Visiting Martha part two

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about all my little tchotchkes (definition: a small object that is decorative rather than strictly functional) that have traveled with me and have been on display in my many offices over the years. Items that remind me of special people and moments.

And, there is also all my “Jesus stuff” – action figures, pencil toppers, a bobblehead, sticky notes, a last supper lunchbox … at home I even have a Jesus salt and pepper shaker (don’t worry – if you ever come to dinner at my place, it never appears on the table – it is strictly decorative, way up on a shelf in my home office …).

Perhaps it all seems a bit irreverent to you. Most of them are gifts. When people heard that I was fascinated by my Jesus Action Figure (mostly from a “why? Who thought this was a good idea? Who actually buys this?” perspective) … people started giving me gifts of Jesus stuff that they would come across. Hence the collection - that I really don’t know what to do with now, except write blogs about them, and sometimes bring an item to meetings for reflection.

Yesterday, we (well, mostly Dana and Jimmy) got a few posters up in my office. Posters that I have collected over the years. Many are from a curriculum that was popular about 20 years ago called Seasons of the Spirit. Every unit came with a set of posters, and each poster has information about the artist and a short reflection about the image. They were beautiful, thought provoking, and very conversational.

Many were paintings and portraits of Jesus over the years.

Just as how I reflected last week about it making sense to me that different people would imagine God in many different ways, I think that it makes sense that folks would imagine Jesus in many different ways. In fact, scholars point out that Jesus would have been a much darker skinned man than many white people in the world have pictured. So I also was intrigued to find many images of Jesus in this poster collection.

Images from many different cultures and contexts – indigenous, black, young, old, rich, or poor, or even Jesus laughing. Images through the ages.

For example, try googling “Christ of the Breadline” or “Jesus laughing”.

Part of my collection is a poster from the Student Christian Movement (SCM). For those of you that don’t know about SCM, it is a 100 year old grass led network, passionate about justice, community in diversity, and radical faith in action. SCM still exists on many campuses across Canada and the world. (see scmcanada.org)

The poster was created many years ago when the Student Christian Movement of Canada had a talented and clever artist as one of their National Directors. The poster goes through the whole alphabet, with a little cartoon and a caption for each letter, each one based on a story about Jesus. I have used the poster many times as a Bible study, especially with youth and young adults.

I even laminated and cut one poster up into puzzle pieces, and as we put the pieces together we talk about all the different stories of Jesus.

It starts out … A is for Activist … the caption says “Jesus stirred up trouble in the streets …”  B is for Black; “Jesus was from Palestine, so the odds of him looking like the blue-eyed, brown-haired guy on the wall of your Sunday School class are pretty slim.” C of course … is for Carpenter. “Jesus worked most of his life in an average Joe job.”

D … Displaced. “Jesus was a refugee. This is Jesus and his family running away to Egypt because Herod was killing all the babies.”

Many of the youth like Q … for queer positive, with the caption “Jesus liked to hang out with the marginalized and oppressed”, with a bubble near Jesus saying, “Hi, I’m Jesus, wanna go for coffee?”

In the gospel of Mark, chapter 8, Jesus asks his disciples “Who do others say I am?”, and, “Who do you say I am?” The exchange between Jesus and his disciples implies that who others say Jesus is may not always be who you say Jesus is.

We get to know Jesus by getting to know how he lived his life, who he hung out with, how he treated people, what he taught.

How do you think about Jesus? Who do you say he is? If you want some help thinking about it, drop by my office sometime.

Ask Me About - August 2, 2024

I am delighted to have the privilege of being appointed as your minister for the next year. I want to say thank you for the welcome messages I have received from folks this past week, and I look forward to meeting all of you, in person or electronically, over the next few months.

I know that in the past few years, you have looked forward to a daily reflection from your minister. I am pretty sure that I won’t be able to keep up that pace. But, I will commit to sending out at least one reflection each week during my time here.

Some thoughts and ideas might be shamelessly plagiarized (with accreditation of course) from the many blogs and theologians that I read on an ongoing basis. Or, perhaps from the Lenten Study that I wrote for the United Church of Canada in 2017 called Parables, Prayers and Promises, Some thoughts on Jesus.

