Today, we are celebrating the Reign of Christ – the last Sunday of the liturgical season of Pentecost, also the end of our Church year. The Pentecostal season begins with the Day of Pentecost; the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the power of God upon the disciples of Jesus. The subsequent Sundays after Pentecost emphasize the growth and nurture of the faith community. Now, it ends with the Reign of Christ or otherwise known as the feast of Christ the King, again reaffirming the Lordship of Christ and the empowering of his followers for ministry. As in the end of sports season with the excitement of playoffs and championship series, the end of our church season also calls for joyful celebration and victory dance.
From today’s Epistle reading (Colossians 1:11-20), we have an ancient and magnificent hymn praising the identity and status of Christ Jesus: He is the image of the invisible God, a reflection of eternal light, making God visible to us. For no one has seen God, but Christ reveals God to us that God indeed is love. The pre-existent Christ is at the head of the created order, and the incarnate Christ is also the first-born from the dead, he also stands at the head of the “new creation”. Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He becomes the full embodiment of God’s own presence: God’s complete being and identity came to dwell in the person of Christ Jesus – that is the mystery of the incarnation we will celebrate once more in the season of Christmas.
Given this description from Colossians 1, the question still remains, “How can we speak of the kingship or the reign of Christ?” Human language has its limitation; it is inadequate to express the idea of the power, sovereignty, supremacy, lordship and majesty of Christ. All those big, fancy words mean one thing in simple, everyday term: that Christ is Number One!
Being Number One in Biblical times was understood to be like a king with absolute power to rule over the people. God was seen at best to be a benevolent dictator. However, in our modern Western world, we do not have the same kind of absolute power of the monarchy. The authority and power of presidents and prime ministers are controlled by varying degrees of checks and balances in modern democracy. On the other hand, we may relate more readily to being “Number One” in the world of sports: being in first place, the world champion of whatever competitions, the Gold Medal winner, and simply the best of the best in the world.
These days, in Canada and other parts of the world, Christians are careful not to sound too triumphant in our expression of faith. We are encouraged to engage in inter-faith dialogues and appreciate the other faiths and religions, working toward common ground and mutual understanding. It is harder to even reclaim Christmas among the non-specific “happy holiday” greetings. We should certainly not offend others, but how do we hold on to what is unique to our faith and treasure it? Is Jesus one of the many ways to knowing and understanding God or is He the only way? If we allow the possibility of “other ways”, how do we make sense of the Colossians passage before us?
To make matter worse, the revised lectionary throws in an unlikely passage from Luke 23:33-43 as today’s Gospel reading. At first sight, one may wonder why this was chosen. We are brought back to the middle of the Good Friday story of the crucifixion! It is like singing a Christmas song "It's a wonderful time of the year" in the middle of August for the back-to-school sale. This is far removed from the triumphant hymn of Colossians 1. The one connection you may spot is the mocking of the soldiers, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” For there was an inscription on the cross over him that was written, “This is the King of the Jews.” Others, including one of the criminals who was crucified with Jesus, also derided him and said, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” If you have not noticed how familiar it sounds – that essentially is the same temptation of Jesus earlier by the devil – to avoid the pain and suffering of the cross.
What kind of a King would be found on the cross dying with other condemned criminals? What kind of a Messiah who came to save others but could not save himself? Perhaps that provides us with the key to understanding the mystery and the true meaning of the Reign of Christ. This King is different from all the others; this Messiah is not the same as the one people had expected.
Luke provides us with a completely different perspective through the confession of the other criminal. He admitted his guilt and confessed that crucifixion was a just punishment for him. But he pointed out the innocence of Jesus. In a great act of faith, he asked: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom/power/reign.” At that moment, Jesus was dying on the cross. To everyone there, this king and his kingdom were coming to a tragic end. The execution was meant to destroy this king. Jesus was dying, yet the criminal had the faith to see beyond that and believe that Jesus could remember him. He had the faith to believe that Jesus is the one who will somehow rule as King. This criminal’s request unfolds the mystery of God’s power to rule the universe through Jesus dying on a cross. There was no resurrection yet. From this last-minute convert’s point of view, he was able to see through the eyes of faith that this dying Jesus will rule as King one day! Will we have the same faith, in the midst of death and despair before the dawn of new life, to see beyond and above all that, the coming kingdom and reign of Christ?
