Category Archives: Theology & Culture

covid-19, Pastor Thoughts, Theology & Culture

Easter Surprises – Pastor Thoughts

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I know that Easter Sunday is supposed to be a day of surprise; the empty tomb is a reality that changes everything. But I didn’t expect the Easter surprise I woke up to on Easter Sunday morning this year. 

Knowing that this is the time of year when snow mould and spring allergies are beginning and that colds and cases of flu are going around, it should not have been surprising that I tested positive for COVID on Sunday morning. 

So, thank you to Bishop Jason for stepping in to preach and preside at the last minute. 

Also thankfully, my course of illness hasn’t been that bad, with the primary symptoms being very low energy and a very runny rose. 

So, my first week of Easter has been spent in the basement of our house, isolating from my family, working when I can, and napping when I am tired. 

While certainly COVID isolation isn’t the same as an experience of the empty tomb and the Resurrection, it does occur to me that there are some similarities to that of disciples. 

As I stared down at my positive test result at about 7:30 on Sunday morning, it was hard to process what I was seeing. Part of me didn’t want to believe it and part of me knew that all the plans I had made for that day and the days ahead were about to come crashing down. Still, it took me time to sort out what was going on in my own mind and then to begin to respond outwardly. I needed my wife to come and see the test, as well to confirm what I was seeing. 

In a similar way, with the story of Jesus appearing to the disciples and then again to Thomas, it is clear that they did not know how to process the news of the empty tomb either. I have been hiding in my basement; they hid in the upper room. 

Thankfully, my COVID will probably go away soon enough. In contrast, the Easter morning surprise of the disciples changed them all for the rest of their lives. It is easy to overlook that part of the story. As we sing and praise with Alleluias, we can miss the mind-blowing experience of seeing something totally unexpected (even if Jesus regularly told his disciples he would rise on the third day).

That empty tomb moment changed everything for the women who went to bring spices to anoint Jesus’ body. Jesus appearing in the upper room changed everything for the scared disciples. From the moment of not quite being sure what they were seeing, Jesus’ Resurrection meant that all other plans, all the thoughts and sense of the future that anyone had had just a moment before,  came crashing down. 

The world became an Easter world in the blink of an eye and those who first saw the tomb and then witnessed the risen Christ firsthand were now responsible to live new lives because of it. 

Though we have known our whole lives that the Resurrection happened over two thousand years ago, the transformation of our world and our lives is still going on. Jesus is still ushering us into ways of being and living this Easter, too.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

Pastor Thoughts, Theology & Culture

Taking a break from the discipline of Lent

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As we enter the back half of the season of Lent we are near to Laetare Sunday or ‘Rejoice Sunday’ which occurs on the 4th Sunday of Lent. It is meant to be a Sunday to celebrate – in the middle of a season of solemnity – as we approach Easter. 

It kind of feels like a lot to unpack. Lent itself is meant to be a time that breaks us off from our usual rhythms and patterns of life.  It is a time to pull back from all the usual things that occupy our attention in order to make room to focus on the promises of God, on our baptismal call to take up the cross and follow. Lenten discipline is about doing things that help us to see God, to see what God is revealing to us in and through Jesus’ journey to the cross. 

But maybe it is a bit weird that after only 3 Sundays of Lent, there would be a Sunday where we pause the solemn and sombre reflection to celebrate. Surely five weeks of Lenten discipline isn’t too much to ask of us, too hard for us to follow.

While sometimes it can feel like the Church has a million rules, especially when it comes to worship and liturgy, the practices and traditions that we follow come from generations of Christians previously forming and shaping them. Maybe all the faithful siblings in faith who came before us understood what human beings are really like. We need shifts in pace, big and small, to help us along the way. Taking a moment to celebrate that we are nearly through our Lenten journey is a way to help us mark the passing of time, to keep us from getting too weighed down by Lent. 

Though it seems like five weeks isn’t that long, we are creatures who need signposts to help us along the way. We are not meant to do the same thing over and over; rather we live according to rhythms and cycles that mark and make meaning of time. Even though we live by patterns of annual and seasonal repetition, we need things to change day to day, week to week in order that we can locate ourselves in time. We need things to change to keep us engaged and present in the here and now. 

At four weeks into Lent, we anticipate the end of our Lenten journey, knowing what is to come in Holy Week. We look with even more hope to what is coming at Easter, and it is this hope that allows us to finish the journey of Lent.

So this week we take a moment to celebrate that the promise of resurrection is just and always around the corner. 

Theology & Culture

The case for Palm Sunday of the Passion – Pastor Thoughts

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We are at the mid-point of the season of Lent. Jesus has come from the wilderness to meet us where we are. Jesus has addressed our fears along with Peter’s fear.

Now the lectionary turns from the Gospel of Mark to the Gospel of John, we hear the story of Jesus clearing or cleansing the temple. This story is one that needs care and attention to address it properly, particularly as it can be taken as license to condemn Jewish religious practice more broadly as if Jesus is condemning all of Second Temple Judaism by clearing out the market vendors. 

This scene takes place in the Gospel of John early on in chapter 2. But in the Synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) it happens following the triumphal entry… the story that we hear on Palm Sunday of the Passion. 

