​
​And our Songs for this week can be found here:

The reading of Holy Scripture together as a community has been a central part of Christian worship throughout the Church’s long history, and it has deep roots within the spiritual and communal practices of Israel.

We read Holy Scripture together not simply to learn new information about God’s dealings with humanity in the past, but also to listen in faith to what the Living God is saying to us His people today. We listen to His Word to draw closer to Him, and to one another.

For the next five weeks, we will be engaging with the Scriptures in a more open-ended way: carving out some time for silent contemplation, as well as sharing some questions for further reflection, rather than having our usual Sermons.

After every Scripture Reading in the At-Home Morning Prayer service, we’re all invited to take a few moments (1-2 minutes) in silence to reflect upon the passage, and how God’s Spirit might be addressing us through it, as individuals or as a community.

In those moments, pay attention to any words, ideas, or images that stand out to you. In the silence afterwards, ask God to help you hear His heart for you today.

After the Gospel is read, and we’ve taken a moment to in silence to reflect upon it, review the Reflection Questions for the week that Pastor Rob has prepared to help us dig in a bit deeper. 

Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, & Reflection Questions this week can be found here:

​
​And our Songs for this week can be found here:

Scripture Readings: Deuteronomy 30:9–14 | Psalm 25:1–10 | Colossians 1:1–14 | Luke 10:25–37

What a beautiful day to celebrate our first ever Churchyard Cemetery Service here at St. Luke’s: an opportunity to step outside our wall and pray together in the presence of our brothers and sisters in Christ who have gone on before us into God’s rest, and are now awaiting the fulfillment of the promise of resurrection. Our sisters and brothers of the faith, who have sought, in their own days, to love and serve the Living God, and also to love and serve their neighbours… whose lives and legacies can inspire us and give us strength to do the same today.
 
We gather in prayer, not only remembering our Christian brothers and sisters who have died, we also look forward in hope to being reunited with them again… as those separated just for a season, knowing we will one day share with them in renewed and restored fellowship and love… sharing in the eternal life of Jesus Christ the Risen Lord.   
 
After all, at the heart of our faith is the message that God’s saving love endures all things… and that even death cannot keep us from the arms of our Saviour. The author and theologian Ben Myers captures this well when he writes:

“When we find our way to the living source of life, to Jesus himself, we discover that death is not really death anymore. Even in death our relationship to Jesus is not broken. Death becomes another place where we can go to find him. Wherever we go, he waits to meet us there.”[1] And with our Saviour, waits our many sisters and brothers in Christ who have now come to know the fullness of the love of the Living God.
 
With this hope before us, we can carry on the work they have passed on to us… the work of sharing in God’s New Life in this community here in Gondola Point… To learn and put into practice what it truly means to love the Lord our God, with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our strength, and with all our mind; and filled with the love of God, to love our neighbours as ourselves.
 
We know these familiar words: we’ve heard them and spoken them many times before. But as our Gospel reading this morning makes plain, just because we know the right words… that doesn’t mean that our hearts, and souls, and minds, and strength are inclined to live them out.
 
Love is much more than a motto. Love is the very heartbeat of God’s New Life. Not only love for the Lord, or for each other, but for all our neighbours.
 
Christ Jesus was asked “Who is my neighbour?” by someone who knew the right words, but not what they truly meant, and Jesus responds by telling a now familiar story that still offers a challenging message.
 
At the sight of someone in desperate need, a Priest and a Levite, two people whose whole lives were dedicated to serving God, and teaching others to stay true to His holy ways… walked by the wounded man without a second thought.
 
Yet a Samaritan, that is, someone from a different religious and racial community, who would have been seen as an obvious enemy, this Samaritan looks on the wounded man with mercy, and comes to his aid… not worrying about their many differences, he takes the man in his arms, and saves his life… going to extremes to meet his needs and bring him back to life again.

Christ turns the question of “Who is my neighbour?” around, and shows us, if we want to truly understand the love of God, it’s not about asking: “Who must I love? (And who can I safely ignore?)… but “How can I truly become this kind of neighbour to all those around me?”
 
In this story, Jesus unmasks a deeply uncomfortable truth: that often its those of us who claim to love the Living God, and follow His ways, that can be shockingly indifferent to the pain and the needs of our neighbours. Worse yet, sometimes we too can even become the cause of their hardship.
 
Sadly, when many of our neighbours today think of Christians or churches, this pain and indifference is what comes to mind… and sadder still, they have some good reasons for doing so. Along with the legacies of faithfulness, and mercy, and goodness, we Christians also carry the legacies of those who neglected their neighbours… of those who caused more harm than good… and we must not forget or dismiss the pain and destruction that has been done to our neighbours in the name of our Lord… the One who loves them, and gave His life for them.

