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.
Reflection
Stories are important. The stories we tell ourselves, the stories we tell other people, the stories we share in families and are passed down generation to generation.
Our Bible, comes from the Greek biblion for book or scroll, so the Bible, which is a collection of books, is really a whole library full of stories: stories about a people and a God. Our Gospels: stories about Jesus. Our history of Christianity: stories, history of the church: stories, history of this congregation; stories.
We are surrounded by stories, they tell us where we come from, they tell us where we are, they tell us who we are. And all the stories put together give us a picture of the world we live in; or rather they give us a way to look at the world.
For a while now I have been thinking about a world that is growing more secular, at least, in Canada, by the year. I say year because it is like a trickle of water slowly eroding the Christian overlay that has persisted probably since the time of Constantine.
Constantine is the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity
As Constantine contemplated the imminent outbreak of war with Emperor Maxentius in the Spring of 312 AD, he was greatly worried. Maxentius had an experienced army he had led to many victories. He controlled a series of well fortified cities in northern Italy, and had been improving the already significant fortifications of Rome for years.
Constantine decided to invade the Italian peninsula from Gaul. This is no easy task, as he must maintain an elaborate supply chain for his army while leaving behind some troops to defend the Rhine frontier while he is gone. This left him with forces much smaller than that of his enemy. Constantine decides to cross the Alps into the Italian peninsula near Mt. Cénis.
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.
Reflection
Stories are important. The stories we tell ourselves, the stories we tell other people, the stories we share in families and are passed down generation to generation.
Our Bible, comes from the Greek biblion for book or scroll, so the Bible, which is a collection of books, is really a whole library full of stories: stories about a people and a God. Our Gospels: stories about Jesus. Our history of Christianity: stories, history of the church: stories, history of this congregation; stories.
We are surrounded by stories, they tell us where we come from, they tell us where we are, they tell us who we are. And all the stories put together give us a picture of the world we live in; or rather they give us a way to look at the world.
For a while now I have been thinking about a world that is growing more secular, at least, in Canada, by the year. I say year because it is like a trickle of water slowly eroding the Christian overlay that has persisted probably since the time of Constantine.
Constantine is the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity
As Constantine contemplated the imminent outbreak of war with Emperor Maxentius in the Spring of 312 AD, he was greatly worried. Maxentius had an experienced army he had led to many victories. He controlled a series of well fortified cities in northern Italy, and had been improving the already significant fortifications of Rome for years.
Constantine decided to invade the Italian peninsula from Gaul. This is no easy task, as he must maintain an elaborate supply chain for his army while leaving behind some troops to defend the Rhine frontier while he is gone. This left him with forces much smaller than that of his enemy. Constantine decides to cross the Alps into the Italian peninsula near Mt. Cénis.
Constantine’s armies fight their way south until they begin to approach Rome. Then Constantine and his army saw a great cross in the sky. Underneath were written the Greek words en toutoi nika, "In this sign, conquer.”
Constantine not fully understanding the meaning of this vision and praying for an explanation. He dreams of a common Christian symbol, the Greek symbols chi and rho, an X with an R, which looks like a long P, drawn through the middle.
Constantine not fully understanding the meaning of this vision and praying for an explanation. He dreams of a common Christian symbol, the Greek symbols chi and rho, an X with an R, which looks like a long P, drawn through the middle.
The emperor explains the heavenly dream to his army and tells them to make the battle standard that is described, placing the symbol of the "Highest God" on their shields.
Maxentius not knowing about this dream and very confident moves his army to meet Constantine outside the safety of the Rome’s defenses.
Constantine's infantry, many of whom were Christians, decisively win the battle. His cavalry chased the remnants of the enemy's forces across the Tiber River. Maxentius himself was seen to fall from the bridge into the river as his army was retreating and drown due to his heavy armor.
Constantine wins but doesn't know which god has given him this sign in the sky, but that he was so moved by his vision of the cross that he vowed to worship no other God than the one represented to him.
So he begins to seek out others who might help him to learn more about what he has seen. It is known that Bishops regularly traveled with Constantine, Maternus from Cologne, Recticius from Autun, Marinus from Arles, and Ossius from Cordoba. It is likely that these Bishops affirmed to him that Jesus was the only begotten son of God and that the cross he had seen in his vision was a symbol of Jesus' triumph over death.
Constantine devoted himself completely to God, and would from then on immerse himself in the reading of inspired writings. He made the priests of God his close advisers, and believed that it was his duty to honour the God who had appeared to him in his original vision.
In 313 CE the Edict of Milan is signed which grants people the right to worship any god they choose. While pagan cults and traditions remained, Constantine favoured Christians both financially and theologically.
As their supreme patron, Constantine endowed Christians with funds to build their basilicas and to acquire property, returned confiscated property, named Christians to high-ranking offices, and exempted Christian clergy from taxes. In theological support, his position as head of the Church as well as the empire contributed to imperial dictates that promoted Christian unity of belief. A lasting tribute to his support is the Nicene Creed which emerged from the Council of Nicea in 325 CE.
