural sources we never hear of a Jesus preoccupied with his own pain. Even on the cross itself he is conscious, chiefly, of the pain of others – of the thieves on either side, and of the pathetic little group of his followers standing beneath the cross, devastated. (p. 154)

And to know the power of Jesus' resurrection, and share his sufferings is a corporate thing. We walk the way of the Cross together.

Nineteenth Century Danish Theologian and Philosopher, Soren Kierkagaard, wrote, I went into church and sat on the velvet pew. I watched as the sun came shining through the stained glass windows. The minister dressed in a velvet robe opened the golden gilded Bible, marked it with a silk bookmark and said, ‘If any man will be my disciple, said Jesus, let him deny himself, take up his cross, sell what he has, give it to the poor, and follow me.’ And I looked around and Nobody was Laughing.

When we are together, what distracts us from the mission? To follow Jesus by taking up the cross means we must drop other things. I do, you do, together we do this.

So, for the sake of our community of people – and beyond – what do we shed, that we may carry our Cross, Windsor Baptist? How does a Church family deny itself, daily? How do we find our priority in Dr. Mitton's redemptive passion? That inner energy and motivation to help people be set free by Jesus.

I fear there may be many things to shed, to let go of, to drop. And I am enthused that the new priorities we gain are so worthwhile. From a ministry like our house of Hospitality we can perhaps see what we sacrifice so that it can happen, or the After School Program, or the ministry of funerals.

We learn about love and care first of all among ourselves, within this very room. We carry the cross because of one another. It was at a Drive-in Service I first heard this song sung by the Rev. Dan Green of Chester Baptist Church.

In this very room there's quite enough love for all of us.

And in this very room there's quite enough joy for all of us.

And in this very room there's quite enough power to share

wherever we go.

For Jesus, Lord Jesus, is in this very room.

(Ron & Carol Harris, 1979)

Take up your cross... it leads to the resurrection of Jesus!

It is for the sake of one another, and the whole world.

The Cross and Reconciliation

The Cross and Reconciliation

(2 Corinthians 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11-32)

10:30 am, 4^th Sunday in Lent, March 10, 2013; Windsor UBC; J G White

It was at least a month ago that I planned my preaching for these Sundays before Holy Week. I thought it appropriate for us to listen to the Cross of Christ, and discover what Jesus' death says to us about repenting, being reconciled, and taking up our own cross. So, today is about reconciliation.

God has provided. All this past week I kept meeting up with people who need to be reconciled in some way or other: even myself. Again and again the need to be reconciled presented itself. Life is our teacher when we walk with the Master, Jesus.

Before I tell you my anecdotes from the week, keep looking with me at the finale of 2 Corinthians 5. Verse 18: God... reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. Jesus' sacrifice by execution – with it's consequent forgiveness of our sin, making us right with God – brings about reconciliation with God, and makes us agents of reconciliation.

And, as God does this work with our souls and minds and bodies, we become Jesus' ambassadors of reconciliation. God actually trusts us, more and more, with His ministry of reconciling people. Think about how the Lord trusts you. Incredible.

Now then, I do believe Jesus parable of the talents applies here, talents being a quantity of money given to three slaves. Mathew 25. The ones who took and invested and grew what was entrusted to them were praised, and were then trusted with more. But the slave who was given little, and did nothing with it, was cursed. 'You wicked, lazy slave!' The Master declared, For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but form those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.

God can trust us with more power to reconcile as we do well with the reconciliation that's offered to us. We are trusted to be ambassadors for Christ in as much as we trust Him and entrust everything we have and are to Him. We limit ourselves when we don't entrust everything to Jesus. The more of our own little kingdom we put in His Hands, the more we can be trusted with in His glorious kingdom.

Well, as Pastor, people occasionally expect me to be an agent of reconciliation. Last week, a person I did not know at all called me to make an appointment: an appointment for her and her husband to come in a talk. They find themselves suddenly estranged from a young teen granddaughter, and feel totally blocked about how to reconcile with her. They came in and poured out their stories, and their hearts, longing to understand what went wrong, and how to make it right.

For the most part I felt as helpless as they, and can but pray that one day the granddaughter will come back – like that famed prodigal son? – and that those grandparents will welcome her – like the forgiving father in the story, who threw open his arms and threw the big welcome-back party. The Kingdom of God is a party, don't ya know? :)

I turn from this personal challenge, to Jesus upon the Cross. See Him there, betrayed by one of his closest friends, Judas. See Him there, abandoned by almost all the rest of the disciples. As He died, He was experiencing betrayal and rejection by those dearest to His heart. That betrayal He bore upon the Cross. And out of His death will come reconciliation.

