Pastoral Reflections

Our God of all Comfort

This past week has been full of much pain, sorrow and struggle as our community has begun to absorb the news of the fatal crash at Punkeydoodles Corners that resulted in the sudden death of Sadie Bender and the critical condition of Casey Bender. Sadness, grieve, anger… are only a few of the responses, feelings and emotions that have emerged through the week. Along with this tragic crash, we each face other painful struggles and difficult life realities that at times threatened to overwhelm us.

The prophet Isaiah spoke of a suffering servant who was to come, “a man of suffering, familiar with pain”; one whose wounds would help to heal us. (Isaiah 53). Jesus, the human presence of God with us, was this servant. He lived his life among human pain and suffering as he carried his own, he was tempted as we are, suffered grief as we do, questioned God in his deepest pain like we have. God, because of Jesus, understands our pain and struggle. And he invites us to bring all the burden we carry to him. Jesus, our Lord becomes our wounded healer.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

The suffering servant, our suffering God becomes our God of refuge, comfort, healing, strength and new hope; our God of all comfort.

As the psalmist proclaimed thousands of years ago, so we can reclaim today:

God is our refuge and strength, a very presenthelp in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
    though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea,
³ though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult….

¹⁰ “Be still, and know that I am God!
    I am exalted among the nations;
    I am exalted in the earth.”
¹¹ The Lord of hosts is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our refuge.(Psalm 46)

Our suffering God, in strength, love and power, empowers us by the Spirit to be channels of love, comfort and grace to each other. God has been at work this week through so many of you bringing comfort and hope in the midst of so much pain. Thanks be to God!

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. (2 Corinthians 1)

Pastor Ray

“Creating hope through action”

The World Health Organization reports that an estimated 703,000 people die each year by suicide. “For every suicide, there are likely 20 other people making a suicide attempt and many more have serious thoughts of suicide. Millions of people suffer intense grief or are otherwise profoundly impacted by suicidal behaviours.”

No doubt we have all been impacted by the reality of suicide in some way.

We were reminded in a flyer we received last week in our weekly mailing that Saturday September 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day 2022. The triennial theme for 2021-2023 is, “Creating Hope Through Action”

So what action can we take as we face the truth about suicide? That is an important question for each of us to ponder.

Maybe you know a friend or family member who is struggling with thoughts of suicide. Perhaps you can act by reaching out to them as a listening and present friend.

Do you have a story to tell of our own struggle and pain around suicide? Could you act by sharing your story?

Could you act by becoming more informed about suicide and strategies of prevention?

Would you be willing to open up conversation about suicide and in so doing offer the reminder that it is something important to talk about? Talking, and listening, can be important actions!

You could pray for individuals and families affected by suicide, and pray against the forces of darkness that take away hope and light. Prayer is an important action!

Suicide can bring feelings of shame for those who have entertained thoughts of suicide, or have attempted to end their own life. And shame is often carried by family members struggling with the impacts of suicide. It is my hope that we, by God’s grace, can let go of shame and receive instead the compassion, grace and healing that is so needed in our world. That will not be an easy exchange but it may be an important action to commit too.

The story of the Bible is the story of God who acts by reaching out to a world in pain and in need of compassion, grace and healing. God searches out all who need hope, salvation, life and freedom from the bondage of shame, and guilt. God enters the world in Jesus Christ, carries the world’s sin, shame and death to the cross and overcomes it all through his death, and resurrection to new life.  God acted in Jesus and saved us. God acted in Jesus and filled the world with hope, light and life.

Life is still hard some days, suicide still happens, suffering and pain still linger but they have ultimately been overcome. A new world is coming! The kingdom of God is near, and among us!

Will we act by sharing the good news of Jesus and God’s kingdom of life and peace, and help fill the world with light? The Spirit of the God is here ready to empower our action!

Will we hear God’s words through the prophet Isaiah spoken to the nation of Israel, and spoken to Jesus God’s servant, as words that can also speak to us as followers of Jesus?

I will give you as a light to the nations,
    that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Isaiah 49.6)

Pastor Ray

Crossing Over

While all Israel were crossing over on dry ground, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, until the entire nation finished crossing over the Jordan.

Joshua 3:17

These past two years have been a long journey for everyone.

As September arrives, we feel very much like the Israelites as they left the desert ready to enter the promised land – there is a lot behind us – and a new future is ahead of us.

But that does not mean the journey is over – nor will the future be free of any challenges.

This is a time of new beginnings – an opportunity to start anew, to look to the future, while also remembering the past.

Two water crossings, the Red Sea and Jordan River, serve as bookends for the Israelite journey from slavery to freedom.

