YOU ARE NOT PERFECT

 

                                                              YOU ARE NOT PERFECT

 

 

The big media just love to find some failure of a church person. They jump on this to show how the Church can be quite dishonest.

 

They have got the perspective wrong. Church must always be viewed as a pilgrim, sinful people working with the Holy Spirit to be redeemed of our weaknesses and sin. This is not a group of saints. It is sinful people working towards redemption.

 

The best way to understand church is like a group of people in recovery from their addiction to drugs and alcohol. They know their weaknesses. They are working for a healthy, clean life filled with meaning and friendship. If one member falls off the wagon, they understand. They walk with him on his journey back to sobriety.

 

In church we are all recovering sinners.

 

The gospel selection for this Sunday’s liturgy gives us the direct teaching of Jesus (Mt. 13, 24-43). The farmer plants good grain. An enemy came in and sowed weeds in this good planting. Both sets of seeds sprout. There are weeds! The wise farmer cautions not to uproot the weeds but to wait until the harvest. At harvest time the separation will be made.

 

Jesus taught us to live with the weeds!

 

Failure to live up to the values of the Gospel is part of the life of the Church. We journey together with the saints and the sinners.

 

There are so many members struggling with addictions. It may be your nephew, thirty-two years old and a successful business person, but he keeps going with his daily fix of drugs. He knows that his life is in a  mess, but somehow has not been able to escape the strangle  hold of the drugs. This addiction does not look good. There could be a tragedy in this life.

 

Your best friend in Church has had a falling out with her sister in Ottawa. The two women have not talked to each other in years. Their Mother does not say anything but you know that she cries many a night over the division of her family. You suffer because your friend suffers and her mother cries at night.

 

And then there is the relative who is always talking about making money. He is very aggressive and has taken advantage of other people in some business dealings. You hold your distance from him. He is not to be trusted!

 

This is not a perfect Christiaan life.

 

This is one of the hardest parts of Christian belief: to believe that God is working in this very sinful, selfish and at times downright miserable people! Can God actually be here?

 

This is where we need the correction of Jesus. The weeds will grow and suck the nutrients that the good grain needs but it is the job of God to make the separation at the harvest time. We have to believe that God is working in this sinful mess.  In  all the human failures that happen God will triumph.

 

In spite of all the sinful lives on the part of Christian people, God is the judge. God’s goodness will triumph over all evil!

 

 

 

 

 

IT IS HARD LIVING INA POST-TRUTH WORLD

 

How am I supposed to live when telling the truth is not a very strong held social value? If telling lies and untruths are acceptable, how can a society survive? How do I cope in a post-truth society?

 

We live in a time when some of the most powerful leaders can face the entire world (an all the TV cameras) and blatantly tell lies?  And what is even worst, millions of their citizens affirm that this man is telling the truth?

 

One of the huge news networks in the USA admitted to broadcasting untruths (they knew new items were untrue) in order to boost their ratings and the number of viewers they counted. Also, number of viewers  enhances their advertising incomes.

 

To label this as a post-truth society is to give up on the core value we have to live together as human beings: we aim to tell the truth to each other.

 

Consider your family life. If one member tells lies (after the second attept) you immediately distrust him. His word is worthless! All you can do is to try to protect yourself against any further lying. Nothing destroys relationship quicker than the person who tells lies.

 

What do you do if you cannot trust the news media to work hard to broadcast the truth and not embellish items with sensational tidbits of money, sex and nastiness?

 

Our Christianity is a way of life that works hard to tell the truth, even when it is very inconvenient and difficult. Think how hard your parents worked to teach you to always tell the truth and never to lie about the things you neglected to co. Your parents were such strong proponents of truth-telling. They lived this vital religious belief with fervour.

 

What to do?

 

Our Christian faith gives us strong motivation and courage to demand that everyone tell the truth. Demand that every politician, every writer, every company and all advertising be honest. We must sharpen our refusal to tolerate anyone who tells lies.

