Keeping Jesus In His Place

 

Since September 2008, all children in the public and private schools in the Province of Quebec have been taking a compulsory course entitled ‘Ethics and Religious Culture’ (ERC).  Instruction begins in grade one and continues each year thereafter through the end of high school. As the name of the course suggests, it includes teachings on ethics and religion. The goals and objectives of the ethics component of the ERC are described as follows: “Your child will learn to: Carefully reflect on aspects of certain social realities and subjects such as justice, happiness, laws and rules, and ask himself or herself questions such as: What value should guide people in their relationships in society? What are the characteristics of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour?  How can these behaviours be recognized? It will therefore become easier for your child to organize his/her ideas and express them with respect and conviction.”  The goals and objectives of the religious component of ERC are described as follows: “Your child will learn about the important place of Catholicism and Protestantism in Québec's religious heritage; discover the contributions of Judaism and Native spiritualities to this religious heritage; and learn about elements of other religious traditions more recently found in Québec society (such Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and other religious traditions).” 

The ERC curriculum treats all religions as completely equal or on par with one another.  No religious tradition is presented as more desirable than any other.  Private schools established by religious groups are not permitted to teach a course on ethics and religious traditions which contradicts the curriculum of the Province’s ERC curriculum.

Parents of children attending a Roman Catholic School and a Roman Catholic parochial high school applied to the Ministry of Education of the Province of Quebec for an official exemption which would excuse the children under their care from participating in the ERC. The parents’ and the school’s   application were based on religious grounds. They argued that ethics could not be taught apart from religious beliefs and values.  They also argued that the teachings of the ERC conflicted with their fundamental belief and confession that the Christian Church is the very body of Christ and therefore cannot be on par with other religions.  The Province of Quebec denied the exemptions. Some of the parents took the Ministry of Education to court. The parents lost the case at the trial court level. The parents have appealed their case to the Supreme Court of Canada. The trial court ruled in favour of the parochial High School.  In his ruling, the judge in the school’s case likened the Province’s law, which dictated what religious groups are required to teach about their faith, as being  on par with the church’s having barred Galileo from teaching the earth revolves around the sun and not the other way around.  Lawyers representing the Roman Catholic parents and the Ministry of Education will make oral arguments before the Supreme Court of Canada this month and a decision will follow some time thereafter.       

Many will say that the lawsuits filed by the Roman Catholic parents and the parochial school are really “much ado about nothing.”  Some might even argue that such a curriculum should be compulsory across Canada. After all, in Canada we live in a multi-cultural and pluralistic setting.  They will contend that it is important for children to be exposed to the religious beliefs, creeds, tenets, traditions, hopes, dreams and aspirations of their fellow citizens.  Canadian citizens and residents have a constitutionally protected right to practice their religious beliefs and traditions. All religious traditions are equal under Canadian Law.  They will say that Canadian law requires Canadians to tolerate one another’s religious traditions, and ask how this can happen if we don’t learn about and understand one another’s religious traditions.  Thus, Quebec’s ERC curriculum only embodies and reinforces what we have come to believe and embrace  as a society.

The ERC curriculum speaks to an even greater challenge and concern for Canadian society and our global village.  It can be argued that the very declaration that one religious tradition is more desirable, and more powerful and efficacious than all other religions causes all sorts of serious problems. The desire to demonstrate the superiority of one religious tradition over another can cause a renegade Christian Pastor to burn a copy of the Koran; cause religious zealots to crash planes into office towers; and cause nations to engage in horrific military campaigns against other nations and their own people allegedly  for the purpose of advancing  a particular religious tradition.  It could be forcefully argued that, by teaching our children all religious traditions are on an equal footing and no religious tradition is more desirable than any other, religiously condoned violence could be curbed and even eliminated. The ERC curriculum seems so reasonable, logical and so beneficial for our Canadian multicultural society. However, before we get too carried away, we must consider the following.