But here too, God’s mercy comes to us in the words of Jesus. His words, as uncomfortable as they might be at times, always bring life and light: “Go and do likewise.” The point of His story is not condemnation, but invitation… calling us all to turn around and turn our eyes to our neighbours… to those all around us and share with them the mercy, fellowship, forgiveness, and care Christ offers to all. Jesus wants His Church to become experts at loving their neighbours… and by His Spirit at work in us, that is what you and I can become… leaving a legacy of love that will far outlast our lifetimes. 
 
Today we’ve gathered together in prayer, surrounded by our brothers and sisters who once lived in, and served the Lord, and their neighbours, in this community. Today, Christ calls us to care for and love this very same neighbourhood. To “Go and do likewise” here, making God’s mercy known wherever it’s needed… so Gondola Point, and our wider world might share in His saving love forever.
 
With this hope, and with this calling, may we all “Go and do likewise.” Amen.  


[1] Ben Myers, The Apostles’ Creed: A Guide to the Ancient Catechism, ed. Todd Hains, Jeff Reimer, and Sarah Awa, Christian Essentials (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018), 127.

This week we are holding our first Churchyard Cemetery Service of Morning Prayer, gathering outdoors to worship the Lord God while surrounded by the saints who have gone on before us. As such, our Morning Prayer service order might seem a little different today.

We hope this service will become an annual tradition, and an ongoing opportunity for those in our wider community who have loved ones buried at St. Luke's to gather in prayer, bring flowers to lay at graves, and remember with gratitude their lives.

Whether or not you are able to join us in person, please take some time today to remember the lives and legacies of our Christian sisters and brothers who have died and are now at peace in the presence of Jesus our Risen Lord.

​Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, & Sermon this week can be found here:

​And our Songs for this week can be found here:

Scripture Readings: 2 Kings 5:1–14 | Psalm 30 | Galatians 6:1–16 | Luke 10:1–11, 16–20

“See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:19-20).
 
Happy Canada Day weekend!
 
I hope we all had a chance to enjoy some rest and relaxation this weekend, as well as take time to reflect on what it means for us to share in the life of this country. To be thankful for the many blessings we have, and often take for granted… as well as sharing in the pain from our nation’s far from perfect present and past… and to take part in the healing work that’s still to be done.
 
These days, so like many aspects of our common stories, Canada Day is complicated. A reminder of both the good and bad that’s sometimes hard to navigate. But this complicated situation is not necessarily a problem. Actually, I think it’s a gift! Inviting us to practice humility… to learn to love both our Country and all our neighbours in this land, without putting it up on a pedestal, and puffing ourselves up with pride.
​
Much has been said about the problem of pride. And we don’t need to look very hard to find it at work in our world, tearing peoples and nations apart. Now by pride, I don’t mean a stable, positive sense of self. The experience of reflecting with joy and gratitude on all that is good in our lives. Sometimes we use the word pride in that way… but the pride that I’m talking about is the self-focused worldview and way of life that cuts us off from those around us… that sense of superiority that tempts us to despise anyone who’s not like us: people from other countries or communities… anyone outside of our ‘tribe’… or anyone who stands in the way of ‘my will being done.’
 
Think of the devastation brought about by the violent Nationalism of the past century and it’s bloody wars… or the senseless destruction of Eastern Ukraine today, by the powerful leaders of their Russian neighbours who seek their own glory and gain at unspeakable cost to millions of people, slain or displaced, or starving as the result of disrupted supply lines. This is all pride’s handiwork.
 
Of course, there are plenty of ways pride causes problems in our own lives, much closer to home: ruining relationships… tearing apart families and communities… and creating so many obstacles for the healing work of love in the world.
 
We all know pride is a problem. But it’s not an unstoppable one. In fact, our Scripture readings today from Second Kings and the Gospel of Luke offer a path forward away from pride, and all of the problems it brings.
 
Starting in Second Kings, we heard the story of Naaman the Aramean: a man of prestige and power, a successful pagan general… who also had a serious problem he could not overcome. Naaman had leprosy, skin disease that in those days felt just like a death sentence. A curse with no known cure.  

I know some of us have faced these kinds of serious medical scares, either ourselves, or in the lives of those we love. Sometimes they come out of nowhere, and knock us right off our feet, and suddenly make us aware of just how little control we have… how fragile human life can be. Here is this great man, completely powerless to rescue himself. But in that moment of weakness, and fear, and desperation, an unexpected voice speaks up with a powerful word of hope.

His wife’s slave girl, a young Israelite captured on one of Naaman’s military raids, points to the God of Israel as the source of healing and new life he needs. “She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! [That is, the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel.] “He would cure him of his leprosy” (2 Kings 5:3). At this word of hope, Naaman jumps into action, and with a message from the King of Aram, he races off to Samaria laden with treasure to pay for his hoped for miracle.
 
