Good Grief — Denial | March 6, 2022 | Hillhurst United Church

well hello everyone good morning good afternoon good evening whenever you are tuning in welcome to worship today at hillhurst united church in calgary alberta whoever you are wherever you are at join us on the journey you will notice this morning that john and i are standing here we've we've kind of coordinated today a little bit the yeah of the season is purple because today is the first sunday of lent yeah lent is uh something that lots of people want to give up they don't want to do lent if you know what lent is it's an opportunity for truth telling it's not a guilt trip an opportunity to look inside ourselves who am i who was i who do i want to be how does my faith come alive and it's it's actually i thought about this year this is liminal space so lent is liminal it's it's it's not the past and it's not the future it's right now and in that kind of threshold we take a chance to look at who we are uh who we want to become and an opportunity to be real with ourselves so it's not a guilt trip it's a two truth not a tooth truth trip and um i'm delighted actually that we're going to be part of this today you may not want to be hopefully by the end of the 40 days uh you will feel like it was a good journey yeah we don't do guilt here someone said that to me once i'm i don't know i'm i i'm not i'm not convinced that guilt's bad i think we can do guilt not shame there's a difference you know the other thing about lent is that um 40 years in the wilderness the hebrew people walked 40 days in the wilderness jesus walked now i'm not a woman but people tell me that pregnancy happens in about 40 weeks and it's kind of like a birthing process that we're in during lunch so anyway it's a lot to say we're glad you're here we are very glad you're here and this week yes the first sunday of lent also the first sunday of a new lenten series and we are calling it good grief grief is something that we each know intimately in our own ways we've been experiencing maybe more of it these past couple of years than we ever have before and we're going to walk us through that we want we want to sit in it not revel in the not revel in it but to notice god in it so we're going to be walking through over the next five six weeks those stages of grief and we're starting today with denial denial shock denial and shock all right well you know what else it is this week not my birthday no not your birthday it's no birth well maybe it's a birthday happy birthday if it's your birthday this week uh this week is international women's day on tuesday wednesday one of the days anyways girl power as my spice girls would say and uh let's worship happy sunday good morning everyone so yesterday was ash wednesday and we were marked with the sign of the cross on the forehead to remind us from ash we came into ash we return um i was talking to tracy robertson yesterday another united church minister and she told me she likes to remind people that they are star stuff billions of years before um our sun and solar system was formed a giant star exploded and that stuff is what constitutes all of the life that we experience on this earth carl sagan once said we are all made of star stuff so in a way we're all made of stardust and why am i bringing this up in an indigenous understanding our relationship to our bodies and earth is important and we're a community that is working in the spirit of right relation and reconciliation to acknowledge the history and the past and how to make it better and so by remembering in our own bodies that we don't even possess or own our bodies nor can we possess the land our bone is on loan and will be returned one day to stone our blood to the rivers and our breath to the wind and that fire of spirit returns to the light of that first star and so we acknowledge the original stewards of these lands the yarheed inakota the chinooki bears paw and wesley first nations the sutina first nation and the nitsitapi the pikani kainai and sixika nations this area is also home to the main nation of alberta region 3. and so how are we stewards to this land to the people we share it with to our own bodies so we value the sacred worth of each person and all the shapes and forms the sizes the ages the colors that our bodies come our sexualities our gender identity or expression our mental health our neurodiversity whatever our health our status all of that is sacred and we welcome everyone to worship this morning and we hope that you know you will belong here at hillhurst united church happy sunday good morning hi my name is anne yates liberace and i'm sarah elliott your communications coordinator and we're here to let you know what's going on in the life of the church with a few announcements so in case you were not here not online if you've been living under a rock we need to let you know that we're opening on the building on april the 3rd the doors are opening and we're coming back to in-person services we're really excited about it we're very excited one thing i didn't mention last week which was i had a couple of questions about kid space is starting up uh and the kids basically going to move from downstairs up to our gym because there's better ventilation there and we've added two large hepa filters in the gym making sure that that air space is just as good as this airspace and making sure that um the kids are actually have a little more room to run around too so yeah and you can register online at hillhurst united.life for either the 905 service or the 