At the same historic moment, know that the religious elite were mostly enemies of Jesus by now. When Christ was twelve years old he amazed the teachers in the Jerusalem Temple; but when in His early thirties, those ministers of worship and religion and rules and ethics oppose Him. Jesus came to reform His religion; His would-be religious co-workers reject Him.

This past week I had a session with a person I know, from outside our Church, who talked at length about difficulties at his workplace. He is feeling pressured by those he works for, and it's all about a decision in his personal life. He finds them not supportive, butting into his business, and supplying lots of stress. His workplace is totally stressful, because of a personal plan he has for himself that should be pure joy.

I think Jesus understands completely what it is to be pressured by those who should be your colleagues at work. Jesus' religious career led him to a Cross of execution, the other religious experts of His Faith were glad of this. What would Christ teach us about being reconciled at work? This can can be explored with Him.

Our Saviour also can show us the way to reconciliation with things of our past. Paul, in 2 Corinthians 5:17, exclaims, So, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!

Sometimes I dive into the filing cabinets in my Study here, and read old minutes. Did it again just this past week, reading minutes of our Music Committee from the 1990s. I wondered again about the kerfuffle over hiring a Music Director back then, who would play the Organ, when the Organist had not and did not resign or retire. Awkward! Hurtful. Does our reconciling God use this to teach us reconciliation?

I've also read Deacon Minutes from the 1980s, including a time of squabble over the Assistant Pastor becoming Senior Pastor, or not. He did not. And then, I guess, our next Senior Pastor was put through the wringer. The minutes of one deacons' meeting in the book are blank – a blank half page.

Jesus, who knew no sin was made to be sin: He has surely taught some of us about reconciliation from that piece of our history. And yet there may be more to learn in our souls.

I could go on. Go on about a nasty deacon fight in about 2003 over the title of my Assistant Pastor. Or the resignation of Pastor Welton in 1862, after five years as Pastor here. His resignation was not accepted by the Church. He eventually agreed to stay, and became our longest serving pastor: 16 years. The minutes of his time here suggest an interesting chapter for the ministry of reconciliation.

I have a confidence in God: I believe in the mystery that we can learn from our past, and be the greater for it. So it is for our personal crises. Many people have to reconcile with traumatic events from their past. You who know such experience can tell me if reconciliation is really the word for it.

Look again, with you mind's eye, to Christ upon the Cross. Here He is, tortured and dying. The kind of event that, if one survived, would give post traumatic stress. This was not, of course, the first attempt on Jesus' life. One of the first was near His own home Synagogue, when the upset citizens tried to throw Him down a cliff. Jesus can be our Master, our Model, our Teacher for dealing with the personal traumas we have suffered. Because of Him – reconciled to Him – we can take a personal journey to reconcile with the deep hurts inside us, from our past.

Again this past week, I found myself facing my own insides: my mind, heart, soul, ego – all that stuff that makes me me. I've never suffered any great trauma, but there are things to be reconciled in here. I'm taking an online course from the Center for Action and Contemplation right now, dealing with addictions, stinking thinking, the personas we present and the like. I'm also in a small group, learning from Dallas Willard and John Ortberg about living Jesus' sermon on the mount. There is good and evil struggling within me, and I was looking there this week. I feel comforted that the Apostle Paul was like me: I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. (Romans 7:15)

Look to Christ crucified again. His last temptation? As the movie, The Last Temptation of Christ, explored, He faced the temptation to escape and not go through with this sacrificial death. The Devil, and Accuser, who had tempted Him in the desert a few years before, was there again. A gospel song reiterates what Jesus said when being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:53):

He could have called ten thousand angels,

but He died alone, for you and me. (Ray Overholt, 1958)

The light and dark that both dwell within, both part of who I am and you are – these our Jesus understands. He experienced intense temptations. And even having no sin of His own, what did Jesus experience? For our sake God made Jesus to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:1) And as we read last Sunday, He himself bore our sins in His body on the cross. (1 Peter 2:24) Thus, Jesus knows what it is to have inside what we have inside us.

So He brings about our reconciliation with God, with others, and with our inner selves. Thanks be to God! But I have one more little chapter from my week. It is about the body. Ever find you must be reconciled to your own body?

Many people, who have problems in the body, are on my mind. Sharon and I went to see one of them – Marilyn White – in the palliative care wing of the VG hospital. She is failing. Not quite as positive and energetic. Not supposed to get out of bed and walk by herself anymore. Not alone at nigh anymore – family members are taking turns staying with her.

