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Reformation Day Events

Please join us for Reformation Day Fun, starting on Saturday, October 30th:

Saturday, October 30th:

10:30am: Christian-themed pumpkin carving at the church with hamburger lunch.

5:30 doors open at Pastor Thomas' for "Almost Done School not yet retired fellowship".
Pizza 6:30. Martin Luther movie 7:00pm. (RSVP)

Sunday October 31st:

Service: 10:30 am(Reformation Day theme)
Greeting trick or treators at the church: 6:00pm.

October 17th sermon: "Sola Scriptura"

    2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

 I spent last Monday afternoon at my mother’s place. I was lying on the couch watching the BC lions. I flipped channels between plays. I observed that there were at least two talk shows dispensing medical advice. There were at least another two dispensing parenting and marital advice. And I reflected and realized that there is a whole lot of advice given in this world. In fact, there is a whole industry based on advice. Just check out your local bookstore. Brows the self-help section. From investing to golf to cooking to spirituality, there is no shortage of advice, and no shortage of people willing to give it.

            For Christians, this tremendous market of advice raises a very important question: Where does the church stand in the mix—the mix of plentiful and contradictory advice  which the world offers? What do we, as Christians, make of all of this information  which is offered to us? My pastor says one thing, the television counselor says something quite different. The book I’m reading about marriage contradicts everything I hear in church on the topic.  That talk-show psychologist is giving me advice that I sure wouldn’t hear from the pulpit. With the explosion of information made possible by the internet, people are saturated with information, and many are burdened with information overload. In all of this it is easy for the Christian to become confused, to lose sight of the truth of God’s Word alone—and follow teachings which sound good, make us feel good, tell us what we want to hear, but don’t tell us the truth. False teachings are easy, they are comfortable, they are bendable, and mallable. The sinner likes them, because they put us in charge, and push God out of the way. False teachings are stealthy, deceptive, and alluring. But like a steady diet of junkfood, they do not nourish, but lead, ultimately to spiritual malnutrition. But in times of pain, confusion, despair, it is very tempting to look around in desperation and grasp at whatever is offered—especially answers that are easy.

            This explains the popularity of  the “health and wealth” gospel which we here proclaimed by some televangelists. If only you have enough faith you will be healed of all sickness. If only you believe harder, you will be rich and prosperous. The promise of the success gospel is a false promise, for it gives false hope and tells a lie. And that lie says that Christian faith leads to worldly success and happiness, and a life free of pain and struggle. But we know from scripture that this isn’t the case. Jesus, the Son of God, did everything right; yet still was crucified. All but one of the original twelve Apostles was executed. All of Paul’s letters to the Christian communities in the Greco Roman world speak pastorally to some kind of trouble within those communities—Paul himself was afflicted with a “thorn in the flesh”Christians strong in faith and righteous in spirit endure all kinds of hardship and trouble, and are not spared the sufferings of life. That fact is something the purveyors of the “health and wealth” gospel do not want you to know, an inconvenient truth which is brushed under the carpet.

False and confusing teaching isn’t a new problem. Paul spent a lot of time repairing the damage done by false teachers. In today’s Epistle reading, the Apostle Paul gives sound instruction to his protégé, Timothy. This advice points him to the source—the source where the truth is to be found, and that source is scripture. Paul tells Timothy and tells us: “ All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.” In a world where so much confusion abounds, and so much false teaching, there is one place where clarity can be found. It can be found in the pages of scripture.

But we must be careful in how we approach scripture. Some view the Bible as a kind of instruction manual for good living, believing that if they follow all of the rules, then they will make God happy and earn their way into heaven. But this is wrong. The  Bible is not an instructional manual or mere historical document—it is the Living Word of God. It is the Living Word because it points to He who is the Living God for us. Martin Luther said it succinctly: “All Scriptures point to Christ Alone”. Christ is the centre—both of the New Testament and the Old Testament. Paul reminds Timothy of this basic spiritual fact. “Continue”, he says, “in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” “Sola Scriptura”—Scripture alone emerged as a great truth held by the reformers, and for good reason.