Unfortunately, Israel’s King is clueless when Naaman comes expecting to be cured. He panics, expecting his powerful neighbours to be preparing an excuse to invade. It never seems to cross his mind that he should look to the LORD God as a source of new life for Naaman. But thankfully, the prophet Elisha doesn’t doubt the power of God, and calls the King to send Naaman to him and find the healing he needs.
 
So Naaman visits the prophet, expecting some grand ritual and spiritual spectacle… only for Elisha to dismissively tell him to go and dunk himself seven times in the muddy waters of Jordan. Actually, Elisha doesn’t even bother to meet him face to face. The prophet sends word through a messenger. Not at all the grand spectacle Naaman felt he deserved.
 
Full of wounded pride, Naaman was filled with rage!
“I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?” (2 Kings 5:11-12).
 
He doesn’t believe his salvation could be so simple… that his condition could be overcome without any fanfare or dramatic display of divine power… just wash in this no-good river. Insulted that the prophet didn’t even bother to show his face… and just gave his prescription through an assistant and sent him on his way. Naaman was not prepared to be treated this way… not willing to stoop down and be treated like some powerless nobody. Even if in the face of his leprosy, that was what he was: powerless.
 
Naaman’s pride almost made him turn away from the source of healing and hope he desperately needed.
But again, he is put back on track by those lower and wiser than himself. 2 Kings 5:13-14 “his servants approached and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.”
 
Despite his resistance to doing the “simple thing” in obedience and trust, Naaman relents, and listens to the prophet’s instructions… and finds new life. His salvation is freely given in simplicity and humility. No fanfare needed, only the willingness believe and follow.
 
This story reminds us that God’s new life is offered to us all in simplicity and humility, calling us all to let go of our pride in order to receive it as the gift of love that it truly is. To let go of our expectations of what God’s power at work looks like, and learn to believe and follow the Lord and find in Him new life.
 
But notice, this story also reminds us that Naaman is not the hero of the story. He would have given up long ago, if it wasn’t for those easiest to ignore, but who knew where to find true life: a young victim of war, human trafficking, and exploitation was the one who first shared with Naaman the word of hope that brought him life. His own servants, those with now power or authority spurred Naaman on to listen to the prophet humble himself, and believe… bringing about the healing Naaman desperately longed for.
 
In short, God loves to use simple and humble people to share His new life with others. He doesn’t rely on exciting spectacles, but works through the genuine faith of ordinary everyday people who truly believe in His power to save. As Christians, simple and humble servants of Christ, we don’t need to spend our energies pointing out how great we are, or how much we can accomplish… even if that’s what the world around us might want or expect. No, our work is to hold onto, and point others to the real  source of new life, and to invite them to believe, and share this new life with us as well.
 
Which leads us to the Gospel of Luke, and the story of Jesus sending out seventy of His disciples, to share the Good News of the Kingdom of God, and the New Life that comes with it.
 
It wasn’t going to be an easy mission. In Christ’s own words, He was sending them out “like lambs into the midst of wolves.” (Luke 10:3). They were sent out simply and humbly… with one companion, but without much else… having to rely on the hospitality and welcome of strangers, while racing the real possibility of repeated rejection. And yet, for all who would receive them, they were to freely share the gift of God’s New Life and signs of Christ’s Kingdom: healing the sick, sharing God’s peace, and as it turns out, freeing folks from the spiritual powers of darkness.
 
Verse 17: “The seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!’” The disciples themselves were amazed that the power of the Spirit of God they’d only ever seen at work in Jesus was also at work in them! The demonic forces of evil that bound up people’s lives in misery were fleeing from them! Can you imagine their excitement? To sense God’s victory over evil through you?

Of course they were excited. And for good reason. They were experiencing the Kingdom of God up close and personal. And for what it’s worth, Jesus Himself affirms the good work they were doing, depicting their share in His mission as the overthrowing of the devil. Luke 10:18-19 “He said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you.”
 
But He quickly goes on to redirect His excited students to what matters most: to sharing in the life of the Kingdom of God, and sharing it with others. “Nevertheless,” Christ says, “do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:20).
 
Christ gives His disciples real power over the forces of darkness, sure defenses against their schemes and tricks and poisons… not to be a source of pride, but as a remedy against it. What He gives us is the New Life of the Living God, sharing in His holy love, which all the powers of the devil cannot overcome.
 
 
God’s Spirit worked through these disciples to powerfully share the Good News and New Life of the Kingdom, as ill equipped and vulnerable as they all appeared to be. But the focus was not meant to be on their own power, or the spectacular things they were able to achieve. Their mission was to share in the life of the Kingdom, and sharing that life with all who would receive it.
 