She had an enthusiastic hymn-sing with some of you a few weeks ago, and reflected on what music to have for her funeral. This past week, she talked quietly about it with us, thinking through some details, and sharing her philosophy of funerals.

And now I wonder... what is it like to make peace with one's body when it is dying. To let go of, well, it must feel like yourself. But this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:53) Jesus' body, when He was dying, was a tortured thirty-three year old body. He knows what death is all about. And... of course... this is what what are all waiting for... Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep / died. (1 Corinthians 15:20) Jesus reconciles mortality with immortality; the body that dies, the spiritual body that lives.

So I've been listening all week for reconciliation. Ya know, so much of this happened in one day, Thursday. The couple estranged from their granddaughter, the guy needing reconciliation at work, reading music committee minutes, small group study about the inner life, visiting Marilyn in hospital – all came to me on Thursday.

These situations are understood by our Saviour. He goes to the cross – His execution – to reconcile us to God, and to one another, to our past, to our whole selves.

We learn that we get reconciled – it happened – but it also keeps going on. We are still being reconciled to God. We are still being reconciled to those people we hurt or who hurt us. We keep on being reconciled within ourselves, amid the inner conflicts that simmer, between the light and darkness that is me.

Keep Jesus going to the Cross and the tomb in your heart. Following Him, we will get to know what reconciliation looks like, and receive it, and give it. This is amazing Good News!

Amen.

The Cross and Repentance

The Cross and Repentance

(Isaiah 55:1-2, 6-9; Luke 13:1-5)

10:30 am, Lent 3, Sunday, March 3, 2013; Windsor UBC; J G White

I carried a cross yesterday. It was this one, behind me. I was looking for the bigger one, but I found the two smaller ones, so I thought this one would do. One more cross to attract our attention in these weeks before Good Friday and Easter.

The Cross is to be what I bring out for you all the time, in my ministry. Pastors preach “Jesus Christ, and Him crucified,” if we follow Paul's lead, in 1 Corinthians 2. This is what we mean by “the Cross.” The Cross is the event, an action: the execution of Jesus. We don't mean the actual wooden implement of torture and death. “The Cross” stands for Jesus' sacrifice that day.

Our songs of faith, old and new, declare the cross event as the centre of what God does for us. From 300 years ago, this lyric:

When I survey the wondrous Cross,

On which the Prince of Glory died,

My richest gain I count but loss,

And pour contempt on all my pride. (Isaac Watts)

From ten years ago:

Wonderful, so wonderful, is Your unfailing love.

Your cross has spoken mercy over me. (Tim Hughes)

Today we consider one thing that can happen when we survey the wondrous cross: we humans repent. What Jesus does for us calls for a response. Part of our response is to repent.

The Bible does not actually use the word “cross” very often. One bit that does, and speaks of our repentance is 1 Peter 2: 24-25. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. Repentance is a turnaround. When I repent, I change direction; I turn from one thing towards something else. It usually requires action. It involves the mind, the heart, and the will to act. We confess, and we make things right.

The Peanuts comic strip often has had Lucy and Charlie Brown practicing football. Every time Lucy had ever held the ball for Charlie, he would approach the ball and kick with all his might. At the precise moment of the point of no return, Lucy would pick up the ball and Charlie would fall flat on his back.

One strip opened with Lucy holding the ball, but Charlie Brown would not kick the ball. Lucy begged him to kick the ball. But Charlie Brown said, "Every time I try to kick the ball you remove it and I fall on my back."

They went back and forth for the longest time and finally Lucy broke down in tears and admitted, "Charlie Brown I have been so terrible to you over the years, picking up the football like I have. I have played so many cruel tricks on you, but I’ve seen the error of my ways! I’ve seen the hurt look in your eyes when I’ve deceived you. I’ve been wrong, so wrong. Won’t you give a poor penitent girl another chance?"

Charlie Brown was moved by her display of grief and responded to her, "Of course, I’ll give you another chance." He stepped back as she held the ball, and he ran. At the last moment, Lucy picked up the ball and Charlie Brown fell flat on his back.

Lucy’s last words were, "Recognizing your faults and actually changing your ways are two different things, Charlie Brown!"

To repent in the face of what Jesus has done at the Cross is a change of our ways, not just a recognition of our fault. Jesus once said: Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. (Matthew 7:21)

The repentance called for by prophets and preachers is a turn from being our own god, and turning toward following a new god, The God. Isaiah and others called for repentance. Today we heard Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake their way and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the LORD... To forsake your way, and return to the Lord. Jesus called for repentance. Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

If Christ appeared in the flesh in Windsor this weekend, and was invited to be our guest preacher, what might He say today? WWJD: What Would Jesus Declare? I think it would still be “Repent, my Kingdom is at hand.”

