Pastoral Reflections

“O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” (Psalm 136:1)

This call to give thanks is a call that rings through the history of God’s people and is central to a life of worship and joy. As we approach thanksgiving weekend reminders come from so many directions to take time to give thanks for all that life has given to us. Maybe in the midst of a global pandemic the call to give thanks becomes even more important for us hear.

It can be easier at times to focus on what is bad – what needs to be fixed immediately, what crisis must be prevented or overcome, what new thing we need now to make your life better. Learning to notice the good, and the gifts of abundance we already have, and then giving thanks for them, takes practice. The practice of gratitude is a practice so important in our lives!

Gratitude is the quality of being thankful. Gratitude is a spiritual practice of seeing and celebrating the good in the world around us. It’s a practice that helps us notice and appreciate God’s work in the world.

Brené Brown, a writer and research professor, in her book “The Gifts of Imperfection” highlights an important link between gratitude and joy. Brené noticed that every person she interviewed, who described themselves as joyful, actively practiced gratitude and attribute their joyfulness to their gratitude practice. They understood joyfulness and gratitude as spiritual practices bound to a belief in a power greater than themselves. She concludes that “There is no joy without gratitude!”

The poets and worship leaders over 25 centuries ago also seemed to know that practicing gratitude and living a life of joy flow out of a belief in a power greater than ourselves! Psalm 136 was an important Psalm of praise for the people of God. As it called God’s people to give thanks it focused on the living God who was the “greater power” of their lives.

Psalm 136 names God as the “God of gods”, the “Lord of lords”, the “God of heaven”, the God who “does great wonders” on the earth. Throughout the Psalm, which is written as a responsive litany of praise, the leader calls the people to praise their God for the “great wonders” that the Lord has done. The people respond with the powerful refrain, for God’s steadfast love endures forever.” 

This refrain proclaims the most basic characteristic of God toward his people – steadfast love!  The Hebrew term translated “steadfast love”, is also translated as: mercy, grace, kindness, faithfulness, loyalty. It is a love that is boundless, a love that loves no matter what the circumstance or response. This love is everlasting, eternal, it never fails and never quits. The origin, past history, present and future of God’s people, are intimately tied to the faithful and forever steadfast love of God!

This call to gratitude, that results in joy and is intimately connected to God, is summed up so well as the Apostle Paul nears the end of his first letter to the Thessalonians: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you…The one who calls you is faithful. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, 24a).

Notice that we are not called to give thanks for all circumstance but rather to give thanks in (as we go through) all circumstances. Some circumstances are really hard. They should not happen but they do. Yet in the midst of them God remains faithful, God’s steadfast love endures! Because of that amazing truth about God we are able to see good even in the midst of bad circumstances. By God’s grace we can practice gratitude by giving thanks for the good we are empowered to see.  

How will you express your gratitude this weekend? Where have we seen good, and how do we appreciate that good in the world around us? How are you/we experiencing the steadfast love of God that is all around us? 

I invite you to read Psalm 136 as an act of giving thanks. And I invite you to write your own Psalm in the pattern of Psalm 136. I offer my contemporary paraphrase.

O give thanks to the LORD, for God is good; for God’s steadfast love endures forever.

O give thanks to God who dwells within us; for God’s steadfast love endures forever.

O give thanks to God who does great wonders, for God’s steadfast love endures forever;

great wonders revealed in the ordinary details of our lives,

for God’s steadfast love endures forever.

who created the heavens and earth and all within them,

for God’s steadfast love endures forever;

who continues to create and renew by bringing order out of the chaos of our lives,

for God’s steadfast love endures forever;

who brought Israel out of the slavery of Egypt, for God’s steadfast love endures forever;

who delivers us from the chains of circumstances, addition, fear, violence, prejudice and hate,

for God’s steadfast love endures forever;

who led God’s people through the wilderness, for God’s steadfast love endures forever;

and rescues them from all their foes, for God’s steadfast love endures forever;

who has brought us through 7 months of Covid-19, for God’s steadfast love endures forever;

and is helping us heal and discover hope as researchers prepare a vaccine to fight our current foe,

for God’s steadfast love endures forever;

who gave the promised land as a heritage, for God’s steadfast love endures forever;

and gave food and water as nourishment along the way,

for God’s steadfast love endures forever.

