Salvogesis

Reading from Luke 13:1-5: 13  Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.   2  Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?   3  I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.   4  Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?   5  I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” Were the people who suffered worse sinners than other people who did not suffer? Do bad things happen to good people or only to bad people? Were these Galileans worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? Were those 18 who died when the tower fell on them worse sinners than all others because they suffered this way? Were those who died ...

As I was working away the other evening trying to type out a sermon on the transfiguration, my computer interrupted what I was listening to, to pay tribute to Jerome Iginla. Jerome Iginla’s friends and colleagues were paying tribute to him in a ceremony where the Calgary Flames were retiring his number 12. He was certainly one of the greatest Calgary Flames players and they were talking about who he was, on and off the Ice. Our Scripture today pays tribute to Jesus. The Salvation Army doctrines give us a glimpse of who is Jesus. Doctrine 4 of The Salvation Army says, ‘We believe   that in the person of Jesus Christ the Divine and human natures are united, so that He is truly and properly God and truly and properly man.’ Luke 9:18 asks directly the question, who is Jesus? And Jesus is paid tribute here by God, Moses and Elijah in front of his closest friends and colleagues. Reading again from Luke 9:27-31: 27 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste...

What is love? This is an important question to which John, ‘the disciple whom Jesus loves’, offers us an answer. He tells us that in Jesus’ farewell discourse with his friends (John 14:1-16:33), Jesus mentions love a fair amount. Knowing how important real love is, Jesus tells his disciples to love one another as he has loved them (John 13:34,35; 15:9,12,17). Jesus tells his friends, as he is about to be executed, that if they love him, they will remain in his love even after he has gone on ahead (John 15:9): they will keep his commandments, which are always directly from God (John 14:15,21,23; 15:10). He then tells us his primary commandment: love one another (John 15:12). And how can we show that we have this love? Jesus says, while at the same time calling his disciples his friends, that greater love has no one than to lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). Jesus, of course, proceeds to do just that (John 19:30) and in their turn, tradition tells us that the disciples res...

I recently read an interview with David Suzuki where he was asked –among other things- about political reform; how to give power to the people rather than politicians and their parties. He had what I thought was a very interesting answer. He said, ‘The solution to me is we need a system where politicians are drawn from a hat, the same way we need to set up our juries.' It has some merit. The word ‘democracy’ from the Greek roots ‘power’ and ‘people’ has come to mean ‘power to the people’ and way of drawing lots for political representation would give power to the people rather than the political parties. And actually, now that I remember it, that is the way that the first Greek democracies actually did operate, through the casting of lots. I thought it was very interesting that I read this while we have been studying Joshua. It reminded me of the way government was run in the Book and the time of Joshua in the Bible and throughout the Old Testament at least until the time of King...

The Winter Solstice is the darkest day of the year. There is less light and more darkness than any other day of the year. Sometimes I think that our world or our country is near its own Winter Solstice where it is only spiritual darkness all of the time. Crime in Canada is as high as it ever was. In our own neighbourhood here there is death and violent crimes seem to occur weekly if not more regularly. According to the CCVF, it is so bad in our country now that many people are losing any faith in the authorities’ ability to stop even violent crime and so in many cases charges aren’t even being filed anymore. Even economic crime is on the rise in Canada with Reuters reporting that 56 percent of companies surveyed (more than half of them) reported falling prey to white-collar crime. And – of course – near the darkest night there is pornography, which horribly is North America ’s most lucrative pastime. In the US , pornography revenue –as we have said before- is more than all money ...

Last post we spoke about the justice that comes with salvation and how it is our responsibility as servants of the Lord to be just (Psalm 72:1-7) [1]  and verses 5-10 of Psalm 146, which we read a little bit earlier, tell us how and what this holiness looks like when we do put our trust in the Lord. These verse 5-10 are actually the verses of the psalm that are associated with the third week in advent this year but I was struck by verse 3: “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.” So that is what we will talk about today. Trust is an interesting thing and it is important. I love wearing my uniform, it is a symbol of trust and as we who are wearing them continue to deal openly and fairly with people, it continues to grow as a symbol of trust in the community. The trust that we wearing the uniform garner for it comes in direct proportion to our service to the Lord while wearing it. God has been able to use me to help diffuse many varied and difficult situa...

Canada’s motto, “A Mari usque ad Mare” is Latin for “from sea to sea.” It comes from Psalm 72. Where, in verse 8, it declares, “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea.” That is a key underpinning of our society and of our founding identity, the idea that God himself, through the Canadian government, shall have dominion from sea to sea. This is neat. It is not some accident or coincident. It is intentional. Our country is intentionally founded on the Word of God. And another interesting thing - Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley, the father of Confederation that proposed the name for our country and that that name - the Dominion of Canada - be based on this Scripture would have made a great Salvationist. He wasn’t one but he would have made a good one. Tilley was a Sunday-school teacher and lifelong temperance advocate; he was one of the so-called "Smashers", who tried to introduce prohibition to New Brunswick in the 1850s . [1] This is an important, relatively recent histori...