There are many moments when repentance is needed. There is, of course, the repentance of one who is not yet “in Christ,” one who needs to join Jesus for the first time by being cleansed and saved. Accepting the power of the Cross to free us and make us new is a choice we have. Jesus makes the offer, as he bears our sins in his body on the cross, and we each respond.

The good news about how repentance works is spelled out in the words of Isaiah 55, which first were proclaimed long before that Cross on the hill called Calvary. The same God works the same way throughout history.

The Lord God is freely available. Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! (1) Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near... (6) Jesus came and claimed the Kingdom had come near! And His beatitudes, the start of His Sermon on the Mount, may proclaim that this is available to everyone – every one. Everyone in every life situation can be truly blessed, by being in God's Kingdom.

Isaiah 55 teaches us that the wicked may forsake their way, and the unrighteous can forsake their thoughts. (7) Turning away from what's wrong on the outside, and the inside, are both possible, with our God.

People can return to God, says Isaiah 55(7). Let them return to the LORD... When sin and evil separate us from the Lord, when intellectual disbelief about God separates us, when sadness and trouble and injustice keep God far away – there can still be a return. When making peace with God seems impossible to a human, it is still possible for the Lord. The Cross of Jesus shows the ultimate distance God's willing to go to bring us back to Him.

God will have mercy and pardon. This is God's heart.

Did you hear? Pardons are running out!? Online there are adverts saying this about pardons for your criminal record: Sign up now and we can guarantee your pardon will not be affected by the deadline. The deadline to get a pardon is fast approaching so you’d better get started. I just need your credit card number.

Not true. Not true about legal pardons in Canada, and not true about pardon for sin and a peace that endureth. A pardon is the forgiveness of a crime and the cancellation of the relevant penalty, according to Wikipedia. Theologically, this is also true.

So, God's mercy and pardon are not running out. God's ways are so BIG and beyond us. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. (8)

As the Cross of Christ draws the attention of our souls, we who are saved, redeemed believers know our continuing need to repent. There is repentance for those who are already “in Christ” and part of His “Body,” the Church. Turning our life over to Jesus keeps going, week by week, year by year.

We are learning about this already in 2013.

Repent: turn from being a fan of Jesus; be a follower of Jesus! I gave a sermon about two years ago, asking if Jesus was a celebrity for us, or a Saviour? “Not a Fan” is the same theme.

Repent: turn from a gospel of sin management, to the gospel that saves the whole person, to discipleship in all of life.

Repent of being first in your own life, number one, and say “I am second.” If you are second, who is number one?

We must keep asking this when we are together, when we are a church, such is this one that we are: Windsor Baptist. Do we not need to turn from some of our usual ways, to better ways that Christ would lead us in today? Repentance is a matter of the fellowship, not just Christians one by one.

Lesslie Newbigin, missionary (Mission in Christ’s Way):

I remember once visiting a village in the Madras diocese. There was no road into the village; you reached it by crossing a river, and you could do this either on the south side of the village or on the north. The congregation had decided that I would come by the southern route, and they had prepared a welcome such as only an Indian village can prepare. There was music and fireworks and garlands and fruit and a ceremonial martial arts display ready (silumbum)—everything you can imagine. Unfortunately I entered the village at the north end and found only a few goats and chickens. Crisis! I had to disappear while word was sent to the assembled congregation, and the entire village did a sort of U-turn so as to face the other way. Then I duly reappeared.

I like this story of a physical turnaround of a whole village. Indeed, the repentance of a group is what the Lord sometimes needs from us.

A few of you may know the story of Matt Redman's 1999 song, Heart of Worship. His home congregation in England was struggling, in the midst of the revival of worship going on they'd been part of. The church Pastor called for a break: no sound system, no band and singers, no instruments. Worship without it. From out of that time, Redman wrote that song...

I'm coming back to the heart of worship

And it's all about You, It's all about You, Jesus

I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it

When it's all about You, It's all about You, Jesus.

Is worship our God? For some of us this replaces God. It happens to me! When what we like in music and teaching interests us more than Christ Himself, we need to make a turnaround... repent.

Or, is prayer for those who are ill our God? It can become so. We build a faith upon getting that healing power flowing to those on our list. Do we long to know the Lord more than we want healing in people's bodies here on earth? We may need to find how to turn to Almighty God. He is the Healer, yes, but He is bigger than the healing that goes on.

