Moment of Clarity With Rev. Lorrie Daly-Price

July 16, 2017 | This Sunday at Heritage we meet a different kind of caregiver of the land, a rather peculiar one. I say this because usually when we hear about the work of a farmer they know about the soil. Certainly being out here in this farming community, there are many who have worked the land in your families for generations. You know good soil from bad soil and what you need to do to keep it that way.

Well, the sower from our reading in Matthew’s Gospel does not seem to follow along with the practices that farmers would follow. I am sure it would come across as wasteful and even foolish to those who first heard this. For we are told that quite apart from the best agricultural practices, this sower throws seeds on a well-worn path where birds can eat them, on rocky ground where it is unlikely that they will grow, and among thorns that will choke them.

I don’t know about you but I think it seems pretty obvious that this sower is anything but a good businessperson. He seems quite happy to just toss seeds everywhere and anywhere. Why does he do this?

July 9, 2017 | Jesus said, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Rest is an essential thing in our lives. Too often, we run through life dashing to the next place to make the most out of the day. Jesus began his ministry by carrying the strain of many duties. As Jesus undertook his ministry, he continually focused on God’s purpose without getting sidetracked by what other people wanted or expected him to do. To take care of ourselves that is and not get so caught up in getting absolutely everything checked off our to do list before calling it a night.

July 2, 2017 | This weekend we celebrated the 150th Birthday of Canada and worshiped together sharing a selection of Canadian hymns. These hymns were old time favourites of years gone by and ones that have become available in more recent years.

What comes to mind for you when you think of church hymns? Are there particular ones that bring back memories of childhood days and participating in Sunday School? Or are those that remind you of a special time in your life? Our hope is that as we celebrate and reflect on what it means to be Canadian we can do so by reflecting on the beautiful music by a variety of Canadian artists.

June 25, 2017 | What we yearn for in life often seems forever beyond us. You want happiness and it seems one step ahead of you. How about wealth? There always seems to not be enough. Or Security? Just when you think you have it, it’s gone. And love? Ah yes, love especially. We set out to acquire love and all you end up with is a crippling preoccupation with self that holds you back from the fullness of life with others. Yet, strangely enough, when we don’t chase one of these things for its own sake, when we orient our lives elsewhere, what we had been yearning for often arrives anyway. We don’t find happiness, happiness finds us. We don’t grasp love. Love grasps us. Which brings us to Jesus’ words we heard. “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” But in this reading there is more to it than that. Jesus is being more specific. He is preparing his followers for difficult days ahead.

June 18, 2017 | This Sunday we find Jesus with the first disciples showing them what role they are called to. Amidst a world crowded with struggle and need, a world confused by a less than ideal political reality and made up of social divisions. Jesus sees the crowds that are everywhere. They are tired, helpless and lost with no one to show them the way. And yet moving through the cities and villages of his day and time, situated in that place of overwhelming need, Jesus turns to the disciples and declares the harvest to be great and plentiful. In light of the goodness and the love that over and around them lies, Jesus commissions the disciples to go out into their communities, among the crowds and to address the need.

June 11, 2017 | Life is really all about the relationships that we have, isn’t it? Those that nurture, provide, protect and enable us. Relationships, good and bad, give us the experiences in life that help us grow into the people we are.In our gospel reading this Sunday, we find Jesus and his disciples. To establish and strengthen their relationship with one another, Jesus has taken them on a march from Galilee to Jerusalem and back again, wherever he perceived there was a need for healing and restoration. Now it is their turn to carry on and so he commissions them to go into the world and continue his ministry without him.

June 4, 2017 | This Sunday is known as Pentecost Sunday. It is a day of celebration for the church. This is because, up to this point, that is, before the morning of the day of Pentecost, the followers of Jesus were just the 11 disciples, plus just a few others. But all this changes on Sunday. By the end of the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit will have transformed this group and 3000 people will have been baptized as a sign that they were also followers of Jesus. The church was born. Is this what Jesus intended to happen? I think so.

May 28, 2017 | We meet Jesus with his disciples once again where at his own dinner party he begins to pray. We only get to hear the first part of what is a long and really amazing prayer. Praying first for himself and then for his disciples, asking for God’s support during the transformation that is going to take place in their lives when he is no longer with them. This prayer offers some important final lessons that he wants to impart to them before he gets up and walks his last journey.

May 21, 2017 | That feeling of being alone can feed on one of our worst fears, that we might wind up alone forever. We’ve all experienced it, to a degree, at one time or another, either during life transitions or while off travelling. It is enough for most of us to learn pretty quickly that we don’t want to end up that way, alone, deprived of family and friends. I believe Jesus’ words today can bring words of comfort, even in the midst of what feels like absence, we are never fully alone: God’s Spirit is with us. Confusing words for Jesus’ disciples but words they will come to understand that they will never be left to fend for themselves.

May 14, 2017 | This week we find Jesus in the midst of his final conversation with his followers where he assures them that things will be alright after he’s gone. Jesus is preparing them for his imminent departure. They are more than a little confused. He says his is going to his Father’s home to prepare a place for them, whereupon he will come and take them to himself so that where he is, they may also be. Astounding words of comfort and hope. When the time comes Jesus will receive us and where he is we may always be, always! A remarkable promise.