An Open Letter to Pastor Leon Fontaine and Springs Church, Winnipeg

December 6, 2020 The Rev. Erik Parker 196 Comments

Dear Pastor Leon and the members of Springs Church,

We are writing to you as clergy also serving faith communities in Manitoba and beyond.

During the past two weeks, Springs Church has garnered a lot of local media attention and sparked debate in our city and province regarding COVID-19 pandemic restrictions implemented by public health authorities. Springs Church has deliberately violated these restrictions in the name of religious freedom and subsequently lost a court challenge of these restrictions.

Much of the rhetoric coming from Springs church centres on the right of Christians to worship under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. You have claimed that your drive-in services are safe and your right to gather in-person to worship outweighs the Province of Manitoba’s right to restrict gatherings for the sake of public health.

Drive-in services may be relatively safe (but not as a safe as staying home) and the question of how the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is weighed against these public health orders has not been settled in court.

However, we are not writing to you regarding the epidemiology or legality of drive-in services.

We are writing to you as peers and siblings in Christ and as called and ordained ministers of Christ’s Church.

We find that your actions during the past days of encouraging Christians to disobey public health orders in the name of freedom are not an example of following Christ.

We find that your insistence on the right to worship is not in keeping with Christ’s command to love our neighbour.

We find that your actions disregard the dangers of COVID-19 in our community and that they only serve to create potential harm for our healthcare system and healthcare workers already pushed beyond capacity.

We find that your insistence on individual freedoms over collective responsibility are an affront to the many individuals, families, friends, community groups and other faith communities who are refraining from gathering for the sake of our neighbours.

We find that your focus on your own perceived loss (of not being able to gather for a short time) to be offensive to those 381 Manitoban families (as of December 5th) who have lost loved ones as a result of this pandemic.

Therefore we call on you to take the following actions:

That you repent of your actions and publicly apologize for putting your individual right to worship ahead of the good of our community.

That you publicly encourage your church members to remain at home and worship online while public health restrictions remain in place.

That you cease all legal action against the province and redirect those funds intended for legal costs towards a charity that truly helps Manitobans, such as Harvest Manitoba.

If and when these actions are undertaken, it would be our hope that they be a first step towards reconciliation between Springs and your sibling communities of faith in Manitoba.

Finally, knowing that we are not the first people of faith to live through a pandemic, we offer you the following quote from Martin Luther, written in 1527, about how Christians ought to respond to the Black Death:

Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine, and take it. I shall avoid persons and places where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me, and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others.

*This letter also applies to any congregation refusing to follow public health orders under the guise of religious persecution including the Church of God Restoration South of Steinbach. *

Yours in Christ,

** If you are a clergy-person and would like to add your name to this letter please email your name, title and church affiliation to pastor@sherpark.ca

Manitoba Clergy:
The Rev. Erik Parker, Sherwood Park Lutheran Church, Winnipeg (Letter Author)

The Rev. Courtenay Reedman Parker, Messiah Lutheran Church, Winnipeg

Bishop Elaine Sauer, St Chad’s Anglican Parish, Winnipeg

The Rev. Rick Sauer, St. Mark’s Lutheran, Winnipeg.

The Rev. Ken Kuhn, retired (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada)

The Rev. Richard D. Schulz Pastor, Gimli Lutheran Church

The Rev. Nancy Walker, retired (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada)

The Reverend Theo Robinson, BTh, Incumbent St. Michael’s Anglican Church, Victoria Beach & Pastor, Interlake Regional Shared Ministry, MNO Synod

The Rev. Don Engel, retired, (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada)

The Rev. Father Chad McCharles, Anglican Priest of the Diocese of Brandon, Incumbent of Neepawa United-Anglican Church

Jeraldine Bjornson, retired DLM, United Church of Canada

The Rev. Barton Coleman, Zion Lutheran Church Beausejour, Manitoba

The Rev. Kolleen Karlowsky-Clark, retired (Evangelical Lutheran Church In Canada)

Rev. Rachel Twigg, Saint Benedict’s Table Anglican, Winnipeg

The Rev. Jennifer Marlor, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, Winnipeg

Rev. Liz Carter-Morgan, St. Paul’s United Church, Virden MB

The Rev. Canon Dr. Murray Still, Church of St Stephen and St Bede Anglican-Lutheran, Winnipeg

The Rev. Trudy Thorarinson, Grace-St.John’s Anglican-Lutheran, Carman, MB

Rev. Matthew Brough, Prairie Presbyterian Church, Winnipeg

Paul Peters Derry, Ordained Minister, United Church of Canada (Retired), Postulate for Ordination, Anglican Church of Canada (Diocese of Rupert’s Land)

