St Timothy Presbyterian Church in Toronto: Sermons

Luke 19:1-10

So Jesus says in today’s passage, it’s in the last line for the son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost, to seek out and to save the lost. Human beings have always been searching, right? Searching for peace, searching for meaning, searching for a better life, searching, and searching, which means that in some ways we have always been lost. When I think about our congregation, I’m learning now, to preach, you really have to think about what’s going on. I mean, I see people just trying and doing their best. It really actually inspires me to see how hard you’re all trying in life. I mean, I see our HI-C students. it’s just so lovely to see you guys in the picture and college students, studying really hard when we have had our young families gathering yesterday. I just, I see everyone just doing their very best to balance work and family life. I see parents worry endlessly about their children, adults worry about their aging parents. You are all trying your best with everything that comes your way.

I think that underlying all of our best efforts, some questions always lurk beneath the surface. Am I doing the right thing? Am I really okay? And sometimes when we take a moment and look back on things, we may ask ourselves, you know, where did I go wrong? What should I have done differently? And what am I doing wrong?  Sometimes these questions plague us deep inside. We become racked up with doubts and we feel no peace inside the song to the choir sing is asking for peace, but we don’t feel it. Sometimes we distract ourselves with our busy-ness and the fun pleasures of life we merely get lost in our business and pleasure-seeking.

We feel no peace and I think that all of this is what must have been burning inside of Zacchaeus before he met Jesus. When I think about Zacchaeus, and we’ve heard this story many times with, I started thinking about him, I realized, I think he had a tough life. You know, being a short guy, he probably got picked on by all the other village boys growing up. And I think he probably grew up in a poor little Jewish village. You know, his parents, they probably lost the land that had been in their family for generations and their way of life and sense of community. It got broken down as the Romans came in with their power and the temple system that collaborated with them, they started putting more and more tax burdens on local farmers and peasants and they became so much that they started to get more and more in debt and anyone who tried to resist paying taxes was met with the might of Roman power. So they fell into great debt and ultimately lost their lands to rich creditors in the big town and so he saw his parents suffer as tenant farmers on the very land that was theirs for generation and, and he saw his parents live out their days as defeated people and they probably died early too.

Oh, but it’s the case. He was not going to play the victim. He would be different. He was going to do whatever he could to get out of his bad situation. And these are the exact kinds of people that the Romans knew how to exploit. They gave him an opportunity to collect taxes from his fellow villagers on their behalf. I mean, he could collect whatever amount he was able to obtain using the power of the n force. And he just had to give them the required amount to the authorities. And the rest was his it’s like working on commission, right? You give the company a certain amount. The rest is yours. I mean, exorbitant taxes were what had caused his parents to lose their land. And now his job was to maybe do the same for others, but Hey, he had to get his own. This was how he would become rich and not suffer what his parents had gone through. And you know, what he became extremely successful, probably started in his local village, did well impressed. The superiors got promoted and were given more and more lands to cover. And he was so successful that he was finally given a crown jewel prize, the bustling town of Jericho.

He had reached the top of the pyramid as far up as his humble background would allow him to go. And he had the last laugh Didn’t he, it’s all those bigger boys who used to push them around as kids were now, the powerless ones owing up to him. I mean, others saw him as a trader and a sellout, but Hey, they were just haters, right. They’re just jealous that he benefited while they struggled. So the saying goes, don’t hate the player. Hate the game, but you know what, after all these years of hustling and becoming rich, I think he looked back now and asked himself know who had he become was the wealth that he had accumulated worth the social cost he paid, Oh, I think perhaps he hated himself or rather he hated his place in the world. If you know the movie, I got this quote from, come to talk to me later. Right. But was his place destined to be that where his gain came by being a parasite to his own people? So ultimately I think Zacchaeus, I think he was tired. He was tired of living a life of contradiction, tired of what he had to do to survive in a cruel system, tired of being in it enabled her of that cruel system. He was tired. I have to admit, I love that the seized hip hop artists Tupac Shakur. And he said this, no, I hate the man in the mirror. Cause the reflection makes the pain turn more real. I think this was Zacchaeus. I mean, Tupac was able to put into words, the internal struggles and contradictions of trying to survive and thrive in this cruel world with dignity and pride as a young black man. And I honestly think that’s Zacchaeus though. He’s from a different time and place would probably be able to relate. Don’t we also get tired? The things that come your way are endless after doing all that we can with the cards that were dealt with. I think we still ask ourselves, am I doing the right thing? Am I okay? and as life continues to throw things your way, we probably ask ourselves, what am I not doing or not doing enough of?

I don’t know exactly why as the case was so motivated to see Jesus. I mean, he went around and went up a tree just to catch sight of him. I don’t know. Maybe it was because of all the stories of Jesus’s healing that he had heard, maybe it was his message of renewal and restoration. Maybe it was his love for unlovable people like him. I mean, what was it about this Jesus that made him go to such lengths just to see him and what was he hoping for? I don’t know exactly why, but I do see that there is some deep desire for change. When Jesus spotted him in a tree, he approached him and invited Zacchaeus to his house and something happens to him. I know he experienced something and this experience transformed him. He must have experienced a sort of presence and acceptance. This is how Jesus described himself. 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.

I think Zacchaeus found rest for his soul. I mean his whole adult life had been a struggle to survive and thrive in a cruel system that oppressed his own people and that, and he himself had caused the very suffering that his own family had been through. He was plagued with self doubt and he was alienated from his own people and community, but now in the presence of Jesus, he found rest. We all know the importance of sleep, it’s fundamentally important to your health. And that’s why we spend up to a third of our lives sleeping. I mean, some more, maybe sleeping, rejuvenates our bodies. It restores ourselves. It organizes all these thoughts in your brain and processes. The experiences you’ve been through and without enough sleep are functioning diminishes, right? It can become like you’re just going through the motions in a hazy fog. So yes, everyone, please get enough sleep. Our society today is so sleep deprived, But I think it’s the same thing with our hearts and our souls. Our souls need rest. Our hearts are constantly bombarded with things to worry about, to get anxious, about, to get stressed out about our hearts need rest in order to mend, to process, to heal, and to be healthy. If we don’t give our hearts rest, we will not be able to function properly.

When the Bible talks about our heart or soul, it’s not just about kind of the feeling or emotional center of our lives. The Bible, the heart is like the very center of our lives. It’s the seat of our intellect, our reasoning, our emotions, and who we are as a person. So that center, our existence needs rest. The Sabbath is a day of rest. The laws of Sabbath called for the stop of all physical activities, but it was not mainly for the purpose of physical rest, but so that the heart and soul could rest. And more importantly, to find that rest in God, the source of who we are When we come to church on Sunday, we come to offer our worship. We come to give thanks. We come to reflect, but we also come to find rest for our souls in God and worship and coming into God’s presence is the best way we find rest for our souls and God has given us the church to find rest in one another as well, and so this is what Saint Paul said, bear one another burdens, and in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ.

In other words, we provide rest for the souls of those around us. I mean, I’m thoroughly enjoying my life in ministry and the ESM, but I still always look back fondly on my very first experience in ministry with our youth, our high. See, I missed you guys so much. And in youth ministry, there’s nothing more important than creating that space where people feel safe when they feel safe, they let down their guard and let their real selves show and almost find rest in a way, and when that happens, actually beautiful things arise for me and everyone else. in HI-C there was nothing more beautiful than those moments where we found rest for our souls in God and one another and watching students go around, sharing their burdens with one another crying together, praying together. I mean, those were moments when they truly fulfilled the law of Christ. I mean, isn’t that the essence of what it is to be human when your heart is mended, when it feels safe, when it has found rest, it becomes open to love others and see the needs of others. This is what happened to Zacchaeus. When he found rest for his soul, his heart began to open up. He began to see the suffering that he had inflicted on others, and he took action to make amends for that suffering and do his part to restore right relations between them. That is true repentance. Repentance begins when our hearts have found rest in God so that our hearts can see more clearly what we’ve been doing and what we need to do. Jesus said this does a kiss at the end “today salvation has come to this house because he too is a son of Abraham.” He too was a son of Abraham. He too belonged to the community of God to this unlovable man. Jesus said, “you belong.” That is salvation to belong. Even when we don’t deserve it. Life constantly throws things our way. It makes us question ourselves, doubt ourselves, and just get us really tired. Jesus, his word to us today is this. You are loved. You are okay. You belong. Let us find rest for our souls in this merciful and gracious God. And may this rest strengthen our hearts to do what it was meant to do to love and bear the burdens of those around us.

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2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

When something is new, there is usually passion and excitement. When I first started dating Deb, our relationship was passionate and exciting. I would pick her up late from Robarts Library at 1am after she was done studying, or I would buy food and take it to the library just to see her. When many of you first came to faith in a real way, there was passion and excitement. The tears you cried when experiencing God were real. There was a passion and excitement. But as time goes on, that initial passion often wanes. The reality of everyday life often seeps in, and that excitement, vision and sense of possibilities seems to fade.

