Christ Is Risen!

Christ ist erstanden!

Sunday, April 20, 2025

Hallelujia!

God Chooses Life

For Us All!

Luke 24:1ff

On the first day of the week, at early dawn, [the women] came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.

…

Words of Grace for Today –

…

Today with great joy we proclaim:

Christ is Risen! (He is risen indeed!) Christ is Risen! (He is risen indeed!) Christ is Risen! (He is risen indeed!)

What’s For Breakfast?

Winnie the Pooh and Piglet take an evening walk. For a long time they walk in silence. Silence like only best friends can share.

Finally Piglet breaks the silence and asks, ‘When you wake up in the morning, Pooh, what’s the first thing you say to yourself?’

Pooh answers quickly, ‘What’s for breakfast?’ and then asks. ‘And what do you say, Piglet?’

Piglet says, ‘I say, I wonder what exciting thing is going to happen today?’

Billy Strayhorn, Easter Heart Burn, www.Sermons.com adapted 2025

What wondrous things God has in store for us today, just as God had the most wondrous thing in store for the women that first Easter as they made their way to Jesus’ tomb with their spices.

As for the women that day and for Christians ever since, Easter morning is the most joyous time of all our lives! But this day’s joy cannot be truly appreciated, if we do not remember what has brought us to this day.

Easter Only After …

After Advent calls us to be alert, to wait for Jesus’ Christmas’ birth, long promised. After, in Epiphanies unending, God reveals Christ’ Light come to shine forever in our darkness. After Jesus draws us up to the mountaintop-wonder of his glory revealed, so astounding!

After all that and more in this year so far, we were marked with ashes. Ashes bring us back to the humble reality of who we are: sinful people needing to repent, to be saved … again and again. So Jesus calls us to repent, to turn to God.

Repentance though is a root problem, not a problem of what fruit we produce. It lies at the root of who we see ourselves to be. “I can” statements cannot form our repentance, such as “I have sinned God. I am sorry God. I can do better.” Repentance contains our “I can’t” and “God can” statements: “I have sinned, God. I am sorry, God. I’ve tried and tried and tried but I just don’t produce good fruit. I can’t do better.

I need your Vine dresser to work on the roots of my life. Turn me around to your will. Give me a new life, God. Give me your life. I can’t. You can.”

(Richard Jensen, Preaching Luke’s Gospel p. 147, via B. Stoffregen, “Gospel Notes, adapted 2001 & 2025)

No matter how hard we try, we cannot save ourselves. Only God can. So we turn to Jesus, who bends down to wash our feet at his last meal. And we protest like Peter that it should not be so. We try to protect Jesus, with swords, but Jesus tells us to put them away. We stand by, waiting, in grief, and, like Peter, we deny we know Jesus when others threaten us for being his followers, (or because we feel uncomfortable following such a demanding Saviour.) We watch as he is crucified, most torturous. Jesus is thirsty as one in three people on earth are today. He receives sour wine. Most receive nothing. And Jesus, the hope of all nations, of all generations, dies…

and is buried

in a new tomb

spices and linen covering his body.

It is the greatest victory for Evil, for Evil has wielded death against God’s own Son and won.

Our hope has died as well, for what hope can we possibly find? There is none. There is none. There is none … without Easter.

Jesus Gives Us The Badly Needed …

Early in the morning on that third day the women go to the tomb with spices for the body, but Jesus is not there. He has risen from the grave.

The story is more than one resurrection; for others, like Lazarus, have been resurrected before. With Jesus’ resurrection all evil, even death, is defeated, for all time. And with that defeat God promises us all resurrection to new life.

For Jesus’ story is not just standing at home plate and hitting a home run out of the stadium. It’s standing at the plate, in the bottom of the thirteenth inning, with a full count, down three runs, bases loaded, having been put up at the plate in desperation by the manager, after you are mostly recovered from a chemotherapy treatment three days ago and surgery on your left shoulder last month, at 65 years old. You will never be here again, ever, even if you beat cancer.

Then you hit a home run to the utter amazement and benefit of a home town desperate for a team that could finally win.

That’s Jesus, not only on the cross, but risen on Easter morning for us, giving us all a badly needed win over Evil and Death itself.

What appeared to be Evil’s greatest victory, using jealousy, ridicule, plotting, bribery, riotous crowds, false testimony, weak leaders, a false conviction, and that most terrible symbol of Rome’s power, the cross …

What appeared to be Evil’s victory over everything good, over all hope, over all love,

is denied!

Instead God works love in a most demonstrative way, and Jesus returns to teach, call, and send us, his disciples, out to share the Good News with the world.