Rev. Don Schau, Atlantic-Garden City United Church, Winnipeg

The Rev. Philip G. Read, St. Mary’s Road United Church, Winnipeg

Reverend Barbara Roberts, ordained retired minister United Church of Canada

The Rev. John H. Giroux, St. Mary Anglican Church, Winnipeg

The Rev. Judith Whitmore Anglican, Belair, Manitoba

The Rev. Dr. Kara Mandryk Coordinator, Henry Budd College for Ministry, and Regional Dean, The Pas Deanery, Diocese of Brandon

Rev. Lynell Bergen, Hope Mennonite Church, Winnipeg

The Venerable Gordon Payne, retired, Priest of the Diocese of British Columbia. (But living and serving in Winnipeg)

Jamie Arpin-Ricci, Pastoral Leader Little Flowers Community (Mennonite Church Manitoba)

Kim Arpin-Ricci, Pastoral Leader, Little Flowers Community (Mennonite Church Manitoba)

Rev. Tyler Gingrich, Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, Winnipeg

Rev. Bonita E. Garrett, Retired, United Church of Canada

Michael Pahl, Lead Pastor, Morden Mennonite Church

Rev. Margrét Kristjansson, Rivers United Church, Rivers, MB

Rev. Donna J. Smalley, Retired [Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada] Winnipeg

M.A.McCartney. Team Minister Oak Bank United Church, Oak Bank, MB

The Rev. Thomas J. Lurvey, retired (North American Lutheran Church), Winnipeg

Rev. Harold Peters-Fransen, Elim Mennonite Church, Grunthal, MB

Rev. Jim Vickers, retired, (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada) Waldersee, MB

The Venerable Helen Kennedy Archdeacon of Winnipeg / St John
Priest of St George’s, Transcona.

Rev. Bruce Gelhorn, Grace Lutheran Church, Winnipeg Manitoba.

Rev. Christopher Smith, The Bridge Church of The Christian and Missionary Alliance. Winnipeg.

Rev. Kathy Koop, First Mennonite Church, Winnipeg

Rev. Barb Jardine- Retired, serving Forrest and Brookdale, United Church of Canada.

Josué Sánchez, Ordained Pastor, Seventy-day Adventist, Winnipeg

Rev. Stafford Greer, Morden Alliance Church of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Morden MB

The Reverend Lynette Miller, retired, The United Church of Canada, Winnipeg

The Reverend Patricia Langlois, (Retired), Team Vicar, The South Parkland Parrish Anglican Diocese of Brandon

Rev. Michael Kurtz, First Lutheran Church, Winnipeg

The Rev. Canon Rick Condo, retired, Diocese of Ruperts Land, Winnipeg

Kevin Drudge, Pastor, Covenant Mennonite Church, Winkler MB

Ron Fischer, Teaching Elder, Kildonan Community Church, Winnipeg MB

Rev, Susan Tillman, United Church Grey Street in Winnipeg and St.Paul’s in Beausejour, MB

Father Sam Argenziano, Pastor of Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church, Winnipeg

Rev. Brian McNarry, Grand Valley Church of the Christian & Missionary Alliance. Brandon MB

Rev. Margaret Mullin, Place of Hope Indigenous Presbyterian Church, Winnipeg MB

Rev. Kristin Woodburke, DM, OakBank United Church, Oakbank, MB

Rev. Dr. Michael Wilson, Charleswood United Church, Winnipeg, MB.

The Rev. Kenneth Stright, retired, The Presbyterian Church in Canada

The Rev. Jeanne M.M. Stright, retired, The United Church of Canada.

The Rev’d Diane K Guilford, St. Thomas Anglican Church, Morden, MB

The Rev. Glen Krentz, Retired, (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada), Winnipeg

The Reverend R. David Lowe, On Leave from Call, ELCIC Winnipeg

The Rev. Lanny Knutson, retired, (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada), Winnipeg

Rev. Ken Thomas, Augustine United Church, Winnipeg

Rev. Noelle Bowles, Spirit Path United Church in Winnipeg

Rev. Anthon Bouw, minister, Knox Presbyterian Church, Selkirk.

Pastor Jonathon Shierman, Lead Minister, Moosomin Baptist Church

Reverend Cole Grambo, Minister, Selkirk United Church

Ha Na Park, the minister at Immanuel United Church, Winnipeg

Min-Goo Kang, the minister at Fort Garry United Church, Winnipeg

Rev. Lynne Hutchison, Pastor, St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church, Winnipeg

The Rev. Andrew Rampton, Priest Incumbent, Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Winnipeg.