This week at our clergy gathering, we had some good conversations around Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday or as I call it: Palm Sunday of the Passion. For many, it can feel like a weird day, with two different stories jammed together. Are we talking about Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem or are we hearing the passion story? And do we hear the passion story for all those folks who might not make it to Maundy Thursday or Good Friday services and end up going straight from a street party with Palms to celebrating the empty tomb? 

But there are reasons why this seemingly contradictory day actually makes a lot of sense. 

Liturgical reason:
There are four versions of the Passion story but each year on Good Friday we hear the Passion according to John. So on Passion Sunday, we hear the Passion according to Matthew, Mark or Luke or the Synoptic Passions. These are meant to contrast John, to be heard alongside the usual Good Friday Passion. 

Scriptural reason:
In John’s gospel, the clearing of the temple happens 3 Passovers prior to the triumphal entry. But in the Synoptic Gospels, it is the event that comes right after the Triumphal Entry, it is the thing that Jesus was on his way to do as he processed into the city to the crowds shouting Hosanna. After Jesus clears the temple of the money changers and animal sellers, the religious authorities decide to kill him. 

Now, there is a lot more to the story that gives reason to the meaning, purpose and symbols of this event. But what is important is that the triumphal entry story paired with the Synoptic Passion helps us to understand how it is we get from Palm Sunday to Good Friday, and why the crowds that cheered for Jesus have changed their minds by the end of the week.

Without the Synoptic passion, we jump from something that feels like a street party to crowds demanding Jesus’ death and it might not be clear why. 

So as we hear the story of Jesus clearing the temple and prepare to move to Palm Sunday and Holy Week, remember that these stories are connected and help us to understand the Passion of Jesus. 

Pastor Thoughts, Theology & Culture

Only half way getting it with Jesus – Pastor Thouhts for Lent

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Our Lenten journey has taken us from the wilderness where God waited for God’s people for 40 days. And when we didn’t go out, God came to find us. 

The next stop of Lent is the hustle and bustle of Greek Caesarea Philippi. A busy tourist stop where Jesus gathers his disciples to teach about what the Messiah must endure. Just before Jesus has asked them who people say that he is and who they say he is. Peter declared that Jesus was the Messiah. 

Then moments later Peter seems to forget and scold Jesus for talking about the Messiah dying. 

It seems that Peter only kind of got it, he only halfway saw just who Jesus was. 

Only kind of seeing or only halfway understanding feels normal these days. All the chaos surrounding us feels like struggle and hardship swirling around. We try to make sense of our world, of the division, conflict and struggle that permeates our lives. Picking Jesus out of the storm can feel like a futile endeavour. 

Living our faith can seem like a mystery that we just don’t have the time to unpack or another burden added to our ever-growing list of burdens. How are we supposed to take up our crosses and follow Jesus if, like Peter, we only halfway understand who Jesus is and what Jesus is doing?

I think that is kind of the point. Jesus’ invitation to take up the cross is about accepting that the burdens and struggles are part of walking the path of faithfulness. But also a reminder that in the end, Jesus is the one who carries and then climbs up on the cross. 

Living a life of faith isn’t necessarily about perfectly understanding what God is up to in the world or what God is calling us to. But taking up the cross is practicing faithfulness amid the storms and chaos, understanding that hardship and struggle are part of the journey. 

And that ultimately, Jesus is going to be the one doing the Messiah’s work – the work of faith. We are the ones being worked on. 

Pastor Thoughts, Theology & Culture

Filling in Mark’s wilderness gaps – Pastor Thoughts for Lent

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Each Lenten season takes its own shape and form, at least in my experience. Whether it is things going on in the world, things happening locally in the congregation, things happening in our personal lives or simply the fact of getting older, each year Lent has a different slant to it. Who can forget the Lenten season of 2020, during which we learned just how quickly the world and the church can adapt to change?

In addition to things happening in the real world, the variety of Lenten stories we hear in the yearly lectionary cycle also adds character to the season. 

Lent always begins with the story of Jesus facing temptation in the wilderness.  This year, in the year of Mark, we hear the shortest version of Jesus’ temptation. So short in fact, that the baptism story is tacked on before, just to give the text some length. Matthew and Luke provide extended narratives between Jesus and Satan or the Devil, describing three different temptations faced by Jesus. 

But Mark simply tells us that Jesus went into the wilderness for 40 days, to be tempted by Satan, with the wild beasts and waited on by angels. 

Mark’s version of the story is brief and to the point… at least on first reading. But when you slow down to hear and consider the picture that Mark paints with an economy of words, our imaginations are left to fill in the vast empty spaces. How did Satan tempt Jesus? Who or what are the wild beasts? What was Jesus doing for 40 days? What does it mean to be waited on by angels?

As we come back to the journey of Lent year after year and take the time to reflect on our own journeys—as a society, as a church community, as families and as individuals—the differences can be striking. Some years we get the struggle described in vivid narrative, as Matthew and Luke tell it. But other years we get Mark—a few details that evoke a lot of questions. 

This year may very well be a year for a Markan Lent. We know that we are in the wilderness and we know that the journey ahead is long. But it is hard to identify who or what the wild beasts are. We don’t know what the tempter is up to. The wilderness is hazy and unclear. We are left to fill in the gaps with our imaginations. 

And somewhere in all of that, God has sent angels to wait on us. We cannot always perceive them, but we know that somehow the mercy and grace of God come to us just the same.