On the evening of September 8, St. George's pastor Rev. Ryan Slifka was invited to offer a Christian perspective on the meaning of peace, along with representatives from Buddhist, Jewish, Wiccan, and Indigenous communities. Rev. Ryan reflected on images from Revelation 21-22, which comes at the very end of the Bible.
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in considering this morning’s scripture, I started to wonder if we’ve not only misunderstood how the Christian tradition thinks about non-Christians. We may have also misunderstood something fundamental about Christianity itself. What if Christianity isn’t a way for us to get to God… and everybody else be damned. But what if it’s a way for God to get at us?
Read MoreOn August 20th, St. Georges partnered with the Comox Valley Transition Society to welcome First Nation Elder and Shaker Minister, Anne Bob to conduct a traditional Shaker service.
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Like the Pharisees in our passage, we can have all the right opinions on all the right issues. We can serve people, we can give our time, and our money. We can be all about justice. We can do all of these things. And not have a single friend, or relationship with someone who is different than us.
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Even in the world we live in, words don’t have to be “just words.” The Bible, the Christian tradition, the way of Jesus Christ, puts huge stock in the power of words. “In the beginning” says the book of Genesis. God spoke… and it was.” The cosmos created by an act of loving speech. And Jesus is named as “the Word made flesh.” That same spark that brought the universe in to being was fully present in the life of Jesus. God’s loving speech to us. One who was able to create a whole new world for us with his words, his teachings, and his touch, his death and his new life. And that, by the Spirit, this same spark is able to heal and set free. Able to re-create our own lives and our own world. Here and now.
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In our text for this morning, Jesus, the great physician of our souls, offers us a diagnosis. That our hearts are not set where they are supposed to be. They are set towards earthly goods that do not last, and will never satisfy, yes. But Jesus he also offers a treatment. When Jesus says to sell what we have, and give alms, to sell what we have and give it away. He’s giving a prescription for fullness of life. Jesus prescribes giving, he prescribes a deep generosity, as the treatment for what ails our hearts and our souls.
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I wonder if we wrestle with the text as it is, we might discover something about ourselves and our world that we don't already know. Even if it might be uncomfortable or challenging for us. For me, I've found that it's the uncomfortable or challenging places where my most fruitful and life-changing encounters with the Spirit seem to happen the most.
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