The Very Rev. Paul N. Johnson, Dean, Diocese of Rupert’s Land
Rector, Cathedral Church of St. John the Evangelist, Anglican Church of Canada, Winnipeg

The Ven. Simon Blaikie, Executive Archdeacon, Diocese of Rupert’s Land, Winnipeg

The Rev. Bill Blackburn. St. John’s Anglican Pilot Mound, Manitoba

The Rev Fr Wayne McIntosh, priest, St Francis Anglican Church, Winnipeg, MB

The Rev. M. Dwight Rutherford, Hon Asst, The Parish Church of St Luke,
Winnipeg

Rev. Deacon Marline Wruck, Anglican deacon serving at Lutheran Church of the Cross, Lac du Bonnet, Manitoba

The Rev. John Dolloff St. Mary’s la Prairie Anglican Portage la Prairie, Manitoba

The Rev’d Tim Sale, St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Fort Garry, Manitoba

Rev. Elaine Pinto, honorary deacon at St. Margaret’s Anglican Church, Winnipeg

The Rev. Heather McCance, Diocesan Ministry Developer at Anglican Diocese of Rupert’s Land, Winnipeg

The Rev. Dr. K. Virginia Coleman, Clandeboye, Winnipeg Beach United Church

Rt Rev’d Geoffrey Woodcroft, Bishop of Rupert’s Land

Clergy outside of Manitoba:
The Rev. Matthew Diegel, Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, Thunder Bay, ON

The Rev. Ed Long, Hilldale Lutheran Church, Thunder Bay, Ontario

The Ven. Wilma Woods, St Giles Anglican, Estevan, SK

The Rev. Brian Woods, St Giles Anglican, Estevan, SK

The Rev. Jerry Borkowsky, Assistant to the Bishop Saskatchewan Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada

The Rev’d Robyn King, St Paul’s Anglican, Leduc, AB

Rev. Fran Ota, United Church of Canada, Toronto, ON

Diaconal Minister Beth Kerr, Trinity and Atwood United Churches, North Perth, ON

The Rev. Arleen Berg Leishman, retired (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada) Thunder Bay, ON

The Rev. Murray Halvorson, New Hope Lutheran Church, Regina, SK

The Rev’d Justin Cheng, All Saints Anglican, Diocese of New Westminster, Burnaby, BC

Rev. Reg Berg, Prince of Faith Lutheran Church, Calgary, AB

The Rev. Lindsay Hognestad, Retired (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada) Regina, SK

The Rev’d Brandon Witwer, Christ Church Anglican, Calgary, AB

The Rev. Lyndon Sayers, Lutheran Church of the Cross, Victoria, BC

The Rev. Richard Engel, Hospital Chaplain, Lutheran Ministry in Hospitals of Saskatoon (LuMinHoS)

Bishop Cindy Halmarson, Retired (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada), Cobourg, Ontario

The Rev. Joseph McLellan, Bishop, Progressive Catholic Church of Canada

Rev. Sarah Bruer, Diaconal Minister (in search of call), North Perth Ontario.

Rev. Melany Cassidy-Wise, Ordained Minister, Rural United Ministry. Easton’s Corners United Church, North Augusta Pastoral Charge, Bishop’s Oxford Pastoral Charge, Maitland, Ontario

Rev. Wendy Molnar, Coronado Gibbons United Church, Sturgeon County, AB

Rev. Linda K. Douglas Grace Lutheran Church, Victoria, BC

Fr. Dick+ Kennedy, Palliser Parish, Anglican Diocese of Qu’Appelle.

The Reverend Boyd Drake, The United Church of Canada, Gatineau QC

Rev. Marie-Louise Ternier, priest in the Anglican Church of Canada, serving an Anglican-Lutheran Shared Ministry in Watrous, SK.

The Rev. Aneeta Saroop, Spirit of Life Lutheran Church, Vancouver, BC

Rev. Sharilynn Upsdell Diaconal Minister United Church of Canada, Chaplain at Good Samaritan Mountainview Village Care Home, Kelowna BC

The Rev. Seth Perry, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, Kingston, ON

REV. LINDA C. HUNTER, Ordained Minister in The United Church of Canada, serving Central United Church in Calgary, Alberta.

Rev. Audrey Lounder, President, Fundy St Lawrence Dawning Waters Region, United Church of Canada

Reverend Susan Butler-Jones, United Church of Canada, Gatineau QC

Rev. Sarah Dymund, Trinity Lutheran Church, Regina, SK

Rev. Murdo Marple, Retired minister of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, Calgary, Alberta.