In our own church, and many other Korean immigrant churches, the first generation of immigrants built this church. They poured in their time, energy, prayer and money into building up this church. That founding generation is now in their 70's and 80's. They have slowed down now in their twilight years. We recently celebrated the life of Mihyang's father, Mr. Lee Bong-Kyu. The passage at his funeral is immediately after today's passage: As for me… the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day… (2 Timothy 4:6-8)These final words of St. Paul represented Mr. Lee's life very well. They also represent the lives of the first generation quite well. They have fought the good fight, they have finished the race. They have kept the faith.They are still the majority of the Korean-Speaking Ministry (or KSM). In about 5-10 years, many of them will have passed, and the KSM will likely be much smaller. Since immigration in Korea has slowed to a crawl, and isn't expected to increase in the near future, the future of St. Timothy depends on the direction and growth of the English-Speaking Ministry. But the context of us here in the ESM is much different than that of the first generation. The church was the central place in the lives of many first generation members. It was their primary community. That is no longer the case with ESM members. You have many demands of everyday life, with work, family and other commitments. You have full lives outside of church. Even if church is an important part of your life, it is just one among other important things in your life. 

For the first generation, life was more simple: work hard and make money, make sure the kids are fed, and come to church. Survival for the second generation in this world is more complex. Church and faith often seems to have little to offer to help us survive and thrive in the real world. So we often turn to many other voices that offer wisdom. It's a real question as to whether English-Speaking Ministries begun in Korean churches will continue. Even now, in the GTA, there are perhaps less than 10 self-sustaining English-speaking ministries in churches founded by Korean immigrants. Will we just see these ministries die? This was the question and situation in today's passage. This is a letter from St. Paul to his protege Timothy near the end of his life. St. Paul, along with Peter, was the leading figure among the first generation of Christians. He built churches and communities with passion, sweat and tears. They experienced the radical newness and passion of the faith. Timothy represented the second generation of Christians. He had come fervently into the faith from Paul's leadership.

By the end of Paul's life, Christian faith was losing its appeal. The first generation believed that Jesus would come back again during their lifetime. So they were willing to endure suffering that came from being a follower of Christ. But Jesus didn't come back. They questioned why they should suffer and be different from those around them. This is what St. Paul says: people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. (2 Timothy 4:3-4) People left the faith, and turned to voices that would make survival in their world easier. The second generation of Christians lost the vision of new life that the first generation had. Timothy was getting discouraged by this situation. He saw that at the end of St. Paul's ministry, he just ended up in prison, on his way to death. He was losing his passion. He was questioning whether all the hardship and suffering of being a Christian was worth it. But St. Paul is encouraging Timothy to press on. He urges Timothy to continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, to proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; and to endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully. In other words, don't give up, carry on, keep moving forward.

I believe that the ministry of this church is worth continuing. This church is and has been such a great blessing for many of us under Rev. Kim's tireless leadership for the past 30 years almost. Whether you've been here for a long time or just recently, this is a community worth keeping, continuing, and carrying on. I want this community to be a place where we can learn what it is to be human beings in this world as God intended. I think that this world can really distort life and what it means to be human. I want this to be a place where we learn to live with other human beings, those who are so different from us, to learn the skills of being in relation to one another. A place where we collide as we learn more about one another, including our flaws, but where forgiveness is practiced and flourishes. I want this to be a place of healing, where we can learn more about our own brokenness, and find grace. I want this to be a place where our children and youth grow up knowing what it is to be loved and affirmed for who they are. A place from which they can go out into the world as confident and assured people ready to make a difference. I want our community to be a church that stands with those who suffer, as those who feel the suffering of others. I believe that all these things are what God has called us to do as individuals and as a church together. What is the church but a community of people who recognize their own brokenness and have committed to live life in the way that God intended? The church is meant to be a place of beauty in the messiness of the real world. I believe we can carry this mission and ministry on.

Even though our lives our busy and demanding, I don't think that's what causes us to lose our passion and vision for life. I think it's our fear. Our fear of suffering. The reason we work so hard and worry about our children so much, I think, is because we want to avoid suffering. For the second generation, I think an underlying current in our lives has been the fear of going through the same suffering that our parents did. Our experiences in the competitive and difficult world often confirms these fears. When this fear dominates our lives, it kills our vision for life. Our drive to avoid suffering comes at a cost. A German theologian, Dorothee Soelle, says it well: We can avoid much suffering and the bitterness of suffering, but only for a price that is too high – ceasing to love. Our whole lives have been centered around, and structured around avoiding this suffering, but we have paid the price of ceasing to love. When there is no love, there is no passion, there is no vision. Paul wrote to Timothy to encourage him: For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you. Rekindle the gift of God that is within you. What is the gift in you that needs to be rekindled? What vision for life do you have that needs to be rekindled?

The church has been gifted with the blessing of God's Word in the Scriptures. Paul is reminding Timothy of this in today's passage. Study of the Scriptures is at the forefront of our church's mission because we believe in its power to reveal who we are, and that it speaks truth to our lives. It has the power to shape our vision for life based on the truth of God's will. That's what it means to be a prophetic community – to see clearly in our own context the truth of our existence and the purpose for our lives here and now. I believe so much in this and the power of Scripture. My own return to faith and coming to grips with who I really am took place and continues to through study of the Scriptures. That's why so much of our ministry is not glamorous but takes place in the small, consistent gatherings of people to critically study the Bible and what it says to us about ourselves and life. Critical, reflective, life-changing study of Scripture is one of the greatest legacies of Rev. Kim, and this is something I hope to continue carrying on and build on for a new generation of people. We need prophetic truth and vision to overcome our fear and apathy.

 My vision for this church is that we can be strong and confident people in the power of God's love. People who have a vision for life; people who are passionate about life. Through critical study of Scriptures, through sharing life, through standing with those who suffer, I believe that we can carry on the ministry that God has entrusted to us. There is a world around us crying for the ministry we have to offer. Immigrants. The poor. Those who suffer and are marginalized. Let us be confident in God's calling for us. Be confident in God's calling for your life. Rekindle the gift of God that is within you. St. Paul wrote this too to Timothy: for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. Our fight is not to overcome suffering in the way that the first generation did. Our fight is against the fear of suffering. Our fight is against living with a spirit of cowardice that stems from fear. God has given us a spirit of power and love. Our fight is to live lives of vision, passion and purpose. Our fight is to rekindle the gift that God has given within us. Let us build our lives with this spirit that God has given us, with love and vision driving us. And let us carry on the ministry that has been given to us. I am confident that God will carry us through.

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Luke 17:11-19

When you look around, some people are always miserable. It doesn't matter if their circumstances are good or bad, there always seems to be something to complain about. But then there are other people, their circumstances may be good or bad, but whatever they're going through, there always seems to be a smile on their face, and you sense a deeper happiness. What's the difference between these two types of people? I believe it's gratitude, when there is deep gratitude in someone's life, it doesn't really matter what's going on in their lives, there seems to be a sense of joy and peace flowing through their life.

Today's passage is a story of gratitude from the Samaritan man who was healed from leprosy. Lepers were people with various skin diseases. They were seen as contaminated and impure. It was a punishment for your sins. So they were physically and spiritually separated from the community. It's why they kept their distance. Today, a doctor will heal someone and declare someone to be free of a disease. But in that setting, only a priest could declare that someone was clean, and thus able to reintegrate with the community. And this is why Jesus told the lepers to show themselves to the priests. But somehow, on their way there, they saw that they were healed. What would you do in this situation? I would probably have ran even faster to the priests. This was their chance to finally reintegrate into the community and live normal lives! And this is what all of them did, except for one: Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself before Jesus' feet and thanked him. (Luke 17:15-16) Only one of the lepers turned back to thank Jesus. And a Samaritan at that. Samaritans were seen as dirty and impure by the Jews, but he was the only one to come back.

When we face difficult situations in life, we often look ahead. We look forward to see how we can escape those circumstances. Our life most often involves looking ahead to how we can better our circumstances. That's why we study so hard, work so hard, think hard about what's best for our kids, and plan diligently for our retirement. We are forward-looking people. And so the actions of the 9 other lepers was totally understandable. This was a chance to reintegrate into their communities. They were looking ahead. So what caused this one man to turn back? It came from his gratitude. He recognized where this healing came from. He recognized the goodness that God showed him. So before going forward to the priests, he turned back to Jesus, praising God and giving thanks. Jesus equated this gratitude with faith. He told the man: Your faith has made you well. It was not his healing from leprosy that made him well, nor was it reintegration into the community that made him well. In other words, it wasn't his improved circumstance that made him well. It was his gratitude that made him well. The word used in the original Greek for made well is sesoken. This word is more literally translated as saved , delivered or rescued .  Now that he was made well, Jesus said get up and go on your way to the priests. 

Gratitude saves us, rescues us from despair. Gratitude makes us well. Not our circumstances. That is the secret that Jesus knew. This story takes place on the way to Jerusalem. In the gospel of Luke, the journey to Jerusalem represents the life of discipleship. And so, we see today that an essential ingredient of discipleship is gratitude. Not just that, I think that gratitude is an essential quality of being human. Gratitude is a unique characteristic of human beings. Other animals, there is devotion, sacrifice and even love, but gratitude is something that only humans really possess. It's a unique gift given to human beings by God. To be uniquely human is to live with gratitude. Living a life of gratitude does something. Gratitude changes how we see things, and it changes what we see. You can have the exact same set of circumstances, but the one with gratitude will see the good things. Your eyes become opened to the goodness in life. Everything on the surface might appear bleak and hopeless, but the one with gratitude can see goodness pouring out of the cracks. Rev. Kim said it well in today's Inner Voice: a thankful heart opens our heart. God pours His blessings into our open heart. When these blessings and goodness comes into our lives, it heals us and makes us well. My 2 year-old daughter Abby is at Sick Kids Hospital with Deb right now. On Friday evening, Deb was working, so I took my kids to my parents' place. They were having a great time. My parents turned on the electric fireplace to keep the kids warm. Toward the end of the evening, Abby put her hands on the fireplace glass. She writhed in pain immediately after. She was in so much pain, and I was helpless to do anything about it. I took her to the hospital that night, and it turned out that she has first and second degree burns on her hands. Seeing her in such pain was heartbreaking. But then I saw how calm and composed she was, and I was so proud of her. The immediate circumstance was heartbreaking and worrisome, but I was able to see the deepened bond I felt for her, and my deepened devotion to my daughter. I was thankful for her good spirits and otherwise great health. In other words, I could still see the goodness in life.

