Pastoral Reflections

Greetings to all the lovers of East Zorra!

At, Christmas, God gave . . . His Son

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

We learn the amount of God’s love: For God so loved. This means that the love was significant. The idea of so loved is connected to the idea of that He gave – there is a cause and effect relationship. He only gave what He gave because He loved so much. A gift at Christmas shows love if it cost something. This is not a monetary consideration.   A home-made gift, lovingly crafted also demonstrates a cost of the most valuable commodity – time.

We learn the object of God’s love: For God so loved the world. God did not wait for the world to turn to Him before He loved the world. He loved everyone!

We learn the expression of God’s love: He gave His only begotten Son. God’s love didn’t just feel for the problems of a fallen world. God did something about it, and He gave the most precious thing to give: His only begotten Son. Real love – Christmas love – is all about giving.

We learn the recipient of God’s love: Whoever believes in Him. God loves the world, but the world does not receive or benefit from that love until it believes in Jesus, the gift that the Father gave. Believes in means much more than intellectual awareness or agreement. It means to trust in, to rely on, and to cling to. When we trust God and rely on Him, we benefit from His love.

We learn the intention of God’s love: Should not perish. He didn’t give suggestions for self-improvement or ideas for personal transformation. He says, “Come to Me, look to Me, and I will save you.”

We learn the duration of God’s love: Everlasting life. The love we receive from people may fade or turn, but God’s love will never change.

This transcendent love is what Jesus wants East Zorra to emulate: ‘So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other’. (John 13:34)

May East Zorra’s love deepen even more, as we develop love, even for enemies!

Pastor Lloyd

Greetings in the name of our “God of all comfort”

Tuesday morning, we received the shocking news that Mary Ramseyer died suddenly and unexpectedly from a heart attack. Her sudden and unexpected death as caused shock for all of us. Even more so since our last encounters with Mary reminded us of her vitality and life. We will miss Mary’s care, hospitality, acts of service and the many ways she gave herself to the ministry of the church.

A sudden death of this nature always raises so many questions, and many of them start with Why?  As Mary’s family grieves, and as we grieve, may we entrust our questions, which may remain unanswered, into the hands of God who grieves with us.

On Wednesday morning we received the news that Mel Zehr had died. Mel’s death was more expected, but also leaves us grieving. While we rejoice for Mel, who longed to be released from the limitations and suffering of his earthly body, we still feel this loss. We will miss Mel’s smile and warmth, his humour, and the gratefulness he showed to all who had time to visit or call.

As we grieve the death of our friends Mary and Mel, we remember Raymond and Katie who are both grieving the loss of a spouse and life companion. We remember their families as they walk through this difficult valley of life and absorb the reality of the death of their loved one. I invite us to hold the Ramseyer and Zehr families in our thoughts and prayers through this difficult time.

This week, as I was absorbing this news, a few verses of scripture came to mind.

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 usin all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. (2 Corinthians 1)

Comfort and compassion have their source in God, but these verses remind us that we can join God’s flow of comfort and compassion as we share it with each other.  In the strength of our “Father of compassion and the God of all comfort”, may we care for each other as we give and receive comfort in the days and weeks ahead.

Pastor Ray

JEAN’S JOTTINGS   DECEMBER 2021

OUR CHILDREN

One year ago today, the first person in the world received their first dose of vaccine to protect against the Corona 19 virus.

100 years ago, there were NO vaccines! Epidemics of diphtheria, smallpox, measles and so many other communicable diseases would spread through homes and communities. Most of us have never seen these diseases and have no firsthand knowledge of the death and destruction that they brought to families and communities. All the children in the home would die (1^st family) and after the outbreak had passed and people had somewhat recovered, they would have more children (2^nd family) …. hoping and praying that ‘this family” would be spared another outbreak of disease and would live to become adults.

Can you even imagine what our lives might be like if no vaccines had been developed?