The Rev. Karen Stepko, Christ Lutheran Church, Rhein, Saskatchewan

The Rev. Laura Kavanagh, Knox Presbyterian Church, Victoria BC

Deacon Gretchen Peterson, Assistant to the National Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, Saskatoon, SK

Rev. Stephen W. Overall, Retired United Methodist Clergy, and formerly served as Chaplain and Director of Pastoral Care Education at the Victoria General Hospital (1971-1979). Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Rev. Joy Cowan, Minister at Heritage United Church, Regina, SK

Rev. Beth W Johnston, United Church of Canada Nipawin SK

Rev. Dr Adela Torchia, Two Saints Anglican Ministry in Victoria, BC

The Rev. Stewart Miller, Bread of Life Lutheran Church, Regina, SK

The Rev. Dr. Chris Nojonen, retired (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada), Thunder Bay

The Rev. M Kornfeld, St Albert Lutheran Church, St Albert, AB

Rev. Mark L. Malek (retired) Trinity United Church, Vernon ,B.C

Rev. Lloyd Huber, emeritus, LCC, Drumheller, AB

The Rev Margaret Murray, (retired), Minister of the United Church of Canada, Woodstock, ON

The Rev’d Grace Pritchard Burson, Anglican Church of All Saints by the Lake, Dorval, QC

The Rev. Lyndon Sayers, Lutheran Church of the Cross, Victoria, BC

The Rev. Scott Agur, Retired United Church of Canada, Courtenay, BC

The Reverend Fergus Tyson, Incumbent, St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Calgary, AB

Rev. Joan Jespersen (retired),Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada

The Rev Catherine M Dorcas, Presbyterian Church in Canada, Moosomin, SK

Theology & Culture

Ep 6 The Pandemic Reformation and the Post Pandemic Church Part 1

November 5, 2020 The Rev. Erik Parker 1 Comment

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-kubmd-f16f0a

It is a new pandemic month and, like good Lutherans, Pastor Courtenay and Pastor Erik have been thinking about reformation – Pandemic Reformation that is. We are living in a moment of accelerated social, cultural and ecclesiological change. Who we were going into this pandemic will be changed into new people coming out the other side.

In Episode 6, we discuss our hopes, dreams and wishes for a post-pandemic church coming through this Pandemic Reformation.

Check out The Millennial Pastor blog.

This podcast is sponsored by the Manitoba Northwestern Ontario Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC).

Music by Audionautix.com

Theme Song – “Jesus Loves Me” by Lutheran Outdoor Ministries in Alberta and the North (LOMAN)

covid-19, Sermon, Theology & Culture

COCO and the God who Remembers All The Saints

November 1, 2020 The Rev. Erik Parker 1 Comment

Matthew 5:1-12
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
(Read the whole passage)

Reformation Day, Halloween, All Saints. These are the signposts of the end. They are way stations on our journey towards the end of the Church year. Soon it will be Advent again, and soon we will be singing of the coming birth of Christ. All Saints Sunday is one of those yearly celebrations that remind us of the cyclical nature of the church, of how we tell and retell the story of God in Christ.

All Saints Sunday also speaks to a different kind of end and different kind of waiting. It is a reminder of the big ending, of Christ coming again to gather up all the faithful, to make all creation new. All Saints is also a very specific reminder and opportunity to remember loved ones who have died. Those who have been drowned and brought to new life in the waters of baptism, and those who have taken their last breaths here on earth. And in a way, we are waiting on this day too. Waiting for that moment when all the saints will be together, in Christ, robed in white before the Lamb. We wait with hope and anticipation of God’s fulfillment of the resurrection promise.

The opportunity of All Saints is also the problem. To remember loved ones, is to revisit our grief and our suffering. It is to remember that we are lonelier without them, and that no matter how long their lives were, they left us too soon.

This year All Saints is intensely local and personal and intimate as we remember those who have died in our community, those whom we have been unable to gather to remember and mourn and celebrate as we normally would.

All Saints is also intensely global as we grieve and mourn those who have died here in our province: 62 people, 42 just in October. And 10,000 across Canada. And almost 1.2 million people around the world who have died during this global pandemic. And among the dead are our most vulnerable: the elderly, the poor, minorities and those on the margins.

Yet no matter whether All Saints Sunday comes on a year when we can be grateful there are only a few to remember or whether it comes when there is too much remembering to bear… our task is the same. To pray and to remember. To give thanks for saints and to entrust them again into God’s care. To trust and hope in the promise of God given to all the saints.

And as we take up this task, we hear two stories about crowds. The first crowd is a crowd gathered around Jesus to hear the sermon on the mount.

A sermon that forces us to deal with the tensions of grief and hope. Jesus proclaims blessing for things that really aren’t blessing. Things that we might assume we should strive for in order to be holy… poverty of spirit, meekness, righteousness, to be merciful, to be persecuted. Yet Jesus is not reciting a formula on how to be blessed or prescribing new life style choices. Rather, Jesus is making a radical statement, an outrageous reversal of how we understand the world. Jesus is describing a God, whose world is upside down from ours. Jesus tells us that God sees the poor, the suffering, the hungry, the thirsty, the mourning and the persecuted…. God see us… and declares that we are blessed.