It is in the scandal of the cross and the innocent suffering that we discover the true meaning of the reign of Christ. Being Number One does not mean Jesus went out to conquer and destroy all his competitors and enemies. The Prince of Peace shows us a different kind of power – the power to love, the power to nurture, the power to make peace, the power to build up and unite, the power to empower others, the power to serve, the power to give life, the power to set free, the power to heal and reconcile!
Being Number One has to do with the willingness of this Good Shepherd who came and lay down his life for his sheep so that they may have life, and have it abundantly! Being Number One has to do with the divine love of self sacrifice and servanthood. That is the uniqueness of the Gospel of Christ. Other religions do not have a God of Love who is willing to die for a sinful and broken world in order to save it and redeem it. Find me another saviour who would offer forgiveness to those who killed him: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” Forgiveness, not revenge or vengeance, is the final word! Pardon and absolution, not just dessert and punishment, are the final offer from a merciful God. That offer of forgiveness was scandalous enough for the early church that it was actually left out in some of the manuscripts. Yet, deep in the heart of God, we find such grace, mercy and forgiveness for all sinners, including you and me. Without this sacrificial love of God shown in Christ Jesus, we have no hope of salvation at all.
Some of us are lucky to have loving and forgiving parents and other significant adults of influence in our upbringing. Their love and forgiveness hopefully have not spoiled us but given us life and vitality. Others are not as fortunate to have such loving and forgiving parental figures. Our understanding and concepts of God may or may not have anything to do with those parental figures. There is a story:
Two boys were walking home from Sunday school after hearing a strong preaching on the devil. One said to the other, “What do you think about all this Satan stuff?” The other boy replied,
"Well, don’t worry; you know how Santa Claus turned out. It’s probably just your Dad anyway."
Perhaps it is up to us Christians to model our concepts and beliefs of God to the rest of the world. What kind of God, what kind of king or messiah we truly believe in will affect the way we show the world in the way we live our lives. Yet, we are still learning. We are the followers of Jesus the messiah who comes to show us how much God loves us. We do not know how to love in the first place, unless we are able to experience and receive that love ourselves. That is the challenge of our faith community! That is also the reality in which we joyfully live out the reign of Christ in our midst!
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Fr Victor Li
www.stjd.ca Church of St John the Divine
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Sunday, November 18, 2007
November 18, 2007
Visions of God’s New Creation
There is an eternal story of love, betrayal and restoration with which we are very familiar. Once upon a time, there were a people whom God loved very much. They were chosen to be God’s special people in the world. They were delivered from slavery in Egypt and were given a Promised Land as their new homeland. The people from time to time rebelled against their God and worshipped other gods in the land. Every now and then they forgot how God had delivered them before and helped them to be successful. They asked for kings just like their neighbors in the land and God gave them kings. The dynasty of David continued for a while, until the kings became weak and foolish. Then foreigners came along and invaded their land, sacked their holy city of Jerusalem. They were taken away as exiles into Babylon. Whoever left behind was considered worthless. In exile, they longed for a return to their homeland. They longed to worship in their holy city once again and rebuild the temple which lay in ruins at the moment. Then prophets came to proclaim words of good news of restoration and redemption.
Today’s first reading from Isaiah (65: 17-25) declares such good news to the people returning from exile to their homeland. It comes from the third section of the Book of Isaiah, written sometime between 515 and 450 BC.
This was a difficult time for Israel. The Israelites had been allowed to return from exile in Babylon after the Persian King Cyrus took over control of the Babylonian Empire, and reversed their policy of holding people captives. In 538, he allowed the Israelites to return to their homeland.
Those who returned found themselves in desperate condition, not only socially and economically, but had to deal with a theological crisis as well. The promise of restoration had not yet happened, the city of Jerusalem was still in ruins and the temple not yet repaired. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah appeared on the scene around 520 BC and encouraged the people to begin the rebuilding of the Temple.
When the project was completed in 5 years, the Davidic kingdom was still not restored. The people began to doubt in despair, old Baal worship and other idolatry of the land crept back into the community again. Almost 100 years after the first exile returned, the Prophet of the Isaiah tradition now challenged the people to a national repentance, and today’s text is part of the renewal of God’s promises to the people.
It begins with God’s proclamation to create new heavens and a new earth. Of course, only God can create. This new creation belongs to God just as the old one was also God’s doing. This is one of the only two references to a new heaven and a new earth in the Old Testament. Later apocalyptic literature tends to describe the new creation in terms of the radical destruction and violent end of the present world. Here, there is no such sense of the end of the world. It will happen within history, with Jerusalem as its central focus.
