Wednesday Wondering - July 3, 2024

Scripture

Isaiah 58: 9 – 11 

9    Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;

    you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.

    If you remove the yoke from among you,

    the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,

10    if you offer your food to the hungry

    and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,

    then your light shall rise in the darkness

    and your gloom be like the noonday.

11    The LORD will guide you continually,

    and satisfy your needs in parched places,

    and make your bones strong;

    and you shall be like a watered garden,

    like a spring of water,

    whose waters never fail.

Reflection

We have just finished celebrating Canada Day. It is a day when many celebrate the pride that they have in being Canadian, and the pride they have in our country. I also think that it is a time for some honest reflection about ourselves and our world. I have been wondering lately about the state of the world in which we live. It almost seems as if we are on a downward spiral these days. We know that things are challenging, but it is almost as if they are becoming more challenging. There are so many struggling and it seems as if those in power are only concerned about keeping that power and playing to the fears and prejudices of their bases. That leaves many marginalized to become even more marginalized. Yet that seems to be where we are right now. What are we to do?

I chose this reading from Isaiah because it gives some hope in the midst of the challenges of the world. In this particular section of Isaiah the prophet is addressing a community that finds itself in the midst of conflict. The people of Israel have forgotten the promises that they had made to God and were not fulfilling those promises. Isaiah is reminding them of who they are supposed to be and although this scripture was written almost 700 years before the birth of Jesus we, 2700 years later, still need to hear these words. How often in our world today has there been the pointing of fingers and the speaking of evil? One just has to look at the news or social media and we see many who immediately point the finger at others, speaking evil, hurtful things about those with whom they disagree. 

Not only is there finger pointing and in many ways scapegoating, where all of society’s problems, the world’s problems, are blamed on an already marginalized, identifiable group, but people are always blaming others for the problems we are facing. Add to this the world’s call that everything needs to be about “me.” This leaves the world in a state of disconnect and brokenness. That does not even begin to recognize the number of people in this world who find themselves lost, alone, and hungry. Isaiah spoke to the people about a light rising in the darkness, we are called, as Christians, to be that light in the darkness, to be the light which arises in the  midst of these challenging times.

We are called to follow God so that we can become those that bring water to the parched places of the world. Isaiah was challenging the people of this time to do something new, to repair that which separated people from each other and from God, to be repairers of the breach and the call echoes through the ages to us today. This is the time, as we each journey in our faith, walking with Jesus, that we begin to embody our faith in our actions and in doing do we become those who repair the broken places in our own lives and in the lives of those around us. Let us find a new way of being community, where we can bring water to parched lives, both our own and those in the world around us. This is the work of Christ, this is holy work, and it is work that we are called to each and every day. 

I wonder if we will journey with God on a journey to repair our lives and the world, will we answer as was answered in Isaiah 6: 8 “8Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”  One of my favourite hymn in Voices United is number 509 “I, the Lord of Sea and Sky” which speaks to me today deeply “I, the Lord of sea and sky, I have heard my people cry. All who dwell in deepest sin my hand will save. I who made the stars of night, I will make their darkness bright. Who will bear my light to them? Whom shall I send?” Who shall God send to repair the brokenness of our lives and the world? Will it be you?

Prayer

Here I am Lord. Is it I Lord? Loving God help me to hear you call to me to be your light bearer in the world. Lead me in the holy work of repairing the brokenness of not only my own life but also the world around me. You know that there is so much need, help me to rely on your strength, your love, your mercy, and your compassion as we do this work together. We pray in name of the one with whom we walk, your son Jesus. Amen

Peace and blessings,

Rev. Patrick Woodbeck

Minister

Gordon-King Memorial United (The Big Red Church)/ Grey Street United

Wednesday Wondering - June 19, 2024

Scripture

Isaiah 40: 31

31    but those who hope in the LORD shall renew their strength,

    they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

    they shall run and not be weary,

    they shall walk and not faint.

Reflection

I have been wondering about hope in our world today. I think that it is a rare and challenging commodity these days. What gives us hope? What might we actually hope for, or in? What does it actually mean for us to hope? I sometimes wonder about some or all of these questions. Our world seems to be so harsh and it appears as if so many don’t have hope.

The verse from Isaiah is an interesting verse of scripture because in one translation it is written as I posted, “but those who hope in the Lord” while another translation has this verse written, “but those who wait for the Lord.” To hope in the Lord, or to wait for the Lord, are these the same things? In some ways author Lemony Snicket actually pulls these two concepts together when they wrote, “Strange as it may seem I still hope for the best, even though the best, like an interesting piece of mail, so rarely arrives, and even when it does it can be lost so easily.” In this quote, from Lemony Snicket, we see that it could be hope which we wait for in our lives.  As I asked previously, what does it mean to hope for something? What is it that we hope for in our lives today? In some ways to hope for something is really to wait on that something and this is a very difficult place for many of us in today’s world. To hope is to know that that which we hope for has not yet come and we wait for it to arrive in our lives. For someone like me that is a challenge, to wait, to not really know when that which is hoped for, that thing which we are waiting for will ever come to us. I like to know when things are going to happen and living in the midst of the unknown can be challenging and can be a difficult place to live, yet in many ways that is what we are called to do.

We place our hope in God, and in doing so we know that we are challenged to wait for the coming of God to our world today, but it is not just a passive action of waiting, it is a challenge for us to live into that hope. We often understand that this concept of waiting is something that we passively do in our lives. We might sit and wait for a bus, or for a ride to arrive. We might wait for the mail or for a package to be delivered. It all sounds very sedentary to us. But what if the idea of hope and waiting have an active component that we might not have considered.