If there's one thing true about life, it's that life is full of challenges and struggles. Buddhist philosophy has great wisdom – the beginning point for all reflection is to start with the truth that to live is to suffer. All of you are living so ” which means so hard and diligently. College students, you work and strive so hard. All of you parents work so hard for your kids, worry so much about them, and feel their pain. All of you going through your own challenges, worries and stresses – life is endless toil in many ways. This is why sometimes we too need to cry out like the lepers did for Jesus to have mercy on us. Yes, when life gets difficult, our natural desire is to look forward toward better circumstances. But our call as human beings is to first turn back in gratitude, to see the goodness that is overflowing in life as well. How is your life oriented? Do you turn back to offer gratitude? Or do you only look forward to better circumstances?

Turning back is a reorientation of our lives. Turning back with gratitude is what repentance truly is.  Gratitude is a way of life, it is something we all can do. Like anything else, it does require practice. Gratitude is like a muscle. If we exercise it, it'll grow stronger. If we don't, it'll atrophy and grow weak. Since I became ordained, I've tried to wake up early every morning. The first thing I do is to write down 5 things I'm thankful for. Some things I'll just list down. Others I'll think about and write about in more depth, and I'll gain even more insight about things I'm grateful for. With the college interns over the summer, every morning we would reflect individually on things that we were grateful for the previous day. This kind of practice trains our eyes and mind to see things that are good. It builds up a heart of gratitude. 

Gratitude is the way of life for disciples of Christ. It is ingrained in our life as a faith community. This is why worship is at the very center of Christian life. We turn back from our daily lives every week to come and worship. In worship, we give thanks to God, and this worship and thanksgiving become the foundation of our lives. This is the principle of the Sabbath. We rest from daily life, turn back and offer our thanksgiving and gratitude to God. When we do, we are made well. This is why last year's theme for our church was Healing through Worship. True worship with gratitude heals us and makes us well. From this foundation of regular worship, we see the source from whom all goodness in life flows. From there we are sent to get up and go on our way for another week. And to pour out our own blessings onto others. Worship and Sabbath is the culmination of our lives, the moment that gives our lives meaning and purpose. This is why our first calling from God is to worship. Gratitude is our calling, our way of life.

People today are so angry, so discontent and so unfulfilled. Because all they see is what's lacking or missing. When gratitude is our way of life, the foundation of our lives, we will see instead overflowing goodness and abundance. Our hearts will overflow with goodness and abundance. The life of gratitude, is a good life.

This Thanksgiving, let us turn back and reflect on all the goodness in our lives. Who are the people who have carried you? Who has encouraged and strengthened you through difficult times? Turn back and be thankful for them. Tell them how thankful you are and how much you appreciate them. What goodness and grace can you see flowing through your life, even in the midst of difficulties? Give thanks to God for it. Let us be people of overflowing abundance. Let us build this community, into a beautiful one where goodness overflows. And let us live beautiful lives built on the foundation of gratitude.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

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Luke 17:5-10

Explain my life with two words, I will say indebted life. I feel indebted. No one can stand before God with absolute confidence because we all have our shortcomings because we are all sinners. That’s why Saint Paul said this “There is no one who is righteous. Not even one. There is no one who has understanding. There is no one who seeks God, all have turned aside together. They have become worthless. There is no one who shows kindness. There is not even one. Their throats are open graves. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of Vipers is under their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are Swift to shed Blood ruin and misery are in their path and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” He was very honest about who we are.

The image he portrayed was pretty bad, but that’s who we are. This was how he felt. Not only about himself, but also about all others. He’s basically saying that we are indebted to God’s grace and mercy. I think that is what the gospel is. That is what the gospel is, Understanding. Understanding the gospel is to understand that we are indebted. We live a good life. Not because we deserve it. Not because we did it so well, but because of God’s grace. Feeling indebted is not necessarily living a life of shame and guilt, feeling indebted is to see a greater power working in our lives. Then our own power, something bigger is behind us. That’s why we feel indebted. There’s something greater power that is working in our lives, then our own ability, If you’re feeling indebted is to see graciousness hidden in our lives. Sometimes we all feel their life is cruel. We experience problems after problems. We get hurt by those who are very close to us, but we did not define our life. Only with this negative attitude or negative picture. In the midst of cruelty, we experience kindness in the midst of harshness. We find comfort in the midst of storm, we see a hiding place.

There is graciousness hidden in our life. God made our life that way in the midst of hardships and threats and dangers, there is graciousness hidden in life and that’s how God, that’s how God made this life and this world, when we find it, we are grateful and realize that you’re are indebted. In today’s story. Jesus focuses on the servant, is a very strange story, but Jesus focuses on the servant and his feeling of indebtedness. He worked hard all day in the field, but he didn’t have this attitude of entitlement. “I worked so hard in the evening. I come, I get what I deserve to get.” He didn’t do that. He rather said we are worthless slaves. We have done only what we are to have done that Confession comes from our mouth, where we experience the amazing love of God.

Life is not all cruel. Life is not all depressing. Life is not all bad. There are a lot of good people around us. They are like angels. They help us. They pray for us. They support us and they are genuinely kind. When we experience the love, from these kind people, we get inspired. That’s what the disciples experienced. When they met Jesus, they experience the cruelty of life. But when they met Jesus, they experience kindness and they were all inspired and Jesus told them this message, “even though you are sinners, God loves you.” When they recognize that when they realize that they all felt indebted, Jesus, let them find graciousness hidden in their lives. Through Jesus. They realize that life has a power to move into the direction of graciousness. Life has the power, Even though you did nothing. Life has a power tip, takes you into the direction of graciousness. Life’s life leads us to good place. That’s what David realized. So he confessed this way. “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.” God made our life move towards green pastures and beside still waters. That’s why we love life.

That’s why I love life. Life has the power to move into graciousness because God made it that way. We are not condemned to live in a world of cause and effect. You are not cursed to live in a life in a world where cause and effect control. We are not condemned to live in the world where the righteous get the reward and the unrighteous gets the punishment. While we are yet sinners. Jesus died for us and we have received the salvation that is different from the world of cause and effect. that is the world of gospel. That’s what the world of gospel looks like. We didn’t do much. And yet God blessed us abundantly. There’s a beauty of story of vineyard. Some people came at nine in the morning. Some people at 12, some people have Three. Some people even came one hour before. At the end of the day, the person, the people who came one hour before received the same full day’s wage.

To them, the wage was not a wage to them. That wage was the graciousness of life they experienced. The graciousness of life. Life is not all. Life is not all about wage. Life is not all about getting what we deserve. Life is about graciousness. That’s why we live with this indebted feeling. Sometimes I meet all people who are facing the last moment. They have lived a long life. So they know something about life. Often from their mouth. I hear this. “I haven’t done much all my life. I’m just worthless Servant Life has been good to me. I don’t deserve all the good things that I enjoy all my life.” I hear that from their mouth. They’re not just saying it. They feel it deep inside. They discovered the reality of indebtedness That’s Wonderful. To be able to discover that in life, Jesus came to this world to teach us that we are all indebted people by showing his love for the unlovable. By loving the unlovable.

He showed graciousness, we thank God for sending Jesus to teach us that once we taste, the graciousness of life, we become gracious to others. And that is very important. That is how God wants us to live in this cruel world. God wants all of you to be gracious people showing graciousness to others, showing mercy to others, the people will find comfort through your graciousness.

Micah understood this message very clearly. This is what he said. “The prophet Micah with what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before God on high, shall I come before him with burnt offerings with calves that year old, will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams with tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul. He has told you all mortal, what is good? And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your god.”  God does not 1000 pounds of Rams from you.  God does not want tens of thousands of rivers of oil from you. God does not want your money.  God wants loving kindness. God, wants your mercy, Be kind to each other, be merciful to each other and go and do justice. That’s what God requires of you.

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1 Timothy 6:6-19

There are people who are generally happy and content in whatever situation they may be in. When I look at their situation, the situation is not very good, and yet they’re still happy and very content. But there are also people who are never content, who never feel content. They’re never satisfied and their don’t feel a sense of fulfillment in life. If other people had what they had, then they would have been overjoyed, but somehow these people don’t seem to find satisfaction in life. I wonder whether that is a symptom of this modern world. Maybe it is a result of having too much, too many things. They don’t give us satisfaction and contentment. We have so much, beyond our basic needs, but still we are not very happy. And I find people very angry, very dissatisfied. When I drive, I ask myself, why are they so angry? The way they drive is very angry driving and they just, are not patient. There’s no deep seeded satisfaction. And then Prophet Haggai, a long time ago, already saw this condition. He said, you eat, but you never have enough. You drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. How accurate, no matter how much we eat, we don’t get satisfaction. That’s a pretty accurate description of many people in our generation. And this is what Haggai said in the next first verse: you earn wages and put them into bag with holes. How accurately he saw that, what a good image, we make all the effort, but it’s like putting everything into a bag with holes.

