Pastor's Messages from Prints of Peace
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time redeemed by eternity

Almighty God, by the power of your Holy Spirit open our eyes, ears, hearts, and very lives to your presence so that today we may worship and serve you in faithfulness, be blessing and healing reminders of your love to all whose lives we touch. We offer our prayers in the name of Christ. Amen.

When we pray we trust God with our whole being. As we come before God, we trust that God has us and the whole world in his hands; without this there would be no point to our prayer. We believe that God is the goal of our existence and the One through whom our whole life is redeemed. When we pray we do more than merely speak with God, we consciously step into God's presence: We don't just want something from God but we want to be with God. Sometimes our prayer can be silent, like a couple that has been happily married for many years can sit together silently and simply be grateful for each others' presence. Other times we share our day with God, or what's ahead, or what we're grateful for and what we're concerned about. Or we may ponder a Bible passage, reading and re-reading it, until we begin to pray the passage and hear God speak to us through it.

Because the pray-er knows God to be the answer to all our needs, he or she brings before God not only him or herself, but others as well: family, friends, church, colleagues, neighbours, the world. It is not only what God can and must do, but it is for eternity to redeem time, for God's presence to transform our lives and our world.

Yours,

Pastor Christoph
Posted by J. Christoph Reiners on Tuesday, March 09, 2010 at 15:54

On living confidently and faithfully

While I know it to be necessary, I regret that our church door is locked during the week. Like most of you, I would like to think that the door not only can be open but should be open. Well, we have a buzzer and we try our best to open the door quickly when the buzzer goes.

Lately, I have been feeling so far behind in my work that I am not sure I'll ever catch up. So, when on a day when I have planned to catch up on my office work I have two or three people come to my office who are not related to the church (which pays my salary) in any way but one of which is simply in spiritual or material need (often both), I sometimes sigh silently “Oh no”. The fact that I have a hard time saying 'no' to giving my time and lending an ear adds to my sense of woe. However, today (as I write this) I did say 'no' to someone (I also said that the odds would be better next week). I know that I cannot do everything, though often I try anyway. It's not the best way to be, some of you may find it much easier to say 'no', but this is how I am and I suppose that I'll be like this for the rest of my life. It's not that far off from thinking that the church doors really should be open, for people have always come to the church for all kinds of needs. In my view, everything is spiritual anyway, including when you're hungry.

The basic dilemma is that life always throws choices at us. We can't do all things. Giving to Haiti may mean that this time we don't have money for the Children's Hospital, or if I buy chocolates from this child in the neighbourhood I will likely say 'no' to the next one that comes around and who attends the same school.
In short, it is impossible to live without sin. But while we cannot live without sin, we also cannot spend the rest of our day (or life) wondering whether this or that decision was the right one or if we should have taken the other option. Doing this would forever keep us in the past, unable to face the present. God wants us to live in the present. God does not want us to live enslaved by past sins. That does not mean that we become indifferent to choices and ethical decision-making. Christians are called to care for others as passionately as God does. In fact, it means to bring every day before God: to give thanks for what was good, ask for help where we struggled, and ask for forgiveness where we failed, even despite our best efforts.

So, when Martin Luther exhorts us to sin boldly(1), he wants us to live trusting God's love and forgiveness. For if we didn't trust God but lived only in fear we would never do a single thing. It's about discipleship, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminds us.(2) May we strive to live as disciples in all that we do. And may we begin and end each day in God's great mercy.

Yours,

Pastor Christoph



(1) “Sin boldly but even more boldly still believe and rejoice in Christ.”
(2) “For Luther ‘sin boldly’ could only be his very last refuge, the consolation for one whose attempts to follow Christ had taught him that he can never become sinless, who in his fear of sin despairs of the grace of God. As Luther saw it, “sin boldly” did not happen to be a fundamental acknowledgement of his disobedient life; it was the gospel of the grace of God before which we are always and in every circumstance sinners. Yet that grace seeks us and justifies us, sinners though we are.
Take courage and confess your sin, says Luther, do not try to run away from it, but believe more boldly still. You are a sinner, so be a sinner, and don’t try to become what you are not. Yes, and become a sinner again and again every day, and be bold about it.”
Posted by J. Christoph Reiners on Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 23:14

The Olympic Spirit and Mary, mother of our Lord

I remember my surprise when a few years ago at an Eddy Bauer store I noticed a big poster with the heading ‘The Eddy Bauer Creed’. However, I was not surprised that there was no mention of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Because for large segments of the population religious language has lost its meaning it has been expropriated for other causes.
The CTV Olympic ad campaign is entitled “believe”. I am all for that. But what is it that we are to believe in?(1) What is the ‘Olympic Spirit’? Does it have a life of its own or can we mould it into anything we want? What about the flame, what worldview, life, faith, or deity does it represent? By employing religious language and imagery the Olympics simulate religious experience, even while genuine religious expression is forbidden at all venues.
I enjoy athletic competition and I am certain to watch a number of events on television, but the Olympics’ use of religious language and imagery has long made me uncomfortable.

