SERMON: Peak Performance

 10:30 am, Sun, Jan 29, 2023 - J G White / FBCA

(Micah 6:1-8; 1 Cor 1:18-31; Mtt 5:1-12)

Jesus’ famous sermon gets named ‘The Sermon on the Mount,’ thanks to Matthew’s record of it, and the scene, upon a mountain, with crowds gathered all around. Today, I am calling this Jesus’ ‘peak performance’ – the big sermon of the greatest preacher, ever. And it is on a little mountain peak. 😉

When Luke tells the same sermon pieces, the scene is a plain, a flat field. Undoubtedly, Jesus spoke his pithy sayings and memorable stories more than once, all over the place as He travelled. The famous words have been repeated ever since, for the past two thousand years.

You are the salt of the earth.

Turn the other cheek.

Pray this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.

Do not worry about your life.

Consider the lilies of the field.

Do not judge, so that you may not be judged.

Ask, and it will be given you.

Do to others as you would have them do to you.

The wise man built his house on rock.

We will look at the first half of ‘the sermon’ over the next few weeks. Today is the beginning. Jesus does not start this sermon with a joke, or even a story. (What kind of car would Jesus drive? A Christler. Or perhaps a Honda, for it says, “they were all in one accord.”)

Jesus begins by giving the memorable list of blessings we call ‘The Beatitudes.’ Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Does Jesus start with a prescription? Instructions on how you should live right to get what’s right? Many a Christian preacher (and study book) has explained how to be poor in spirit, how to mourn, how to be meek, how to suffer for what’s right, and so on. Probably thousands of people have gone away, secretly feeling the failure of not measuring up and thus not getting the blessings. Others surely went away honestly not wanting to mourn, or to become a peacemaker, or to be more merciful.

What else might Jesus be doing here? If He is not prescribing things to do or ways to be, what else? More than one Christian scholar has suggested there is another option here. A beatitude is, first and foremost a blessing promised by God to those people who already are what the beatitude describes. (Brueggemann, Cousar, Gaventa & Newsome, Texts for Preaching – Year A, 1995, p. 125) Dallas Willard founded much of his inspiring, 400 page book, The Divine Conspiracy, on the ‘Sermon on the Mount.’ Willard’s take on these beatitudes as good news descriptions, not prescriptions, have inspired me for years now. These phrases from Jesus are, essentially, declaring that even the spiritually poor, the mourners, those struggling for justice, and so forth, are blessed by the Kingdom of the Heavens. God’s world is available even to all these people. A Paul Simon song says:    Blessed are the sat upon, spat upon, ratted on.

Willard told of one time after I had spoken on the Beatitudes, a lady approached me expressing great relief at what she had heard. She told me her son had dropped his Christian identification and left church because of the Beatitudes. He was a strong, intelligent man who had made the military his profession. As often happens, he had been told that the Beatitudes—with its list of the poor and the sad, the weak and the mild—were a picture of the ideal Christian. He explained to his mother very simply: “That is not me. I can never be like that.” (The Divine Conspiracy, p. 99)

Jesus first line is Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens. Those many human spirits who have nothing going for them: Jesus declares God’s rule is open and ready for them. Remember what the summary of Jesus’ preaching was said to be? ‘Repent, the kingdom of heaven has come near.’

So, instead of this telling us we need to figure out how to be spiritually poor, what could it mean? Dallas Willard tells us to think about the crowd gathered on the hill. Standing around Jesus as he speaks are people with no spiritual qualifications or abilities at all. You would never call on them when “spiritual work” is to be done. There is nothing about them to suggest that the breath of God might move through their lives. They have no charisma, no religious glitter or clout.

They “don’t know their Bible.” …They are “mere laypeople,” who at best can fill a pew or perhaps an offering plate. No one calls on them to lead a service or even to lead in prayer, and they might faint if anyone did. (pp. 100, 101) Blest are they – theirs is the glorious kingdom. So said Jesus.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. This may not mean we all need to learn some way of mourning in order to get right with God. But this is true: the wonderful realm of Jesus is being given away to those who are saddened and hurt by the losses they’ve suffered.

