ROSLIN-THOMASBURG PASTORAL CHARGE
October 25, 2015: Twenty-first after Pentecost
Job 42:1-6, 10-17; Psalm 34:1-8 (19-22); Hebrews 7:23-28; Mark 10:46-52

The Gospel according to Mark is understood to be a record of Peter’s memories.  It is written with a Roman audience in mind.  Thus it is a fast-paced, action orientated account of Jesus’ ministry.

In the opening of chapter 10, Jesus begins his final journey towards Jerusalem.  In this account of the last miracle recorded in Mark, it is obvious that Blind Bartimaeus knows three things.  He knows he needs to ask for help.  He knows who to ask for help.  He knows what help he needs.

Bartimaeus knows he needs help and isn’t ashamed to ask for it.

Regardless of what kind of man Bartimaeus is, he is seen by others as a sinner, an outcast and someone to avoid, except for an opportunity to give alms.  Whether born blind or becoming blind, his condition says that he is suffering the consequences of his or his father’s sinfulness and is not worthy of participating in temple worship.  If anyone should be reluctant to ask anyone for anything, it should be him.  And yet he does.

He is not capable of earning and income but he still needs food to eat, clothes on his back and a roof over his head.  The only option open to him is begging, relying on the kindness of strangers and the commands in the Law to give to the poor.  As long as he is blind, he has no other recourse.  But Bartimaeus isn’t content to be blind.

Three ministers are having lunch in a diner.  One says “Ya know, since summer started I’ve been having trouble with bats in my loft and attic at church.

Another responds “Yea, me too. I’ve got hundreds living in my belfry and in the narthex attic.  I’ve tried everything–noise, spray, cats, I’ve even had the place fumigated, and they won’t go away.”

The third says, “I had the same problem and tried the same solutions, but like you, nothing worked.  The one day, I decided to apply the wisdom of my experience to the problem.  I gathered them all up, baptized them, and made them members of the church.  I haven’t seen one back since!!!”

Bartimaeus knows he needs help and isn’t ashamed to ask for it.

Bartimaeus also knows who to ask for help.

Jesus is well known by the people of Israel as a healer.  Receiving sight again or for the first time is not something with which the people he knows can help him.  Only the Messiah can cause the blind to see.

He calls out to Jesus, “Son of David”: a term referring to the Messiah.  Did Bartimaeus actually believe that Jesus was the Messiah or was he merely hoping Jesus could heal him?

Perhaps it doesn’t make any difference at this point in time.  If Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus has the divine authority to heal him.  If Jesus isn’t, there is no harm in asking.  Perhaps God will bless Bartimaeus anyway.  You never know until you try, right?

The crowd tells Bartimaeus to be quiet, not to bother Jesus but Bartimaeus doesn’t back down.  He keeps calling out to Jesus until Jesus finally responds.

One Sunday a pastor told his congregation that the church needed some extra money and asked the people to prayerfully consider giving a little extra in the offering plate.  He said that whoever gave the most would be able to pick out three hymns.

After the offering plates were passed, the pastor glanced down and noticed that someone had placed a $1,000 bill in offering.  He was so excited that he immediately shared his joy with his congregation and said he’d like to personally thank the person who placed the money in the plate.

And there sat shy, quiet Rosie all the way in the back, gradually raising her hand.  The pastor asks her to come to the front.  Slowly she makes her way to the pastor.  He then goes on and on telling her how wonderful it was that she gave so much and in thanksgiving asks her to pick out three hymns.

Her eyes brighten as she looks over the congregation, and then and says, “I’ll take him and him and him!”

Bartimaeus knows he needs help and isn’t ashamed to ask for it.

Bartimaeus knows who to ask for help.

Bartimaeus knows what help he needs.

Bartimaeus is no longer content living as a blind man.  He wants more.  He wants to be a real human being in the eyes of others and in his own eyes.  He is ready to leave behind what is known and move forward into the unknown even though he knows he will have to live his life very differently.  He will have to work rather than beg for income.  He will have to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem because when his shamed is removed he will have no excuse.  He will be expected to participate in community life rather than being dependent upon it.  Bartimaeus is willing because, he wants to see.