It is Advent now. Growing up, we always had an Advent calendar to count the days until Christmas. The time was filled with eager anticipation. Admittedly, as a child it wasn’t always easy to separate Jesus from the presents I wished for. Still, the beginning of a new church year proclaims that we live in God’s time, and the countdown that is more important than any other is the one to God’s coming into the world for it announces that God will make all things new.
Jesus speaks of the Kingdom of God and the four Sundays of Advent remind us that faith is more than a fuzzy feeling and cannot be lived without commitment. We hear of watchfulness and readiness, expectation and repentance, justice and compassion.
As the young girl Mary is propositioned by the angel, she not only accepts God’s claim on herself but sees God bringing about a new world:
My heart shall sing of the day you bring. Let the fires of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near, and the world is about to turn.
(paraphrase from Canticle of the Turning)

The spectacle of the Olympics is hard to miss and no doubt it will be fun. But it is only a spectacle. There is no deeper meaning attached, just some diffuse hopes and dreams without power to heal our world.
Mary sees more, much more. She recognizes that her own election by God is representative for what God is about to do:
Though I am small, my God, my all, you work great things in me,
and your mercy will last from the depths of the past to the end of the age to be.
Your very name puts the proud to shame, and to those who would for you yearn,
you will show your might, put the strong to flight, for the world is about to turn. (ibid)

Mary sees and somehow even embodies God’s new order. As we enter Advent, may we welcome God as Mary did, accept God’s claim on us, and keep in mind God’s intention for the whole world. The angels proclaimed it to the shepherds: Glory to God in the highest and God’s peace and justice to all people. CTV may want us to believe, but Mary shows us in whom and how.

Yours,

Pastor Christoph



(1) According to a CTV press release the campaign is to inspire us to
“BELIEVE in Olympic heroes, who set a shining example of selfless determination.
BELIEVE Canada will win its first gold medal on home soil.
BELIEVE Canadian athletes can - and will - own the podium in 2010.
BELIEVE Vancouver 2010 will unite the country and become a defining moment in Canadian history.”

It is all feel and no content.
Posted by J. Christoph Reiners on Wednesday, December 02, 2009 at 09:37

Taking the easy way out

We have known for years that health care delivery defies simplistic slogans. It is a complex field with many factors, expectations, and even limitations. No one since Tommy Douglas has scored points on health care.

What factors make health care delivery such a difficult task?
+ The costs of health care delivery per person continue to rise. New procedures, new diagnostic equipment, new drugs have all contributed to the rise in cost.
+ Our population ages and lives longer than previous generations. As we grow older we use the health care system more frequently and for more expensive procedures. Having succeeded in creating healthier populations with greater longevity has contributed to the rise in costs.
+ Expectations continue to rise. We want the best treatment possible.
+ We have limited resources. While provincial health care budgets have increased significantly over the past few decades, they have grown disproportionately to other budget areas.

Why am I telling you what you already know?
In order to be able to set goals for health care delivery it is important to understand that the demands on the health care system will continue to be irreconcilable for the foreseeable future. It is the nature of the beast. The longer we live the more will we rely on health care services. As we seek new cures to illnesses we will continue to demand access to new and expensive diagnostic equipment, drugs, and other treatment. In another way, spiralling costs of health care are also connected to our expectation that health care ought to be able to fix anything.

It is easy to fall victim to the illusion that health care can fix anything. After all, we believe in progress and in technology. Besides, we want to live and fighting illness is part of that drive. And if you are like me you’d rather be a bearer of good news than bad. Thus, no one talks about the limits of what we can do.

I haven’t seen the job description of Fraser Health CEO Dr. Nigel Murray but I would think that he receives his substantial salary precisely because he is able to understand what health care can and cannot do. As a physician he must know that not everyone who is sick gets better but that some people live with chronic illness for many years. Others die. The old joke that most people die in bed is true and some of these beds are hospital beds. So, how do we help people cope who are ill? How do we support those who treat them and those who love them? What are some inherent support systems that people have already and how can we work together with the community (not only when it comes to fund raising and to seeking volunteers)?