In the first, they left the land of struggle and humiliation; in the second, they entered the land of milk and honey. But in both crossings they didn’t rely on their own power. They didn’t swim, wade, or raft across the water but walked on dry ground. It was God who brought them across, the one who said, “Let the dry land appear” on the third day of creation, spoke his Word once more to usher his people on dry ground into the new creation of liberation and joy – a land of hope and promise.

When Jesus was baptized in the Jordan, it wasn’t the waters that were parted but the heavens themselves were torn open (Matt. 3:16). Jesus the representative of Israel, indeed, all humanity in one man, was welcomed by God as his beloved Son in whom he is well pleased. Baptized into Christ, we are wet with the waters of grace and yet also stand on the dry ground that leads to freedom and joy as the beloved children of God.

As we cross into a new era together unsure of the challenges that await us let us remember the ways that God has been faithful to this community not just these past two years – but for 185 of them.

And let us watch and take hold of the good things God has in store us.

Trusting that God makes a way out of no way and continues to walk alongside us.

Plant our feet firmly, God, on the ground of faith, hope, and love.

Pastor Mike

It is good to give thanks to the Lord!

The prayer song of Psalm 92 begins with a reminder of the goodness of the practice of giving thanks to God.

It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High,
² to declare your steadfast love in the morning and your faithfulness by night,
³ to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre.
⁴ For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy.

As we approach the last week of summer vacation we may feel some sadness. The summer pace, the vacation time that summer brings, the longer days and warmer nights… will soon give way to September routines and the adjustments to life the change in seasons bring.  As we make these needed changes I invite us to embrace a posture of giving thanks to the Lord, of singing our praises to our God.

God’s steadfast love and faithfulness is for a lifetime! Our Lord should be praised!

I give thanks and praise to the Lord for providing all we needed during the last few years as we faced a global pandemic and a significant time of leadership transition in our congregational life. Through the gifts, wisdom, creativity, courage, humour and commitment of so many God has been faithful and God has been good! It is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord for sustaining and equipping our congregational leaders, and all of us, for faithful ministry and service.

I give thanks and sing praise to the Lord that our worship attendance continues to grow and that it’s possible to come together in-person again to sing, share coffee and conversation time. I give thanks to the Lord for the gift of technology and Zoom that allows those needing to be at home to join in and worship too. I give thanks for God’s comfort and compassion through significant times of grief, struggle and sickness in our lives. I give thanks that God has called Mike, Brandy, Petra and Rebekah to join our church family and minister among us and with us. I give thanks to the Lord for the presence and moving of the Spirit in the conversations and ministry, brainstorming and planning that is happening in anticipation of the fall. I give thanks to God that as pandemic restrictions give way to increasing freedoms (although slower than we would like some days), and as we move into the “new normal” of our lives together, that we can be confident that God’s faithfulness and steadfast love will continue no matter what life may bring.

What calls you to give thanks to the Lord, what compels you to sing praises to God?

As you reflect, and then proclaim your thanks and sing your praise, may you be made glad and may you be filled with joy!

It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High!

I invite you to join the chorus of thanks and to enter the song of praise!

Pastor Ray

When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace—a new life in a new land! Romans 6:3 MSG

When you think of a sacred place where you can meet with God what picture comes to mind? Is it a church? A special place in the wilderness? What about your kitchen table? Or the grocery line?

Author Dallas Willard once said that the place where we grow spiritually and as people “is in our real life, where we dwell with God and our neighbours…First we must accept the circumstances we constantly find ourselves in as the place of God’s kingdom and blessing. God has yet to bless anyone except where they actually are.”

The new life into which we are baptized is lived out in days, hours, and minutes. Monday thru Sunday, God is forming us into a new people. And the place of that formation is in the small moments of each day.

Tish Warren Harrison – in her book Liturgy of the Ordinary writes “We tend to want a Christian life with the dull bits cut out.”

Too often, we fall into the trap of believing that God only shows up in the big, exciting, the important – that to get God’s attention – we too must do something big! But the country of grace we now all live in – this new life that we now possess – happens in the ordinary moments of everyday. Paul’s reminder of this is our baptism. We were not baptised with something magical it was just ordinary ubiquitous water put to work by the power of God’s Spirit, just like you and I.

You do not have to travel to some sacred mountaintop or perform some special work to encounter God’s presence. The truth is that the most sacred space may just be the kitchen table where you are up late at night sipping coffee and praying (more on that in an upcoming sermon).

Harrison continues: “God made us to spend our days in rest, work, and play, taking care of our bodies, our families, our neighborhoods, our homes. What if all these boring parts matter to God? What if days passed in ways that feel small and insignificant to us are weighty with meaning and part of the abundant life that God has for us?”

The ordinary everyday life is where we have been saved by God and love and serve others. The life in front of you is where God will meet you. In joys and struggles, sickness and health, excitement and boredom.

So, this week, try and be present to these moments that pass by. How might God be meeting you in the ordinariness of everyday?

Pastor Mike