1045 service which is when kidspace and youth will be taking place at that second service correct yeah and um piece that was really important that we need to really talk about is that we need people to help us volunteer to step in and help us greet and do all the things we're going to do that day we won't be having coffee that day the first day but we do need some helpers around the building yeah with this whole pre-recording thing we haven't had to organize or coordinate volunteers in a really long time and it's kind of hitting us smack in the middle of the face that we need about 30 people every single sunday for both services to be greeters to do powerpoint eventually coffee eventually lunch so if you want to get trained and learn how to serve on one of these teams and be a part of the production that is sunday's go to hillhurst united dot life and let us know that you're interested alrighty okay the other thing that's happening is in the season of lent our spiritual nurture group is hosting um a series on lament so you know john mentioned it earlier lent it's a time to really sit in the discomfort and and the reality of our world and that's something that spiritual nurture is going to be looking at as they explore the theme of lamentation so that's monday nights at 7 00 pm and you can sign up at hillhurst united dot life and uh speaking of our well we didn't get to risk yet but i i kind of yeah we can go out of order the first one these are our values by the way the first one hospitality spirituality where are we now social justice social justice um that's yours though okay social justice this week it's march it's it's the beginning of march and in february we just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who joined us for our book club led by jolta de tus where for black history month we looked at the book by ashton shannon brown i'm still here and it was a fantastic four week series where there was really deep learning and great conversation so thank you everyone who joined for that and risk and finally a risk i don't know why sarah put this under risk i don't think membership class is a risk i think it can be a little scary to show up with john and i gotta hang out in the morning i don't know two hours on a saturday morning that's risky well i i do have to tell you that we have an amazing video for you to watch right now suzanne peterson who uh doesn't live in calgary she leaves out in bc um is a member here and she joined the church last year and um she we asked her to just to just tell us a little bit more about the why and we so we'd like to show you this video and thank you suzanne uh for doing this this is uh amazing yeah if this doesn't convince you to register for the membership class i don't know what will it's take a watch hi i'm suzanne and i live on the unseated traditional territory of the tanaka people in southeastern british columbia a year ago i became a member of hillhurst united a church about 400 kilometers away from my home for a few years prior to joining hillhurst i had been wandering seeking a faith community that aligned with my values gave me space to explore my journey and was a place of inclusion hillhurst wasn't brand new to me i had attended a few services in calgary and thought hey this is a place i want to be but it's impossible i live so far away then in march of 2020 when the world changed and everything went online there was an opportunity to be a part of hillhurst i felt comfortable in the virtual community i knew a few folks and it was a place that i could feel myself sitting in the sanctuary john's sermons were consistently filled with messages that challenged me to think more deeply and reflect on my faith and connection to god so one sunday in early 2021 as it was wrapped up in my blanket on the sofa attending church john and anne mentioned that there was going to be a membership class my interest was sparked i sent an email and returned an email saying i was more than welcome to join huh i took a deep breath i attended the virtual membership classes with 71 other people and we examined the core values of hillhurst of radical hospitality social justice spirituality and risk it was good to have a sense that i belonged somewhere so on february 20th 2021 i became a member of hillhurst united church it's so easy to be a remote member i attend services meditation book club meetings live at the loft i am a part of a new kind of church one that truly reaches beyond its walls seven days a week it doesn't matter where you live or how many hours you have that you're able to engage or where you are on your journey if you're thinking about becoming a member or just want to learn more sign up for the membership classes ask questions be curious that's what i did and during some of the darkest days of the pandemic i embraced a new church family and i'm very blessed to be a part of the hillhurst community and i hope you'll be considered being a part of hillhurst's journey [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome each other [Music] sister and brother welcome the seeker the sinner the same the table of god is not just for the certain the bread and the cup are not just for the pure the cross of the christ has torn back the curtain the temple thrown open for the searching and true [Music] sister and brother welcome the seeker the sinner the saints the work of our god is not just for the clever the service of god is not just for the strong the way of the cross is a journey forever together to pray then we'll travel alone welcome