Simon Park

Scripture Passage

1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11

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Fiery Ordeal

Our passage today begins with this verse:

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. (1 Peter 4:12)

Peter’s community is going through something very difficult. To grasp what that is, we need to unpack the context a little bit. Peter is writing to a community of mostly Gentiles. Before they became Christians, they used to be a part of their communities. They lived the same way as them. They were insiders in the culture and community. But everything changed after they met Christ. After meeting Christ, they found their reason for living. The way they thought changed. The way they behaved changed. The people they hung out with changed.

When people change, it disturbs those around them. It disrupts the equilibrium. It is unsettling. Their change attracted hostility. It aroused suspicion. They became marginalized in their own communities. The people are going through a very hard time. They are second guessing themselves.

But Peter has a message for them:

But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you. (1 Peter 4:13-14)

Rejoice. Your are blessed.

Love and Suffering

Peter is telling them to embrace suffering and hold fast to what they had found in Christ

When you love something, you suffer. This is a universal truth. When you truly love something and give of yourself to it, it will bring suffering. Parents’ suffering: parents love their children, but that love brings suffering. When your children suffer, you suffer. But suffering borne of love bears the fruit of life. God loved the world so much that he sent his only son, Jesus. Jesus’ suffering in love saves us, gives us life.

To meet Christ is to experience fullness of God’s love – to be enveloped by love. Love is what brings life. Love makes things come alive.

To really live, need to be driven by love. If you haven’t found something or someone to love, then you haven’t found a reason to live. Calling: unique way in which love is manifested. Love is universal, calling is unique. The shape that love is manifested in each person is unique. Calling is your special unique contribution of love to the world that only you can contribute. It’s not about your job, but how you live your life and bless others. That is unique to you. I am a minister by job, but my calling is not so much about the duties I perform. It is about who I am. Who I am comes through in how I do my job and relate to others. Ultimately, it is me as a person who is called to love regardless of whether I’m a minister or not, not me as a minister. We are all uniquely created to offer our unique contribution of love to this world. When we are in Christ, we discover who we are. In Christ’s love, we find our unique expression of that love.

But that love brings about suffering. Peter’s community found this love in Christ, but they were suffering from the hostility from others.

Hostility

When you experience hostility, it does something to you. Weakens your resolve. Makes you doubt yourself. Instead of feeling free to love, it makes you fear, becoming driven by the need to be accepted and blend in.

Discrimination and prejudice have corrosive effects. It makes you feel like what you have to offer is not worth much. Not only that, but that it’s undesired. When you’re made an outsider, it eats away at your sense of self-worth. Many of you experienced that. That is what is pernicious about racism: you are made to feel that you are less valuable and have less to offer simply by who you are in appearance or background.

Rejection and prejudice can distort who you are. You become very defensive: try to prove yourself and show how special you are, or hide who you are and try to blend in. Avoid difference and run away from what’s unique about yourself. Bury your unique contribution of love. To be driven more by calculation than by love

To live life that’s true requires courage. You need to be willing to face the fire that can come your way. You need to face the fiery ordeals that Peter is talking about. These fires will test who you are and what you’re made of.

Peter is trying to forge a new identity for those who are in Christ. It’s a new identity sealed in his blood. The blood that came from his suffering. We are those who share the sufferings of Christ. Those sufferings give us life. We too take up the path to the cross that Jesus took. We have faith that we will rise with him and share in his glory

Yes, rejection by others takes its toll on us. Even the resurrected Jesus retained the marks on his hands and his sides he received during his crucifixion. We too rise again with Christ, but our marks remain.