It speaks of the joy and delight involved in this new creation. God will do this for the joy of it. It is more than simply saying that what he has created is good. God takes delight and rejoices in this new creation. Therefore, it also brings forth joy and delight to the people. There will be no more weeping and suffering, infant death and shortened life; or invasion of foreign enemies. Long life, peace and security are assured. They will be able to enjoy the benefit of building homes and planting vineyards without threats of invaders as they had previously endured in history. This emphasis on stability for the people is compared to a tree. Why a tree? In the hot and dry climate of the Middle East, a tree was a sign of long life and stability. The tree that thrives and flourishes by a stream of water, in spite of the hostile climate, becomes a symbol of life and endurance. The tree of life is part of the newness of God’s activity, contrary to the death and destruction as witnessed before.
The declaration also points to a close relationship with God that would be a major part of this new creation. God has always heard the cry of the people for deliverance, from the time of oppression under Pharaoh to other enemies ever since. During the exile, the people had complained that God had not heard their cry and felt that God had abandoned them. Here, a newness is being promised that they had not known before. Not only would God be present among them, but they would no longer have to call to him in the same way as before. God would hear and answer them even before they cried out. This closeness of communion is a powerful affirmation of God’s renewed presence with the people. No amount of betrayal will interrupt this promise. Healing, forgiveness and reconciliation will be the marks of this new creation. Such a vision of peace and harmony is also expressed poetically in the animal kingdom, with the famous imagery of the wolf and the lamb feeding together in peace.
It is a powerful message of hope and faith! Whatever darkness and despair we face as individuals, community or congregation, we are asked to turn to God in faith and trust. Whatever “down in the dumps experience” - be it grief and losses, death and dying, coping with illness and depression, conflicts and division, financial difficulty and business failure - God will have the last word on all that, not us. Precisely it is not about us, but it is about God! The living God is in charge. Out of death, God will bring new life. Out of despair, hope! Out of darkness, light!
In our despair, we may pray for a radical and violent end to all that is wrong with the world, its evil and injustices, so that God can start anew from scratch. Such is the perspective of the doomsday prophets and apocalyptic preachers. Ironically, we have one such passage in today’s Gospel (Luke 21:5-19). It speaks of the signs of the times and the coming of God’s kingdom in rather depressing terms. We are reminded of all that is to be suffered before the final deliverance of God’s people. Those words are meant to strengthen and comfort the faithful as they deal with the horrors and pains of the world, suffering persecution and tribulations.
Putting the two readings together, I believe they balance each other. The Isaiah passage reassures us that neither the nightly news nor our daily struggles is the measure of all things. Darkness and despair may seem to have power over us at times. But in God’s overall scheme of things, joy, delight, and life will prevail. Suffering, distress and death are real. However, joy and delight are real, too. Ultimately, Jesus also reassures his followers that not a hair of their heads will perish. They will be saved by their endurance and faith.
In our own story of faithfulness and rebellion, betrayal and restoration, death and new life, we are called to live out our own story of endurance, faith and hope. The plots and story lines may be different, since our lives and challenges are unique, but we follow the same pattern of hopefulness, as we are reminded to take joy and delight as our companions along the way.
Some of you have probably watched the movie “Evan Almighty” – a modern day Noah story. A newly elected congressman who wants to change the world is given the opportunity from God to do just that. God explains to the characters in the movie that God does not give things; he gives the opportunity to get things. For example, God doesn't give a family togetherness; he gives the opportunity for families to be together. We have to make good use of the opportunities given. In its charming but lame Hollywood way, the story ends with God’s teaching that the way to change the world is by doing one Act of Random Kindness (“ARK”) at a time.
God does not have to destroy the world again in a flood to cleanse it from evil and sins. God is capable of bringing in a new creation in a less violent and catastrophic way. We may be called to be instruments and agents in this process of transformation! In fact, we are called to do what we are capable of doing, using our unique gifts and talents. When God’s way and our ways intersect in God’s time, we may well be part of God’s new creation of joy and delight!