 Christians, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Buddhists and Hindus have established schools in Quebec  which seek to pass on to their descendants  their  faith and belief in the divine, together with their traditions, creeds, ethics and morals which flow from their faith and beliefs. In the final analysis, the ERC curriculum dictates how all schools in Quebec, whether public, private or religious, teach the beliefs, creeds and tenets of their religious traditions. We must ask if this is the proper role of any Canadian province or our Federal government. The answer is obvious: No! It is not the proper role for any level of our government.   If a religious group threatens to breach the public peace or commit a crime, the government has every right to interfere and punish those who commit crimes, even those committed in the name of the divine.  However, we must be careful.  We must question whether tolerating a province’s interference in the manner in which children receive religious instruction in private religious schools can lead to more.  Is it possible that our toleration of the imposition of standardized instruction on religious beliefs in the classroom could lead to our toleration of the imposition of the same standardized teaching in the sanctuary, the temple or other sacred space? Before you say no, just ponder for a moment the monumental changes we have experienced and tolerated in Canadian society since World War II. 

Such thoughts can lead one to depression and despair.  How can we be the Church, the body of Christ, and proclaim that Jesus is the unique Son of God, the way, the truth and the life and only way to the Father in our schools, when our society teaches that all religious teachings are on equal footing?  We would be preaching a message that is in violation of the law of the land!  What does the future hold for the Christian church in Quebec and the rest of our nation?

Take heart! This is nothing new. Governments and empires have tried to keep Jesus in his place for centuries. When Jesus was crucified on the first Good Friday, they put His body in a tomb and rolled a stone in front of the entrance. They put a Roman seal on the stone that blocked the entrance to the cave and posted a guard. The religious and political powers of the day wanted to keep this Jesus in His place.  However, the stone walls, floor and ceiling could not keep Jesus in. He passed through the strips of linen which bound Him, and the stone that encased Him, in the same way that sound travels through a wall. The angel rolled the stone away from the tomb to show the women that came to the tomb that Jesus was already gone. As the women rushed from the tomb they saw Jesus, clasped His feet and worshiped him. (Matthew 27:32-28:10).  Jesus defied and continues to defy religious and political powers that want to keep Him in their idea of His place.

Like us, the disciples were afraid that first Easter Sunday. Unlike the women, they had not seen Jesus. They were afraid of the political and religious authorities. They were sure they would be killed by them. In reaction to their fear, they locked themselves in a room.  They wanted to keep everyone out.  However, the walls, ceilings, floors, doors and the disciples’ fears could not keep Jesus out. He appeared to them, breathed His Holy Spirit on them and told them to get out and preach the forgiveness of sins in His name. The disciples eventually went out into the world, proclaimed the Gospel and the body of Christ grew.  (John 20:19-22).

In the season of Easter, Jesus comforts and strengthens us with these words: there is no power that can keep Him in His place and nothing that can keep Him from those He loves. His most passionate desire: that we preach the Gospel of forgiveness in His name. In this way, He can call those who hear the Gospel into a living relationship with the living God and those who hear rightly can be transformed by Jesus into the people He wants them to be.  Just believe it and step out in faith.  Jesus is waiting to meet you at a church near you.

Seeing God in a World Full of Change, Hurt and Violence

On Friday March 11, 2011, the people of Japan were shaken to the core by the Tohoku earthquake and were pounded by the waves of the tsunami generated by the same.  For several weeks now, nations in the Middle East and North Africa have and continue to be rocked by an ‘earthquake and tsunami’ generated by human forces  radiating from huge protest rallies that journalists have dubbed “days of rage.”

So much damage; so much hurt and violence… 

Can you see God in these events?

The waves generated in the Tohoku tsunami reached up to 10 meters in height and roared inland up to 10 kilometres. As of March 21, 2011, Japanese officials confirmed 9,079 deaths, and 12,645 people missing. The earthquake and tsunami not only affected Japan but our globe. Experts believe that as a result of the quake, portions  of northeast Japan moved east by as much as 2.4 m (7.9 ft), effectively making Japan's landmass wider than before the quake. The quake caused a 400-kilometer (250 mi) stretch of coastline to drop vertically by 0.6 m (2.0 ft). This drop in elevation permitted the tsunami to travel faster and farther inland. The Pacific plate itself may have moved eastwards by up to 20 m (66 ft).  If these shifts are confirmed, the Tohoku quake would have produced one of the largest recorded fault movements generated by an earthquake. Other experts say the earthquake shifted the Earth's axis by 25 centimeters (9.8 in). This shift in axis may have caused planetary changes. The slip of the Earth’s plate caused the Earth's rotation to increase or speed up, shortening each day by 1.8 microseconds due to the redistribution of Earth's mass. Seismic waves from the quake were alleged to have caused the Whillans Ice Stream of Antarctica to slip by about 0.5 meters (1.6 ft). Waves from the Tohoku tsunami even buffeted the coast of California.