Scripture is reliable, scripture is trustworthy, scripture is inerrant, without error, because it innerantly  points to an testifies to Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. You cannot be a Christian, you cannot proclaim Jesus Lord and Saviour and at the same time deny the Bible—deny the source which tells us Jesus is Lord and Saviour. You cannot believe the Bible and deny Christ. The Bible is the only reliable source and guide for Christian living. As Paul says,  all scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. Yes, there have been errors in translation of scripture. There have been errors in interpretation of scripture. But the message of salvation through Christ, and what that means for us is without error.

Now Paul wasn’t speaking to Timothy about what we understand as the New Testament. At the time Paul was writing  it hadn’t been written yet. What he was telling Timothy was that Christ had been revealed in the pages of the Old Book, the Hebrew Bible; for the work of Christ is present in and throughout the Old Testament Narrative, delivering and nourishing the Israelites in faith, until He himself entered the world in the person of Jesus. This isn’t easy to understand. The workings of God is beyond all human comprehension. But what we can understand is that in the face of Jesus we see the face of God for us-the God who loves us, the God who has claimed us, the God who has rescued us. That is the most important and central lesson we need to learn from the Bible. In the pages of the Bible we learn about what God has done for us, how God has transformed us, and how God expects us to live according to his great promise for us. All of this  deserves our attention, and Paul is emphatic as he urges Timothy in the use of scripture.

The first thing Paul tells Timothy is to proclaim the message. What is the message? What is the central message? The best summary of that message is John 3:16: “ For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life” That’s the message. That’s the Good News. And pay very close attention to the facts of this message. Who is the initiator of the action? Who is the subject of the sentence? The answer is clear. It is God.

This past week, the world ‘s eyes were fixed on television screens as Chilean miners were brought safely to the surface from within what would have been graves, miles beneath the surface of the earth. These men were trapped. They could have done nothing to rescue themselves. Their physically reality paralleled the spiritual reality of humanity. Luther said it succinctly, “ were are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves”.  Trying harder doesn’t help—it cannot help you. What was required was a great rescue. Just like the rescuers were sent down into that collapsed mine to bring those men up, Christ came down to earth to bring us up. That’s the good news. We don’t have to try; it has all been done for us. To believe that is to have faith. To trust in that is to have faith. But we need to be reminded. We need to be reminded again and again and again. Again and again we need to hear that Word of Life proclaimed Through the visible signs of water, God proclaims that Word to us. Through the wine and bread of communion, God proclaims that word to us. And through the pages of scripture God proclaims that Word to Us.

We need to hear that Word, both in Good Times and Bad. So Paul urges Timothy to be persistent in his proclamation whether the time is favourable or unfavorable.

And we will struggle with the Word of God, because there will be things in the Word that we do not want to hear. We will hear that we are not to do as we like; that Christians are called to a different way of being, that may cut sharply against the grain of social norms in this time and place.  So we need to be constantly convinced of God’s love for us, rebuked when we sin and are straying off path, and encouraged to live lives worthy of the Christian.  Scripture does that too: it convicts us, calls us back to repentance, and back to trusting in the God who has done all things for us—rather than trusting in ourselves and our self constructed idols.

In today’s Gospel lesson Jesus encourages his followers with the parable of a widow who sought justice from an unethical judge. How easy it was for her to place her faith and trust in this man. How easy it is for many of us to place trust in the things of this world. Yet, how difficult it is to place trust in the God who has promised us eternal life—so our Lord commands and encourages us to pray always. The walk of  faith is not easy. It is not easy because life can be so very difficult.  Faith can be a struggle. Just as Jacob wrestled with God at the Jabokk we will wrestle and struggle with God’s Word as it confronts us, convicts us, and challenges us. But we have not been left alone. That same Word is the same Word which has rescued us, nourishes us and sustains us. It is a word of promise, and that promise does not depend on us, does not depend on how religious we are, does not depend on what we have done or haven’t done. The righteousness Paul speaks of is not something we muster, it is something which God has given us freely through Christ. We know this from scripture.

