10:30 am, Sun, May 21, 2023 - JGWhite/FBCA
(Psalm 68:3-10; 32-35; Acts 1:6-14)
It’s
raining.
Ain’t it
grand? We could use some, I think. It has been a dry spring. Not only here:
across Canada, in places, as we well know. The fires, and their smoke, cover a huge
area.
Water is
‘an element’ for our attention today. Our bodies are made up of about 60% water
– more if you are a child – and every other living thing has its portion.
Coming out
of a drier land than Nova Scotia, our holy scriptures treat H2O a bit more
preciously than we usually do. Their wildernesses were deserts, their community
wells were very important meeting places, their food and livelihood were truly
at the mercy of the elements.
Ours too,
though we often can go on without noticing. Hot and cold running water – even
at our cottages – is a luxury every single one of us may well have.
We turned
back to the first stories of Luke’s second volume today, the book of Acts. Jesus,
alive and well again, is giving final instructions to his closest followers,
before He disappears for good. One of His promises is that God will arrive in a
new way, to make the Spirit of Jesus present for all. “John baptized with water,
but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (A 1:5)
It is no
wonder that cultures around the world have used water in their rituals. Judaism
has had washings of hands and so forth. And baptisms. Jesus followed the
example, and as with Jewish Passover, He gave baptism a new impact.
Just think
about baptism – full immersion, as we call it – and how it takes quite a bit of
water. No challenge for Nova Scotians, but more significant in the Middle East.
There was no taking for granted of water in scripture.
Whenever we
read of the promise of ‘abundant rain’ in the Bible, it is part of a beautiful
picture. It means a lot! Our modern translation of Psalm 68 celebrates with
such imagery. God rides upon the clouds and sends showers upon a thirsty land. Rain poured down.
Let your
people be happy & celebrate because of you!
God is a
God of abundance. Perhaps this is the lesson of the rains today. Our Creator
and Saviour is not a God of scarcity, but of abundance. God is more abundant
than the massive enemies that threaten, whatever they may be. Evil, injustice,
apathy, disease, hunger, thirst.
The
Biblical way often starts with help for the faithful.
There
shall be showers of blessing –
Precious
reviving again;
Over the
hills and the valleys,
Sound of
abundance of rain.
Mercy drops ‘round us are
falling,
But for the showers we plead.
Sometimes,
sometimes we plead as if ours is a sorry lot. As if we need so much help and
encouragement from our Dear God. We forget how good we’ve got it.
This past
week Sharon and I took in the Integrate church leaders conference in
Saint Andrews. One theme that came from Dr. Amy Sherman, and others, was the abundance
of God. Dr. Amy recommended we embrace an asset-based perspective. In
other words, in our churches, we set out sights on all the human resources we
have, not what we lack. Not to mention all the valuable things we have at hand.
Here, we have a great location, an amazing building, incredible finances, some
great ways of doing things, and on and on. We church people can too easily fall
into thinking about what is scarce, instead of what is plentiful.
I remember
talking once to a colleague, a minister from another church in my town, who had
quit coming to the monthly ministerial meetings. He had two reasons, he said,
one being the negative conversations every meeting. The other pastors were always
bemoaning the non participation of younger people, the competing events people
took part in, and so on. This pastor wanted to get together with other
ministers who would talk about possibilities, and work together on good things:
Outreach and successes.
Is the
Spirit of Jesus in our midst like a fountain of living water, or not? Has God
dried up? I realize I have been hearing for years about what Amy Sherman called
an Asset-based perspective: not a scarcity mindset, an abundance attitude. One
way of thinking about it has been spiritual gift focus. We each learn what we
are here for in life, and what we can do well, thanks to our Maker.
A big part
of how God and Church make the most of us, the people, came to light at last
week’s leader’s conference. It was all about integrating people’s faith and
their work. What any person does for their work is a place for serving the
world in Jesus’ name. Your workplace is a key place to be a disciple of Christ.
One of a teacher’s main places to be with God in their life is when they are
doing a teacher’s work. So too with a truck driver, or a store clerk, or a
lawyer. So too with a retired person, or a work-at-home person. So too in all
our volunteer work, in the fire department, the Lions club, the curling club,
or the 50+ Club. So too in our time off, our relaxing, our sports, our reading,
our relaxing, our cottaging, our travels.
These are
the places and the activities we Christians get to do with the Spirit of God. In all our vocations and our vacations we
get to make a difference in the world. We are each giving. We are creating. We
are cooperating. We are blessing.
Our
abundant God can pour out the Spirit upon all the things we do. The flow never
dries up. God bless our business deals, buying and selling. Our taking care of
grandchildren. Our gardening. Our bass fishing and picking fiddleheads. Our kite
flying and our golfing. Our shopping and throwing parties. Our studying and
learning, our time around the campfire with loved ones, or attending a
Mooseheads game in Halifax or Moncton.
So, what is
going on, from a Church, is abundant, even when it is not abundantly clear. Remember,
where is First Baptist on Monday afternoon? Where are you going to be? Not
here. You and I will be all over the place. And wherever our places, we are the
Church there.
God is an
abundant God. Each one of us a little raindrop, in the refreshing, deep
showers, that water this earthly society. At our better moments, we remember
the difference we are making. And when we do do projects together, they are us
cooperating to make a difference, to give blessing.
Like our
warming centre project. With other churches in town, we met the other day to
review the whole thing, which was blessed and is still blessing us by teaching
us things. Ashley Legere, of Cumberland Homelessness and Housing Support
Association, met with us the other day. Amid a bit of laryngitis she had, she
energetically and enthusiastically commended us for the work we did, and how we
did it so well together, as a big team. She praised our volunteer teams Big
Time! [By the way, CHHSA has just now been able to open the shelter back up during
the day, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, seven days a week, now until
mid-August.]
The next new
things of First Baptist do not need to be inventing new programs that we have
to find workers for. It can be finding what we are already doing, and bank on
that. Pay attention to God blessing that. Count those human resources, our
assets. Showers of blessing are already coming down.
What the
Spirit of God will do next with us, together, is an abundant thing. There are
quite a few of us. And our other resources are plentiful, as we’ve noticed.
Together…
we can even make a difference to the actual, real water of our world. How we
use paper makes a difference. Right? How much water gets used in the
manufacture of paper? Can be up to five litres for one sheet of paper! So much
water becomes wastewater, it is rather nasty, a terrible problem. We can care;
we can learn to do some things differently.
And when a
congregation learns to do things differently in the organization, that sends a
message to all of us. We get prompted to try learning new things at home. And
we become a good influence in the wider community.
Jesus sent
the fire of the Holy Spirit to His people to make a difference to hungry
people. To make a difference to the lakes and rivers. To make a difference to
the way people do their jobs, or lack thereof. Can you see it?
It’s
raining.
Ain’t it grand?
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