 

Insist that what you hear in the media (or on your devise) is the hard-won truth. Be intolerant of those who spout off messages that need to be challenged. Use more often the observation: “I don’t think that is true!”

 

Truth telling  is hard work. You will lose a few friends because you insisted that they speak the truth and not just hand on some juicy  tit-bit that did not happen.

 

Survival in a post-truth society demands that that we become hard-nosed and demanding that we are given the truth, no matter how inconvenient the truth may be.

 

I am so appreciative that our Christian religion is based on truth telling and demands of all its followers that they in turn be truth-tellers.

WHO IS TELLING THE STORY?

 

If you grow up in a family where your father only speaks about the faults and failings of one of his brothers, your understanding of this uncle will be very negative. In fact, that uncle may have cheated your father out of a serious financial transaction. Your father has turned very negative towards his brother. Without realizing it, you have absorbed this negativity towards this brother.

 

Story-telling is power and control. It is never neutral.

 

Whenever we hear anything about another person (especially if it is negative) we must ask: and what is the other side? There are always two people in this disagreement. Am I receiving the other side?

 

We live in a time when there is more distrust of the institutions of our society which carry the truth of our society and shape our relations within the society. There is growing distrust of all forms of government, the school system, the medical profession, the police, the social-services and family life.

 

At the same time, the big media give us an onslaught of failure and short-comings of the people who live and work in these institutions. Remember, media is a business and its purpose is to attract more viewers. It aims to present a good story that you will pay attention to whenever you flip on your device to watch. Good news does not sell; bad news brings in the views and hence, the advertising dollars.

 

The media is weaking the social bonds that holds our society together. We must be very critical if we are to be practicing honesty.

 

Whenever you hear anything negative about the police always fire back: Why are you not reporting on the police person who helped the new-comers to Canada find a place to live? Why have we not heard of the number of times the police have responded to a distress call of an elderly person, called the ambulance and got the distressed, elderly grandmother into the hospital?

Why do we not hear of the high school teacher who notices that one of their grade twelves is in distress, sits down to listen and opens a new door to a young adult planning to end their life? Why are we not hearing about the compassionate service our teachers are giving our high school students?

 

To survive in today’s culture we need to have a sharp, critical attitude to anything we hear through the media. There are two sides to every story. Why am I not hearing the positive contribution that so many of my fellow citizens are giving to the rest of Canada?

 

 

 

 

NOT VERY RELIGIOUS AT ALL

 

One of the most helpful insights I received over the years was from a theologian who specialized in studying the mothers and fathers (the founding figures) of Christianity and Buddhism. This was just at the first stages of serious study of world religions.

 

She pointed out that “in all religions only a very small group are actually very religious.”

 

This means that the vast majority of people will live a religious life that does not have too much depth. The folks live on  a religion to get us by.

 

But at the same time, you can say that most people miss a lot of their own lives. They got through the motions and get by.

 

Our Christian faith teaches us that the very Spirit of God is working in all of us humans. Some pay more attention but many just keep walking through the calendar days of life.

 

Human beings can be very self-centered , focusing only on their own family and their own survival. If you monitor their conversations, they are always talking about their own concerns. The needs of their neighbor very seldom surfaces.  They get very upset as the price of groceries goes up but never once reflect on the reality of food shortages within Canadian families on a low income.

 

This is why Pope Francis (in speaking to a world audience) laments the great evil of indifference. ‘It is not my issue.’ Why should I even be concerned? Indifference is the serious cop-out. Am I my brother’s keeper?

 

When we are aware that so many people will have a Christiaan label but a very weak Christian spirit, we can still keep up our commitment to live vibrant and spirit-filled lives. My neighbor may not care too much but I want to give my very best to the mystery of God’s love coming alive in us.

 

The members of my family may have drifted away from a daily life of prayer. They are good people and work hard but that spiritual force that prayer brings is not active in their lives.