            But we also know from scripture that God has claimed us, and rescued us for a reason, and it is not so that we can do as we like, how we like. It is with a far greater purpose than humanity can imagine or conceive that God has done this great rescuing work—it is to transform us into the image of Christ. Yes it has been said many times and it is most certainly true that there is nothing we can do to make us love God more or make God love us less.  But there are things we do to turn away from God. When we neglect the hearing of  God’sWord, we turn away from the nourishment of the Gospel. When the nourishment stops the starvation begins. We may struggle against the Word, but we need to hear it, we need to be nourished. And that nourishment happens here in this place. It happens when we hear that word proclaimed, “In the name of Jesus Christ your Sins are Forgiven” For where there is forgiveness of sins there s new life and salvation. The nourishment happens when we are washed in the waters of baptism, and give thanks for that baptism. That nourishment happens in the bread and wine of Holy Communion. That nourishment also happens in individual Bible reading and in  group Bible Study. All of the work of those great reformers was not done so that our Bibles collect dust on our bookshelves. Some might respond by saying: Well I did my Bible reading a long time ago. I know the stories. But that really misses the point. God’s Word is Living is active, it is doing something—it convicts and restores, admonishes and guides. It is a the Living Message of the Living God. The same Living God who has done such a marvelous and wonderous thing for you, who has given you the gift of eternal life, who is transforming you into the image of Christ. Now. May the peace which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in  Christ Jesus, Amen.

Battle Hymn of the Reformation

Thanksgiving Sermon 2010

In today’s Gospel lesson, the journey of Jesus takes him through a strange region. This is the region between Galilee and Samaria—the demarcation point between two peoples who are connected but at the same time distant, two peoples who celebrate a common history but who view each other with suspicion and animosity. As we know from other gospel texts, the division between Jews and Samaritans was sharp, and the division centered around a disagreement concerning origins. The Samaritans claimed  status as true Israelites—as descendants of the ten  northern tribes who were scattered by Assyrian conquerors in the seventh century. They professed to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in truth, and followed Mosaic Law. The Judeans disagreed, regarding the Samaritans as the descendents of the Assyrian conquerors who destroyed the Northern Kingdom in the eight century. They were more or less regarded by Jews as “wannabees”, outside the covenant  God had made with Israel—not true descendants of Jacob.  

It  was along this cultural and religious border Jesus moved as he made his way south. And as he does he encounters another group of people, who represented another distinct category—these were the leapers.

            Now, the biblical disorder called “leprosy” was not the same as the modern skin disease known as “leprosy”.  Rather, it was a condition  marked by skin discoloration.  Law required that lepers be separated not for medical reasons, but for religious reasons. Biblical Leapers were regarded not as quarenteened medical patients, but as ritually unclean. Levitical Law required that Priests diagnose leapers as unclean and to be exiled from the community. Preists were also entrusted with the task of determining whether they were“clean”, and ready to return to the community. This pronouncement by a priest would be the ticket back to community, to livelihood, and to friends. And though Jews and Samaritans were separated by this massive cultural gulf, they both held this law of exclusion in common.  Lepers were on the outside. Locked out of regular life and society, they moved in groups, remained near urban centres, and begged for a living.

            It was just such a group that approached Jesus as he entered a village. The text does not tell us exactly what it was that drew these lepers to Jesus. Perhaps they were so lonely and desperate they sought help any way they could from anyone they could.  But perhaps they, like many others, knew who Jesus was right away—and the gifts he had for them.     “Jesus, master, have mercy on us!” This was a cry for mercy, was a cry for compassion, a cry for change, a cry for healing, a cry for a return to life and family. “Jesus, master, have mercy on us!” Hearing these words, Jesus told the ten to do the only thing that would restore their lives, and bring about a fundamental healing in relationship—this was the pronouncement of cleanliness by a priest.  Not surprisingly, they didn’t waste any time moving. And as they went, they were made clean. But one of them stopped. The one who stopped was the Samaritan amongst them. The text doesn’t tell us exactly why he stopped. It was the case that his journey would be much longer than the other ten. The Samaritan would have to travel to the ritual centre on Mount Garizim to be pronounced clean by a Samaritan priest. Maybe, this journey would not be possible, and this caused him to pause. We don’t know.But we do know one thing. We know that his heart was filled with Thanksgiving. Seeing that he was healed, he threw himself down at the feet of Jesus, at the feet of this Jewish Rabbi .  It was the foreigner who  turned out to be the thankful onel.    Within this unexpected, unprescribed encounter, emerged this tremendous moment of Thanksgiving. How startling, how wonderful, this moment must have been for this outsider and outcast.