The second crowd is the great multitude gathered before the throne of God at the end of time. A great crowd robed in white, clothed in Christ, and worshipping the lamb of God. A great crowd joined to the heavenly worship of the Kingdom of God. The great multitude of the saints who have gone before us in faith, who remind us just how big this body of Christ is, to which we belong in faith.

Two crowds, one living and one dead. Yet forever connected to one another in the Body of Christ.

(Pause)

For the past few years, our family has had the tradition of watching an All Saints movie together. Pixar’s movie Coco. Coco tells the story of Miguel. A young boy in Mexico who loves music but whose family has banned music for generations since his great-grandfather left his wife and daughter to pursue a career music. This point of family conflict comes into tension right around Dia de Meurtos, the day of the dead or All Saints.

In search of information about his grand-father, Miguel goes to the tomb of Mexico’s favourite singer, where he is magically transported to the world the dead, which is bridged to the mortal world on Dia de Meurtos.

Along the way Miguel encounters Hector, a kind, musical grifter, who helps him.

The hinge point of the story comes because the people living in the land of the dead only continue to exist when they still remembered by the living, and Hector is in danger of being forgotten and fading away in what is called the last death. Hector’s daughter, his last living relative that knows him, is forgetting in her old age.

Eventually Miguel, with Hector’s help, manages to reconcile with his family in both the land of the dead and the living world – with a few plot twists along the way.

Coco is ultimately a story about the power of memory and love of family – important lessons at any time. But Coco is strongly connected to a thread that ties the movie and its story to the root of faith that Christians claim on All Saints.

Memory.

Being Remembered.

Miguel’s family encouraged him to learn the stories of his ancestors, to keep vigil for them at the family ‘Ofrenda’ or offering – an altar with photos of loved ones used for Dia de Meurtos.

And we gather today with candles and photos to remember our loved ones.

The root of All Saints in found in memory.

And while we remember today, it is not our memory that is the most important.

All Saints is ultimately about God’s memory.

About God re-membering the two great crowds that we hear about day.

The crowd listening to Jesus’ sermon on the mount and the crowd gathered before the throne at the end of time.

Two crowds, one from the living world and one from the land of the dead.

Made one Christ. One Body in Christ.

A living crowd whose upside down blessings, whose world is up-ended and signal the coming Kingdom of God.

And crowd at the end time, a crowd of the gathered faithful, crow of the poor and rich, the joyful and mourning, the hungry and the full, the merciful and merciless.

Sinners AND Saints.

Brought finally the throne of that same Kingdom of God that Jesus witnessed to.

A crowd born in the memory of God.

God who remembers us from before creation was spoken into being.

God who remembers us from before we were in our mother’s womb.

God who remembers us throughout our lives, in our poverty, in our mourning, in our meekness, our hunger and thirst, in our need of mercy.

God who re-members us by making us members of the body of Christ

God whose memory puts us back to together, builds us up and assures us that we are known.

God who re-members us, to the great multitude robed in white, unforgotten at the end of time, gathered before the throne, worshipping the lamb.

All Saints is a promise that we are not forgotten, but that the God of life remembers us.

And so as we gather to remember the saints, as we are joined here on this signpost day pointing to the end of the year, we are reminded that whether we remember or whether we forget, we are known.

That whether it is is year to remember just a few who have died, or like this year to remember and pray for too many – God always remembers us.

That God remembers all the saints to the New Life that is found in Christ, to New Life promised to each one of us in the waters of baptism and New life that wraps us in the white and pure robes of Christ.

New Life for those in the world of the living and those Brough to new life in the land of dead.

Today, God Remembers us all – as saints belonging to the body of Christ.

Amen.

[James Baldwin, who was an African American writer and civil rights activist wrote, in his book Go Tell it on the Mountain powerful words that paint us a picture of what God’s promise of New life will look like:

Then John saw the river, and the multitude was there. And a sweetness filled John as he heard the sound of singing: the singing was for him. . . . No power could hold this army back, no water disperse them, no fire consume them. They wandered in the valley forever; and they smote the rock, forever; and the waters sprang, perpetually, in the perpetual desert. They cried unto the Lord forever, they were cast down forever, and lifted up their eyes forever. No, the fire could not hurt them, and yes, the lions’ jaws were stopped; the serpent was not their master, the grave was not their resting-place, the earth was not their home. Job bore them witness, and Abraham was their father, Moses had elected to suffer with them rather than glory in sin for a season. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had gone before them into the fire, their grief had been sung by David, and Jeremiah had wept for them. Ezekiel had prophesied upon them, these scattered bones, these slain, and, in the fullness to time, the prophet, John, had come out of the wilderness, crying that the promise was for them. They were encompassed with a very cloud of witnesses: Judas, who had betrayed the Lord; Thomas, who had doubted Him; Peter, who had trembled at the crowing of a cock; Stephen, who had been stoned; Paul, who had been bound; the blind man crying in the dusty road, the dead man rising from the grave. And they looked unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of their faith, running with patience the race He had set before them; they endured the cross, and they despised the shame, and waited to join Him, one day, in glory, at the right hand of the Father.]