We who are disciples of the Master can see this pretty easily. We know the pain and trouble of the losses of life, and even many scripture stories that highlight how God is with those who mourn. But what about the next?

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Again, we are not being told we will be better off by being meek, shy, unassertive, intimidated. But good news for those who are: God gives the earth to them. To put it another way, God is their Shepherd, they shall want for nothing.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. I know some people who are real justice-seekers, and for good reason. For themselves, or usually for others, their heart cries out, all the time. These are the activists, some of them. These are also those with a gift for lamenting, for agitating, for complaining to God and their neighbours. They have the eyes to see wrong being done all over the place. Often this is because of how they themselves have been wronged.

And what do they (you?) thirst for most of all? For the right things finally to happen! What is so good about God’s Kingdom for them? Things will finally be made right.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. We could think at first, of mercy as a really good quality to have. It sure is. But it does not make good business sense in our world. And it puts one right in the way of being walked all over by others who are ruthless or opportunistic. But wherever God is in charge, merciful people will be given great mercy. They need not worry about being taken advantage of anymore.

Here's where I want to pause and peek at what we heard from Paul, writing to the Christians in Corinth. This Good News is foolishness to so many, but is the wisdom of God to those who trust Jesus. The letter even claims that God chose the most ordinary people, in the face of the worldly wise and the powerful and the noble. No one can boast in themselves, it says here. God is our source of life, in Christ Jesus.

And so, next in the list, Jesus says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. ‘Pure in heart’ sounds like a perfect thing to be, yet Dallas Willard interpreted these as the perfectionists of this world. So, nothing satisfies them. Their food is never cooked right; their clothes and hair are always unsatisfactory; they can tell you what is wrong with everything. How miserable they are! (p. 118) What better promise in the Kingdom of Jesus to the perfectionist than to see God, the one and only Perfect One! Even the purists among us find an open door to the heavenly life.

We’re getting to the end. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. There can be a sense in which the everyday person who is always trying to make peace finds they can’t please everyone, or fix every relationship. Or if it is your work – a police officer in the midst of a domestic dispute – no one trusts you. Or maybe you see all the sides, and can’t decide or choose. This new realm Jesus preaches is for you: your relationships will be good: you’ll be children of God.

I must admit how my mind wanders, and hearing these Beatitudes I can’t help remembering the Sermon on the Mount scene from the Monty Python comedy film, ‘The Life of Brian.’ Far in the back of the crowd on that sunny day, some locals are struggling to hear what this new Teacher is preaching.

Man 1: “What did he say?”

Man 2: “I think it was blessed are the cheesemakers.”

Woman 1: “What's so special about the cheesemakers?

Man 1: “Well it's not to be taken literally, it refers to any manufacturers of dairy products.”

A bit later, when someone thinks Jesus said, “blessed are the Greek”… Woman 2: “Oh it's the meek! Blessed are the meek. Oh that's nice, i'n it, I' glad they're getting’ something cause they have a [heck] of a time.”

Hearing these holy words is not always clear, in real life, is it? The point of the Preacher, and the power of the message take some time to be clear, and sink in. You will have noticed that the reading of Matthew 5 from the hymnbooks ends with: Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

But it does not include: Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

There may be a definite order to some of these words of blessing. It is once you respect the meek and week, the sad for so many reasons, the complainers about what’s wrong, the perfectionists, the spiritually slow, and all; and when you do your part to welcome them into Jesus family, that you will truly face opposition. We will face trouble for doing things Jesus’ way. This is Jesus’ warning to us, and a promise of blessing. We will get to walk in the Kingdom that is near as we remember all the people, not like us, who are named first in Jesus’ sermon. In the Realm of God, we get to be part of the blessing, we get to be part of the answer to our prayers.

Rejoice! Let us rejoice over every one whom Jesus welcomes. His welcome keeps getting bigger that ours.