And this has been at the centre of the Church’s mission ever since: to simply and humbly share the New Life Christ has shared with us, displaying the full power of God when He laid down His own life… allowing Himself to be utterly despised and rejected… a lamb silently led to slaughter… brutally beaten down, then lifted high on the cross… all so that God’s New Life would break in through His broken body to heal our broken world… to overcome our selfish pride with God’s saving, self-giving love.  
 
It may not look like what we expected or imagined, but the New Life of the Kingdom that Christ Jesus freely offers in simplicity and humility, is truly the source of healing and hope that everybody needs.
​
Our own stories are all different… and are still in the process of being written… but how are they drawn into the story of the New Life of God’s Kingdom?
 
Maybe we’re being asked to let go of our pride, or our ideas about what God’s work should look like? To be willing to believe and follow the simple and humble ways God offers Himself to us, and opens up our hearts to receive His healing and hope?
 
Maybe we are being asked to speak up and point someone in our lives to the source of all life? Even if we feel ill equipped, and vulnerable, God’s Spirit can still works wonders!
 
Maybe we’ve been distracted by other aspects of the Christian life… caught up in exciting projects… or worried about some other pressing matters? Maybe God’s calling us today to refocus on what matters most, and empowers everything good in us: sharing in the self-giving love… the New Life of God in Jesus Christ our Risen Lord. However God’s Spirit is speaking to us today, may we all be willing to listen: and let our pride go, letting God’s love do it's healing work in and through us. Amen.

​Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, & Sermon this week can be found here:

​And our Songs for this week can be found here:

Scripture Readings: 1 Kings 19:15–16, 19–21 | Psalm 16 | Galatians 5:1, 13–25 | Luke 9:51–62

“For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Galatians 5:13-14).
 
All our Scripture readings today, in one way or another, call us to contemplate devotion: to reflect on what it means to be completely committed to the Living God and His will for us. But more than that, they also highlight how the Living God is completely committed to us. Devoted to rescuing and re-creating His broken world, and drawing us who trust in Him deep into His blessed life.
 
But before jumping into our readings today, let’s remember that there are plenty of ways we can misunderstand devotion… plenty of ways we can get off track when we follow our assumptions about what the Lord wants of us, instead of looking intently to Jesus and following His lead.
 
Thankfully, our Gospel reading today invites us all to reflect on what a Christ-shaped devotion looks like, both back then, but also today:
​
St. Luke tells us that “When the days drew near for [Jesus] to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). This marks a clear change of direction in Jesus’ ministry. Up until now, He had been travelling through the northern region of Galilee, sharing the Good News of the Kingdom of God with all the countryside. But now, the time had come for Him to head South to the holy city… wholeheartedly determined to carry out His great rescue mission: to go to Jerusalem, to take up His cross, and give His life to save the world.
 
As the amazing culmination of the entire Scriptural story… the story of God’s faithful love for His stubborn, sinful people, and our whole broken world… Jesus, the Son of God was going to Jerusalem to die. To be betrayed and rejected by the ones He came to save, but then to turn that tragedy into a gift of New Life for all.
 
But long before He and His disciples even get close to Jerusalem, Luke tells us they faced resistance: Travelling through a Samaritan village, they were not welcomed.
 
Now Samaritans have a long and fraught history with Jews. Both communities have a shared ancestry, as the Samaritans were descendants of the remnant of the Northern tribes of Israel, who survived the Assyrian and Babylonian Exiles. Yet even so, both communities saw each other as ethnically and religiously compromised, to the end that Jews and Samaritans despised and avoided each other. And so, because Jesus was going to Jerusalem, the centre of Jewish religious and cultural life, the Samaritans wanted absolutely nothing to do with Him or His disciples. Despite Christ’s willingness to share God’s Kingdom work with them, they only saw an enemy… and so they rejected Him.  
 
Of course there are lots of examples of this kind of dynamic at work in our world these days: of people who share so much in common… yet remain deeply divided over the few differences.
 
I’m not talking about the tensions that naturally rise from people holding conflicting values. Of course we won’t agree with everyone, and there will be times when we must stand firm and resist what we understand to be wrong.
But the question for us is: how are we to treat those who hold onto conflicting values? What do we do with the people we cannot seem to come to peace with? Can we deeply disagree about many things without demonizing… or trying to destroy the lives of those we disagree with?
 
As we heard today, the disciples didn’t seem to think so. At least two of them, James and John, thought their devotion  to God’s Kingdom called for burning up those who were ‘opposed’ to them and their message. “Lord,” they said, “do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” (Luke 9:54). In the back of there minds must have been the stories of the great prophet Elijah, who in 1 Kings had himself called down fire from heaven against soldiers of a wicked king.
 