Satellite photographs taken before and after the tsunami revealed the power and force of these two catastrophic events. The waves obliterated towns and changed the landscape of the coast of Japan near the quake. It will never be the same. Three of the Fukushima nuclear reactors were damaged by the quake and tsunami. Radiation continues to leak intermittently from the disabled reactors. We all watch and wait with bated breath as officials and workers in charge of the damaged reactors struggle to keep them from a critical meltdown. However, in the midst of the struggle, the people of Japan have covenanted to come together, to clean up and to rebuild. Reconstruction could take decades and costs hundreds of billions of dollars. Out of destruction will come a new life and a new future.    

In the “days of rage”, Lebanese Sunnis protested against the nomination of the new prime minister; Egyptians protested against the austerity and harshness of the three decade Mubarak government; and Libyans protested against unbearable conditions imposed by Gaddafi’s government. Massive protests in Egypt caused a regime change with relatively little violence. Libyans opposed to Gaddafi’s regime have engaged in fighting with troops loyal to Gaddafi. Gaddafi’s troops have used superior military assets against their own citizens who oppose them.  International forces, backed by a UN Security Council resolution, imposed a “no-fly” zone over Libya. No one knows what implications will flow from the implementation and enforcement of the “no-fly” zone.   We must all watch and wait as the events in the Middle East and North Africa unfold. We, like the California coast, are buffeted by the waves from this human-generated ‘tsunami’. The supply of oil has been diminished by this sequence of events. As a result, prices have spiked in international markets and at the neighbourhood gas pumps. Like the coastline of Japan, the political landscape of the Middle East and North Africa is in the process of changing. As old political regimes fall, a new political and social order stands poised to emerge. Like the coast of Japan, the Middle East and North Africa will never be the same. 

Many say they see God clearly in these events. Some see God’s wrath and judgment against sinners in the earthquake, tsunami and ‘days of rage’. God’s message: repent or suffer the same.  Others see God as a dispassionate observer who watches the events of the world He created unfold from the sideline. Such a God does not seem to care about the suffering in His creation. Many will say they cannot believe in, trust and worship a wrathful and judgmental God, or a God who stands by as these horrific events unfold. However, I believe you can see God in these events in a very different way.          

Through the eyes of faith, you can see God in the earthquake and tsunami in a new way. These natural disasters reveal that that a divine presence and power are at work in our world. This power is limitless, incomprehensible, and irresistible. This divine presence and power created and maintains our world - and can shake it to its core. This earth-shattering and globe-changing power of God resided in Jesus. He revealed this power by His miracles. He cured blindness, deafness, lameness and various diseases. He revealed His power over nature by walking on water, calming a storm and feeding thousands with a few loaves and a few fish. I also see Jesus in the effects of the quake and tsunami.  When Jesus walked this Earth, He was at one and the same time subject to the globe-changing and earth-shaking power of God. He shared our humanity, our physical weakness and, like us, was subject to the power of death. By His life, suffering and death, Jesus identified with all people who suffer and die. We can see Jesus in the power of the earthquake and tsunami and the helplessness of the victims and the survivors of every natural disaster.

