Using Technology

I've been doing some exploring with Google Documents and believe we can share information like meeting minutes and longer documents like sermons or Wedding Policies so that the posts don't get excessively long.

As a test, minutes from the December meeting of the Unified Board of Trinity United should be found here.

Little Things that Can Make a Difference

The heavier plastic of milk bags (the outer bag of a 4L package) and LCBO bags can be used to make sleeping mats for people in South America and Africa. Bring these plastic bags to church and they will be re-used to help the environment and help people in developing countries.

In the same vein, Trinity United is gathering old prescription eyeglasses for the Lions' service club. The glasses will be distributed in developing countries.

The needs of the hungry don't abate with the change of the calendar. Appin United will continue to receive non-perishable food donations for the local Food Bank.

sermon excerpts: "Sabbath Past: A Historic Commandment"

Genesis 2: 1-3; Exodus 20: 8-11

Why does it take so much effort for our day and age to remember the Sabbath? We can blame Sunday shopping, sports practices, the NFL, the multiverse of the Internet, or the moral decay of the social fabric, but when it comes right down to it, Sabbath is about choice. We decide what we do with our time and it speaks volumes about us.

If we look to the original practitioners of Sabbath, those of the Jewish faith, we see that to observe Sabbath takes a lot of work. No fires could be lit, no food prepared, no money spent. Anything not done in time, was left undone. Recreation, feasting, worship, delight in creation, in one another (especially blessed is the act of love-making which carries with it a double blessing in the Bible). This was to be time spent with family and friends.

However, as a result of 16th century religious reform, Sabbath practices became more obsessed with things not to do. In an effort to focus on the holy and sanctified, all that was ordinary and profane was prohibited. So we have the stories of children unable to play on Sunday, of somber and dour days of sitting still and behaving.

The true spirit of Sabbath was rest and nurture for our spirits, for God’s creation which includes the greater human family. So we are called to abstain from pursuits that would distract us from such a focus like commerce, work, worry, even sadness and mourning. These admonitions should not overshadow the fact that the Sabbath is a delight.

Rabbi Abraham Heschel refers to Jewish scholarship when he imagines God speaking to us with the instructions:
Call the Sabbath a delight: a delight to the soul and a delight to the body. Since there are so many acts which one must abstain from doing on the seventh day, “you might think I have given you the Sabbath for your displeasure; I have surely given you the Sabbath for your pleasure.” To sanctify the seventh day does not mean: Thou shalt mortify thyself, but on the contrary: Thou shalt sanctify it with all thy heart with all they soul and with all thy senses. “Sanctify the Sabbath by choice meals, by beautiful garments; delight your soul with pleasure and I will reward you for this very pleasure." (The Sabbath. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2005. pp 18-19)

Admittedly, Sabbath is a little understood or appreciated phenomenon in our society of high achievers and workaholics. It begins at the beginning, in the first days of existence, when time and space first began. After all the work of creation had been set into motion, (whether by literal creationistic powers or by virtue of a theoretical Big Bang is not important to me), after 6 days of labour, God rested. It was to be a holy time, a holy day, a recognition of our spiritual need for rest and rejuvenation.

Something else happened: God blesses Day 7. This does not happen for the other days of the week. Yes, God approves of what was created on those days, blessing humanity, and the living creatures of all kinds. God saw that all of it was good, but makes a point of blessing and hallowing the seventh day itself.

Again from, Rabbi Heschel (p. 20): Creation was not “finished” after 6 days of labour. Sure, there was light and land, flora and fauna, men and women, but the universe was missing something. The verse states, “on the seventh day God completed creation. So what was missing? Menuha. We simply translate it as “rest” but like so many rich Hebrew words, it means that much more. “Tranquility, serenity, peace and repose.” In later times, it came to mean “life in the world to come; eternal life”.

The fact that God gets to Day 7 and says, “There we go! I’m done; this is good enough. Time for a break.” I’m sure it would have been tempting for God to fidget and fuss with the creation that took so much time. I mean it would be something that you want to get right. What about tilting the earth’s axis another half-degree? Or setting the moon a kilometer closer? Why not make the platypus look more natural?

