"Hungering for Wholeness" (sermon)

Two Rivers Pastoral Charge
Sunday February 22 – 1^st Sunday in Lent
Scripture Reading:  Matthew 4:1-11

What do you long for?  What does the deepest part of you yearn for?  What is it that your spirit craves?  I know that our theme in this season of Lent is “Hungering for God” but I want you to set aside what you learned in Sunday School where “Jesus” is the answer to every question that is asked.  What does your spirit hunger for?

In our bible story this morning, the one that ______ just read for us, we could answer this question in a very literal way.  Before the devil shows up, Jesus has been fasting in the desert for 40 days.  He has been out there in a barren rocky landscape with no water, no food, exposed to the heat of day and the frigid desert temperatures when the sun goes down.  And then the tempter shows up and says to him, “Why don’t you just turn all of those stone that are around you into bread?  You don’t need to suffer out here.  Turn the stones into bread and satisfy your hunger.”  And Jesus probably was pretty hungry at this point in time.  And pretty thirsty.  And pretty sunburnt. In addition to bread, his body was probably also craving shelter.  He was likely also craving the sight of even a single tree, or a spring bubbling up from the dry land.

Now this is probably a pretty extreme example, because, from a 21^st Century understanding of physiology, he needed all of these things.  Well, maybe not the sight of a tree, but the food and water part of the equation his body needed and was likely craving at that point in time.

Sometimes our bodies crave things that they need.  We feel hunger and thirst because we need food and water to survive.  I don’t think that’s the point of this story.  But sometimes our bodies crave things that they don’t need.  Sometimes I feel as though I need a cup of tea right now… but do I truly need it?  If I am thirsty, surely a glass of water will suffice?

We can take it one step further.  If you have ever experienced an addiction, or have ever talked to an addict, a person with an addiction doesn’t seek out the thing that they are addicted to, whether that be alcohol or a specific drug or food, they don’t seek out the thing because the thing makes them feel good.  Instead, an addict seeks it out because their body craves it. When you have an addiction, you don’t feel whole without the thing that you are addicted to.

And I wonder if that’s maybe the key to unlocking this story about Jesus.  The tempter is tempting him with things that might make him feel whole.  “Oh, you’re feeling hungry?  Here, these rocks will become bread, you can eat and feel full, feel complete.”

I find the second and third temptations of Jesus to be even more interesting than the first one, because I read them as being all about power.  Why would you throw yourself off the highest building anyone has ever seen, let alone imagined, and call in God’s angels to catch you as you fall?  Maybe so that people could see you jump, could see your supernatural rescue, could see your closeness to God.  If you were to pull a stunt like this, people would hail your goodness and your bravery, and there is power in the adulation of a crowd.

I tried to think of a contemporary example of this.  One that came to mind is to look at the number of people who attempt to climb Mount Everest every year.  In 2025, 850 reached the top of Mount Everest, which is especially remarkable when you consider that prior to 1953 nobody had reached the summit.  For some of these 850 people, this is the culmination of a lifetime of training and preparation, and the last of the “Seven Summits” that they want to climb.  But for others, it is done in a quest for social media fame. They climb with their own camera crew, and model expensive… and sponsored… clothing as they climb.  And it doesn’t come without risk – on average, 7 people per year die trying to ascend, and the narrow trail to the summit is paved by 200 bodies of climbers who died in the attempt but it is too dangerous to bring the bodies down.

For the social media mountaineers, would you do it if nobody would ever know that you made the climb, or are you doing it for the likes and follows?  There is power in spectacle.

And then there is the offer that the devil makes to Jesus of literal power.  You can rule over all of the kingdoms of the world, and have access to all of the splendours of the world.

This one is much easier to find a contemporary example of.  I’m not going to say that all politicians are in politics for the power, but you don’t have to look too hard to find politicians who are in it only for the power.  And then there is the power that comes with fame, the power that comes with wealth, the power that comes with a platform.  And then those with political, financial, or social power choose who to share that power with – look at the young men being given $50,000 signing bonuses and firearms and a license to harass, detain, abuse, and even kill with no accountability right now.  And those with political, financial, or social power choose who they have power over, to which all that I say is release the files.

Power gets us in to so many problems in the world.

So we have three temptations that Jesus faced in the desert wilderness.  But how do these connect with the question I started with – what does your soul hunger for?  What does your spirit long for?  What does your being crave?

It is sometimes said that we each carry a God-shaped hole within us, and if we don’t fill it with God, we will seek other things that can make us whole.  Substances.  Praise and acclaim.  Power.

My favourite variation on this saying comes from St. Augustine, who wrote in his Confessions, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.”