When Bartimaeus asks Jesus for sight, Jesus heals him and then says that Bartimaeus’ faith made him well.  But is Bartimaeus truly a man of faith as this story begins?  Maybe, maybe not.  What we do know from the scriptures is that faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains.  Perhaps Bartimaeus only had enough faith to ask for help and keep on asking until he got an answer.

He follows Jesus down the road.  Why?  Was this a sign of his gratitude?  Did he not have anything better to do?  Jesus had changed Bartimaeus’ life.  Did his life not now belong to Jesus?  Unlike the rich man who was asked to give up all he had and follow Jesus but wouldn’t, Bartimaeus did.

At a Wednesday evening church meeting a very wealthy man rose to give his testimony.

“I’m a millionaire,” he says, “and I attribute it all to the rich blessings of God in my life.  I can still remember the turning point in my faith, like it was yesterday:

I had just earned my first dollar and I went to a church meeting that night.  The speaker was a missionary who told about his work.  I knew that I only had a dollar bill and had to either give it all to God’s work or nothing at all.  So at that moment I decided to give my whole dollar to God.  I believe that God blessed that decision, and that is why I am a rich man today.”

He finishes is story.  It is pretty clear that everyone is moved by this man’s story.  As he takes his seat, a little old lady sitting in the same pew leans over and says: “Wonderful story!  I dare you to do it again!”

Are we like Bartimaeus?  Are we willing to ask for help or does our pride stop us from living life to its fullest?  Do we know who to ask for help whether that be other people or Christ?  Do we know what help we really need or are we willing to settle for merely treating the symptoms of what we lack?

Bartimaeus may have been physically blind but in the 10^th chapter of Mark, he is the only person that is singled out that could truly see.  In deed Blind Bartimaeus was actually not so blind after all.  How is our sight – 20/20 or far less?

Prayer:  God who gives sight to the blind, help us see.  Amen.

ROSLIN-THOMASBURG PASTORAL CHARGE

• October 11, 2015: Thanksgiving Sunday

Joel 2:21-27; Psalm 126; I Timothy 2:1-7; Matthew 6:25-33

Joke:

Last year on Thanksgiving, the childless farmer and his wife gave thanks for all their blessings.

They also prayed that their loneliness of having no children be relieved.  Their prayers were answered and the wife became pregnant.  She gave birth to triplets!  A friend remarked, “See, prayers are always answered.” The farmer then then replied, “Yes, but I never prayed for a bumper crop like this!”

Thought:

As I was contemplating what to write for the Thanksgiving edition of the Moira Valley News, I did some research on Thanksgiving in Canada and was eventually led to the article I copied, edited a then submitted.  At the time, my belief was that this information was new to me.  But it is also possible that the information about Frobisher’s third attempt to find the North-West Passage was part of grade seven or eight social studies and I had completely forgotten that already I knew it.

What captured my attention was not so much the observance of a service of giving thanks for being delivered from the harsh winter, so much as the story in its entirety.

Let’s recap.

The year was 1578 when Frobisher set out on his third attempt to find the Northwest Passage.  The weather that year was particularly terrible and the result was that one of the fifteen ships under his command sank due to the ice and over the course of the journey about 40 men lost their lives.  To us that would be considered a terrible loss but in his day, with all things considered, losing 10% of the crew was deemed as acceptable.  And even though the intended establishing of a settlement was not possible, those that survived gave thanks for God’s provision.

At some time during their stay in the arctic north of what is now Canada, Frobisher and his men came across what they thought to be gold and using picks, shovels and their bare hands, dug and loaded over a thousand tons of the material aboard their ships and then began their return voyage.

I can imagine that the return trip was a bitter sweet period in the lives of those on board.  Their ship mates were dead and their dreams were dashed but at least their suffering was not a complete waste of time.  God had blessed them with a reward – gold.

I suspect we have all shared a similar experience, finding ourselves facing a glass half empty circumstance, struggling to see the glass have full.

Of course we know that when they finally got back to England, sailing with the wind but not moving anywhere near as fast as they could have with empty ships, they were told that all that weight that had slowed their ships so significantly was “fool’s gold”, a mineral (iron pyrites) that is found in rocks and looks like gold but is not worth anything.  All that time, all that work, all that suffering and death for nothing.  Frobisher and his men must have been devastated.  Where was God in all this?