Emptiness of modern life 

Life of Happiness

Minister each other 

Powerful things are also dangerous things

I know it’s a very difficult topic that we are dealing with. In today’s passage Saint Paul said: but if we have food and clothing, we will contend with this, but those who want to be rich, fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. So true. If you try to be rich, if you fall into desire to be rich, that’s what will happen. That’s what will happen. And he said for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, Not money. Love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. We have to listen to it very very seriously. This is the word of God. Money is a powerful thing. It can do so much for us. It gives us comfort, luxury and security, and it gives us confidence, sense of worth and privilege. That’s why people love money. But remember what is very powerful can be also very dangerous. If it isn’t a powerful, it’s not dangerous, but what is so powerful can also be very dangerous.  You know, Abraham and Lot, they had conflict and difficulties, so they cannot stay together. So they decided to go separate ways. So Abraham told Lot, his nephew, – Go, wherever you go and take the possession of the land. If you take the right side, I’ll take the left side. If you take the left side, I will take the right side. So you choose first. And then I’ll choose whatever is leftover. And Lot looked around. Oh! that land, that fertile good land. So he chose that land. But thing is, what looked good to Lot also looked good to everybody else. There were Kings around that land that tried to possess that land and it ultimately became a battlefield and Lot had to leave.

God provides

Ultimately, what is so powerful, what is so popular, can be also very dangerous. Yes, money can do so much for us, but it is also very dangerous. That’s why Jesus strongly warned against the love of money. He said, no one can serve two masters for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. You cannot serve both. Saint Paul said to the rich: as for those who in the present age are rich. Commend not to be haughty or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Saint Paul taught us then how to live. It is to do good, To be rich in good works, generous, and be ready to share. That’s a good life, not following after the money, but following after doing good in life with whatever we have. Being content comes from the abundance of our heart. And that abundance of heart is the generosity. Let us live with generosity. Now with the fear of scarcity, God will provide us with all our needs. That is not something that we need to worry about. All my life God has provided me with many, many good things. I didn’t have to worry about those things. When I first went into ministry, the first thing that came into my mind was: am I going to survive? But last 30 some years, God has provided me with many, many good things beyond my expectation. Always think about doing ministry. Always think about doing good, be generous. That should be our lifestyle.

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Isaiah 58:1-12, Ephesians 2:1-12

Thank you, I’m very honoured and privileged to be here with you this morning at St. Timothy’s. This is a unique place that I have a special relationship with because as some of you know, this congregation is my childhood congregation. So a lot of the people in the KSM have known me ever since I was two or three years old. So it’s always very interesting and nice to meet up with the St. Timothy folks. I think I know the majority of people in this choir or about half, like I’ve known them since I was in elementary, along with many of you here as well. It always feels nostalgic being here as I believe I was Simon’s Sunday school teacher when he was young. So it feels nostalgic as well as it makes me feel old. But it really is a pleasure to be here. Thank you, Reverend Kim and Reverend Chung for the invitation to be here. I’ve known Reverend Kim since I first photobombed his wedding pictures. We have a long history together and I’m grateful for this opportunity. As past moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, I think I can still bring readings from the 145th general assembly. Lily, am I allowed to do that? So I’m very happy to be here, to bring God’s message here, and to share it with all of you. Let’s bow in a word of prayer, let’s pray. God, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be acceptable and pleasing unto you oh God, our rock and our redeemer, Amen.

I want to tell you a story about Ali, who was a farmer who just recently retired and now had a lot of time on his hands. He lived in a small town and he was fairly new to the small town and he wanted to get to know the people of the small town. He learned very quickly that he was the only Presbyterian in a town full of Catholics. And he thought that’s okay, I don’t have anything against Catholics. Ali loved his beef, he loved eating meat and barbecuing every Friday. And as you know, Catholics as a practice, don’t eat meat on Fridays. So Ali’s barbecuing always kind of irritated the Catholics in his neighbourhood because it smelled so delicious and it was a very tempting aroma for them. And so his Catholic neighbours thought, “okay well we’ve got to do something about this, we got to make him stop.” And so they banded together and in a very friendly way, they approached Ali with a plan and they said: “Ali, since you’re the only Presbyterian in our small town, and there’s not another Presbyterian church for miles and miles, we think it would be a great idea if you join our church and become a Catholic.” And Ali thought about it and he thought “okay well, that sounds like a good idea, that’s probably a good idea, I could get to know my neighbours and we’d have a nice relationship.” And so Ali agreed, he talked to the local priest and they arranged a date for him to become a Catholic. And so the big day came, Ali and his neighbours were there at the church. Everyone was there. The priest called Ali up to the altar, he had Ali kneel in front of him and he put his hand on Ali’s head. And he said, “Ali, you were born a Presbyterian, you were raised as a Presbyterian”. And then the priest sprinkled some incense over him. And he said, “now you are a Catholic”. So great, Ali was happy, the priest was happy and the neighbours were particularly thrilled. They thought the problem was solved, no more tempting aroma of beef on Fridays.  However, the following Friday came and again, the neighbours smelled this delicious fragrant aroma of beef wafting over the neighbourhood. And they thought, “what’s the problem, we thought we solved this.” And so they thought, “well, we got to talk to Ali again.” And so they came together, they approached Ali’s house. And as they got closer to the house, they could hear Ali talking to the steak. And Ali said, “you were born a cow, you were raised as a cow”. And then they saw Ali sprinkle some salt over it. And he said, “now you are a fish.” Do you believe that you are a person of love? Are you genuinely a person of love? Is this something that you have worked at and continue to work on? Or have you just declared yourself as a person of love because you’ve sprinkled some loving salt over yourself? Do you recognize that the authentic character of God’s love intrinsically involves a connection with others? And it’s not only about this emotional feeling of love.

Martin Luther King jr said, “desire has an I quality, hope has a we quality and can never be selfish.” Isn’t that the fundamental message of the gospel, that God has come to us in the ministry of Jesus Christ and the ministry of reconciliation, calling us into communion and lifting up our eyes in hope, towards hope. There’s no individualism in Christianity, and there is no room for selfishness or self-centeredness. In our Christian faith, it’s all about the “we quality”, the community quality, the together aspect, the community aspect, and the body of Christ aspect. That’s what it’s all about. It’s Christ’s body, the different members of the body functioning together as one. That’s what the body means, it’s just not a gathering of people. It’s the interconnectedness, the interrelationship of how those different members live and work and function and serve. In my readings, in the philosophy of Southern Africa, I came across a term called “Ubuntu.” Maybe some of you have heard about Ubuntu, it has a multifaceted definition. It means respect, helpfulness, sharing, community, caring, trust, unselfishness. It’s an African proverb that says “I am because we are, and since we are, therefore I am.” As Archbishop Desmond Tutu describes it, there is an assurance from the knowledge that you belong in a greater whole, and you aren’t diminished when others are diminished or humiliated when others are tortured or oppressed. And so Desmond Tutu stresses that “Ubuntu” is not the same as that Western European philosophical axiom that says, “I think, therefore I am.” In other words, my humanness, my humanity is all defined by my capacity to think or my cognitive ability. Desmond Tutu says Ubuntu is the opposite of that. Ubuntu says I am human because I belong, I participate, I share. It goes beyond just the ability to think. Archbishop Tutu goes on and he says, we think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals separated from one another. Well, Ubuntu is the essence of being human. It speaks about our interconnectedness. Well, Ubuntu says you can’t be human all by yourself. That sounds very New Testament, doesn’t it? So the conviction is I am what I am because of who we all are. We are joined together. We are interdependent and interconnected.

In the 58th chapter of Isaiah, the people were fasting. They were praying to God as spiritual worship and devotion. There’s nothing out of the ordinary in that. That’s what religious and observant Jews did, they fasted. They prayed as an act of worship to God and this is what they were doing in Isaiah 58. But they were doing all this, all of these spiritual things in a very narrowly defined way, thinking that they were being spiritual, assuming that what they were doing pleased, God,. Isn’t that a natural assumption? When you fast, you pray, you assume you’re doing it for God. and you assume God must be pleased. But through Isaiah, God indicts their behaviour. It reads “you claim to fast and be humbling yourselves, but during your fast, you quarrel with others, you fight with others, you strike each other with fists, you oppress your workers, you are so self-interested.” And it goes on to say the kind of fasting God desires of you is that you break the bonds of injustice to unburden the oppressed. True fasting means to share your food with the hungry, To welcome the homeless poor into your house, to cover the naked. Then the Lord will see your faith. It’s funny, there’s no mention of fasting and praying. Then it goes on to say, if you help those in need around you, then your light will rise in the darkness. You will set the foundation for future generations and you shall be called. You shall be called repairers of the breach. By this false sense of spirituality, people were disconnected, utterly disconnected from one another. And this is what they were boastful about before God, they were content to live in breach. They were content to just fast and then treat each other any which way they wanted as if their spiritual devotion made no difference in their practical lives. This reminds me of what Gandhi famously said “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” That stings and I think that stings because we know that that’s true, but we don’t always demonstrate the things that God has taught us. We don’t live out Christian faith, the way that we’re supposed to. We claim to love Christ, yet we don’t follow. This Isaiah story, this is a real example of that. Isaiah tells the people that they are to be repairers of this breach. It’s broken, be repairers of it, fix it. What is the breach? A breach is something that’s broken, it’s ruptured, it’s a torn condition. There’s a gap, there’s a disconnect, there’s a break. Isaiah says we’re called to repair that breach to be repairers of it. So how do we do that? Quite simply, it’s by acts of love, acts of compassion, acts of justice, fairness for others. That’s how we repair the breach. And we can’t do that unless we expand our focus away from ourselves only to others. To have their interests also in view, sometimes more than our own. Our practise of spirituality is not to be expressed solely in our focus on ourselves or merely a private sense of faith. And we’d run into that, that kind of language. “Well, my faith is private, it’s something that I just hold and keep it to myself. And as long as I know what I believe, then that’s okay, my faith is private.” We’ve gotten into this habit in our society, thinking that it’s just a privatized faith and nothing else outside of our private realm matters in the way we live out our Christianity. And it was never meant to be anything even remotely private because Isaiah tells us if you are spiritual, if you want to worship God, then feed the hungry. Welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, comfort all who are hurting. Who around us is hurting? Do we even know, do we even care? Is that even on our radar? Isaiah has been saying this, close the gap, heal the rupture between one another, truly connect with people on a genuine level and recognize their humanity, recognize their belovedness in God’s eyes,. Support what is just and fair on their behalf. Then Isaiah says, then we can be reconciled to one another, which is that explicit expression of the reconciling character of God. That’s real devotion. According to Isaiah, that’s real obedience. And then you shall be called repairer of the breach. Isaiah says, if you do all of this, this is true worship. And that’s real love, the real love of God.

