January 18, 2009
Reflection “What’s Spun?”
Rev. James Farrell
Judy Wallman, a professional genealogy researcher in southern California, was
doing some personal work on her own family tree. She discovered that Senator
Harry Reid's great-great uncle, Remus Reid, was hanged for horse stealing and
train robbery in Montana in 1889. Both Judy Wallman and the Nevada Senior
Senator, Harry Reid, share this common ancestor. The only known photograph of
Remus shows him standing on the gallows in Montana territory. On the back of the
picture Judy obtained during her research, is this inscription: 'Remus Reid,
horse thief, sent to Montana Territorial Prison 1885, escaped 1887, robbed the
Montana Flyer six times. Caught by Pinkerton detectives, convicted and hanged in
1889.'
So Judy recently e-mailed Senator Harry Reid for information about their
great-great uncle. Believe it or not, Harry Reid's staff sent back the
following biographical sketch for her genealogy research: “Remus Reid was
a famous cowboy in the Montana Territory. His business empire grew to include
acquisition of valuable equestrian assets and intimate dealings with the Montana
railroad. Beginning in 1883, he devoted several years of his life to
government service, finally taking leave to resume his dealings with the
railroad. In 1887, he was a key player in a vital investigation run by the
renowned Pinkerton Detective Agency. In 1889, Remus passed away during an
important civic function held in his honour when the platform upon which he was
standing collapsed.”
It would appear that there is a “‘Spin-Doctor’ extraordinaire” on the senator’s
staff.
This week, Nortel, the darling company of Canadian technology, once worth more
than the Royal Bank of Canada, filed for bankruptcy protection…shares once worth
120 dollars this week became worth the equivalent of 1.3 cents. Much of that
slide started when account executives spun the truth about earnings and worth
into a web of deceit that, when fully revealed, left executives rich,
shareholders confused and “trust” out the window.
Nortel has not been alone in this spin of deceit…companies of renown … Enrons
and the like, and the banks that attempt to piggy-back on the phantom success of
these companies have crashed and burned to the surprise and horror of many
people in recent years. Their collapse is never without the destruction of many
of the small investors who have underwritten their operations.
When what we trust gets distorted beyond what is recognizable, collapse can’t be
far behind. Watergate, the Airbus scandle, Native residential school stories—all
take their toll on personal reputations, on governments and institutions.
This may come as a surprise in a world accustomed to hearing bad news about
political figures and people in high places, but the story I shared about
senator Reid is not true. It's an old joke that is a bit of homespun political
satire that has been circulating in various forms since the year 2000.
The image that accompanied the internet story is actually a historical photo of
the hanging of a New Mexico outlaw named Black Jack Ketchum in 1901.
The punch line (“Remus passed away during an important civic function held in
his honor when the platform on which he was standing collapsed” — i.e, he was
hanged) was borrowed from an even older joke that made the rounds in
genealogical circles in the mid-1980s.
Different names have been used to tell this same joke about Hillary Rodham
Clinton's family tree, about George Bush’s family tree and, of course, others.
It is hard to tell what is truth and what is fiction sometimes… that’s the point
of the joke…that’s also the truth of the financial crisis that has embroiled the
world’s markets. It only ever works when everyone thinks its working. If
confidence is gone, so too is hope. The house of cards collapses.
I read the faith statements from this year’s adult confirmation class and I am
encouraged! I’m encouraged by the honesty and vulnerability of people who
continue to hear and respond to that voice that has been calling authentically
to hearts throughout all of human history. No spin. Just truth.
The “call” is real. How we frame the call to share with others can either be
helpful or confusing. Over the years I have heard many people share their call
to embrace the direction they felt God was moving them. Sometimes subtle
references to an undeniable but unexplainable source that nuances one’s spirit
to new places of discovery, hope, and courage.
Sometimes people have shared the most profound claims of divine intervention and
direction that defy the understanding of even the most spiritually welcoming and
receptive ears. For many, maybe most, it is hard not to be dismissive of such
claims…perhaps prudence requires it.
I’ve never heard anyone proclaim a call like the call of Samuel shared in
today’s Hebrew scripture reading. I wasn’t there…I have no idea how it went down
and it doesn’t matter…the story says Eli didn’t hear anything and I suspect that
even in Eli’s day, people acting on the voices they hear inside their heads
probably brought a deserved measure of scepticism.