I’m one who is always fiddling with my work – what about changing the phrasing of this sentence, or moving this point over here? Especially when I’m working with a multi-media presentation with graphics and slides, if I don’t watch myself hours could go by with me fretting about colour and size of font or placement of an image.

This Sabbath lesson bears remembering during the upcoming season of Church annual meetings and seeking people to sit on committees, to take leadership roles and engage in the work of the church. It would be unfortunate if being part of a community of worship became a chore and a source of resentment rather than inspiration and nurture. Are there places where we can take a break and say, “that’s good enough for now”?

I see elements of Sabbath in what we do here: gathering of community, shared company in worship and fellowship over refreshments. Yet, it doesn’t seem to connect with the wider population. While this maybe a symptom of our Sabbath-less society, we’ve also admit that church could do to be more appealing to our spirits.

... Once more from Rabbi Heschel (p. 76): “In the language of the Bible the world was brought into being in the six days of creation, yet its survival depends upon the holiness of the seventh day. Great are the laws that govern the processes of nature. Yet without holiness there would be neither greatness nor nature.” Amen.

sermon excerpts: "A Walk in the Dark"

We often cast light and dark as opposites like good and evil. When we talk about a life of faith, following God’s commandments and we speak of being people of the light. Seeking the light that brings justice to hidden things, letting our light shine, and Christ is the light of the world: these are all appropriate images.

But there is value in the dark. It doesn’t have to necessarily be evil. The absence of light does not equal the absence of good. Rest and recuperation happen with sleep, healing and dreaming happen in the dark. Sometimes the harsh brightness of day is too much and we need the security and sanctuary of darkness to gather our strength.

I imagine for the wise men, there was a comfort in traveling in the dark. In the light of day, the prospect of traveling to a strange land, with strange customs, and strange language would be overwhelming to say the least. These learned scholars and adventurers pinpointed a star in the Israelite sky that simplified their task. Follow the star.

The fact that they could only journey during the night, when the star is visible, changed their priorities. In the darkness, the task of finding the king of the Jews in a strange kingdom, becomes instead, finding their way to the next morning. There could be no temptation to push through and take shortcuts. It was a very much a time of one step at a time. In the dark of night, things are simpler. Follow that star.

With the long winter nights, we need not be afraid of the dark, of the unknown that it brings. In the dark times of life, we find the blessing in the way our priorities shift. Suddenly we know with brilliant clarity, what is most important to us. The darkness blocks out distraction and danger, so that we become aware of who we are and what we are doing and where we are going.

The wise men paid attention to their dreams, avoiding Herod on the return home. It is in the times of sleep and rest that God’s call can reach our subconscious and speak to our spirits. When we are quiet and still, having turned off all distraction and worry, God’s presence surrounds us with love and care and compassion.

In all of these ways, the darkness is like the love the God. Comforting and protective, calling us forward to the promise of light. Whatever our situation, we take one step at a time, one night at a time, so that, like the wise men, we find ourselves closer to fulfilling our purpose.

Here, Jesus is moved off centre stage for a moment and other characters have a chance to shine. It is a reminder that the New Testament isn’t just about Christ, but about those that would seek him and follow him and worship him. Already, as a toddler, he is breaking boundaries of culture and class and religion.

For us, centuries later, as a community of faith that seeks to follow and worship him, we face the dark and cloudy task of figuring out how to be a successful church in this day and age. The path to finding an answer to this question seems slim and distant. But it bears remembering that we are not going to solve all the problems in one night. It will take time, effort and persistence. One step at a time.

We’ve learned at an early age to be afraid of the dark. Let us instead, with the wise men, journey ahead into the darkness and receive the blessings that are there. We’ll dream our dreams; find strength and energy to face what the morning brings. We move onward, step by step, to finding the presence of the Christ alive and waiting the gifts that we bring: our faith, our determination, our fears and our hopes – the gift of ourselves. In the blessed comfort of night, by the bright energy of day, we are not alone. We live in God’s world. Thanks be to God. Amen.