Dr. Murray and Fraser Health took the easy way out. On November 5th Fraser Health laid off all acute care Spiritual Care Coordinators declaring Fraser Heath a zone where spiritual care and medical treatment are viewed as mutually exclusive. The thinking may have been that spiritual care is less tangible and its results are less visible, and its lobby group is smaller. But by abandoning spiritual care Fraser Health abandoned the concept of health care delivery based on a wellness model in which many factors contribute to the patient’s well being. Fraser Health abandoned patients and families whose coping includes the need to ask questions medicine cannot answer. Fraser Health abandoned its own staff who deal daily with issues surrounding life and death and who have to make decisions and live with decisions that are neither simple nor purely clinical. On November 5th Fraser Health abandoned the larger community because Spiritual Care Co-ordinators liaised with all faith communities and gave Fraser Health a visible presence in the community. For Fraser Health to think that volunteers from faith communities could simply fill the gap is both presumptuous and naïve.

Last week a member of our congregation was hospitalised. She asked to see the Spiritual Care Coordinator in the hospital. She was informed that there was no one. She then asked to see her minister, the request was never forwarded. It is counter-productive to health care delivery to cut people off from their communities, but precisely this is only one of the results of an approach to health care that ceases to value the connection between body and spirit, individual and community.

Yours,

Pastor Christoph
Posted by J. Christoph Reiners on Wednesday, December 02, 2009 at 09:31

God as Boogeyman - A Response

In “Faith Must Be Lived, Practiced” James Breckenridge shared observations and analysis regarding an old evangelism strategy that has never been appealing and has long ceased to be effective. This strategy portrays God as a sort of ‘boogeyman’ in order to instill the ‘fear of God.’
To threaten with God’s judgement in order to win others for the Christian faith is problematic because it makes those who proclaim this judgement appear as ‘better’ and as above judgement for they ‘have Jesus’ (I prefer to think that Jesus has me). The strategy is also largely ineffective because it is not persuasive in a pluralistic society in which many people don’t believe in God at all, or have created their own image of God. Besides, most biblical threats of judgement are directed at those ‘on the inside’ not those ‘on the outside’.

Thus, it won’t come as a surprise to you that I dislike columns that parade God's (the church's?, the writer's?) big stick. If God is indeed love then it is difficult to reconcile ‘God as boogeyman’ with the God on the cross who forgave those who crucified him without them even asking. Not that everything in the Bible is easy to reconcile, there is plenty of room for both the mystery of God and human experience.
However, if my primary image of God is that of a wrathful God that I have to appease in order to ‘make it’, then this also carries two theological assumptions.
a) It turns faith into a transaction: God will love me if and for as long as I do and say the right things. Yet the Bible says that God loves humanity precisely despite what we do and say.
b) Salvation becomes mine to work out and to accomplish, it is no longer an unmerited gift, no longer grace.

The whole question of grace is a difficult one. Lutherans assert a primacy of grace (and we would like to believe that we have the theological monopoly on it). But when does grace become cheap (a term Dietrich Bonhoeffer coined)? Bonhoeffer says that cheap grace is preaching forgiveness without preaching penance, baptism without discipline, absolution without confession. That may make us feel uncomfortable but remember that most preaching is done to the faithful. I think it also resonates with what James (Breckenridge) would like all of us be concerned about: Those who are at the margins, those who are in need, not just showing up in church but worshipping God with all we are, do, have, and say. Therefore, if our faith is real, then it must be transformative. And transformative means that it is more than a mere transaction. I say all this recognizing that Christians are always a work in progress.

Our age is disenchanted with many institutions and the church is no exception. That religion is met with much prejudice is not undeserved. I don’t have a particular problem with people pointing out the faults of the church, because there are many. I personally have many faults, too. Why should the church be any different? But even when dealing with religion we do well to remember that prejudice is not fact.

That being said, I would define spirituality as our inclination, as part of our being, as an undefined longing for God, sometimes described as a ‘longing for more’. Yet beyond that, ‘spirituality’ lacks a common expression. So, when people say they are ‘spiritual but not religious’ it can mean any number of things, depending on the individual. It can well exhaust itself in admiring the sunset and have as its only purpose the gentle stroking of my own soul. Feeling spiritual does not mandate a sense of social responsibility. This, of course, is not to claim any moral superiority of people who belong to a community of faith.