There is nothing wrong with the hole.  There is nothing wrong with the restlessness.  But the choice is ours for how we fill the hole or how we satisfy the restlessness.  The list of how we, as humans, try to make ourselves whole is endless.  I can only know myself, and while power and spectacle aren’t tempting to me, I have to resist the temptation to make myself whole through busyness.

But as we long for wholeness, as we long for rest… well, maybe that Sunday School answer is the right one here.  Maybe Jesus is the answer.

I actually wonder if Jesus found the strength to resist the temptations because the God-shaped hole within him was already filled by God.  I believe that Jesus was both fully human and fully God, and so he didn’t need to seek wholeness through power or spectacle.  He was already whole.

But the good news is that we too can be whole.  The Holy Spirit is working in you.  And my prayer is that you might find wholeness by allowing God to fill the God-shaped hole in you; and that you might find rest and deep peace by resting in God.  Amen, and amen.

 

 

 

“A Choice”
Lauren Wright Pittman
Used with Permission

 

"Transfiguration Sunday + Annual Meeting = ???" (sermon)

Two Rivers Pastoral Charge
Sunday February 15, 2026 – Transfiguration Sunday (and Annual Meeting Sunday)
Scripture Reading:  Matthew 17:1-9

It happens every couple of years that our Annual Meeting falls on Transfiguration Sunday, the Sunday before the beginning of Lent.  It is an interesting pairing.  When you read the story of the Transfiguration, about Jesus’s physical presence being transformed into light, alongside the ancient leaders of Moses and Elijah, and about the voice of God echoing from the heavens – this story feels all mystery and holiness and transcendence.  And beside this story, we have the very mundane business of financial reports and budgets and building maintenance and fundraisers.  You are excused if you feel a bit of whiplash moving between the two!

So the question that I asked myself this week was – what is the connection between the story of the Transfiguration and our annual meeting?  (You folks know that I like a good challenge!)

I actually think that the connection is maybe not as far-fetched as it might seem on the surface.  You see, Jesus’s disciples, after their encounter on the mountaintop, they didn’t stay on the mountaintop.  Even when Peter tried to prolong the experience by suggesting that he build some shelters for them to stay in, eventually Moses and Elijah disappeared, eventually the cloud of brightness dissipated, eventually Jesus returned to his normal appearance.  And then, after all of that, eventually Peter, James, and John accompanied Jesus back down off the mountainside to resume the work that they were doing.

But I also wonder how Peter, James, and John were changed by what they experienced on the mountaintop.  When we talk about Transfiguration Sunday, we are usually talking about how Jesus’s appearance is changed and transformed.  But I rather suspect that Peter, James, and John were also transformed by their encounter with the holiness of God.  I rather suspect that the people who walked down the mountain were different than the people who had climbed up it.  I rather suspect that their future ministry was different than their ministry had been before this encounter.

Which brings us to ourselves, and our experiences today.  I see the concept of church as combining both the transcendent and the practical.  When you read through my Minister’s report, or even the Annual Report as a whole, you will see both of these.  I talk about the transcendent experiences of worship and sacraments.  You will see baptisms recorded there, and the funerals we held.  All moments when we can encounter the holiness and the mystery of God.

And we are shaped by these moments of transcendence.  We are shaped by our worship; we are shaped by our participation in the sacraments; we are shaped by prayer.  And because our encounters with God change and transform us; like Peter, James, and John, our ministry is transformed.  Those encounters with God equip us to do the day-to-day work of churching – the work of making sandwiches for Romero House, the work of celebrating Pride Week, the work of managing the bank accounts of the church.

To me, church is always about balancing the two.  If we were to only have the mundane practical parts of church, we would be no different than a service club.  But on the flip side, if church was only about personally seeking encounters with the Divine, then we wouldn’t be carrying out God’s mission in our communities.

Our encounters with the Holy One shape us and inspire our mission, and our participation in God’s mission have us longing to draw close to the Divine Presence.

So I guess that maybe it is very appropriate to be having our annual meeting on Transfiguration Sunday!  For the work of the church and the worship of God are two sides of the same coin.

And may God bless us with Their presence, and may God equip us for Their mission this year and always.  Amen.

 

 

"Transfiguration" by JESUS MAFA
Used with Permission

"On Sideways Icicles and Guns Turned into Chocolate" (sermon)

Two Rivers Pastoral Charge

Sunday February 1 – 4^th Sunday after Epiphany
Scripture Readings:  1 Corinthians1:18-31 and Matthew 5:1-12


I want to start by inviting you to let your imagination run wild!  I know that lots of you have a good imagination, and here is your chance to use it.

What is the wildest, most unexpected, most ridiculously good thing that you can imagine happening in the world?  This isn’t a rhetorical question – I actually want to hear your answers!  What is the wildest thing that you can imagine happening that would change the world for good?  Let’s have some fun with this – the crazier, more improbable, the better!