The call of the disciples in the gospel lection you can read for yourself. For
me, faith is at its most real when clearly genuine interaction takes place. No
platitudes. No audacious claims. Just sincere attempts to acknowledge the
presence of the divine, honestly. That’s what I read in the Faith statements of
today’s confirmands, and that’s what encourages me.
People who move along the journey of faith willing to question motivations and
challenge assumptions and willing to hear afresh that still small voice of the
God of the universe stirring within them, encourages a nurturing that we may all
experience. That is good news indeed.
Bishop John Spong, who some of you have met, has spent a lifetime challenging
assumptions. His efforts have modelled and given encouragement to a generation
of questers.
About his own journey of authenticity he writes: “Her name was Cornelia Newton.
She was the wife of a country doctor in Pearisburg, Va. and the mother of three
children. She had been active in the affairs of the Diocese of Southwestern VA
(Virginia) while I was a rector in Lynchburg. That was how we met and became
friends.
About a year after I had moved to Richmond, Virginia, I got a telephone call
from Cornelia, who was a patient at the University Hospital in Charlottesville.
She asked if it might be possible for me to come up and see her. “What's wrong,
Cornelia?” I asked. “I don't want to talk about it on the phone,” she said, “but
I would like to see you.”
Of course, I went the next day. It is a little more than an hour's drive from
Richmond to Charlottesville, but I arrived, parked, found her room and began to
talk with her about 1:30 p.m. She had just been diagnosed with a silent and
fatal cancer. She had only months to live. I was stunned at the news. She was so
young, so vital, and so necessary in the lives of her husband and their
children.
“Tell me what it is like to hear that news,” I asked and with that question one
of the most remarkable conversations I have ever had occurred. Cornelia invited
me into her death experience, and for three hours we roamed over the terrain of
her life. She talked about what it is like to face limits, to know that she
would never see her children graduate from high school, from a university or
even get married. She would never know her grandchildren.
She wondered about how her husband's practice would be affected without her
anchor at home. She walked into dreams that would never be realized, recalled
treasured moments that she would always cherish and mentioned relationships that
had enriched her. She laid down the defensive shell in which all live human
beings hide, and we talked deeply and honestly as two people do when they are
not trying to pretend or to guard their vulnerabilities. Of course it was
painful, but it also was real.
When the time came to leave about 4:30 p.m., I fell into my professional role
and asked if I could pray with her. She did not say no. It was as if she felt
that if it was something I needed to do, it was OK with her. So I took her hand
and prayed, using the familiar and hackneyed phrases of my profession. It was a
performance not a reality and I felt that this prayer actually cheapened the
visit. I realized then that my life and my faith practices were out of sync. I
reflected upon that as I drove back to Richmond.
My conversation with Cornelia had been expansive and life giving, honest and
real. My prayer had been tangential, seemingly phony and unreal.
Our conversation served to enhance my life and hers. My prayers seemed to
diminish my life and hers. Which one was the real prayer, I asked?
I vowed never to pray again with a person unless I could do so as honestly as I
could engage that person in dialogue.”
Spong’s prayer awareness; the real and meaningful conversations I have shared
with the confirmation class; the encouragement of people willing to be honest
enough to be vulnerable sharing heart-felt realities of the faith as they have
come to know them…these are the things that promise the spiritual development
that leads to lives well lived and faith communities that never need to hide
behind spun truth.
Amen.
March 15, 2009
Reflection for Lent III
by Rev. James Farrell
“They believed the scripture and the word Jesus had spoken” … believing…a funny
thing really. If I asked 10 of you to write down or to tell me everything you
really believe about faith and life, I don’t think I’m wrong in saying that I
would have ten different responses. What people believe can polarize or unite
hearts …can identify kindred spirits or make others into aliens.
In our post 9-11 world many wedges have been driven between those whose fear has
moved them toward a fundamentalist belief and those who want to experience
nothing of that view of belief.
As many are discouraged and want to move away from any kind of notion of a life
of faith it shouldn’t surprise us that atheism is getting a lot of play as a
direct reaction to the rise of fundamentalism around the world.
Late last year, the Atheist crusader, Richard Dawkins, supported raising money
for an atheist bus advertising campaign to counter the religious advertising bus
campaigns that were happening in England. The Washington Times has said that
“The original bus campaign was the brainchild of British comedy writer Ariane
Sherine, who was troubled by bus ads instructing riders to accept Christianity
or burn in hell.”