Faith is more than the oral profession of a world view but a trust and a relationship with God. I believe that God is my beginning and my end and that I am the means to God ends, not God the means to my ends. God’s ends are mercy, justice, and salvation for all. The thing with the church is that it holds us accountable. You could call it something else, but it wouldn’t change the basic premise that being accountable to God means to be accountable to one another. In this the church also offers us the gift of community. Pretty much every other community I belong to I belong to because of similar age and social status. In the church we practice to be brothers and sisters with people unlike us, sometimes with people we don’t even like. We learn to emulate God in showing grace in our relationships. It sounds to me that God not only loves the world but has a sense of humour, too.


Yours,

Pastor Christoph
Posted by J. Christoph Reiners on Thursday, October 08, 2009 at 10:09

Giving Everything

Through the movie He Got Game (1998) Spike Lee directed attention to immense pressures faced by talented young athletes. In the film a young basketball player is vowed by many teams; in addition to promises of fame and fortune, and to bribes of various kinds, he is given the prospect of his father’s release from prison. The movie shows pressures under which athletes can find themselves, pressures removed from the realm of virtue. While the young man in Lee’s film eventually manages to find his path, the implication is that not everyone does. After all, athletes are people like you and I. The promise of fame, of advertising contracts, and of the power that comes with popularity is difficult moral terrain to navigate. Even though a financial necessity in today’s elite sports environment, it is difficult because its appeal is not to our virtues. In fact, when the money begins to flow, it flows so freely that it contradicts the notion of reward for hard work. It is a sign of character when this doesn’t go to your head, though sometimes it does.
And yet in a society in which the dirty laundry of celebrities greets us at every check-out counter, and in which religion has been sidelined, athletes are often elevated to be role models. But making them our moral guides despite our common humanity only increases the pressure. And we are shocked when an athlete does not live up to our moral expectations.

There is much that is virtuous about sport. The daily and disciplined hard work of an athlete, stands in stark contrast to the potato chip commercial in which we are told (by an athlete!), ‘bet you can’t eat just one.’
Sport has long functioned as a tool for character building. By learning to control one’s impulses, by steadily pursuing a goal over a long period of time, by learning to work with others, by making sacrifices for one’s goals and exercising discipline, not only our bodies but also our characters are shaped. One of my best teachers was my Junior High PE teacher whose clear expectation was for us to give everything.

And maybe that’s the catch: In a society that measures its value and that of its members by their achievements and accomplishments: giving everything is no longer enough. It is the ranking, the success, the medals that count.
In public perception success transforms and elevates an athlete to a place where we find it difficult to perceive them human enough to fail, – athletically, morally, or otherwise.

I enjoy sports and yet I know that I will never win a medal. I enjoy it for sheer joy and for stress reduction, meditation and silence. I also enjoy the discipline, the measurable goal, the persistence. In the writings of the New Testament Paul employs the image of the runner to encourage believers to live as followers of Jesus. While Paul speaks of ‘winning’ he does so in the context of serving others.

And so the power we seek is that which we exercise over ourselves. Contrary to our nature, we are encouraged to live in humility, to serve others, love our enemies, to refrain from judging others. That power is a much greater good than power over others. But it is even better: It is about the power we allow God to exercise over our lives. It is not coincidental that the words discipline and disciple share the same root.

Yours,

Pr. Christoph
Posted by J. Christoph Reiners on Monday, September 14, 2009 at 11:32

Strange Stories and Real Challenges

When I was at seminary my funny and sometimes manic roommate suggested a Christian theme park in which strange Bible stories could be re-enacted, like the slaying of the males of Shechem (slain when they were lying in pain because of their recent circumcision). He also suggested a drive-through church where one could receive communion at a little window. I’d like to think that he was ahead of his time but in truth he was mocking commercial fundamentalism in his home country and the violent excesses of the entertainment industry at the same time.
There are some strange stories in the Bible indeed. Some are strange because we live in a much different culture (and doubtless, some will consider our culture strange, if not now, then later generations will), some stories are strange because the Bible is always honest about human nature, even heroes of the faith are people with (great) failings. The Bible was not written from the perspective of the victorious who sanitized it from anything that would make them look less than perfect. But because the Bible is interested in the relationship between God and humanity it is always interested in real people.