Some reflections might be about the coming week’s worship theme. And some may be me sharing surprising moments of awe and wonder that I have experienced throughout the week.

        This week – I thought I might tell you a bit more about me, and who you have hired to be your minister for a year. There is some background information about my ministry and employment history in the announcement from the board. And, there is a bit of information about my family added to the general bio on the website.

But perhaps you would like to know a bit more.

My friend in Northern Ireland, when introducing himself at an event, after some very brief remarks, often said … during the break or our meal time you are free to ask me questions. He would say … you could  “ask me about the time when I met … and then he would name a famous person … ” … or “ask me about my work with …” and he might name a specific group of people – or “ask me about the time the youth group set off the fire alarm in the village.”. It immediately created a curiosity, and a desire for more information.

So for me, for example, you could …

        … ask me about the time I spent three months at the Corrymeela Peace and Reconciliation Centre in Northern Ireland, and the 10 return trips that I did with university students and church folks.

Or, perhaps you might want to ask me about why I take the stairs one at a time … and I will tell you a little about my catastrophic injury 9 years ago in my St. John’s office that ruptured my Achilles tendon, caused me to be in a cast for 8 months, and resulted in 2 surgeries.  Or … perhaps you even might want to ask me about the time many years ago when I was in a band singing Irish songs throughout the Maritimes[MM1] . (That’s one of my two truths and a lie statements!)

Or … one of my favourite topics, “ask me about the GO Project, a United Church youth program. (Spoiler: my daughter Alana Martin, also a Diaconal Minister, is the lead staff to this program.)

        I am happy to fill in the details in our conversations later. In the meantime, here a few things to know about me as we begin our journey.

Number 1:

        I am a Diaconal Minister in the United Church of Canada. Many of you might ask … what exactly is a Diaconal Minister? We get that a lot.

        In the United Church of Canada, there is one Order of Ministry with two streams of ministers – Ordained ministers, and Diaconal ministers. Where ordained ministers are ordained to the ministry of word, sacrament and pastoral care, diaconal ministers are commissioned to the ministry of education, service and pastoral care. However, most members of the order of ministry in reality are involved in all of the aspects of ministry.

The training for diaconal ministry is quite different from ordained ministry, in that it focuses more deeply on an action/reflection model, and in the areas of education, justice and pastoral care.

Number 2:

Although I have lived over 45 years in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I actually grew up in Toronto. I came to Toronto in 1977 – that part relates to the question about singing Irish songs with the band. I still have family and good friends in Ontario that I try to visit when I can.

Number 3:

I like to refer to movies, books, songs, poems, paintings, TV shows, news articles … pop culture in general, in my sermons and studies. I don’t believe that as Christians we can make sense of our ancient story unless we can apply it to our everyday lives – and most of us are consumers of the culture around us in some way.

I began to do this very early in my career – working with youth and young adults, and in university chaplaincy. I find that culture helps us connect with the biblical story in new ways.

And finally, Number 4:

    An important focus in my personal life and in my ministry recently is about

discovering how I can be part of (in the words of a decades old United Church of Canada resource), “mending the world” … and how to best walk in solidarity with marginalized folks in our communities. For example, people with disabilities, racialized people, indigenous peoples, or the LGBTQIA2S community to name just a few.

Especially in the past few years, I have learned that this means continuously understanding and confronting my own white privilege, unpacking the baggage and biases of my own history, and naming racism, ableism, classism, and homophophia.

It usually means a lot of listening, and often sitting in a place of discomfort for a time.

I am on a learning curve with this one and I am always looking for companions to do this work, and learn, with me. It is not easy work. I know that this congregation is already doing some of this work, and I look forward to walking with you as we worship, plan and grow together over the next year.

I love to share ideas, and firmly believe that conversation and deep listening enhances understanding and relationships. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to meet – (and ask me questions! …) either by phone, email or in person.

Changing Seasons - August 9, 2024

This past week when I was in the office I asked Dana and Glen for ideas about what to write my weekly reflection about. “What about the changing seasons?” offered Glen. He proceeded to describe all the changes in Bethany’s garden that he sees on a daily basis and how much he delights in watching it each day.