Many other examples we might ponder, as we remember and get in touch the with Cross of Jesus. He was lifted up to draw all people to Him. That is the fist and final thing. To be with Him. On our own, and together, there are ways for us to repent, to turn afresh to Jesus.

Hear again those phrases from 1 Peter 2:24&25

He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

AMEN.

Listen to the Globe

Listen to the Globe (of People)

(Exodus 34:29-35; 2 Corinthians 3:12-18)

10:30 am, Sunday, February 24, 2013; Windsor UBC; J G White

You learn things when you go to a hockey game with your step-daughter and son-in-law.  For instance, Sherwin said he had horns on his head when he was born.  Now, one might automatically think of... the Devil.  Thankfully Sherwin grew out of his horns.  But, being the scholar of arts and the Bible that I am (ha ha), I thought of Moses.  Moses? you say.  Yes, Moses.

Here is a classic image of Moses.  Michaelangelo's 1515 sculpture of him.  And notice, Moses has little horns on his head.  Why did he have horns?  What did this symbolize?  It was a simple misunderstanding in the Bible translation that was used.  From Hebrew into the Latin Vulgate Exodus 34 said that when Moses came down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments, he had horns.  When the people saw Moses had horns, they were afraid to come near him. 

Years later, the scholars figured out what the Hebrew word meant here.  Moses did not have horns, his face was shining. 

Now is a time like many others, a time of misunderstanding the Bible, not understanding Christianity, not being able to see the activity of Jesus in the world.  After the life of Jesus, the Apostle Paul made reference to the story of Moses with the shining face and covering himself with a veil.  In 2 Corinthians 3 Paul talks of the veil being analogous to the non-understanding of people in Corinth, Greece.  Whenever the [Old Testament law] is read, a veil lies over their minds [and hearts]; but when one turns to The Lord, the veil is removed. (3:15,16)   Christ makes clear God's Way for humanity that came out of the Hebrew religion, and was completed all that Jesus did. 

There are many people very close to us - in our on county, our own communities, who do not grasp Jesus or what we are all about here.  We must listen to the globe of people around us - glorious things will happen when we do!  We have a missionary task, and it demands missionary efforts and methods.  We must be good listeners to the various cultures of people around us.

For there are many cultures around us today.  Many folks are of the modern mindset: thinking is important, and facts, logic, truth; prove what's true or false.  Others are of what's called the post-modern attitude: what's true for you is fine; it just may not be true for me.  There is a secular culture out there: not religious at all, though many secular people are spiritual and have their own spiritual practices.  There is a growing digital culture in our world today:  how they communicate, socialize, work and play uses all the technological tools. 

I was at a committee meeting in December, outside of this Church, and was actually the youngest person there, by a long shot.  When scheduling our next meeting, the rest got out their little electronic things to type in the appointment.  I got out my black book, and wrote it down with a pen.  One of the committee told me what my book is called: while others keep their calendar on a Blackberry, or iphone, I am still using an elderberry!

But, in my technological defence  this is the first sermon I have sketched out with a ipad on Google Drive.  I still have lots to learn about those in the digital culture in Nova Scotia; it is a different culture from mine.  I think the Lord needs some of us to be missionaries to the digital culture. When we listen, glorious things will happen!

Part of our Vision for the next 5-10 years could be: take up the mission in our neighbourhood.  1- Be missionaries in West Hants, learning the cultures, languages, life of those living here.  2- Get to know our neighbours and be known by them.  3- Listen to the surrounding peoples, and by listen I mean we observe them in every way: hear and see, and feel with them.  4- Become a fellowship that is authentic, open, & integrates people efficiently.

When we listen, glorious things will happen!  The veil can be lifted; they can see and know the Lord.

For the so-called post-modern people, what we need to have to reach them is authenticity.  So says Dr. Steven McMullen of Acadia Divinity College, a pastor and sociologist who has done a great deal of research into the cultures of our day.  One veil over the minds and hearts of many folk today is the inauthenticity of Christians.  A church website declares 'a friendly fellowship,' but a Sunday morning visit soon proves that wrong.  A sermon celebrates the grace of God with a heartwarming illustration; but the story is not actually a true story at all, as a quick visit to the internet will show.  The Church message clearly is about God changing lives from the inside out, but the people from the pews show little signs of experiencing God or of much spiritual enlightenment. 

McMullen and others contend that for post-modern people authenticity is the real test.  Is this not what Apostle Paul declared in 2 Corinthians 4:2? We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God's word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.