And just like in the Isaiah reference, just calling yourself a Christian, just attending church, just knowing the Bible, just being nice or describing yourself as a loving person, doesn’t always make it so. There’s a young man named John who wrote to his girlfriend. He said, “sweetheart if this world was as hot as the Sahara desert, I would crawl on my knees through the burning sand to come to you. If this world would be like the Atlantic ocean, I would swim through shark-infested waters to come to you. I would fight the fiercest dragon just to be by your side. Love, John, PS. I’ll see you on Thursday if it doesn’t rain.” It’s just words, it’s just sprinkling. It’s not real love. And that’s why the love of the Bible is not an automatic thing. Going to church, being a Christian doesn’t automatically make you loving. For some of us it takes work, for some of us, it takes a lot of work. But for all of us, it’s an intentional and conscious walk to walk this way of love. We have to work at it, to work at genuinely being a loving and connecting and reconciling person. The German psychoanalyst Erich Fromm, in his book, “The art of loving” says, “love is not primarily a relationship to a specific person, it is an attitude. It is an ordination of character, which determines the relatedness of the person to the whole world as a whole, not toward one object of love.” You know, it’s kinda like that young couple. The guy wants to impress the girl. They go to a restaurant and he’s nothing but polite and sweet and loving to his date. And yet he treats the server so disrespectfully and critically and nasty. Erich Fromm is saying, that’s not love. We don’t gauge love by how much we express it to one person or one thing. It’s a gauge of our entire character of who we are, who we are in this world, an ordination of character. As a spiritual writer, Dorothy Day put it, she said, “I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least.” That’s a pretty accurate gauge. And doesn’t this echo what John said in 1 John 4. “Whoever does not love does not know God for God is love.” If we say we love God but hate others, we are liars. For we cannot love God whom we have not seen if we do not love others, whom we have seen. The command that Christ has given us is this: Whoever loves God must love others also. Has love ordained your character? Are we on that path? I’m not saying we should have arrived, but are we walking that path? Are we conscious of this process of ordination of our character by God?

We have a younger crowd here, but y’all know “All in the family, with Archie Bunker? We know the show features a family in New York City in the sixties and Archie Bunker is quite a bigot. The show is about all of his character. That show wouldn’t survive today, but it was, it was great for that period. In one particular episode, Edith (Archie’s wife) and Archie are attending Edith’s high school reunion. So Edith encounters an old classmate, his name is Buck in his earlier days. He was a strapping athlete. Now he had become morbidly obese, but they were good friends in high school. And in this reunion, Edith and Buck are just having a great time. Having a conversation reminiscing about old times, walking down memory lane, all the things that they did together and remarkably Edith doesn’t seem to notice how extremely heavy Buck had become. And later Edith and Archie are talking. And she says in her whiny voice, she says, “Archie, ain’t Buck, a beautiful person?” You know, what’s coming. Archie looks at her with this disgusted look on his face and he says, “Edith you’re a pip (a pip means a no-nothing or stupid),  you know that you and I, we look at the same guy. You see a beautiful person. And all I see is a blimp.” And Edith says, “Yeah, ain’t it too bad.” With her answer, she was unknowingly profound. What we see and what we hear, what we encounter in life depends not always on the events themselves, but rather it depends on who we are as people. How we see, how we hear, how we experience these things, these moments, and how we allow God to transform us from the inside out. The classic theologian Thomas Burton said, “our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy.” That’s the bottom line. Has love ordained your character to love? You are the beloved child of God. We are all here today because we’ve tasted, we’ve tasted in some way, either small or large God’s love for us. We’ve tasted the sense of belovedness that God has for us. And Isaiah is saying that that love that we can claim is ours to claim. It also belongs to the world. And that same belovedness that we have, that we experience, that we feel that’s so special that has touched us. We are called to repair the breach, the disconnect that exists in our society in this world, and to bring this love, to proclaim this love in practical and concrete ways to everybody. As a result of our ordination of character, to love people, without trying to first figure out if they’re worthy of it because, in God’s eyes, we’re all worthy. And so let us share that worthiness and to declare that God’s love is truly reconciling. I want to close with Jeremiah 29 and it’s a prayer and a wish for St Timothy’s congregation. The many years that you have been in ministry and the many more years that you will be in ministry. And so I share these words from Jeremiah 29: “For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans for wellbeing and not for trouble, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me. And I will listen to you. You will look for me and find me  When you look for me with all of your hearts, I will be found by you, says the Lord. And to God, we honour and praise. Amen. Let us pray.

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Luke 15:1-10

Jesus said this, “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance”. This is Jesus’ attitude. And this is the attitude of God. This is the attitude of heaven and also attitude of angels. It is very different from our attitude. We like righteous people, we like good people, but somehow God has a special heart for those who are broken, those who fail, who fell. Somehow, God has a very special heart for these, in a way, losers. People don’t want to associate with these people because they’re losers. They’re sinners. They’re not good for society, they are good for family, they’re are good for anyone. But somehow Jesus always spent time with them and the Jesus had a special heart for these people. That’s why the in scripture, Jesus said, God is more pleased with one sinner over one sinner who repents than 99, the multitude, who are righteous, who don’t need to repent. I think repentance is beautiful thing.

Living life with over confidence and being a know it all and all that, that is not really, what’s beautiful. But the person who is truly repentant of themselves and admits their own shortcomings and their fallible or nature, that is is what is beautiful. And that is what God is pleased with. So we don’t have to pretend we are so righteous. We don’t have to pretend that we are so good before God to be accepted by God. Somehow, we just be honest with ourselves and just come to God as we are, as sinful as we are, then God is pleased and God will give the heart to repent. I think King David knew about this a long time ago, and he said this, “For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise”. God will not despise your broken spirit.

When Saint Paul met Christ, what happened to him was not that he was a bad person before, and became all of a sudden good person after meeting Christ. Somehow the opposite happened. He thought he was a good person before meeting Christ, but after meeting Christ, he realized that he’s not so good. He was not as good as he thought he was. That realization, that is repentance. ‘I’m not as good as I present myself to be’. Realizing that is repentance. We don’t need to hide that. We don’t need to put on a false self on us to look good when we come before God, because God is pleased with our broken spirit.

When Paul realized that, not only he was changed from that point on, he didn’t live a false life anymore. He was honest and true. He changed tremendously. He experienced freedom when he truly recognized, realized, who he really was. But not only was he changed, but he changed so many people. He brought about what gospel was all about. You don’t need to be perfect to be saved. And Paul confidently expressed that to all of us. And so many people experienced true spiritual transformation and change through the words of St. Paul. So not only was he changed, but he changed so many people. When repentance happens it changes not only ourselves, but also it changes a lot of other people around us. Same thing happened to St. Augustine. St. Augustine, one day he realized how sinful he was and then he experienced gospel grace. And he wrote confession of St. Augusta. If you haven’t read it, it’s a beautiful book that I strongly recommend to read. Chapter 10 or 11 is a kind of little bit difficult because he talks about time and it’s very philosophical. But the whole book, when you look at it, read it, you can see how beautiful repentance is. How beautiful it is when somebody becomes utterly honest with himself or herself. That’s a beauty of repentance.

What happens when we repent? When we truly repent, our eyes will be open. Until then, our eyes are closed. We are blind to ourselves, but when you truly repent, your eyes will be open and you will see what you didn’t see before. St. Paul experienced that and St Augustine experienced that. When you truly repent, all these spiritual insights flood your soul. When people repent, they have the courage to be themselves as they are. They find their true self. That’s tremendous freedom, finding yourself, your true self and being comfortable. That’s hard. But through repentance, that is possible. You can find your true self and yet still be comfortable with yourself. And that’s what a repentance does. You experience God’s grace. Right at repentance, you experience God’s grace. That’s why you can accept yourself as sinful as you are.

Repentance is not necessarily specific things that you did wrong. I mean, it’s easy to do that because you see your sin right away so it’s easy to repent. But repentance is not just about specific things that you did right now, but you discover the pattern within you. You discover the tendencies within you, your stubborn tendency, your pride, your arrogance, and you see what’s going on within you, deep inside. It doesn’t show necessarily, but somehow you discover that, ‘I’m so arrogant. I didn’t realize how arrogant I was’. And you recognize that and realize that. That is what repentance is. ‘Oh I swore at somebody, or I did this wrong or that wrong’, that’s easy to repent, it’s only on things that you did. But understanding deep inside, what’s going on, the darkness that is controlling you, understanding that is hard. But repentance is about that. St. Paul experienced that and St. Augustine experienced that.