I know that there are unknowns and risks with new vaccines just as there were unknowns and risks with other newly developed drugs i.e., penicillin, prednisone, and many others. These brought about great strides in healing and preserving lives while over the years we learned more about both the good that they can do and cautions regarding their use. (I can’t imagine where we would be without so many of these scientific developments.)

These vaccines were all new at one time…all barely tested. The doctors and scientists were working with such limited knowledge, but the desire has always been to preserve life. To prevent the death and destruction (lifelong brain damage as well as other muscular and physical damages) caused by these diseases. To help your child have the protection they need to stay healthy.

Did you know that vaccination prevents between two and three million deaths worldwide every year?

Many vaccine-preventable diseases have no treatment or cure. In some cases, if unvaccinated, children can die from complications of a disease.

The best protection is to keep vaccinating.

To better explain the importance of vaccination, here is an analogy: It’s just like when we started bailing out a boat that had a slow leak; the boat was full of water (full of diseases). We have been bailing (vaccinating) fast and hard, and now the boat is almost dry. If we stop bailing (vaccinating) the water will continue to come in as there is still a leak (infectious diseases are still present).

Today, we have the privilege of getting our children over the age of 5 vaccinated against the corona virus. The best way to get “our lives back to normal” is to vaccinate…our children…ourselves…our parents…those in countries that can’t afford vaccines…everyone.

We might not be able to irradicate the Corona virus, but it would then NOT be able to control us and our activities.

What a gift it would be to those we love to be vaccinated … to visit and share freely in all the ways we remember so fondly.

If you are struggling or have questions, please feel free to contact me. Sometimes just talking and having a conversation helps to clarify the muddle in our minds even when it doesn’t necessarily provide clear cut answers.

“But when I am afraid, I will put my confidence in you. Yes, I will trust the promises of God.”   Psalm 56: 3-4

During this season of advent, I pray that God’s Hope, Peace, Love and Joy surround you and fill you.

Jean MacDonald, Parish Nurse

Greetings to the peaceful people of East Zorra

In Hebrew, the word for peace, “shalom” (שָׁלוֹם), refers not just to the absence of conflict, but to something better replacing it. Shalom is all about things being as they should be. The most basic meaning of shalom is “complete” or “whole.”

Life is complex, and when one part of your life is out of alignment because of sickness, loss, a broken relationship, or something else, your “shalom,” or “completeness,” breaks down. Something needs to be restored.

“Shalom” as a verb means “making complete” or “restoring.” When Solomon completed David’s temple, that was shalom, or when one Israelite repaid another for damages, that too was shalom.

The Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 9:5-6) looked forward to a time when a prince of shalom would come to bring endless shalom – not just the absence of conflict, but a restoration of all brokenness into wholeness. This is why Jesus’s birth in the New Testament (NT) was called the arrival of “eirene” (εἰρήνη; Greek for “peace”) and why Jesus said to his followers that he came to give his peace to all of them (John 14:27).

The Apostle Paul claimed that Jesus “made peace” between God and people when he died and rose from the dead (Romans 5:1). Jesus has restored proper relationship between God and those who fully place their faith and trust in him alone for salvation. This is why the Apostle Paul wrote that “Jesus himself is our peace” (Ephesians 2:14-15). Jesus is the complete human we all were made to be, and he gives us his life as a gift that will allow us to become complete people, too.

Jesus’s followers are called to create shalom like he did, which requires patience, humility, and bearing with one another in love. Becoming people of peace means participating in the life of Jesus, who reconciled all things on heaven and earth through His blood on the cross (Colossians 1:19-20).

True peace takes work – finding what’s broken in our lives, relationships, or world, and doing our best to make it whole. One day, at Advent 2, when Jesus comes as king, He will rule with a ‘rod of iron’, and then He will establish ‘peace’.  Forever.

Until then, in a fractured, broken world, keep being His agents of peace.