The term “fool’s gold” has come to mean more than just that mineral.  It has also come to refer to something that you think will be very pleasant or successful or of great value but is not.

All those papers, notes and magazines and all that stuff my wife and I had collected over many years that we have discarded during the last couple could be considered a type of fool’s gold.  Those things seemed valuable when we decided to hang on to them but in reality, they became things that slowed us down, cost us more to store than to buy and required more work to clean out than we could have ever imagined.  I used to think that I should hang onto something because it would be very handy to have if I ever had a need for it.  Now I realize how wasteful that thinking is.

Of course, the Bible reminds us of another kind of fool’s gold: the seeking of fame or acceptance, the accumulation of wealth, power or popularity or devoting ourselves to any goal at the cost of family and friends or our health and/or our peace of mind.  Of what value is it to spend our lives achieving and accomplishing if that achieving and accomplishing costs us all we could have been to those that matter most?

I am sure there are lots of other things we could classify as fool’s gold but I only want to talk about one more.  This one is subtle because it really boils down to a matter of degree.  As we give thanks, are we merely thankful for the things that God gives us or are we thankful for our God who chooses to give us those things?  Is the focus of our thanksgiving the gifts or the Gift-Giver.

If we are only thankful for the things God gives us, what happens to us when, from our point of view God stops giving us those things?  If we’re thankful for good health, what happens when our health begins to fail?  If we are thankful for the money in our bank accounts, what happens to us when those account run dry?  If we are thankful for friends and family, what happens when they are no longer around?

Yes, we should be thankful for all the good things in our lives but more importantly we should be thankful that God is a God who provides even when that provision seems lean.  We should be thankful even when our health fails, the money we call ours is gone.  We should be thankful even when friends and family disappear.  But how can we?

Last week I said that Christians, regardless of our stripe, have three things in common.  We have a common faith even though our understanding of that faith varies.  In reality that faith boils down to three words: “Jesus is Lord.”  We have a common mission – to share the love of God with all we meet.  And finally, we have a common goal – to be like Christ.

Becoming increasingly more Christ like is God’s agenda for our lives.  Sometimes, the lesson we need to learn come very easy but often they come through the hardships with which we struggle.

Job asked the question, “…should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?”

It’s pretty much impossible to give thanks to God for the bad things without knowing deep within that God is on our side, that God can and does use hardships to give us an opportunity to grow in our trust of God.  If God were satisfied with being our Sears catalogue or Amazon online, God would be guilty of doing what we are told is wrong – seeking acceptance, popularity and power.

This year, as you gather with others and you are asked to share something for which you are thankful, remember that what being thankful for what God provides us is good but being thankful for the God who provides is much better.

ROSLIN-THOMASBURG PASTORAL CHARGE
July 26 2015: Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
2 Samuel 11:1-15; Psalm 14; Ephesians 3:14-21; John 6:1-21

Today we are going to consider, in way that I hope  you find somewhat humorous, something that affects us all, every man, woman and child, no matter our background – temptation.

Are you tired of your relatively peace filled lives?  Have you ever wondered when you’ll get your fifteen minutes of fame?  Have you ever stood back as someone’s, up to now, secret life has been made very public and you wondered “How could they ever get into such a mess?”  Have you ever longed to be as well-known as the most infamous crook, backstabber, adulterer, defrauder or swindler?  Have you ever dreamed of being the only topic of conversation among your ex-relatives and ex-friends? Well, I have good news.

This morning, I will reveal an actual, real life case study that details, very clearly how to turn your life into a complete and utter train wreck in three easy steps.  And I am so confident that these three easy steps are so truly effective in destroying lives, if you begin applying these three steps today and your life isn’t well on its way to falling apart within thirty days, I will give you your money back three times over.

Now, about the case study:  I won’t need to send you a copy or try to figure out how to get around copyright infringements.  It’s in all of your homes.  So, if you need to refer back to ensure that you stay on track, just open your Bible to the passage we just read: 2 Samuel 11:1-15

The first step is to relish in distractions.

