George Hermanson

The Light Shines In The Darkness

The Light Shines In The Darkness, Year B, Lent 4
Fourth Sunday of Lent                       Shaughnessy Heights United Church Vancouver
Numbers 21:4-9
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
John 3:14-21
Read the passage: The Message   or    The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson
Fear of the darkness is a primal fear.  Fear of the unknown.    All horror movies have scenes of ominous movements in the midnight hour. Leaves move and make loud noises. Shadowy figures are just beyond our light.   Remember as a child fear of the the monsters under the bed or hiding in the closet. Some children need a night light so they can sleep with confidence. Other times a parent comes in to shine a light under the bed.
In a vision quest, one of the disciplines is to go out into the woods without light. I have done this and the night gets nosier and stranger. One has to learn to embrace the night and the dread that is there. Metaphorically one has to shine a light on the fear.
In Numbers we have a story of a people who have lost their security by gaining their freedom. They are now out in the desert and the familiar has gone. They have to construct a new identity of a people God has called through liberation.

Here they are lost and fearful. Like any group, or person, who operate out of fear, they project, get negative. The snakes are symbolic of this fear, so the story tells us that God gives them a way to deal with their fear. Moses creates a bronze snake on a pole. Think of it this way: that which they fear is raised to eye level. The people can look the fear it its eye and are healed. They gain a new sense of wisdom.
When we turn to John we are given an image of light - a light shines in the darkness. It is to shine the light onto those fears that make us less and to be liberated from those fears. Like the Numbers passage, John reflects a community which has found hope and then lost it through fear. The times had become difficult, so John writes to remind them that despite the reality of difficult  times, of loss and danger, they have a light of a God. Reality is redeemed and they should not fear.
We can identify with their concern because we know the church is going through another time of reconstruction. This brings fear. We are currently living through a significant time of religious, cultural, social and intellectual change. We know the religious world we grew up in no longer exists. No longer is religion privileged for it is under challenge.  All institutions are being challenged, for a new world view is taking shape today. We must learn to address this new reality. This will mean facing those things that no longer work. To share our gift of faith to today’s reality we need to reconstruct. A reality that God loves.
Our scriptures reflect a feeling of being caught in a changing reality. There is fear because they experience a broken reality. We can identify with their questions. Are we not plagued with fiery serpents? So do we not worry at the rustle to the left and the slither to the right? Have we not been sleepless waiting for the unwanted visitor in the night? Does not death walk our streets in ten thousand subtle forms? What remedy is given in the name of God?
In each reading we see that we are under God’s Grace. God works in the world as it is, to lure it to were it could be. There is light in the darkness that shines in the hidden places of fear. In God’s initial aim God offers wholeness, a possibility for the moment and we are free to choose how to respond.  We have the light or wisdom of God to help make choices. Choices that offer healing to others and ourselves.
John reminds us that God did not condemn the world. We can misread it as God sent God’s son as some scapegoat. However, what John is saying is; God loves this world and is in the redemption business, in each moment shines the light into dark places. God  invites the us to journey toward wholeness, to be rooted in the moment where our community is one of service and celebration.
God in so loving the world is about offering the wisdom to see that every part of reality is redeemed and is being redeemed.
Our fears, failures, and brokenness do not define us.  What defines us is we live in the light of a redeemed world.  We are called to an inner sense of God, to let the light shine in our hearts and then we sense ourselves as fully integrated people. We offer to God and the world this sense of wholeness, mind, body and soul, and we become the light to our reality for God shines through us.
John speaks of being glorified. It is the appearance of God into everyday events, receiving the world’s pain. The receptive light is in the midst of the world. God blesses the world of human affairs - Christ came not condemn but to bring light. We are to come to our senses through the light of Christ. John puts it: "their deeds belong to God." Our deeds are to refract the light.
I remember a sermon from my Chicago days. It was a Black Pentecostal church we occasionally went to. "Snake handling is part of our tradition. Why? It is to learn to handle snakes. Why are they lifted up? Why do we risk the bite of a snake? It is because we live in a world of snakes. It is because we need to learn to tame snakes. In doing so we learn to handle Mayor Daly and the racism of our world. With our eye on the prize we are freed from fear. With our eye on the prize we march against death. With our eye on the prize we can overcome. The prize is lifted up so our eyes will not turn down. The lifting up of the prize removes fear - we are redeemed - we are free - we will overcome some day."
Santana, the rock musician, wrote a song dealing with this reality
"Put Your Lights On"
Hey now, all you sinners
Put your lights on, put your lights on
Hey now, all you lovers
Put your lights on, put your lights on
Hey now, all you killers
Put your lights on, put your lights on
Hey now, all you children
Leave your lights on, you better leave your lights on

Cause there's a monster living under my bed
Whispering in my ear
There's an angel, with a hand on my head
She say I've got nothing to fear

There's a darkness living deep in my soul
I still got a purpose to serve
So let your light shine, deep into my home
God, don't let me lose my nerve
Don't let me lose my nerve

All of this calls us to look at those things that bring terror and pain and face them. We have a resource for that facing in the light of God which shines through us and is found in others. Being blessed,  our vocation is to bless our world. Our call is, don’t act as if God has not redeemed life - salvation has happened - live it!

