Sermon - The Infusion of Love (April 28, 2013) & Benediction

Psalm 148, Revelation 21:1-6; John 13:31-35

The Infusion of Love

 

Every morning around 6:30 AM, my 2 year old son Jah Bi wakes up, crawls into my bed and lays his head on my pillow, seeking comfort. He’s my wake-up call. It’s time to get out of bed. As I told you a few weeks ago, on an average morning it takes more than 20 minutes for me to finally crawl out of bed. Jah Bi helps me. First I head for the washroom, then to the dressing room to find a pair of socks to warm my feet. There I see magic – clean socks are folded up and put neatly in my cubbyhole. Laundry is Min Goo’s job. We never made a formal division of chores - it just happened naturally. He does the laundry at night, sorts it, folds everything up and puts each family member’s clothes in the right place. One morning, while choosing a pair of socks, I said to him, “Thank you for making me think socks are almost always there for me automatically.”

In our normal days, love is what we almost take for granted; we tend to take in love as if it is given automatically, naturally: the child’s love for us, the partner’s love for us, and the love we have for them. They are intact; they haven’t been disrupted. They are daily blessings which we don’t usually take seriously; we don’t think about where this love comes from. We don’t take the time to ponder upon what is the source of love we experience daily. What is it really? Where does it come from? How is it made? Is it just emotional? Is it just a byproduct of oxytocin, the hormone which is often referred to as the “love hormone”? Love is biological and intellectual - it draws us closer to one another in our family and in our community. It connects us with one another. Our body is created, fitting to the mechanism of love. But loving is not just given, biologically or automatically. 
  

Love is what we strive for in our lives. We carefully build it up. We do our best to make sure it is not disrupted, diminished or snatched away from us by any force. For me, my family is my sanctuary; their love gives me confidence to love more, love better. There are always more things to learn, in love and with love; I learn how I can restrain myself from expressing anger, blaming, shouting, yelling, and controlling. I learn how negative emotions like anger can be triggered in under one second, how necessary it is sometimes to mindfully practice loving.

For many of us, family is where we have learned how love nurtures us and restores us. Or for some of us, family has functioned in the opposite way. Family dysfunction and brokenness may have left deep wounds. I often hear many of us call this congregation, “The church family”. I believe that it is because we know what “family” means; love and faith with their complicated details, ups and downs, loss and reconciliation. A family has its own rhythm, dynamic and spirit which is passed on through decades and generations- just like this congregation.

The substance which sustains each family is love; the substance which keeps and enlivens our church family is love, and that love comes from God. Whether we speak of biology or psychology, the ultimate source of love is God. When we gather here, in this sanctuary, in the name of God, it means that we gather here in the name of love. The love of God for us, our love for God, our love for each other – these three aspects of love are intertwined in the life of  our church.

A lot of scientific research have been undertaken in order to dissect the underpinnings of love in technical, biological terms. It’s a worthwhile pursuit, as it reminds us that there is no such thing as a sheer, surreal magic unbound by nature’s rule. Love is a release of the hormone oxytocin. Love is a chemical reaction. Love is material. Love is biological. But we know love is more than that. It is intimacy in relationships. It is compassion for the pain of others. It is the complex mystery of God; how God is present with us and leads us. We feel integrity within love. We dream, in love.

Recent weeks have shocked us with terrible news here and in the world: North Korea’s renewed military aggression, bombings in Boston and Iraq on the same day, a thwarted Via Rail terrorist attack, unprovoked killings, so much violence and death around the world. Hatred seems to lurk in every dark corner and fear drives our society. The Globe and Mail issued an editorial saying, “Osama bin Laden is dead, and nearly 12 years have passed since the attack of Sept. 11, 2001. [But] It is not time for the West to drop its guard. What happened in Boston can happen here.” (I added more words in pulpit.)

The season of Easter brought the bloom of flowers all around our town. Cherry trees. Magnolias. White fawn lilies (which are my favourite) spread liltingly on the hillsides. As the Psalmist today sings, the whole creation seem to sing “Glory be to God... Give praise to God.” Easter pronounces that life triumphs over death, love overcomes evil. The season of Easter, the spring of life, calls us with a joyful melody of praise. The gladness of Christ’s resurrection urges us to stretch our soul.The Book of Revelation says “The home of God is among mortals. God will dwell with them; they will be God’s people, and God himself will be with them; He will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more…”

But, in the past weeks we have found ourselves stuck, numbed, shocked, and groaning. We see our inadequacies with uncomfortable clarity: the inability to make things right, the inability to bring peace, the inability to resurrect love from brokenness.  

