Why White Gift Sunday?

It was mentioned that churches often fall into routines and traditions, forgetting the reason why things happen. No, really, it happens!

The question was posed, Why White Gift Sunday? Turning to the internet (so take this information with the requisite grain of salt), the tradition began in 1903 at a Methodist church in Ohio, in the season of Sunday School Christmas concerts and gift exchanges.

Noting the discrepancy in the perceived value and quality of gifts, a Chinese tradition was referenced. From a drama written by United Churcher, Joan Berge in Bright, ON: "All the people gave their king a gift wrapped in plain white paper so that each one would look the same. Then no one could make comparisons. Each family gave what it was able to give, and the king accepted them all."

Verifiably true, or not, it "presents" a nice story. For the full drama script, click here.

Remember to bring donations for the Food Bank on Sunday (Trinity is worshipping at St. John's Anglican, 11:15 a.m.), and to support the foster children sponsored by the Sunday Schools with monetary donations in white envelopes marked with "Foster Child". Also, for Appin United, a request of hats and mitts/gloves is being made. See you then.

Meeting Notes from Official Board

A presentation was made to MariLynn Fraleigh, former Charge Secretary, in thanks and recognition of her 18 years of ministry in that position.

The Pastoral Charge budget for 2008 was approved.

The churches will offer to host a group of university-aged youth from South Korea at the end of January, beginning of February 2008. A friend of mine, who works (through the Mission and Service Fund) as the chaplain for Hanshin University in Seoul, is bringing a group of students on a mission trip to southwestern Ontario. The Official Board agreed that our churches offer host this group of 15 people through billeting and transportation; the details have yet to be finalized, more information will come as it's available.

A revised pastoral charge cost-sharing ratio of 38% Appin, 62% Trinity (to be in effect for 2009), will be presented and discussed at each congregation's Annual Meeting.

That's all that stands out for me as "highlights" of the meeting; anyone else with something to share?

Meeting Notes from Presbytery

Apart from overseeing the usual comings and goings of what's going on with churches and ministers in the area, a few items of note:

Division of World Outreach
• Appeal for specific help and support for new refugees has yielded few responses. Gloves, hats and scarves needed at Cross Cultural Learning Centre (505 Dundas St. London)
• Proposed exchange with Mozambique in the new year: invitation from the Christian Council of Mozambique seeking a long term partnering of the people of both churches, in faith and justice. People from each Presbytery desired for a 14-day trip planned August 2008 for 10(?) people, seeking pastors, youth and women. Information will be posted on Conference website. Applications due January 15, each participant required to provide own funding $4500.

Mission and Service Fund
• Mission and Service pledge forms sent directly to the pastoral charge by General Council Office, instead of through a local facilitator
• Concern expressed at this change of procedure, a letter will be sent by Presbytery

New Business
• Feasibility of Major Funding Campaign ($200 million for Mission and Service, local churches, overseas ministry) questionnaire sent out to ministers.
• UWO Chaplaincy update: seeking input from pastoral charges for students attending UWO and/or passing along her email; seeking to speak to churches about the work she’s doing
• Implementation of Centralized Payroll expected to be delayed, pending evaluation of Saskatchewan’s experience
• United Church considering denominational self-insurance program, 25% savings possible, report in 2008 (likely a $50 000 deductible, requiring 100% church participation)

for your personal reflection: Isaiah 2. 1-5

The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

In days to come the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it.

Many peoples shall come and say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.'

For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!

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What feelings, questions, thoughts and prompts to personal action arise from this scripture? Share them as Comments below or in an email!

sermon excerpts: "Another Day in Paradise"

(Colossians 1: 11-20; Luke 23: 33-43)

...What really is paradise? This the only place in the Bible that Jesus speaks of paradise. And we wonder what exactly he means. In some cultures, paradise is different from heaven; in others, they’re one and the same.

Being the word nerd that I am, I did some research on the origins of the word. We trace it back to ancient Persia, modern day Iran, and the word pairi-daiza refers to a royal garden closed in by high walls. In a time and place where any land that could grow anything would be used for crops and food, it was closely guarded luxury to have flower gardens for show. Only a king could afford such a pairi-daiza.

From this understanding comes the English word “paradise”. And the effect of using such a word is not lost. By inviting someone to paradise, to the royal garden, Jesus is as much saying that he is a king himself. Whether this is reference to Eden or to some other mystical, spiritual wonderland, is less important than the invitation itself.

... We know that on the cross, Jesus is mocked, insulted and attacked by the crowd that had gathered. A death row criminal, the man hanging on a cross beside him, is the only one who defends him. Crucifixion is horrid and cruel, using the body weight of the victim to slowly suffocate himself. It is appalling and frightening to consider how creative and innovative we can be in our cruelty. How unwilling we are to hear someone’s story, to offer compassion or mercy. How easily we go along with the crowd.