A Parade of Pilgrims

Palm Sunday
April 17, 2011
Aylmer United Church
Matthew 21: 1-11 Suzanne Sykes
A Parade of Pilgrims
When I lived in Israel,
and when I had a break from working
on the kibbutz in northern Galilee,
I used to travel to Jerusalem
on my days off.
While I was there
I stayed in the Scottish Hospice.
The Scottish hospice was a sanctuary.
A bit of European civilization,
a taste of home,
in the middle of relentless Israeli life.
Every afternoon, precisely at four,
tea was served in the main lounge.
This was a long room
with windows overlooking the valley
to the walls of the old city.
It had a huge fireplace at one end
that was lit with a roaring fire
on chilly winter and spring days.
You could drink English tea
imported from India and Ceylon,
and eat the delicious little cakes
from the Arab Patisserie
in the old city.
It was a time for hospice residents,
visitors to Jerusalem
from around the world,
to meet each other.
Conversation was welcome and lively.
And I met some amazing people,
including our own Dr. Robert McClure.
Hanging on the wall over the fireplace,
dominating the room,
was a large painting of General Allenby,
mounted on his war horse,
entering Jerusalem
through the Jaffa gate,
as so many conquerers
had done before him.
The armies of the Assyrians and Babylonians,
Cyrus of Persia,
Alexander the Great,
General Pompeii of Rome,
Muslim Caliphs and Crusaders,
Ottoman Pashas,
and finally,
in 1917, the British.
All of them had conquered
then claimed the city
through the Jaffa Gate.
Jerusalem had been conquered so many times
that there was a saying:
every conqueror would enter the city,
mounted on a war horse,
through the Jaffa Gate.
So here is this painting,
prominently displayed in the Scottish Hospice
celebrating the most recent foreign victor
in a long line of conquerors.
What does it say about our story?
Pontius Pilate,
governor of Judea in the time of Jesus,
also rode his war horse through this gate.
In Rome, Palestine was known
as a small, troublesome province.
You got sent there as governor
as punishment for some displeasure
you had caused Caesar.
It was not a plum job.
And during Jewish religious festivals
there was always,
always, unrest -
even more unrest than usual.
So the governor had taken to showing a display of force
to pre-empt any thought of uprising.
Accompanied by his legion of soldiers
in full battle gear -
amour, spears and shields -
he rode a white stallion through Jerusalem -
in though one gate and out the opposite.
It was a show of force,
intended to intimidate
and frighten the local population,
and keep them in their place.
So what does Jesus do?
In a mocking parody of the governor,
he rides a donkey,
a lowly beast of burden
in the opposite direction.
He enters through the gate that Pilate exited from
and reverses Pilate's journey.
The action is itself a parable -
a reversal story.
It turns the power of Rome backwards
and mocks it.
It disempowers the Roman military.
and challenges Rome.
It lead to Jesus crucifixion.
Pilate needs a whole legion
to demonstrate his importance
and control.
But Jesus is accompanied by ordinary folk
who wave palms and sing.
Children singing Hosannas
replace the barked orders of generals,
colourful peasant cloaks
flutter in the sunshine
rather than the banners
of the Roman legions.
Waving date palm branches
a symbol of God’s everlasting goodness
and abundance
because it produces fruit all year long.
replaces the bread
thrown at the starving crowd
by their Roman overlords
to pacify them.
It is a visual statement
that it is God who feeds us -
a testament to God’s goodness and care.
Jesus’ power is rooted in relationships of abundance and joy,
in the overwhelming,
everlasting love of God
and in God’s desires
for the good of the world and all its creatures.
Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem,
presents us with a question.
It asks: who will we be
as we enter the holy city,
paradise,
the shalom of God?
Do we come as conquerors -
warriors in the service of some temporal, transient power?
Do we come serving the interests of the powerful
by whatever name they use -
economic recovery,
national security,
personal freedom,
global market economy,
democracy?
Do we come as lords over nature and the poor?
Do we see the natural world
as resources for our use,
merely means to an end?
Do we share the world’s assumptions
about what is good,
true and beautiful?
Or do we come into the city of God,
into God’s kingdom,
joyfully singing songs
of thanks and praise,
confident in the continued care
of our creator.
Do we come as people
whose allegiance is to God
and who march with God’s banner
of love over us.
Do we journey through life
under the shelter of God’s care,
surrounded by God’s desire
for our well being
and the well being of all creation.
Can we answer those questions
with confidence - Yes!
for that is our task as God’s people.
Think again of that portrait of General Allenby
in the Scottish Hospice.
The story goes
that before he actually went into the city
through the Jaffa gate
he got off his horse
and walked.
He entered Jerusalem on foot.
He broke with the tradition of conquerers
and instead
entered the Holy City as a pilgrim.
He came to Jerusalem
in the footsteps of millions of pilgrims
who trod that path before him.
Between the children and the generals,
between Palm Sunday and Good Friday
we walk as pilgrims
on the pilgrim way.
We follow in the footsteps
of the faithful
who travelled this way before us.
We enter the holy city,
that place of celebration and great grief
on foot.
The life of faith is lived
between the celebrations of Palm Sunday
and the unspeakable loss of Good Friday.
Waking as pilgrims
is a metaphor for living the life of faith.
We live with our feet on the ground
connected to the natural world
of God’s creation.
We journey,
eye level with other pilgrims,
seeing their worth as human beings,
loved by God,
no matter their outward state.
We live the life of faith
remembering that God loves
and cares for us,
for everyone,
for all of creation,
and God wants justice and peace,
abundance and joy
for us all.
Amen.