In today’s Gospel, Jesus says, “Children, I am with you for only a short time longer. You are going to look high and low for me. But I am telling you: where I go, you are not able to come. Let me give you a new command; Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another.”

We live in a time when love is not just given; we need to strive, to will, to struggle to find it, restore it, and keep it alive. The reason why we must make such an effort is that this is how God is engaged with the world and with us, by striving, willing, and struggling to restore us and save us from the destructive powers of the world.

Love is a gift, many of us say, but it is not given automatically. The strength of a love regained after experiencing the trauma of loss or brokenness is huge, but that strength comes after our darkest moments, a phoenix rising from the ashes of our loss.

Love is emotion, but it’s also deeper than that – it is the substance in all things. It is existential. Love is the power of resurrection life. Experiencing it restores us. It lets us become significantly different. Love gives the capacity to rebuild life, rebuild the world. It lets us re-write our stories, about what we can and cannot do. It lets us re-draw our limits.

This is my reflection on love - I know you have more to share. I define love as an infusion. Love is like a tea bag. When we contemplate it, feel it, and experience it, it infuses us with its essence. This operation of infusion is natural. It’s given. It seems almost automatic. But it needs a person who steeps in it. In the Gospel, Jesus says, “As I have loved you.” Not someone else, but you. The enactment of love begins with you. The aroma, the flavour of love is your character. May the love of God, the substance within us, sustain us and fill us with the joy of Easter.

A beautiful letter from a minister couple

http://peacemama3.blogspot.ca/2013/05/a-beautiful-letter-from-minister-couple_5.html

Benediction

As you take one more step along the world this week, 

open your mind to the endless possibilities God creates!

God brings us closer to God!

Open your eyes to God’s presence in all things!
God leads us to respond in joy! 

The God of all the ages, the God of all places, the God of all peoples, the God of all you have been, are, and will be, bless you and this precious expression of God’s fullness, Chemainus United Church.

Go in Easter peace and joy. 

Prayers of the People

 

Holy and Gracious God,

We give you thanks for family, friends, life, love –

For all the blessings you have bestowed upon us.

For the rain in the early spring morning, 

For the wet soil of our garden,

For the flowerpots on our apartment’s balcony,

For the blooming cherry trees on the street and the white fawn lilies on the hill,

For the successful plant sale yesterday we had at our church garden…

Bless all the hands of the people who carried the pots, sorted them out, priced them and sold them.   Bless our Sunday School children who helped the grownups, and all those who came.

We feel your love which surrounds us. We learn how to respond with joy to surprises in life, to the new possibilities in life. We learn how to give thanks for daily blessings. Your grace humbles us, and moves us on. 

When we look after a child, feeding him and playing with him, 

When we take a stroll with an elderly person on a sunny afternoon

 - a very slow walk,

We feel and learn by heart how you care for us,

how you take a walk with us every day – keeping pace with us. 

God of our Mothers and Fathers,

Your desire for us leads the way. 

May we have the ears to hear the cries of this world,

responding with your hope.

Compassionate One,

Fill us with your love

That we may see deeply all the needs around us –

We pray for those who are shut-in, live in isolation, loneliness. Equip us to be a bearer of loving touch for them, by visiting them, holding their hands, or taking a walk with them.

We pray for those who mourn the death of loved ones, for those who grieve over losses of any kind, for those who strive and will for life, for rebuilding and restoring it from brokenness. Remember and hold them within your empowering and embracing presence.

We pray for those whose life is touched by cancer and their families. We pray especially for Joy Philips, Fran’s family, ______. Help us to care with your heart.

May your love, your grace, your compassion, your mercy carry us away this day,

And lead us with love to be your hands and heart in the world.

Amen.

Children's Time - Pulling Up Carrots (April, 28, 2013)

Pulling Up Carrots

Good Morning!