“I imagine a world where all weapons – every gun, every missile, every nuclear warhead – they are turned to chocolate.”
“I imagine a world where food is free for everyone and where farmers earn a fair salary.”
I imagine a world where every disagreement, big or small, is solved with ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors.’”
“I imagine a world where power imbalances have been eliminated, and where everyone has the same amount of power, no matter their gender, age, race, or nationality.”
“I imagine a world where icicles grow sideways and the hearts of ICE melt back into water as they run back to where they came from.”

Image Credit:  Diana Doncaster

Used with Permission.

 

I wanted to go as absurd as possible with this one, because Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is talking about wisdom and foolishness.  “For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength."

What if what we thought of as foolishness – weapons turned to chocolate and the like – what if things that we think of as foolish are really wiser than we are able to comprehend?

And I ask this question because the other reading we heard today – the very well-known part of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount that is often call the Beatitudes or the Blessings – in that reading, Jesus is blessing some very unexpected groups of people.  Blessings that might sound foolish when we hear them, but also may be a reflection of God’s wisdom.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, the people who have no hope. Blessed are the people who are mourning, the people who are grieving.  Blessed are the meek and humble.  Blessed are the people who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness.  Blessed are the people who show mercy.  Blessed are the pure in heart.  Blessed are the peacemakers.  Blessed are the people who are persecuted because they are righteous.  Blessed are you when people insult you and harass you and speak all kinds of bad and false things about you.

OK Jesus – these are sounding almost as ridiculous as the wild and crazy changes to the world we were suggesting earlier!  Who would ever think that Jesus would be blessing the people who mourn, the people who are hopeless, the people who are meek?

Maybe we need to take a step backwards and begin with the question of “What is a blessing?” There are lots of different definitions to the word “blessing,” ranging from the social media #blessed, to a deeply theological definition of being able to see the present moment through the lens of the future.  But one of my favourite definitions of a blessing is to set aside or consecrate someone or something for God’s work.

Last Sunday at Westfield, we blessed a couple of prayer shawls that someone had knitted.  As we blessed them, we dedicated them, we set them apart so that they might be agents of God’s love, that whoever wraps themselves in those prayer shawls might be able to sense God’s love wrapping itself around them.  Those prayer shawls are blessed and set apart for God’s work.

I’ve also been asked to bless various items in the church building, from choir chairs to wall murals to food pantries. Each of these things, when it is blessed, is set apart for God’s use, so that God’s love and joy and hope and peace might be known through them.

I love blessing all of your pets too, when we do our Blessing of the Animals service.  The pets that we love are set apart to be agents of God’s love.  At weddings, I get to bless the couple’s marriage – that the marriage between two people might be a place where God’s work is done.  At the end of every worship service, I get to bless all of you – blessing you to be the Body of Christ, to be the literal hands and feet of Christ in the world.

Getting back to Jesus’s beatitudes though. If a blessing sets something apart for God, some of these beatitudes make more sense than others.  Blessed are the peacemakers – that one makes sense, because building peace is God work.  Blessed are the people who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness – again, that one makes sense, because their hunger and thirst for righteousness and justice and peace will spur them on to action so that God’s work can be done.

Some of them make less sense though. Blessed are the people who mourn and grieve.  How might their grief and mourning be part of God’s work?  Blessed are the hopeless and poor in spirit – this one really puzzles me, as hope itself is a gift from God.

But if God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, then what might God’s wisdom be?  If God’s foolishness is already beyond any human ability to comprehend, then God’s wisdom must go even further.  And what if it is only through what seems foolish that we can start to comprehend God?

I think that with these beatitudes, with these topsy-turvy blessings that don’t really make a lot of sense from our human understanding of the world, Jesus is teaching us about God’s topsy-turvy kingdom where foolishness is wisdom, where the last shall be first, where the hungry will be fed with good things, where swords are turned into ploughshares and guns are turned into chocolate, and where hearts of ICE melt with the warmth of love.

And even though this vision for the world might feel foolish, improbable, and impossible, what if we could trust in the foolishness of this vision? What if we could trust that this is God’s vision for the world, and then start taking baby steps in our own lives to live as if this world was already a reality? And what if more and more people joined us, walking the path of peacemaking, and humility, and hungering for righteousness?

I still might not understand all of these blessings of Jesus, but I do trust that there is a place in God’s kingdom for everyone who mourns, for everyone who is without hope – God’s love is embracing you, maybe even more than those of us who aren’t mourning at the moment.

And some day, this ridiculously good, foolish, peace-filled world is going to become reality, so that those of us who mourn will be comforted, those of us who hunger for righteousness will have that hunger satisfied, those of us who work for peace will be without any work left to do as weapons and oppression will be no more.

And may this time come soon.

And may this time come soon.

Amen.