But instead of unleashing fire against the Samaritans, Jesus rebukes His own students… and simply moves on. He doesn’t engage in debate. He doesn’t repay their unkindness with anger. Despite the rejection that Jesus faced, He does not let it deter Him from carrying out His mission. He remained devoted to laying down His life to save, not only His fellow Jews, but these Samaritans as well… and all peoples under heaven.
 
Christ-shaped devotion is not about winning every argument, or coming out on top of every conflict. Nor is it, for that matter, about keeping everyone happy… as if that were even possible. What Jesus did was to not let rejection or conflict distract Him from God’s great rescue mission… from devoting His life wholeheartedly to the life of the Kingdom that He had come to bring, even though this would mean walking the road of rejection and suffering.
 
As Christ’s followers today, will we walk this road with Him?
 
St. Luke goes on to introduce us to others, who wanted to follow Jesus… but who had their own visions, and assumptions of what it would look like to devote their lives to Him: One said “I will follow you wherever you go.” (Luke 9:57), but Jesus then pointed out that His own life was one of never quite belonging… of never really settling down and fitting into society. A life of a pilgrim. A wandering misfit. Is that what you want?
 
After Jesus invites another to follow Him, the would-be disciple says: “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” (Luke 9:59). In other words, ‘Let me first fulfill my family obligations.’ Again, Jesus pushes for wholehearted devotion, saying to them: “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:60).
 
Yet another says: “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home. Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’” (Luke 9:61-62).
 
All three of these would-be disciples wanted to take part in the Kingdom… but up to a point. They wanted to follow on their own terms… in ways that they were comfortable with… but Jesus pushed back on their assumptions… on their ideas of what wholehearted devotion means… not because He was cruel, or uncaring… not because He didn’t want them to follow Him… just the opposite! But He wanted them, and wants every would-be disciple to know what we’re getting into. Jesus was inviting them, as He invites us all to share wholeheartedly in His life… with all its challenges and struggles… and so to know what it means with Him to be devoted to God’s kingdom.
 
We all come with our own ideas about what it means to be a devoted Christian: what following this religion requires of us, and how our lives will be shaped by it (or not!). But Christ-shaped devotion isn’t bound by our own assumptions, or ideas… but by a whole new way of life given to us by the Living God. A life completely committed not to a religion, but to Jesus our Lord… and to one another!
 
As St. Paul points out in our reading today from Galatians, there’s no such thing for those who follow Jesus as private devotion. Our commitment to the Living God connects us to all His children… set free to share together in the life of Christ Jesus our Lord.
 
To the Christians in Galatia, divided by serious religious and cultural disagreements, St. Paul took great pains to point out that devotion to Christ Jesus is not just a bunch of rituals to practice, or rules to follow… and argue over. Truly Christ-shaped devotion, the fulfillment of the righteous law of God, is His holy love at work in us, setting us free from everything that keeps us from loving one another.
 
Galatians 5:13-15, “For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.  For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.”
 
St. Paul goes on to point out the destructive signs of what happens when we’re devoted to our own desires, which run in the opposite direction of the holy love of God: Galatians 5:19-21, “Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions,  envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
 
But then St. Paul points us towards what it looks like when we are sharing in the new life Jesus gives us: what begins to take shape in our lives as those devoted to walking with Him. Galatians 5:22-25, “By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.”
   
Remember, all these things are the results of the Spirit of God at work in us. This isn’t a list of things we need to do or have in order to make ourselves holy, or prove we’re devoted to God. These are the signs of God’s new life that the Holy Spirit is devoted to bringing to life in us His people. The Living God Himself is wholeheartedly committed to re-creating us to be like Him! To be shaped by God’s own love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
 
This is the gift that Christ won for us at the cross: to share in God’s new life, and through the Spirit, for His life to set us free to love Him and one another. This is what the Living God is devoted to doing in us and our world. Will we follow our Saviour and let His faithful love guide our way? Amen.

​​Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, & Sermon this week can be found here:

Scripture Readings: 1 Kings 19:1–15 | Psalm 42, 43 | Galatians 3:23–29 | Luke 8:26–39

“Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” (Luke 8:39).
 
Our Scripture readings today from 1 Kings and the Gospel of Luke may not seem all that similar, but in some key ways they are deeply connected… like two sides of a coin, they bear different images, but share a common theme: the stories of people whose lives were turned around by the Living God, only to be sent out again in unexpected directions.
 
In 1 Kings we jump right into the middle of the story of Elijah: the passionate and powerful prophet of Yahweh, the Living God, who had the audacity to confront Israel’s unfaithful King, Ahab, who with his wife Jezebel, had led God’s people to worship and serve Baal, a Canaanite deity.
 