who is helping us discover our “new normal” and dream new dreams;

for God’s steadfast love endures forever;

and is nourishing us through all our grief of letting go and finding our new way;

for God’s steadfast love endures forever;

Israel’s God is our God too and continues to bring restoration, healing and hope to all people;

for God’s steadfast love endures forever.

O give thanks to the God of heaven, who continues to do good work on earth, even in 2020,

for God’s steadfast love endures forever.

Greetings in the name of God who “is for us” and “works toward something good…”!

This week as the dark clouds kept threatening to bring wind and storm, the blue sky and warm sun kept poking through. This act of nature becomes a parable that points us to God who give us hope!

Over the last few weeks the dark cloud of this pandemic is threatening to take us deep into a “second wave” that some are claiming could be worse than the first. As the debate and discernment continues as to what further guidelines, restrictions, or return to former ones, are needed to contain this virus, the internal waves of our own emotions and feelings may be churning. We have been praying for this Covid-19 crisis to pass but like a slow moving, or stalled weather system, it lingers. Some of us continue to cry out with the Psalmist, “How Long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?  How long will you hide your face from me?” (Psalm 13:1). Some of us are watching our children and grandchildren head off to school. We are happy for them but also carry some apprehension and concern around their safety. Some of us have chosen to keep our children at home. It feels like the right choice for our family but we desire for our children, and for us, more life giving interaction with peers. These months of restrictions and figuring out new ways of being at home, at work, with family, friends and church community has not been easy. Mental Health is often a challenge in the midst of “normal” time, it certainly is a challenge in this crisis, and constantly changing, “new normal” of our lives.

The dark cloud of this pandemic lingers, but as people of faith we are not without hope!

Romans 8, many times in my life and ministry, has become for me the blue sky and warm sun that keeps poking through the darkness and struggle, declaring hope! It radiates hope through the whole chapter. Although I will only highlight a portion of the chapter I invite you to take time and allow the whole chapter to brighten and warm your whole being with hope.

¹⁸ I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. ²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; ²³ and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ for we have been saved in this hope and for this future…. ²⁶We are weak and do not know how to pray, so the Spirit steps in and articulates prayers for us with groaning too profound for words…. ²⁸ We know that all things work together for goodfor those who love God, who are called according to his purpose…. ³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

These few selected verses offer powerful reminders that suffering and pain that comes in whatever form and for whatever reason, does not have the final and last word. Challenges and trials are real, we all know that first hand, but there is a “glory about to be revealed to us.” Creation groans, and we along with it, but groaning and tears that arise from pain help to give birth to new freedom and life, transformed realities and new relationships. Romans 8 reminds us that the groaning of our lives points to the deep and abiding hope that God plants within us. In fact it goes on to name this groaning as the prayers of the Spirit on our behalf.When we are weak, and the clouds get dark, and life gets hard, and this pandemic and all that it brings seems more than we can bear any longer, the Spirit prays for us!  “…the Spirit steps in and articulates prayers for us with groaning too profound for words.” And as if that isn’t enough Romans 8 goes on to say that “Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” (v.34)

With hope planted within us for “the glory about to be revealed”, with the Spirit groaning out prays for us, and Christ Jesus joining the prayer time no wonder the Apostle Paul asks the questions, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (v.31) and “Who [or what] will separate us from the love of Christ?” These are rhetorical questions. And although the questions get asked because the crisis’s of our lives can seem so big, the answers are obvious if we will stop and recall the whole story of God.

If God is for us who can be against us? No one!

What will separate us from the love of Christ? Nothing!  