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Fr. Victor +
To return to the church's website, please click http://www.stjd.ca/
There is an eternal story of love, betrayal and restoration with which we are very familiar. Once upon a time, there were a people whom God loved very much. They were chosen to be God’s special people in the world. They were delivered from slavery in Egypt and were given a Promised Land as their new homeland. The people from time to time rebelled against their God and worshipped other gods in the land. Every now and then they forgot how God had delivered them before and helped them to be successful. They asked for kings just like their neighbors in the land and God gave them kings. The dynasty of David continued for a while, until the kings became weak and foolish. Then foreigners came along and invaded their land, sacked their holy city of Jerusalem. They were taken away as exiles into Babylon. Whoever left behind was considered worthless. In exile, they longed for a return to their homeland. They longed to worship in their holy city once again and rebuild the temple which lay in ruins at the moment. Then prophets came to proclaim words of good news of restoration and redemption.
Today’s first reading from Isaiah (65: 17-25) declares such good news to the people returning from exile to their homeland. It comes from the third section of the Book of Isaiah, written sometime between 515 and 450 BC.
This was a difficult time for Israel. The Israelites had been allowed to return from exile in Babylon after the Persian King Cyrus took over control of the Babylonian Empire, and reversed their policy of holding people captives. In 538, he allowed the Israelites to return to their homeland.
Those who returned found themselves in desperate condition, not only socially and economically, but had to deal with a theological crisis as well. The promise of restoration had not yet happened, the city of Jerusalem was still in ruins and the temple not yet repaired. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah appeared on the scene around 520 BC and encouraged the people to begin the rebuilding of the Temple.
When the project was completed in 5 years, the Davidic kingdom was still not restored. The people began to doubt in despair, old Baal worship and other idolatry of the land crept back into the community again. Almost 100 years after the first exile returned, the Prophet of the Isaiah tradition now challenged the people to a national repentance, and today’s text is part of the renewal of God’s promises to the people.
It begins with God’s proclamation to create new heavens and a new earth. Of course, only God can create. This new creation belongs to God just as the old one was also God’s doing. This is one of the only two references to a new heaven and a new earth in the Old Testament. Later apocalyptic literature tends to describe the new creation in terms of the radical destruction and violent end of the present world. Here, there is no such sense of the end of the world. It will happen within history, with Jerusalem as its central focus.
It speaks of the joy and delight involved in this new creation. God will do this for the joy of it. It is more than simply saying that what he has created is good. God takes delight and rejoices in this new creation. Therefore, it also brings forth joy and delight to the people. There will be no more weeping and suffering, infant death and shortened life; or invasion of foreign enemies. Long life, peace and security are assured. They will be able to enjoy the benefit of building homes and planting vineyards without threats of invaders as they had previously endured in history. This emphasis on stability for the people is compared to a tree. Why a tree? In the hot and dry climate of the Middle East, a tree was a sign of long life and stability. The tree that thrives and flourishes by a stream of water, in spite of the hostile climate, becomes a symbol of life and endurance. The tree of life is part of the newness of God’s activity, contrary to the death and destruction as witnessed before.
The declaration also points to a close relationship with God that would be a major part of this new creation. God has always heard the cry of the people for deliverance, from the time of oppression under Pharaoh to other enemies ever since. During the exile, the people had complained that God had not heard their cry and felt that God had abandoned them. Here, a newness is being promised that they had not known before. Not only would God be present among them, but they would no longer have to call to him in the same way as before. God would hear and answer them even before they cried out. This closeness of communion is a powerful affirmation of God’s renewed presence with the people. No amount of betrayal will interrupt this promise. Healing, forgiveness and reconciliation will be the marks of this new creation. Such a vision of peace and harmony is also expressed poetically in the animal kingdom, with the famous imagery of the wolf and the lamb feeding together in peace.
It is a powerful message of hope and faith! Whatever darkness and despair we face as individuals, community or congregation, we are asked to turn to God in faith and trust. Whatever “down in the dumps experience” - be it grief and losses, death and dying, coping with illness and depression, conflicts and division, financial difficulty and business failure - God will have the last word on all that, not us. Precisely it is not about us, but it is about God! The living God is in charge. Out of death, God will bring new life. Out of despair, hope! Out of darkness, light!
In our despair, we may pray for a radical and violent end to all that is wrong with the world, its evil and injustices, so that God can start anew from scratch. Such is the perspective of the doomsday prophets and apocalyptic preachers. Ironically, we have one such passage in today’s Gospel (Luke 21:5-19). It speaks of the signs of the times and the coming of God’s kingdom in rather depressing terms. We are reminded of all that is to be suffered before the final deliverance of God’s people. Those words are meant to strengthen and comfort the faithful as they deal with the horrors and pains of the world, suffering persecution and tribulations.