Does that slogan sound like fundamentalism to you? It does to me. In any case,
the money was found and the campaign ran in January. A campaign that jumped
across the Atlantic and found its way to the buses of the Toronto Transit
Commission in mid February.
The atheist slogan was, “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy
your life.”
The United Church’s Emerging Spirit and Wondercafe were not to be caught off
guard and responded with this web and print add.
The Wondercafe add appears on the screen here
I’m sorry for the quality of the image, it is as detailed as I could find. If
you can’t quite see it, it shows the Dawkins and Sherine add line which reads,
“There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” and below it
is the new ad line from the United Church wondercafe which reads, “There’s
probably a God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”
It invites folks drawn by the original ad to join the discussion at
wondercafe.ca.
Clever, really, but I guess not everyone thought so because our Moderator, David
Giuliano had to comment on it in a letter to pastoral charges in an effort to
keep some folks from getting too freaked out.
Rev. Keith Howard, executive director of the church's Emerging Spirit Campaign,
from which the wondercafe website is co-ordinated, said the United Church wants
to encourage conversations on religion as well as direct people to wondercafe.ca,
our online discussion site.
Right on! But that certainly wasn’t the end of our church’s dialogue on atheism
because the Observer carried a story by Jocelyn Bell who some of you will
remember also wrote a story about our Westminster partnership with Saamis
Immigration here in town and the resulting refugee reception house that exists
in the south garden of the church.
Jocelyn’s encounter with an Atheist convention gave her much to think about and
I hope it does us too.
That story was carried in the United Church Observer in the February 09 issue.
How many here had a chance to read it?
It was titled: True unbelievers addressing Organized atheism as on the rise and
growing more vocal. And asking: ‘Can believers and non-believers co-exist
respectfully?’
It must have struck home because some of you spoke with me about it.
From her article, I share some quotes:
What I learn is this: The term atheism originated as an epithet describing
anyone in conflict with established religion.
For many years, non-believers identified themselves as freethinkers and
scientific sceptics. Even today, atheists struggle with the term: why should
they define themselves in relation to something they don’t believe? That would
be like the rest of us defining ourselves as “a-unicornists.”
It shouldn’t surprise us that: Canadians who described themselves as atheists,
agnostics, humanists or non-religious rose to 16.2 percent in the 2001 census,
up from 12.3 percent in 1991 which was up from 7.4 percent in 1981. Similar
patterns are found in the United States.
Bell says: People tell me that they feel victimized by Christians who are
turning their beliefs into laws, stopping stem cell research, outlawing abortion
and excluding gays and lesbians; and by Christians who treat non-Christians as
though they have no moral centre.
Bell says: Many had come to the convention seeking a safe place to express their
views without fear of condemnation and looking for a bit of moral courage in
their fight for the right to be non-religious. In the post-9/11 world of
radicalized religion, their movement has gained momentum and has itself
radicalized.
And, as succinctly stated in the Globe and Mail by John Gray, author of Black
Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of Utopia, “According to the
evangelists of unbelief, religion is a relic left over from the past that stands
in the way of human progress. Once the world is rid of religion, immemorial
evils such as war and tyranny can be overcome, and humanity will be able to
fashion a new life for itself, better than any known in history.”
On that very subject Jim Taylor weighed in again this week in his online column
when he said:
“If I understand them correctly, these atheists claim that we don’t need God to
be moral. We humans are intelligent enough to recognize the difference between
good and bad, kindness and cruelty, altruism and selfishness...
I argued that we do not naturally know that one is better than the other. Small
children don’t, for example. They’re as likely to resolve disagreements by
swatting a playmate with a two-by-four as by cooperating. [This week, a
children’s dispute resolution process ended when one of the kids grabbed
scissors and stabbed the other child.]
And if we really all believed instinctively that peace is preferable to war,
would we still have so many wars?
I contend that we only consider one set of behaviours better than another
because we have been taught to value mercy, compassion, and forgiveness... By
our religious tradition... Which believes that those values were inspired by a
merciful, compassionate, and forgiving God.
While world religions differ in many respects, they all (more or less) espouse
those values.
Jim says... When last I said that, I got a pile of mail in response. Without
exception, those who disagreed visualized God as a harsh judge, an austere
tyrant who punished wrongdoers. In their view, God is a big stick, a means of
terrifying people into being good to avoid eternal punishment. Which hardly
makes goodness a voluntary choice.