each other [Music] the sinners [Music] welcome all this past week we have continued to be shocked and heartbroken each in our own way by the news coming out of ukraine this conflict it isn't one that is happening in some far away or distant place it is one that is happening right here to our neighbors people know people people have family and friends in ukraine people have intimate relationships with this country and we are nothing as the church if we are not standing for and comforting and being in solidarity with our neighbors so today we gather all of our prayers that lay heavy in our hearts and we share them through the words that were offered by the calgary interfaith council so let's offer that prayer together now let us pray holy god of ashes and comfort we pray for the faithfulness of all leaders who serve in your name we pray for the conscience of humanity to know right from wrong and act accordingly we pray for those in harm's way that there will be swift support and comfort for everyone being displaced and put in danger we have each known strife we've each known loss we have each known the capacity for horrors in our humanity we stand with the people of ukraine we stand for the rights of the oppressed we stand with the afflicted and we stand for the freedom of everyone in creation [Music] don't be afraid my love is stronger my love is stronger than your fears don't be afraid my love is stronger and i have promised [Music] may we learn right action at this time to support those in need to calm the flames of wars to hear reason and mercy in the lessons each of us has learned from this exact moment in our history may we help to find the path of peace and begin leading all conflicts to their end in your loving name we pray [Music] amen [Music] don't be afraid my love is stronger and i have promised promise to be always [Music] don't be afraid my love is [Music] don't be afraid my love is stronger [Music] please join us in singing our lord's prayer our father in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as in heaven and give us today our daily bread for giving us our sin as we forgive those who sin against us save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil for the kingdom the power glory [Music] [Music] amen friends where our prayers and our actions fall short we know that god is there where our ignorance and inability to be shocked at all anymore show up we know that god is right there we are never alone we are loved we are forgiven and all of us are set free thanks be to god last saturday john and ann and i along with quite a few of you from this community attended the rally in support of ukraine it happened just on the north side of the reconciliation bridge and while we were there a young woman overheard us talking to someone that we'd bumped into that we knew and she asked if we were from hillhurst and we said yes and when we did her voice immediately changed from one that was purely of panic to one that had this painful hopefulness in it she asked if we would be able maybe to have a conversation about how a community like this could help support direct efforts in the ukraine and we met with her earlier this week here at the church and the fear and panic in her voice really hit all of us as we were sitting there mila that's her name mila received a text message from her mother who's currently in sumi ukraine which is one of the conflict sites along with kiev and her eyes welled up with tears of relief and she told us that her mother had been checking in with her every hour and it was usually just one letter she didn't have time to send more than that but hearing from her mother brought relief and then she mentioned that her father had went off to the bomb shelters earlier that day and she hadn't heard from him in almost 12 hours we talked through some options for support what this community could do what the wider community can do we cried with her we prayed with and for her and we wrapped her in a prayer shawl that was lovingly made by our knit and not group it is in situations like this when the distance between us and the conflict ceases to make any difference at all it's in those spaces we are reminded that with our thoughts and prayers must come action so this morning we invite you to contribute financially to one of the support groups on the screen your offering today does make a difference and it is holy and it is made in the name of the one who stands with the suffering so your offering may be received thank you well it's really nice when you get trolled by the lead minister right off the top of the service so see i don't know i deserve it i was one of those smart alex that tweeted this week is it possible to give up lent for lent but you know john's right like it's an invitation to reality and i don't know sticking our head in the sand doesn't seem like a solution so as i was kind of wandering through songs this week i came across this one written by billy joe armstrong from green day he wrote this about his father's death of cancer when he was 10 years old and kind of how that sat with him for the rest of life and those things weigh on you and really i kind of took a deep dive this whole album was written about the disillusion of an entire generation growing up in the aftermath of september 11th the war on terror and the war in iraq my generation and now we have an entire new generation of kids growing up with the pandemic with all kinds of stuff with war with injustice and we can't turn our heads away if we want to be part of creating a