covid-19, Sermon, Theology & Culture

Bubonic Reformation & COVID-19 Reformation

October 25, 2020 The Rev. Erik Parker Leave a comment

John 8:31–36
Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; ³²and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” ³³ (Read the whole passage)

A sure sign for Lutherans that the end of the church year is just around the corner, is the Sunday when we break out A Mighty Fortress, put out the red paraments and vestments, and remind ourselves from whence we came – Reformation Sunday.

And here in 2020, we are 503 years on from the commemoration of the day when Martin Luther went to the church in Wittenberg where he nailed to the door his 95 Theses regarding the sale of indulges and the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church. While some might argue the Reformation was already on its way, this moment is often remembered as the spark that began the period of great change in the way Christians around the world would gather, worship and ultimately understand salvation and faith.

And interestingly enough, the reformation also took place during a plague. The bubonic plague had been cropping up around Europe for decades and in 1527 it came to Wittenberg. Martin Luther wrote to a friend with some advice about how to minister and care for his people during that time. He said,

“I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance inflict and pollute others and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me however I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely as stated above. See this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.”

So it seems that Reformation and pandemic go hand in hand. And with all that we as the church have endured and adapted to during the past months of the COVID-19 Pandemic, one might wonder if we too are experiencing a reformation of sorts, a transformation in the way we gather, worship and ultimately understand salvation and faith.

As we sort out just what is going in our world and in our community faith, it is perhaps appropriate that today we contemplate the Reformation. On this day, we remember Martin Luther standing up against the injustices of the pope and the church – the selling of salvation, the abuses by church leaders, the exploitation of the faithful. We remember that our faith and our beliefs are important. Important enough to die for, important enough to defend.

But on Reformation Sunday we also remember the division that change caused. We remember those who died as a result of the the protests of the Reformers. We remember that between 125,000 to 250,000 people died in the peasants war that was inspired by Luther’s writings. We remember that after Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door the church in Wittenberg, Christianity was split from 2 denominations (Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox) into as many as 25,000 today. And these divisions have caused violence, chaos, oppression, abuse, suffering and death for 500 years.

Reformation Sunday is day of two realities. Of promise, hope and freedom, contrasted by division, conflict and oppression.

Today, as you notice the red paraments that adorn the chancel you may know that red is one of the 5 liturgical colours, but only used a handful of Sundays each year. Red is the colour we use to symbolize the Holy Spirit. The changing, transforming, reforming work of the holy spirit among us. Red is used on Pentecost when we celebrate the Holy Spirit coming to the disciples, red is used for the spirits call names in the ordination of clergy and today Red is for spirit moving in the reformation Reformation.

And Red is also used to remember martyrs in the church.

The red reminds us of this mixed experience of Reformation. A moment of change and hope and renewal. A moment of struggle, suffering and death.

Our observance of Reformation speaks to our time. It speaks to great change we are undergoing from how we worship, gather and build community as a church, to our understanding and attitudes of race, racism and oppression, to the re-working of our social safety nets, to how we will care for a suffering climate.

And it speaks to the suffering and struggle that is still ongoing. To those who are sick and dying during this pandemic, those who giving every ounce of strength to care for strangers and their community, in hospitals, schools, grocery stores and so many more places. To how this moment has exposed the vulnerability of poor who are both most affected by the virus and who are forced to work the front lines our society in order to make ends meet.

Fittingly, Reformation Sunday is about all of these things and more. About the conflicting experiences of division, conflict and war that accompanied the Reformation, as well as the striving for justice, the proclamation of grace and mercy, the hope we have in God’s promises.

God’s promises like we hear Jesus utter today, promises like,

“So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”

And if there is anything to remember today it is that.

Even as Canada and the world struggles with this pandemic while considering the opportunity for radical change. Even as Reformation Sunday demands that we recall hope and the struggle: the gospel proclamation of Martin Luther and the reformers, the bold declaration of grace through faith alone, that there is nothing we can do to earn God’s love and that this belief is important enough to stand up for contrasted with the division, conflict, violence and suffering caused by the reformation. Even as these realities of both 2020 and 1517 sit with us, they are ultimately still the second most important things today.