Through these same eyes, you can see God in the “days of rage” of the Middle East. Jesus experienced His own “day of rage” on Good Friday.  On that day, the Jewish religious authorities and people raged and protested against Jesus. They demanded His death. Not because Jesus had burdened, oppressed or tortured them. They raged against Jesus because He claimed to be the Son of God and their King. He had revealed His divinity through miraculous works, yet, He stubbornly refused to reveal His Sonship and Kingship by an awesome display of divine power over Rome that the crowd demanded. He refused to judge and punish the Roman Empire that occupied, exploited, oppressed and even tortured and killed them. Jesus had refused to establish a kingdom on this earth that the mob could understand. The Roman Governor Pontius Pilate knew Jesus had done nothing to deserve death, yet, he went along with the mob to keep his power over the mob intact. Jesus response to the Jewish mob and those who had judged him and executioners was to say these words from the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”  (Luke 23:34)

The religious authorities, the mob and Rome stood for all humanity for all time and revealed the very worst in humanity. Jesus stood for all that is noble and the best in humanity. By His birth and life among us, Jesus, the Son of God, lived the perfect life for us. His nobility is clearly shown in His willingness to accept the punishment we deserved. On Good Friday, the wrath of God was unleashed against Jesus. A tsunami buffeted His body. The ‘waves’, being human sin, crashed against His body, crushed it and literally knocked the life out of it. He took on our sins as a burden and paid the consequences for our sin (He suffered and died in our place and was placed in our grave). The tsunami and day of rage that buffeted and killed Jesus did not keep Him in the grave. Three days later, Jesus rose from the grave in a glorious resurrection.  His most passionate desire is that we believe that He is the Son of God, died, was resurrected and will make all things new.  If we believe, we will live with Him now and will pray for and render help to the victims of the natural and man-made quake and tsunami. We will live with Him after our tsunami hits our shores and we die.

Following Directions

I remember an e-mail I received some time ago, that contained a modern day parable. It was called “The Seed”. This little parable inspired me to experience a difficult Gospel lesson in a new way. The story went something like this: There once was a man named Ted, who worked as an executive in a large corporation. The company’s CEO was about to retire, so the board of directors began the search to replace her. The Chairman announced that the board had agreed to promote from within the company.

One day, the chairman invited all the executives into the company’s boardroom. The board’s table was covered with pots full of potting soil. Beside each pot lay an envelope which contained a single seed.  The chairman’s instructions were simple. Each executive was instructed to take a pot and seed home. They were to plant the seed in the pot, and to water and tend it as necessary. In six weeks time, each executive was to bring their pot back to the boardroom.  The chairman would judge between what the executives presented in their pots and a winner would be chosen.

Ted took his pot and seed home. He carefully planted the seed and carefully placed the pot on a window sill on the sunny side of the house. Every morning he checked the soil and watered it as needed. Every evening he eagerly looked for a sprout to appear. Every evening he and his wife stood by his pot and he said. “Honey, I did everything just right. I planted the seed at the right depth and gave it the right amount of water. I put it in the perfect spot, so that it would get the perfect amount of sunshine. …. But, I’ve got nothing! I’m a failure.” Every day his wife encouraged him, “Honey, just follow the directions and trust what the Chairman said.”

Finally, the day came for the executives to appear before the Chairman together with their pots. Ted did not want to go to work that day, as he was ashamed of himself and considered himself a complete and utter failure.  His beloved wife encouraged him. “Honey, just follow the directions and trust what the Chairman said.” So, Ted took his empty pot and headed for work. He snuck into the boardroom early and placed his pot on the table so that no one would see that it was his.  

Six weeks earlier to the day, the ornate table in the boardroom had been covered with a plethora of barren pots; however on the morning of the great reveal, that same table was a different sight. It was covered with beautiful plants bearing blossoms which matched the beauty of God’s rainbow in both color and intensity. Each plant was uniquely beautiful making it impossible to objectively judge between and among the plants. Well, except for one pot - Ted’s. It was empty. The beauty of the surrounding plants made Ted’s pot look all the more barren and made Ted feel even more like a failure.

When all the pots were in place, the Chairman entered the room. His eyes surveyed that table. They fell on Ted’s empty pot. “Whose pot is this?” the Chairman barked. “I want to see that person!”  Ted stepped forward fearing the worst. “It’s mine, sir…” Ted stammered.  “Gentlemen, meet your new CEO!” the Chairman announced with glee. “What?” all the others cried in one voice, “This man is a failure, his pot is empty. Look at our pots, they are full of life and are beautiful. How can you pick a man to be the CEO of a company, whose job is to make the company grow, when he can’t even make a plant grow?”  