SERMON: Same Mind and Purpose

 

10:30 am, Sun, Jan 15, 2023 - J G White / FBCA

(Ps 27:1, 4-9; Is 9:1-4; 1 Cor 1:10-18; Mtt 4:12-23)

From a book of Atlantic Baptist jokes:

“Come right in,” said Saint Peter to the new arrival at the gates. “And, by the way, what denomination were you when you were on earth?”

“Anglican,” came the reply.

“Ah, yes,” said Peter. “You’ll be most comfortable in the room down that jasper corridor over there! Go to the room two doors down on the left.”

“Thank you,” said the Anglican.

“You’re welcome,” said Saint Peter. “But be sure to do one thing, won’t you? Keep very quiet going along the corridor until you reach your door.”

“Yes, sure!” said the newcomer. “but why do you want me to be so quiet?”

“We don’t want you to be heard by the good souls in the first room on the left. We wouldn’t want to spoil it for them. You see, they’re Baptists, and they thin they’re the only one here.” (Let There Be Laughter, pp. 28-29)

It was in 1908 that Franciscan Friar Paul Wattson proposed a ‘Church Unity Octave.’ Here we are today, in the middle of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which is actually eight days each January, from the 18^th through the 25^th. Our com-munity worship service will not be until Sunday the 29^th, 4 pm.

An old church hymn that is one of my many not-favourites sings, idealistically: (Sabine Baring-Gould)

We are not divided; all one body we,

One in hope and doctrine, one in charity.

We still pray each year, in the direction of unity, because Christianity is divided, not one body. Whether we read that there are 200 denominations in North America, or 1,200; or if we notice there are three Baptist Churches in Amherst, NS, which may have nothing to do with each other (also three in the Sackville, NB area), it can be, well, a bit depressing.

You’ve heard the joke about how Baptists plant new churches? They have a fight and a split!

No wonder, a couple thousand years ago, it is reported, that Jesus prayed, “I ask… on behalf of those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. John 17; remember John 17?

How does Christ hold people together, across this whole globe with millions of Christians, and through time and history? We peeked into the New Testament Letter, 1^st Corinthians, today. It is a letter that is here, for us, though it was not written to us. A leader, or a few, wrote this letter to the congregation in that ancient, bustling city that we call Corinth, Greece. The first issue the author deals with is church disunity. Here's another wording of it, in English:

I have a serious concern to bring up with you, my friends, using the authority of Jesus, our Master. I’ll put it as urgently as I can: You must get along with each other. You must learn to be considerate of one another, cultivating a life in common.

I bring this up because some from Chloe’s family brought a most disturbing report to my attention—that you’re fighting among yourselves! I’ll tell you exactly what I was told: You’re all picking sides, going around saying, “I’m on Paul’s side,” or “I’m for Apollos,” or “Peter is my man,” or “I’m in the Messiah group.”

Yeah, they were in trouble. And this was just the one group of Christians in that particular city. How does Christ hold His people together? On the other hand, what things divide up God’s serving people?

There might be two main categories here to look at, today. One is our teachings, beliefs and goals; the other is our personalities, fellowship and leadership.

The author here urges: That you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. It seems to me the dividing up of Christians into separate congregations and denominations gets explained, historically, in terms of doctrines, and the rules and regulations. What we say we teach and are to believe, and how we are organized because of what we believe. Some issues are important enough for people to chose one local church or denomination over another. Or leave one to go to a different one. Often these are moral and ethical teachings; some of is practical stuff.

You know how to tell the Christian denominations apart? The Catholics don’t recognize the ministry of the Protestants. The Anglicans don’t recognize the authority of the Pope over the Church. And the Baptists don’t recognize one another if they meet in the liquor store!

Seriously, an ethical issue like the use of alcohol has been very important to churches over the past 200 years. The Baptists were one group that truly latched on to the Temperance Movement, when it got going in the nineteenth century. Many other subjects are important to Christians in our present time, and many opinions abound.