Have you ever pulled up carrots from the garden? (Yes?) Do you know how to pull them up so they don’t break when you’re pulling them? Can you tell us how to do that?

Pulling up carrots or picking other vegetables can be really fun and exciting, especially if you love surprises. One family I know plants carrot seeds every April for the summer harvest; they always plant rainbow blends.

When the time comes to pick the carrots, their four-year-old daughter becomes her mom’s favourite harvester, ready for surprises. There are always surprises, because they plant rainbow carrot seeds. First they loosen up the soil, then pull it at the base.

The first one is purple!  (props…)

The next one is white!  

An orange one is the third. 

Then, they wonder, each time they pull up another one, 

“What colour will this one be?”

Living with God means we are ready for surprises. Surprising us is how God works with us. Our birth, our growth, every life passage we go through waits for us with surprises. I remember the first eye contact Peace, my oldest son, made when he was just born. When the midwife lifted him up, he was crying as if he missed the place he just left. Then he was gently put on my chest. He opened one eye, and looked at me for a few seconds. Then he began to stop crying. The first surprise he had in his lifetime was that he could see.  

Not every child in its mother’s womb can make it out to the world safely. Last week, Peace’s class welcomed 7 newborn chicks and 7 eggs which were about to hatch. The eggs were put in an incubator, a special place for keeping them warm and dry. Finally 6 newborn chicks cracked their eggshells and came out cheeping! But one could not make it out of the egg. He could only make one tiny little hole in his shell, and then he stopped moving. It made everyone in the class feel so sad - it was a sad surprise.   

We are born differently.

We grow differently.

Our lives are different.

We all are different and unique. But every life is perfect, because it is a God-given surprise.

God sees abilities rather than disabilities. This means God sees what we can do and be.

(SEE THE ABILITY)

God always has a deeper love for us all than we imagine. If we were carrots, we would be rainbow carrots in God’s sight: rainbow carrots of different colours and different shapes. 

In the marketplace, those carrots that are slightly misshapen don’t even make it to the grocery store.

But in God’s love, we are placed together, with different abilities and different gifts of God’s surprises. We are many, we are one.

Children's Time "Baby goat/sheep - Me?" (April 21, 2013)

Children’s Time: Baby goat/sheep – Me?



Happy Easter!

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Good Shepherd Sunday!

Today our Bible story is Psalm 23.

The Psalms are a collection of songs in the Bible. Psalm 21 sings,

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

“I shall not want” means with God’s love, I have all that I need.

It’s really interesting that the Psalm singer calls God our shepherd, because it means we are God’s sheep.

(Petting Zoo in Victoria)

Have you ever gone to the petting zoo in Beacon Hill park in Victoria and played with the baby goats? 

Last month my family went there. As soon as arrived, we dashed to the goat’s barn first, because we heard that many baby goats were born in that month. As soon as we got there, we saw 10 or so baby goats jumping off from the hay blocks and running and running for fun. My kids and I really loved to see them, especially the way they jumped! I wondered, “Why do they have to jump like this?” (Action.)

The baby goats were so active and free, jumping and running. They just made my family giggle. And, yes, they loved to chew my hair and Peace’s shoelaces.

I wonder about baby sheep. Do they like to jump? Do they love to run like baby goats? I guess they do - they are babies, after all.

But, overall, sheep does not seem to have a reputation for  running and jumping and energetic tricks like goats do. This is what one of my friends told me; sheep are soft and dainty, and when they say baaa, they stick out their tongues and look cute, but they’re not very smart. Sheep can’t always find their way back to the barn. If one sheep starts running just for fun, the others all panic and start running with fear. And sometimes they forget to come in out of the rain and their wool gets soaked and uncomfortably heavy. Sheep can be very easily confused and lost and they can be stubborn and mean and clumsy! Without a shepherd to watch over them, sheep would have a very tough time. 
(resource:  http://onthechancelsteps.wordpress.com/)

On learning this, I wished God could be called our Goat-keeper, because I would prefer being a goat to being a sheep! I would love to look smart! But the truth is, like  a sheep I can easily get confused and lost and be stubborn and mean and clumsy.

It doesn’t matter whether we are more like a baby goat or a grown-up sheep, or both! God looks after us, loves us and leads us, because God knows we are precious. And remember, sheep can jump just like baby goats, sometimes.
 