So let me respond—I do not believe in that kind of God. I do not believe that
God punishes us, any more than gravity selectively punishes people foolish
enough to step off a cliff.
People make mistakes; mistakes have consequences. You don’t need a God to impose
those consequences as punishment for their actions.
If organized religion—be it Christianity, Islam, or Judaism—has portrayed a God
who forces us to do good by threatening us with punishment, as the atheists
attest, then religion has indeed done us a massive disservice.
But I won’t condemn religion.
Perhaps, during what historians call the Dark Ages, during other periods of
ignorance and bigotry, the threat of eternal damnation may have been the only
way to impose morality. Or it may simply have reflected a culture that
functioned that way.
But that’s not the only portrayal of God.
Christianity claims that God was fully revealed in an individual, Jesus of
Nazareth. When I read the gospels, I find not one instance of Jesus imposing
punishment. He got angry. He voiced harsh criticisms. [He demonstrated the
desire to have the central place of worship preserved for that purpose as we
read in today’s gospel lesson from John.] But when his disciples urged him to
rain fire on an inhospitable village, he refused.
He even forgave those who put him to death.
Such a Jesus seems to me to be incompatible with the atheists’ image of a God
who zaps sinners with thunderbolts or consigns them to endless torment.
In the churches that I know, the common theme is that God is love. God’s love is
like the foundation of a house, the solid underpinning that supports all the
rest of the structure, regardless of its unique shape.
I don’t object to people arguing that God is unnecessary. That’s their option. I
do object to people arguing that God is unnecessary because they know only a
distorted idea of God.” –Jim Taylor ‘Hard Edges’
This morning, I give the last word to Jocelyn Bell who concludes her Observer
article by saying: I can no more denounce my faith in God than I can denounce my
faith in love, art, nature, science, beauty or humanity.
If aliens land on Earth next week, explain everything to us and then inform us
that the world is ending, God will still be the best way to describe all my
experiences of kindness and compassion and my inner sense that I’m connected to
everything on this planet and in the universe.
It’s my reason to orient my life toward good, however limited and faulty my idea
of “good” may be. And … even if the atheists are right, and what you see is what
you get, I prefer to live in the hope that there’s something more.
Amen.
March 29, 2009
Reflection for Lent V
by Rev. James Farrell
“This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the
judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven
out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people
to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to
die.”
To the gathered, the words, ‘This voice for your sake, not
mine’…Jesus did not need some kind of purging, some kind of
awakening…some kind of transformation…those near him did…as much as
he tried to teach and illustrate the kind of life that his followers
would need to embrace…they really didn’t get it.
In another week, gathered in the garden of Gethsemane we see those
closest to him ready to take up arms to defend and insure that ‘the
kingdom’ Jesus was speaking of would not be humanly thwarted.
Clearly they didn’t get it…’not that kind of kingdom’ was the
message that Jesus had been sharing from the beginning …but new
paradigms, new thinking, or just thinking outside the box of
military might was difficult for those early followers…it is
difficult for followers today …the history of nations really shows
that…oh, yah, some glimmers here and there help us understand that
there are other ways “of being” but, ‘by and large’ the adopted view
of nations over the years has always been might makes right. Not,
however, what Jesus was talking about …what he wanted his followers
to embrace was a radical rethink of things as they were…into a
vision of things as they could be.
John quotes Jesus as saying: “Now is the judgment of this world; now
the ruler of this world will be driven out.” While Hollywood has
made an industry of making films that depict two eternal powers …
two forces battling for the hearts and minds of the masses…and,
while the early middle-eastern mind certainly believed in two such
opposing spiritual beings endlessly duking it out, the ruler of the
world in Jesus’ day was empire.
Empire based on financial greed…empire supported by military
might…empire assured of its position by striking fear in the hearts
of the masses. Centuries and centuries of empire-thinking is not
easily changed and that is as true of the centuries that led up to
Jesus’ day as it is of the recent centuries that bring us to this
day.
Charles Darwin was born 200 years ago this February…for many, the
anniversary marks a time to look again at his work. The church of
England has come as close to apologizing to Charles Darwin as it
dare through the publishing of an official article, entitled “Good
Religion Needs Good Science” by the Reverend Dr. Malcolm Brown,
Director of Mission and Public Affairs for the Church of England.