better reality so so let's sit with these feelings these ideas we walk through the song summer has come and passed the innocent can never last wake me up when september ends like my father's come to pass seven years has gone so fast wake me up when september ends here comes the rain again falling from the stars drenched in my pain again becoming who we are as my memory rests but never forgets what i lost wake me up when september [Music] summer has past the innocent can never last wake me up when september ends [Music] ring out the bells again like we did when spring began wake me up when september ends [Music] here comes the rain again falling from the stars drenched in my pain again becoming who we are and as my memory rests another forgets what i lost wake me up when september ends [Music] summer has come and passed the innocent can never last wake me up when september ends like my father's come to pass 20 years has gone so fast wake me up when september ends [Music] wake me up when september ends wake me up when september [Music] thanks jesse our scripture reading this morning is going to take us into september going to take us into the wilderness so let's listen to this reading from luke chapter 4 verses 1 through 13. jesus full of the holy spirit returned from the jordan and was led by the spirit in the wilderness where for forty days he was tempted by the devil he ate nothing at all during those days and when they were over he was famished the devil said to him if you are the son of god command this stone to become a loaf of bread and jesus answered him it is written one does not live by bread alone then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world and the devil said to him to you i will give their glory and all this authority for it has been given over to me and i give it to anyone i please if you then will worship me it will all be yours and jesus answered him it is written worship the lord your god and serve only god then the devil took him to jerusalem and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple saying to him if you are the son of god throw yourself down from here for it is written he will command his angels concerning you to protect you and on their hands they will bear you up so that you will not dash your foot against a stone and jesus answered him it is said do not put the lord your god to the test when the devil had finished every test he departed from him until an opportune time let's listen now to what the spirit is saying to the church through these words let us pray spirit of god we breathe we breathe deeply we center ourselves we open ourselves we seek a oneness that sustains and grounds us for the living of our days may we hear the right word in this reflection and may it be enough may the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight oh god amen in my last congregation there was a woman who on the very last sunday of epiphany would go out the door of the church and she she would say to me see you at easter i don't do lent there's lots of us who maybe are like that kind of like what jesse said a few moments ago i don't do lent but as the green day song reminds us there's this call deep within us to want to avoid to wake me up when september comes to wake me up when covid's over to wake me up when the war is over to wake me up when lent ends and i got to admit i get it there's lots of me who would rather just wake me up at easter there's part of us i think in each one of us that really doesn't want to go to the dark place to really explore and sit in our stuff to really wonder who we are and whose we are to really wrestle with the dark side of who we are and the tendency to say wake me up when it's over is a very human response to lent i mean really think about it last wednesday last wednesday we were feeling like kobe's over we were about to rip the mask off we were about to dump out the sanitizer we were about to run next door and give a high five to our neighbor we were about to go to a pub and celebrate that coveted was over and we woke up thursday morning thursday morning shocked to see tanks shocks to read about the russian invasion of ukraine and there's part of us that's going no wake me up when this is over because there's a part of this lenten journey that that calls us really to have both eyes open to put on our our bifocals and look closely at who we are and who we are as a human species in the world on this planet and part of that is to look at where we've been and who wants to look back at the lentiist of lentz last year we didn't meet because of covet and here we are covet has been a time of loss of corporate grief for all of us whether it's loss of life or relationship or employment there's an overarching sense of grief and then if we don't go there and we we move into the movement of black lives matter or the the trial of the murderers of almond aubrey and we see the blatant racism that runs down and chases a man and kills them in the street an innocent black man or we remember the summer in june it was a beautiful spring evening when a when a muslim family are are run over by a car because they are muslim in the calm streets of london ontario or whether it is again the discovery this past week of yet more graves hidden and discovered in northern alberta or whether it is again the news of the coming summer of more fires and more floods the weight of all of this says wake me up when this is over please i'm just not into lent anymore can we just get to that easter bunny please could we just not could we just