And baby goats can be very stubborn,

and they can be mean to their friends, sometimes.


 

 

You are a precious child of God. God loves to be a good shepherd to you, loves to be with you, loves to watch over you and is always ready to help you.

Will you pray with me?

Dear Lord,

You are my Shepherd.

Thank you for loving me

and watching over me.

Amen.

A comment from a church member about the sermon on April 14, 2013 and MY SINGING.

Hi Ha Na,
This is N from Chemainus. I had to leave church before the service was over on Sunday so I never had the opportunity to speak with you. I really liked your 'Good Morning' message - your description of our beautiful world at sunrise when the dew drops sparkle. It was a lovely service and very meaningful to me. Most of all I enjoyed the song that you first read to us in English and then sang to us in Korean. You have a lovely voice. Thank you for sharing the song with us. I would like to have the words for this song in both English and Korean. No, I do not read or speak your language. However, I do keep a book of favorite quotes and poems and songs. I would like to include the song you sang.
I very much enjoy the peace I feel during and after church each week I can be there. Thank you so much for sharing your love of God with us. From where I sit I see your face shining with love and caring. I'm glad you are here.
I send you the hug we missed the past Sunday.

To read the Children's time and the Sermon on the same Sunday (the Third Sunday of Easter on April 14, 2013), please click here.
http://peacemama3.blogspot.ca/2013/04/childrens-time-third-sunday-of-easter.html

To hear Korean Singer Yang Hee-Eun's singing of Morning Dew on You-tube, please click here. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBdtzvmOLx8

A few more prayers and a sermon in January & February

A few more prayers 

January

Opening Prayer: (Jan 27)

Holy God, Vision-Giver,

we see your presence both low and high,

in the white frost fallen on the grass and roofs.

In the bright green moss jumping out in the mist,

we see the beauty of your world, hidden and revealing.

In the long line of the wild geese’s vee, flying to the North,

We see your dreams for us, bringing us home.

We read your Word in all the colours

and moves of a winter’s morning 

we hear from Nehemiah

“Do not grieve over your past mistakes

For the joy of the Lord is your strength!”

Holy God in this community,

in all these moments be with us.

Illumine us as we feast on your love

and Word in our worship

on this winter morning.    Amen

Our music leader really loved this prayer I wrote for the day. And I really enjoyed her selection of the following hymn of Ron Klusmeier! Both the music and words!

* Hymn: Follow the Songlines                           

Words by Shirley Erena Murray, Music by Ron Klusmeier

Follow the songlines,
follow the Spirit
singing the world into being anew,
follow the theme of the ancient ones’ dreaming,
footprints in faith that the track will run true.

Time beyond time, dream before dreaming,
one Holy Spirit has sung the design:
pathways of peace, widening circles,
music and dance that declare the divine,

Follow the songlines,
follow the Spirit
singing the world into being anew,
follow the theme of the ancient ones’ dreaming,
footprints in faith that the track will run true.

Fire may flare, searing our courage,
earthquake of doubt shake the words that we pray:
look for the shoots, green-growing saplings,
look for the hopeful amid the decay,

Follow the songlines,
follow the Spirit
singing the world into being anew,
follow the theme of the ancient ones’ dreaming,
footprints in faith that the track will run true.

New songs be born, sensed by God’s longing,
new lines be drawn, in the rock, in the dust,
calling out love, calling out justice,
calling a people to grow and to trust,

Follow the songlines,
follow the Spirit
singing the world into being anew,
follow the theme of the ancient ones’ dreaming,
footprints in faith that the track will run true.

February

Prayer of Approach: inspired by Luke 9:28-43 

(on the Transfiguration Sunday in February, 2013)

Jesus Christ, Listener of our souls, …

… to go up the mountain, and see Jesus in His glory.

Whisper to us upon reaching your hand,

“Go up the mountain,

to where land meets the sky,

where the earth touches the heavens,

to the place of meeting,

to the place of mists,

to the place of voices and conversations,

to the place of listening.

You will see me face to face, unveiled,

with the radiance of love

which empowers you to heal the sick.”

May this happen as we worship together,

Through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior,

our Love, our Justice.  

Amen.