When Jesus said those 99, who didn’t know repentance, he didn’t mean that they were truly righteous. Where is the person who needs no repentance? Everybody needs repentance. And Jesus said, these 99, who need no repentance, they were not really righteous. We all make mistakes. We all have shortcomings. We all fall and fail. We need repentance. When St. Paul experienced Christ, he realized how frail we are, how sinful we are. Until then, he had an idealistic image about himself and all about human beings. But when he met Christ, he realized how sinful we are. That’s why he said this, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. There is no one who shows kindness. There is not even one”. He thought that he was pretty righteous, but he realized there’s no one who is righteous.

Only by God’s grace. We can be righteous. Only God’s by forgiveness, we can be righteous. And God is very much pleased when we repent. What is wonderful about repentance is that you meet God in a real way. Until repentance, God is conceptual. God is way up there. Forgiveness is only conceptual. But when we truly repent of yourself, the forgiveness becomes real. It’s a sweet thing. God, forgives me and God becomes real. And God pours out all spiritual wisdom and insight. And also God empowers us to be able to overcome our own shortcomings. How can you overcome your sin? By hiding them? No. When you hide your sins, sin works much harder, it’s much more active. When you try to hide your sins, they really completely control you. But when you expose your sins before God with a repentant heart, somehow that sin cannot control you anymore. That’s how we overcome our shortcomings. You cannot overcome your shortcomings by yourself. You can only overcome your shortcomings by God’s grace. That’s why repentance is so powerful.

When you see the prodigal son, even though he wasted all this money, all his life, when he came back, the father never asked any question of ‘why did you do that?’. All he did was embrace him and restored him and threw a party. If God does not accept our repentance, repentance has no power, but God is pleased with our repentance. And through that Father, we can see the image of God. When you come to God, God is not going to ask you, ‘why were you so stupid? Why did you do this? Why did you do that?’ No. All God wants to do is to embrace you. I know you, I still love you, and you are my child. You are my precious child. And he restores us and he blesses us with all the spiritual wisdom and insight. And that’s why repentance is beautiful. So that’s why the story of the prodigal son was written right after this story. It’s the third story. The first story is about sheep, the second story is about coins, and the last story is about the prodigal son.

You’re struggling with your own darkness. Are you struggling with your own shortcomings? Are embarrassed with your own selves? I want you to come before God and present yourself with a repentant heart. You will discover your beautiful self again and live with that. People who repent don’t look at sin all the time. People who repent always look at God’s grace and forgiveness. People who feel guilty, they only look at their own sins all the time, but people who truly repent, they don’t focus on their sins alone. They focus on God’s grace and God’s forgiveness. The people who repent when they see other people’s sin, they don’t really come with judgment. They look at them with compassion. They ache as they ache. That’s what repented people do. We are all sinners. We have gathered together. Let us help each other. Let us love each other. Let us embrace each other. Let us build each other up. Then this community will become very, very strong community where God’s grace is working.

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Luke 14:25-33

People love deals, and I love deals too. Whatever you buy, you have to look for a very good deal. We get so many emails about promotions. Almost every day, several emails, 20% off, 30% off, even 50% off. And then when you look at the picture, it says 70% off, free shipping, buy one and get the second one free. So these days, I get, stressed out. When I buy something, if I pay full price, I feel really, really bad. A few days later, you realize that you could get that for half price and I feel stupid. Whatever I buy, I get stressed out. So if you want to deal ask Miseon, she’s right here. And if you want a car, ask James they’re all choir, James Choe orJames Lee. If you want to travel, ask Helen Chow, they have all the good information.

Some people even buy a good piece of clothes for only $10. It’s amazing! We have to do smart shopping. If you pay attention, you can really buy a good thing for a good price. But I realized that it is good to have a bargain, to have a deal, but we have to understand that life is not just a bargain. Life is more than a bargain. You don’t always have the upper hand. You don’t always win. Isn’t that what life is? Especially when we talk about faith, faith is not about a bargain. Some people think of faith in that way. They think it is a good deal. If I say that Jesus is Lord, then I get eternal life. What kind of bargain is that? How much better can the bargain get? If you just say that Jesus is Lord, you get eternal life.

So some people even that okay, for my whole life, I’ll just do whatever I want. And at the end, just before I die, I’ll just say that Jesus is the Lord, then I’ll get the eternal life. I get both worlds. I get the pleasure of this world and I get to have eternal life. What better deal is there? I’m not sure that salvation is possible in that kind of attitude. I don’t know whether that is even salvation. Salvation is not about getting the best deal with the least sacrifice.

Large crowds were following Jesus, but I think Jesus was not really happy because a lot of people followed him. Usually, most people become happy because people follow them. But Jesus seemed disturbed, almost angry. So he turned around, he threw a bomb at them, saying, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.”. And then at the end, he said, “none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions”. It was like a bomb. Of course here, hate does not truly mean hate. That is a way of expression in that time. For example, if I like apples better than oranges, I’d say, I love apple and I hate orange. That doesn’t mean that you really hate orange, you just like apple better. So that’s a way of expression. I think Jesus was disturbed by seeing the attitude of the people.

All these people in the crowd who followed Jesus, they were not interested in what Jesus had to say. They were not interested in the kingdom of God. They were just interested in it for themselves. What can I get by following Jesus? That’s all they wanted. Eternal on life or healing or miracle or sense of God, all they care about was themselves. And Jesus was disturbed by the attitude of the people. I wonder whether modern religion has become that way too.

Jesus pointed out that life is not just about getting the best deal for yourself. Jesus is saying the beauty of all of life, is the sacrifice and a big portion of life is sacrifice. How true that is. We lived on sacrifice. Lot of people sacrifice for us. Our parents sacrifice for us. When you have children, you know that you are willing to sacrifice. We also give a lot of sacrifice for other people. That’s how we survived. That’s how your community survives. That’s how humanity survived, by sacrificing for each other. And this was what Jesus was telling us; a big portion of life is sacrifice. It’s not about what’s in it for me. It is about what I can do for others. That’s why the African proverb says “because you are, I am”. I cannot exist by myself because you sacrifice for me, I exist. That’s what human life is all about, sacrifice. The cross is a sacrifice and I believe that sacrifice is beautiful.

Sacrifice is so beautiful. It brings tears to my eyes when I see that beautiful sacrifice. Getting a deal is not bad, but sacrificing for others is much, much higher in value. When everybody lives for themselves will all perish. But when people sacrifice for each other, everybody, will live. Jesus came to show us that truth. One person’s sacrifice saved the whole of humanity. That’s what Jesus showed, how beautiful now how powerful the sacrifice is. When everybody is selfish in the family, that family will not last too long. It will break down. When every member of the family is selfish, and thinking about only themselves, that family not last. Who wants to be in that family? But when everybody in the family sacrifices for each other, that family will be united. It will create a warm atmosphere where people care for each other and where people feel cared for. Isn’t that what family is?

When everybody in this world is selfish and thinks only for themselves and for their own country, the world, that civilization, will collapse. History tells us that civilization will collapse. We will protect this world from that kind of threat as much as possible. Even if the politicians want to go down way, we should say no to that kind of direction. When everybody thinks about only themselves and only for their country, that whole civilization, whole world, will collapse.

That’s not the kind of principle of blessing God taught us through Abraham. God says this to Abraham, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you”. God will bless them, God will bless you, and God will make your name great. But ultimately so that you’ll be a blessing to others. That’s a principle of blessing. God bless Canada, God bless America, so that we can become a blessing to other countries in the world. That’s the principle of spiritual principle of blessing.

When this world upholds the value of the beauty of sacrifice, the world will flourish. Following Jesus is upholding that value, the value of sacrifice. I really liked this passage that I’m going to read for you. I think this summarizes Jesus’ teaching so well. It’s like a core of Jesus’ teaching. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. How much clearer can you get? Jesus taught us all the right principles in all his teachings, it’s like treasure but don’t take us seriously. We don’t pay attention to that. I believe that this is truth. We Christians uphold this truth in every aspect of our lives. And this is a very countercultural message. But we believe this message is the true message, because it is right. Faith is not about believing in Jesus in our minds. Faith is to follow Jesus and follow Jesus’ footsteps. That’s what faith is. Faith is to follow. I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back. That’s what faith is. Jesus always cared about others. Jesus always tried to serve the needs of others. That is all we should do.

And these kind of people I respect. I don’t respect successful people, I don’t respect rich people, I respect those who sacrifice, who know how to sacrifice for others. Sacrifice is a most beautiful thing. If it is done out of love, out of free will. But sacrifice becomes ugly when you do it out of no choice and out of your desire to become somebody great. Then sacrifice becomes all of a sudden, very ugly. Jesus asked Peter this. He was about to announced that Peter would sacrifice himself to follow Jesus. It was a very hard thing to say. Jesus was hesitant to say that to Peter, so three times he asked Peter, “Peter, do you love me?” Three times, ‘Do you love me?’. Because if you don’t love me, this sacrificed, will make you miserable. ‘Do you love me?’ Three times he asked. then said okay, what kind of sacrifice you are going to make in following me?

