Pastoral Reflections

Greeters to all the believers!                                   

As I was growing up, I had a rather nuanced picture of what becoming a Christian was all about.  First, in my mind, came believing—in God, in Jesus, and in the Holy Spirit. Then behaving—believing required that you had to behave in a certain way (do this but don’t do that). Lastly came belonging—faith gave you a sense of belonging to family, to a faith community, and yes, even to God himself. I understood this could possibly happen rather simultaneously, but I had this idea that individuals should make sure they believed and behaved before they should be accepted as full members of the body of Christ. 

However, the last decade or so of my life, I have had to re-think this paradigm.  Jesus seemed to purposefully reach out to those the ‘religious’ looked down on.  For example, the woman at the well, the lepers, and the woman caught in adultery.  This is in stark contrast to the idea that people have to first ‘get it right’. Jesus first let people know they belonged, regardless of their behaviour or belief.  The rich young ruler of Mk 10:21 was looked on and loved, regardless of his choice.  This is also true in the story of Zacchaeus and the story of the wonderful father and prodigal son. 

What followed naturally from receiving the unconditional love of God is that people believed. They didn’t have to believe in Jesus before they were shown His love and compassion. Rather, they believed because of it. A natural response to having your sins forgiven—and being loved in a way that no person could ever get right—is placing your faith in Jesus and making a commitment to follow Him. 

And only after the belonging and the believing comes the third step—behaving. Because I belong, it leads me to believe. Because I believe, I am going to start behaving right. The Holy Spirit convicts me to clear up my act.  And this is exactly what James is on about in his short book.  If you belong to the community of faith, and truly believe, your beliefs, and the Holy Spirit, will change your attitudes and behaviour.   

So, for me, it is no longer believe, behave, belong, for me, but rather belong, believe, become.  Isn’t it wonderful, that our walk of faith is not static! 

Godspeed on your lifelong adventure with Him, 

Pastor Lloyd 

Greetings in the name of God who reveals self through all that God has made!

¹ The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the skies proclaims his handiwork.
² Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. ³ There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; ⁴ yet their voicegoes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. (Psalm 19)

²⁰ Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse; (Romans 1)

These words of scripture remind us that the heavens and the earth are a significance means by which God speaks into the world and into our lives. When God spoke to Moses from the burning bush (Exodus 3) he instructed Moses, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” I wonder, is not all of creation “holy ground”? And the skies “holy space”? If God speaks through earth and sky and makes himself known through all that God has made, and if earth and sky proclaim and reveal God, then we must answer those questions with a “yes!”

This truth increases my awareness of how important it is to care for the earth and all that God has made. Earth Day is an important reminder that we are caretakes of God’s good creation every day. To care for creation, is a spiritual experience and is one way we help to awaken ourselves and our neighbours to the presence and reality of God!

Holy ground and holy space are all around us. God is speaking to us and reveal self. I offer a few suggestions as to how we open ourselves to receive God’s presence and listen for God.

• Slow down as you walk or sit in nature. Be attentive to all that is around you as you listen and watch for signs of God!
• Look closely at a flower, a bush, a tree, a sunrise or sunset, the day or nighttime sky.
• Feel the warm sun, the changing winds, the gentle and heavy rains.
• Watch the changing seasons and observe how they parallel the seasons of our lives.

As war rages in our world, as the presence of Covid continues, as health challenges confront us, as anxiety remains, and even grows for many, creation around us reminds us that God is still with us, and that God still cares. Invite God to make himself known and then slow down, watch, and listen through the earth and sky and all that God has made.

Pastor Ray

Greetings to the Easter People of God!

“Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song.”  Pope John Paul II

This quote by the late Pope John Paul II reminds us that the hope of resurrection can dispel our despair. Jesus proclaimed that truth on the day of his resurrection as he sought out his fearful followers. The disciples were afraid of what the death of Jesus might mean for them. They were locked in their own tomb of fear, uncertainty, and despair. But the resurrected Jesus moved into their locked room, stood among them, and spoke words of peace and calling.

²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” ²² When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. (John 20).