        All I could think of was what a horrible gardener I am.

        I tried for many years to be a successful gardener. Perhaps I didn’t have the patience, or the time, to really give it what it needed. I don’t remember ever having much success, even with house plants.

        My spouse took it up when he retired about 10 years ago. And this summer is the first summer in 5 years I have actually been around to enjoy his efforts. He is the first to tell you that he doesn’t really know what he’s doing. Each year he buys a selection of plants that he likes and recognizes, and what he thinks will work, paying attention to the little tags that tell you how much sunlight and water each plant needs. And then he puts them all together in containers of many different sizes and shapes and distributes them around the yard. There is no pattern. No overall plan.

And then he patiently cares for them all throughout the summer.

        We have a very small city back yard. These days it is a riot of colour as the flowers continue to bloom and spread all around the perimeter. And I just sit back and enjoy the view. And marvel at the diversity and randomness of it all. And it’s true – every day I see something different.

This is a picture of a place called The Burren in County Clare in the west of Ireland. It consists of about 250 square kilometers, known as a karst landscape, which means that it is formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone and gypsum, and is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It comes from the Irish word boireann, which means a rocky place. It is often referred to as “fertile rock”, because of its mixture of herb and floral species.

        I visited The Burren in 2015. I really didn’t know what I was looking at until I did a bit of research on the internet. In fact, this is the largest and most accessible karst region in the world, and the only place on the planet that Artic, Mediterranean and Alpine plants grow side by side.

In this environment, acid loving and lime loving plants grow adjacent to one another and woodland plants grow out in the open with not a tree nearby to provide shade from the sun. All this, in a land that appears to be composed entirely of rock.

I do remember our tour guide telling us that, and also that the reason there was such a diversity of plants is because of the migration of birds, and the seeds contained in their droppings.

        It’s a very popular tourist area in Ireland, and it is also becoming very big in the area of ecotourism. There is also a diversity of small animals and other animals, insects and butterflies. There are many wedge tombs and megalithic tombs in the area, proving that people have been living in The Burren for 5,000 years.

        If you are curious, you can find lots more information about it if you google The Burren. You will find lots of pictures, videos and information.

        The Burren always reminds me that God’s world is unpredictable, and uncontrollable, and full of surprises. It reminds me that creation often has the ability to adapt to its surroundings, and that it is also a place where everything changes, and everything belongs. And that is good news. For everyone.

Visiting Martha - August 16, 2024

The Celts talk about “thin places” … places where the veil between the real world and the “other” world are thin. Places that go beyond what your five senses can feel.

Perhaps we might say that they are places where God breaks through … or, where we allow ourselves to experience God breaking through. Sometimes I have heard these times referred to as “God moments.”

Some congregations actually offer times in the weekly worship service when folks are invited to come forward and share these God moments with the rest of the faith community. Times during the week when they have felt God, or Holy Mystery … moments of awe and wonder, in the past week. Perhaps it was a moment of deep connection with someone. Or a moment of stillness watching a sunrise or sunset. Or, a moment of deep joy when you heard children laughing.

Sometimes, I need a little help remembering all the God moments in my life. I am blessed – there have been many.  This help often comes in the form of objects that remind me of those times. Times when I have felt close to God. Times when I knew that the Spirit was moving in my life, even though I might not have recognized it at the time.

The object is a reminder to me to try to move into the unknown, even when it is uncomfortable. And that God is always surprising us.

When I start bringing my “stuff” into my office next week … (my newly painted, newly carpeted office, thanks to a wonderful team of folks who have worked diligently over the past couple of weeks to make that happen!) … you will see an eclectic collection of random objects scattered about.

Objects that remind me of communities and people in my life, of God moments and thin places. They remind me that we carry our experiences with us wherever we go.   

I am happy to tell you about any of them … but here are a few of the things you might see.

Pictures of the groups that have accompanied me to the Corrymeela Peace and

Reconciliation Centre, Ireland’s oldest peace centre, in the past 10 years.

My Jesus Action figure. I’ve had him since my early days as a Chaplain at Mount Saint Vincent University, and he has traveled with me many times. His only official tricks are that he glides and blesses – which, if you can only do two things, gliding and blessing are pretty much right up there. Close companion is the Jesus Bobblehead. And my prized possession, my Last Supper Lunchbox.