My inability to function normally in white settings. Awkward, self-conscious, can’t be fully myself. Permanent limp in my sociability. Used to be down on myself about it. But now I accept it and embrace it. By grace, God uses my infirmities for his good purposes

Driven by Love

God does not use us in spite of our infirmities, God uses us because of them. Our infirmities are the raw materials that God takes to make something beautiful. Our hurts and pains are reshaped into fuel for love. They are never gone, but they become repurposed and refashioned to bless others. That is the wonderful gift of grace. Grace gives us new life

I am thankful for Peter’s letter of exhortation. He’s telling us to hold fast to our convictions. Find your reason to live, and be strong. I want us at St. Timothy to be confident in Christ. To be driven by love, not by fear or calculation. I want us to take risks and put ourselves out there; to stick our necks out for love and what we believe in. Let us live boldly and courageously! That is the life God desires for us in Christ

He knows the journey is difficult. So he offers words of comfort as well.

Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)

Yes, our God cares for you. While we are going through the fiery ordeal, our God cares for us and will take care of us.

And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the power forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 5:10-11)

Scripture Passage

John 14:15-21

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An Anchor

Happy Mother’s Day. In our church, we celebrate our parents once a year, so I will say, “Happy Parents’ Day”. We celebrate parents because they are anchors for their children. It is not so much what you do for them that matters. It is your presence.

Your presence is the anchor for your children as they grow up. Your presence allows them to grow securely into who they are supposed to be. Your presence is the safe space in which they blossom. Your presence is the place from which they venture out into the world. Your presence is their anchor. That is the greatest thing you can do for your children – be an anchor for them through your presence.

An anchor keeps a boat securely moored. It keeps the boat safe at harbour when storms hit. It keeps it from drifting out to sea and getting lost. It keeps the boat calm and steady so it can get ready to sail.

Just like a parent, Jesus was the anchor for his disciples. They left everything to follow him. He was the one in whom they pinned all their hopes. They sat at his feet as he taught. They were beside him as he healed people. They felt purpose and meaning in his presence. He was their true anchor. But now, Jesus is talking about his departure. It’s making them very uneasy.

Jesus makes them a promise:

I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. (John 14:18)

To be orphaned is to lose the anchoring presence that parents provide.  Orphans are very vulnerable. The disciples were feeling very vulnerable. What would they do if he was gone?

But Jesus is promising that he will not leave them alone. He will come back to them. He will come back, but the manner in which he’ll come back is very mysterious.

In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. (John 20:19)

They didn’t understand what Jesus meant. What Jesus says is very mysterious. What does it mean that the world will no longer see him, but that they will? Jesus is promising his continuing presence with them, but not in the way they had experienced up to now. Until now, they had been with him physically, and his physical presence had been their anchor. Jesus is talking about a different kind of presence. He’s talking about a different reality. A spiritual presence in a spiritual reality.

This was difficult for them to understand.  It’s difficult for us to understand. In our contemporary, scientific, technological age, reality for us has become only what we see with our eyes and what we can touch. Reality is what we experience on the surface. Reality is logical and what we can make sense of. So the anchors we seek are concrete, tangible, and make sense. Health, wealth, job, family and friends. These are anchors we can see and that make sense.

But spiritual people have known that reality is not only what we can see or touch. It is not just what our analytical minds can deduce. There is a great reality beyond what we see. We may not see it with our eyes, but it is just as real. Spirituality is being in tune with what is real but not visible to our eyes. Spiritual growth is about cultivating eyes to see this greater reality. Pastor Dave is a very observant guy – maybe that’s why he’s a pastor. He went to Germany for his sister’s wedding. He was at the airport for the first time since the pandemic began. There were so many people – everyone going off to their destination. When we’re there, we’re just focused on where we’re going. We go, check in our luggage, wait, then board the plane. But in order for each person to get where they’re going, there are so many things happening behind the scenes. There are so many people involved, so many systems at play, so much coordination that takes place, to get each person where they need to go. We don’t really think about any of that. We don’t see everything that happens behind the scenes. But all of what happens behind the scenes is real. We couldn’t travel without all of that.

