Matthew 6:26-33 (Good News Translation)
26 Look at the birds: they do not plant seeds, gather a harvest and put it in barns; yet your Father in heaven takes care of them! Aren't you worth much more than birds?
27 Can any of you live a bit longer by worrying about it?
28 “And why worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow: they do not work or make clothes for themselves.
29 But I tell you that not even King Solomon with all his wealth had clothes as beautiful as one of these flowers.
30 It is God who clothes the wild grass—grass that is here today and gone tomorrow, burned up in the oven. Won't he be all the more sure to clothe you? What little faith you have!
31 “So do not start worrying: ‘Where will my food come from? or my drink? or my clothes?’
32 Your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things.
1 John 3:1-3 (The Message)
What great love God has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are. But that’s also why the world doesn’t recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he’s up to.
2-3 But friends, that’s exactly who we are: children of God. And that’s only the beginning. Who knows how we’ll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we’ll see him—and in seeing him, become like him. All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus’ life as a model for our own.
26 Look at the birds: they do not plant seeds, gather a harvest and put it in barns; yet your Father in heaven takes care of them! Aren't you worth much more than birds?
27 Can any of you live a bit longer by worrying about it?
28 “And why worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow: they do not work or make clothes for themselves.
29 But I tell you that not even King Solomon with all his wealth had clothes as beautiful as one of these flowers.
30 It is God who clothes the wild grass—grass that is here today and gone tomorrow, burned up in the oven. Won't he be all the more sure to clothe you? What little faith you have!
31 “So do not start worrying: ‘Where will my food come from? or my drink? or my clothes?’
32 Your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things.
1 John 3:1-3 (The Message)
What great love God has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are. But that’s also why the world doesn’t recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he’s up to.
2-3 But friends, that’s exactly who we are: children of God. And that’s only the beginning. Who knows how we’ll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we’ll see him—and in seeing him, become like him. All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus’ life as a model for our own.
Reflection
Last week I talked about stories: our stories, other people’s stories, Bible stories. How those stories shape us and tell us who we are, they tell us what kind of world we live in, they give us a way to look at our lives and sometimes they give us the opportunity to look at the world in a different way.
Our scripture passage today is unique view of the way Jesus saw the world. He offered it as a way for his disciples to be in the world – as a generous gift from a loving God, who cares about each and every individual.
“What little faith you have! So do not start worrying ‘Where my food will come from, or my drink, or my clothes. God knows that you need all these things!’”
That’s the attitude he wants the disciples to have, that’s the way Jesus lived his life!
Not so easy for the followers in Jesus’ time and not so easy for us today. We seem to live in a time of anxiety, a time when there is so much to be anxious about – climate change, rising prices of almost everything, COVID, and ….and…
And to all of it Jesus says: “God knows that you need all these things”; food, shelter, clothing, loving relationships, spiritual connection and growth. It’s just hard for us to believe. Why is that?
For some people it’s their experiences. Ryk’s father, like many, served in the armed forces during the Second World War. This week, on Remembrance Day, we will honour and remember those brave men and women who fought, not only in the world wars but in other conflicts and peace keeping operations. They served to protect people, they served to protect us and our way of life, and to uphold the ideals of freedom, justice, equality and democracy.
But many people came back from those wars and engagements changed- by what they saw and what they did, and what they were ordered to do. Ryk’s father trained men to go and fight and as each new batch of men came in he knew he would be sending them out to fight and some would never return, some would return but would be maimed and disfigured, and most would carry the mental and physical scars the rest of their lives.
Ryk’s mother says the war changed her husband and you can see it in the pictures they have; before the war you see a carefree, energetic young man and the later pictures reflect a much harder, more disciplined man. A man, who because of his wartime experience, would try to instill in his sons a toughness and hardness he thought they would need to be successful in the world.
How many lives have been changed because of wars and conflict? How many people still are affected and traumatized by civil unrest and conflicts in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, the Sudan, Yemen, Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Mali, Somalia, Kenya…the list goes on? How many people have experienced the world as a place to be afraid, that people are not to be trusted, that life can be changed in a moment.