Parades and Crosses

March 28, 2010
St. Paul's - Richmond United Church
Last Sunday in Lent
Palm / Passion Sunday

Luke 19:28-40
Read the Bible passage: Luke 19:28-40, The Message;   or   Luke 19:28-40, The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here: George Hermanson's sermon, for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this post.

The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

Palm Sunday is one of those ironic and iconic festive events. We enjoy the children coming in waving their palms, singing joyful music. As we watch and participate we often rush from the parade to Easter Sunday. We need to see the parade and its outcome - the cross. Why the cross? 

Feeding Our Spiritual Life

March 7, 2010
St. Paul's - Richmond United Church
Third Sunday in Lent

Luke 13:1-9
Read the passage: The Message   or    The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

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The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

Many commentators have said the Olympics created a new sense of ourselves as Canadians. Some have said it worked as religious function, giving us an identity. Those who study the chemistry of the brain suggest that religion gives us sense of calm and awe. Purpose comes out of that inner sense of wellbeing. It is this sense of creating a shared experience that made the Olympics what it was, a form of civil religion.

This suggests a question. What should we give ourselves over to? Is it life affirming and life transforming? In the religious world of Lent, we are asked to examine our lifestyles and values. In the examination of what we commit ourselves to, as a society and as individuals, we are asked to let go of those things that inhibit our collective wellbeing.

You Have To Sing The Blues To Feel The Joy

February 28, 2010
St. Paul's - Richmond United Church
Second Sunday in Lent

Philippians 3:17--4:1
Read the passage: The Message   or    The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

Luke 13:31-35
Read the passage: The Message   or    The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

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The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

Lent is the time in the church year when we practice the spiritual gifts of letting go. They are the gifts particular to this season. The spiritual path we walk in Lent is the path of renunciation, the way of emptying, the way of subtraction. Yet the gifts that the discipline of Lent shows us should never be confused with austerity, impoverishment, or mere denial for the sake of self mastery.

An orientation of self-emptying and renunciation is for the sake of the kingdom of God and its gifts. It’s important to remember that the point of renunciation is not for its own sake, but in order to make room for something else.

One of the ways we achieve the self-emptying is through lament. Lament is weeping over the things that stand in our way of a new way of being. Lament is the moment of tears over the loses we have experienced. Lament is a time of feeling that things will never be the same again.

Times of Testing

February 21, 2010
St. Paul's - Richmond United Church
First Sunday in Lent

Luke 4:1-13
Read the passage: The Message   or    The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

Click here to read Holy Textures background commentary on Luke 4:1-13.

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The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

If you have been watching or reading about the Olympics, a constant narrative is this is a time of testing. All the preparation leads up to a moment or moments where the athlete is tested. The outcome leads to another level of testing, which is character. This is how one deals with winning or losing. We can identify with those moments because there are moments in our experience where testing is hard and we find a strength we did not know we had. As well in those situations we have discovered we were not alone for we came through because of others. This has been a recurring response from the athletes. They acknowledge their skill and those who helped develop it.