Because even Reformation Sunday it is still about what each Sunday is about for Christians.

Today is firstly about Christ.

Today is about God and God’s mighty deeds among God’s people. Today is a reminder we simply cannot save ourselves on our own.

Just as in today’s Gospel readings the Jews said that as descendants of Abraham they were slaves to no one (even though they had been slaves to the Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians and now Romans). Just as Martin Luther declared that he and we we were not slaves to law and freed by God’s grace (even though he was threatened by the Pope and others). Just as we try to declare ourselves slaves to no virus or pandemic restrictions (even though cases, hospitalizations and deaths rise)…

We are still slaves to all of those things. We still must mask and social distance. We are still declared unrighteous by the law. We are slaves to fear, fear for our safety, fear of losing more, fear for being forgotten by God.

No matter what our leaders declare, no matter the bravery we display, the sacrifices we make, the peace we try to uphold. We simply cannot save ourselves. We simply cannot free ourselves.

We are slaves to sin, slaves to suffering, slaves to death, and there is nothing we can do about it.

But that is why today is ultimately about Christ.

Today is about the promise that God gives to slaves. To those enslaved by sin, those enslaved by suffering, to those enslaved by death. Today, is about the promise that God gives to us. The promise that despite our condition, despite our slavery, that God is showing us mercy, God is giving us grace, God is making us free. Free in the son.

And this promise of freedom comes to us first in baptism. In baptism where we drown and die to sin, and where we rise to new life in Christ.

So it is fitting today, that of all the things that Reformation might have us consider, the good and that bad, the hopeful and depressing… that the most important truth is God’s promise given to us first in the waters of baptism. The promise we belong to God, and that God’ names and claims us as God’s children. That no matter what befalls us, plague or war, violence or hate, suffering or tribulation, that God’s promise for us will hold:

That God is our Mighty Fortress
That God is our Refuge and Strength
That God is redemption from sin
That God is freedom found in Christ
That God is our God and we are God’s people.

And this promise is a powerful act of defiance against fear and violence, against oppression and powerlessness for us to proclaim this gospel truth today. That this gospel proclamation, that this reminder of what is central in our chaotic world, that our worshiping together in faith is an act of hope. That God is passing on through us, through the Body of Christ, this hope and this promise of grace to the world.

Even while we are slaves to sin, to suffering and most of all to death, we pass on our hope for the future. A future promised by God in the midst of slavery. A future given by grace and mercy, even though we are dead. A future found with New Life in Christ.

covid-19, Sermon, Theology & Culture

Give Nothing to Caesar

October 18, 2020 The Rev. Erik Parker Leave a comment

GOSPEL: Matthew 22:15-22
Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

I don’t know about you, but this fall season has felt a bit like we living on the precipice of something big. As our quiet and homebound pandemic summer turns towards things we didn’t think we had to worry about. Schools starting, work places ramping up activity, dramatic elections to the south, and all of a sudden there realization that a change in seasonal weather will bring us closer to danger, the danger of being out and about with others, or spending too much time alone at home. All of it combines together to make us feel like whatever comes next will have important consequences. Maybe that moment arrived in Manitoba this week with soaring COVID cases… and maybe the big thing is still to come.

Along the way, our journey through the Gospel of Matthew this fall has been in a smiler place. In the days between triumphal entry and the trial and crucifixion of Jesus. In the last few weeks Jesus has been telling parables to plotting Pharisees in the temple. The parable of the landowner who servants and son are killed when the go to collect the rent. And the parable of the mad king who sent soldiers after his wedding guests when they refused to come.

All of it has been part of a plot to trap Jesus into saying something heretical.

And finally, we land today with the question taxes and authority. The Pharisees have questioned Jesus’ own Authority way back at the beginning of this series interchanges, and now they are questioning to what authority Jesus will submit.

Now, before going any further, knowing some history is vital to understanding what is going on. The question of paying taxes to Rome, was more of a question of idolatry, than it was civic responsibility. Most people in Israel were taxed about 85% of their income. Some to Rome, some to the temple, some to pay off tax collectors, some to the Levites, some to the towns and villages in which they lived. People were bled dry for their money, and were often only allowed to keep just enough to survive. Most had to go into debt in order to make ends meet.

However, the issues with paying taxes to the Emperor had to do with the coins themselves. The Roman Denarius coin bore the image of the Caesar, with an inscription that read “Caesar Augustus Tiberius, Son of the Divine Augustus.” The coin was the symbol of Caesar’s godship.

Yet, Israelites were prohibited from having any other God’s but the God of Abraham and Moses… therefore to even touch a coin would be sin. And yet, their Roman occupiers gave them no choice, since they all must pay taxes. This is why there were money changers in the temple, sinful Roman money needed to changed into pure temple money.

