Advent III On the Road to Restoration

2020 12 13 Advent III On the Road to Restoration, Toronto United Mennonite Church, Voice Recording.

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 – The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me
Luke 1:46-55 – The Magnificat
Imagine the Angels of Bread, Martín Espada, Puerto-Rican declamador (poet of the people)

Today we talk about the Road to Restoration. I believe that God has an audacious dream of restoration that is so total, so all-encompassing, that it is almost imperceptible. I believe that God is in the business of reconciling everything, and intends all humanity, and all creation, to be restored in the fullness of time. I believe that the words of prophets like Isaiah and Mary give us a glimpse of this Road to Restoration – just some of the many steps towards the ultimate restoration. We each get glimpses as we work for justice and peace and right relationships. The dream is too big for any individual to grasp. But we are responsible for dreaming it together, inviting others to share the road and bear the load.

Let’s pray: God of Advent hope, open our eyes, our ears, our spirits and our lives to your arrival. We walk the road together. Meet us along the way to strengthen us with bread for the journey. Help us to leave behind anything that does not belong in your beloved community. In the name of Jesus, our guide, we pray, Amen.

Advent II Bearing Light: Shiprah & Puah, Peace

2019 12 08 Toronto United Mennonite Church
Bearing Light: Shiprah & Puah

Advent II (Peace) introducing ‘Bearing Light: Women in Scripture’ series. Children’s Time and Sermon.
Exodus 1: Midwives foil Pharaoh’s genocidal plan
Lectionary – Isaiah 11:1-9: A ruler with the spirit of Wisdom shall come to transform the world into God’s peaceable kingdom.
Matt 3:1-6: People from all Jerusalem and Judea come to hear from John the Baptist

What a time to be alive!

What a time to be alive!

2019 04 21 Easter Sunday, TUMC. Hear the recording here.
John 20:1-18
Isaiah 65:17-25

Christ is risen! Any questions? (Of course there are questions)

I’m going to be talking about crucifixion, meaning state violence, torture, and death. I’m going to reference sexual violence, and I’ll talk about blindness both as fact and metaphor. I’m drawing upon insights and work of Seamus Heaney in his play ‘The Cure at Troy’, Richard Bauckham’s The Bible in Politics, and the #MeToo movement begun by Tarana Burke.

Human beings suffer. They torture one another.
They get hurt, and get hard. No poem or prayer or song,
Can fully right a wrong inflicted and endured.

The prisoners in gaols beat on their bars together
The hunger striker’s father stands in the graveyard, dumb
The police widow in veils faints at the funeral home.

History says, don’t hope on this side of the grave,
But then, once in a life time, the longed for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up, and hope and history rhyme.

So hope for a great sea-change on the far side of revenge.
Believe a farther shore is reachable from here.
Believe in miracles, and cures, and healing wells.

Call the miracle ‘self-healing’, the utter self-revealing
Double-take of feeling. If there’s fire on the mountain,
and lightning, and storm, and a god speaks from the sky

That means someone is hearing
The outcry, the birth cry, of new life at its term.

Do you believe that things can change?
Do you believe that the way things are today does not need to be the way things are tomorrow?
Can you hope that things can change even here, even now, even in your lifetime, even before your very eyes?

Lent II – The Holy Spirit

Lent II – The Holy Spirit
2017 03 12 – TUMC Preaching Series “Credo: Faithful Moorings” – listen to the sermon here

Scriptures: Isaiah 61:1-6 “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me…”
Romans 8:22-27 “We know that the whole of Creation had been groaning…”

Prayer of Illumination (prayer offered by another member of the Preaching Team throughout this series, author Michele Rizoli)
Creating God, wind of the Spirit,
Who comforts in safe harbor and challenges in open water,
Be present as we examine the anchors of our beliefs and practices
Guide us as we navigate being faithful followers of Jesus and witnesses to your compassion. Amen

I have a confession to make. When the preaching team met to discern our series; Credo: Faithful Moorings, we sought to encounter some of the key doctrines and concepts that inform our Christian, Anabaptist, Mennonite, Canadian, Urban, 21st Century faith. Each member of preaching team offered a suggestion about what they might cover. We have already had many of these sermons – focusing on Creation, on Sin, on ecclesiology, on God and on Jesus.

For some time I have been wondering what Mennonites make of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit
2017 02 19 – Danforth Mennonite Church

Scriptures: Isaiah 61:1-6 “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me…”
Romans 8:22-27 “We know that the whole of Creation had been groaning…”

One Sunday, the minister stood up before the congregation looking slightly ashamed.

“I am terribly sorry” he began. “I have had a very busy week, and I have not had time to write a sermon. This week, we shall have to rely upon the leading of the Holy Spirit. But next week we hope to do much better!”

Recently I have been thinking a lot about the Holy Spirit, and the role of the Holy Spirit in churches.

Advent II – Someone is coming

Advent II  – Someone is coming
2016 12 04 – TUMC Junior Youth service – listen to the sermon here

Scriptures: Isaiah 11:1-10 – The Peaceful Kingdom
Matthew 3:1-12 – The Proclamation of John the Baptist

The sermon was written after several weeks ‘workshopping’ the scripture texts during Sunday School Hour. We read them together, discussed images, brainstormed questions, and talked about how the two readings compared and contrasted. What emerged is this conversation for five voices:
Bea – Old Testament (OT)
Alak – Believing (B)
Elliot – Questioning (Q)
Ani – Explaining (E)
Alex – New Testament (NT)

OT – Something is happening.
B – Someone is coming
Q – Have you heard?
E – Now is the time to hear.
NT – The one who is coming is almost here.

OT – “A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.”

Discipline to Rebuke, Teach, and Learn

Discipline to Rebuke, Teach, and Learn

2015 09 13 – Danforth Mennonite Church

Isaiah 50:4-9a – I did not hide my face from insults and spitting. Behold, the Lord God helps me; who will declare me guilty?

Mark 8:27-38 – Jesus asks ‘who do people say I am?’ Peter rebukes Jesus and is told to take up his cross.

(I am wearing my orange TRC t-shirt)

Truth and Reconciliation is not my topic today, but I wear this in honour of those survivors of residential school who brought the story of their experience of injustice and forced assimilation to our attention. Not only did they speak the truth but they spoke again and again, retelling painful stories of powerlessness. They accepted the cost of telling the truth. I wear this in honour.

There is a pattern observable in our world and in our scriptures today. Some would call it victim blaming.

Scapegoating the whistleblower. Killing the prophet. Those who identify and oppose violence and oppression risk becoming its victims.

True, “the squeaky wheel gets the grease”. The persistent widow gets her justice. But sometimes there is a cost.