He said in September, “Charles Darwin: 200 years from your birth,
the Church of England owes you an apology for misunderstanding you
and, by getting our first reaction wrong, encouraging others to
misunderstand you still”. For most of us, the subject is a non
event…but if you lived during the heyday of the debates 150 years
ago…the vitriolic encounters between the church and supporters of
Darwin’s theories were no small matter. Change isn’t easy…most of us
know that…most of us live that. The change in thinking that Darwin
was asking folks to consider was way past the ability of many to
engage.
Thankfully, time is a great healer and what seems like ‘science
fiction’ one generation is ‘simple science’ in another. Actually, I
think Darwin has faired better than Jesus in many ways. Jesus was
inviting folks to rethink kingdom realities…what the kingdom of God
is all about? Is it just another view of empire? …few got it… most
didn’t.
His insistence that the ‘kingdom of God is here’ was and remains too
radical for those awaiting a transformed world, a transformed life,
a transformed mind that can only exist through some external ‘force
of God.’ Clearly, 2000 years after the fact we still resist Jesus’
call to “think different”.
I guess we shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves. Those closest to
Jesus had difficulty articulating what he had shared with them…what
they recorded on parchment, they wrote out of their understanding
…and to a large degree, we have turned their words into gods to be
worshipped instead of invitations to encounter the holy in new ways.
John, the gospel writer, records Jesus as saying: “And I, when I am
lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” And then
adds, “He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.”
From John’s perspective, it had to be that way. Jesus was gone,
wasn’t coming back any time soon... a fact to which each passing day
and year bore witness…so the death of Jesus …if it meant anything,
must have been a ransom and if ‘a ransom it was’, then he must have
known that was his fate…and any comment on him ‘being lifted up’ had
to be understood in this context.
Or did it?
We know that Jesus draws all manner of people to himself when we
lift, before people, his ideals, his view of equity, his
appreciation for the value of all life, his insistence that the
journey of which he speaks is worthy of our ‘emotional’, ‘political’
and personal investment.
In our attempt to share the good news of Jesus of Nazareth, we try
to embody these things. For those of us with United Church history,
we do well to remember that the United Church grew ‘out of’ and
‘alongside’ the social gospel that sought to give leggs to the
golden rule.
That meant some very real and concrete action in the early part of
the last century. Things that might make some people uncomfortable…
you see, the pioneers of our faith were those who stood with and
demonstrated against the mistreatment of workers in the Winnipeg
General Strike of 1919…we could spend a lot of time on that subject
but suffice it say here that the church has very much been a
political animal from the beginning…and the best politics are not
partisan, not exclusive to one party but seek the genuine equity and
engagement of all. Doesn’t that sound like what Jesus was about? It
should. He was.
When we lift up the heart of Jesus in this way, people are drawn
close…how can they not be… good news is versioned and change does
happen.
J. S. Woodsworth was the pastor of Grace church in Winnipeg in the
early part of the last century [1902]…his heart for the struggling
labourers at the time of the General Strike that followed WW1 got
him arrested and sentenced to a year in jail and his street
credibility enabled him to go on to found the Co-operative
Commonwealth Federation which some of you may know as the forerunner
of the New Democratic Party.
Not really popular in Oil rich Alberta, I know, but when business
wanes and ordinary folks are hurt, upholders of “equity for all” are
given much more attention. It may have got J.S. Woodsworth
arrested…it got Jesus crucified.
I don’t know if the current state of the economy will infuse new
life into the NDP around here, perhaps that depends on how difficult
things become for how many people. What I do know is that when
people no longer have faith in companies, governments and the
military to do the right thing for the many, the winds of change are
never far behind.
Jesus, looking at economic injustice and fragmented lives, versioned
a new way, a new world…a way that people could live, work and love
‘a new world’ into being—A world that valued the marginalized—those
with imperfect physical health, those outside the ruling class,
those who had become pawns in the machinery of the Roman Empire…or
pawns in the evolving commercialism of Palestine…who were these?
Just… people …and ‘these people’ Jesus saw as ‘more’ than a
commodity and he promised they could live as more too…and he called
it the kingdom of God.
Funny thing—the church—‘the rock’ upon which Jesus’ vision would be
placed…has mostly missed the call to that kingdom …that possible
world. Those mistakes have been repeated throughout time even
though, on occasion, the church gets it right and helps change the
thinking of the general public in ways that offer dignity and
equality for the marginalized…
I think we led the North American church and in some ways the world
in 1988 when we welcomed gay and lesbian persons into full
membership of this Christian church…I think Woodsworth and others
were pioneers of our faith history when nearly 75 years earlier they
sought fair wages and working conditions in profit-rich post World
War 1 Canada.
