Retail Therapy?

Here's a question I've recently asked myself: If I acquire "it" will I be happier?

The "it" could be anything - car, house, toys, finances, prestige... for me the current "it" is a replacement truck for our somewhat dilapidated Chev. Sure, it has 300,000kms and it's rusty and dented and the seats are worn, but it runs and it pulls our little Boler trailer and I don't really care if the dog jumps in and his feet are muddy. For that matter I don't mind if my feet are muddy when I jump in. 

So, would a new truck make me happier? Really? Deep-down happy? Would I be more at peace with myself and my world? Would I be kinder to my family, my neighbor, my world because I have a new "it"? 

Now don't get me wrong - I'm not saying we shouldn't buy new things. Money is a form of love and the free exchange of this love puts food on tables and is a part of healthy communities. And things do wear out and need to be replaced. And there are various things we need to live and thrive and grow.

My question is about motivation - am I buying stuff (or acquiring any other "it") to fill an emptiness inside, to soothe feelings of dis-ease, to fit in, to appear affluent enough to have value? If so, then at the end of the day I will go to bed still feeling empty even with a new truck in the driveway. Who we are is NEVER affirmed by what we have or do not have. The treasure of our being is an unchangeable gift from God; the outside world can neither tarnish nor enhance it.

Jesus said, "What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you?" (Luke 9.25 - "The Message")


Yeah. We need enough, but after you have enough, then what? More simply does not make us happier. Studies have shown that the happiness factor peaks at "enough." Happiness, it would seem is about what we have on the inside and letting what is on the inside shine to the outside.


So, maybe I will replace the truck - because the old Chev is a bit shaky. But I know that the joy of my life comes not from shiny things on the outside, but from the brilliance of love on the inside!

Pastor Bill


If you were to

let go

of all

your things

you would be

no less

Smile and breathe

a deep breath

out...

and in...

and again

and give thanks

[First published March 13, 2013]

All Creatures Great and Small

Recent news stories about increases in animal cruelty reports by the SPCA provoked some thoughts about our relationship to the natural world and all of its creatures.

God blessed [Adam and Eve],

and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it;

and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air

and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”

(Genesis 1.28, RSV)

I have a soft spot for creatures - hairy, scaly  slippery, feathery, I love them all. I love them to the point of feeling deeply anguished when animals of any sort are mistreated or killed "inhumanely." I recall an event from my childhood in which I was a participant in a community summer program at a local school. This was an "arts and crafts" day program of some sort and I was entirely enjoying the games and craft projects. It must have been a particularly wet summer as I recall there being an abundance of frogs about. I have always been fascinated with frogs and that summer found me enjoying their goofy antics with unabashed enthusiasm. So it was that some of the boys in the program noticed my interest in frogs and decided to have some "fun." They began hopping about, squashing as many frogs as they could land on. I was horrified - I could not make them stop, could not get them to see the beauty of these vulnerable little creatures. That moment is seared into my memory for it taught me that there are some who seem to take delight in the intentional wounding of the planet. I have never understood this inclination. 

As disturbing as that memory is, justification for such actions has a Biblical basis of sorts - Genesis 1.28.  It seems humanity took that one pretty seriously - subdue and have dominion.  The sad part is, the Hebrew words that were used and translated "subdue" and "dominion" are used only 23 times in the Hebrew Scriptures, all of them denoting subjugation, ruling or lording over the weak, violating or treading upon. If we look at humanity's relationship to creatures and to the earth as a whole we can find abundant evidence to suggest that we have violated, tread upon and lorded over the weak with unhindered abandon. 

Unfortunately, the verse quoted above from Genesis 1 is grossly misunderstood.  The 23 uses of the two Hebrew words in question occur after the Garden story and refer entirely to humanity's relationship to itself and to creation after its expulsion from the Garden of Eden. The harmony of Creator and created, of humanity to God and to the earth was broken. Consequently, our understanding of lordship and dominion was colored by fear for survival, and an unbridled lust for power and greed. To subdue and have dominion has evolved to mean only a relationship of unequal power in which the weaker (all other creatures and the environment) are mercilessly used for humanity's whim. 