But we’ve heard all that before, haven’t we?

More Precious Than A Sweet Orange

In East Germany in the early 1980s fresh fruits were so scarce that a simple orange was a very special Christmas gift. Imagine (if it could be found and then afforded) one simple and always imperfect orange was the most precious gift one could give … and so sweet to receive!

Jesus’ Easter story is more precious than any gifted orange, and still, like the bags of oranges now available to us in grocery stores, we take it for granted. Yet, as we hear the familiar story once again, it is God’s promise to each of us, that we too can live again. That promise is more precious for us today than that scarce and costly Christmas orange.

That promise is not just for 2000 years ago, nor only for all the sins of our past. It is a promise that we will never be separated from God’s love, not by any sin, not by the most powerful Evil, not even by death itself. And don’t we know there’s enough sin and evil and death going around still today!

This is the ‘home run’ we most need again today.

As Christ’s new creation forms around us and in us, we proclaim:

Christ is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed!

Amen

Dwelling In

Or Letting The Word

Monday, March 31, 2025

Dwell In Us

Some Can Choose Where to Live.

Most Live Wherever They Can.

Only God Can Bring the Word to Dwell In Us.

And Bless Us Where We Live.

Psalm 145:10

All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your faithful shall bless you.

Colossians 3:16

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.

…

Words of Grace for Today –

…

With Gratitude, always Gratitude

for all God has given to us, all God has done for us, for life, and forgiveness, and renewed life

again and again.

Thus we give thanks always, in every way, reading, meditating, singing, and always sharing God’s gifts with those most in need.

But

contrary to popular un-wisdom,

we cannot dwell in the Word

to any good result.

Confession starts our daily relationship with God,

and we must confess,

not that we have sinned and will do better, not that our efforts will make a difference.

No.

We confess

that we cannot. We have tried and tried and tried and always failed. Only God can bring good out of us. We confess we cannot.

We cannot dwell in God’s Word.

We pray that God’s Word will dwell in us, written on our hearts, etched in our minds, and emblazoned on our foreheads.

Only God can do this.

We cannot.

We cannot dwell in God’s Word.

We pray, God dwell in us

today.

God’s Holy Temple

Defiled

Saturday, March 29, 2025

All Creation Holy and Defiled

All Is Holy,

All Of It,

Wonders And All

Habakkuk 2:20

But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him!

Mark 11:17

He was teaching and saying, ‘Is it not written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations”? But you have made it a den of robbers.’

…

Words of Grace for Today –

…

So often we think of God as being there,

over there,

in that place,

that one holy place,

or one of many holy places.

Like churches, Temples, etc.

We make rules of how we are to behave in those special, holy places.

Good rules and traditions of hallowed places of prayer, worship, singing, giving thanks, feasting, welcoming all and sharing with everyone.

Which frees us to behave otherwise in all our places.

And that we are so good at that even in those special hallowed places we have behaved horrendously.

But!

God is everywhere in all creation.

All our places are first and foremost God’s places.

Our behaviour in ‘holy places’ as well as everywhere, should be governed by our following Jesus example, and the example of many, many saints who have gone before us, and who walk among us even today.

Reverence, prayers of gratitude, prayers of intercession, and acts of selfless love, acts of justice, acts of bringing equality to all.

Keeping God’s hallowed places holy, means keeping all creation holy, us included.

The Gathering Masses

Of Messes

Thursday, March 27, 2025

or Solitude, anyone?

Some People Fish,

To Get Away From it All.

Others Live Joyfully

in Solitude.

Psalm 68:26

Bless God in the great congregation

Acts of the Apostles 2:46-47

Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

…

Words of Grace for Today –

…

Gather.

Gathering Together.

A mess of humanity getting together.

Singing and praising God, sharing the meal with all with grateful hearts and active minds.

Of course the ‘adding to our numbers’ has long since not been in the works. We’ve been bleeding people for decades now.

So the great congregation is no longer so great, just 2 or 3 gathering, maybe a dozen or so.

But the best are the blessed ones who can live joyfully in the solitude of a hermitage with the basics all in place, able to give God praise with readings and songs.

Most of the faithful can still gather, one way or another, to share a meal (and diseases rampant), sing and praise God, and be grateful for all God provides.

The mess of humanity, as God knew we’d be, living out the promises of God,

blessed.

The Lines

Of Sorrow and Mercy

Monday, March 17, 2025

Are so long

Across the face of all creation.

Micah 7:18

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of your possession? He does not retain his anger for ever, because he delights in showing clemency.

Luke 1:54

He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,

…

Words of Grace for Today –

…

When God hides from us, there is nothing more than despair left.