But the church continues to evolve…it continues to uphold that image
of Jesus lifted high ‘for all’ as the beacon calling people to ‘what
can be’.
Bishop Spong, speaking about his church’s late apology to Darwin
says:
“It is a tragedy that the Church officially resisted Darwin for the
last 150 years, but that is quite typical of church leaders'
behaviour. Recall that it was in December of 1991 that the Vatican
finally admitted that Galileo was correct. This was about 40 years
after space travel had begun. If Galileo had not been correct, our
spacecraft would have collided with the sky that separated heaven
from earth.
Spong goes on to say: “I would suggest the leaders of the Church of
England must now practice what that apology to Darwin suggests that
we believe. For Darwin attacks the basic Christian myth of a perfect
creation, the fall into sin, the divine rescue carried out by Jesus
and the restoration through faith to our status as those created in
the image of God.
If we evolved from single cells into complex self-conscious
creatures then there was no perfection from which to fall, no fall
into sin, no need for a divine rescue and no capacity to be restored
to something which we have never been.
This means that the whole way of telling the Jesus story must be
rethought, and this reformulation will threaten church leaders
deeply.
Clergy on Sunday mornings can no longer address “fallen sinners”.
The mantra that “Jesus died for my sins” will have to be retired.
The traditional meaning of the Eucharist will have to be revised. We
will have to recognize that we are now addressing not those who need
to be rescued from a fall but those who have not yet achieved the
status of being fully human. Jesus must then empower us to be fully
human; he cannot rescue us from sin”.
Yes, the church of Jesus of Nazareth…the one we call Christ,
continues to evolve…it continues to uphold that image of Jesus
lifted high as a beacon calling all people to the promise of ‘what
can be.
Amen.
April 19, 2009
Reflection: “What About Thomas?”
by Rev. James Farrell
So, we are back to the story of Thomas…I say ‘back to’ because the
cycle of the lectionary from which we read each Sunday has a 3 year
cycle…some stories recur more frequently than that since they appear
in more than one book of the bible. The reading I just shared is the
story of Thomas as it appears in John’s gospel, of course.
So, again, we visit Thomas and in this story and we find ourselves
asking: “Am I Thomas?” “Would I have responded as Thomas did?”
Perhaps the questions you bring are, “Did the Thomas story happen as
it appears in John?” “How important is it for me to take John’s
story and make it ‘a literal story’ in my life?”
You can go on and on with the Thomas story and that’s the point.
It’s another story about life, faith, belief, understanding,
transformation, mystery, hope, promise…it is endless, really. The
only thing that really matters in this story as in any biblical
story is what does the story do to me? What does it do to you?
This weak I received, as I always do, many emails sharing many
thing…often the stuff I get is of limited worth but sometimes the
bits and bytes that land on my screen are thought provoking,
challenging, encouraging…in a lot of ways they are themselves items
that raise questions of faith and practice… “how to live with
respect in creation,” as our New Creed says.
One such item, right in time for Earth Sunday was a PowerPoint about
bottled water. Prepared out of an American context but true in our
context too, of course…it spoke of the very high cost to the
environment …to say nothing of the cost to one’s personal resources
that comes as a result of using bottled water. Remembering that
those resources can’t be used for anything else once used for
bottled water…it spoke of the high cost of energy used to package
and distribute bottled water…the trash that proliferates from the
practice…the cost in non-renewable resources of petrochemicals in
the preparation of the plastic…the leaching of those chemicals into
our bodies as we drink from plastics allowed to heat up in our cars,
or become warm in transport or merchandising…the massive pollution
that occurs when near weightless plastic bottles get carried to
field, stream and ocean where they pollute until or only when a
“cleanup” is mobilized to deal with the problem. In north America as
little as 15% of bottles are ever recycled…you get the picture, I
hope…I know I did…I still have bottled water from time to time but I
have reduced and I’m going to work to reduce further. Email well
placed? I think so.
I thought of sharing the PPT with you in its entirety but suffice it
to say that if we think about it, not much good comes from this new
trend in our lives…we all survived before bottled water and will
without it.