This is tough work!  With some, we might work to prove what is true about Jesus.  But the ones listening might think, 'That's fine; it's nice to know what's true for you.  That's just not true for me.'  What may be more transforming of this unbeliever is to show by our lives how the truth of Jesus is working for us.  Our experience can be convincing, more convincing than logical arguments and Biblical proofs.  Dr. Phil's question is the question of our post-modern age: 'How's that working for you?"  How is Jesus working for you? 

This is but one example of cross-cultural ministry. For some of us, reaching our neighbours in West Hants is cross-cultural ministry.  It is becoming more and more like the stories of mission work in far off places, in foreign languages.  I was reminded recently of the classic missionary story of the Peace Child.  In 1962, Canadians Don and Carol Richardson, with their baby, entered an isolated tribal village in New Guinea, Indonesia. The group, the Sawi, were known as cannibals, but also as folk who appreciated and revered 'white people,' for they brought wonderful tools with them to the jungle: saws and blades and nails, and so forth.  So, the Richardsons settled into the hard struggle of learning the very difficult Sawi language.  Because these white people were in the village, two other villages moved into the neighbourhood. The mission field came to them!

Eventually, Don was able to start teaching about Jesus.  But when he got to the story of Jesus’ betrayal and crucifixion, the Sawi rejoiced in Judas and acclaimed him as the hero of the story!  Then it was clear to Don that, in these tribes, there was a culture that honoured treachery as a virtue, and so Judas was a great success.  It seemed the whole mission had failed.  Don and Carol prayed for wisdom from The Lord.  And for help, because two tribes, now together, were starting to fight.  War was starting!  The tribes were jealous for the attention of the Richardson family.  So Don and family decided they must leave. 

The head of the tribe who first welcomed them then intervened with a cultural practice that was the amazing door to Jesus and the gospel.  To make peace, the man took his infant son, and gave him to the chief of the enemy tribe.  He gave what they called a 'peace child,' entrusting one of their own to the enemy, to be cared for and raised.  This sacrifice would make peace.  In their culture of idealized treachery, this was the one way to make peace.

Don Richardson now knew that for these folk, Jesus wanted to be their Peace Child.  The very Son of God was given to humans to be one of us.  This would make peace between Creator and creatures.  And it did, for the Sawi in New Guinea.

When we listen, glorious things will happen!  The Spirit of God wants to encourage us, amid the daunting obstacles to our mission for Jesus.

Look with me at those chapters in the first half of 2 Corinthians: Paul keeps encouraging and encouraging. Paragraph after paragraph begins with strong, hopeful words.  (3:12) Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness...  (4:1) Therefore, since it is by God's mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.  (4:13) But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with the scripture... we also believe, and so we speak.  (4:16) So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.  (5:1) For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  (5:6) So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from The Lord...  (5:11) Therefore, knowing the fear of The Lord, we try to persuade others; but we ourselves are known to God... 

In the midst of all these encouraging words, the Apostle speaks of ministry to people whose understanding of Christ and the Word is veiled.  We can tune in to these people in our lives, to reach them for Christ. 

This next story was told as a parable of sorts, about getting to recognize our Master’s voice, Jesus.  But I think of it as a parable of listening to those who need Christ…

Brian Brown tells the story of being at the community pool with his family. Kids were screaming, playing, and splashing in the pool, music was playing, the lifeguard whistles were blowing and in the midst of the conversation, his wife shooshes him. He said, "What are you doing?"

"Shoosh, did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" he said.

"Listen!"  And over all of the noise, she had heard their youngest daughter screaming. As she listened to it, she then said, "OK, everything's alright. That's a happy scream."

He said he was blown away that, over all of the other voices, she not only recognized her child's voice but was able to identify what type of scream it was. Why? Because every day she talked with them and in the process knew the sound of their voices.

There are many voices out there, several cultures in West Hants today.  I may be prepared well by God to hear and understand the biologists and environmentalists in the neighbourhood, and help remove their barriers to faith in Christ.  You may be placed in such a time as this because you connect well with teens, and speak some of their language.  Or, you may be deployed by Jesus out there to hear the call of retirees for meaning and spirituality.  You or I alone do not have to do it all, or be able to understand and reach every kind of person out there.  But together, there are many in our communities we can reach, with our open ears, and open hearts.

It may be that our keenness to know our neighbours on our mission field will come in stages.  Before WE can listen well to our diverse neighbours, we need to learn more how to listen to one another, dear believers.  And under this must be a better listening to our God and Master, Jesus Christ. 

When we listen, glorious things will happen!