Putting the two readings together, I believe they balance each other. The Isaiah passage reassures us that neither the nightly news nor our daily struggles is the measure of all things. Darkness and despair may seem to have power over us at times. But in God’s overall scheme of things, joy, delight, and life will prevail. Suffering, distress and death are real. However, joy and delight are real, too. Ultimately, Jesus also reassures his followers that not a hair of their heads will perish. They will be saved by their endurance and faith.
In our own story of faithfulness and rebellion, betrayal and restoration, death and new life, we are called to live out our own story of endurance, faith and hope. The plots and story lines may be different, since our lives and challenges are unique, but we follow the same pattern of hopefulness, as we are reminded to take joy and delight as our companions along the way.
Some of you have probably watched the movie “Evan Almighty” – a modern day Noah story. A newly elected congressman who wants to change the world is given the opportunity from God to do just that. God explains to the characters in the movie that God does not give things; he gives the opportunity to get things. For example, God doesn't give a family togetherness; he gives the opportunity for families to be together. We have to make good use of the opportunities given. In its charming but lame Hollywood way, the story ends with God’s teaching that the way to change the world is by doing one Act of Random Kindness (“ARK”) at a time.
God does not have to destroy the world again in a flood to cleanse it from evil and sins. God is capable of bringing in a new creation in a less violent and catastrophic way. We may be called to be instruments and agents in this process of transformation! In fact, we are called to do what we are capable of doing, using our unique gifts and talents. When God’s way and our ways intersect in God’s time, we may well be part of God’s new creation of joy and delight!
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Fr. Victor +
To return to the church's website, please click http://www.stjd.ca/
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Do You Believe in the God of the Living? - November 11, 2007
Luke 20: 27-38
In today's Gospel, we have a story of a group of Jewish religious people who did not believe in the resurrection or life after death. The Sadducees posed a trick question to Jesus to ridicule such a belief. They had already made up their mind that there was no resurrection of the dead. Therefore, the impossible and absurd “what if” question about the seven brothers and one wife was just a game they played here with Jesus. It is similar to an atheist philosopher posing a classical question, "If God were almighty, could he create a stone so large and heavy that he was not able to carry?"
The first part of Jesus’ answer simply points to the inappropriateness of the question, that there is a fundamental difference between life in this age and life in the age to come. Marriage is appropriate for this age since the fact of mortality necessitates a means for procreation and perpetuating life. Reproduction ensures the survival of the species for this life. However, those who attain to the resurrection of the dead are children of God and they are like angels. In the next life, there will be no need for marriage. It will be irrelevant, since life after death is a completely different form of life and existence in the fullest presence of God.
The second part of Jesus’ answer is a response in kind, using Scriptures to reply to the trick question posed. The Sadducees based their question on Deuteronomy 25:5-10, the law of marriage which spells out the duty of a man toward a dead brother to provide a legal heir for succession. Jesus appeals to the same body of Scriptures, Exodus 3:6, to affirm God as a God of the living and not of the dead. The inference is that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have or will have continuous life with God. The Book of Moses may not have talked about the state of the dead, but it implies a belief in eternal life, so that the Sadducees are wrong even on their own assumptions and authority.
Jesus’ argument runs like this: inanimate things may have a Creator, but only the living can have a God. When God says to Moses, “I am the God of Abraham…” this implies that Abraham is still alive, even though according to the world, he is already long dead. Jesus wants to affirm that all life, here and hereafter, consists of friendship with God, and nothing less is worthy of the name of life. Abraham was the friend of God, and it is incredible that such friendship should be severed by death. Death may put an end to physical existence, but not to a relationship that is by nature eternal. Human beings may lose their friends by death, but not God.
Therefore, Jesus draws the conclusion that God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. Do you truly believe in the God of the living, or a living God, active and alive in our midst?
There was a story in the Edmonton Sun:
In a conservative Alberta town, a strip club was going to be opened. The local church didn't like the idea, and started anti-club petitions and public prayers. The club proceeded to be built, in spite of the opposition. However, just days before the opening, a lightning strike burned it to the ground in a fierce storm.