Spiritual Reality

That is what spiritual reality is like. It is all the things happening beyond the sight of our eyes. We may not see or notice it, but they are very real nonetheless. Being spiritual is to see what we don’t see. Beneath everyday life, there are many things happening. There are things happening in your heart. Things based on your interactions and experiences. Someone around you might behave in a strange way, but underneath the surface, there’s a lot happening. Beneath and beyond the reality we see is a spiritual reality hidden from our eyes but that is real nonetheless. A spiritual person learns to detect and discern these things.

While Jesus was with the disciples, they were not very spiritual people. His physical presence was their anchor. They saw the wonderful things he was doing but did not understand the deeper meaning of them. But Jesus was preparing them to be spiritual people. He said this:

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you. (John 14:16-17)

He was preparing them for a spiritual presence in a spiritual reality.

Our circumstances can take away our anchors at any time. Our health, our wealth, our reputation, our relationships. Our material reality is affected by material circumstances. If you anchor yourself only in what can crumble, that is not a solid existence. When they become shaky, you will be shaky. Many traditional anchors have been crumbling and people are very affected by it.

Spiritual reality is not affected by outward circumstances. Jesus promised his spiritual presence to be with them forever. That spiritual presence would be their anchor. This is an anchor that no material reality can take away. Whatever the circumstances, the Spirit is with us. Whatever we’re going through, the Spirit of God is present with us. Not even death itself can take away this anchor. God is with us now and forever.

This is what the disciples experienced at the resurrection:

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. (John 20:19-20)

Behind locked doors Jesus came to them.

Resurrection is to experience the mysterious reality of God’s presence that becomes your true solid anchor.

When you experience the spiritual presence of the living God, it doesn’t matter what you’re going through. There may be many storms going on in your life. But at your core, at the center of your existence, there is the calming presence of God. This presence gives you peace. That peace shelters you from the storm. You can even set sail through the storms. You can do so because you have the power of God that comes with God’s presence.

Through The Storms

When God is with us, we have a power that is much greater than our own. We have God’s power that propels us. It is like a boat that has a motor. We are the boat, but God’s power is the motor that is attached to the boat. It is God’s power, but we are attached to it. On its own, the boat cannot surmount and overcome great waves and storms. But with the motor that is the power of God, the boat can propel right through the storms. The path may be rocky, but we have power to propel through it. When God is present in us, we have this power of God – divine power. The power of God manifests in our lives when the presence of God is alive in us.

There’s a Mother’s Day story in today’s Toronto Star that illustrates everything I’ve reflected about. It’s the story of someone named Danielle Kane. On July 22, 2018, someone went on a shooting spree in the Danforth. 2 people were killed and 13 injured. Danielle Kane was one of those injured. She was out with her longtime boyfriend.  She was a nurse and heard that someone had been hurt. Went out to help – as soon as she opened the door, gunman was there and shot her. Broken ribs, lungs filled with blood, bullet in her spine. Medically induced coma for 11 days. One of her vertebrae shattered. Had to stabilize spine by fusing two other vertebrae. Over three operations, also repaired injuries to abdomen. Paralyzed from waist down. After recovery, two months at rehab institute to manage pain and get used to living in wheelchair. Relationship couldn’t withstand the trauma – they broke up. Two months later, the pandemic hit. All alone, she had lost all the anchors that had held up her life: career, mobility, relationship, hopes for family and children. Deep depression. But somehow, something changed. She recalls with clarity the day that things changed. Feeling overwhelmed, she called out to God for help, pleading for relief from the isolation and loneliness. She did this even though at the time she considered herself an atheist. Looking back, she doesn’t know why she turned to God. All of her friends and family had been there to support her, but she hadn’t felt comfort from them. She says this: “I was at the end of myself. I was very desperate and entertaining thoughts of self-harm. I said: ‘God, if you are real, I really need you right now because I can’t do this on my own.’ All I can say is that I felt this feeling of peace, and the anger and bitterness I had from struggling so much in my situation just went away. I can’t really explain it except that I felt like God was here to help me.” That was her experience of resurrection. She can’t really explain it, but she experienced the reality of God’s presence with her. That presence has been her power for life. Life is a challenge every day. But she found a church, and through her faith she found partner who became her husband. The story of her wedding is beautiful too. And another amazing story is that she gave birth to a child. So her longtime wish to be a mother came true. She is now the happy mother of a beautiful daughter. What a Mother’s Day story! I don’t know her, but I’m so thankful for how things turned out. I was in tears reading this story.