I am very happy that we are one of the few churches that is an active member in the little group called the Canadian Association for Baptist Freedoms. (I am chairperson of the CABF Program Committee. Ed Colquhoun is a Council member. Sharon is our Sect.) Peruse our brand-new Bulletin, and you can read a historic statement by the Minister of First Baptist Halifax about the recent approval for ordination as a Baptist Minister of Arla Johnson, a woman who happens to be married to a wife, named Julie.

As we should expect, being of one mind about LGBTQS+ issues is not easy for Baptists, not to mention other Christian tribes. So, the CABF serves as a fellowship of Baptists in Canada that is at least willing to let people and congregations have the freedom to decide things for themselves, under the rule of Jesus Christ.

The official Church stuff – teachings, doctrines, policies and procedures – is one category that is a challenge. Oh, to be of one mind and one purpose! The other gift of the Spirit of God to people is unity of fellowship. It’s all about people.

We see that in what 1 Corinthians 1 mentions: the one congregation in the city is split up according to who they think of as their leader: Paul, Apollos, Peter, ahem… Christ.

I think this is what is most important to so many people of the pews and the pulpits today. How we get along, who we like, where we feel welcome, where we can do some good stuff or have some control. As we look at younger and younger generations, the name and affiliation is less important – Baptist, United, Wesleyan, Anglican. What the group of people is like and how they do things together is far more important than the name, or even the official teachings.

Any local congregation brings together a variety of people. Just look back to the different men Jesus called upon to follow Him, not to mention others who joined in, including women. A tax accountant, a religious zealot, a few fishermen, a prostitute, and so forth. They did not always work together well, while Jesus was training them, and then after.

By the time there were groups of Christians in many towns around the Mediterranean, it was clear there were people of many backgrounds, together. Peasants, business people, soldiers; folks from various religious backgrounds and ethnicities. How did the Spirit of Christ create Christian unity? It took work, it took time, it was never perfect, either.

What was the advice to those folks in Corinth? Remember Jesus. No matter how people may even disagree about just who Jesus is, He is Who He will be, and Christ unites us. We don’t do it. We cooperate with our Master.

Christ is the ruler of our religion. As much as we like certain leaders and teachers, Who is behind it all? Our loving, holy God. Interesting how Paul, in this letter, claims to have not been a show off in his own preaching on purpose, so Jesus and His actions would never take second place.

Remember that being united does not mean all being the same. Hence the talk in this and other NT texts about the group of believers being like a human body. The hand and the eye and the ear and the stomach are quite different from each other, but together in the organism.

So remember to love one another, what Jesus called his new commandment. See others, pay loving attention to people, respect them. Maybe Christ trains us best when we are with those most unlike us. Within Christianity it is important we pay attention to the whole Body of Christ: all the diverse believers around here, and across the globe.

Let us have this same mind and same purpose: to be one in Jesus Christ – and long for others to know this God they were made for too. The Lord can be their light and salvation, and their stronghold.

SERMON: Not a Big Enough Job

 10:30 am, Sun, Jan 15, 2023 - J G White / FBCA

(Is 49:1-7; 1 Cor 1:1-9; Jn 1:35-42)

The morning sun was bright in the clear, thin sky of El Alto, Bolivia. High on the altiplano of the Andes mountains, a dozen Baptist minsters from across Canada had gathered on the rooftop of their hotel for their morning quiet time together. It was Mark’s turn to lead our devotions.

Mark Buchanan was not known to me – he was a pastor in British Columbia – but he was a well-known author to others in our group. The scripture text chosen for him on this day was from Isaiah 49. Mark spoke about this in a way that cut to the heart, the heart of each minister gathered in the circle that morning.

It is too light a thing that you should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that My salvation my reach to the end of the earth. 

Mark heard the call of God for more: “there is far more for me to do in this life!” More than the tiny bits of good work he had been doing. We had all had times we felt the same. AS in Isaiah 49, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity…

Then the word from the LORD shone out, like the bright Bolivian sunshine: It is too light a thing that you should be My servant to… well, do whatever we have been doing. Eugene Peterson put it Isaiah’s words this way: But that’s not a big enough job for my servant… I’m setting you up as a light for the nations…

 You may well know the feeling I know, that feeling of not being enough, not doing enough, not reaching your potential, or not being qualified or capable of what was needed. And the simple experience of failure is a common one. Even a ‘believer,’ a servant of God, says, “I’ve worked for nothing. I’ve nothing to show for a life of hard work.”