The Chairman responded to their complaints with these words: “Gentlemen, the seeds I gave each and every one of you had been boiled and thus rendered incapable of growth.  When you realized that the seed I gave you would not grow, you substituted another seed - or you bought a seedling of another plant. Then you presented it to me as the fruit of the seed I gave you. Ted was the only one with the faith, trust and integrity to follow my words implicitly. Ted is the kind of man I want to run this company.”  

  

This little parable really struck me. I saw it as metaphor for my relationship with God. It would be easy to see the life of faith as this kind of a competition. God has given each of us a pot and a seed and announced that in the end, He will judge what we have grown in the pot. The winners will be chosen to sit at chairs in the heavenly boardroom. You don’t want to know where the losers will end up. We assume that God’s heavenly board of directors will be made up of those who have the most beautiful plants. The beautiful plants represent the good works that we might accomplish during our lives. The people with the gifts and abilities to complete all these good works are the people who deserve a seat on the heavenly board. It would be easy to lose heart and say, “how can I keep up with people such as these -why bother?”  Take heart:  this is not what Jesus and the heavenly Father have in mind. This earthly parable calls these words of Jesus to mind:

 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you.” (Matthew 7:21-25).

It’s easy for a person to believe that he or she has received a bad seed in life. It is easy to say, “I had potential, I could have been someone. However, I couldn’t afford to go to or finish school; I lost my job; life just passed me by; I got a bad diagnosis. Why bother? How could God love me, my life is not a beautiful plant.” However, just as God gave Ted his wife, He gives us mentors. They speak for God and say, “Have faith and trust in God, follow His directions.” They stand with us and encourage us to “keep praying, worshiping, praising, forgiving, loving God and your neighbor, and performing random acts of love and kindness. Keep doing these things even if you don’t see a shoot spring up in your pot. Believe that in the end, it is impossible to make yourself acceptable to God. Believe that any beautiful plant in our pot is our creation, a figment of our imagination. We have substituted our own seed for the one God gave us. Believe that Jesus, like the Chairman of the Board, does not judge us by the beauty of the flowers in our pots, but on how we followed His directions!

Looking For Loopholes

“Why was the lawyer studying the Bible right before he died?”

 “He was looking for loopholes.”

Everyone likes to poke fun at lawyers. Whenever someone finds out that I was a lawyer for 13 ½ years before becoming a pastor, they feel compelled to share their favourite lawyer joke with me.

Loopholes are important to lawyers.  A “loophole” is defined as “a way of escaping or evading compliance with a law or terms contract.”  Examples of loopholes abound.  In 2005, a US retail giant planned to construct a store in the tiny hamlet of Dunkirk in Calvert County, Maryland. A county zoning ordinance restricted the size of a retail store to no more than 75,000 square feet.  The retail giant wanted to build a much larger store. Corporate lawyers for the retailer came up with a plan that would have dodged the square foot restriction.  They proposed building two buildings, side by side, on the same lot: a 74,998-square-foot stand alone general retail store and a 22,689-square-foot stand alone garden center. Each store would have had its own separate and distinct entrance, utilities, bathrooms, cash registers and product lines. However, together these stores would have had a combined area 30 percent larger than the 75,000-square-foot limit for a single retail store. The proposal appeared to meet the zoning ordinance yet the retail behemoth would be able to construct a complex that would, in effect, exceed the county’s zoning ordinance.  The retail giant was poised to slip through a loophole in the ordinance.  What a beautiful legal manoeuvre. It was a ‘perfect ten’! The retail giant would have complied with the county’s zoning ordinance and, at the same time, defeated its whole purpose: to keep big box stores out.