The church folks were smug, and they were celebrating openly, until the club owner decided to sue them. He claimed that the church was responsible for the demise of his building, through direct or indirect actions or means. The church, of course, denied all responsibility or any connection.
At the trial, the presiding judge shook his head and said, “We have a strip club owner who believes in the power of prayer, and an entire church congregation who deny it. How ironic can it be?"
It is funny how things work in this world. God has been used in all kinds of arguments, for justifying going to war, and various kinds of actions and policies. On the one hand, the world conveniently wants to keep God out of our daily lives, our schools and governments. On the other, they also conveniently blame God for all the major disasters and “acts of God” in nature. When things go wrong, they mournfully ask, “Where is God, when tragedies strike and people going through suffering?” We treat God the same way some of our bosses treat us: they would claim all the credit for success and accomplishments, but we would have to take the blame for any failures and disappointment.
Can we have it both ways with God? When the chips are down, do we truly believe in the power and presence of God in our own lives? Or, do we live like a practical atheist most of the time?
Most of you knew that Julia and I had to go to Hong Kong for two weeks to deal with some of my family matters. I did not tell you what we had to do. Before the trip, my oldest brother, Michael in Cobourg, basically thought that we had an impossible task ahead of us. We had to find a solution to a family situation that had worsened over the years. We had thought of various options, but none seemed workable or practical. Simply put, we went on a wing and a prayer! Now, mind you, the wings are from a brand new Jumbo jet on a direct flight which made such a long trip merciful to bear. Plus, there were many people praying for us and supporting us in the background.
I am happy to report that our seemingly impossible mission has been completed within those two weeks. We found my mom in relatively good health, after a series of medical tests. Her problem seems minor and requires no further actions at this point. She is getting more fragile and frail, compared to a year ago. She expressed her need to “retire” from the present living arrangement with my other brother, sister and nephew. She could no longer look after them, at the age of 82, as she has been doing all this time.
After a fairly calm family conference, we made some decisions for the future of those four people. My brother (61) has mental problems before, but seems to be coping much better than a decade ago. My sister (56) is not doing as well as he, she requires medication for her depression. As a single mother, she and her son have created a very unhealthy co-dependency. The young man has not finished high school and has not yet held a job in his life, and he will be turning 30 next February. It is important to separate him from my sister at this point, so at least he will have to try to gain independence and make a living for himself. We also recognize how my sister is incapable of looking after herself at this point.
What happened from that point was nothing short of a miracle. We found a private senior home for my mom, brother and sister, so that they could stay together in the same home in the same neighborhood as they are living. This way, it could minimize the stressful impact of the major transition they have to go through. It was the first place we looked at; they liked it and accepted it. We did not even have to look at another facility. This place also happened to have 3 independent rooms available right now. When my mom asked in amazement, “How come there are 3 rooms available for us? Isn’t that strange?” Without hesitation, I said, “I believe that God has kindly arranged that for us!”
If they did not like this home, or if there were only one or two vacancies, we would still be looking for other places. Given the limited time we had in Hong Kong, things could not have gone any smoother.
The next step was to put my mom’s apartment on sale. The housing market in Hong Kong happens to be at its peak right now, but we never expected to sell the place within a day. My lawyer friend Benny recommended his real agent and we met with her Saturday a week ago. On Sunday, she set up an appointment for a couple to come see the place at 3:30 pm. However, she showed up 15 minutes early with another client, who happened to run into her on the way. This gentleman came in, liked the place, and phoned his daughter right away to ask her to come check it out. In the meantime, the other couple showed up at 3:30, but did not express any interest. When the first man’s daughter showed up, she happens to be a lawyer as well, they put in an offer and there it went!
Is it simply good luck or just all coincidences? Somehow, I don’t think so. Is it the power of prayer? You bet! Something like we say often: "Glory to God, whose power working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine!" It is a true story and my testimony of God’s working through different key people who helped us along the way. The remaining challenge is to help my nephew start a new life on his own. We have agreed to give a portion of the proceeds as a gift to set him up for housing and training needs. Hopefully, he will do what we have agreed on. The rest of the money will be used to provide for the other 3.
I have witnessed the hands of God at work before, but have not previously experienced things happening together in such a miraculous manner. In fact, I have experienced the opposite, when things had gone from bad to worse, spinning out of control with the bottom fell out and I had a free falling. Yet, from today’s vintage point, I can see the mistakes I made then and the failed first marriage actually made way for what happened now in 2007. My wife, Julia, has played such a pivotal part in all the negotiations and innovative thinking that it would not have been possible otherwise.