Just because a group of people gather in one place does not make a community. The mob mentality at the cross is not how true community conducts itself. A genuine community invites difference and seeks to understand. We need dissenting opinions to keep us honest.

Such is the kingdom of Christ, where everyone and all opinions are welcome. Yet, we hold onto our human idea that a king rules from on high with absolute power and might and authority. The writer to the Colossians marvels at the strength and magnificence of the Cosmic Christ, almighty and all-powerful. While all this praise and glory may be true and well-deserved, it distracts us from the nature of Christian living, humble and serving others.

The aim of such a life is that we would know peace and offer it to those around us. “The peace of Christ be with you. / And also with you.” We know what to say, but are we clear on what we mean? The promise of peace is given. What really is peace?

It could mean tranquility or lack of conflict or violence. Although overpowering military might could be part of the picture such as the peace that was enforced by the Roman Empire. Or ask the people of Afghanistan how much they liked the peace administered by the Taliban, or Iraqis about the peace granted by Saddam Hussein ...

The peace of Christ would stir us up to engage the powers of oppression, to speak out against the crowd. The peace of Christ might very well cause us to abandon our comfortable, serene worldview and work for hopeless cases. The peace of Christ is a dangerous thing, especially when we wish it upon others.

... I’m not sure what the peace of Christ feels like. I do cling to the belief that God’s kingdom is a better place. I know that paradise is a place of honour and fruitfulness, where we would know the satisfaction that every good possibility is fulfilled, and all people have comfort, care and value.

Such is the intended reign of Christ, ushered into existence by suffering and pain into this broken world, so that we may look forward to a better way. But it wouldn’t stop there: we would also be spurred into action and resolve to reach out to others, to give voice to our faith. The peace of Christ is actually a difficult way of living: it means speaking against the crowd, confronting evil and hatred, risking ridicule and insult.

This is the kingdom we uphold on this day of Christ as king. In our preparations for Christmas, we’ll remember that it’s not the arrival of the little baby Jesus we work towards. It is the arrival of a faith-filled belief in the creative goodness of humanity, the path of Christ that we follow. In the coming season of Advent, we are readying ourselves and this world for a reign of peace and paradise that requires hard work and hard decisions. So we journey towards a vision of our crosses empty and unused, where every baby bassinet is filled. Let this be our hope.

New Carpet

I'm sure you'll see it on Sunday anyway, but here's the new carpet in the sanctuary of Trinity:

I won't tell you to wipe your feet; enjoy it - it's supposed to be stepped on!

Regional Rural Discussion

At the follow-up meeting to a September meeting of Kerwood-Cairngorm, Melbourne-North Ekfrid, Wardsville-Cairo and Glencoe-Appin pastoral charges, we reviewed some of the discussion and ideas presented earlier.

Some new suggestions were made: a regional Habitat for Humanity project; a pre-long weekend service or a Christmas Eve Eve worship; regional support for "The Swell"; region-wide interest/social groups (i.e., hobbies, sports and crafting groups); or a regional AOTS/Men's group. We assessed which of the ideas were regional, which were for pastoral charges or individual churches and which were beyond our scope.

While there were many good suggestions made, I shared a concern that few of them attempted to reach out to those unconnected with our churches. It seemed we were coming up with different ways of doing the same thing for the same people - "preaching to the choir" as it were.

Ultimately, it was decided that we'd look into a shared advertising "campaign" using the Emerging Spirit material and investigate a regional worship band.

An invitation was extended to join a "(Potluck) Meal & Movie Night" at Melbourne United on Jan. 11 with another regional rural meeting on Jan. 16. The regional rural worship in March will be at Wardsville United and at Melbourne United in June.

for Nov. 25 — Luke 23: 33-43

When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.' And they cast lots to divide his clothing.

And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, 'He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!' The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, 'If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!' There was also an inscription over him, 'This is the King of the Jews.'

One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, 'Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!'

But the other rebuked him, saying, 'Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.' Then he said, 'Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.'

He replied, 'Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.'

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What feelings, questions, thoughts and prompts to personal action arise from this scripture? Share them as Comments below or in an email, and help shape Sunday's worship service.

SMUCKY proving God exists

With the SMUCKY youth group considering the simple question: How do we know that God exists? I went to the powers of the Internet and YouTube and discovered an earnest and impassioned argument by Sean, accounting for the intricacies of the time-space continuum.

There was also the perplexingly fruity demonstration of how bananas prove that God exists.

And the outright satirical: how spittle and the Moonwalk defy gravity, thus disproving scientific inquiry.

