Laurie Barber

I was at Bible College with Ravi. My sister Beth was the secretary in the class year when he was president. He came to preach to us at an Anniversary Service, where I first pastored, in Uxbridge, Ontario. I remember when he spoke earlier at a Young Adult Retreat. Whereas I was concerned that I should try to identify with those present - with sports, games, humour... in order perhaps to be friends, pastor them, win a hearing... Ravi was in his room, studying, in prayer, prepa...ring to bring forth the always passionate, compelling, (profound but simply presented), powerful messages God was giving him. This series was on Romans and he may have got through about half of chapter one.... but the impact of those addresses continues their Holy Spirited work on my heart and mind to this day. A dear man, a great man of God. Gone too soon. And yet, though how awful for us - how wonderful for him!

I love this post by my pastor, the Rev. Dr. Todd Thomason, at https://viaxm.com/2020/04/26/come-and-eat/ - commenting on the New Day that results from Jesus' resurrection - not only for Him but also for us. I love this especially -- "Nathanael’s presence also reminds us that the events of this final, concluding chapter are framed as a new beginning. It’s just after dawn. Jesus is cooking breakfast.... It’s a new day even though, narratively, it’s a conclusion. What the risen Christ has for these disciples (and for all disciples including all of us) is a deepening, an expanding of the life they (and we) have chosen in the footsteps of Jesus. Come and see has become Come and eat. Things aren’t ending or repeating; they’re being transformed recast in the light of the Empty Tomb. There is a new abundance of life now in the world because Christ is in the world as the risen Lord of all creation. This change is not always immediately visible or apparent. But Christ can and will direct us to it, beneath the surface, on the side of the boat that it hasn’t occurred to us to try. He can and will help us to find it in places it hasn’t occurred to us to look. Including prior failures."

Yep. As church, we are to gather (when we can) and scatter (as we always do). We know how to 'do' church when together; but how to be and do church when apart? Hmmm. This is not a new problem / opportunity...

Despite the awful horrors of war, famine and pestilence - and the general brokenness of the world, there is still awesome beauty all around, and the promise of the world being put right-sight-up by a loving Creator. There are signs of both - the awful and the awesome, all around us. By faith we may choose to believe that it will be better. Just as in Spring, with the warming and unfolding of buds, and it seems each year all nature opens in a new way -- and despite the some-...days still winter winds and frosty cold... Spring wins and Winter... well, looses. So too good will win over evil. And all will be well.

I’ve made two videos that go together, based on ch 1: 2-8 of James’ letter in the New Testament. In the first I have sought to illustrate the text itself. In the second, I’ve tried to illustrate a commentary on these verses, with some of my own reflections. Part I - https://vimeo.com/402021462... Part II - https://vimeo.com/402027420 James writes of trials and troubles of life that come into the Christians’ life and exhorts us in particular to have a different kind of response, one that is at first quite contrary to our own normal and natural responses. I’m wondering just how it’s possible to do that in light of the pandemic that is gripping our world and causing deep concern for us all. God helping us, we will get through this. But everything - including our own good selves, will be changed. In part, through our responses we can determine how. God bless you all and give you peace, courage and comfort in these challenging days.

Often the source, the cause, is something that especially moves us. We notice it while others perhaps miss it. Not that anyone could miss a gorgeous sunset... But it's unique to us in that something objective beyond us particularly moves our subjective being. I am intrigued for instance by those wonders of the natural world that serve as pointers to another world, unseen, just as icons for people of faith point beyond themselves to similar-looking but much greater wonders.... Some years ago, New York minister Dr. Maurice Boyd told of watching TV, and a cat commercial came on with a sleek kitty portrayed. Boyd says that his cat was in the room with him and he pointed to the television and told his cat, something like: 'Look! - There's one of your friends on television!' But all his cat did was come over and lick his pointer finger. The natural world is like that. An icon is like that. A stained glass church window, an image, a symbol of fish or anchor or cross, the church steeple, pointed Gothic windows - any natural world or object of beauty - point to something away, something, even Someone, beyond, away -- bigger, grander, truer, infinite and wondrous. The danger is that we will like too much and worship the (mere?) icon, missing that to which it points. That is idolotry. All things in the natural world, and the art, the architecture, the music we create -- all that moves us and which we so much enjoy, are meant to point us to the Beyond. The Book of Nature and the Book of Revelation (Scripture) point to this Beyond and to the Wonder of our Creator. Not so beyond, mind you, that we forget the Real and also near Presence of this Other in Whom 'we live and move, and have our being.'

The Light of Christ dawns on the whole world, every nation, every person. This video depicts the Wisemen who sought and found the Child, Christ. It follows the Gospel narratives but also T.S. Eliot's 'The Journey of the Magi.'

