Hi everyone,
Welcome to worship for this 5th Sunday after the Epiphany, landing on February 9, 2025!
The bulletin for this service can be found here. You can use it to follow along with the service, or you can just use the words that will appear on your screen. The sermon manuscript is both in the bulletin as well as on this page below the worship video.
To enhance your online worship experience, you are invited to have a candle in your space, lit at the beginning of the service and extinguished near the end after the sending hymn. You are also welcome to participate in communion, if you are comfortable, with having something small to eat and drink prepared for the appropriate time in the service. Further instruction will be given then.
May God’s love and blessing be upon you, this day and throughout all of time!
God of steadfast love and faithfulness, may your name be exalted and your Word be proclaimed, that our minds be opened and our hearts softened to hear and accept your leading and presence in our lives, through Jesus Christ. Amen.
So anyone here doing what they can to “buy Canadian”?
In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, there has been a movement going on around our country in response to the tariffs and stuff that is happening over the Canadian and US border. The call to “buy Canadian” is basically exactly as it sounds, for Canadian consumers to buy only products made in Canada over the ones imported from the States, in an effort to sort of boycott them over the tariffs and other points of friction that have emerged over the past 20 some odd days.
Now, don’t get me wrong, the idea of supporting one’s own country isn’t a bad one and I’m all for it,
that’s not really what is on my mind about this situation. What has gotten me a bit concerned over all this divide between our nations is that looks like there is a developing disregard for the relationships that have been forged between us over the years. To me it seems like the actions of a particular government is now equated with an entire country, its whole persona, and all its citizens. It feels like Canadians are beginning to see all Americans as “Am-murr-cans” solely because that is what their passport says, and write them off as such, like they were all the same.
Like many of you, I’ve had and continue to have great friends and colleagues who were born and raised in the States, or who are from there but live here now, or who are from here and moved there for various reasons. Many people, in fact, intersect our lives that have a lot more going for them than their current address, nationality, or place of origin. But now it is starting to feel like we’re supposed to cut them out of our lives simply because they have a different connection to a particular government than we do.
Mind you, I’m not saying that we should ignore what is happening or shouldn’t buy Canadian, I’m just worried about how the chasm however started between our nations, our relationships, and our people, is just going to get deeper. I’m worried about that friction turning into pure hatred for an entire nation and all its people. I’m worried about how our actions and retaliation might turn into othering and labelling and then pigeon-holing and shoe-horning anyone who might resemble that label into a narrow interpretation of them. Like because they’re American in some shape or form, then in our minds they must be exactly how the stereotype says they are.
I realise that this labelling others and assuming things about them didn’t just start with the “buy Canadian” movement, rather this mentality has been perpetuated for basically ever. And not just between Canadians and Americans or whatever other nationalities of course, but between anyone that might be different from us. Things like our different philosophical, religious, or political beliefs that we might hold. Or what part of town we’re from, what school we went to, or what our parents do for a living. Or what star and planet alignment we were born under, what our last name is, or how many generations of our family has been on this particular land. Or even more trivial things like whether we prefer domestic or imported cars, who we hope to win the Superbowl this afternoon, and even what phone manufacturer and ecosystem we use.
This labelling will colour how we see each other. They will inform us of our assumptions. They will be what we see, well before we see the person that we’ve affixed them to.
In our readings for today, we see this sort of labelling going on as well. An aspect of God’s glory is described in each of the readings, from the actual visible glory scaring the hey-you out of Isaiah, to the Messiahship of Jesus humbling the arrogance of Paul, to the miraculous catching of fish driving Peter and his crew of seasoned catchers of fish to transition to be catchers of people. Their realisation of who they were face to face with, the living God, led them to fear.
Because in their experience of power came authority, rule, and might. And while these aren’t inaccurate descriptions of God, they understood it as something to be afraid of. Instead of seeing God’s glory as something that is full of grace and love, they saw it as something that was intimidating and even dangerous. Instead of welcoming God’s presence in their lives, they wanted to reject it because compared to God’s glory and divine power before them, they couldn’t help but to feel a little small and insignificant.
We do that too though, don’t we? I mean it isn’t hard to feel small when compared to such greatness. It isn’t hard to think ourselves as unworthy, unclean, and unfit when looking up at God’s glory. It isn’t hard to want to turn away from God and God’s calling for us because we just don’t think we’re what God is looking for.
And so, it would seem, we, like these and many other main players in our bible stories, put labels on ourselves.
Just as we might judge others by where they’re from and what political party they vote for, so I find us judging ourselves by our limits and shortcomings. Just as we might label others by their accolades and lack thereof, so do we label ourselves for what we think we can or can’t do, what we assume we have or don’t have to offer, and how we feel we can or can’t serve God and neighbour. Just as we might size the other up by how different they are from what we think they should be, so might we look at ourselves sized up against what we think God wants us to be.
And against God’s glory and high standard, that doesn’t leave much confidence in ourselves.
So we might label ourselves as incapable or incompetent. We might feel compelled to turn away, reject God’s promises and call for our lives, and run in the other direction. We might highlight all the reasons why we aren’t worthy: how we unclean and from an unclean people, how we are unfit and untalented for God’s work, how we are a sinner and undeserving of even being in the presence of God.
The thing is though, it has been revealed to us who we are: God’s chosen, redeemed, and saved people, graciously given value and worth. We are God’s beloved children, lifted up, strengthened, and blessed to be bearers of the truth and good news of God’s love and mercy. We are God’s hands and feet in the world, called into mission, and equipped to be one with the saints of light.
Not because of what we can or can’t do. Not because of what we’ve earned or not. Not even because of whatever label we think should be affixed to us. But we are created, loved, and called by God’s own heart, God’s own will, God’s own design for us to be not perfect but forgiven, not afraid but confident, not labelled but identified as God’s community, kingdom, and church.
Now, I know that today is our AGM, and we just happen to be looking for nominations for our congregational council, but that isn’t all that this is about. Well, maybe just 20% of it is… ok maybe 25%. But in all of life, we are called. Called to be children of God. Called to proclaim the good news of Christ. Called to live in the community of the Spirit, saved by grace, strengthened by the Word, and joined together by love.
I know this isn’t always easy. I know we often feel like God wouldn’t choose us. I know we might shy away because of the intimidation we might feel against God’s glory. But believe me when I say that the judgements we place on ourselves and others because of our collective weaknesses might feel right and true, but they don’t matter to God and we are strengthened in them. The assumptions that we make of ourselves and others might come from a place of knowing and experience, but that doesn’t change God’s regard for us and we are welcomed anyway. The labels that we might place on ourselves or others might help us feel safe from the harm and dangers of the world, but let’s not forget that it is God who saves us. It is God who calls us. It is God loves us, has loved us, and will always love us no matter what the future might bring.
So in this season after the Epiphany, may we continue to hear and heed and bear witness to God’s call for us all, that we might serve and be served, bless and be blessed, love and be loved, in the name of Christ. Thanks be to God. Amen.