This goes for groups. The images in Isaiah 49 can be seen as telling the failings and successes of the Hebrews. “You are my servant, Israel,” said the LORD. This tiny, Middle-Eastern nation was blessed in order to be a blessing, to the world. And, if we read again the Hebrew Bible, we see over and over the stories of promises and potential and failures.

We Christians bring these ancient texts into our lives, and consider how we, the Churches, are fabulous, and a flop. Today we heard the opening lines of the New Testament letter we call First Corinthians. After the congregation is reminded they are rich in the things they do and empowered with gifts of the Holy Spirit, the next sixteen pages go on to deal with their serious troubles: the Church is divided, there is rather too much sexual immorality among the people, people are going to court to sue one another, they are confused about marriage in their day and age, what rules and patterns to have for worship services is mixed up, and they are even confused about just what to believe about Jesus who rose from the dead.

I am both comforted and confounded by the fact that these first Christians had such troubles. Two thousand years later, we have not been far worse than they, but we have not got much better, to speak of!

There were better and bigger things for the faithful Hebrews to do back in Isaiah’s age. There were bigger and better things for the faithful first Christians to do back in the Apostle Paul’s time. There are bigger and better things for first Baptist Amherst to do today.

And, yes, there might be bigger and better things for you to do this year, but it is for us as a group I want to seek and pray and find. Such things I wonder about, in my seventh month here.

I remember, in my first year at Windsor Baptist, hearing a certain Robin Mark song for the first time, at our Drive in Service, in the local mall parking lot. The song, Revival, was a bit epic, in its day, I think. A pretty good worship band from a local evangelical church was offering all the music that night. Revival started with a solo voice, an almost recitative beginning, using familiar biblical words that speak of John the Baptizer preaching of the Saviour:

I hear the voice of one crying…

Prepare ye the way of the Lord

Then the verses started, with the full band of instruments coming to life.

As sure as gold is precious and the honey sweet

So you love this city and you love these streets.

Every child out playing by their own front door

Every baby laying on the bedroom floor.

 

Every dreamer dreaming in her dead-end job

Every driver driving through the rush hour mob

I feel it in my spirit, feel it in my bones

You're going to send revival, bring them all back home

 

That’s how songs like that go; much like the Biblical visions of Isaiah, or Revelation, with all the lost and scattered coming back home again, one glorious day. I wondered about the people of the streets of Windsor – some I’d met, many I hadn’t.

Here we are, 2023. What’s the tag line on signs in this town? See why we love it!

As sure as gold is precious and the honey sweet

So you love this Amherst and you love these streets.

What about this place do we love? Who around here do you care about?

And how do we, First Baptist, touch our town? We have a creative streak: with music, visual arts, drama, even food as art has been big here. We cooperate with other groups in town to give a lot to people in need. Our teaching and spirituality here has a long tradition of diving deep and exploring far and wide. We also express the gift of hospitality, with our well-placed building, and our own activities here.

We may have moments of seeing and feeling our failures. Sometimes we measure this by counting up the people who have left our fellowship, for all sorts of reasons, through the years. Or we look back on missed opportunities for good projects.

Yet, there is also a moment for us to know there are bigger things for us to work for. It is too light a thing that you serve as you have… I will give you as a light to Chignecto, that My salvation may reach from Minas to Northumberland shore.

 Our calling is probably not geographic, like that. It might grow, locally, with opening a daytime warming centre once a week here, in the winter. Perhaps we’d even serve a simple lunch. Not to mention starting from scratch in youth ministry!

Our mission might grow beyond town in terms of what we offer to other congregations in the Cumberland Baptist Association, or the Canadian Association for Baptist Freedoms.