It seems strange that we claim to believe in God through life’s ups and downs. It is much easier to trust and have faith when things go right for us, and we are truly thankful for those wonderful moments of grace. It may not be as easy, when things are not going smoothly and the dominoes go down with no end in sight. I have heard stories of how St John the Divine has spiraled downward in the past couple of years, with different things happened that ended up with this big debt. With faith, hope and trust, we will face the future together as a parish. I may or may not play a part in this process of turning things around, but it is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of the living, in our midst, who will guide us through. It is the same God who helped us started the parish 50 years ago, who will be in charge of our future. Do you believe in that? (People in the congregation in fact responded with a 'yes' at the 10:30 service!) When we realize that we are in the presence of the Holy One and witness his hands working, we are indeed humbled and overwhelmed in wonder, awe and praise.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Fr. Victor +
In today's Gospel, we have a story of a group of Jewish religious people who did not believe in the resurrection or life after death. The Sadducees posed a trick question to Jesus to ridicule such a belief. They had already made up their mind that there was no resurrection of the dead. Therefore, the impossible and absurd “what if” question about the seven brothers and one wife was just a game they played here with Jesus. It is similar to an atheist philosopher posing a classical question, "If God were almighty, could he create a stone so large and heavy that he was not able to carry?"
The first part of Jesus’ answer simply points to the inappropriateness of the question, that there is a fundamental difference between life in this age and life in the age to come. Marriage is appropriate for this age since the fact of mortality necessitates a means for procreation and perpetuating life. Reproduction ensures the survival of the species for this life. However, those who attain to the resurrection of the dead are children of God and they are like angels. In the next life, there will be no need for marriage. It will be irrelevant, since life after death is a completely different form of life and existence in the fullest presence of God.
The second part of Jesus’ answer is a response in kind, using Scriptures to reply to the trick question posed. The Sadducees based their question on Deuteronomy 25:5-10, the law of marriage which spells out the duty of a man toward a dead brother to provide a legal heir for succession. Jesus appeals to the same body of Scriptures, Exodus 3:6, to affirm God as a God of the living and not of the dead. The inference is that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have or will have continuous life with God. The Book of Moses may not have talked about the state of the dead, but it implies a belief in eternal life, so that the Sadducees are wrong even on their own assumptions and authority.
Jesus’ argument runs like this: inanimate things may have a Creator, but only the living can have a God. When God says to Moses, “I am the God of Abraham…” this implies that Abraham is still alive, even though according to the world, he is already long dead. Jesus wants to affirm that all life, here and hereafter, consists of friendship with God, and nothing less is worthy of the name of life. Abraham was the friend of God, and it is incredible that such friendship should be severed by death. Death may put an end to physical existence, but not to a relationship that is by nature eternal. Human beings may lose their friends by death, but not God.
Therefore, Jesus draws the conclusion that God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. Do you truly believe in the God of the living, or a living God, active and alive in our midst?
There was a story in the Edmonton Sun:
In a conservative Alberta town, a strip club was going to be opened. The local church didn't like the idea, and started anti-club petitions and public prayers. The club proceeded to be built, in spite of the opposition. However, just days before the opening, a lightning strike burned it to the ground in a fierce storm.
The church folks were smug, and they were celebrating openly, until the club owner decided to sue them. He claimed that the church was responsible for the demise of his building, through direct or indirect actions or means. The church, of course, denied all responsibility or any connection.
At the trial, the presiding judge shook his head and said, “We have a strip club owner who believes in the power of prayer, and an entire church congregation who deny it. How ironic can it be?"
It is funny how things work in this world. God has been used in all kinds of arguments, for justifying going to war, and various kinds of actions and policies. On the one hand, the world conveniently wants to keep God out of our daily lives, our schools and governments. On the other, they also conveniently blame God for all the major disasters and “acts of God” in nature. When things go wrong, they mournfully ask, “Where is God, when tragedies strike and people going through suffering?” We treat God the same way some of our bosses treat us: they would claim all the credit for success and accomplishments, but we would have to take the blame for any failures and disappointment.
Can we have it both ways with God? When the chips are down, do we truly believe in the power and presence of God in our own lives? Or, do we live like a practical atheist most of the time?
