Images, especially if not taken too literally, can have a powerful and reassuring impact on our thoughts and emotions. For instance, one of my compelling images is of God the Father seated in a comfy easy chair with me lovely situated on His lap. It conveys thoughts of warmth and acceptance and whispered conversations, but certainly cannot be taken literally. Likewise, mountains are, to many people, strong images of strength and permanence, and worthy reminders that God has those characteristics. Of course, if you have a geological background like I do, you do know that mountains can and do move, like the Lewis and Clark Overthrust in Waterton National Park or like Yamniska on the drive into the mountains east of Banff. But, of course, any movement has taken thousands and thousands of years, and so, to our limited, time bound perspective they are worthy reminders of what God is like. But, of course, they only ‘scratch the surface’: there is so much more to Him than just that!

Happy Thanksgiving Day, everyone. This meditation comes a bit later than usual as Carol and I joined my family in Saskatoon for a thanksgiving dinner and just got back.

Today’s meditation touches on what ‘should’ be a ‘no-brainer’, namely that in the Christian church we should always looking out for each other and for each other’s welfare, rather than on our own interests, power, or agendas. The sad thing is that this doesn’t happen. Far too often we are interested more in our own ideas, our own autonomy, or our own goals, to properly think of how these things impact each other. Sadly, selfishness and a desire to run our own lives independently of how this effects others, runs deep with the human psyche, right back to Adam and Eve (‘you will be a gods...’). So, let us take this opportunity to ponder this and try to make sure that this doesn’t happen to the detriment of others.

I was a wee bit dismayed when I discovered what the passage selected for today’s meditation was, namely, the Ten Commandments. I thought, initially, that these were ‘old hat’ and, as such, unlikely to have anything to say to us than we had already heard on numerous prior occasions. But then, in reading them through again, I realized how radical they are--and so ‘unliveable’ as per most of our lives. I realized that we often don’t take their injunctions very seriously, and seldom take the time to really think about what they are saying to us. So, maybe my mediation for time will prompt all of us to do just that.

Today’s Scripture passage and meditation touch on what has to be one of theology’s trickiest questions, namely the interplay and relationship between human choice and free will, on the one hand, and the sovereignty of God, on the other. Those that would steer on the ‘side’ of the sovereignty of God would say that everything that happens is due to God actively planning and orchestrating it. But, then, on the other side, those that reject any such ‘absolute’ sense of this would say that there was no way that God wanted the Holocaust, or the ethnic cleansing that happened in Rwanda, or the present wars in Ukraine and Israel, or the devastating effects brought on by the residential schools. They would allege that it was human choice, human sin, that lay behind these, and that God allowed those individuals responsible to ‘make’ those choices.

However, the bottom line, the meeting place, if you would have it, of both viewpoints is that God is there, that God cares, and that God is working in and through all things for our ultimate good--whether we realize this at the present point, or not.

Many of us have calendars where we post significant dates such as upcoming appointments or activities, or birthdays or anniversaries of people important to us. But what if we also posted the dates of important events in our lives, things not just like weddings or such things, but also of when God especially intervened in our lives? A woman I knew from back in my time in Innisfail did this with her Bible. Beside Scripture verses that were especially meaningful to her, she wrote the date and the reason it was significant. It was a great source of remembrance for her, especially seeing as she started to lose her memory as time went on. But not only that: when it came time for arranging her funeral, it became a precious resource for tracing and telling her faith journey, which was nothing less than incredible. This kind of thing is exactly what our psalmist suggests.

(If you want more on this, you might try Canadian author, Ann Voskamp’s wonderful book, One Thousand Gifts. As the inside cover of the book says, “A beautifully practical guide to living a life of joy, One Thousand Gifts invites you to wake up to God’s everyday gifts. As Voskamp discovered, in giving thanks for the life she already had, she found the life she’d always wanted”).

Many of us have calendars where we post significant dates such as upcoming appointments or activities, or birthdays or anniversaries of people important to us. But what if we also posted the dates of important events in our lives, things not just like weddings or such things, but also of when God especially intervened in our lives? A woman I knew from back in my time in Innisfail did this with her Bible. Beside Scripture verses that were especially meaningful to her, she wrote the date and the reason it was significant. It was a great source of remembrance for her, especially seeing as she started to lose her memory as time went on. But not only that: when it came time for arranging her funeral, it became a precious resource for tracing and telling her faith journey, which was nothing less than incredible. This kind of thing is exactly what our psalmist suggests.

(If you want more on this, you might try Canadian author, Ann Voskamp’s wonderful book, One Thousand Gifts. As the inside cover of the book says, “A beautifully practical guide to living a life of joy, One Thousand Gifts invites you to wake up to God’s everyday gifts. As Voskamp discovered, in giving thanks for the life she already had, she found the life she’d always wanted”).

Today’s Scripture passage and meditation deal with yet another dicy subject, namely of how we treat other people. From numerous Scriptures we are most definitely advised not to just ‘let everything go’ but to actually set and enforce standards for belief and conduct among believers. So, obviously, there is a need to make decisions and pass judgment, to decide ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Indeed, we are told that ‘by their fruits [their behaviours] you shall know them.’ But then, there is ‘the trick’ of knowing how to do this. Here, in today’s passage, Jesus gives us some ideas, but it is up to us to prayerfully and sensitively decide how and when to apply them.