Temptations don’t really start as temptations.  Most often they are simply a distraction, a thought that passes through our minds, something we catch a glimpse of or perhaps something we hear, but once we take notice of them, they can very quickly become a temptation.

Now, if you fill your thoughts and activities with the things you should be doing, you’re not so prone to even notice the constant stream of distractions that come at your way  on a daily basis, let alone have the time to relish them.

David demonstrates for us how to maximize possibilities.  His army is away fighting a war against the Ammonites and having destroyed the Ammonite army all that is left is the city of Rabbah.  His army is away from home in another land fighting a war.  His soldiers are being injured and killed, living in the fields that surround that city and exposed to the rain and still cold nights.  But, where is David, – at home taking a nap.  In other words, he is goofing off!  Rather than being where he should have been, doing what he should have been doing.  He is not really doing anything.

You see, when our days and our minds are filled with empty space, we are opening ourselves to the maximum exposer to distractions and we have the time to take seriously the opportunity to relish in them.  When David gets up from his nap, he takes a leisurely stroll on his roof taking in the sights and sound of Jerusalem.  And does he get an eyeful.  The beautiful Bathsheba is taking a bath and David likes what he sees.

So, what do I mean when I say “relish”?  We set our minds on thinking about what it would be like to experience the reality of the fantasies we begin nurturing.  We savour the possibilities.  And you know, really it doesn’t matter if we spend all our time thinking about doing something or not doing something we are still relishing it.  That’s why it is so important to get all those pesky notions of what we should be doing out of our heads.  Before you know it, what started as a fleeting distraction will capture your attention and become a full-fledged temptation.

But relishing a distraction or by now temptation, goes beyond simply thinking about whatever to actually experience something.  We also need to begin to make plans as to how this thing could come about.

Now, don’t worry because it will come naturally.  No real effort just time on your hands and a temptation in your mind.  Before you know it, fantasizing what fulfilling a fantasy would be like will turn into making plans to turning that fantasy into a reality.

You’ll notice from the case study how David starts his afternoon taking a nap, then goes for a leisurely stroll, begins gawking at his neighbour and then sends someone to find out who this beauty is.  And before you know it, he is sending for her.

Now, David was a king and was quite accustomed to making quick decisions and getting what he wanted when he wanted so don’t get discouraged if it takes you a little longer to work through this same process.  Remember, practice makes perfect!

I have just alluded to the second step of these three easy steps toward wrecking your life.  At some point you have stop relishing in those distractions and take concrete actions to make your temptations a reality.  In David’s case, he had his men bring Bathsheba to him.

At this point, I think it best to consider strategy.  If you want to excel at making a total wreck out of your life so that it will not be just a few of your inner circle that will be talking about you behind your back and even perhaps in front of you as well, you need to develop both the scope and the duration of your escapade.  In other words, you need to involve as many people as possible and you need to ensure enough time passes so that your escapade will affect as many as possible.  It isn’t sufficient to wreck only your life; you need to destroy as many other lives as possible.  So you need to be careful who you involve in your scheme.  Only use those people over whom you have some leverage.

For some, your up-to-now stellar reputation may be enough.  Let’s face it, David was the sweetheart of Israel from the time he came on the scene and did away with the pesky Goliath.  No one would have questioned his motives.  Perhaps, you could use someone in your employ and threaten them with termination as would have been assumed by the members of David’s guard.  Perhaps there is someone about whom you have some compromising information that they would rather take to their grave than have made public.  Perhaps you can use the threat of removing them from you will, if your estate looks like it might be substantial or you can offer someone a reward that only you can offer for keeping their mouth shut and doing what they are told without question.

If you are concerned that you will not be able to such things – don’t worry about it.  Fantasize some more.  Before you know it your desire to complete your task will outweigh any other concerns.  Your conscience doesn’t stand a chance.

Look at David.  Not only did he want this woman so bad that he threw caution to the wind and had her way with her but he did so at the worst possible time.  Given that it seemed to be common knowledge that she had just completed her “purification rites” which took place seven days after her menstrual period was completed, meaning she would have been the absolute best time for conceiving a child, there is a good chance that he knew her getting pregnant was almost inevitable.  Ah, the added thrill of being caught read handed!