There are some who question whether the grace offered by God is really, in effect, a giant loophole.  Listen to these questions which appeared from a user of a website called Ask.com: “It seems like a loophole in Christianity that you can just show up at the end of your life and say, ‘I believe in you God, I am sorry for all my sins’ and go to heaven. If this is the case, why does anybody at all go to Church prior to that time? Why not just "show up" for God at the end of your life?”  The person posing these questions believes that heaven will be populated by two classes of people:  those who attended church regularly through their lives and people who slip into heaven through their ‘loophole’. Those who relied on the loophole could live their lives on this earth as they pleased prior to their death.  At death, all they had to do was to make a declaration of belief in God, and contrition for sins committed. Just like the retail giant, they could slip right through a crack in the pearly gates into heaven.  The questioner wondered why anyone would sit in a hard pew Sunday after Sunday; listen to a preacher drone on and on about what a sinner you are, and like it! The questioner wondered why one would not just use this ‘loophole’. Like the retail giant, the Ask.com questioner believed that he or she was poised to make a beautiful legal manoeuvre. It was a perfect ten. The questioner had found a way comply with God’s requirements for entry into heaven without living a ‘religious life’.  

How would you respond to these questions?  

The Christian Church stops and ponders these and similar questions during a season of the church we call ‘Lent’.  Lent begins on March 9^th with Ash Wednesday and ends Sunday April 17, on Palm/Passion Sunday. During Lent, all Christians are essentially encouraged to question if the good news about Jesus’ life, death and resurrection has been shared in a way that would cause us to believe that Jesus provides a giant loophole that permits us to simply show up at the end for God and all will be forgiven.   

The Gospel according to St. Luke describes a scene at the very end of Jesus’ life as a human being among us; as He died on the cross between two men who hung on their own crosses. The Roman authorities had nailed a sign on Jesus’ cross above his head that read, ‘King of the Jews’. To almost everyone, this sign was seen as the ultimate putdown.  Jesus was no king! He had no power, no authority, no subjects, no army and certainly no sovereignty. He was under the complete control of Rome. The Gospel continues:

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?  We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:39-43).

One of the two criminals dying with our Lord saw Jesus in a new way. God had opened this man’s eyes so that he could see that the sign over Jesus’ head was not a joke, or the ultimate putdown, but the truth.  He was permitted to see Jesus as the King of the Jews and the Son of God.  With God’s help, he could see that Jesus was not suffering for any committed wrong.  He saw Jesus’ suffering and death as something far greater. He was permitted to see that Jesus had a kingdom and a life in Him that was not of this earth but beyond this world. The man suffering on the cross was permitted to see and understand that death was the only way into Jesus’ otherworldly kingdom. The man dying with Jesus was permitted to see that Jesus was completely sovereign. Jesus had made a conscious decision to lay down His life.  He was permitted to believe that Jesus had the sovereign authority to choose those who would be members of His kingdom.  God also gave the man the ability to see that he had lived a sordid life and deserved his punishment; that he did not deserve to enter into Jesus’ kingdom by reason of that sinful life. If Jesus was not suffering for what He had done; God gave him the faint hope that Jesus could be suffering for that thief on the cross.  God gave the dying man the hope and faint trust that the sovereign King Jesus might have mercy on him and let him into that kingdom.  He did not presume he had any rights when it came to entry into Jesus’ kingdom; he humbly asked for mercy. Jesus responded with mercy and promised him entry into that kingdom beyond the gates of death. With His words of mercy, Jesus changed a criminal’s faint hope into an unshakeable belief and trust in life after death with Jesus. 

 I am convinced that the reformed criminal’s advice to the person asking the questions on Ask.com would be this: “I surveyed my life as I hung on my cross. I had to admit that I had lived my life my way. I satisfied my desires at the expense of others. I never thought of God or God’s desires for my life. I couldn’t change a thing. I could not make amends. I deserved what I got!  Jesus made amends for me by His suffering and death. There are no loopholes! If I could have lived my life over again, I would have lived it differently.  I would have thought about God and what He wanted for my life.  I would have gone to God’s house to worship Him to learn about His will for me.  I would have followed King Jesus on this side of the gateway to His kingdom. I would have become a part of God’s family, the church, where I would have grown in faith, been held accountable for my behaviour and held others accountable for their behaviour.  Don’t wait to show up for God at the end! You may end up like the other criminal who hung beside me. When he had to show up for God, he insulted Jesus instead of having faith in Him.  Start living with and for King Jesus now! He can be found at a church near you.  What you do now has eternal consequences!” 

In Christ, Pastor Ed

PS: The retail giant didn’t use their loophole; they withdrew their application. They knew it would have been wrong!