            But we know from today’s Old Testament reading that this was not the first time a healing of leprosy was the cause for great and tremendous thanksgiving. Hundreds of years before the gospel lesson we read today, we hear the tale of another foreigner who receives remarkable healing. This time it is a powerful Syrian General, Naaman, an enemy of Israel, a man determined to bring down the descendants of Jacob, a man who has kidnapped a young Israelite girl and made him his wife.

            This powerful general also happened to be a leaper. And his Israelite wife knew where the cure was to be found—it was to be found within the heart of Israel, with the great Prophet, Elisha. When the King of Israel finds out about this proposal, his reaction is what you might expect. It would have made as much sense as inviting a burgler who has been staking your house inside for a warm meal. But Elisha saw things differently, Elisha saw the tremendous potential in this healing. So the day came when Naaman arrived at Elisha’s door, and the prophet gave him some very simple instructions: wash in the river Jordan seven times. His response is not all that positive. “What, do I really have to?” “ Couldn’t it be easier than that?” “Go down to the Jordan, the river in Israel?” “ Couldn’t I wash in the rivers of Demascus?” Not surprisingly, he refused. But his servants convinced him, with the basic argument that things could be a whole lot worse.  So he does it. He goes down to the river. He immerses himself. Seven times he washes himself, and he is cured.  And just like that leaper whom Jesus will cure hundreds of years later his response is of pure, unabashed, and total Thanksgiving. And in both cases, what follows that Thanksgiving, what flows from this gratitude, is faith. In both cases, foreigners, outsiders, came to recognize the workings of the one true God. And it came through God’s mercy and God’s grace.

Things could have been different. Jesus could have rebuked the  Samaritan leaper, and sent him on his way, refused to have anything to do with him. God could have given the Isrealite King the power to destroy Naaman. But this was not what God chose to do. God instead chose to reach out through mercy and love, and through that testified to who he is.

          Today’s readings testify to the wideness and surprising nature of God’s mercy and grace; testifies to a God who does not stop working to effect healing and wholeness, to a God who delights in hearing our Thanksgiving. The Psalmist tells us that, “ The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. Here fear does not refer to being afraid, but rather to an experience of God’s awesomeness. And God’s awesomeness is revealed most completely in the mercy and Grace of God, through the Christ who draws all humanity to himself.  And that work of extension and healing continues. The Word of God, as the Apostle tells us, is not chained.  It works through barriers and effects thanksgiving and faith, in ways which are mysterious, subtle, and beyond all attempts of the human intellect to contain it. It transcends boundaries that divide, and brings healing and wholeness to those regarded as outsiders. The message we need to grasp hold of is the message which runs through all the readings this morning that God is on a mission of healing, and the appropriate response to that healing is Thanksgiving. Herein lies the tremendous exuberance expressed in today’s psalm. The writer gets it—the writer gets what God’s mission to the world is really all about. And when he gets it, he can do nothing other than proclaim Thanksgiving with all of his heart.

            Today this country, this nation, celebrates Thanksgiving. But a moment’s reflection reveals that theme of Thanksgiving runs through this entire worship service. We gave thanks for Baptism, we give thanks through prayers of intercession, we sang and sing thanks with hymns. In a moment we will sing the great Thanksgiving for God’s great gift to the world, given through Christ Jesus.

I would invite you to pay special attention to those words which say, “ it is indeed right, our duty, and our joy, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks and praise to you almighty and merciful God”. There is indeed always something to be thankful for, even when all seems dark and hopeless. Somewhere, there will be something.  Somewhere God will be extending his hand of mercy and healing. If you cannot see it pray for eyes that can, and these gifts will be shown to you.

            This Sunday we honour a special gift which has been given to this congregation—the gift of stained glass windows. And we give thanks for them. We thank God for working through the donors who sponsored them, and the artist who crafted them. May they serve as a constant reminder of God’s great love, which shines in our hearts, which shines through the darkness.  As you look at them in the coming weeks, months, and years, remember this day of Thanksgiving. And may the theme of this day fill your everyday, remembering always and everywhere God’s  mercy and love.  Amen.

What is the relationship between Faith and Baptism? Pastor Ernie Lassman, Messiah Lutheran Church Seattle, explains the relationship between faith and baptism.