Sermon: A Thin Place 

 

Luke 9:28-43

(on the Same Sunday in February: the Transfiguration Sunday. I wrote this in the week when I felt extremely burn out, and the congregation understood this so well with beautiful grace.)

We are not sure whether we really want to go up the mountain, even though Jesus himself calls us to follow. Can we really find enough energy or strength to go up, can we really find the conviction and motivation to do it? Do we really have to go up the high mountain, living high up in the rarefied air, disengaged from the world below, leaving the familiar lowlands where our families, brothers and sisters, our friends and our neighbours live? We live with a familiar mess:  life, with all its ups and downs, curves, pits and cliffs. We live down in the valley because there is more shelter than on the mountaintop; we can curl up  in the shadows, or deeply breathe in a winter  morning’s chilly, fresh air, gloriously refreshed by a beam of sunshine, after the long rainy days. We breathe in every bit of comfort and glory in our ordinary, plain day. Living down in the valley is not so bad, after all. Through some life-changing experiences, at a certain point in our lifetime, we learn how to embrace the sacred, how to allow the capacity for the sacred to grow in us. Those experiences which wound us or etch us are painful and irrevocable - they leave scars. But was it not for them, we may not have known how much our life and the lives of our loved ones are breathtakingly sacred, painstakingly unique, so fragile and at the same time so strong.

We hope that our lives will be whole and complete. We make wishes when we attend a wedding, wishing it to be one where love and delight stay kindled through the years. We wish blessings on our children, grandchildren, friends old or new. We wish for an enjoyable job and good retirement years. All of these things are sheer gifts from God, gifts meant to be savoured and enjoyed, to be used up and remembered fondly. We do all of these, living down in the valley. We do all of these good things, with blessings and gratitude.

Why do we have to live differently? Why do we have to take a “departure”(Luke 9:31) from the place which we are used to and so familiar with? We live with good hearts, good intentions. Do we really need to climb the mountain with Jesus to pray? Do we really need to journey with Jesus to Jerusalem, heading for the place where danger and the threat of death awaits – to take a path to the cross?

A ‘thin place,’ is the term many Christians use for those places where land meets sky, where the earth touches the heavens, places that resonate with holiness and fill us with nameless awe. There, we are tested, our understanding is challenged, our hearts groan for finding that our way is not God’s way, our sight is not God’s sight, our understanding is not God’s understanding. Our spirits groan inside. We kneel down on the holy ground, like Moses did in the desert, fallen to his knees before the fiery bush. In the thin places, either on the mountaintop or in the desert, heaven is so low, so perilously close to the land, to humanity. The mountaintop where Jesus and his three disciples stayed to pray didn’t command any grand  vistas – there was no staggering view to reward the long climb. Far from being elated, the three disciples, Peter, John and James were “weighed down with sleep.” Nothing impressed them. And there’s nothing more to say about the rest of the disciples. They even didn’t go up. Why should we be bothered?

This week has been a particularly hard one for me. I felt really burnt out. I learned what ‘burnout’ might mean for me; no heat left in my body, like the steady fire of my faith had faded to buried embers. And I wonder whether the disciples all experienced that somehow, that day on the mountain; they had no heat in them. Going up with Jesus didn’t spark their enthusiasm . Around that time, the disciples were incapable of being a healing presence to anyone. They weren’t very smart, they quarrelled a lot, and, although they said they loved Jesus, they were slow to do what he asked of them.

One of the interesting things about the mountaintop experience is that although we may exclaim with wonder, struck by the open vistas, we don’t want to dispel the awe-inspiring moment with chit-chat. Rather, we would want to invite the silence of the moment hold for a while and keep it in our heart. We would want it to stay in us; we’d bring it home when we come down.

As I reflect on  Jesus’ transfiguration on the mountaintop and the reactions of his disciples, I wonder – where are we, what is our mountaintop, where do we find our ‘thin place’? And I pray for that holy, awe-inspired quietness,that Jesus would allow me a quiet moment, would silence me, so I can pay attention to my heart and Jesus’ heart. I hope we can journey together, going up the mountain, to the thin place of our own, which will transfigure us with the glory of the cross. May wonder and love, silence and awe-struck praise stay with us in the journey to see our heart and Jesus’ heart today and through the Lenten season which follows. Amen.