Weekly wonderings

This week we celebrate that God loves us all!  Last week we were reminded that God doesn't ask us to earn our way into God's good graces, that we are already there.  This week we are reminded that the "us" that God loves includes everyone.  There is no us and them, we are all "us:" Beloved children of God. This seems to be a difficult concept for most human beings.  We seem to define ourselves as opposed to others - focussing on our differences. Somehow it makes us feel more worthy, more valuable, if we are accepted somewhere that others aren't. Sometimes we like to have the inside scoop and to share this as gossip to show how "in" we are. Sometimes it seems we need a "them" so we can feel acknowledged as a part of "us". This is not the way God works. The Gospel passage for this week is Luke 15:1-3 (Some Pharisees questioning Jesus), and 11b-32 (The parable often called the parable of the prodigal son or the parable of the f...

  Mennonite Church Alberta is embarking on the third year of the action plan that grew out of over a year of reflection and discussion among people from the congregations of our provincial church: To Encounter, Embrace, and Embody Christ in Life, in Community, in the World.  In year one, we looked to encounter, embrace, and embody Christ in life by looking inward to find God's amazing love living within us, and looking outward to see that love all around us.  We sought to embrace our identity as the beloved children of an amazing and omnipresent God, bound together by Christ living in all of us. We also looked to live in such a way as to embody Christ in our day to day lives. In year two we expanded our gaze to see God living within our church communities - locally, province wide, and in the broader church. We embraced God speaking through Scripture, songs, and each other as we explored what it means to embrace our identity as Christ's people and live as the embodiment of...

T his week we continue on our Lenten journey with a marvelous reminder: We do not have to earn our status as God's children!  We are called, not to work for God's love and acceptance, but to receive it, along with abundant grace and mercy.  This is not a message we, with our strident work ethic, can easily take in or accept. The Scripture passages include a beautiful invitation to come to God for whatever we need: water, food, security: " Whoever has no money, come, buy food and eat!." We do  not have to earn this food, nor have the ability to pay in any way.  It is available for the taking. (Isaiah 55:1-9).  We also read the Psalmist's song of praise to God for having supplied all our needs "My mouth speaks praise with joy on my lips...because you've been a help to me..." (Psalm 63:1-9). How wonderful to hear these assurances from the ancient books of the Hebrew scriptures.  The New Testament passages are Luke 13:1-9, the parable of the fig tree tha...

  As I write this the sun is shining in my window, a small river of melting snow is running down our sidewalk, and there is a feeling of spring soon to come.  Earlier this week the wind was howling, making it difficult to concentrate with all the snow and debris being flung against our windows and walls. Emotions, too, can change like this week's weather. As we read through the Psalms, or the Gospel stories, we hear of people exuberantly praising God, people cowering in fear, people angry that God, or God in the form of Jesus, is not acting or reacting as they think appropriate. In our daily lives, too, we hear many messages of injustice, scarcity, even cruelty, mixed with joyful stories of births, healings, and kindness. How can we respond to this bombardment of messages, of emotions, of calls to action? Often we respond out of fear - fear that we will lose what is good, fear that what is not good will take over, fear that there will not be enough - enough safety, enough secu...

March 6, 2022 marks a new beginning for our congregation.  It is the first Sunday in 2 years that we will be gathering in our sanctuary for planned in person worship, with a number of other people joining us by Zoom. While we hope all will go well, we also recognize there may be unforeseen glitches, which will call us to patience.  May God bless this fresh start, and may we use it to God's glory. March 6 also marks the first Sunday in Lent. The Lenten worship theme for this year is Seeking God's Ways  - an exploration of how God calls us to think, and from what natural human ways we are being called to turn. The introduction in the Leader magazine says: "Scripture after Scripture is about how people  think God offers one thing (privilege), but what God really offers  looks quite different (inclusion); how we think the world works  one way (scarcity), but really it works a different way (abundance);  how we think power means one thing (control), but it...

This is the third part of a series based on the the 2nd year of Mennonite Church Alberta's call to action: To Encounter, Embrace, and Embody Christ in Community.  In the last posts we have been challenged to open our eyes, ears, and all our senses to encounter Christ in the people around us and in our relationships with them, as well as to open ourselves to embrace the changes to which Christ might be calling us as we embrace our role as a part of God's body here on earth. Today we we will look at the call to embody Christ in Community. What does this mean in our congregation? Do our actions, our rhetoric, our choices let those with whom we interact see Christ, alive and working through us? It is challenging to think that, for some people, we may be the only glimpse of Christ in their lives.  What do they see? The Scripture passages for this week are John 13:34-35  ( “I give you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other...

This is the 2nd in a three part Series highlighting year 2 of the Mennonite Church Alberta E3 initiative: To Encounter, Embrace, and Embody Christ in Community.  The previous post explored some of what it means to see/hear/ experience Christ within a church community. It is good to see Christ around us in the work and the people that make up our community, but we need to go beyond just acknowledging Christ's presence. We need to embrace all that Christ stood for, all that he taught, all that he was and is, and we need to do this as a community. How is Christ's presence changing us? Does it affect how we make decisions? Does it affect how we speak to each other? Does it affect how we listen to each other? Does it affect how we value ourselves and each other person within our community? One of the central Scripture passages for this morning is 1 Corinthians 12:12-31.  It reminds us that, together, we are the body of Christ and, just as a body has many parts with different functi...

 Mennonite Church Alberta has embarked on a three year action plan to help us focus our thoughts and activities around priorities discerned by those gathered from across the province in 2019.  The focus for Year Two (2021) is to Encounter, Embrace, and Embody Christ in Community.  Here are some of my thoughts on what each of these verbs could mean for us as a community of faith. How do we encounter Christ in our community? Do we see Christ in the joy and innocence of young children? Can we see Christ in the curiosity and adventurousness of our older children?  Do we see Christ in those who are patiently and lovingly parenting children of different ages? Or leading the congregation through the branch system? or leading a worship service? Or sharing their wisdom in meetings? Do we see Christ in those with whom we disagree? Where do we see Christ within our own community? Do we hear Christ in the words we share during foyer time?  In the music and words of the choi...