Another email had the following line tucked into a broader story:
“Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some
kind of battle.” Good words…a life maxim for sure. Email well
placed? Again, I think so!
A story also appeared, as it has now a few times in my inbox, and
again I saved it as I did the first time… no doubt some of you may
be familiar with it but it is too good to not share publicly.
It reads: “I put my carry-on in the luggage compartment and sat down
in my assigned seat. It was going to be a long flight. ‘I'm glad I
have a good book to read, perhaps I will get a short nap,’ I
thought.
Just before take-off, a line of soldiers came down the aisle and
filled all the vacant seats, totally surrounding me. I decided to
start a conversation. ‘Where are you headed?’ I asked the soldier
seated nearest to me. ‘We're going to a training base. We'll be
there for two weeks for special training, and then we're being
deployed to Afghanistan.’
After flying for about an hour, an announcement was made that sack
lunches were available for five dollars. It would be several hours
before we reached the east, and I quickly decided a lunch would help
pass the time.
As I reached for my wallet, I overheard a soldier ask his buddy if
he planned to buy lunch. ‘No, that seems like a lot of money for
just a sack lunch. Probably wouldn't be worth five bucks. I'll wait
till we get to base.’
His friend agreed.
I looked around at the other soldiers. None were buying lunch. I
walked to the back of the plane and handed the flight attendant a
fifty dollar bill. ‘Take a lunch to all those soldiers.’ She grabbed
my arms and squeezed tightly. Her eyes wet with tears, she thanked
me. ‘My son was a soldier in Iraq; it's almost like you are doing it
for him.’
Picking up ten sacks, she headed up the aisle to where the soldiers
were seated. She stopped at my seat and asked, ‘Which do you like
best – beef or chicken?’
‘Chicken,’ I replied, wondering why she asked. She turned and went
to the front of the plane, returning a minute later with a dinner
plate from first class. ‘This is your thanks.’
After we finished eating, I went again to the back of the plane,
heading for the rest room. A man stopped me. ‘I saw what you did. I
want to be part of it. Here, take this.’ He handed me twenty-five
dollars.
Soon after I returned to my seat, I saw the Flight Captain coming
down the aisle, looking at the aisle numbers as he walked, I hoped
he was not looking for me, but noticed he was looking at the numbers
only on my side of the plane. When he got to my row he stopped,
smiled, held out his hand, and said, ‘I want to shake your hand.’
Quickly unfastening my seatbelt I stood and took the Captain's hand.
With a booming voice he said, ‘I was a soldier and I was a military
pilot. Once, someone bought me a lunch. It was an act of kindness I
never forgot.’ I was embarrassed when applause was heard from all of
the passengers.
Later I walked to the front of the plane so I could stretch my legs.
A man who was seated about six rows in front of me reached out his
hand, wanting to shake mine. He left another twenty-five dollars in
my palm.
When we landed I gathered my belongings and started to deplane.
Waiting just inside the airplane door was a man who stopped me, put
something in my shirt pocket, turned, and walked away without saying
a word.
Another twenty-five dollars!
Upon entering the terminal, I saw the soldiers gathering for their
trip to the base. I walked over to them and handed them seventy-five
dollars. ‘It will take you some time to reach the base. It will be
about time for a sandwich. God Bless You.’
Ten young men left that flight feeling the love and respect of their
fellow travellers. As I walked briskly to my car, I whispered a
prayer for their safe return. These soldiers were giving their all
for our country. I could only give them a couple of meals.
It seemed so little...
In light of the news of the death of 21 year old Karine Blais, a
young woman from Les Mechins in eastern Quebec, a soldier who had
been in Afghanistan for only 2 weeks when a roadside bomb took her
life—a story that brought involuntary tears to my eyes when I heard
it—I thought I should share this other story of ‘bag-lunches’ on the
plane so we don’t forget.
Is the ‘bag lunch story’ a true story, ‘I don’t know’ I hope it is
true. Does it matter if it is true or not? …not if it changes me.
I would never have thought to buy lunch for military people on a
plane before that story…I wouldn’t think not to, now. The stories we
share have power!
I wasn’t where Thomas was. I don’t know what happened. I can’t tell
you that Thomas’ story is a photo-realistic story … The writer or
perhaps, more appropriately, the community who compiled what we now
call ‘the Gospel of John’ never walked and talked with the Jesus of
flesh and blood; so, the person who put these words to parchment
wasn’t there either…what I do know is that in this story, Thomas
experienced what Thomas needed to experience to believe.