I wonder if this idea of waiting can become an action that one takes and it becomes a process whereby one waited for something, or hoped for something, by living as if that hope has been realized. I know it sounds challenging, but this reading from Isaiah speaks to me deeply of this idea. We are to hope in the coming of God’s world, of God’s presence in our lives, and yet how do we actually do that? If we look at this same passage from the other translation we might say that we are to wait for the coming of God’s world, we are to wait on God’s presence in our lives. So, I wonder if we are called to live as if that hope has already been realized, and when we do, we find that this hope in God’s presence can and does lift us up. We find that in the midst of that hope for God, that waiting for God, we might just actually find the presence of God, that presence that sustains us when things are challenging. That presence of God that comforts us in our sorrow. That presence of God that has and continues to journey with us in times of joy and times of sorrow. It is in the hoping, the waiting, that we might actually find that which we hope and wait for in our lives.

Prayer

God of Hope, we come before you today knowing that sometimes waiting is not something that we do well. Help us to see that in waiting for you, we enter into a place of hope and in that place we might just find you. Help us to open our hearts, our souls, and our minds to your coming into our lives and the world. Help us to be present in this day and in waiting and hoping for you, feel you coming towards us in those small ways that we sometimes miss. We ask this through Jesus, God with us. Amen.

Wednesday Wondering - June 12, 2024

Psalm 56: 8

“You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.”

Isaiah 26: 3

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”

Reflection

It is one of the most challenging seasons of the year, construction season. It is the time of year when I think that, for the even the best of us, our patience is tested by all of the lane closures, detours, and traffic snarls, that we have to deal with. I must say that I have a great deal of empathy for my partner as they have to sit in the passenger seat of our vehicle while I navigate the mess of traffic in this city. I have wondered how they actually do this, but then again I have noticed that they tend to get very quiet as we drive through and my anger flares. It is easy to blame the traffic, and construction season for my anger, but I know that that is not really the case. I wonder about anger quite often. I wonder about where my anger comes from but if I really think about it I know the truth of the matter. 

C.S. Lewis is quoted as saying, “I sat with my anger long enough until she told me her real name was grief.” When I reread this quote the other day it really hit me. I know they say that there are five common stages of grief; denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. I also know that these stages are in no way linear, they don’t just come around once, but we move in and through these over and over. For some of us, we seem to sometimes get stuck in one or the other of these stages. I seem to quite often be in anger. I understand that we have dealt with a lot of grief in our life, as a family. I also understand that, for the most part, I have processed through a lot of grief, I have healed from a lot of grief, yet I find myself quite often back at anger. But I also know that grief is not something that goes away, it is always with us. So often in the world people tell us to ‘get over it’ or too ‘move on.’ What are we supposed to ‘get over,’ what are we supposed too ‘move on’ to? That is not the way that grief works, we might begin to move forward but we don’t ever get over it or move on from it, we learn to live with it. I once read that our hearts build scar tissue over our brokenness, from grief, but it never goes away, we just learn to live again with it. I believe this to be true. 

I have been wondering though about anger and how we often think of grief as tied to loss and death. I think that there is much more to grief. Grief comes from unfulfilled dreams. Grief can come from change that is not understood. Grief can come from broken relationships, unkind words, and challenging family dynamics, grief comes in many forms, from many different places. From all of this grief, anger can surface. Yet, in many ways we have been conditioned to hide our anger and our grief. The world struggles to make sense of grief in another, we don’t know that words to say, so we default to the platitudes mentioned above. 

I have been thinking about my grief and my anger. I have lost some important people in my life and I recognize that they are not here to see important milestones in the life of our family and that makes me angry. I am angry at them for leaving too soon. I am angry at God that they were taken away from us all. Sometimes I am just angry, but when I read the quote from C.S. Lewis I see that that anger is intimately tied to my grief. Jessica Lusk Dennis, in her reflection on grief speaks to it using an image of a race car driver, “This vicious, yet breathtakingly beautiful grief journey reminds me of a race car on a track. Going around and around. Fast. Breaking for an oil change and tire change. Then off again at full speed. People cheering on the outside, waving their hands in approval. But they can’t see inside of the car. They can’t see the sweat dripping off the racer’s brow. They can’t feel his heart beating with fear and excitement. They don’t see what’s happening behind the wheel. They only see the outside. I only see what you choose to show on the outside. You only see what I choose to show on the outside. We won’t always see one another’s brokenness. We won’t always see one another’s fears and sadness.”

The reading from Psalm 56 speaks to grief and sadness. It speaks to the tears that we cry, when we are alone and when we are with others, and it speaks to the understanding the God knows, understands, feels, each and every one of our tears. It can comfort us to know that in our grief, God is with us. To know that each one of our tears is seen by God. The verse from Isaiah, then speaks to the comfort that is found in God. When we allow ourselves to trust in the presence of God with us in all the moments of out lives. To trust that God is with us in the times of celebration, but also in the times of sorrow and grief, in the times of anger. Although the reading from Isaiah does speak to God’s presence it speaks to something more, it speaks to trusting in God’s presence. So, when I get angry, when I sit with my anger long enough that she tells me her name is grief, I will trust in God. I will trust in God’s presence with at those times. I will trust.

Prayer

God of all eternity, be with us. Help us to trust in your presence at all times in our lives. Give us the courage to sit with our anger long enough to hear it call itself grief. Give the wisdom to give ourselves grace in the challenging times of life. Give us the patience with ourselves and others, knowing that we each deal with the grief of life in our ways, and our own time. We ask this in the name of Love Incarnate, your son, Jesus. Amen.