The Pharisees were trying to trap Jesus so that they can get rid of him and his enthusiastic followers.

They were attempting to get Jesus into trouble by making him either choose heresy by denying the one true God or to risk the wrath of the Roman Empire by undermining Caesar’s divinity.

Yet, in the way the Pharisees pose the question the reveal a problem of their own. They reveal their own use of God as an object. Their faith is revealed to be nothing more than a tool to be exploited, a means to obtain power and influence. Being a Pharisee meant status and material comfort.

The Pharisees might not have even known or seen what they were doing. They had convinced themselves that their objectification of God was true faithfulness. The did not see how they were making everything about their own power and control.

We don’t have Denariuses with graven images of divine Caesar’s in our pockets, but we certainly try to prop up and hold on to our power and control in the same way. Christians aren’t above using God is a weapon to condemn and judge others, but more often than not, it is a matter of our trust and sense of security. Like the Pharisees we don’t even see the ways which we place our faith in ourselves, that we seek to control our world in order to protect ourselves from danger and fear.

Especially during this moment of global crisis, especially when we are being called upon to trust authorities that call us to care for our neighbour and do our part, especially when delusion mad men are on twitter all day and in the news every night spewing lies and hate into air.

Especially these days, our instincts push us to trust ourselves, and hold on to whatever power we can see, whatever security we can create, whatever delusion might give us comfort.

It is a very human thing to try to make into God something we own and control and can use for our purposes. And it very human to rationalize acting out in self-interest because it is too hard and scary and exhausting to keep admitted how little control we actually have over the world.

It is easier to believe the conspiracies about the pandemic, easier to convince ourselves it is nothing, easier to insist on life as normal in whatever ways we can.

Only to discover that we have lost our way.

And so when Jesus answer the Pharisees, he points to their contradiction. He asks for a coin… one that the Pharisees should NOT have inside the walls of the temple. (Jesus can be a little cheeky sometimes).

“Whose head is on this coin?” He says.

“The emperor’s” they answer.

And then Jesus replies,

Give to Caesar what is Caesar and give to God what is God’s.

*Mic drop*

So what belongs to God?

Everything.

All creation.

The entire universe.

And what then belongs to Caesar?

Nothing.

Jesus has caught the Pharisees in their own trap.

But more thouroughly, he has made plain their own problems of faith.

The Pharisees are using God as a tool, a weapon and a trap for Jesus, yet Jesus points them back to God. Reminding them everything belongs to God.

All things. All of creation. All of life. All power and might. All righteousness and virtue.

And all Grace and forgiveness. All mercy.

All faith.

Even us and our broken faith belongs to God.

But more importantly, giving to God what is God’s is NOT really ours to do.

Because we cannot give anything to God.

And that is thing that Jesus has caught the Pharisees with. As they try to trap him, and contain the threat of this ministry, and they try to protect the true faith of Israel, which just happens to give them a lot of power and privilege and wealth… Jesus reminds them their faith, that God is not a thing to control, nor tool to use to maintain their position.

Rather, God is the one who to whom all things belong.

And the Pharisees and all Jews knows this, even when they don’t remember it. Because they pray it at every sabbath, and they pray the reminder over and over at passover:

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe.

And so giving to God what is God’s is truly to be reminded of the God to whom we belong,

is the God of Kings and Empires, of beggars and the lame, of regular folks.

Giving to God what is God’s is to let go of our hope in ourselves, to let go of our efforts at control and security, to recognize that the power we think we have in this world is an illusion.

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe.

Jesus reminds the Pharisees and us that we cannot hold the power of God, no matter how hard we try.

Rather that The Lord God, King of the Universe is holding on to us. Holding us in our broken, backwards, forgetful attempts at faith. Holding us even as we are surrounded by the dangers and threats of our world. Holding us even though we don’t always see it.

In fact, our broken faith, our tendency to try to turn God into a tool to use and manipulate is the whole reason God has come. And it is the whole reason that Jesus has ridden into Jerusalem a conquering King and it is the whole reason that soon after the Pharisees ask this question, Jesus will be arrested, put on trial and put to death.

But the blessed Lord God, King of the Universe is the one to whom all things belong, even death.

And in death, God shows us that there is nothing that doesn’t belong to God, no place where God will not seek us out, no brokenness that surprises God… and that there is nothing in all of creation that God does not hold in God’s hands. That even death belongs to God.

And so in pointing the Pharisees and pointing us back to God, Jesus is also pointing us from death to life. Reminding us that the God to whom all creation belongs has promised us, and our misguided faith, resurrection and new life as well.

So what belongs to God?

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe to whom all things, including our very selves, our life, our death and our salvation, belong.