A Talk for Harvest House

The TRUTH and Jeff White

7 pm, Friday, February 22, 2013; Harvest House Windsor; J G White

Truths on the internet…

Bill Gates giving $5,000 to Facebook users who click a share link?  

"Facebook will be closed for maintenance from February 29th to 31st."

One theme for my life so far has been the quest for Truth: what’s real… About me, about others, about creation, about God.

Age 10-17  Faith beginnings:  learning to know & serve God

My coming to faith, and formation: in church

       Worship, Sunday school, youth group, choirs, CSB, etc.

Two Truths and a Lie: a few volunteers…

Truth: Jeff is a shy person.

Truth: God does something with that.  Teaches me how to be an introvert – get energized and refreshed when alone.  How to have confidence in meeting people and socializing.

Age 18-25 Opening the mind:  learning from mentors

Joshua had Moses, Elisha had Elijah, the disciples had Jesus, Timothy had Paul.  I had my mentors.  Two pastors, actually, who were in ministry, and I got to do some work with them.

They came along at just the right time in my life.  I had lots of questions about the Bible and my faith; these people opened new doors – of using the Bible, of worshipping the Lord, of ministering to people.  They taught me by example, they taught by by what they said.  I sort of did this: thought, these people are great; I’ll be just like them!  So I sort of copied them. 

The Truth is we learn a lot from some people that come along in our lives.  We learn to follow Jesus by the example of others.

Age 26-33 Ministry on my own:  opening minds

I got focused on thinking outside the box, being free thinking, not traditional like the Baptist Church I’d grown up in.  I got out into ministry as a Pastor, and in the background I wondered how people in my pews learned to think differently and grow.  We even had a Bible study group we called the radical thinkers.

Truth: I feel I don’t really fit in the Church.  I don’t always believe all the right things – about God and people and so forth.

Truth: But God makes me extremely welcome. I’ve always felt welcome, felt it a home to me – the fellowship of church.  I catch the Lord’s vision for welcoming everyone.  EVERYone.  Beatitudes: the Kingdom of God is available even to the: poor in spirit, mourn, meek, hunger and thirst for right, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, persecuted for doing right.

Age 34-41 Ministry shift:  spiritual practices

Dallas Willard speaking in 2004 at the Baptist Convention in Sackville, NB.  Read a book of his I had.  Start of a shift for me.  The importance of what he called spiritual disciplines.  The inner life, the devotional life, your walk with the Lord.  This sounded true, I could believe in this!  But, could I put it into practice?

Anglican joke: ministers going into the cathedral offices, and see a sign that says “lecture on prayer” this way, and “Prayer room” that way.  They go to the lecture, instead of actual prayer. 

Truth: Well, I’m a lot like those. J I know a lot of things about prayer and fasting and confession, etc. I have lots of books.   I need to do these things, step by step.  How about you?

I am just now trying to pray the Psalms (lectio devina).

Example: Psalm 23                Read

                                           Meditate

                                           Pray

                                           Contemplate

Age 42+     Leadership: changing ministry in a changing age.

Over the last year I realized that, back in 1992, when I said “YES” to God, “I’ll be a Pastor,” I signed up to be a pastor, and a preacher, sure.  But not a leader.  “I’m not a leader!”  I don’t like making decisions.  I don’t like taking responsibility.  I don’t like being in charge of a lot of things.

Well, I have to discover what my leadership can be look like, because I am called by the Lord to lead a church into God’s ministry.   Perhaps my new chapter beginning now is figuring this out, growing.  I also think I’m getting hints from the Lord to open my heart.  I’ve been through chapters of having an open mind, now it’s heart time.  Love and compassion time. 

Have you had a new chapter start anytime recently, in your walk with God?  If not, I can tell you from my own life, there can always be a new chapter.  The Truth is, God is the God of new beginnings.  “Behold, I make all things new.” 

A new chance for you in 2013 might be about your thinking and what you know; it’s a year to learn some really important stuff.  Or 2013 may be a time for healing of some things that hurt you.  Or it’s a year for changing what’s important, and how you will spend your time and energy.  Any of these may be what the Lord has in store for you. 

It’s true, the God of love has purpose for you.

It’s true, the Saviour can bring you through a new conversion.

It’s true, the Holy Spirit may change you, from the inside out, your soul and body. 

God does this kind of wonderful stuff.  I thank Him for that.

And I thank you for listening.