'In the beginning was the Word’ -- John 1:1 (The Bible) We never know, can never fathom fully, the lasting power of our actions, the staying power of our words. Even one little sentence, one little phrase; one little word, can kill. But also - a wee word can make alive. A word can inspire, encourage, draw us out and up into new life. A word - even a little word, can make all the difference. Martin Luther wrote the wonderful Christmas Carol - 'the Cradle Hymn' - ‘Away in the... Manger.’ I’m moved by it, not simply because it reminds me of my childhood Christmases, which of course it does: with Sunday School concerts and family-times gathered around the piano, and a Christmas tree But also, it reminds and challenges me anew with the timeless Message that from a Manger from which were fed simple animals came forth the One who would feed the poor, the rich, the wise and the innocent of the world, not only with earthly bread but with the Fuilness of Heaven itself. When finally and fully Heaven descends to earth, all will be one and all will be well. And then too, there is Luther’s magnificent: 'A Mighty Fortress' - with the assurance that in all of life, wherever and in whatever happens God is 'a bulwark (a mountain fortress) never failing.' One particular phrase of this hymn grabs me each time I try to sing it, with lump in throat and fast-beating heart, for it brings anew the deep almost overwhelming recognition that one day: - 'All will be well.' It’s this: ‘One little word shall fell him.’ In the face of evil, now and then - and everywhere, brought to this planet by the Adversary in ways that inevitably and tragically affect us all, there comes Luther’s (and Scripture’s) powerful assertion that God will get the last word. And this will be by the Word who created all things, who became flesh and lived among us for a time. His Name is Jesus. And the Word became flesh and dwelled among us; And we beheld His glory! The glory of the only Begotten of the Father Full of grace and truth. A little baby born in Bethlehem. Fragile, in harm’s way, the child of poverty and soon to be, with his parents -- a refugee. One little Child. One little word. One little Word - and all shall be well. And though this world, with devils filled, Should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us. The Prince of Darkness grim, We tremble not for him; His rage we can endure, For lo! his doom is sure, One little word shall fell him.

You know, Christmas may be about- the giving of gifts particularly toys for children (and hopefully but some practical gifts too - for them and for us, And yes it’s about festive meals and the gathering of families. But to get past the revelry of the office party, surviving the crush of malls and the anger caused by too few parking spots and on to the bright tinselly wrappings of gifts. Christmas may be about new clothes, getting together, sharing meals of turkey, dressi...ng and cranberry maybe followed even when we’re stuffed ourselves with mince pie or tarts, plum pudding and Christmas cake. But should in not also be about - moving out in the Name and Spirit of Jesus, to provide food for the hungry, clothing for those who need them; visiting the imprisoned - and especially advocating for those unjustly accused and put away. Opposing, in fact, all injustice where we may play a part. Christmas is full of exposes and contrasts. It may expose our own greed and longing - even lusting for more, when so many around us have so little. It may reveal once more that powerful, useless pomp or mockery is till to be found of the narcissistic Herod-like rulers of our own day. All of it contrasted with the poor and humble, the meek and willing vulnerability of a servant King, who came to give Him self away. He came to set free those whom He has loved from before the birthing of the galaxies and our own tiny world. He became what we are that we might become as He is. Christmas means making room for those who can find no room - in their own country, in their own family and people. It means welcoming the refugee, for we remember that even the Holy Family was forced to flee for safety to a foreign land, becoming refugees there and on return, but while there receiving the safety, provision and hospitality of that foreign land, perhaps when and where it could be least expected just as had their forebears way back in the days of Pharaoh. It’s about candles and lights - mere pin-pricks of luminance as we remember our Lord who has come as the Light of the World to lighten every last one of us. And because Christmas is about light and warmth and family for many of us, could we not lengthen our table and extend our care to those who need to come in and join us - coming out of the cold and darkness of the world’s despair. It’s about a green tree, that reminds us too of that awful tree where our Saviour was pinned up to take our sins upon Himself. And no angel seemed to be on the top that day. Nevertheless, just as choirs sang to welcome His birth - as the old carol puts it, Heaven’s courts will ring once more when His second Advent is announced, this time with trumpets too. And even before that Great Day, as we are welcomed in to our Eternal Home. May each of us find that there is room - at the Saviour’s side, whether we are here welcoming Him - or in that bright land when He welcomes us.

So God Came as a Child Some years ago, British author Dorothy Sayers wrote a murder mystery - 'Whose Body?'. That title helps us understand the Christian teaching of the incarnation: -- that In order to redeem our world, God came as God's Self in the Person of Jesus of Nazareth. An illustration from Christian writer Philip Yancey: "To my fish I am a deity and one who does not hesitate to intervene. I often long for a way to communicate with those small-brained water dwell...Continue reading