This is not, however, the relationship that was present between God, humanity and the earth within the sanctuary of the Garden. In their original intent, the words (poorly translated) subdue and have dominion, described a lordship which reflected the kind of care that God has for all of creation. The New Interpreter's Bible commentary states, "the [garden] world was in harmony with God’s intention of shalom. A study of the verb ‘have dominion’ reveals that it must be understood in terms of care-giving, even nurturing, not exploitation.  As the image of God, human beings should relate to the non-human as God relates to them… subduing involves development in the created order… the task of intra-creational development, of bringing the world along to its fullest possible creational potential”.

The fact is, we have sorely misinterpreted our mission regarding creation. Our prime directive was not to trample it to our heart's content; it was to love it so that it could be all that its potential allows for. Humanity has been appointed Lord upon, not over, the earth. This role entitles us to live in communion with the natural world in such a way that the creative work begun by God continues through us. The use of technology, cultivation of the land, care of domestic and wild animals - all of this must be enacted in such a way that the earth thrives and grows into new ways of flowering, revealing and reveling in the glory of its Creator.

Genesis 1.28 is a challenge to all of us, urban and rural, to consider how we treat the world around us. A deeper understanding of this Biblical command reveals that we do not have authority to destroy the creatures and environment as we wish. Farming practices and urban lifestyle are obligated, by God's command, to nurture the whole earth through peaceful and loving intention. The implications of this command ripple through all parts of our lives - the production of food using GMO technology, the application of chemicals to the land, mining practices, oil production practices, urban sprawl, overflowing landfills, air pollutants... and of course the destruction of animal species for sport or commercial gain. What is acceptable, desirable, sustainable, truthful? Easy answers are not in our grasp. I do not judge our farmers or our city dwellers; thousands of years of misdirection have brought us to where we are and gentle, open conversation will be key to making changes that will bring us into alignment with the empowerment of Genesis 1.28.

We have but one earth, and one command to nurture this earth with all our heart. Begin today by loving humanity with your whole being. Then let that love flow out to the other creatures that fill your world. 

I leave the last word to King David:

"The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,

    the world, and all who live in it;

for he founded it on the seas

    and established it on the waters"

(Psalm 24)

With you I struggle with the questions,

Pastor Bill

Sunrise

Brilliant light

floods the earth

a seed

germinates

a flower

blooms

God's glory

Earth's song

Humanity's cradle

Breathe

release

pray

[First published March 6, 2013]

Words for the Bad Days

"My grief lies all within, And these external manners of lament 

Are merely shadows to the unseen grief

That swells with silence in the tortured soul”

(King Richard II, Act IV)

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Sometimes in life we feel things so deeply, so consumingly, that we don't know to whom we could express them. We swim in oceans of grief, anger, pride, fear, longing, hope... waters of turbulent waves breaking upon rocky shores. How do we possibly voice the magnitude and vulnerability of such emotion and experience? When we feel as though we are the only ones who have ever felt this way, who would possibly have compassion and understanding for our angst? This comes to mind this week as I reflect upon some of the voices I have heard in my wanderings: a breast cancer diagnosis, the death of an elder parent, fear for family safety, bone-breaking weariness... each story voiced from a heart heavy with hurt and uncertainty; I add my voice to theirs: To whom can we cry?

"Give ear to my words, O Lord;

give heed to my groaning.

Hearken to the sound of my cry,

    my King and my God,

    for to thee do I pray."

(Psalm 5)

There are 150 Psalms in the Hebrew Bible; 150 poems of praise, lament, hope, rage, love... each is a real and raw expression of humanity's need to cry out its human experience. All in all they are a poignant reminder that there is no inappropriate conversation with God. From the rage of the victims who scream, "may my enemies by like a stillborn child" (Psalm 58), to the praise of one who sees Love's glory in creation and cries out, "Praise him, sun and moon praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens!" (Psalm 148).