³⁷But no matter what comes, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, [nor pandemics], nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37-39)

The blue sky and sunlight is like that conquering victory, and confident hope that is ours. It is ours because God is for us!  And God who is for us is always working for something good! As verse 28 so powerfully affirms: ²⁸ We know that all things work together for goodfor those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28 is not saying that God wills horrible things like viruses to happen. And it is not saying all things are good and everything happens for a God planned reason. What Romans 8 affirms is that God is at work in the midst of tragic events, horrible and hurtful things, and terrible viruses. God works to transform all things for God’s purposes. God is always working toward something good and beautiful. This is our hope!

Although we may not be able to see it yet, as people of hope we should keep our eyes wide open to the good and beautiful things that God is working in this time and in this moment. If we look with hope we will be able to see! Behind every dark and stormy cloud there is blue sky and warm sunlight!

I pray that God helps us to hold onto hope. I pray that the blue skies and sunshine shine appear often through the dark clouds. I pray that we hold onto hope as we wait for the day when this virus, and eventually all the dark clouds, will be no more! But as we wait in hope may we be reminded that, “no matter what comes, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us!” 

Greetings in the name of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ who gives us many reasons to rejoice!

On Thursday morning my thoughts were taking me to a few verses of scripture in the New Testament letter of Paul to the Philippians. It’s a passage that invites us to a posture of rejoicing. These two verses come in the last chapter of a letter that has become renowned as “The Epistle/Letter of Joy!” Twelve times in this short letter Paul speaks of his joy or calls the church to an attitude of joy and rejoicing. That may seem surprising at first since Paul is writing his letter from a prison cell. He is in lockdown but he can’t stop naming his joy and inviting the church to a similar stance.

⁴ Most of all, friends, always rejoice in the Lord! I never tire of saying it: Rejoice! ⁵ Keep your gentle nature so that all people will know what it looks like to walk in His footsteps. The Lord is ever present with us. (Philippians 4:4-5 The Voice)

Paul’s joy, and his invitation to his friends to rejoice, is not based on his or their circumstances but rather it’s based on and centered in the Lord! Rejoice “in the Lord”, Paulsays!Joy to be lasting and sustaining needs to find its center in something or someone who is sure, sustaining and forever faithful. The Lord becomes for Paul the center of joy and rejoicing, along with all the relationships that grow from that central relationship with God who has been revealed so fully in the Lord Jesus Christ.

What is it about the Lord that can allow Paul and his friends, and even us today, to rejoice? Paul gives an answer to that question in the next sentence of his letter. “The Lord is ever present with us.” We can rejoice in the Lord because the Lord never leaves us, never fails us and never forsakes us! The Lord is ever present with us! And the Lord who is ever present and near never stops working to bring new life, new purpose and new hope from the current realities of our lives. Paul knew that regardless of his circumstance, even locked down in prison, the Lord was near and God was still at working planting and growing faith, hope and love in his life, in the life of his friends, and throughout the whole world. Paul rejoiced in Lord who was forever faithful and present in his life, and Paul invites us to join him in his rejoicing!  

Our near and ever present Lord is taking every circumstance of our lives and leading us into a new place. Last week as we began to introduce our worship and faith formation series for the fall Tanya introduced us to an important and central theme in the Bible; the Bible that we are invited to understand as God’s Big Story. The theme Tanya reflected on is how God brings humanity through chaotic waters into a new world. We were reminded that this theme weaves it way through all of scripture and starts from the very beginning, where God separates dark chaotic waters and creates dry land, a home for humans to flourish. Then the pattern reappears with the chaotic waters of the flood, where God rescues this remnant, Noah and his family, and helps them to find dry land where humanity is given a second chance. It continues with the Exodus story, where God saves his chosen people from slavery in Egypt, by leading them through the turbulent waters, onto dry land while Pharaohs army is destroyed. This theme or pattern continues into the New Testament where Jesus rescues the world from the chaos of our evil and violence by passing through the dark chaotic waters of death and out the other side to resurrection and new life! Our ever present Lord is central in the story of the Bible and gives us many reasons to rejoice!