In 380 CE Christianity is made the official religion of the Roman Empire by Theoosius I.
At least that’s the story. It’s continuation is of expanded and contracted empires, kingdoms, principalities, crusades, popes, relics, saints, and then in – well exactly 505 years ago today- Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany.
Maxentius not knowing about this dream and very confident moves his army to meet Constantine outside the safety of the Rome’s defenses.
Constantine's infantry, many of whom were Christians, decisively win the battle. His cavalry chased the remnants of the enemy's forces across the Tiber River. Maxentius himself was seen to fall from the bridge into the river as his army was retreating and drown due to his heavy armor.
Constantine wins but doesn't know which god has given him this sign in the sky, but that he was so moved by his vision of the cross that he vowed to worship no other God than the one represented to him.
So he begins to seek out others who might help him to learn more about what he has seen. It is known that Bishops regularly traveled with Constantine, Maternus from Cologne, Recticius from Autun, Marinus from Arles, and Ossius from Cordoba. It is likely that these Bishops affirmed to him that Jesus was the only begotten son of God and that the cross he had seen in his vision was a symbol of Jesus' triumph over death.
Constantine devoted himself completely to God, and would from then on immerse himself in the reading of inspired writings. He made the priests of God his close advisers, and believed that it was his duty to honour the God who had appeared to him in his original vision.
In 313 CE the Edict of Milan is signed which grants people the right to worship any god they choose. While pagan cults and traditions remained, Constantine favoured Christians both financially and theologically.
As their supreme patron, Constantine endowed Christians with funds to build their basilicas and to acquire property, returned confiscated property, named Christians to high-ranking offices, and exempted Christian clergy from taxes. In theological support, his position as head of the Church as well as the empire contributed to imperial dictates that promoted Christian unity of belief. A lasting tribute to his support is the Nicene Creed which emerged from the Council of Nicea in 325 CE.
In 380 CE Christianity is made the official religion of the Roman Empire by Theoosius I.
At least that’s the story. It’s continuation is of expanded and contracted empires, kingdoms, principalities, crusades, popes, relics, saints, and then in – well exactly 505 years ago today- Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany.
And so begins the Reformation with a protest against the selling of indulgences by the Holy Roman Catholic Church to Christians who desired an easy way into heaven and out of purgatory for themselves and their kin, even the dead ones. Let’s just say it was an easy way for the church, local, as well as, the Pope in Rome, to raise funds.
Luther became especially concerned in 1517 when his parishioners, returning from purchasing indulgences from Johann Tetzel, who was an agent of the Pope (Leo X), who claimed that they no longer needed to repent and change their lives in order to be forgiven of sin. After hearing what Tetzel had said about indulgences in his sermons, Luther began to study the issue more carefully, let’s just say he was not happy with what he found. Hence, the 95 Theses or talking – debating- discussion points that he wanted the church – theologians, bishops, archbishops to well – look at. That’s it; just a really good discussion at which time the church would correct it’s course and go faithfully on its way.
But, we are into the age of the printing press and what Luther saw as limited to academia and clergy, the world got hold of and pamphlets were printed and dispersed. Soon, it was a war of pamphlets, a war of words, and charges of heresy were levelled, the Pope got involved, Luther refused to recant or even be quiet.
The Diet of Worms of 1521 was a formal deliberative assembly of the Holy Roman Empire, called by Emperor Charles V and conducted in the City of Worms. Martin Luther was summoned to the Diet in order to renounce or reaffirm his views in response to a Papal bull of Pope Leo X. In answer to questioning, he defended these views and refused to recant them. At the end of the Diet, the Emperor issued the Edict of Worms, a decree which condemned Luther as "a notorious heretic" and banned citizens of the Empire from propagating his ideas.
Luther was on fire with the Spirit and he was pretty persuasive and garnered the protection of some German princes; who decided that if they had a state church, and therefore control over the administration of the church, (Lutheran, of course) money would no longer disappear from their little fiefdom into the Pope’s coffers.
Nevertheless, Luther became a champion of the people, ordinary people, who were persuaded by Luther that the Church was not necessarily the mediator between people and the divine.
They could read the Bible themselves and interpret it for themselves, especially since Luther thoughtfully and quickly translated it into German. Luther’s emphasis on sola fide or salvation “through faith alone” emphasized the relationship between God and the individual, and that we are forgiven through God’s grace. The worship service was also conducted in the vernacular and hymns were put to the tunes of German beer drinking songs.
This is part of Luther’s story and part of our story as well, by the way, Luther never called his church Lutheran, or Protestant – he called it the Evangelical Church.
Luther became especially concerned in 1517 when his parishioners, returning from purchasing indulgences from Johann Tetzel, who was an agent of the Pope (Leo X), who claimed that they no longer needed to repent and change their lives in order to be forgiven of sin. After hearing what Tetzel had said about indulgences in his sermons, Luther began to study the issue more carefully, let’s just say he was not happy with what he found. Hence, the 95 Theses or talking – debating- discussion points that he wanted the church – theologians, bishops, archbishops to well – look at. That’s it; just a really good discussion at which time the church would correct it’s course and go faithfully on its way.