Joy has taken wing, along with hope,

and the wear and tear of life eats away at our hearts, minds, and strength until nothing is left, except

a prayer of desperation.

Phillip John Hanseroth wrote it in The Story for us all.

All of these lines across my face

Tell you the story of who I am

So many stories of where I’ve been

And how I got to where I am

But these stories don’t mean anything

When you’ve got no one to tell them to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP0BZ9P4gdA

…

Then a year ago, @Malindams, told her story commenting under one of Brandi Carlile’s renditions of The Story: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8pQLtHTPaI)

“All of these lines across my face, tell you the story of who I am, so many stories of where I’ve been and how I got to where I am”.

These words saved me during many rounds of chemo and radiation. I was diagnosed with breast cancer when I had a kindergartener and a 4th grader. My boys were so young, I told my oncology team, bring it on, I can take it…I just have [to] live long enough to get them through high school.

The chemo took it’s toll and aged me so much faster than my friends, it was hard to deal with. Now I know the lines across my face tell the story of where I’ve been. 15 years out and one boy has graduated from college and one who is a junior…both are thriving and I celebrate life every day.

Thank you, Brandi for putting into words, what I could not.

So it is with many of us, and for me:

The grief engulfed us and took us down, as God hid from us,

or so it seemed.

What then, but to take the advice

what can you do when you find yourself in hell, day after day?

Just keep going.

And on the other side of the dark dark blue blues, there are the days of brilliant sunshine, and blessings that were there all along,

just hidden in the grief,

holding life out in all it’s wonder for us to be grateful for.

…

so we thank everyone who had words to help us keep going through the hell.

It’s still there, it never goes away,

but the promises are truer now than before,

for there is no better way to know there is light,

than to see it from the darkest moments of the darkest wildernesses.

…

Thanks to all those who had the honest words

of God’s love for us all along…

You see the smile that’s on my mouth

It’s hiding the words that don’t come out

And all of my friends who think that I’m blessed

They don’t know my head is a mess

No, they don’t know who I really am

And they don’t know what I’ve been through like you do

And I was made for you.

Special thanks to the few who were always there …

And God, full of mercy and steadfast love, who sent them …

For whom we were made.

Do Not Worry

About the Hour When …

Tuesday 18 February 2025

What’s Coming At Us, From Behind the Trees, On the Road, Through the Woods?

What a Beautiful Sunset

Over the Snow and

Through the Woods!

Isaiah 49:23

Kings shall be your foster-fathers, and their queens your nursing-mothers. With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.

Luke 12:11-12

When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.’

…

Words of Grace For Today

…

It’s all fine and good to say do not worry, but most of us worry no matter what, sometimes even about things that deserve to be worried about.

Being brought before the authorities to defend oneself for being a Christian, when the punishment for that faith was death for so many … well that certainly seems to deserve more than a little worry. One’s life is on the line.

But then

one’s life is always on the line

if one is faithfully serving Christ

by being a servant to all, and master to none.

Only in a different life will the kings and queens bend so low as to care for us, let alone care about us, other than to wipe us out for showing the truth about their wickedness and God’s goodness.

But that worry, and that other life to come, need not consume more than passing thoughts from us. We have our work cut out for us, sharing God’s blessing and gifts with those most in need of them. Without cost they are given to us, though we certainly have not and cannot earn them. The only ‘string’ attached is that we share them. For these gifts are really only blessings if and when we share them with others in need.

That’s how God’s world works, whether we worry or not.

The Rant, opps

Rather the Chant for us all

Wednesday 12 February 2025

Frozen

Frozen Like So Many Hearts!

Will They,

like the Lake in Spring,

be Turned to

Thanksgiving, Joy, and Hope!

Jeremiah 6:13-14

For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
They have treated the wound of my people carelessly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace’,
when there is no peace.

Romans 12:9

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;

…

Words of Grace For Today

…

We’ve all heard again that famous, or infamous, Rant, I am Canadian. With quiet music building to swells of patriotic music Joe states his case:

Hey, I’m not a lumberjack or a fur trader

I don’t live in an igloo or eat blubber or own a dogsled.

and I don’t know Jimmy, Sally or Suzy from Canada, although I’m certain that their really, really nice.

I have a prime minister, not a president.

I speak English and French not American

and I pronounce it about, not aboot.

I can proudly sew my country’s flag on my backpack.

I believe in peacekeeping not in policing.

I believe in diversity, not assimilation.

And I believe the beaver is a truly proud and noble animal.

A toque is a hat.

And a chesterfield is a couch.

And it’s pronounced Zed, not Zee, Zed.

Canada is the second largest landmass

The first nation of hockey

and the best part of North America.