They do not take off every seventh day to be dedicated to worship and thanksgiving to God. The Sunday has become ‘their’ day, not God’s day.

 

You have learnt to be cautious with so many people and not bring up issues of social justice. For example, you never bring us the issue of the very poor wages that are paid to the unnamed women in Vietnam and China who sew and construct all our clothing. Sometimes your relatives become hostile when you bring for the issue of justice and fair wages.

 

Religion is never a cubby-hole thing that we pick up when we are in need. God permeates all of life. God is always moving us to become more of a human being. God wants to enlarge and enhance our life.

 

Even if the majority of my family is only minimally concerned about the things of God, I pray that I give my very best to serving and living the spiritual life I have been given.

 

 

 

PRAYER; ONE OF OUR STRONGEST NEEDS

 

 

It is 2023. One of our strongest needs is to teach people how to pray. We need to lift them out of an immature posture toward God and into an adult Christian life.

 

Everyone will tell you that they believe in God. But always ask them if they believe in the God of Christianity or are they hanging on to the way they picture  God?  How they interpret God may be very comfortable and self-serving but not the real God?

 

In our roots (Biblical roots) God does not command that there be any holy places, but rather time is made holy. In making the Covenant with the Hebrew slaves God commands that the people take off every seventh day for prayer/worship and rest. Recognize how radical this actually was. These were people who knew about starvation and food shortages. They knew that they had to work very hard just to survive and have enough food to eat. And God commands them to stop work every seventh day! This was a big  command of trust that God would provide for their survival.

 

A very immature approach to prayer is to pray when we are in trouble. There we are in the hospital emergency room and our teen-age son is between life and death. In desperation we will pray to God for help and deliverance. But if that is the only time we ever pray we have to say, ‘is this fire insurance or is this real prayer?’

 

Adult prayer is the living and breathing in the presence of God in every part of the day. Everything is blessing. We get up in the morning and recognize how wonderful the day already is. We thank God for the blessing. We are able to work and care for our  family. We squeeze in time to take grandma grocery shopping. And all the while we are appreciative that we can live well and serve others. Our prayer at this point may not have too words but it has a lot of feelings of gratitude.

 

God’s presence fills every part of the earth. Not only is God everywhere but God’s Spirit Is active and working within us. Prayer is living and sharing in the life of God within us and in cooperating with the movements of God’s Spirit within our world.

 

Now, people need help to live with the dynamic and restless God. There are times when we are walking through some very dark paths of life. There we need to be rained to listen for the movements of God. Life with God is not always on easy street.

 

Adult prayer is listening and seeking the will of God in the daily blessings and joy of life and in seeking God in the storms and hardships of our life.

 

Prayer is a daily occupation. It is not an add-on to belief in God. Prayer is how we are living and moving with the Spirit of God.

 

Teaching everyone to pray as an adult is our basic and greatest need in the spiritual life.

 

 

 

 

FALLING IN LOVE WITH THE EARTH

 

In life, you will never work hard or try to save anything if you do not love it.

No one can be commanded to save anything or nourish any person towards personal growth if they do not have love for them.

 

When we care deeply about anything or anyone, it is surprising how much effort and determination we will put forth.

 

We know that the earth and the climate are in trouble. The atmosphere is heating up, the ice cap in the North is melting and we can see a direct connection between the incredible forest fires we have experienced this spring.  The scientists have not made the direct connection between the two, but our common sense has drawn the correct conclusion.

 

The challenge before all human beings is to fall in love with creation. Western man (of European decent) has been so cut off from the natural world that we need to rediscover the place of humanity with the entire web of creation.

 

The soil, the waters and the plants must never be seen as something to use, exploit and then thrown away. We have more than two centuries of exploitation and it is evident that this is leading us into deep trouble. Humanity can no longer exploit the riches of the soil and then walk away as it turns into desert. We are in danger of losing clean water (an absolute essential for all life- -especially human life).