Most of you knew that Julia and I had to go to Hong Kong for two weeks to deal with some of my family matters. I did not tell you what we had to do. Before the trip, my oldest brother, Michael in Cobourg, basically thought that we had an impossible task ahead of us. We had to find a solution to a family situation that had worsened over the years. We had thought of various options, but none seemed workable or practical. Simply put, we went on a wing and a prayer! Now, mind you, the wings are from a brand new Jumbo jet on a direct flight which made such a long trip merciful to bear. Plus, there were many people praying for us and supporting us in the background.
I am happy to report that our seemingly impossible mission has been completed within those two weeks. We found my mom in relatively good health, after a series of medical tests. Her problem seems minor and requires no further actions at this point. She is getting more fragile and frail, compared to a year ago. She expressed her need to “retire” from the present living arrangement with my other brother, sister and nephew. She could no longer look after them, at the age of 82, as she has been doing all this time.
After a fairly calm family conference, we made some decisions for the future of those four people. My brother (61) has mental problems before, but seems to be coping much better than a decade ago. My sister (56) is not doing as well as he, she requires medication for her depression. As a single mother, she and her son have created a very unhealthy co-dependency. The young man has not finished high school and has not yet held a job in his life, and he will be turning 30 next February. It is important to separate him from my sister at this point, so at least he will have to try to gain independence and make a living for himself. We also recognize how my sister is incapable of looking after herself at this point.
What happened from that point was nothing short of a miracle. We found a private senior home for my mom, brother and sister, so that they could stay together in the same home in the same neighborhood as they are living. This way, it could minimize the stressful impact of the major transition they have to go through. It was the first place we looked at; they liked it and accepted it. We did not even have to look at another facility. This place also happened to have 3 independent rooms available right now. When my mom asked in amazement, “How come there are 3 rooms available for us? Isn’t that strange?” Without hesitation, I said, “I believe that God has kindly arranged that for us!”
If they did not like this home, or if there were only one or two vacancies, we would still be looking for other places. Given the limited time we had in Hong Kong, things could not have gone any smoother.
The next step was to put my mom’s apartment on sale. The housing market in Hong Kong happens to be at its peak right now, but we never expected to sell the place within a day. My lawyer friend Benny recommended his real agent and we met with her Saturday a week ago. On Sunday, she set up an appointment for a couple to come see the place at 3:30 pm. However, she showed up 15 minutes early with another client, who happened to run into her on the way. This gentleman came in, liked the place, and phoned his daughter right away to ask her to come check it out. In the meantime, the other couple showed up at 3:30, but did not express any interest. When the first man’s daughter showed up, she happens to be a lawyer as well, they put in an offer and there it went!
Is it simply good luck or just all coincidences? Somehow, I don’t think so. Is it the power of prayer? You bet! Something like we say often: "Glory to God, whose power working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine!" It is a true story and my testimony of God’s working through different key people who helped us along the way. The remaining challenge is to help my nephew start a new life on his own. We have agreed to give a portion of the proceeds as a gift to set him up for housing and training needs. Hopefully, he will do what we have agreed on. The rest of the money will be used to provide for the other 3.
I have witnessed the hands of God at work before, but have not previously experienced things happening together in such a miraculous manner. In fact, I have experienced the opposite, when things had gone from bad to worse, spinning out of control with the bottom fell out and I had a free falling. Yet, from today’s vintage point, I can see the mistakes I made then and the failed first marriage actually made way for what happened now in 2007. My wife, Julia, has played such a pivotal part in all the negotiations and innovative thinking that it would not have been possible otherwise.
It seems strange that we claim to believe in God through life’s ups and downs. It is much easier to trust and have faith when things go right for us, and we are truly thankful for those wonderful moments of grace. It may not be as easy, when things are not going smoothly and the dominoes go down with no end in sight. I have heard stories of how St John the Divine has spiraled downward in the past couple of years, with different things happened that ended up with this big debt. With faith, hope and trust, we will face the future together as a parish. I may or may not play a part in this process of turning things around, but it is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of the living, in our midst, who will guide us through. It is the same God who helped us started the parish 50 years ago, who will be in charge of our future. Do you believe in that? (People in the congregation in fact responded with a 'yes' at the 10:30 service!) When we realize that we are in the presence of the Holy One and witness his hands working, we are indeed humbled and overwhelmed in wonder, awe and praise.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Fr. Victor +
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