Someone once said, “Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do, but doesn’t get you anywhere.” I suspect that we all know that, deep down inside, and yet we still do it. Go figure. Anyway, as a help in breaking this bad and less than helpful habit, Jesus weighs in heavily on it in today’s passage. I hope that it, and the meditation on it, will be of help.

Years ago, July 20, 1969 in fact, the American astronaut Buzz Aldrin uttered these memorable words, ‘The eagle has landed’, as his spacecraft landed on the Moon’s surface, the first such landing in human history.

Sad to say, a similar phrase, ‘the ego has landed’, might be said today about many people, especially in public office and higher levels of responsibility. And yes, this happens even within the church. I have often said--on account of my observations--‘the higher it gets, the worse it gets’. And this is not just with bishops, archdeacons, canons and such like, but even with people ‘a bit lower’ on the ecclesiastical ‘pecking order’ (as if there really should be any ‘pecking order’ at all). The problem is--and here I can speak personally--is that when you get into positions of responsibility, no matter what they might be, then you are inclined to try to put your agenda up front, or front and centre. In other words, the ‘ego’, our ego, is likely to have landed.

Here, then, is where the example of Jesus is very helpful. He totally surrendered His own ego, His own desire for glory and praise, and His own ambitions as well. He did this in two ways: Firstly, He was content to simply do whatever God wanted no matter what that was. And secondly, He put everything aside, simply to be like us and serve us and save us and love us. Nothing else mattered other than these two things. And so, my prayer is that it might be likewise with us.

Today’s Scripture passage and mediation touch on that age-old question, namely whether our ‘things’ own us, or we own them. Some Christians have taken this to mean that they should renounce everything, or live with the least of possessions, and others have thought these choices to be rather extreme and unwarranted in the Scriptures. So, today I’m giving you some ideas to ponder as you deal with this issue. I hope that they are helpful.

And, of course, it all comes down to how we choose to live our lives here on earth, whether trying to be faithful to God above all else, or not.

I think that I can safely say that most of us have not been largely influenced by means of dreams. But, even so, I do believe in ‘a God that speaks’, to quote a theologian from a previous age. Given that conviction, however, it does pose a question: just how does God speak, and how does He speak to each one of us today? Obviously, we can suggest the Scriptures and prayer, the teachings and traditions of the church, our fellow Christians and experience as ways that God might speak to us. And what about our ‘thoughts’? I, for one, have had thoughts, totally out of the blue, that seemed completely unrelated to anything that I gone before, and that seemed completely ‘out of sync’, completely unrelated to anything that I normally thought. Often, at such a time, I wondered whether this was from God, and in retrospect, I do believe this to be true, especially given that it seemed to line up with what we know of God from other means.

So, in light of this and in light of what Jacob encountered of God, just how does God speak to us today? And given this as a possibility, do we listen? And do we obey? Just something to think about.

In today’s reading Jesus tackled a question that has long vexed and worried me, namely whether it is ever all right to accept praise or recognition for a ‘job well done.’ In some ways, not to do so has seemed to lack a certain sense of courteousness. But then, Jesus raises a very good question, namely that of motive. Have we done such and such simply to earn recognition and praise, or did the recognition and praise come as something of a by-product? For myself, as much as I do appreciate praise or recognition, generally they come simply because I was ‘doing my job’ as I understood it. And that, from what I can understand from Jesus’ remarks is perfectly okay.

Today’s Scripture reading and meditation hold two very important lessons for me. The first lesson is that I should not ‘write off’ anyone, regardless of their past behaviour, ancestry or background. I do find that to be hard, especially with people that are nasty or belligerent or have a well-developed sense of entitlement. The second lesson is that God does not hold the present generation, those who are too young to make decisions (then or now) accountable for what the previous generations did or decided. However, that doesn’t let the older generations, like those of Nineveh, off the hook for what was done. They, like the people of Nineveh, have to repent and turn from their less than noble ways. This allows for healing on all fronts--though I’m not sure that Jonah, for one, was ready to accept that or receive it. He was still pretty stuck, still pretty bitter, but that was his problem, and not God’s!

At first, upon glimpsing what the appointed reading for today was to be, I found myself faced with more than a wee bit of puzzlement. I wondered what in the world I would ‘find’ to be of benefit today in this so well-worn and familiar psalm. But right away, even in the first few verses, I noticed how careful and fine-tuned God’s care for us is. It is precise and infinitely knowledgable, far beyond words, and really speaks eloquently of His care of us. And that, surely, is very good news.

As I often suggested before, the enemy of our souls tries to make us Christians feel useless and insignificant, saying that we are small and powerless and of little impact. Actually, Jesus tells us that, as salt and light and leaven, we have an impact precisely because we are small. In other words, a little bit goes a long way when it comes to the impacts that our lives, our words and actions, can have on others. It is something that we must always remember: your life, my life, counts, so treat it this way!

Some Biblical scholars dispute the age-old attribution of the first gospel, the Gospel According to St. Matthew, to the Biblical person by that name, the tax collector featured in today’s Scripture reading. I, however, accept that attribution and see that gospel as revealing a great deal about the man--and his inner longings, and background, to boot. To me, he did not ‘become’ such an ardent student of the Hebrew Scriptures overnight, that is, after he became a disciple, nor did he gain such an ‘obsession’ with fulfilment of prophecy only after meeting Jesus. To me, such things had long been an interest and a passion with him, but that now, as a disciple of Jesus, he was free to explore them more fully and share them with others--including us. To me, he is a wonderful example of a ‘man set free’ and an inspiration that says that it can happen to any, and all, of us. Thanks be to God.