GATHERING AND GREETING

As we gather, we acknowledge with respect the history, spirituality, and culture of the K’omoks First Nation and the Coast Salish peoples on whose traditional and unceded territory we meet. We also honour the heritage of all indigenous peoples as we recognize the need to seek a new relationship between the descendants of settlers and of those who were here before colonization. As a congregation of The United Church of Canada, we take responsibility both for past injustices and the need for healing and reconciliation. We love and honour this land upon which we meet and live and all whose footfall has trod and will tread upon it.

CALLING IN THE ELEMENTS FROM THE FOUR DIRECTIONS
WHILE LIGHTING THE CIRCLE OF CANDLES AND SOUNDING THE SINGING BOWL
INVITING US TO BE ATTENTIVE TO WHAT CAN NEITHER BE HEARD NOR SEEN BUT WHICH IS PRESENT AND REAL

OPENING IN COMMUNION WITH THE ANCIENTS

Psalm 119, Verses Selected and Adapted
from “Psalms for Praying”: Nan C. Merrill, Continuum Press, 2002

Blessed are those who honor the Inner Being,
who follow Love with their whole heart,
who enfold the world with love and walk on peaceful paths. You who enfolds us in the power of your boundless love have implanted the Divine Seed in every heart,
a Treasure beyond words.

Teach us to nurture that Seed
so that it might blossom into fullness and maturity. O, Giver of Life,
may we recognize the Divine Seed in every person. May we be sensitive to all we meet along the way, blessing and encouraging one another.
May we know that who we are is a reflection of You, the Divine Seed we bear.
You are the Sunlight of our heart,
the Water that brings forth Life!
Praise be to You, O Holy One!

HYMN: VU p. 896: “Blest are They” (The Beatitudes of Jesus)

Blest are they, the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of God. Blest are they, full of sorrow, they shall be consoled.

Rejoice and be glad! Blessed are you, holy are you! Rejoice and be glad! Yours is the kingdom of God.

Blest are they, the lowly ones, they shall inherit the earth. Blest are they who hunger and thirst, they shall have their fill.

Refrain

Blest are they who show mercy, mercy shall be theirs. Blest are they, the pure of heart, they shall see God.

Refrain

Blest are they who seek peace, they are the children of God. Blest are they who suffer in faith, the glory of God is theirs.

Refrain

READING FROM SCRIPTURE: Mark 12:38-44

As Jesus is teaching in public, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

Jesus sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.

Hear and consider what the Spirit is saying to the Church and to the whole created order:

Thanks be to God.

RESPONDING IN SONG

“This Thread I Weave” – Murray/Klusmeier

The version we used on Sunday is not available on YouTube but a version by the Strathdees is:

This thread I weave, this step I dance, this stone I carve, this ball I bounce, this nail I drive, this pearl I string, this flag I wave, this note I sing:

One small part, one small place, One heart’s beat, one great peace.

This pot I shape, this fire I light, this fence I leap, this bone I knit, this seed I nurse, this rift I mend, this child I raise, this earth I tend:

Refrain

This check I write, this march I join

, this faith I state, this truth I sign, this is small part, in one small place, of one heart’s beat,
for one great Peace:

Refrain

TED’S REFLECTION

Remembering

“Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” These fairly familiar words are attributed to John Dalberg-Acton, a 19th Century British Baron and MP. A fuller quote goes like this:

That last phrase, about the office sanctifying the corruption of the office holder, seems to me to be a very early recognition of what we have come to call systemic injustice.

I have a sense that Jesus would have agreed with Lord Acton. In fact, I think Lord Acton, from his vantage point, is echoing what Jesus observed from his vantage point and spoke about in today’s Gospel passage. Jesus’ vantage point is the public court of the Jerusalem Temple, mingling with the people amongst their comings and goings there, and making observations to those who will bother to listen based upon what he sees happening around him. He watches high-placed religious officials strutting about, their positions and the power they wield having gone to their heads. “Beware of the scribes,” he says, “who like to walk around in

long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers.” Then he watches as various people place money into the offering box set out in the Temple court and makes a contrasting observation between the well-to-do with their large offerings and a widow with her mite. Then Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

It would be easy – as many preachers probably have – to use this passage to guilt people into giving more money to the church. But I don’t think Jesus had anything like that in mind at all. I don’t think he was really talking about outward behaviour in pointing out the scribes, the wealthy, or the widow. I think he was seeing what was inside them, leading to their outward behaviours, and commending the spirit of the widow over the spirit of the scribes. I think he was taking another opportunity to commend a spirit of humility, which he counseled so often and embodied himself. Humility as embodied in the poor in spirit, the meek, those who mourn, the peacemakers, and the rest he commends as those who are blest because they are living more authentically than their opposites – and who might have to pay a price for daring to live against the grain of mainstream values as the concluding part of the Beatitudes suggests.