Just before our reading today, Elijah had called for a dramatic duel, a showdown on Mt. Carmel before all the people of Israel between Yahweh, the LORD, and the popular prophets of Baal… to prove once and for all who was truly God Almighty.

1 Kings 18:21 says that “Elijah then came near to all the people, and said, “How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” The people did not answer him a word.” What follows this call to wholehearted faithfulness was a dramatic display of Yahweh’s unrivaled power. I’ll leave it to you to read over 1 Kings Chapter 18 this week to get all the details, but the pastor and scholar Peter Leithart summarizes the outcome well: “Yahweh wins a decisive victory over Baal at Carmel, and the people who bowed to golden calves and kissed the Baals fall on their faces to declare, “Yahweh is God! Yahweh is God!”” It seems that Israel had finally turned back to the Living God for good, and Leithart goes on to capture what must have been the faithful prophet’s dream come true: “Yahweh’s victory over Baal is so public that the people obey Elijah’s command to slaughter the prophets of Baal, none of whom return from Carmel… It seems possible that Ahab will follow Elijah as his lead prophet, that Elijah will shape the future of Israel from a position of prominence. The covenant renewed, Israel is back on the right track.
It is not to be.”[1]

Instead, Queen Jezebel seeks to strike back… and instead of leading God’s people back to their LORD, Elijah becomes Israel’s most wanted. Despondent, he heads south, to Mt. Sinai, also called Horeb, where God had once met with Moses long ago… leaving behind the people he once sought to save, who he now felt had all abandoned him.
 
Along the way, we hear how the LORD had provided for and sustained his faithful prophet, but Elijah could only see tragedy, loss, and utter failure: “It is enough;” he prays, “now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors” (1 Kings 19:4). Leithart points out that “Elijah wishes to die, but this is not simple despair. He realizes that he is no more effective than his prophetic fathers in calling Israel back to the covenant. Israel’s renewal is not going to take place, at least not the way that Elijah envisions.”[2] His great hopes and dreams for his people were shattered, and it’s more than he thinks he can bare. And so when he finally arrives and Mt. Sinai, he brings this complaint: “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” (1 Kings 19:10).
 
Perhaps we can relate to Elijah sometimes: When our hopes and dreams fall apart. When the good work we pour ourselves into seems wasted. When we see those we love heading for disaster, and feel helpless to turn things around. When we feel like no one is there for us… like it’s just us against the world.
 
Everything Elijah had worked for, and risked his life for, seems to have come to nothing. Elijah was at the end of his rope, and ready to give it all up.
 
But God had not given up on Elijah. Or for that matter, on His people. So Yahweh sends Elijah back out into the world on an unexpected mission: 1 Kings 19:15-18, “Then the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram. Also you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. Whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall kill; and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill. Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
 
Despite how things seemed, Elijah was not alone. The LORD still had thousands who had remained faithful to Him, and the enemies seeking Elijah’s life would be delt with in God’s due time. Though in his own eyes, there had been no hope left, no future worth fighting for, the LORD told Elijah to go… and invite others to share in the work of God’s Kingdom.
 
Turning now to our reading from the Gospel of Luke, and the strange story of a man rescued from the powers of darkness… and pigs drowned in the sea.
 
We know very little about this man, aside from the ways his life had become a symbol of devastation. Driven into the wild by demonic forces, naked and living among the dead in the tombs… unable to be restrained… this man’s life had been completely overwhelmed by forces far beyond his, or anyone else’s control. In this state, he had no hope, no future. He was all alone with the darkness.

But then, a boat pulls onto the shore, and Jesus of Nazareth steps out. And immediately, this man falls at His feet, and the demons within start to panic: Luke 8:28, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” This man no one could master now cowered in fear… and for good reason. The unclean spirits understood all too well that they were in the presence power.
 
In short order, Jesus casts out the legion of demons, who enter into the nearby heard of pigs, and who then drive themselves to destruction, drowned in the sea. The neighbours nearby, and witnesses of this dramatic display of spiritual authority and power beg Jesus to go away. To get back into His boat, and leave them (and their pigs) alone.  
 
And our Lord doesn’t argue with them. He doesn’t demand they let Him and His disciples stay. He doesn’t get drawn into debates, and force His way into their lives. Even though He had travelled all that way to share the Good News of God’s Kingdom with them, Jesus does not use His great power to coerce anyone to accept Him. His power brings freedom, and wholeness, and life, but we can refuse to receive this gracious gift. And that’s what they do: they turn away Jesus.
 
But even as He prepares to leave, Jesus does not turn away from them. Instead, He sends out someone else to share the Good News with them.  
 