And we are not exempt from the anxiety, we are bombarded with news, communities and even the church telling us we must be concerned with climate change, gender diversity, sexual behaviour and harassment, BIPOC, Indigenous justice, famine, old growth logging, …- it’s easy to be overwhelmed. There are so many important issues that require our attention and time and effort in order for change to happen and for the world to be a better place.
Sometimes I realize it’s getting harder to even understand complex, multifaceted issues. I find myself constantly asking myself “ what do I think?”, that is not just a parroting of some news commentator. What questions do I have about certain topics? What biases do I bring with me when I even hear about some issues?
That is to say, I have lots of questions but sometimes I don’t even know if they are the right questions. And I have all kinds of biases – prejudices – prejudgments that I don’t even realize because they influence hos I think, how I frame my questions, without me even realizing it.
So what might that look like? One recent example looks like this: I read a book called “The Woo Woo” a couple of years ago, when it was part of Canada Reads. In it the young woman of Asian ancestry attends UBC where there are like lots of Asian students. Now based on that- just reading that line, and the fact more than 40% of the student population at UBC is of Asian background, that somehow got coupled Asian students who come to Canada, (like the Sino Bright project that was discussed for Powell River) to get an education at the high school level so that they can get into Canadian universities. All of which I had questions about because universities have limited spaces and since education is publically funded to some degree I just think –well, that Canada should be supporting and giving spaces to Canadians – that we should be giving the opportunities to Canadians so that we have highly educated citizens qualifying for those highly paid employment opportunities.
You see, I made this gigantic leap – from a person telling her story as a Canadian to a profit making enterprise. At leas, until someone brought it back down to the human scale for me by telling me they moved so that their children could have a better education. What parent wouldn’t do what they could to help their children achieve their potential.
So I have to confront this bias that unconsciously crept into my thinking – why did I assume Asians looking students were not Canadian, that they were international students who came from families with the funds to afford the higher cost of tuition, that if they benefitted from Canadian education that would somehow take something away from someone else who wasn’t Asian.
Now, I really don’t care how many Asians looking students attend UBC – what I really want is for post secondary education to be free so that more of our young people can attend colleges and university without taking on crippling debt. I want our grandchildren, everyone to be able to afford an education.
It is so easy to confuse things, to just have biases that creep into any judgment I make, anything I say concerning justice, equity or equality, without me even noticing it. You see what I mean, I can’t trust myself. I have to keep examining what I think, I have to keep throwing things out on the table for everyone to look at, I have to hear myself say something (sometimes over and over again) and only then, when I can see what I am saying and doing can I go – “Nope, that’s not what I want to say, that’s not what I really think, - that not who I want to be. That’s not who Jesus is calling me to be”.
So I am thankful when I hear other people’s opinions and questions, other people’s stories and experiences. They open up my world view and let some light in that wasn’t shining before.
In Luke 9:1-3 Jesus tells the disciples to go out and preach and heal:
“When Jesus called the Twelve together he gave them the power
and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases
and he sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
He told them: “Take nothing for the journey- no staff, no bag,
no bread, no money, no extra shirt.”
Now they obviously have all these things otherwise he wouldn’t have had to tell them not to take them. But here is Jesus, saying “Off you go, and oh, by the way you have to rely on God, see what happens. It’s an Adventure!”
When they returned Jesus asks them “When I sent you out without
purse or bag or sandals, did you lack anything?.
“Nothing.” they answered.
So now did Jesus want them never to have anything? – it doesn’t seem so, after all the disciple had houses and families; wives, children, parents. I think it’s more a faith thing, a way of being in the world, a way of trusting the world, a way of trusting God.
Can we see the world as a place we can trust? A place where we don’t have to be afraid. A place where we don’t have to be anxious or worry.
In 1 John 3 we hear: “What a great love God has extended to us – Just look at it – we are called the children of God!” That’s who we really are! Children of God, called to follow Jesus, beloved of God, a God who cares for u and knows our needs.