There could be divine opportunities for First Baptist to step out into the online community more: in a few minutes I will read a gracious letter we received from folks who have been joining us online only. What web presence could develop that truly benefits people? Blogs, podcasts, videos, online meetings?

These three broad categories are but the tip of an iceberg, I’d say. I have not even mentioned creation care: joining the Green Church Network; or training ourselves to serve in mental wellness & trauma informed care.

When Jesus of Nazareth began his work, He invited people to join Him, become His apprentices. One fellow, named Andrew, went and fetched his brother, Simon Peter, saying, “We have found the Messiah.” Jesus kept saying to folks, “Follow me.”  

First Baptist… we have found the Messiah. Christ has brought us thus far. Where will he take us in 2023? And will Jesus say to us, ‘that’s not a big enough job for my servant… I’m setting you up as a light…’?

Shulie Woods

West of Amherst in Cumberland County is a quiet, woodsy highway (209) with few human residents. One of the old communities, with just a few homes left, is Shulie, at the mouth of a river along the isolated, rocky shore of Chignecto Bay. I took a walk in the woods there last weekend. This is at the eastern end of a large acreage called the Raven Head Wilderness Area.

 

As you can see, there is no snow on the ground, to speak of, and not much frost in the ground either. The woods here are not more spectacular than other places, but very peaceful and quiet. Little hills with a few boulders rise up and down, with bits of swamp here and there. I barely heard a bird on my afternoon out. 

I wandered along a brook down to the shoreline. There was just enough cliff to make it impossible to get down to the beach... or back up from there. I viewed a small waterfall from above. The tide was almost high. A breeze was coming off the water. New Brunswick covered the horizon.

Part of my reason for wandering here was to do some lichen searching, and I found a few lovely species on rocks and upon the trees. I keep watching for species like Blue Felt Lichen - our new Nova Scotia Lichen - but have not seen it yet in this county.

This is a nice area I will explore, again and again, in each season of the year. 

SERMON: I Need to Be Baptized

 10:30 am, Sun, Jan 8, 2023 - J G White / FBCA

(Ps 51:6-12; Acts 10:34-43; Is 42:1-9; Mtt 3:13-17)

To celebrate baptism of a believer by total immersion is always a special event. It is serious and profound. It is meaningful and poignant. It is fun and humbling. I love the fact that it is a physical action. So much of what we do in our religion is words, words, words. The pure action of dunking a person under water does different things than mere words, or many words.

Once upon a time, there was a Jewish man named John who was preaching ‘fire and brimstone,’ and baptizing people at the Jordan River in Israel. This ritual washing was for repentance – making a turnaround – and forgiveness of life’s problems. He was actually preparing the locals for the arrival of their Messiah. One day, John’s relative, Jesus of Nazareth, arrived, to be baptized. John said to Jesus, I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?

‘I need to be baptized.’ Who needs to be baptized? Of course, here today, we are talking about Christian baptism, which is a next step after this sort of ritual John was doing, two thousand years ago. As the old Baptist ministers Manual suggests, baptism is

An act of obedience to God

A following of the example of Jesus

A public declaration by the person of faith in Someone worth putting faith in: Jesus the Son of God

A sign of entering the Christian Church

An outward action that says something about what is going on inside a person.

Who needs to be baptized? We Baptists are one type of Christian who say that it is for a person who has been made new by Jesus, and is ready to say Yes, I will be a disciple and follow. That is why we don’t baptize babies, or two-year-olds. We believe people are free to decide for themselves to rely upon God in Christ, or not. Once they turn their lives toward the kingdom of God, they can be baptized.

We also associate baptism with the forgiveness by God of what’s wrong in us. Taking a quick bath in water symbolizes the washing of the inner self, the soul. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow, says Psalm 51. That washing is the work of the Spirit of God. It starts, and keeps going in life.

Of course, we look to Jesus as a person who is also God, and is perfect. So no wonder, we say, that John thought Jesus did not need to get washed in the river. Yet Jesus answered, Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfil all righteousness. Somehow, it was the right thing to do, for Jesus to undergo baptism by John.