A collection of rocks. Some came from Lake Huron, a place where I spent many summers in my early years and still visit. Included are my small collection of rocks with holes in the centre, and my heart shaped rocks that I have found or was given over the years.                                                          

Two birds. The coloured one is from Solintename, Nicaragua. I bought it when I was in Managua, Nicaragua in 1997 with my class from the Centre for Christian Studies. The Gospels in Solintename are four volumes of transcripts of bible studies in the early years of the Nicaraguan Revolution. They document the liberation that comes with community engagement, conversation, and the stories of Jesus.

The little white bird is from my spouse Pat, from New Orleans.  Part of the BirdProject, it came encased in black soap, also shaped like a bird, made from Louisiana Clay. As the soap is used, eventually the ceramic bird inside is freed – a symbol of restoration and recovery from an oil spill disaster. This also reminds me of the power within, and how we all need the help of others to be restored and whole. It also has a bit of a chip on its beak. That happened in my hurry to free the bird from the soap. It reminds me that sometimes we often have scars, bumps and bruises from our experiences. It’s who we are.

A wooden painted cross from El Salvador which I bought at Phoenix Rising, an international interfaith university chaplains’ conference in Vancouver in 2000. I am not usually drawn to a cross as a symbol of my faith, but these beautifully painted crosses from Central America, with scenes of people and landscapes, and community, are symbols of life.

My hand made prayer beads, which a colleague and close friend taught me to make, and which I have in turn taught other groups how to make 

A finger labyrinth, which reminds me of life’s journey, with all its twists and turns.

These items have traveled with me over the past 35 years, sometimes spread out between 2 or even 3 offices. They traveled to Toronto and back. I wasn’t sure what to do with them when I looked at them last fall when I unpacked. It appears that they will have another home for the next year.

What helps you to remember the “God moments” in your life?

How do you describe God? - August 30, 2024

The Seeker, Mike Moyer, Art in the Christian Tradition

Some of you may have noticed that since I have been at Bethany I have begun the Lord’s Prayer by saying “Our Mother, Our Father …”. At my previous pastoral charge, we said, “Our Creator” … which I had inherited from my predecessor.

At the back of Voices United, there are several versions of the Lord’s Prayer. There are also a number of translations, including French, Japanese, Taiwanese, Cree, Korean and Chinese, and one paraphrase from New Zealand which begins: “Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver, Source of all that is and that shall be … Father and Mother of us all, Loving God, in whom is heaven:”

I believe that it is important to use different images of God in our prayers, especially for children as their understandings of God are forming. In Genesis 1, it says that humankind was created in God’s image. To me, that means all humankind, not just males.

It’s true that Jesus described God as a father. Actually, the translation of the word he used is more accurately translated as the more intimate word “daddy”. But I don’t think that he meant that we were to only use that one image, that one concept forever and always. Jesus was trying to make an overwhelming concept a bit more understandable. If we only use one image, we may get stuck. And for some, the image of a father might not be particularly comforting, or relatable.

In fact, the bible is rich with different images of God, of people describing a mystery which is in the end, indescribable. Each image tells us something about how the writer understood the nature of God.

In Psalm 23, God is compared to a shepherd. Jesus compares God to a woman searching for a lost coin in Luke 15:8-10. (image pictured above). In the book of Hosea, chapter 13:7-8, God is compared to a lion, a leopard, and a protective mother bear.

In Deuteronomy 32:11-12, God is compared to an eagle protecting its young, teaching them and guiding them. In Genesis 1:2, God is the wind that swept over the face of the waters. And in Jeremiah 18:6, God is a potter and Israel is clay in the potter’s hand.

The bible also describes God in more abstract terms, such as:

In Proverbs 1:20, wisdom cries out in the street. 1 John 4:11 says God is love.

And we hear in Psalm 27:1 that God is my light.

All of these images help us understand the great mystery that we call God. Sometimes, we need different images at different times in our lives.