Luke tells us the man who had now been freed from the demons begged to remain with Jesus… to stay close to the One who had given him back his life. Now this seems like a totally reasonable request, as N.T. Wright points out: “The man, quite understandably, wants to be allowed to stay with Jesus. Not only is he now bonded to him by the astonishing rescue he has experienced; he may well assume that things would not be easy back in his home territory, where everyone knew the tragic tale of his recent life. There might be considerable reluctance to accept him again as a member of a family or a village.” [3] In that moment, moving on and following Jesus must have seemed like the most obvious option.
 
But even so, Jesus had another important mission in mind: Luke tells us Christ “sent him away, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.” (Luke 8:38-39). He’s sent away not because Christ doesn’t care about the man. No, he is sent back so that those in his neighbourhood could see in him a living sign of God’s life-giving, saving power up close and personal. In other words, Christ was inviting this man to share in the work of God’s kingdom. As N.T. Wright puts it “Having experienced the good news in action, he must now tell it himself.” [4]
 
His life turned upside down by the grace and power of God, this man follows Jesus’ word to him… going about telling all his neighbours all that Jesus had done for him, and inviting them to believe the Good News that had transformed his story for good.
 
Today we heard two stories of people whose lives were changed by encountering the Living God and experiencing His power… and were both sent out again to invite others to turn to God too.
 
Elijah came in search of the LORD, despairing and ready to give up on himself and his people, but God sent him back knowing he was not alone, to help others join in God’s work in the world.
 
The man freed from demonic forces came to Jesus full of gratitude and hope, seeking simply to be close to the One who had rescued him, but Jesus sent him back to show all those nearby what God’s kingdom really looks like, and to invite them to believe, and experience it for themselves.
 
Maybe we are coming to God today discouraged, convinced that we are all alone, and that we cannot make a difference. Maybe we’re coming to God with gratitude and hope in our hearts… eager to be in His presence and to experience His life-giving power.
 
However we’re coming to the Living God today, are we willing to go where He wants to send us? Even if it is surprising, unexpected… or not what we asked for?
​
Our readings today remind us that though God’s ways are often not what we imagined, His life-giving, sustaining, saving power remains at work in us His people. God sends us out into our world, but He also goes with us always. Empowering us by His Holy Spirit to carry out whatever He asks of us.
 
So may we take heart, and go… sharing with others all that Jesus has done for us, and inviting them also to turn to the Living God and share in His good Kingdom. Amen.  


[1] Peter J. Leithart, 1 & 2 Kings, Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2006), 138.

[2] Peter J. Leithart, 1 & 2 Kings, Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2006), 140–141.

[3] Tom Wright, Luke for Everyone (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004), 101–102.

[4] Tom Wright, Luke for Everyone (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004), 101–102.

​​Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, & Sermon this week can be found here:

​And our Songs for this week can be found here:

Scripture Readings: Proverbs 8:1–4, 22–31 | Psalm 8 | Romans 5:1–5 | ​John 16:12–15

​“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” John 16:12-13.
 
Congratulations again to our graduating students: as a Parish family we are so proud of you, and all that you have accomplished.
 
As one chapter of your life draws to a close, and another begins I’d like to offer you, along with all of us here today a simple suggestion: stay curious. Stay curious. Stay open to learning new and surprising things about our world… about the people all around you… and even about yourself. Things that may challenge you… things that may encourage you… but most of all, things that draw you closer and closer to truth.
 
Don’t settle for easy answers if they do not lead to truth. And be willing to dig, and search, and seek out truth… even if it’s a struggle. For as St. Paul pointed out in our reading today from Romans, we know “that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5). In other words, sometimes the right path can be hard… but it’s also well worth it in the end. And we can believe that through the Holy Spirit, God’s love will be with us through it all.
 
So stay curious. Search for truth. And may God be with you always.
 
But saying all this might raise the question: Who is God anyway? Who exactly are we talking about when we speak of God?
 
There are all sorts of ideas out there about God… some ideas we might find easy enough to get behind… others are more of a struggle… and still others frankly seem outrageous… incompatible with One worthy of worship. With so many different ideas about God out there, sometimes it’s a struggle to know what we should believe.
 
And not only that, but for a whole lot of reasons, over the course of our lives, our own ideas about God keep on shifting and changing as well. With all this debate and uncertainty, sometimes it might just seem easier to give up trying to figure out God.
 
But what if, instead of it being a matter of sorting out our own ideas, or the ideas of others… of trying to figure God out for ourselves… what if God showed up in such a way so that we could come to know the truth? What if God wants to be known, and shows up in ways we can actually understand?
 