 

The social teachings of our Church (Laudto si) challenges us to reconnect ourselves with all living things. We are to live as if every leaf, grasshopper and beef cow are kin to us. We are connected with all living things and they to us humans. Our future lies not in exploitation but in lived connectedness and harmony with everything.

 

But this connectedness will only happen if we turn in love towards all living things. They must become family to us and we to them. 

 

Take a few moments to do this spiritual exercise. Sit calmly. Study one particular leaf on a nearby tree. Imagine what energy and design there is in this one leaf coming into existence. Stay with the leaf. Feel the warm sunshine it is absorbing and how it is creating energy and growth in itself and sending its energy into the branch of the tree. 

 

Watch the robins bouncing around the lawn, listening for bugs and worms and bobbing down to pick them up. Then they will fly off with this load of food to feed their chicks in the nest. Be in touch with these tremendous forces of nature at work in this little bird.

 

This is all the creative hand of God. Each living creature is being moved by the hand of God. Creation was not something that happened a long time ago. You are sitting in it. It is happening was you watch.

 

Now, pay attention to your heart. How much love and joy has been elicited by this tiny exercise?

 

Only if you begin from your heart will you ever move to care for the earth. Only if your heart is active will you hear the call of the earth for sustainability. 

 

You will only fight for what you love. Sustaining the earth must come from your heart.

 

 

CARE FOR THE EARTH IS PART OF OUR FAITH

 

For the past sixty years scientists and people who are in close connection with the earth have been warning us about the collapse of the world’s ecosystem. We are heating the atmosphere by our excessive burning of carbons, the soil and rivers are being poisoned by chemicals dumped into them and we  are losing the biodiversity of the animal and plant species of the world.  

 

Christians have been seriously challenged that their very religion allows humanity to exploit and cast off  the benefits of creation. In other words: use, abuse and throw away!

 

These serious challenges put serious Christian people to go back and examine the roots of their faith. The first thing they concluded was that all creation is a gift. Humanity is only one part of the gift. Humankind is meant to steward the gift of the earth but never abuse it like a piece of property that they throw away after it has served the purpose humans had for it. Stewardship is very different from ownership.

 

This reawakening of the original relationship that humanity was to have with the earth came to a head in the publication by Pope Francis of the encyclical, ‘Laudato si,’ (2015). This was not the official church teacher jumping on the bandwagon of ‘save the planet’ but the maturing of a much more authentic Christian understanding of the place of humanity and our relationship with all living things. 

 

This process has happened many times before in the history of Christianity. There were very serious problems in the past and we went back to the roots. What are our essential Christiaan values? What does the teachings of our faith have to offer us as preserve our planet?

 

First of all, it is our common home. Human beings are placed in relationship with everything else that lives and moves. Just as we see each human being as the very gift of God; so too, we must see every living creature (no matter how small) as the gift of God. We are sisters and brothers of all living things and they sisters and brothers to us. The earth looks very different when you see it as one glorious, inter-connected family.

 

Humanity has been given the task of working and tilling the earth. We are only stewards who are meant to bring the potential of the earth for the use of human beings and to develop and protect the potential of the earth for all living creatures. 

 

On this issue, humanity has failed so many times. We used the soil and the waters up, leaving huge patches of the earth to become deserts. We exploited the soils and the waters and left huge areas  empty for our grandchildren.

 

Our faith and the work of scientists challenges us to use the power and the riches of the earth to be fruitful and productive for all future generations. We must stand beside our productive farm -and in the Canadian prairies (and American prairies) and say: Now, we can nourish this land/soil so that it will produce food for the next thousand years. 

 

Care for the earth (in our prayer and our worship) is not just some fancy add-on. This responsibility is rooted deep in the holy Scriptures and our spirituality. We are only in the process of re-discovering what was always there. The crisis of a warming climate has only provoked us to re-discover what was always there in the first place.