In its piety, the Christian church has sometimes pigeon-holed its members to adhere to nice talk with God. But that is simply not who we are, or who God is. Love is the God of the redneck world, of the farmer's world, the east-coast fisherman's world, the teacher-after-a-very-long-day world, the nurse with an angry patient world... your world!; the world that sometimes shits on you and leaves you angry and frustrated and hurting. At this point you definitely don't feel like nice language will suffice and you may want to rail at the universe with words and emotion that nobody else will understand; nobody else but God.

The good news, the very, very good news is - the book of Psalms is the redneck/farmer/fisherman/teacher/nurse's official permission to be with God exactly as you are. On the most amazingly sunny "I can take on the world" kind of day the Psalms rejoice with you. When you are lost in grief, drowned in despair, consumed by the fire of rage - the Psalms speak your voice to a God that will not push you away or judge your heart.

Life is messy and it requires a faith that is equally messy; this challenge is met in the Psalms. Whatever you are feeling today, there is a Psalm that expresses it. Do a google search; name your experience, search for ("tiredness" for example) and the word Psalms, and you will be directed to a poem that is 2500 years old and as fresh as right now.

I encourage you in your day, whatever it may bring, with the reminder that you are not alone. Love surrounds you, holds you and receives your deepest cry.

I leave the last word to the Psalmist, who was having a bad day:

"Why are you in despair, O my soul?

And why have you become disturbed within me?

Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him

For the help of His presence."

With Compassion,
Pastor Bill

Silence screams

The deaf hear love's refrain

God knows all

breathe

speak

love

[First published February 6, 2013]

Love Needed.

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, 

and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God"

(1 John 4:7)

I recently came across this quotation: "Everyone needs to be loved especially when they don't deserve it." At first glance it seems a graceful offering of wisdom, till I listen a bit more carefully to the oxymoron embedded in the text. It is this - the words "love" and "deserve" do not sit well together.

This reminds me of a story that I came across years ago about an impoverished family living in the Bronx, New York. A single-parent family, the mother worked long hours to provide food and shelter for her children. Though times were tough they managed to stay together, stay in school and, mostly, to stay out of trouble. The youngest though, was more deeply broken by their circumstances than his siblings, and tended to express his pain through rebellion and lashing out. Now, mother had skimped and saved a few dollars here and there over the years and had a small nest-egg put away in a tin to help send one of the children go to college. The youngest found the stash, stole it and spent it on a gun and drugs. He was arrested...

An older sister raged to their mother, "I hate him. I hate him for what he did, for what he has taken from us - your hard work, our dreams. I just hate him." With tears in her eyes, this life-worn, thread-bare mom responded to her daughter, "Don't hate him baby. it is when we are most difficult to love that we need to be loved the most. When we are completely lost we need love to come find us. Don't hate him, love him back to us."

“Love - not dim and blind but so far-seeing that it can glimpse around corners, around bends and twists and illusion; instead of overlooking faults, love sees through them to the secret inside.” 

(Vera Nazarian, Salt of the Air)

I've heard it often enough in our society - he/she deserves what they get. I've seen it in the Alberta redneck culture, if someone is an asshole they deserve to be treated like an asshole. And there seems to be a certain karmic logic to this. As Jesus said, we reap what we sow. Problem is, Love, is all about healing and renewal and life and laughter. That person that we write-off as useless, as "a waste of skin," is a gifted human being that has not realized their own worth. Living the Love that we are means, in part, that we search for, and draw out the Love that is within others, without regard to any sense of worthiness.

God's Love does not discriminate between the deserving, or the undeserving. God's Love, that immense, indescribable power that called the universe into existence, that holds the planets in their orbits, that causes sunshine to sparkle on ocean waves like the glimmer of a million diamonds, that Love that heals hearts, erupts as laughter in children, that delights in the soaring eagle, the playful dolphins, the joy of first-time parents - this immense Love surrounds and fills all that is, all the time. This awesome power that is God's Love seeks out and soaks into the most vilest offender with the same passion and yearning as it does the most enlightened saint.

"Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism..."