put the covers over and watch one more series of i love lucy or the friends or i don't care what it is anything that takes you away from reality is how we feel right now and yet if you're watching this video today you know that as a person of faith we journey in the seasons of the christian year and it is lent and the call is too lent it's not a call to guilt it's not a call to shame it's not a call to just feeling rotten about yourself it's actually a real look at the truth of ourselves a friend of mine who's a minister in the island in victoria was telling me that he remembers coming to his very first lent sunday and they had a ritual in that church of washing their hands and he thought to himself ah it's been a pretty good year and then he paused and he looked at his hands and as he washed his hands he said to himself these have been very dirty hands and he said there was something about that washing and looking and cleansing that got him in touch with who he had been and in the wiping of a towel the invitation to start anew you see and lent invites us to that kind of honesty that kind of reset that kind of stepping forward into the future but first we must look in the mirror at ourselves our truest selves we all say i want to escape lent but jesus didn't get to so why should we if jesus didn't get to escape land why should we you know the truth of this lenten season is there's a link because i said a few moments ago in the hebrew story the 40 years wandering in the wilderness was a time of disturbance and grumbling and complaining as moses led the people and then the second moses jesus the 40 days in the wilderness that andrea read about a few moments ago is that him jesus looking in the mirror at the power that he had who he would be who he would become how he would be tested and tempted just like we all are those 40 days and then as i'm a bit curious the 40 days of gestation leading to birth there's something about 40 biblically and in our life that is about that kind of liminal preparation i mean heck jesus was still at the baptismal party they were taking pictures it was a huge feast it was a great party when if you heard this text jesus is driven drove to the wilderness by the spirit by god driven in to the wilderness to be in that wilderness place just like we are in that wilderness place just like we step into lent to look at our hands our minds our hearts our feet our bodies with a loving real true look at who we are to experience our shadow our dark side are experiences that become our very teacher when i thought about this i thought about the beautiful poem by rumi called welcome the guest house this guest house poem which we're going to hear right now reminds us that we're called to to welcome all of the emotions as a gift from beyond i invite us to see this video now this being human is a guest house every morning a new arrival a joy a depression a meanness some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor welcome and entertain them all even if there are a crowd of sorrows who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture still treat each guest honorably he may be clearing you out for some new delight the dark thought the shame the malice meet them at the door laughing and invite them in be grateful for whoever comes because each has been sent as a guide from beyond rumi was a sufi persian poet in the year 1207 that beautiful wisdom 1207 he invites us in this beautiful poem to welcome all several hundred years later richard rohr would say everything belongs this poem reminds us to welcome all calls all of our feelings the joys and the sorrows as guests from beyond in our journey is we're not very good at welcoming we're not very good at looking at the difficult the challenging and the dark side of our life and yet i wonder i wonder if they could actually be our teacher i've been reading a good book these days and i'm not done called healing through the dark emotions emotions the wisdom get that the wisdom of grief fear and despair by miriam greenspan she says these emotions are energies and they are our teacher and when we welcome them when we entertain them as part of our life they become our healing as we journey but she begins the book by saying we're just not good at that we would rather wait till september comes we would rather avoid we would rather addict we would rather numb we would rather skirt aside all the difficult emotions and just stay with the happy clappy part of life but god almighty that is tiring the invitation in this book is actually to entertain like remy says these as guests on our journey but we're just not good at it we just like to brush over it i remember in the 80s when my younger brother my older brother who was 27 died suddenly married in june died in september i was out doing the gardening in the front lawn of the house and the neighbor came over because they had heard what happened and and he meant well but he said this to me how many kids in the family i said well there are four of us and he immediately replied oh that's fine your parents will get over this easily isn't that the truth we try to rationalize and brush over and make things that are very difficult easy and greenspan is inviting us to sit in our shift to pay attention heart and mind to who we are and where we're at and she says in her book that we're called to a deep dive into the grief fear and despair we all have and if there's somebody here who doesn't have grief fear and despair please come see me in the book she has three quick things she says we