Pastor Lloyd

Greetings in the name of God who invites us to imagine and dream!

This coming Sunday we enter the season of Advent. Our advent theme this year is, Dare to Imagine! To imagine is to form a mental image or concept of what could be. To imagine is to dream about and envision the life or world that God is inviting us to pray for and work toward. The advent resource we are using this year extends an invitation to us. “As we begin a new church year, let’s dare to imagine our path forward with God toward God’s dream for our world.”

I am grateful for this Advent invitation. So much in our world today seems out of sync with God’s dream. Many in the world are fleeing homelands that are unsafe to live in. And the passage for them to a new home is long, difficult, uncertain and often dangerous. Floods overwhelm both British Columbia and Eastern Canada and we wonder if this is another sign of the stress that our planet is suffering. For British Columbia the earlier droughts and fires this year intensifies that wondering. Climate Crisis is a headline that grows more frequent and intense. Relationships between settler and indigenous communities, although they show signs of healing, continue to struggle and experience seasons of deep stress and even violence. Tensions in our own families, church communities and broader community continue as we face the stresses of polarization around differing opinions about Covid vaccines and safety protocols. We also face personal health challenges and struggle to find the answers we need as our health care system lives through its own struggling health.

In this present time in which we live we need a church and people of God who will dare to imagine and dream about the world that could be, and who will then dare to join God in the mission of transforming the world that is, into the world that God is making new.

Imagine families, churches and communities that dare to imagine and then dare to join God in bringing imagination to reality.

Imagine a world that supports those neighbours struggling through floods and fires, and then decides together to make the lifestyle changes that will help heal our earth.

Imagine a world where settlers and indigenous peoples live as neighbors in mutual relationships of respect and understanding. Imagine what it would mean to live that dream. 

Imagine a world where we continue to worship together despite our differences, where we make the adjustments needed, and give our hearts and hands to each other instead of judging and distancing from each other. 

So much in our world seems out of sync yet so much in the world is also good and right. May we give thanks for what is good, name and lament what is wrong, dare to imagine what could be, and then join God in God’s mission to heal and transform the world.

I love the benediction recorded in Ephesians 3:20-21, and the big truth it names.

²⁰ Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Pastor Ray

Greetings to the blessed people of East Zorra who mourn!

Even In the short time I have hung around EZMC, there have been many that have experienced the loss of someone they know. Is there such a thing as ‘Good Grief’, especially when the loss is someone very close to us?

The usual use of the expression ‘good grief’ denotes an exclamation of irritation, frustration, or surprise. When we lose a loved one, we grieve. It hurts! Your grief is as personal and unique as your fingerprint; no one else will have the same bereavement experience as you and there is not one “correct” way to respond to loss. It seems that the more we have loved someone, the more we grieve.  We say our hearts are broken.

We hurt because the deceased has left a big hole in our lives.  No longer can we enjoy their company, their uniqueness, their smile, their humour, their idiosyncrasies.  And there is no replacement to fill that big hole.  You don’t ever ‘get over it’ or ‘move on’.  But there is some consolation. There is some good news. “They live forever in your broken heart that doesn’t seal back up. And you come through. It’s like having a broken leg that never heals perfectly — that still hurts when the weather gets cold, but you learn to dance with the limp”. — Anne Lamott. Helen Keller says: “What we have once enjoyed deeply we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us”.

In addition, I believe that God’s grace and sovereignty are greater than any loss or disappointment. Since Genesis, death has been part of humanity’s reality. Jesus came to assuage the effects of the curse. My intellect may not understand why God allows tragedy to strike, but I can rest in His infinite wisdom and tender mercies. One look at Jesus’ suffering on the cross, and we know He understands our pain and does something about it. ‘The Lord had anointed him to preach the gospel to the poor and to heal the brokenhearted’ (Luke 4:18)

‘Good Grief’ is when I allow Him to comfort and heal me.

And, we will remember them.

Pastor Lloyd