(Acts 10.34)

There is a temptation to commodify love, to offer it to the most deserving, those easiest to love. What we would be giving then would not be God's Love, but rather a shallow and poor forgery that seeps from the wounded ego. This love impostor is powerless to make a positive change in our world, is impotent as a healing agent, and can in no way draw our hearts into the sacred heart of Christ. But Love, pure, flowing-from-the-heart-of-God Love, flowing from God through us, this Love - this makes a difference. 

Wherever you work today, wherever your path takes you, try this out:

- instead of giving what is "deserved," offer from your heart what is needed. In so doing you will be the Spirit's agent of healing, a part of the renewal of our world. 

I leave the last word to Paul:

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

(1 Corinthians 13)

Grateful for Love

Pastor Bill

Close your eyes

and breathe

out

let

breath

fill you

as you

breathe in

let

love

fill you

Love

is

who

you

are

[First published December 5, 2012]

It's Always Darkest

Darkness and light

day and night

ebony black

brilliant white

'tween blindness and sight

a thread drawn tight

dawn is the land

from which we take flight

Thank you to fellow sojourner Joy LeBlanc for inspiring my thoughts for today's writing. 

There is darkness within; darkness that is sometimes frightening and overwhelming. It almost seems foreign to us, except that it is so terribly familiar. At times we fear it, resent it, run from it. Then there are moments when we submit to it, dive into it, relish it, only to walk into the light and feel shame for the darkness which seems so far away and untrue.

There is light within; light that is sometimes frightening and overwhelming. It almost seems foreign to us, except that it is so terribly familiar. At times we long for it, hope for it, yearn for it. Then there are moments when we submit to it, dive into it, relish it, only to walk into the night and feel a foreigner in a foreign land. 

We are, we humans, creatures of dark and light, day and night. But perhaps - perhaps we are truly creatures of the dawn - of almost day and almost night.

Dawn - a time of promise, the herald of day, the complete unfolding of night from its evening birthing.

Is this not the path of our being - dawn follows the darkness which is birthed from the dusk which overtook the brilliance of day, which is the love child of the dawn sky? Cycles and circles and beginnings and endings.

There is darkness within - and I would be incomplete without it in this very human journey. Without this darkness I would not learn compassion; I would not know the sweet ringing of hope's bell tolling when night seems endless. Without this darkness I would be a pond where the love of my heart wants to be an ocean. Without this darkness I would be height and width but lacking depth; two dimensions in a three-dimensional universe.

To speak of the Light is to know its twin, and to embrace one is to dance with the other. I for one am a creature of the dawn, full of promise, an explorer between two worlds.

"darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters...

and God said, 'let there be light...'"

(Genesis 1)

and there was dawn of the first day of creation.

Darkness and light

One day there will be only light,

and I will have learned of its glory from the shadows of night's long embrace,

and I will forever breathe in gratitude that the journey of my soul in this flesh

walked the dawn and dusk

in our Creator's wake.

If you have known the darkness you have my compassion.

Accept the darkness; dance in the light

Pax,

Pastor Bill

[First published November 28, 2012.]

Don't Doubt It

“Our doubts are traitors, 

and make us lose the good we oft might win,

by fearing to attempt.” 

(William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure)

My thoughts are both my own worst enemy and my best friend.  When they echo the deepest truth and wisdom of my heart, my thoughts lead me to reach beyond, far beyond, the feeble limits imposed by my doubts. When guided by my heart (or maybe it's my soul) I am impassioned to acts of courage and compassion that cause me to smile in joy for wonder of the person who God has created me to be.

There are days, however, when my mind is not so centered and the Spirit of God whispering encouragement in my ear is but a faint voice lost to the wind. Then doubts do assail me, and the voice I hear is full of condemnation and judgment. I am a small and selfish creature under the harsh words of this voice and the horizon seems one of great limitations and little hope.

“I seek strength, not to be greater than another, 

but to fight my greatest enemy, 

the doubts within myself” 

(P.C. Cast)

I'm not really sure from where the dark voice speaks, but I have come to recognize its sound and to seek to pay it little heed. If I am to be the gift to this world that I trust my Creator made me to be, it will require that I discipline myself to listen to the gentle voice of Love and not the piercing words of self-doubt. 