The book of John says about these stories, “these are written so
that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of
God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”
The whole point of this and other stories is that “we” might have
“the experience we need to have” to believe and that change in our
lives will give us life in his name.
I have experienced in the stories of Jesus what I need ‘to believe’
and I know that experiencing those things has given me life. I don’t
know what you need to experience ‘to believe’ and ‘to encounter’
life, capital L, through your believing, but I hope that your
encounters with these stories and your encounters with the risen
Christ in whatever form he takes for you, will do that for you and
maybe for those with whom you share your stories.
Amen.
May 31, 2009
Reflection for Pentecost and Volunteer Appreciation Sunday
by Rev. James Farrell
Without the spirit of the holy at work in our lives we would be dry
bones for sure.
It is appreciation Sunday and a time to appreciate all the selfless
gifts of those who volunteer in church and beyond to make a
difference. People who for want of making a difference and for
courage of stepping out and trying, truly make the breath of God
have meaning in our church and community.
Over the years, church folks have done incredible things to make the
world a better place. Right here at Westminster, on the south wall
of Memorial Hall is a list of some of the gifts that people give of
themselves to make this community hum. Thank you all, and please
review that important visual montage of your energies shared. Kim
has done a great job of listing many of the ways people have made
and are making a difference in our church.
Volunteerism is a wonderful thing…it is one of the things that
differentiates “takers” from “givers”. We are even told that
volunteerism extends our lives…and why not…if we are doing good
there should be more of it…let goodness abound…if we are not, why
should we hang around…to make others miserable? I think not.
So thank you all who volunteer here and to those of you considering
doing so; “here’s to your health.” (a drink of water taken here)
As we appreciate the gifts of the volunteers in our midst it may be
a small spark of the spirit that breathes life into your maybe
slightly dry bones to offer some energy in a particular area of the
church’s life and work.
There is so little time in a service to engage everything that one
could share about the many ways to share in the life of the church.
At times the board has shared with the congregation some of the
committee work that is done and invited people to be a part of that.
There is always an open invitation with most committees. Ministry &
Personnel is about the only exception to that and there only because
of the sensitive nature of dealing with the minister’s short falls.
J Actually, M & P liaises with the whole staff compliment of the
church. J
So as we celebrate those who do volunteer, donate and plan for the
well-being of others, we remember everyone even those who in death
gift the church through the planned giving fund to sustain the work
of Westminster, as happened again this past week through the estate
of Bette Liddle. Every type of gift is to be celebrated!
Whenever folks pull together a genuine difference can’t help but
come to light.
It is at this point that I often talk at length about all the people
who have shared their energies with Westminster over the past
year…you are a huge group and many who have aren’t able to be here
today…I know of two sharing in marathons today…that is
amazing…wasn’t that long ago such things were only for the most
athletic of athletes and now mom’s and dads, Sunday school teachers
and the like are out there doing amazing personal endurance things.
Still, Many, many people contribute to the well-oiled machine that
is Westminster. Far to many to name. A year ago we had our cake
ready to share in the hall…thought I should get a picture of it…if
you saw it, perhaps we shared the same reaction …who is Voleen?
Do you know something…that miscalculation by the icing scribe was
the perfect error. Voleen is like a monument to the unknown
helper…there are so many helpers you might do well to think of
yourself as Voleen …the name includes us all!
So, again, this year, I hope everyone here will join in the Hall for
a piece of cake that celebrates our volunteers …all of us are “Voleens!”
And, when you have had your fill of cake & hotdogs…enjoy some fun on
the lawn with other picnicers.
So from teachers to toilet cleaners, from board chairs to batter
beaters, from visionaries to visitors…you are all part of the family
and it takes the whole family to make this congregation what it
is…thank you one and all.
As an aside, most Voleens are named in our annual report each year
so do refer to that long list, itself incomplete, for ideas of ways
to engage the life of Westminster.
As we move toward the period of rejuvenation that is summer, I also
invite you to consider afresh what life you may be able to breathe
into a certain aspect of the life of Westminster, perhaps this fall.
As you celebrate today your own appreciation for the gift of life
through the spirit of God that empowers and encourages you through
offering your bones new breath and life, I hope you will find
renewed energy for appreciating the life you share with others in
the spirit of Jesus of Nazareth even as through Jesus of Nazareth
you are appreciated!
Amen.
