July 27, 2008

Rev. David Boyd

I was at Camp Koolaree last week with a bunch of boys aged 9 to 12. I was the chaplain. Talk about energy! I wish I had ¼ of the energy of these boys. Most of them had little connection to any church, let alone the United Church, and were at camp to have some fun and, hopefully, learn a bit about life with others. We even had a young lad from Las Angeles.

I was responsible for helping the boys with chapel each morning and for leading a daily discussion mostly to do with relating to others, behaviour, fear and working co-operatively. The theme of the camp was based on the reality TV series "Survivor" and "Fear Factor" and I tried to tailor-make each discussion to coincide with the values opposite to these TV programs. I also spent my time at camp just being available to the boys and to the staff. It was an interesting week and very busy. I have to confess that I'm a little bit tired.

Part of the interest was just the sheer energy level of these boys; the last night they had a balloon-water fight until 1:30 in the morning. (They weren't so energetic the next day, especially since it was the last day and they had to clean up!) Part of the interest last week was the way boys could be dire enemies one minute and best friends the next. These boys were just beginning to formulate something of their character as teens and adults; I wonder what these boys will be doing in 20, 30 or 50 years? What will they have accomplished?

One of the other interesting things about last week was the fact that only a few of the boys knew anything about the church or the Bible. On Thursday I was talking about the Golden Rule — and most had heard of this although they didn't know where it had come from; there had been some behavioural issues on Wednesday and we needed to talk about decency and respect. I also read the piece from Jesus about turning the other cheek, loving your enemies and giving away your coat to those who have nothing. As soon as I had read this last piece of wisdom from the gospels, you should have heard the ruckus. "I'm not giving my coat to anyone." "Are you kidding, turn the other cheek? I'd knock the person down." "Who loves their enemies; you kill them!" (I knew I had a tough crew!) But it generated an interesting conversation.

The reaction of the boys to this teaching of Jesus really set me to thinking about how little is known of Jesus' message outside of the church these days. This shouldn't surprise me as I've read many of the Environics reports about the typical Canadian's lack of knowledge of church; I've also read enough of Reg Bibby's work about Canadian religious life. But I was surprised. But more importantly then just thinking about how little the average non-church-going-Canadian knows about the church and the Bible, I thought about the world of competitiveness, winning at all costs, striking out if you don't get what you want, and the desire to be popular and fit in. "Fear Factor" and "Survivor" seem to reflect these values and we had some interesting conversations about co-operation and getting along with others. I don't want to generalise from this experience last week, but I was struck with how little the boys knew about different world views, especially ones based on co-operation, humility and giving to others. Don't misunderstand; I had a good week at camp and enjoyed spending time with these kids — they are good kids. There were just lots of things to think about.

I also don't want to suggest that we in the church are in a war for public perception and knowledge, but I wonder if we haven't let the message of Jesus get lost in either a fundamentalist agenda or in the dominant cultural world-view of wealth, power and control.

What, I wonder, would the boys make of Jesus' teaching through parables? The parables that we read this morning are little parables about leavening, the mustard seed, the treasure hidden in the field, and the parable of the pearl. I have to admit that we don't completely understand the meaning of these parables, but we do at least have some inkling that the meaning of these parables runs counter to the dominant societal thinking of wealth, power and control — then in Jesus' day and now in ours. They also speak to our spiritual quest to use our gifts for others.

Jesus, I believe, was talking about what we value. The Commonwealth of God is about beauty in an inner sense; it is about community with others; it is about loving first without judgement; it is about sharing wealth so that all may live; it is about life in all its wonder, value and mystery.

The 1st two parables from today's reading really set the tone. The mustard seed parable is about the least of us growing a faith that blossoms so that many might have life. The Commonwealth of God contains within it the power to create life — not inward only — but outward to be of benefit in a big way in the world.

The parable of the yeast is the challenge to us to change the world. And of course, as Ghandi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." As Christians, it is our calling to enable love, justice, community and grace to rise again and again in this world. We experience love and grace, and like sourdough bread, that leavening becomes part of the air that the world breathes.

I like to think that this past week was a bit of leavening. 90% of the boys didn't know what a minister is or what church is about and really, who cares about that? They didn't know about turning the other cheek and some of the other values that Jesus taught. I hope that my presence was some help in thinking about peace, non-violence and love, and knowing that the church isn't some strange thing. There was one young lad who was home-sick and we had a couple of conversations about a bunch of things. "Do you believe in ghost? What about aliens? What about monsters?" He asked about church and what I did. He asked me about hell. I was struck by the fact that many of the judgemental and negative aspects that come out of the historical church are well known. People know about hell; they know about judgement and they think that is all church is about. I talked to this young lad about the fact that we don't judge in the church I know; we accept each other and we are about love. Is that leavening? I don't want to make that claim, but who knows?

To create love for these boys and the whole world's children, and know that they might know love in their lives, I would buy a field with a treasure. I would buy a fine pearl and I would share this wealth. My heart aches for any in the world who do not know love or have food to eat or clean drinking water.

The Commonwealth, so Jesus said, is full and abundant. It's like we have this abundance in our bank account — collectively as the church — and it is our job to write cheques (although who writes cheques anymore) of love, goodwill and money to those in the world who struggle. And I don't mean this in a charity sense; it isn't about charity. It is about building relationships with others. It is about walking with others in their struggles and in ours. It is about sharing the wealth of love and peace where there is abuse, uncertainty, fear or hate. It is about changing the values of the world to realize that there is abundance and no one need suffer hunger, thirst, violence or oppression. There is enough to go around! Jesus reminds us that we have a responsibility to share in this abundance with all of the world's people and, indeed, all of creation.

Let's buy some fields with treasure; let's fish for pearls and share them together... for the sake of the children... for the sake of peace... for the cause of God's Commonwealth of freedom and love.

Amen.