The point of these clips being that there is no trick answer that applies to every single person. We need to find our own answer and reasoning why we think God may, or may not, exist. Whether it's the existence of time, bananas or dripping saliva, near-death experiences or the sense of community worship, we have some self-discoveries ahead of us.

We don't know that God exists. That's why we need faith. If there was proof, then our beliefs would not be a matter of choice and personal decision. As always, there are more questions than answers.

sermon excerpts: "From Inside Out"

(Jonah 2:1-10 and Luke 8: 26-39)

Even though I’ve spent years in training and study for the magical letters of “M.Div.” after my name, I very much feel like just a regular person. Despite the fact that there was a laying on of hands and a call to the Holy Spirit during the ordination ceremony when I became a Minister of Word, Sacrament and Pastoral Care, there was no magical jolt of energy or electricity that infused me with supernatural powers of healing, mind reading or exorcism. I’m still just a regular person. I watch too much TV, drink too much coffee and don’t call friends and family as often as I should.

So I take great solace that the great leaders of the Bible were in all ways, very ordinary, regular people. Each person had a weakness and a dark side. Jonah is one of them. ... Jonah’s prayer read this morning comes to us from the belly of a whale. It’s an apt metaphor for the inner struggle that we face when presented with a choice of following God’s call or following our own will. Because, more often than not, those two paths do not flow together.

Jonah feels as far from God as one could possibly get. ... It is an instinct to call out to God in the dark times, anxious for a glimpse of light.

Such was the situation for the demon-possessed man of Gerasene. ... Along comes Christ and everything changes. The power play here is impressive. That Jesus can compel a legion of evil spirits and demons to obey his word is reassuring and frightening at the same time. He succeeds in a place where he should theoretically be at his weakest. ... Yet, he is able to heal or save the man, delivering him from evil. ...

Realizing there was no place for him among the Gerasene people, the healed man attempts to follow Christ. And instead of saying, as he had so many times before, “Come and follow me”, Jesus says, “Stay. Turn back.” So this story is not one of healing but about one’s call to ministry.

Lay ministry is not about lay people standing up to the pulpit and conducting Sunday worship; although, I think that is a notable and important element of a healthy congregation. Lay ministry is about people expressing their faith in their homes, places of work and of leisure. When we live our lives and do what we do in a manner that speaks to our faith, that would be pleasing to God, then we are ministers.

Yes, the church is facing a time of crisis where the prospect of people entering the traditional role of paid accountable ministry is dwarfed by the exodus of ministers due to retirement and advancing age. And so a lot of effort and energy has been directed toward phasing in lay people as de facto ministers. And so we lose sight of what true ministry is.

The adventure doesn’t always lie across the lakes and oceans, where whales and storms wait. We are not all destined for mission work in exotic Third World locales. Sometimes the adventure is right where we are. ... That is the call, to share the peace within that we have here so that it may bloom and grow. This is what the gospel is really about: how to be a minister in your own way, in the place you find yourself, regardless of training or professional qualifications.

Jonah is beating himself up and worried sick about the decision he had to make about following God. The Gerasene man was conflicted inside, not only from the presence of demons, but by the decision afterwards to not follow Christ. Both these ordinary people found peace within.

As surely as Jonah moved from inside the whale to outside the city of Nineveh, or the Gerasene man moved from inside his spiritual turmoil to an outer declaration of faith in Christ, so too will our inner strength express itself in ways and means that go beyond our limits. That is the magnificence and mystery of ministry.

What's in a Name?

Here we go! Glencoe-Appin Pastoral Charge is on-line and plunging into the cyberworld with this weblog, commonly referred to as a "blog".

The biggest hurdle in setting this up was deciding what to call it. I thought about the catchy and intriguing GLAPUNCH (GLencoe APpin UNited CHurches) but settled for the dignified and easy to remember "glencoeappin" for the web address.

Then the computer wanted to know what the title of this blog would be. Stymied to think of anything clever or witty, I turned to an anagram generator and it turns out that the letters of "Glencoe-Appin" are a rich resource for many rearranged words (like "Cleaning Pope" or "caning people" or "a pigpen clone" or numerous other phrases involving "acne"). In the end, "Pen a Long Epic" and the letter-like graphic layout seemed to be most appropriate.

As for my cybername, BuddhaKenji? It's a fusion of East and West (well, maybe the "West" part isn't immediately apparent), where I claim my heritage and blend the richness of the Shinto Buddhist and Christian traditions that make me who I am. You can find more than you care to know about my life and thoughts (and pictures of the kids) on my personal blog.

As for this webpage, I hope to use it to share news and information about events in the life of the church, gather ideas for worship planning, and to be an active and visible presence of the churches in this computerized world.

You can use the "Comments" feature below to respond to what you see posted here. Welcome to this epic; welcome to the story of faith that we are writing together!