Then is another type of testing. This is testing the water before we jump in. We use our insights, past histories, the wisdom of others to prepare ourselves for a new situation. We test out ideas to find those which will lead us in the future. There is provisional nature to this testing, for more than one option is open, and we test all the options to find the best.

Parades and Crosses, Year B, Palm-Passion Sunday

April 5, 2009
Edwards (Knox) United Church
Sixth Sunday of Lent
Palm / Passion Sunday

Mark 11:1-11
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

Mark 14:1-9
Read the passage: The Message   or    The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

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The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

Our passage from Mark begins the Holy Week Journey. We did not read all of Mark’s narrative and so I want to read this from Mark, to join the parade with the outcome of that parade. (Mark 14:1-9)

In many ways we think we know what the narrative means because we hear it every Lent and Easter. Our hymns give us an image of a great parade; yet we forget that old hymn two gates to the city. Mark gave us an narrative about parades that challenged the power of Rome.

Every year, at Passover, the Roman army would come marching in. In the time of Jesus it would be Pilate at the head of the parade. It was a symbol of dominance and oppression. The parade would be full of soldiers and their weapons. It would be full of pomp and circumstance as a warning to the people. Think of those images where the invading army comes in with its might to tell the people they were nobodies. So this parade would not be looked forward to because the people knew it as a warning not to cause trouble during the Passover.

Written On Our Hearts, Year B, Lent 5

March 29, 2009
The United Churches of
Northcote - Haleys - Adamston
Fifth Sunday of Lent

Jeremiah 31:31-34
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

John 12:20-33
Read the passage: The Message   or    The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

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The Rev. Suzanne E. Sykes (George is away this Sunday)

I am kind of intrigued by our culture’s fascination with piercings and tattoos. When you think of it, it is kind of amazing - the willingness of some people to undergo often painful procedures in order to decorate or brand themselves.

A friend just gave in to her daughter’s wish to get her ears pierced - she’s five. I have to confess that I too have pierced ears - but I was 16 when I did it. That makes some kind of sense - if you’re old enough to drive you should be old enough to get your ears pierced.

And I’ve seen lots of women, and some men, who have multiple holes in their lobes for multiple studs and earrings. And it isn’t just ear lobes that get pierced. That seems pretty tame nowadays.

And then there’s tattoos.

The Light Shines In The Darkness, Year B, Lent 4

March 22, 2009
Edwards (Knox) United Church
Fourth Sunday of Lent

Numbers 21:4-9
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

John 3:14-21
Read the passage: The Message   or    The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this post.

The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

One of the childhood fears is the monsters under the bed or hiding in the closet. Some children need a night light so they can sleep with confidence. Other times a parent comes in to shine a light under the bed. It is not just children who have a primal fear of the dark. All horror movies have scenes of ominous movements in the midnight hour. Leaves move and seem to make loud noises. Shadowy figures are just beyond our light.

One of the most important evolutionary moments was the discovery of fire. At night a fire would be lighted and the community gathered around it.  A sense of security would come. We still have that feeling when we camp, the comfort of the fire in the dark night.

In a vision quest, one of the disciplines is to go out into the woods without light. I have done this and the night gets nosier and stranger. One has to learn to embrace the night and the dread that is there. Metaphorically one has to shine a light on the fear.

Sabbath Time

March 15, 2009
Edwards (Knox) United Church
Third Sunday of Lent

Exodus 20:1-17
Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

John 2:13-22
Read the passage: The Message   or    The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

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The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson

Thomas Long tells a great story about the Ten Commandments. There is a monument of the Commandments that used to be in the Alabama Supreme Courthouse. It weighs 5,280 pounds. And, as Long points out, that works out to about 500 pounds per Commandment. Pretty weighty. And this hefty boulder gets lugged around from one public appearance to another on a flatbed truck. It is moved on and off the truck with a crane - a 57 foot, yellow, I-beam crane. What caught me in the story was this: the monster crane visibly buckles under the weight of moving this immense piece of engraved rock back and forth, on and off the truck.

Now all of that kind of spoke to me about how the Ten Commandments can feel in our lives - like a rock - a boulder so immense, inert, that we stoop under its weight. The Ten Commandments lie there like an immovable force and make their demands.

It is clear that Moses and God thought that the giving of the Ten Commandments was a momentous, liberating, identity forming, relationship-building event in the life of this new community of newly liberated captives. How were the Ten Commandments seen as life giving, liberating, invigorating?