Once David was informed that, in deed, Bathsheba was carrying his child, David fully embraced the third easy step in wrecking his life – deny any responsibility, regardless of what you have to do.  Most of us would lie, cheat, steal, manipulate or perhaps even blackmail, but eventually David pushes beyond the mundane and commits murder.

Now, to be fair, David did try the easy way out by recalling Uriah from the front lines hoping while he was back in town he’d take the opportunity to mess around with his wife.  But he didn’t so David got Uriah to stay a second night and got him drunk thinking that with his guard down, Uriah would slip home rather than again sleep with the palace servants.  But Uriah, unfortunately, was a man of principal and refused the comforts of home while his fellow soldiers we in the field fighting and dying.  Having what was obviously no other choice; David resorted to that old standby, “better him than me.”  Had David come clean, he and Bathsheba both would have been subject to execution by stoning for the capital crime of adultery.

So, if David were to take responsibility for his actions two would die even though Bathsheba may have been quite innocent of anything other than not having any choice in her roll in the hay with the king.  If Uriah dies, only one person suffers.  Ya, right!

David writes a note to his general, Joab, seals it and gives it to Uriah to take back to the front.  Isn’t it ironic that Uriah carries with him his own death warrant and the reason he will die is because his conduct was far more regal than was David’s.

Joab does as ordered, sets Uriah in the front lines of the worst of the battle and then orders a retreat and that’s the end of Uriah, a couple other of David’s best soldiers, David’s reputation with Joab and how many others?  And David gets to add another woman to his stable, even if he really didn’t want her hanging around to be a constant reminder of the depths of his stupidity.  David is excelling at making his life a total train wreck.

The subject of temptation reminds me of the story of the women who read an ad in the local newspaper: “Purebred Police Dog $25.”

Thinking that to be a great bargain, she ordered the dog to be delivered. The next day a van pulled up and left her the scruffiest, mangiest-looking mongrel she had ever seen.

In a rage, she telephoned the man who had placed the ad. “What do you mean by calling that mangy mutt a purebred police dog?”

“Don’t be deceived by his looks, Ma’am,” the man replied. “He’s in the Secret Service.”

Of course, the difference is that when it comes to temptation we are both the buyer and the seller.  We are deluding ourselves.

So, once again, here are the three easy steps to making a wreck out of your life: 1) relish in distractions; 2) make your fantasies come true; and 3) never take responsibility for your actions.

I guess I should add here that as the story continues, David is confronted by Nathan the prophet and eventually does take responsibility for his actions and repents before God.  And even though David’s relationship with God is restored his indiscretion haunts him for the rest of his life.  From this point on, his life is never the same.  Trouble seems to follow him everywhere he goes.  What goes around, comes around.

To think, David would never have experienced the opportunities to abuse his power, manipulate his closest friends and allies, betray the trust of those devoted to him, commit murder, say good-bye to his life of relative peace and suffer for the rest of his life had he just been where he should have been, doing what he should have been doing – leading his troops in battle.  Failing that, had he just looked away rather than gawking at Bathsheba like a kid in a candy store, he would have continued to be the man he had always been up to that time.  Had he just turned his thoughts toward God rather than relishing in his distractions, the man who was such a strong example of what it means to live a godly life that the common notions of what the Messiah would be like were based on him, would never have become the classic example of how to take one’s life and turn it into a complete and utter train wreck.

Prayer:  God who loves us beyond measure, who works in us to give us lives that are filled with the peace that only you can give, who knows best what will bring us the greatest joy, forgive us when we allow ourselves to relish in any of the many temptations that come our way.  Remind us that often it is something very small, a passing scene, a thought, an expression on a face, an innuendo in someone’s words or a short lived possibility of circumstances that can lead us down the path of destruction.  Remind us that the best way to avoid distractions is to fill our thoughts and activities with those things we should be doing and the best way to deal with temptation is to turn our thoughts towards you and to relish in your love for us.  Remind us that when we yield to temptation, we are not just harming ourselves but often we are bringing harm to those we love the most and that love us.  And finally, remind us that when we are foolish, when we do not turn our thoughts toward you and instead begin the journey down the path, even then we are not beyond your love.  Help us be honest with ourselves and with you.  Amen .