Paul faced his own chaos of persecution and lockdown in prison but boldly lived in joy because he trusted in his Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. He knew that in the power of the Spirit he could walk with Jesus through the chaos of his circumstances, and even death, to a new place of hope and life. And just knowing that gave him reason for joy right in the middle of the chaos of his life.

The story of the Bible remind us that God has lead, and will continue to lead, through chaotic times. Can we trust God to lead us through our chaotic and unsettled time? Can we trust God to lead us through the turbulent waters of Covid-19 with continual waves of change, the threat of a second wave that could lead to more unwanted restrictions and lockdowns, the relentless changing tides of emotions that have been a part of return to school and workplaces, and the unknown future it all creates? Can we trust that God is ever present and near to lead us? As Tanya declared so powerfully last Sunday, “Yes, we can!”

The Lord will keep on being near and will keep on leading us! The Lord will keep on enriching our lives through the people in our lives and through all the gifts of life! The Lord will keep on giving us reason to rejoice! Take some time this week to reflect back over the past 6 months and to consider your present circumstances. What gives you reason for joy? What gives you reason to rejoice in the Lord even in the midst of times of struggle? Name those reasons and then as Paul invites us, ⁴ Rejoicein the Lord always; I will say it again, Rejoice!

If by God’s grace we can cultivate this spirit of joy and rejoicing, our lives will be lived, in our homes and neighbourhoods, with a gentleness and peace that will bless those around us. Maybe that is what Paul meant when immediately after calling his friends to rejoice he wrote, ⁵ Keep your gentle nature so that all people will know what it looks like to walk in His footsteps.

May God help us to be a gentle people of joy and rejoicing so that the world around will be blessed and will be encouraged to rejoice in the Lord with us!

Greetings in the name of God whose Spirit moves among us and through us!

The Pastoral letter this week comes as a supplement to the Reopening Committee (ROC) update you received.

As the Apostle Paul begins his letter to the church at Rome he reminds his readers of how thankful he is for them, how much their faith is making a difference throughout the world and how constant his prayers are for them. One of his prayers is that he may have opportunity spend time with them.

¹¹ I desperately want to see you so that I can share some gift of the Spirit to strengthen you. ¹² Plus I know that when we come together something beautiful will happen as we are encouraged by each other’s faith. (Romans 1:11-12 Voice)

It seems very clear in the context of this letter that Paul longs to be present with the church in Rome, to come together and see them face to face. Paul is writing this letter from Corinth over 2,000 km’s away! Paul knows that something beautiful happens when we can “see” each other, meet together and share deeply with one another.  

To “see” is to perceive with the eyes; to perceive by any of the senses (which can include hearing); to turn the eyes, the mind, the attention to those we are with. But what do you do when you can’t be face to face in person, when we can’t gather together in our building or gathering place for worship, fellowship, faith nurturing, sharing and coffee?  For Paul in the first century context writing letters was the next best thing; the next best possible way to connect. So Paul wrote letters! And he kept praying for those he loved and praying that the barriers that kept them apart would be removed.

What can we do when the barrier of Covid-19, the lock downs, the physical distancing guidelines and 30% capacity restrictions, keep us from gathering in person as a full body of believers?  Our immediate answer to that was Zoom Church. And we have continued with Zoom for the last 6 months. And we plan to continue with Zoom until we can all be back together in person. We continue to make this choice because of what Zoom offers us. As pastors we believe it provides the most intimate gathering connection possible to the largest amount of people. We believe it allows us to do what Paul longed to do, “to see” each other. Granted the faces we see, or the voice we hear, are not as personal as we were used to before Covid-19, but at least we have a greater sense that we are gathering together. For us, Zoom Church has felt like a more personal connection than a recording which all can watch and listen to at random times throughout Sunday morning or the week that follows.