So what is our world view when we wake up in the morning? Do we wake up and say “Today, I am like the flowers and the birds. Today Jesus is asking me to follow him and not be quite so worried.
What if today we woke and said “Today I really don’t know what is going to happen but I’m not going to be anxious, I’m not going to be afraid, I don’t have to solve all the world’s problems, I don’t have to know all the right answers to everything but… With Jesus as my teacher and guide, today, I am going to open my heart and soften my judgments. Today I am going to live with compassion, today I am going to treat everyone like they are a beloved child of God.
You see what happened there, I know you do! Once I put Jesus in the equation my worldview exploded. It’s not just I am a beloved child of God but, Holy Moses, everyone else is a beloved child of God: friends, enemies, neighbours, Samaritans, tax collectors, scribes, Pharisees.
There are some people who say that Christianity doesn’t make a difference in the world today. But I would say the Christian message, Jesus’ message, makes a world of difference in my life and that makes a difference in the world.
May it be so Amen
Last week I talked about stories: our stories, other people’s stories, Bible stories. How those stories shape us and tell us who we are, they tell us what kind of world we live in, they give us a way to look at our lives and sometimes they give us the opportunity to look at the world in a different way.
Our scripture passage today is unique view of the way Jesus saw the world. He offered it as a way for his disciples to be in the world – as a generous gift from a loving God, who cares about each and every individual.
“What little faith you have! So do not start worrying ‘Where my food will come from, or my drink, or my clothes. God knows that you need all these things!’”
That’s the attitude he wants the disciples to have, that’s the way Jesus lived his life!
Not so easy for the followers in Jesus’ time and not so easy for us today. We seem to live in a time of anxiety, a time when there is so much to be anxious about – climate change, rising prices of almost everything, COVID, and ….and…
And to all of it Jesus says: “God knows that you need all these things”; food, shelter, clothing, loving relationships, spiritual connection and growth. It’s just hard for us to believe. Why is that?
For some people it’s their experiences. Ryk’s father, like many, served in the armed forces during the Second World War. This week, on Remembrance Day, we will honour and remember those brave men and women who fought, not only in the world wars but in other conflicts and peace keeping operations. They served to protect people, they served to protect us and our way of life, and to uphold the ideals of freedom, justice, equality and democracy.
But many people came back from those wars and engagements changed- by what they saw and what they did, and what they were ordered to do. Ryk’s father trained men to go and fight and as each new batch of men came in he knew he would be sending them out to fight and some would never return, some would return but would be maimed and disfigured, and most would carry the mental and physical scars the rest of their lives.
Ryk’s mother says the war changed her husband and you can see it in the pictures they have; before the war you see a carefree, energetic young man and the later pictures reflect a much harder, more disciplined man. A man, who because of his wartime experience, would try to instill in his sons a toughness and hardness he thought they would need to be successful in the world.
How many lives have been changed because of wars and conflict? How many people still are affected and traumatized by civil unrest and conflicts in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, the Sudan, Yemen, Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Mali, Somalia, Kenya…the list goes on? How many people have experienced the world as a place to be afraid, that people are not to be trusted, that life can be changed in a moment.
And we are not exempt from the anxiety, we are bombarded with news, communities and even the church telling us we must be concerned with climate change, gender diversity, sexual behaviour and harassment, BIPOC, Indigenous justice, famine, old growth logging, …- it’s easy to be overwhelmed. There are so many important issues that require our attention and time and effort in order for change to happen and for the world to be a better place.
Sometimes I realize it’s getting harder to even understand complex, multifaceted issues. I find myself constantly asking myself “ what do I think?”, that is not just a parroting of some news commentator. What questions do I have about certain topics? What biases do I bring with me when I even hear about some issues?
That is to say, I have lots of questions but sometimes I don’t even know if they are the right questions. And I have all kinds of biases – prejudices – prejudgments that I don’t even realize because they influence hos I think, how I frame my questions, without me even realizing it.