I continue to be amazed by the potential within humanity, planted within each of us, to be bring life and healing to our earth, to renew community, to create wonders of art, science, music... to express the image of God in ever new and beautiful ways. And yet, still we struggle, fighting each other, fighting ourselves, fighting Love. Too often we listen to that dark voice of judgment and doubt and in so doing we relinquish our true power - the power to remake our world through kindness, grace and compassion. 

I encourage you this day to trust the Spirit's gentle nudging of your heart. When you hear words of condemnation, of doubt, of judgment - acknowledge them and then put them aside. They are not true for you. This is true: YOU are beautiful, and amazingly gifted and YOU are in this world  because God made you as a gift to humanity. Let nothing hold you back from being all that Love would have you be.

I leave the last word to Isaiah:

"And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying,

 “This is the way, walk in it,” 

when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left"

(Isaiah 30.21)

Whispering encouragement,

Pastor Bill

Listen

a

gentle breeze

stirs

your heart

its

voice

calls

love

and

be

loved

Breathe

Recognizing Abundance

"To live a pure unselfish life,

 one must count nothing as one's own in the midst of abundance."

(Buddha)

I stopped for a moment today to think about, and to give thanks for, the abundance that surrounds me. At first it was awareness of physical threads in the tapestry - good food, warm clothing, a home, a car, a phone... basic North American material goods. However, as I stepped back from the weaving I began to see the deeper, richer tones that color the abundance of my life. Underneath the obvious shadings of my physical needs are the vibrant, and sometimes subtle hues of the heart's abundance. There is an abundance of love in my life - love given and love received. The threads of this love are woven into the warp of my relationships with family and friends, neighbors and strangers. And what an abundance it is - no matter how much love pours from the soul I never run out. In fact, the abundance of love just continues to grow.

And then there is the abundance of forgiveness and grace. I fall a thousand times, and a thousand times forgiveness wraps its blanket of compassion and renewal around me, raising me up to learn and grow and begin again. No matter how foolish I am forgiveness seeks me out like a lover pining for her mate.

And then there is wonder at the magnificence of life. The morning sun refracting off of the unbroken snow of our front yard - a thousand diamonds of sparkling brilliance. Unbelievable! Or the dog lying in that warm sunlight, eyes closed, soaking in the goodness of life, breathing deep; a raven drifting by lazily overhead; a ladybug crawling up the window, oblivious to winter outside. Life is amazing and endless and when I stop for just a moment to actually take it in... the abundance of life's magnificence overwhelms me. 

" I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."

(John 10.10)

The weaving grows larger, and the threads grow ever richer in color and hue the longer I contemplate God's abundant presence in our world. So long as I view life from the lenses of gratitude and service I see abundance everywhere I turn. When I am feeling sorry for myself, however, feeling a bit like a victim, then have I left my sacred home, then have I wandered from the heart, and all thought of abundance is abandoned for the lie of scarcity, the source of humanity's great sorrow.

Yet, abundant is the cry of God's love to return to His heart, to be nourished in Love, to again perceive the world as an amazing opportunity to use our gifts to make even one person's day just a bit brighter, a little kinder,  to let the tears of compassion and the kindred joy of laughter flow.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, 

coming down from the Father of lights

with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

(James 1.17)

Abundance is a refreshing pool that endlessly, eternally replenishes itself. And the source of this wondrous abundance? Well, it all comes from Love of course, from God, from the Creator of all that is. That being so, the outpouring of love, forgiveness, goodness, kindness, and all expressions of God's heart will flow ceaselessly throughout creation.  Our role is simply to open our hands to receive. When it seems that lack is all that we know, it is not God's outpouring that has stopped, it is only our willingness to hold that which is be-gifted to us. 

Take a moment today to be aware of the abundance that pours over your life. Give thanks for that abundance and enter your day allowing it to pour through you to touch all whom you encounter.

I leave the last word to Paul:

"Now to God who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to God be glory..."

(Ephesians 3.20)

Pax,

Pastor Bill

Breathe

deeply

out

and in

giving

thanks

love

surrounds

you

forever

[First published November 15, 2012]