Listen to Believers

Listen to Believers

(2 Timothy 1:1-7)

10:30 am, Sunday, February 3, 2013; Windsor UBC; J G White

This is a rhetorical question; you don't have to answer out loud, but... have you ever arrived at a church service, read who was speaking that day, and thought, “Oh... this would have been a good week to be away”? Ya know, years ago maybe it was the missionary with a slide projector that warded some people off. Or there's that certain local pastor you don't enjoy hearing from.

On the other hand, we also have moments we meet up with someone, and are so glad, and want to talk, want to hear from that person. 

To listen to different believers is important for us. Helpful. Blessed by God. I had Alison read from the start of Paul's second letter to Timothy today because of all the talk about how other believers guided and blessed Timothy. I think it's implied, as well as taught, here, that hearing from other disciples of the Master is good for us, even necessary, part of the plan.

Paul rejoices, as he starts this letter, in Timothy's wonderful faith, passed on to him from his mother, Eunice, and grandmother, Lois. And yet, Tim's own faith was his, it was personal, alive, and led him into a different life: the life of one of the first traveling missionaries for Jesus Christ.

And Paul writes about Timothy’s spiritual gifts that were celebrated when Paul laid his hands upon him, ordaining him, we would say. Paul was Tim's mentor, his spiritual father.

What will listening to other believers do for us? What difference does it make? Will it make? Did it make already? In a few minutes, I'll ask a few times if any of you would mention someone – some believer – who helped you in your walk with the Lord. And how he or she did it, helped you.

I remember a man in the Middleton Baptist Church who was a fairly young man in the 1980s. He was the leader of the boys group called the Christian Service Brigade. Some of you were involved in that here, I know. Mr. Tufts ran a well-organized program, according to the plan, but with lots of interesting special events, games, guests, and outings. And, best of all, Mr. Tufts was funny, goofy, crazy. I remember hiking around Mosher Island, along narrow goat-trail, going around corner after corner. “Are we there yet?” we boys asked, and Mr. Tufts said, again and again, “Yes, the lighthouse is just around the next point of land.” It wasn't; it seemed a long time before we reached the lighthouse. I never shall forget camping on Isle Haute in the Bay of Fundy, and piling up a giant heap of driftwood on the beach. It was like driftwood haven in Advocate. After dark, we set fire to this pile as big as a cube van. That was impressive fun to a boy of 15. We later heard that people along the Fundy coast thought a boat must have been on fire that night. Putting out the little fires all over the driftwood beach that started from the sparks was fun too.

One thing I gained from Mr. Tufts, when I was a young believer, was to have fun as a Christian. He lived it, he encouraged it. I learned many other lessons from him. Once I had grown up, we talked about the good ole days, and he said about youth programs two things: they have to be fun, and they have to be Christ-centred.

Who is a believer who mentored you? Can you share something?

Listening to believers will start us farther along: teach us. Surely this is like Timothy's mother and grandmother teaching him, and Paul teaching him. So we don't have to start a square one. As my New Testament Professor would say, we are pigmies standing on the shoulders of giants!

Listening to believers will inspire and encourage us. In chapter one of 2 Timothy, Paul writes: May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain... (16)

Listening to believers will show us the big picture, keep us in balance, remind us of the truth. It is here in 2 Timothy that Paul wrote: But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work. (3:14-17)

Listening to believers will help us relate better to different experiences and ideas. In 2 Tim 3 Paul wrote and said: Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions, and my suffering the things that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. (10-11) How helpful such sharing would be to Timothy, who might easily face the same challenges.

Listening to believers will help us hear and respect other believers. In Paul's first letter to Timothy he'd written a bunch of advice along these lines: Do not speak harshly to an older man [an elder], but speak to him as a father, to younger men as brothers, to older women as mothers, to younger women as sisters – with absolute purity. (5:1-2)

Listening to other believers will show your heart that you are not alone. Read the final half of 2 Timothy 4, the final words of the letter. Many believers are mentioned, some famous, some to totally anonymous – at least to us: Luke, Mark; Tychius, Carpus. A couple folk mentioned became troublemakers: Demas, and Alexander. But just listen to the circle of fellowship in these simple words of Paul to Timothy, the end of the letter:

Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus. Erastus remained in Corinth; Trophimus I left ill in Miletus. Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus sends greetings to you, as do Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brothers and sisters. The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you. (19-22)

No matter what prison Paul was in, no matter where Timothy traveled, they were not alone. They had more than the Spirit of God with them. They had each other, and the many others who had discovered Christ, crucified, and risen from the dead!

To listen to our fellow believers will do us such good, and many other things, by the grace of God. Be solemn, but rejoice also at the Lord's Table. Here we gather at His Table, with believers the world over. We are not alone. Christ reconciles us by His blood.