September 26, Luke 15:1-10

There once was a young lad. His name was Duncan Hines. He was not connected to the baking company. But  his name was an interesting coincidence, because he was a very well fed young man who always, always, came to school totting a large, shiny, lunch box, full of very good food. His sandwiches were the biggest tastiest in the whole school, and the desserts were simply incredible. There was another boy, in the same grade and the same class. His name was Larry. Larry wasn’t as fortunate as Duncan. He lived across the other side of town— from what you might call the wrong side of the tracks. It was actually a bit surprising to some of the parents of the solidly middle class school which he attended that the likes of Larry didn’t attend the other school on the other side of the hill. But as it so happened, Larry’s apartment block fell into the catchment area.  He and his sister were raised by foster parents, who weren’t exactly attentive to their needs. Larry would be dropped at school early—too early for an eleven year old. The school was locked, so he would hang around the front gate. Unlike Duncan, Larry didn’t come to school with a sumptuous box lunch. It would be the bare minimal, at best. But one thing he could count on was the fact that his classmate, Duncan, would be dutifully dropped off by a luxurious mini-van in front of the school.  And Duncan could count on passing by Larry on his way onto the school grounds through the gate.

Duncan never had much to do with larry. Duncan had a solid circle of friends, and tended not to move much outside of it. But Duncan knew that Larry was poor—as did the kids who made fun of him. But Duncan knew better. He knew that it was wrong to make fun of Larry. But he also knew that when he saw Larry in the morning, that this skinny kid probably didn’t have enough to eat. He expressed this concern to his parents. But they reassured him that Larry’s parents were probably on welfare and that he would be looked after.  With his conscience eased by those words, Duncan never once opened his lunch box to offer Larry anything. In fact, he did his best to ignore Larry—as he did for their remaining time together in that elementary school and junior high.

Not surprisingly, the lives of these two boys moved in quite different directions. Duncan became quite a successful businessman, and the last Duncan had heard, Larry became embroiled in drugs and petty crime. But the fact is that Duncan never really thought too much about Larry and his plight. That is until one day during a rugby match. Duncan twisted his ankle, and was admitted to the emergency room. Lying on his back on his bed in a curtained cubicle he waited for the attending physician. Then, through the curtains, the physician appeared. It took him a second or two to make the recognition. It was him: it was Larry. The recognition was mutual. Larry greeted Duncan cheerfully, and acted as if the two had been best friends in school. But Duncan was not feeling cheerful, was not joyful about the reunion. For his heart was struck with the sudden shocking memory of those lunches. As they left, it was Larry who made the offer that the two get together for lunch sometime. Duncan smiled, and hobbled off. He never contacted, or ever spoke to Larry for the rest of his life.

            Like today’s gospel lesson, this fictional story of Duncan and Larry is the tale of a divide, a story of a vast separation between a rich person and a poor person.

            The story, or parable as some scholars call, of Lazarus and the Rich Man, was well known among the ancient rabies. Some look upon it as a story about the afterlife. But it’s fundamental thrust and purpose concerns what contemporary people call “economic justice”. It is a story which has stood the test of time—a story as relevant today as it was two thousand years ago. Yes it was told in a vastly different time and place, and a very different culture. But one thing that the ancient world and the present have in common are rich people and poor people, and the great chasm which exists between them.  Generations before Christ came into the world as a human being, the prophet Amos, who we read, today  condemned  the greedy and self satisfying rich—and their lack of compassion for the poor.

            There was a great divide between the rich and poor then, during the time Christ walked the earth as a man, and there is a great divide now. And if ever a society needed to be awakened to the reality of its own idolatry, it is this one. For money is treated as a god, and is worshiped as one.  And this idolatry, or idol ownership, creates a vast separation between the worshippers of this false god, and the heart of the true God—the God who created the heavens and the earth, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who informed the prophets, and came into the world as Jesus Christ. That is the thrust of the story. At first reading, we might think that the Jesus condemns the rich, and describes the fate of the rich in the afterlife. But this is not the case. This is not a condemnation of the rich man for being rich, but a condemnation of his  idolatry—the worship of a false god. Our Lord tells us clearly that where are hearts are, there shall our treasure be. And if our hearts are fixed on money and possessions, they cannot be fixed on the true  God, who, through Abraham made a great promise to all humanity, which filled through Jesus Christ. As our Lord said at the end of last weeks lesson, God and Money cannot be served at the same time. Either one or the other will occupy our attention. Either one or the other will be the object of worship.