Who should be baptized? We say, people who have not be baptized yet. We Christians see it as a once in a lifetime event. We don’t do it over and over. Though some people make exceptions. Especially if we don’t remember our first baptism, or do but don’t think it counted because we did not understand what we were doing.

I’m really in favour of just one baptism. Now, I’ve known people who got baptized again because it was going to mean more to them. Or they were on a tour in the Holy Land and had the chance to be baptized in the Jordan River – so they were. But I recommend just once in your life. Even if you did not quite know what you were getting into at age ten or thirteen or thirty, The Spirit of God knew what He or She was doing, and the Church did.

So I’m happy that we are a Baptist Church that will value the baptism you may have had, even as an infant, and we will receive you as a full member without this total immersion. But if you are like me, and get baptized again as a grown up, we are very willing to do that here.

Who needs to be baptized? People who are ready to celebrate a new beginning with God. It is not the finale, it is a beginning. The ceremony can mark the start of discipleship to Jesus. Brandon has told all of us today that he is now apprenticed to the Master.

I always remember an illustration author Brian McLaren gave of the funny way the evangelical church has sometimes done things. We have made so much of showing people the Way of Jesus, getting people saved, and then baptized, that the long life of being a disciple can be forgotten. McLaren says it is like people lined up at the start of a race, ready to run. Then the gunshot goes: BANG. But the racers jump up and start to shout and celebrate and congratulate one another! Wait a minute: this is just a beginning. There is a race to be run.

Brandon, for one, is near the beginning of his race. He is saying YES to what Eugene Peterson called, ‘A Long Obedience in the Same Direction.’ Or, to use Dallas Willard’s phrase, he is ‘Apprenticed to Jesus.’

At this time Brandon also happens to be in preparation for entering the Canadian Army. So he awaits the time this year when he will enter basic training, and then be posted somewhere, and so forth. Where his military career will take him, he can only imagine. Right now, he is disciplining himself, with many new habits of eating, and exercise, and so forth. Not to mention he just started a new job.

So it will be in his walk with God, his discipleship to Jesus. It is a matter of taking up some daily and weekly disciplines. It is a matter of learning new things, and being on a new team with new teammates: us. It is a matter of being transformed, from the inside out. It takes work. It takes time. It takes obedience to his Superior (our Saviour). And it takes a lot of input and action from the Spirit of God.

And so it is for any of us (as you might well be able to say for yourself). Today, some of us are remembering our own baptism. Or you are thinking of a parent who brought you as an infant to some church to be christened. Or you are wondering to yourself if “I need to be baptized?”

Whatever stage of faith you find yourself in today: may you be blessed and guided to see your next good step to take. There is a Heavenly Voice who wants to say to you, “Well done, beloved, I am pleased.”

Seasonal Gatherings

'Tis the season for a few get-togethers with family and friends. The weather did not stop us, but again this year a bit of illness prevented a few times that had been planned. The visits that were made were a lot of fun, from Christmas Eve through New Year's Eve.

These are just a few photos, of most of the people we've feasted and fested with this season. Happy New Year, one and all!

SERMON: [insert name]

10:30 am, 2^nd Sun of Xmas, Jan 1, 2023 - J G White / FBCA

(Ps 8; Gal 4:4-7; Lk 2:15-21; Num 6:22-27)

What’s in a name? Quite a lot, I think. Don’t you like it when people know your name, and get it right?  

Back in the 1990s, there were two ministers in succession at a church in Parrsboro named Smith. While I was at the Baptist Church, Peter Smith was at the United. So when I was in town, I would sometimes get called Jeff Smith. One week I got two pieces of mail delivered to me: one was addressed to Rev. Peter White. The other to Rev. Jeff Smith. They were both for me.

Call me whatever you want; just don’t call me late for dinner! But, seriously, what do we call God? What names? There are many to choose from, and You likely have you favourites, or, at least, a common one or two you’d use in your prayers.

Today, this Sunday, we can choose to celebrate more than one thing in the life of Jesus. It is the eighth day of the twelve days of Christmas. It is the Sunday before Epiphany – celebrating the Magi. It is Holy Name of Jesus Sunday: this is what I chose.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus:

there’s just something about that name.