need first of all to attend to attend and welcome as rumi says the emotions and the energies into our body and to pay attention to them not with our mind but with our body and in our body attend to the feelings we have where are they located how do we breathe into them and welcome them not shove them away and then she says we have to befriend them we have to welcome them as as a gift who's going to encourage us and teach us and help us see the beauty that we are even from these dark places she says it's a combination of attention and compassion to be curious to investigate to look at our very shadow i have a friend named john and he he he typifies this when he told me this story that sometimes when he goes into a party he comes up to somebody and extends his hand and he says hi my name's john i had an affair he says the reaction sometimes from some is like and they want to slip away he says occasionally he meets someone who puts out their hand and says hi john me too he says from that place the convo conversation gets real and deep and honest as all the shift falls away and there's a one-to-one connection and a same shared experience in her book she says that a good listener in your life i hope you have won at least one a good listener in your life is more important than food in john's example he says i want people to know that i'm real that i bring who i am to that room even my shadow even my dark side even the parts you would push and judge and complain about i bring them in so that we can enter into a me too experience there's a lightness that comes in befriending these dark emotions it leads to the third thing that greenspan said is called surrender it is in that place that we surrender we say yes when we want to say no we step in when we want to step out and we learn to love and nurture ourselves all of us all that we have been and all that we will be and all that we are in that very simple safe place of nurturing ourselves of surrendering and we know surrendering i mean jesus did it did he not when he heard that the cross was coming did he not gather his disciples together and say to god if there's any way out of this now is the time to zip me up and all move to a condo by the sea of galilee and in that silence in that quiet jesus said nevertheless not my will but thy will be done and then went to the cross and of course went to the cross and nailed to the cross calls out like you and i have called on my out my god my god why have you forsaken me and the anger and shock and frustration of three years of hard work here on the cross jesus surrenders into your hands i commit my spirit and he surrenders and trust you see this attend befriend and surrender is your journey in mind if we're paying attention it welcomes our grief our fear and our despair as our friends and those friends are transformed in the alchemy of transformation or transfiguration from andrea last week to a realness and honesty about who we are not of pretending or rushing or running there's a vulnerability to all of this that says me too and connects us one to another it's a time to breathe it's a time to dig deep it's a time to walk in the lenten journey not run and hide and wait for it to be over this past week as i was typing away my sermon an email popped up from a theologian named peter rowlands he's about a religionless religion yes a religionless religion we've had him actually here as a teacher in our church he's someone who likes to be on the edge exploring life and in his perspective in his way of looking at the world he said it's not about engaging in particular beliefs about the world but exploring the world and the beliefs that emerge from the world there's a realness and a realness that leads to oneness in his exploration i clicked on the five minute video this five-minute video is from a book by ellie weisel ellie weisel is a survivor of the auschwitz terror he died in 2016. he was a piece he received the peace prize the nobel peace prize he wrote 57 books one of them of which is called night i read it in the 80s when it just came out as he explores and tells the story of what happened in the holocaust this is a pg-13 piece this is not a happy bunny piece this is a piece that looks at the realness and the horror and the difficulty and the sadness and the sin i will say of the human story when you see what humans did to each other in auschwitz but i want us to listen as peter rowlands reads part of this book to you and to i as we hear the story of what he sees one day when they are in the death camps because the question is posed which lent poses where is god i invite you to this five minute video [Music] [Music] [Music] one day as we returned from work we saw three gallons three black ravens erected on the apple plots there was roll call the ss surrounding us machine guns aimed at us the usual ritual three prisoners and chains and among them the little papel the sad eyed angel the ss seemed more preoccupied more worried than usual to hang a child in front of thousands of onlookers was not a small matter the head of the camp read the verdict all eyes were on the child he was pale almost calm but he was biting his lips as he stood in the shadow of the gallows this time the commander of the camp refused to act as executioner 3ss took his place the three condemned prisoners together stepped onto the chairs in unison the nooses were pleased around their necks long live liberty shouted the two men but the boy was silent where is merciful god now where is he someone behind me was asking at the signal the