As we prepare for reopening our building we have begun to work toward a Zoom Hybrid model.  We are taking our time to plan and prepare for this new Zoom model because as we begin to regather in some capacity in the weeks ahead it is important to us that we maintain the most intimate connection possible for both those who gather and those who need to remain at home on Zoom. We believe that worship and faith formation is so much more than the sharing of information, it is about sharing our lives, our gifts, and our faith with each other as Paul articulates so well in his letter to the Romans. We feel we can do this better when we listen carefully to each other, “see” each other and share together while gathered as one body over a Zoom connection.

As we continue to Zoom, and blend it with a gradual increase of people returning to the building, we encourage you to do all that you can to be seen and heard. Could we be more intentional about turning on our video whenever possible, at least as we gather and again as we scatter? Casual clothing is certainly very acceptable but being seen seems even more essential. And can we commit to sticking around for breakout rooms, and risk sharing our reflections, our faith journey and our stories with each other? As Paul said to the church at Rome. “I know that when we come together [even if it is over Zoom] something beautiful will happen as we are encouraged by each other’s faith.

Please feel free to reach out to us and name the challenges you are facing getting connected, and staying connected, by video or phone. We want to do our best to help resolve these challenges.

We name the formation of small groups in our update and the ongoing conversation around faith formation. Small groups and continuing faith formation certainly go together as we keep planning for ways to meet and share with each other. Christians through all of history have grown together in faith in relationship with others. To be together in nurturing relationships during this time takes an extra commitment. An extra commitment to tackle the challenges of technology, and an extra commitment to communicate on a phone or video when we would rather be in person, and an extra commitment to wear a mask when we need to be indoors and closer together. These challenging obstacles make planning difficult but we are committed to keep working at it as we envision new ways of being the church together in this time.

What we need from each of us in this moment is a commitment to step out of our comfort zones and keep trying new approaches to being together. We have done well and we encourage us to keep growing! What we need is a commitment from each of us to engage the opportunities in front of us and to become involved. What we need is a commitment to freely offer the gifts we have because being together in this time of restrictions takes extra energy, planning, and work. We need each other! And what we need from each other is patience and grace as we navigate life from the place we are and offer what we can at this moment in our lives. Each of us face unique challenges as we navigate this time and determine what is possible for us. Let’s keep on being humble, gracious and kind to each other as we work together to find our way!

Many of the ways we are planning to be together and nurture faith over the next few months are not our first choice and probably not what you had hoped for come September. Yet is it where we are so we invite us to seize the moment and opportunities we have. Letter writing was not Paul’s first choice, he would have rather been in Rome meeting the church in person, but his letters today continue to be a wonderful gift to the church and have done much to nurture faith then, and even now centuries later. Never underestimate what God can do when we embrace the place and context where we find ourselves, trust that God is with us in this place, and believe together that God wants to use this moment to nurture our faith. As we offer the gifts we have, to do what we can with the opportunities before us, we believe we will be all be strengthened, nurtured, encouraged and blessed.

As your pastors we are committed to continue discerning along with you what the next best thing is for us in this moment of our church life. As we do that we will keep writing letters, we will keep “Zooming” and we will keep working at ways to encourage “seeing” (and hearing) each other so that even in this time, “something beautiful will happen as we are encouraged by each other’s faith!”

We are committed to continue in prayer for you, as we invite your continued prayers for us, and for each other. And we invite you to pray with us, as you have been, that the barriers of Covid-19, and every other barrier that keeps us from “seeing” each other, would be taken away so that we can gather now over Zoom, and regather again in our church building in the weeks and months ahead, as one body together!

Greetings in the name of God who goes with us and will not fail or forsake us!

A God who goes with us and will not fail of forsake us! This is the way Moses described God to his people who were embarking on unfamiliar territory.