The prophet Isaiah says this:

“The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.” (Isaiah 40:8)

My friends, everything else in life will wither and fade away. But the Spirit is given to us, to be with us forever. What is the anchor you hold onto? God’s presence is more real than your temporary circumstances that will wither and fade away. Learn to see that spiritual reality. Learn to see God’s presence in your life. Pray for it. God’s presence is your anchor. This anchor will give you divine power to take you through life.

Scripture Passage

Romans 5:1-11

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Rootless

The Bible provides an image of the kind of people we should be:

They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper. (Psalm 1:3)

What a beautiful image of life. The word that comes to mind for me is “rooted”. People who bear fruit and prosper have strong roots and are firmly planted.

Life today often seems to be the opposite. It seems rootless. So many things are out of our control. So many changes happen around us. So many things happen to us. We don’t know what to root ourselves in.

St. Paul

Today’s passage is written by St. Paul. As a young man, he rooted himself deep in his Jewish identity. This is what he says about his previous life:

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. (Philippians 3:4-6)

He rooted himself in the law. Being a righteous person was very important to him. For him, being righteous was to be blameless under the law. This righteousness was based on what he did. It was based on his effort.

I realize that ultimately, this is how we live. Righteousness means right living, right standing, having a justified existence. After our basic needs are met, we want to know that we are living a life worth living. We are up at night because we are filled with worries about what we need to do. We feel pressure to be better parents, children and income earners. Even when we are still, we don’t feel rest because our minds are active and our hearts are restless. We believe that our existence will be justified based on what we do and the effort we put in. We try to root ourselves in what we believe will give us right standing in life.

When Paul met Christ on the road to Damascus, his whole belief system crumbled. Somehow, he realized that everything he had built his life on was wrong. When you realize that everything you’ve built your life on is wrong, that is not easy to deal with. It takes a long and difficult period of readjustment and reformulation. For three years, Paul went to Arabia.

And then he spent 10 years in Tarsus, his hometown. We don’t know exactly what he was doing. There is nothing written about these years. For me, he was reformulating his whole belief system. A new belief system that he would live out in his ministry to come. He eventually articulated this belief system in Romans.

St. Paul realized that he had rooted himself in the wrong thing. He rooted himself in his own effort. His own righteousness. But that was so small and insignificant to what he discovered – the love of God for him in Christ. He discovered the righteousness of God. Righteousness is God’s desire and work to save us. It is what God does. What God did was love him even when he was weak, when he was a sinner, and even when he was an enemy of God. Paul saw God’s loving desire and will for him even when he did not deserve it and was even opposed to God’s will.

God’s promise

He turned back to the example of Abraham. God made this promise to Abraham:

I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. (Genesis 12:2-3)

Somehow, Abraham heard this promise from God. He believed that God had a loving will for him and his future. He believed that God’s promise would be fulfilled because of God’s faithfulness and love. He trusted the promise and good intention of God. He rooted himself in the promise of God. It was this trust that made him a righteous person.

Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “So shall your descendants be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), and the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Therefore “it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:18-22)

The very core of Christian belief is that God’s loving desire for us saves us. It is to root ourselves not on our own efforts, but in the love that God has for us. It is faith and trust in God’s promise and good will for us. This is what St. Paul discovered.

Believe in God’s Love

When we were in Los Angeles last week, we had a front seat view of my kids. They would play and bicker, play and bicker – the whole week! The way they spoke to each other made me cringe. It was like a mirror reflected onto me. I could see some of my worst tendencies reflected in the way they behaved. It made me feel so guilty and inadequate. In these kinds of moments, it is so hard to believe that my worth as a father is not dependent on what I do or how I am.