three chairs were tipped over [Music] total silence in the camp on the horizon the sun was setting caps off screened the camp functionary but his voice quivered as for the rest of us we were weeping cover your heads then came the march past the victims the two men were no longer alive their tongues were hanging out swollen and bluish but the third rope was still moving the child too light was still breathing [Music] and so he remained for more than half an hour lingering between life and death writhing before our eyes and we were forced to look at him at close range he was still alive on my pastel his tongue was still red his eyes not yet extinguished behind me i heard to see a man asking for god's sake where is god and from within me i heard a voice answer where is he this is where hanging here from the gallows [Music] so [Music] yes [Music] so [Music] [Music] harsh raw truth and a story night ali says where is god he answers the question where is god and from in his soul he says god is here hanging in the gallows for us god is on the cross god is in the innocent gun down in the streets of kiev god is in the huddled bodies in a bomb shelter god is in the shuffle of feet and hospital hallways god is in the church in the temple and the sanctuary god is there god is in the rooms of our house god is in your very body god is in our brokenness in our rage in our tears in our fears in our griefs in our wilderness in our lenten journey that's where god is last night was ash wednesday the start of the lenten journey and the church was candlelit last night and people were invited to come between 7 and 7 30 to receive the mark of the ashes on their forehead and people came in quietly and received the ashes on their forehead and a prayer on their head or their shoulder and it was a beautiful peaceful evening at the end of the evening ann and andrea and i stood right before you here and we marked each other with the ashes saying dust to dust ashes to ashes we come from the ground and we return to the ground and nothing can separate us from god's love and as we marched each and every one of us we prayed for the reality and the truth of those words we come from the ground we return to the ground and nothing can separate us from god's love nothing can separate us from god's love the end of the evening i had called earlier to a family in the community where someone was literally in their last days of life and i asked could i come over and offer ashes and they agreed so i gathered up the ashes in a bowl and put them on the foot of my floor in my car and drove to the house and i went in they were actually preparing pictures for the funeral that will happen in days to come i made my way upstairs and his partner his wife came and the two daughters came and we we stood around the bed as he lay in the bed and and i remembered as i looked at him that he had said to me he'd said to me i'm not an optimist or a pessimist i'm a realist and lent matters to me he said they sometimes call me doom and gloom but i'm not doom and gloom i'm a realist and as i place the ashes on his forehead and said we come from the ground we return to the ground and nothing can separate us from god's love we give thanks for your life and all you have been and all you will be as we let you be born anew into the mystery of life beyond death we moved around the room and marked each and every other person in the room with simple ashes simple reminder of the reality of life and death and the hope of new life and there's never been in my ministry a closer marking of ashes to someone who is so very close to the reality of death not a pessimist not an optimist but a realist lent invites us to that reality to the realness of life it invites us to welcome all emotions as gifts from beyond and in all of it we trust that we are loved forgiven and set free may we dare to believe that good news and live each and every moment we have to the fullest that's why we do lent may you and i be awake as we journey amen [Music] i invite you now to our blessing and our blessing is this some of you many of you couldn't be here last night and that's okay you were where you needed to be but as we step out and step into this lenten journey i'm going to invite you right now wherever you are to take your thumb everybody in this room take your thumb and i hope during this luncheon journey at different times whether it's in the night or the morning when you see something great or you're scared to death you take it and you mark your forehead with the cross and in the marking of that cross you say these words we come from the ground we return to the ground and nothing can separate us from god's love and in that marking over these days may you be held loved forgiven and set free this is real you are real you are enough we are enough thanks be to god in the name of the father son and holy spirit one god mother of us all amen you

Channel: Hillhurst United Church

Views: 457

Keywords: Hillhurst United Church, Calgary Church, Welcoming Church, Affirming, Church, Gay Church, Calgary NW church, Kensington Church, LGBTQ, LGBT, John Pentland, Anne Yates-Laberge, United Church of Canada, livestream church, canada, alberta, god, jesus, spirituality, social justice, gender, gender equality, progressive, progressive church, liberal church, mainline church, liberal, mainline, brian mclaren, theology, bible, spiritual church, contemplative, calgary, united church, 2 spirit

Id: g4ziZj8-z_I

Length: 69min 24sec (4164 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 06 2022