Before this Son of God arrived, God’s name was talked of a great deal, by the Hebrew people. We recited Psalm 8 today, repeating first and last verses:

O LORD, our Sovereign,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

We people of the pews get used to all this Bible talk of the ‘name of God,’ how it is so wonderful, powerful, glorious, majestic. This is simply a way of speaking of The Being with the name. A bit like the sense of a person’s name being their reputation: ‘making a name for himself.’

A common part of our praying with words is to address the One to whom we speak. We pay special attention to calling God right and good names when we start a prayer. Our Father, who art in heaven; Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; Spirit, Spirit of Gentleness.  And hence the commandment from the Ten Commandments of Judaism and Christianity that says, You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God.

One name for God, God the Son, is Jesus. On this ‘Holy Name of Jesus’ day, we read that bit of the Christmas story in which, at eight days old, …he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. ‘Jesus’ was not a unique name, of course, invented just for Him, 2000 years ago. At least one other is mentioned, in the Letter called Colossians: And Jesus who is called Justus greets you. The name is rooted in Yeshua in Hebrew, and the name Joshua. These relate to a verb meaning to deliver, to rescue, to save.

Interestingly, like his cousin, John, Jesus of Nazareth has his name chosen by an angelic messenger, in effect, by God. His destiny is to be a rescuer: it’s right there in His name.

The names we use for people say something about our relationship. I don’t call George White George White very often; I call him Dad. Two children named Amelia and Dryden don’t call me Jeff, they call me Papa. And even some of you don’t just call me Jeff, you say Pastor Jeff or Reverend Jeff.

So it is with our naming of God. Our personal connection influences our names. The Christian letter called Galatians has this amazing teaching: God has sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” I think of another place, that wonderful chapter, Romans 8, where it says, When we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God…

Ending one year and beginning the next is a natural time to evaluate and plan little things in our lives. Such as how we address God. Perhaps you can look back and see moments when you were inspired by God to connect with God. The Holy One inside you prompted you to think Abba, or Jesus, or Spirit! It is like an adoption that we gain in this life, reconciled to the Creator of life and goodness. Hallelujah! we get to celebrate this in Brandon’s life next Sunday with his baptism here; he is a child of God.

He is a Christian. Which is a title most of us here likely claim. It has the word Christ in it. We are little Christs. Does it take real audacity to put the name Christ upon ourselves? I mean, I’m no messiah. I’m not perfect either, by any stretch of the imagination!

It is the act of God to bring us back, adopt us, save us, renew our souls. Jesus calls us brothers, sisters, siblings, not servants or slaves. For many centuries, the people of God have known the blessing, the gift, of belonging to God and being named by God. They even had this sense that God’s name was on them.

At the end of the service, today, I will speak a blessing that comes from a scene in the book of Numbers, chapter 6. Take a look there now, if you have a Bible handy. In the days of Moses and Aaron and Miriam, this was one of the instructions:

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus shall you bless the Israelites: You shall say to them,

The LORD bless you and keep you;

The LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;

The LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.

So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.

Notice that here, as in many places, the word LORD is spelled with four capital letters. This is a clue, in English Bibles, that here, the Hebrew word is not Lord, it is YaHWeH (which occasionally gets translated Jehovah). YHWH is the name of God Moses was given when he asked. It is a name of God so holy the Jews never speak it out loud. Hence the use of LORD to replace it in most English translations of the scriptures. And it is this Name put onto the people of God by these words of blessing. So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.

Go out into this year, remembering that those many people you know, and don’t know, are blessed by God. They could be blessed more. Many bear the name Christ, Christian. The Spirit is in them. Then may we do as George Fox advised (founder of the Society of Friends, the Quakers): Be patterns, be examples that your [behaviour] and your life may preach among all sorts of people, and to them. Then you will come to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in everyone.  (Claiborne, Shane, et al, Common Prayer: a Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals, 2010, p. 90)