But, we are into the age of the printing press and what Luther saw as limited to academia and clergy, the world got hold of and pamphlets were printed and dispersed. Soon, it was a war of pamphlets, a war of words, and charges of heresy were levelled, the Pope got involved, Luther refused to recant or even be quiet.
The Diet of Worms of 1521 was a formal deliberative assembly of the Holy Roman Empire, called by Emperor Charles V and conducted in the City of Worms. Martin Luther was summoned to the Diet in order to renounce or reaffirm his views in response to a Papal bull of Pope Leo X. In answer to questioning, he defended these views and refused to recant them. At the end of the Diet, the Emperor issued the Edict of Worms, a decree which condemned Luther as "a notorious heretic" and banned citizens of the Empire from propagating his ideas.
Luther was on fire with the Spirit and he was pretty persuasive and garnered the protection of some German princes; who decided that if they had a state church, and therefore control over the administration of the church, (Lutheran, of course) money would no longer disappear from their little fiefdom into the Pope’s coffers.
Nevertheless, Luther became a champion of the people, ordinary people, who were persuaded by Luther that the Church was not necessarily the mediator between people and the divine.
They could read the Bible themselves and interpret it for themselves, especially since Luther thoughtfully and quickly translated it into German. Luther’s emphasis on sola fide or salvation “through faith alone” emphasized the relationship between God and the individual, and that we are forgiven through God’s grace. The worship service was also conducted in the vernacular and hymns were put to the tunes of German beer drinking songs.
This is part of Luther’s story and part of our story as well, by the way, Luther never called his church Lutheran, or Protestant – he called it the Evangelical Church.
So the United Church of Canada has a story but it is one that is dependant upon it’s founding churches:
The Methodist – John and Charles Wesley’s attempt to reform or revitalize the Church of England in the 1700’s along with George Whitefield. Called Methodist because of the unique method of evangelism which gathered groups of people together for worship and teaching with an emphasis on discipleship or method.
The Presbyterian – John Knox, influenced by Jean Calvin, a French theologian and pastor of the Reformed Church in Geneva, founded the Presbyterian Church of Scotland in the mid-1500’s and was a leader in that country’s reformation. Over half of the Presbyterian Churches in Canada joined the United Church in 1925.
The Congregationalist - Robert Browne (1550–1633) was the first person to set out explicit congregational principles and is considered the founder of Congregationalism. The congregation should choose its own leaders, and the ministers should be ordained by the congregation itself not by bishops or fellow ministers. Each congregation should be founded on a written church covenant.
Of course there is lots more to the story but that is how the story began or where it began or who joined the story in the beginning…
Ryk and I once had the opportunity to dig through some archives that held letters from the years pre-union, letters where people implored other people to risk the opportunity God had set before them, to bring about a church that instead of dividing people and dividing communities brought them together. Some of the letters were eloquent and commanding, others filled with details of what union could look like in terms of assets and property and schools and theological colleges. It all had to be considered. Those writers were people of vision but even more so they were people of faith, who wanted no more than to follow where God was leading them.
But then, story always begins with people, people with a dream, people who had a vision, people who are called, people who
are compelled by their faith, people who dare, people who follow, people who get pulled along by the story, people who get intrigued by the story, people who are inspired by the story.
May we be those people. Amen
The Methodist – John and Charles Wesley’s attempt to reform or revitalize the Church of England in the 1700’s along with George Whitefield. Called Methodist because of the unique method of evangelism which gathered groups of people together for worship and teaching with an emphasis on discipleship or method.
The Presbyterian – John Knox, influenced by Jean Calvin, a French theologian and pastor of the Reformed Church in Geneva, founded the Presbyterian Church of Scotland in the mid-1500’s and was a leader in that country’s reformation. Over half of the Presbyterian Churches in Canada joined the United Church in 1925.
The Congregationalist - Robert Browne (1550–1633) was the first person to set out explicit congregational principles and is considered the founder of Congregationalism. The congregation should choose its own leaders, and the ministers should be ordained by the congregation itself not by bishops or fellow ministers. Each congregation should be founded on a written church covenant.
Of course there is lots more to the story but that is how the story began or where it began or who joined the story in the beginning…
Ryk and I once had the opportunity to dig through some archives that held letters from the years pre-union, letters where people implored other people to risk the opportunity God had set before them, to bring about a church that instead of dividing people and dividing communities brought them together. Some of the letters were eloquent and commanding, others filled with details of what union could look like in terms of assets and property and schools and theological colleges. It all had to be considered. Those writers were people of vision but even more so they were people of faith, who wanted no more than to follow where God was leading them.
But then, story always begins with people, people with a dream, people who had a vision, people who are called, people who
are compelled by their faith, people who dare, people who follow, people who get pulled along by the story, people who get intrigued by the story, people who are inspired by the story.
May we be those people. Amen