Sacrifice out of love is beautiful. And Peter made a beautiful sacrifice. Otherwise Peter would have been miserable. We cannot demand sacrifice from others. You should not demand. Who are you to demand sacrifice from other?. We cannot demand sacrifice from others because sacrifice is something that only you can make. Sacrifice is your right, your own right. And nobody can take away that right from you. No one has a right to take that right away from you. So sacrifice can not be demanded, but you can only give sacrifice out of your freewill, out of love. I believe that sacrifice is the highest learning any human being can learn. More of than space engineering or anything else, if one human being learns how to sacrifice, that’s the highest learning that person achieved in their lives and a very difficult thing to do. So I value highest intelligence in those who know how to sacrifice for others.

And finally, when you live your life with the attitude of sacrifice, somehow your life changes. It’s amazing, it’s a miracle. The praise team sang miracle worker. It’s a miracle. When you live a life of sacrifice, somehow your life turns out all right. You experience peace and joy. Everything works for you. Why do you think so? Because God blesses those who sacrifice for others, because God wants to use those people to rule this world. When we live a life of sacrifice, fear disappears, worry flies away. You have confidence, you have peace, you have power and energy and you feel abundant. Selfish people can never live in peace. As we serve others, we feel God’s presence. We experience the hands of God guiding us and you know that your life will flourish. That’s the power of sacrifice. Your sacrifice not only save other people, but also yourself.

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John 17:9-11

As you saw in the video that we showed during the announcements, we just got back from our Hi-C retreat this past Thursday. It was another special retreat for all of us. We had a chance to welcome our grade sevens into the Hi-C and to bless the grade nines who are going into high school, as well as the grade twelves who are heading off to university. It was also Pastor James’ first retreat with the Hi-C and as the new pastor on the block, he was showered with claps and cheers during the introductions on the first day. Me on the other hand, this was my third summer retreat with the Hi-C and it proved to be the most memorable one so far because when Caitlin, our exec was doing the introductions and called my name, the students collectively booed me in unison. They even gave me the thumbs down. And I think this is the first time in the history of St. Timothy, I see that a pastor has been booed by the youths. And last but not least, this was the last Hi-C retreat for our beloved Reverend Simon who served and cared for our students for the past three years. So we took the opportunity to thank him and bless him for his time with the Hi-C. He finally let go of the well of tears that he had tried so hard to contain over all these years. So overall, it was a special and memorable time that we had spent together.

The theme of this year’s retreat, as you saw, was So That We May Be One. It came from the reflections that the pastors and the Hi-C execs had on Jesus’ farewell prayer in John 17, a portion of which we read today. Jesus prayed this prayer because he knew that he would no longer be with his disciples. They had spent three years together almost every day and their time was slowly coming to an end. Jesus knew that there was going to be this change, a change that was going to break up the oneness that he and the disciples shared for a very long time. Throughout his entire prayer, Jesus often repeats this phrase ‘so that we may be one’. As pastors and leaders, we recognize that Hi-C is a group that frequently experiences this loss in oneness. Each year, we work tirelessly towards building that connection and relationships with each other, but in the end, we always have a group that’s leaving, and another group that’s coming in. This constant change affects all the students and this year was no different. So going into the retreat, we all felt this fear and anxiety, and we also felt confused and lost over the uncertainty that lay ahead of us.

But I realized this is not something that’s just specific to the Hi-C, but to all of us. Change is unavoidable. This change is something that all of us who are in relationships with others, whether it be friends or family, all face from time to time. In fact, I see that this is the reality of the church. Life happens. And with everyone being in different stages of life, our paths end up crossing and separating over time. There are those of us here today who have been a part of this community since the very beginning, but there are those of us who have moved on for different reasons and are no longer with us. And there are some of us who are relatively new and still trying to find our place here in the church. It is a constant cycle. So the question that I’d like us to reflect on today, which we also reflected on at the retreat, is in the midst of all of these changes and transitions that we face how do we remain as one?

In fact, what does it really mean to be one? That’s what I would like to reflect with us today. Becoming one, I realized, it just doesn’t naturally happen. It takes time and work. It takes intent. In other words, being in oneness takes that commitment. And this is a use a word that we used a lot throughout the retreat. And you saw in the video too, that commitment. But it’s not just about committing to be one with each other. We often think of becoming one as only a horizontal thing, but it’s not. It’s also vertical. Becoming one first begins with our own personal commitment to God. It begins with putting our entire life in God’s hands. It comes from the place of our oneness with God. And that’s what Jesus showed us.

Everything that Jesus ever did, especially in his three years of ministry, was rooted in this personal connection to God. God was the foundation of his life. And throughout the gospels, we often see him finding a solitary place to pray. This was not to show how religious he was, but it was his way of being connected to God and finding that connection. It was in times like these, that he came before God as he was, laid down the burdens of his heart before God, and sought God’s will for his life. And it was his commitment to God that gave him the confidence to face the challenges of life, especially as he faced the end. He even told us disciples, this, he said, “The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me.” There was a sense of oneness that Jesus shared with God in spite of his life circumstances.

Committing our lives to God is easier said than done. In practice, trying to control our life often seems like the easier, and perhaps the most realistic thing to do. You don’t want to make that leap of faith unless we are perfectly certain of how things will turn out. So in a way, making the commitment seems like a foolish thing to do. What good is faith really if we want to know everything for certain beforehand? A few weeks ago, Reverend Kim mentioned in the sermon on faith that we persevere in faith in spite of the result, because we see something greater than the result itself. And for us, that something greater is God’s promise of abundant life that he has offered to us.

So on the second night of the retreat, we challenged our Hi-C students to confront their fears, their worries, and their concerns on their hearts and take that leap of faith and fully commit their lives to God. We usually have the students pray for one another, but this year we knew that it was necessary to start with a time of personal prayer. The journey of becoming one had to begin with a commitment between each person and God.

Even though it was a time that was meant for our students, it also ended up being a time for me personally, to address my own fears, worries, and concerns of heading into the new chapter of my life in ministry. I had known of my transition into this role of sole pastor for the Hi-C since earlier this year. But the reality didn’t really fully hit me until I was at the retreat. I didn’t expect it. It just came out of nowhere and it hit me. I felt more anxious than excited all of a sudden. I felt somewhat lost and confused. I felt I couldn’t get my bearings around things. And I was full of doubts as to whether I could really guide lead and care for this group? Especially apart from my partner in crime, who I’d had been working alongside for three years. So it also became a time for me actually to recommit myself and the future of my life here in God’s hands.

Once everyone had made their individual and personal commitment to God, it became clear to everyone that we were now ready to embark on the next part of becoming one, committing to each other. When it comes to becoming one, I believe that our commitment to one another directly flows from our commitment to God. Life of love can only flow from life with God. It is only through that, we can truly connect with those around us, not just on a superficial level, but on a much deeper and personal level; when we ourselves connected to God. That is what Jesus also told his disciples. “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them“. When we experience God’s grace in our life, we are then able to love those around us. And when we truly love one another, God’s spirit dwells among us and makes us one.

This was the love that led Jesus to pray for his own disciples, which we read today. We’ll read it again. And this is what he prayed, “I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one“. Jesus knew that his disciples would no longer be together. He knew that their future was totally beyond his control. And as he had predicted, all those disciples were ultimately scattered. And yet, before any of this ever happened, he still prayed for their wellbeing and unity. So when I reflected on this, I realized that unity is not necessarily something we can see touch or feel. It is much greater than our own physical and geographical boundaries. It transcends those limits and boundaries. I realize as much of the times, we base our understanding of unity on what we can observe with our own eyes. If the group is together, we think they’re one and getting along, we think they’re one, but when they’re not, we don’t think they are one. But I realized unity is what God brings into our midst when we love and intercede for one another in prayer,

That is what I believe is to be made one. Being united in God’s spirit through love, regardless of where we may be in life. Later on in his prayer, Jesus, even prays for those who will come to believe in him through the words of his disciples. His prayer wasn’t just limited to his the disciples, but even beyond that. The disciples were scattered, but with their scattering came the birth of the church. Today, even though we have many churches around the world, we say one church, because we believe that God brings us all into unity.

On the last night of the retreat, our Hi-C students made their commitment to each other, by sharing, praying together and blessing one another. They offered words of comfort and encouragement to each other. And they did so knowing that they will all be in different places in September with some being farther away than others. And it was through their sharing of love they first experienced in their connection to God that they were able to become truly one with each other. And by the last day, when we were going around and sharing how we’re doing the students spoke about a feeling, a sense of peace within their hearts. Some of them felt ready to face the changes in their lives.

Some of those students are not here with us today. They’re away from their home and their church. They moved into their university residence, preparing to start a new chapter in their lives. We may notice or feel their absence, including some of the parents here. It may not ease the sadness or the melancholy that we feel, but we believe in faith that we are and still will be one. On the other hand, those of us that are here now are in different grades, in different groups, and in different places in the church. We may still feel the sense of newness and uncertainty from the things that have changed in our lives. But we believe in faith that we are and still be one. None of us, none of this, will be possible apart from our own commitment to God and to each other. God makes us one, God brings us the unity, but we are called to do our part. We are called to love. We’re called to fulfill that calling. So my prayer for us today is that we will be a community of people who love and intercede for each other in prayer, as Jesus did and has shown us. Like the new year, the month of September brings changes. We may not feel ready for it, but those changes come. May we not be anxious or grow easily discouraged, but instead let us wholly entrust our lives and those of each other to God, all so that we may be one.