God’s people, under the leadership of Moses, had left the slavery of Egypt, had then wandered for 40 years in the wilderness and now were on the brink of the Promised Land. Moses knew this unfamiliar territory was what God’s people needed to enter into and embrace. He also knew that they needed the assurance that God goes with them as they journey toward this new reality of their lives. So he reminds them, ⁶ Be strong and bold; have no fear or dread of them, because it is the Lord your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31.6)

We shared this verse of scripture in our first pastoral letter in March. Six months have passed and in many ways the journey in front of us seems just as unfamiliar and uncertain.

The extended March break for our children morphed into summer holidays with the hope that September may take us back to a more familiar September school reopening. That wasn’t to be. As the new school reality for this year continues to unfold in the weeks ahead – a reality that certainly doesn’t feel like “The Promised Land” of school – it is our prayer that students, parents, teachers, teacher assistants, all school support staff, bus drivers, and all involved, know that God goes with us on this journey too! This Covid-19 reality does cause fear and dread but it too will be overcome as we persevere together with God who will not fail us of forsake us. 

In March we also hoped that before long we would all be back together in our church building and that “church” would feel familiar and “normal” again. We embraced Zoom church as best we could thinking it was a great short term solution. This too has continued for 6 months and there is no clear end of Zoom church in sight. We will not all be back together with a full church building anytime soon. We are however exploring enhanced Zoom options for both worship and faith formation that are explained in more detail in a church update coming early next week. We are planning that an enhanced Zoom worship option will begin to open up the opportunity for some to gather in the building.  Please take time to read the update when it comes. 

The story of God’s people preparing to enter the Promised Land, and our current journey through the wilderness of Covid-19, reminds us of the reality of growth and change. If we were hoping we could just wait this one out, and then get back to what we knew as our familiar church experience, it may be time to shift our thinking and revision our hope. Maybe going back to what was is not what we should be waiting and hoping for. Maybe we need to be asking God to help us grow and change. As Moses moved the people toward their new reality so we are invited to move into the new church year of September. While it doesn’t feel like the “Promised Land” of church, and some big challenges are still in front of us, it’s certainly an opportunity for us to grow and change. We have said numerous times through the last 6 months that we continue to be the church even when we are not in our building. And we have demonstrated that we are. And that is good news! And that raises more important questions: How open are we as a church to see more growth and change? How open are we to living into new ways of doing and being church together?

We believe that someday we will all gather again, both outside and inside of our building, as fully embodied people, not just head and shoulders on a screen, or an ear to the phone. God made us for fully embodied relationship with each other. We all need that and God will help us get there again! And we pray sooner than later. But until we get there we can still be rooted together in Christ, we can still grow together in faith, and we can still extend God’s love. And the way we do that now in the midst of pandemic is not to wait it out so we can go back to what was. Rather it seems that we are being invited to live together through this pandemic in creative new ways, so that we come back together having grown, matured and changed as a people of faith. That growth and maturity will be both as individuals and as a church together.

There is a wonderful passage of scripture in Ephesians 4 that gives us much to ponder:

 ¹¹ Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. ¹² Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. ¹³ This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. ¹⁵ Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. ¹⁶ He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

Note in this passage that God gives us the gifts we need to be equipped and to grow. God gives to each of us responsibility; we all have “special work” to do to help the church to grow and change. And God gives the promise that if we each do our work we will come to maturity, we will become more like Christ and we will be a healthy and growing church full of God’s love! What gifts has God give you to help the church to grow in such a time as this? How open are you to offer those gifts and to participate fully in the work that God wants to do to help East Zorra Mennonite Church to grow?

This Sunday we will conclude our “Trees of the Bible” summer series by looking more closely at the East Zorra tree. Like all trees we are invited to grow, to bear fruit and to become all that God created us to be. Covid-19 does not put all this on hold. It does however invite us, in the midst of a tough reality, to adapt, to change, and to grow. It does invite us to continue to find ways to be Rooted in Christ, to Grow together in Faith and to Extend God’s Love! May God help each of us to do our part so that we continue becoming a “healthy and growing and full of love” church!