One of my favourite children’s books is by Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso called In God’s Name. It begins by saying that in the beginning everyone had a name, but no one knew the name for God. So each person searched for a name for God. The farmer called God Source of Life. The soldier called God Maker of Peace. The artist called God My Rock. The woman who cared for the sick called God Healer. You get the picture. When they look in God’s mirror, they see everyone reflected, and realize that all the names for God are good, and one name is not better than the other.

How do you describe God

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The Theology of Abundance - August 23, 2024

Jesus multiplies the loaves and fishes; Art in the Christian Tradition; Vanderbilt Divinity Library; JESUS MAFA is a response to the New Testament readings by a Christian community in Cameroon, Africa

The story of Jesus feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle story that is found in all four gospel accounts. It is a story that tells how Jesus helped a community move from holding a myth of scarcity to a theology of abundance. When it didn’t seem like there was enough food to feed the crowd of people that had gathered, Jesus showed them that in fact, they had plenty. Even enough to have leftovers.

I grew up in a house that didn’t have a lot of unplanned company. We would have to ask days, if not weeks, in advance if we wanted to have someone stay for dinner. It wasn’t that my parents didn’t entertain, because they did, a lot. But it was always planned. To be fair, that was the model in which my mother grew up … quite formal and not much happened by chance.

So it was an absolute marvel to me when I joined the Martin family and every Sunday I would watch my mother-in-law stretch a meal she had made for 6 into one that would feed double that number. They lived in the country, and folks would be out for a Sunday drive, and they would drop in for a visit. And of course they would be asked to stay for dinner. And somehow, there was always enough food.

Eric Law, in his book Holy Currencies – 6 Blessings for Sustainable Missional Ministries, tells a wonderful story about his own family meals growing up. He writes:

“When I was a child, my family always had guests for dinner. On any given night, there might be twelve to 15 people at the dinner table. Dinner was a time of joyful sharing of food and stories. I thought we were quite wealthy, feeding so many people every night. Only when I was older, while talking to my mother about the good old days, did I find out that we were not rich at all. My mother told me that some days she only had three dollars to feed fifteen people. How could that be? I could not remember a day when there was not enough food!

… Not only was everyone around the table filled every night, there were always leftovers. I believe the way we dealt with the leftovers at the dinner table is indicative of how this miracle of doing “more with less” was accomplished.

Toward the end of the dinner, there was always something left on a plate in the middle of the table. Everyone would be staring at it, especially when it was a piece of meat, which was an occasional, special treat. But no one would make a move to take it. Then someone would say, “Why don’t you take it Grandma? You are the oldest?” But my grandma would say, “No, I’ve been eating this stuff all my life. Give it to the little one. He’s the youngest and needs the nourishment to grow up to be big and strong.”

Now all eyes were on me, who was the youngest. But I, who also learned this ritual, would say, “No, not me. I am completely full because I have the smallest stomach. Give it to my older brother. He has an examination at school tomorrow. He needs it so he can do well.” My oldest brother would say, “No, not me. Give it to my sister. She has a piano lesson tomorrow …” The ritual would go on around the table; each person would find an excuse not to take the leftover piece of food.

While we offered it to each other, we also affirmed each other’s worthiness in the family. As a result, the piece of meat would sit in the middle of the table, destined to be left over, to be transformed into a new delicious dish the next day.

The leftovers became a symbol of our appreciation of each other’s worth. This leftover piece of food became a sign of the abundance we shared – we can do more with less.

… The spirituality I learned at my dinner table begins with the assumption that there is enough and therefore it is okay to have less than the other. By insisting on having less than the other – “No, not me; let someone else have this” – we kept the blessing flowing in the form of the affirmation of each other’s worth. The dynamics of passing the “leftover” around, generating a spirit of appreciation and affirmation, did so much more than fighting over the last piece of meat, as a fear-of-scarcity minded group would do.”[1]

When we are able to challenge the myths of scarcity in our own lives, surprising things can happen. The spirituality of abundance also leads to a spirituality of generosity.

Where do you see people living out of a myth of scarcity? How might the practice of “passing the leftovers around” help us to to adopt a theology of abundance - in our own lives, in this faith community, and in the world?

Art in the Christian Tradition; Vanderbilt Divinity Library

[1] Holy Currencies, Law, Eric, Chalice Press, p. 14-15