My name is Joe

and I am Canadian.

Reality

Given Trump and his threats and actual tariffs that will do great damage to our economy, one can understand the call to be patriotic.

At the core of our problems, though, we do not find economics or politics, but good old fashion love, faith, and hope, expressed as empathy and care for all people, especially the poor.

So ours is not a rant but a chant backed by any number of great pieces of music, for example “Canticle of the Turning” (ELW 723) by Rory Cooney, to the lively Irish folk tune used as a rugby match song:

(Need a reminder? Check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9QeTmRCpW4 )

I am a Christian, Chant

Hey, I am not a crusading knight, nor a desert ascetic.

I don’t hold exorcisms, live in Corinth or Bethlehem or Nazareth.

I have a pastor and a bishop, not a coach or a guru.

I speak many native languages, but not Latin or Sanskritic.

I proudly were a cross on a fine chain around my neck.

I believe in peace not in war or violence.

I believe in respecting and welcoming diversity, not excluding strangers or foreigners.

I believe the fish is a wonderful symbol of faith, as is the boat.

I’m not concerned with how people pronounce words, but that we share the radical Word of God.

God’s favour is not won by what we do or say or believe, but is God’s free gift given to us.

We can refuse it and we do, sinners that we are. But God keeps saving us over and over again, making us saints able to do miraculous things for others, especially the poor, the hungry, the homeless, the outcasts, refugees, strangers, and especially children.

Christianity may be worldwide and messed up in many places, sometimes even here at home, but it is the gift of life,

the gift of life abundant for all people.

We may be getting fewer in number, but being a follower of Jesus is the best part of life.

My name is not important because God knows it and everything about me and still loves me. I’m not ashamed of my name, yet it’s not what I’m proud of.

I’m proud that I bear Jesus’ cross and Jesus’ name,

For I am a Christian.

For What?

To Whom?

Monday, October 14, 2024

For an old, mobile, barely sufficient camper?

For the mountains?

For the roads to get there?

For signs to guide one on the road,

and through each day?

Psalm 150:6

Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Hallelujah!

Jude 1:25

… to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and for ever. Amen.

…

Words of Grace For Today

…

During a flood, we showed up after church to help people living along the water to sandbag, in an effort to save the community’s properties. Our sons asked why we had to go. We lived 10 miles away.

We answered that it was us paying rent for the air we breathe.

So we breathe, still today.

And rightfully so we are asked to give thanks in so many ways, to ‘pay rent for the air we breathe’ in so many ways.

Thanksgiving.

A harvest festival of thanks.

A life pattern condensed into one day’s holiday and celebration.

Every day is a day to give thanks.

This holiday is a time to take stock again: Do we give thanks everyday, even for the things we think we do not owe thanks for?

Do we give thanks, by contributing even in ways, we may think we do not need to contribute or even give thanks?

For what, today, can we remember to give thanks?

To whom, today, can we remember to give thanks?

Is it with a word,

a phone call,

an email or text,

or a hug

and a prayer?

The Hard Way

Forward?

Friday, October 11, 2024

Even as the sun sets,

God renews life again,

and again,

for us

with forgiveness.

Psalm 130:4

But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.

Luke 23:34

Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’ And they cast lots to divide his clothing.

…

Words of Grace For Today

…

Any old mean son of a … erm, a gun, can hold a grudge and seek revenge.

Pretty much any person can be that mean, no old or son qualities needed.

But

to forgive.

Now that takes courage, strength, and wisdom beyond normal.

Thankfully (mentioning also it is Thanksgiving weekend) God is not a God of grudges and revenge. Else we’d all be doomed.

Thankfully (it’s that weekend, eh?) God is a God of steadfast love and forgiveness.

We have God’s promise that God will forgive us our sins, all of them, every last one of them, even the really, really evil and ‘unforgivable’ ones.

All we have to do to be forgiven is … well, nothing.

We just get to acknowledge that we are forgiven, and get on living as forgiven people, not perfect people, not evil people, but forgiven people. That’s a humble way to move through life.

Of course,

God also forgives our enemies.

You know, the one’s Karma forgot about, that list that we each keep, those names and events that burn a hole in our pockets, or rather in our hearts, minds, and spirits.

And since God forgives us and them, we get to

– see that, it’s not we have to, it’s we get to, we are privileged to, we are honoured by the Holy Spirit giving us the ability to –

we get to forgive our enemies and all the people who would and have done us harm.

Now that

is quite a way to live,

Quite a marvellous, miraculous, life-energizing, peaceful way to live.

And since we get to live that way,

We also get to revere God who makes it possible.