It is so hard to believe in God’s promise and loving intention for my children when I fear the road they are on due to the bad tendencies they are inheriting from me. Faith is difficult. Trusting in God’s promise is the difficult daily spiritual discipline we need to take on. Every day, we need to root ourselves in God’s love for us, even when we feel we don’t deserve it. We need to be honest about our shortcomings, our sins and our fears. We need to be humble and confess these things. But we need to focus more on God’s love for us and the promise God makes to bring good will to our lives.

A few years ago, one of our young people shared his experience with me. He had applied for a special program in university but didn’t get in. He wanted to get into this because it would help his career and also let him earn money that would alleviate the financial burden on his parents. It was a very competitive program, and he didn’t get in. He felt so disappointed and so sorry to his parents. He expected great disappointment from his parents and approached them warily. But much to his surprise, they said it was okay. That affirmation lifted a huge burden off his heart. He was so grateful and humble for the grace he was shown. He had tears as he shared this story with me.

When we believe in God’s love for us, we enter the world of grace. Grace lifts the burden from our hearts. It makes us humble. It makes us thankful. Grace empowers us and transforms us. It gives us power for life. St. Paul says this:

And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. (Romans 5:3-5)

Grace changes how we respond to difficult situations. We cannot control difficult situations that are thrown at us. But when difficulties hit us, they do not destroy us. Rather, we are able to endure them. Endurance builds character in us. Character produces hope. This hope will not let us down, because it is rooted in God’s love for us. When we are rooted in God’s love and promise for us, nothing can destroy us. We become strong and confident people.

While we were in LA, we took our kids to the California Science Centre. There was an exhibit on the COVID-19 pandemic. As I looked at the pictures and read about it, memories and feelings of the past few years came back. There was one picture in particular of empty freeways in Los Angeles the day after the pandemic was declared. For reasons I couldn’t articulate, I started to get tears in my eyes. I couldn’t describe what these feelings were.

Yesterday marked three years since the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. The pandemic uprooted many people’s sense of security and stability. We have not recovered from it. All around us, we see fear, mistrust, anger, and loss of empathy. People have lost belief that institutions, governments and even other people are for them and looking out for them. People feel alone, lost and rootless. People are anxious, mistrustful and fearful.

Yes, I see all of that around me. I see all of this every day when I read the news. My heart is broken by the dysfunction and brokenness I see. But I refuse to fall into despair and lose hope. I refuse to do so because I still believe in a God who loves us and desires good for this world.

Faith and Grace

Faith has ethical implications. Faith is our refusal to accept permanent cynicism. Faith is our subversive, countercultural movement that says there is another possibility to what we see. Hope is not a fairy tale. I have seen people who are rooted in their faith that God loves them and this world.

They may not be shouting from rooftops, but with quiet humility they live their lives with compassion and faith. When they face challenges, they do not give up but they endure with faith. They do not become petty, or react to the environment around them, but they remain gentle, compassionate, and empathetic. They do not fall into despair but remain hopeful. These people are rooted in the promise of God. This faith gives me hope.

Grace is the place where we rest in God’s promise. Grace gives us hope for the future. Grace also changes how we see our past. I didn’t know why I had tears at that COVID-19 exhibit. But as I think about it, I think it’s because despite all of the difficulties we faced and the scars we still have, I see the grace that carried me through it. That grace moves me and brings me to humble gratitude. Those who are rooted in God’s promise are rooted in grace.

The prophet Jeremiah spoke about these people.

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit. (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

Yes, when things get difficult, they will not fear. They will not get anxious. They will continue to bear fruit.

No matter what your situation is, continue to bear fruit. Trust God with your whole heart. God will bless you. God will bless your family. God will bless those around you. That is God’s promise to you and me. Find rest and be rooted in God’s promise.