One of the stories one may not expect to find in the Bible is the account of the beheading of John the Baptist, in which an old ruler is tantalized by the dance of his own daughter, promises her anything she wants (how many skins of wine did he have?!), and then is saddened that the young girl expresses a ghastly wish: The head of John the Baptist on a platter. The ruler (Herod Antipas) has some sense left to recognize this as an evil wish but considers maintaining his reputation (?) more important than upholding what is right. (Mark 6:14ff)

One may legitimately ask why such story is included in the Bible. One answer is that the Bible always warns of the abuse of power and God’s prophets are always found on the side of the abused. Another answer is more closely related to the context where the story appears: It appears after Jesus has sent out the disciples to minister in his name and just before they return to him. In other words: Mark inserts the story of John’s fate to remind the reader of the cost of following Jesus.

Growing up, I frequently heard of the cost of being a follower of Jesus, often illustrated by examples of the lives of Christians in totalitarian regimes (Nazi Germany, East Bloc regimes). Yet, the truth is that for me my faith has not been very costly, to bystanders it would seem hardly more than the exercise of the freedom of religion. The hardest part of being a Christian is that it’s always been too easy. (By this I do not mean to cover up my failings).

Many of us who attend church are pretty comfortable in church but I am not sure that being comfortable ought to be the primary objective. In fact, John and the prophets worked hard at making us uncomfortable. I don’t think we need to get our heads chopped off but surely Jesus wanted us to be more than just comfortable: servants of others and agents of transformation.

Yours,

Pastor Christoph
Posted by J. Christoph Reiners on Wednesday, July 22, 2009 at 17:25

Ordinary Saints

Some time ago, in a different congregation, there was a sign-up sheet for helping to cook, set-up, serve, and clean for a community meal. On a Sunday morning before worship, a woman in her eighties looked at the sign-up sheet and said to me, “Let the young people do it.” I nodded understandingly and replied, “Yes. But there aren’t that many young people.” She acknowledged my comment and said, “I have trouble cooking for myself.”

I was moved by the encounter and thought, ‘Note to self: Remember to always do things for others, no matter how old you are.’
This brief exchange impressed itself on my memory
+ because it was disarmingly honest,
+ because it showed loneliness and difficulty that can come with growing old,
+ because it didn’t say (had forgotten?) that life is better when lived for others.

Living for others sounds intimidating. Yet I am not thinking of Mother Teresa. I am thinking of ordinary things for ordinary people. Like the sharing of a meal (see above). I think that my children have made me a better person because their presence moves me every day to think of their needs, often before I get a chance to think of my own. They are not always grateful; in that regard they are just like I was when I was their age. But I don’t do things to be thanked, I do things because I love. Or at least, that is how it should be.

Doing things for others gives us a place in the universe, and it shows others that they are important, that they matter. A common ‘refrain’ at funerals is that a person was always there to help family, friends, and neighbours. Since it is somewhat common, why do we still tell it? Because it is a way to remember that our loved one loved us.

In this way, love creates our world. Love connects and gives a place of belonging. We can look away from the needs of others. We can go to the mall and buy something for ourselves (chances are, something we don’t need), or we can look at the world around us and ask what gifts we have that can make a difference. Maybe our gift is the simple gift of being present with someone, like my friend the widow who knew loneliness and had trouble cooking for herself.

When I was a boy and my father came home from work, my mother would tell us to be quiet because my father needed to rest from a long and hard day. When I come home I am greeted with much excitement (though the exuberance wanes a little as the kids grow older). I may want some rest, but how blessed am I that there are people happy to see me!

A beloved word amidst the beloved image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is about abundant life (John 10). It follows the trouble legalists give Jesus for having healed a person on the wrong(!) day. Jesus’ action and Jesus’ presence demonstrate that the life with God is not merely a future hope but a present possibility. By acting not for himself but for others Jesus shows just what the life with God looks like. If it is in giving that we receive (even though giving can be tiring), then it is in living with and for others that we make a claim on the abundant life shown to us by Jesus.

Christians say that we can only give what we first have received from God. One of our forebears wrote: We love because God loved us first. How do we love God? By loving others. Thus if any of us are able to love, to care about others, it is because we are loved: because we are God’s beloved. It is nothing we could keep to ourselves.

Being mindful of others does not happen automatically, is about focus and intention, and it requires daily practice, and it works better in community. Yet it is also about holding on to the reality God offers us in Jesus. It is a reality we don’t need to create, only embrace.

Yours,

Pastor Christoph
Posted by J. Christoph Reiners on Wednesday, July 22, 2009 at 17:23

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