To be an Easter people is to receive the Holy Spirit and live in the hope and power of resurrection. Jesus’ life, death and resurrection reminds us that we can live in hope even in the face of our own suffering, death, and despair. The events of the world, and our own life, might discourage us, cause us to fear, disillusion us, take away our joy of life, or even take our life. But the Spirit of God will carry us forward and raise us to new life. And the Spirit of God will empower us to extend God’s love, light and resurrection hope into every dark place where we are sent to go.

To be Easter people is to live with a wonderful hope. Christ destroyed death for all of us! What happened in Jesus, will happen for all of us… and for all the world. To be Easter people is to know that in the end all will be well and resurrection and new life will come!

²⁰ But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. ²² Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. (1 Corinthians 15)

In the end, God’s will, not ours, is done. In the end love and life is the victor. Death, despair fear, pain is not the end. The end is life!

The Brazilian writer and journalist Fernando Sabino (1923–2004) wrote, “In the end, everything will be [all right]. If it’s not [all right], it’s not the end.” 

That good news is worth a Hallelujah, and it is a song worth singing in and for the world!

Pastor Ray

Greetings to people being transformed!

Today we celebrate the evening of the last supper in our Maundy Thursday service.  While we revel in the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross, it would not mean anything if Sunday, and the resurrection did not happen.

The resurrection of Jesus was not just a story or a moment in history for His disciples. This overwhelming event changed their lives, and their worldview. After the resurrection, the disciples became emboldened, and had a completely different understanding of God’s Word and His plans. Their minds were opened to see the world in new ways. They realized how He remained active and could unleash His power at any time.  Most of them, though they deserted Jesus in the garden, died a martyr’s death.

In order for a butterfly to exist, a caterpillar’s life must end. The caterpillar is literally broken down to almost nothing so it can be transformed into a whole new being. No matter how badly that caterpillar wants to stay a caterpillar, it cannot deny that it was created for more.

We, or humankind, were created for more.  Jesus said, ‘if a person would follow me, let them deny themselves, take up their cross daily and follow me’.  Sounds like a transformation to me! The apostle Paul said, “I count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him … that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.” (Philippians 3:8-10 NKJV) So, though we may feel initial loss, Jesus transforms us and give us infinitely more – ‘life abundant’.

Do we wish to ‘know Him’?  Do we look at everything else as secondary to knowing Him, and the power of His resurrection? May the resurrection not remain just a story or even a myth or legend.

May the reality of the resurrection empower us as we follow Christ!

Blessings,

Pastor Lloyd

Greetings to the loyal disciples of East Zorra! 

This Sunday is Palm Sunday where we celebrate Christ’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.  It is traditionally celebrated with the waving of palm branches mimicking the festive journey of Jesus into Jerusalem where people shouted ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord’.  There was joy, there was excitement about Jesus.  It was on this ride, that Jesus made the famous statement, ‘If these people don’t praise me, the very rocks will cry out’.  

Loyalty is a rare quality. To be loyal means “to give or show firm and constant support or allegiance to a person or institution”. Human loyalty is often fickle – it waivers when we get busy or distracted, or engrossed in other things or people. Sometimes people become “too difficult” for us – they may let us down, so in turn, our loyalty fades. 

This is not dissimilar to those people who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, waving palm tree branches to welcome him as King, only to reject and betray him just a week later when calling for him to be sent to the cross. 

Thankfully, God’s love towards us is the total opposite of this. When we betray him, he still loves us. The Bible says while we were still sinners he died for us. That means that he saw our failure but chose to die for us anyway. Although people can be loyal towards us in our lives – our friends, our family – none can be more faithful than Jesus has been and continues to be. The Psalmist says ‘the love of the Lord never ceases’.  And we understand, ‘who will to the Lord may come’.   Isn’t it grand that God is not fickle or arbitrary.  He is faithful and true.  And He is the changeless One! 

May, in these days, we emulate the love and loyalty of Christ.  He was reviled, but He did not revile back.  May the Spirit of God, empower us!

 May those who come behind us call us ‘faithful’. 

Pastor Lloyd