 It was the rich man’s idolatry  which created the great chasm we hear about in the story. It is true, the rich man never did anything wrong to poor old Lazarus as he lay at the gate. He never kicked him or shouted at him. Yes, he never did anything wrong to him. But he never did anything right to him either.

By not giving, not sharing, not only was he not attending to the physical needs of Lazarus, but also shutting down the opportunity for relationship, closing off the possibility of connection with another human being. By keeping closed his lunch box, Duncan kept closed the possibility of friendship with Jason. To the rich man, Lazarus wasn’t even really a human being. Even in Hades, the rich man does not see that Lazarus is a beloved and precious child of God. He only sees someone who will do his bidding and be his servant. “ Send Lazarus to cool my tongue”, “Send Lazarus to my father’s house.”  The gulf is fixed as the rich man’s heart is fixed. He has dug it himself, and in the depth of his heart would prefer that it be there.

But that gulf is an ever and increasingly present reality in today’s world. I have a friend  who is studying to be an Anglican Priest. He went on internship to the Philippines and was by shaken by what he saw. The gulf between rich and poor was startling. This was particularly impressed upon him one day when he came upon a series of giant houses, mansions located nearby a local garbage dump and shanty-town. Here on the one hand were people sitting in luxury while others sifted through the garbage in hopes of the next meal. Such disparity cannot be describes as anything other than evil. As the Apostle Paul tells us today, “The Love of Money is the root of all kinds of evil”.

Throughout the gospel narratives, Jesus condemns the worship of money and material goods. Some have interpreted this to mean that Jesus is an enemy of the rich, and champion of the poor. But this is incorrect. Jesus is an enemy of idolatry, and all things that separate people from the loving heart of His Father. At the same time, Jesus is a champion of the poor, and the rich, because the mission of Jesus is to bring all people together—to draw all people into one body. In his first letter to Timothy, the Apostle Paul advises how to minister to the materially wealthy. Specifically, Paul advises that the rich be reminded not to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches. How much heartbreak and pain could be avoided if people did not set their hopes on riches? We have seen were this false hope leads. Perhaps there is no better example than the financial crises that struck the United States and sent shockwaves around the world.  Pual reminds Timothy that riches are not god, and not to be worshipped as such. Materially wealthy Christians are also to be reminded of this spiritual fact. They are instead encouraged to good, be rich in good works, ready to share.  This is the path of the life that really is life. And the life that really is life is life in community, in one body.

But who are all of these rich Christians? Certain individuals may come to mind—people you may know, people you may have heard of. But we need to be reminded of that divide that exists between rich and poor is ever widening. And by world standards, your average Canadian, is, by global standards, rich. “Not me?” Some might protest. Well, do you eat three meals a day? Do you have comfortable shelter? Do you drive a car? Steady employment? Go on vacation? If so, you’re rich. You’re rich and you have resources to share with those who are poor.  It’s just that simple.

As a community in Christ we are called to share with those who are near and afar. Today is Canadian Lutheran World Relief Sunday. And I would strongly encourage you to become informed about this agency's work, and to get involved. This congregation has already been quite involved. In two instances a cry for help was sent around the world—one from Haiti, another from Pakistan. And this congregation has responded by making generous contributions to Canadian Lutheran World Relief. 

The work of CLWR began after the Second world war, when Canadian Lutherans made it their mission to send relief in the form of food, blankets, clothing, and bedding to European refugees. And that work has continued. But CLWR doesn’t simply throw money at a problem. Its guiding philosophy is one of accompaniment and sharing—both resources and knowledge, to help communities along the path of sustainable development and lives of justice, peace, and dignity. This is  international work is based on relationship—as is the work of local urban missions, Lutheran Urban Mission, Vancouver, and Surrey Urban Mission.  And the work continues steadily, and not just during times of acute crisis.

In two weeks, Canadians across the country will be celebrating thanksgiving. Christians are called to a life of constant thanksgiving to the God who has delivered them from death into life—the life that really is life. But such a life is a life in community, and it is a life of sharing and generosity. To be truly thankful is to share what God has first given us, and to do so joyfully. Now may the peace which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.