Maybe ‘understand’ is the wrong word. ‘Understand’ implies complete comprehension… like when we master a subject or skill… being able to explain all the ins and outs… that’s how we know many things about our world… but there are also other ways to know… even if we don’t completely ‘understand’.
 
Think of a child. A toddler, gradually coming to ‘know’ their family: unconsciously building up a picture of their parents over the years… through seeing their actions… hearing their words, experiencing the ups and downs of daily life together… and learning a lot about themselves and who they are through these relationships.
 
At what point would we say a child knows their parents? When they understand everything about them? Probably not. When the child can express in words and ideas their parent’s complex personalities? I wouldn’t go that far either. Wouldn’t we be able to say a child who merely recognizes their mother’s voice, their father’s smile, their family’s faces has in some way come to know them? Incompletely, of course, but truly… as best they can. And if they stay curious… if they keep paying attention, and seeking to grow in understanding, they’ll get to know their family members more and more. Even if they never ever completely understand them.
 
Another example is love: we can come to understand the chemical reactions in our brains and bodies that take place when we share in deep human connections… but that doesn’t mean that we’ve ‘explained’ what it means to love. There’s still a deep mystery about it… one we’re invited, and even created to experience, to offer, and to receive.
 
In other words, we come to know what it means to love not by observing it from a safe distance, but by sharing it. By stepping into it. And by receiving it.
 
Coming to know the Living God is more like this: not simply studying a subject or skill, or solving a puzzle, and then moving on to something else… but gradually growing closer to Someone we can’t completely understand… but who is actually longing for us to experience their love… to share their life… to know freedom… connection… justice… mercy… forgiveness… truth. Not only for one season of life, but for all eternity.
 
How do we know this? Because we believe the Living God has spoken… God has showed up… and has shown Himself to the world.
 
We believe God has been doing this for quite some time now… thousands of years in fact… through the story of Abraham’s family… the people of Israel, who were set aside to get to know God up close and personal, so that all the world might come to know and share God’s love along with them.
 
We believe God speaks to us today through this story… a story of blessing, of failure, of forgiveness, and finding new life… a story of our whole human family… and that at the climax of the story of Israel… we meet Jesus of Nazareth: someone who’s words and actions, whose entire life reflects the love of God; someone who gave His life on the cross in order to bring God’s new life to our broken world; someone who, against all expectations, rose again from the grave, and started off God’s hope-filled New Creation; someone who claimed to share full communion with God, and who invites everyone to share that connection as well.
 
And we believe because Jesus has given His Holy Spirit to dwell inside us… to bring God’s New Life to take root within us so we too can experience God’s love, and let His love, freedom… connection… justice… mercy… forgiveness… and truth grow in us every day, and bring His healing to our broken world.

In the Christian calendar, today is Trinity Sunday: a day that Christians remember that the Living God is not a logical puzzle to solve, or an abstract idea of the divine, or an irrelevant footnote in the history of human religious thoughts… but Someone who knows us all, and wants us to come to know them too. Someone who is the source of our longings for love… for freedom… for connection… for justice… for mercy… for forgiveness… for truth… and who’s also the only Someone who can fulfill all of these longings. Someone who has made themselves known most clearly in the face of Jesus Christ, and someone who invites us all to have their life fill and fulfill all that we are.
 
Who is God? Christians have come to know the Living God as the Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit… the Three-in-One and One-in-Three we worship, serve, and share our lives with. We know this is a mystery… not a riddle to solve, or a subject to master, but a family to gradually come to trust… a communion of love to experience… a story to step into and follow into new adventures… and so find new life again and again.
 
The Christian Church believes in the Trinity because throughout the centuries and even today, we keep encountering Jesus Christ the Risen Son of God, who makes known to us the loving heart of God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit keeps drawing us into their fellowship. Though we don’t understand it all, and we often struggle along the way, this Triune God keeps working in and through us: through our words and our actions, so His freedom… connection… justice… mercy… forgiveness… and truth can flow into our broken world, and all might come to experience and know His love.
 
This is what the Church teaches and believes… but rather than settling the matter, this great mystery invites us all to stay curious. To keep on searching for deeper understanding… to be open to new discoveries as we seek to know God better that will challenge and encourage us. And as we do so, we can trust that God Himself is at work in and through us to draw us closer and closer to the truth.
 
So may we all stay curious, search for truth, and find God with us always. Amen.

Today is Trinity Sunday, in which we Christians reflect with wonder upon the revelation of the Living God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: One God, Three Persons. 

Explaining the depths of the Trinity is not the point. Instead, we are invited to come to know this Triune God, who has offered this self-revelation in Jesus Christ, and who draws us into God's love through the Holy Spirit at work in us. 

Here is a great video by the Bible Project exploring how God has come to be known as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.