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Jeremiah 1:4-10

Today we have our whole ESM congregation here from our infants at the back, and toddlers, all the way up to our adults. And I think in some ways, this is how God intended for things to be – for us to all live in community together. And as we go through life, we share the milestones that we go through and we celebrate them. And so today is graduation Sunday. We celebrate all the milestones. I guess the preschoolers couldn’t handle it up here, so they’re at the back. We have our kids’ church graduates and our Hi-C graduates graduating from one stage of life to the next. I think for the grade 12 graduates, who are graduating from Hi-C, this is not just a graduation from high school into university, but it’s also a graduation into adulthood.

So I had our grads in mind as I prepared today’s sermon. As from now on you guys as an adult, you must learn to make your own decisions, right? Think your own thoughts and become an individual. You must learn to live your own life and not one dictated by others. I think there’s some important things to learn from the call story of Jeremiah. That is today’s passage. Jeremiah was one of the most famous prophets that Israel had. He was present for some of the most pivotal moments in their history. In today’s passage though, it recounts the very early days where Jeremiah heard his call to be a prophet during these important times. I think when we read this passage today, we might wonder sometimes, right. How can we hear our call? I mean, is it like it’s written? Do we magically, sometimes hear this audible voice from heaven saying, “Hey you, this is what you’re supposed to do.” I don’t know. I don’t know that much about how this word suddenly came to Jeremiah, but when I think about it, I don’t think it was just all that sudden. I think the word came to Jeremiah over time, as he listened very closely to his heart. And I think there are some important things for us to learn.

I think the most important skill that you must learn as an adult is to listen to your heart. I mean, it sounds cliche, we hear this all the time. But, I think the reality is that most people go through life listening to other people’s voices instead of their heart. I think the voices of others are so powerful and it’s understandable. We’re so wired to live in connection with others, so we naturally become influenced by voices and opinions of others. I mean, I was just talking at the wedding about how once your kid enters junior kindergarten, you see all these parents enrolling their kids in this program and that program. It’s like “Oh my goodness. If I don’t do that, then I’m falling behind, right?” The power of others’ opinions. There are many other reasons not to listen to our heart. Sometimes we feel like we owe it to others to listen to their voices instead of our own. But if you only listen to what others say, then you’re not living your own life. And I believe that is what being an adult is: to live your own life. Life and society is also full of distraction and noise. And our pace of life is relentless, but you must learn to carve out space to listen to your heart. I believe that when you listen closely to your heart, the word of God will come to you. When the word of God came to Jeremiah, this is what Jeremiah heard, “Before I formed you in the womb. I knew you. And before you were born, I consecrated you.” When the word of God comes to you, it does two things. The first is it affirms you as one who is known by God. And secondly, it affirms that you have a unique purpose for your existence. That is what consecrated means, it means to be set apart by God and dedicated for a unique purpose.

How many people truly live life believing that they are worthy and significant? I think our confidence often stems from how esteemed or valued we are by others. And so we spend so much of our time and energy to be acceptable and respectable. I mean, this has been a common message that I’ve always preached to the Hi-C, right? And as you go into university in life, you’re going to feel more and more of that pressure. As people start getting into professional programs, into getting their jobs and careers, it will be so tempting to tie your worth with what others deem to be worthy. But that is living someone else’s life. When you listen closely to your heart, you will come to see that you are okay just as you are. You have been known by God and valued even before you were conceived. And I want this belief, in your own worth and value, to be the bedrock of your confidence as you grow into adulthood. How many people truly live life believing that they have been created for a unique purpose?

I think the irony of adulthood is that as life progresses, this belief in our unique purpose often fades, right? You know, it’s difficult to get and hold onto a job. It’s hard to pay your bills. Once you become a parent, the sacrifices that we must make of our own desires for the sake of our kids. All these things start to diminish our belief that we have a unique purpose. And in this world, listening closely to your heart is the only way to resist this erosion of your value and purpose. I truly believe that each of us have been created for a unique purpose in this world. A purpose that only you can fulfill in your own unique way. I mean, it may not always be grand, but there is a unique purpose for you and I. This belief in your inherent value and unique purpose will keep you going when you’re struggling to figure out what your life is about and where it’s headed. You may not know right away what that purpose is, but believing that there is a purpose is what keeps us going.

It’s a struggle to discern life’s purpose, and it must be done always while listening closely to our hearts. When you are in tune with your heart, then the seeds of your calling are born and discovered. And that is what happened to Jeremiah when the word of the Lord came to him. He said, “I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah didn’t really know what that looked like at the time, but the seeds of his calling were born. You know, when you listen closely to your heart, it will begin to tell you things. And I believe that the seeds of calling come with little things that give you energy, that excite you and that make it seem like it’s not work. So pay close attention to those things. These are hints and clues to your life’s calling. So I hope that during this next stage, you can learn to do that.

I hope you all realize how important listening to your heart is. And that’s why for those of you who are interns this summer, I mean, as Paul said in the video, “Never in my life before, have I reflected so much.” That was a cornerstone of the internship, right? I made you guys reflect and write so much because reflecting and writing is an excellent way to delve deeper and really listen to your hearts. So no matter how busy you guys get with tests, assignments, friendships, girlfriends, or boyfriends, just remember to listen to your heart.

So listening to our heart is how our life’s purpose starts to take shape, but it’s not an easy journey because if you really listen to your heart and discover the seeds of your calling, the first thing you will face is gripping fear. It will be a soul wrenching fear of inadequacy and great self doubt. I think anyone who’s caught a glimpse of their calling has faced this fear. This is what Jeremiah faced when he responded, “Oh Lord God, truly I do not know how to speak for I am only a boy.” I mean, the essence of being a prophet is to speak, right? But he was racked with feelings of inadequacy. I think this is similar to Moses when he met God at the burning bush and heard his calling to liberate his people. He was racked with self doubt about his ability to speak and to lead.

I understand this fear. I think the essence of being a minister is to be up in a pulpit and preach. Before ministry, I was very comfortable speaking; advocating for issues or speaking in a courtroom. But I quickly discovered that preaching is something else entirely. Reverend Kim would say in our staff meetings that on the pulpit, there is nowhere to hide. You become exposed for who you are, and who you are is revealed. And so after a few of my early sermons, Deb, my wife, said she could boil down my sermons into one of three things: authentic self, abundant life, and capitalism.

Oh man. I realized how narrow and shallow my perspective and preaching was, and I began to really fear. I mean, I’d be smiling in front of the Hi-C every week, but deep inside, I started to fear that maybe I really don’t have that much to say about life and faith. And there are many times I just wanted to crawl into a hole. You know, when we doubt ourselves, when we feel inadequate, we want to run away from that fear into something more safe. But my friends, do not run away from that fear, or at least don’t spend your whole life running away from it. We may all run away from it for a while. I mean, I ran for 20 years, right? But a big part of the adult journey is to confront and wrestle with our fears. So I hope you can find the courage to face and confront your fears. All of us.

A famous person wrote this, “The true meaning of courage is to be afraid. And then with knees knocking and your heart racing, take the leap anyway.” There comes a time in our lives when we just have to take a leap. But we’ll find this courage as we become more in tune with our hearts; when we can honestly acknowledge our fears. And when we listen closely to our hearts, we will hear God’s voice. The one that said to Jeremiah, “Do not say I am only a boy. Do not be afraid, for I am with you to deliver you.” From within the depths of your heart you will hear God’s voice of assurance. And from that, you can find the courage to take that leap and live out your life’s purpose. When you take that leap, and often only when we take that leap, a vision will begin forming. A vision for what shape your life is to take. When Jeremiah finally took that leap to be a prophet, he heard God say this, “See today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

This really was to be the shape of his life to come. He would speak truth to power. His words were judgment against corruption and injustice to those in power. And he paid the price many times for these words. But in the end, when his nation was taken over and its people deported into exile, he also spoke words of hope and new beginnings. Words that would become a source of strength and encouragement for every generation to come. See, the vision and shape that your life and calling takes is deeply rooted in who you are and what you’ve experienced. It is a unique vision and shape that no one else can replicate. When I look at Jeremiah, I think that his background shaped how his vision was unfolded. He was a descendant of a priestly line that fell out of favour and power. His line was banished from the center of power in Jerusalem and to a marginal place far away. I think that gave him a different perspective than those in the centers of power. He could see more critically what was wrong. And it’s also why when all the elites were deported, he chose to remain behind and spoke words of hope from there. As you take that journey of listening to your heart, everything that you have experienced in your own life and who you are, will form and take a shape. This shape will become a unique vision for your life. That’s where purpose and vision meet.

I think life is a wonderful journey. My wish is for all of you and all of us to experience the great richness of this gift of life that God has given us. At the back to the parents of Nolan, Lauren, Isabel, and Katelyn, may you encourage your children to be those closely attuned to their hearts instead of swayed by the pressures of those around them. To Harinna, Jaiden, Nicole, and Liam, I pray that your journey into Hi-C is a time where God touches your heart. And to David, Maddie, Kaitlin, Matthew, Jono, and JRho, it’s been such a blessing being your pastor for the past three years. I’m doing my best to compose myself up here. As you venture into university, I pray that you find your identity as one who is loved. You will know that you were created with a unique purpose in this world. And I pray that you will discover the seeds of your calling. Yes, you will all develop great fear, but the word of God in your heart will give you courage. And there, a vision for your life will take shape. So for all of us, the journey in our hearts never ends. We are called again and again, to listen to our hearts instead of running from it. May God bless you all in this journey of listening, and may we be a community that blesses one another in that journey.

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