So what might that look like? One recent example looks like this: I read a book called “The Woo Woo” a couple of years ago, when it was part of Canada Reads. In it the young woman of Asian ancestry attends UBC where there are like lots of Asian students. Now based on that- just reading that line, and the fact more than 40% of the student population at UBC is of Asian background, that somehow got coupled Asian students who come to Canada, (like the Sino Bright project that was discussed for Powell River) to get an education at the high school level so that they can get into Canadian universities. All of which I had questions about because universities have limited spaces and since education is publically funded to some degree I just think –well, that Canada should be supporting and giving spaces to Canadians – that we should be giving the opportunities to Canadians so that we have highly educated citizens qualifying for those highly paid employment opportunities.
You see, I made this gigantic leap – from a person telling her story as a Canadian to a profit making enterprise. At leas, until someone brought it back down to the human scale for me by telling me they moved so that their children could have a better education. What parent wouldn’t do what they could to help their children achieve their potential.
So I have to confront this bias that unconsciously crept into my thinking – why did I assume Asians looking students were not Canadian, that they were international students who came from families with the funds to afford the higher cost of tuition, that if they benefitted from Canadian education that would somehow take something away from someone else who wasn’t Asian.
Now, I really don’t care how many Asians looking students attend UBC – what I really want is for post secondary education to be free so that more of our young people can attend colleges and university without taking on crippling debt. I want our grandchildren, everyone to be able to afford an education.
It is so easy to confuse things, to just have biases that creep into any judgment I make, anything I say concerning justice, equity or equality, without me even noticing it. You see what I mean, I can’t trust myself. I have to keep examining what I think, I have to keep throwing things out on the table for everyone to look at, I have to hear myself say something (sometimes over and over again) and only then, when I can see what I am saying and doing can I go – “Nope, that’s not what I want to say, that’s not what I really think, - that not who I want to be. That’s not who Jesus is calling me to be”.
So I am thankful when I hear other people’s opinions and questions, other people’s stories and experiences. They open up my world view and let some light in that wasn’t shining before.
In Luke 9:1-3 Jesus tells the disciples to go out and preach and heal:
“When Jesus called the Twelve together he gave them the power
and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases
and he sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
He told them: “Take nothing for the journey- no staff, no bag,
no bread, no money, no extra shirt.”
Now they obviously have all these things otherwise he wouldn’t have had to tell them not to take them. But here is Jesus, saying “Off you go, and oh, by the way you have to rely on God, see what happens. It’s an Adventure!”
When they returned Jesus asks them “When I sent you out without
purse or bag or sandals, did you lack anything?.
“Nothing.” they answered.
So now did Jesus want them never to have anything? – it doesn’t seem so, after all the disciple had houses and families; wives, children, parents. I think it’s more a faith thing, a way of being in the world, a way of trusting the world, a way of trusting God.
Can we see the world as a place we can trust? A place where we don’t have to be afraid. A place where we don’t have to be anxious or worry.
In 1 John 3 we hear: “What a great love God has extended to us – Just look at it – we are called the children of God!” That’s who we really are! Children of God, called to follow Jesus, beloved of God, a God who cares for u and knows our needs.
So what is our world view when we wake up in the morning? Do we wake up and say “Today, I am like the flowers and the birds. Today Jesus is asking me to follow him and not be quite so worried.
What if today we woke and said “Today I really don’t know what is going to happen but I’m not going to be anxious, I’m not going to be afraid, I don’t have to solve all the world’s problems, I don’t have to know all the right answers to everything but… With Jesus as my teacher and guide, today, I am going to open my heart and soften my judgments. Today I am going to live with compassion, today I am going to treat everyone like they are a beloved child of God.
You see what happened there, I know you do! Once I put Jesus in the equation my worldview exploded. It’s not just I am a beloved child of God but, Holy Moses, everyone else is a beloved child of God: friends, enemies, neighbours, Samaritans, tax collectors, scribes, Pharisees.
There are some people who say that Christianity doesn’t make a difference in the world today. But I would say the Christian message, Jesus’ message, makes a world of difference in my life and that makes a difference in the world.
May it be so Amen