Just saying,

maybe revering God and giving God thanks

outta be part of our Thanksgiving weekend,

and every day that ends with ‘y’, eh.

Maybe even today,

especially the today

of each morning.

Siblings Many

One God

Friday, October 4, 2024

We crawled out of the soup eons ago,

what for?

Psalm 119:82

My eyes fail with watching for your promise; I ask, ‘When will you comfort me?’

Hebrews 4:16

Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

…

Words of Grace For Today

…

The Siblings

Two brothers:

One ate oatmeal for breakfast every morning, sometimes before bed as well. Slim, fit, though he worked little with his hands, arms, legs, and body. His was a labour of the mind, teaching students in high school, mentoring them on how to live in this wide world of challenges unending, as he provided the basics for them to become responsible citizens of Canada.

The other never disclosed his diet though it obviously was always sufficient, for his body was rotund. He also worked with his mind, a farmer of a large operation. And he worked with his hands, arms, legs and feet, labouring hard at various times during the year to raise crops and animals to feed many, many people well.

Two sisters:

One, solid and sturdy on her feet, worked endlessly to secure a safe and secure life for herself and her five children. The costs of raising children was immense, and her securing sufficient income was always on her mind, always dictated her decisions. She drove her husband harder than she drove herself, for he shared her focus, to earn enough money to secure a good life for himself and his family. Until he could not anymore, for the lies he had to tell in order to continue in his job were too much to bear. He switched occupations and started a thriving store, making more money than he ever could have before. But his body and his mind could not keep up with the pressure and after a year of severe sleep deprivation added to the stress of his own and his wife’s demands on him he succumbed to the depression that had haunted him since he was a teenager and he killed himself.

As a widow this sister continued working the store and her own job, letting the children raise themselves. As she approached 55 years old she looked back on her life, and forward to her future and she succumbed to deep depression. Her oldest daughter had murdered at least two people, and gotten away with it. Her to older sons had left home as soon as they could and never talked to her. Her younger daughter in her late 20s, still fully dependent on her, had followed her father’s exit from life. Her youngest son stayed in touch. Everything he did was about earning more money, and he was fundamentally unhappy, trying anything from travel, to drugs, to sex, to danger to try to find some meaning to life.

This widow’s sister was in comparison frail of body, though she had been graceful in her youth. Most certainly beauty had passed her by and she made little attempt to cover the awkward mismatched features she’d been born with. She had excelled at school, for it was the only thing she could do well. Music and math, history and languages, hard sciences and psychology, and even religion engrossed her. She had earned multiple Ph.ds. Her classes at a small university were always overfilled. She engaged her students, pushing them to not only master the subject before them, but the questions of life that lay beneath it all, and their place in the whole project of life.

She was still happily married to her first love, also a professor, he in philosophy. They had two children who had families of their own. Each made their way around the world on projects, one as a medical volunteer with various NGOs, the other as an organizer, speaker, and counsellor to leaders and vulnerable children alike.

The focus of this sister’s life, and her families’ lives, was to share God’s gracious generosity in any and every way they could with the people most in need. No one was wealthy in the family. More than a few times the children had come to their parents for help, sometimes for money. Lately the parents had gone to each of their children for help, organizing a project to educate and inspire people of all backgrounds to reach out with compassion to people in the greatest need around the world, starting in their backyards, with the homeless people in their city.

This year for Thanksgiving the second sister and her husband, with both children and their whole families, travelled to Tanzania to help start building a new medical clinic that would eventually become a full fledged teaching hospital outside the capital, Dodoma.

The first sister, with more than 8 million dollars in investments and assets, worked at her store, and exhausted spent the evening at home, taking a phone call from her youngest, asking for more money, this time to buy a new motorcycle to travel with some friends somewhere to the south. She transferred $80k into his account, sat on the couch in her fancy living room and a huge emptiness engulfed her, and she wept for hours like she had never wept before. The next morning she woke up feeling worse than if she’d had a hangover, which she’d had plenty of in her life.

Fraternal Twins, a boy and a girl

Fraternal Twins, a boy and a girl, were born yesterday to a distant cousin of the brothers and the sisters, in a small town near the SK border. Their parents attend church irregularly, aren’t really driven to do anything they do not need to, but they get by on their income living a rather simple if not poverty consumed lifestyle.

Where will each of these twins find themselves in 20 years? In 30 years? In 55 years? Will they find meaning and joy in life? Or will they pursue life selfishly only to find life meaninglessness easily engulfs them?

Could we make a difference if we knew these twins, these sisters, these brothers? Does God equip us to share humility, purpose, joy, reasons to give thanks, and grace with those most in need?

Who are we?