We need to grasp what this humility is and isn’t. Humility is not the same as humiliation. Humility does not mean wretchedness and weakness. In fact, in humility alone are true dignity and strength to be found. The word humility is derived from the word “humus” – or “soil” in more common language. But to makethatlinguisticconnectionisnottoimplythathumansaredirtordirty. Itmeansthatwearegroundedin the earth. It means that we are of the earth and from the earth not somehow above it and privileged above other creatures to lord it over them or exploit the earth itself. When we live in true humility we are living in harmony with who we are and in proper relationship with everyone and everything around us. When more and more people – including you and me perhaps – live from that inner authentic place of grounded humility, the world will change and become more authentic too, and more just and peaceful as well. When Jesus watched the humility of the widow making her offering and when Jesus looked out onto the crowd and first uttered those beautiful words we call the Beatitudes, he wasn’t just expressing compassion for the downtrodden who had gathered around him. He was inviting us all to aspire to nothing more than the most authentic and life-giving way to be human and to be human together.

In preparing my reflection for this week, I wrestled with whether or not to try to do a more in-depth analysis of the way power has corrupted those in recognized or assumed positions of authority in history and in contemporary society. People and groups such as these: governments and those who lead governments and who will resort to war in particular and various forms of violence to pursue their territorial, ideological, and personal ambitions; the church that has forgotten the servant way of Jesus and has gradually become accustomed to privilege and power and, in many notable instances, has become the agent of government in various repressive policies from apartheid to residential schools and more; industry and labour and leaders of industry and labour for whom the perks of power, the profit motive, and self-interest attack the delicate balance of the earth, its ecosystems, and the living creatures who call it home; men who assume some ascendency over women or adults over children. I know each of you can do that analysis for yourselves and will add to this list out of your own experience and in regard to the concerns that matter most to you. Whatever particular instances we name, each leads to the same conclusion: that power and its misuse has wreaked havoc throughout history, that it threatens the future well-being of our children and grandchildren and their children and grandchildren, and that it presents us today with challenges to redress the legacy of past injustices and to turn the tide towards a more just, peaceful, and sustainable future.

Today is Remembrance Sunday on the church calendar, reflecting Remembrance Day approaching on the civil calendar. Thanks to a comment earlier this week from one of you, I have been wondering this week and today what it is that we need to remember. And this is where I want to bring our focus as I conclude my reflections today.

Likely there is more than one thing we need to remember. The whole of human history, for example, for as George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” For each of us, perhaps, very personal remembering of the costs of war in our own or our family’s experience. Or more immediately, remembering that the real work of peacemaking is not in the midst of wartime itself but in the lulls in-between to reduce the conditions that lead to war. As Canadians in particular, remembering our history as it actually unfolded and not as it has been written by the victors. As people who dare to call ourselves Christians, remembering the Way of Jesus that has become obscured – even corrupted – beneath the trappings of the church.

But maybe I can suggest that this above all is what we need to remember today, this week, and always. That deep down where it counts – maybe even where it is hidden because of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune – we are people from and of the earth. That the earth, its creatures, and every speck of dust in the universe is impregnated with the essence of Divine Love that makes us kin with each other, with all living things, and with the universe itself. And, when we remember that and live into it with earthy humility, then reconciliation, justice, and peace are possible in human affairs and sustainability is achievable for the planet.

For Further Reflection:

 What are you personally remembering today and this week?
 What would you suggest it is important for each of us to be remembering every day?

A TIME FOR REFLECTION, PRAYER, OFFERING AND CONVERSATION

As we enjoy a musical interlude, you are invited to use the quiet to reflect on the readings and thoughts shared today, to light a candle or place a stone or shell as an expression of your prayer, and to place an offering in the basket. If you get up to move about, please maintain safe physical distancing. Once any movement has settled, we welcome conversation arising from today’s Service and Reflection. And for those of you at home, I always welcome your feedback and comments.

OUR DEDICATION

HYMN: “THIS IS MY SONG” – Jean Sibelius

This is my song, O God of all the nations,
a song of peace for lands afar and mine. This is my home, the country where my heart is, here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine; but other hearts in other lands are beating with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My countries skies are bluer than the ocean and sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine; but other lands have sunlight too and clover and skies are everywhere as blue as mine. O hear my song, thou God of all the nations, a song of peace for their land and for mine.

–

RELEASING THE ELEMENTS

BLESSING

Friends
Remember your Divine Essence
so that you may go in peace,
be at peace each moment,
and bring peace wherever your path leads you and to whoever you meet along your way.

Amen

Ted

POSTLUDE