Reed Fleming

As I was thinking/praying about what to do with our Over Comers group this week a quote from somewhere popped into my head “I can resist anything but temptation.” I don’t know who said it but in my head it sounded like that great philosopher Groucho Marx. When we got to the meeting during our initial time of reconnecting, J. said “You know I realised today that every temptation begins with a thought.” We picked up the conversation and talked for a long time about temptation first coming as a single thought. We all saw how much easier life would be if we stopped that one thought in its tracks before it took on a momentum and a life of its own. We looked at King David who first noticed Bathsheba bathing. He had the thought “She is beautiful.” That thought began a train of lustful and evil thoughts which untamed led the great King to adultery, murder, the death of his child, and unending family strife.

We asked if it was possible to extinguish that thought immediately (this is becoming a favourite word of mine as I study the Gospel of Mark). We remembered Luke 1:37 “For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Paul’s admonition  to “… take every thought captive” This all ended up in a study of the Armor of God as a means by which God enables us to take thoughts captive and deal with temptation immediately.

You will note that the six pieces of armor are divided into two groups. The first three pieces are mentioned in a past tense “having put on”. We are not so much called to do something with these as to recall that they are ours by virtue of our relationship with God through our Saviour, Jesus. The truth that we are God’s beloved children, that we are free and forgiven is protection against any lying temptation. One of the guy’s said, “So when temptation comes knocking I should let Jesus answer the door!”

The second division of armour has to do with our active (junior) partnership with God in meeting temptation. By faith we say to the lie “That may have been true once but now I am a child of God, I find my value in Him and one day I will live with Him forever. If I do this immediately the flaming arrows are extinguished quickly and there is no inferno. It sounds simple and it is! This does not mean that it is easy though. It calls us to a level vigilance beyond what we are currently exercising. Like most simple things we simply must rely on God! This is why prayer is so important and prayer for each other so vital.

We realized that we had an advantage because we have a group of people that we can share honestly with and so we have natural prayer support. I am so glad to belong to a group like this that is serious about finding freedom and supporting one another.

On another note I see that our drop in is becoming a more peaceful place and several times a day I have the opportunity to engage in deeper conversations about important and often eternal matters. I was thinking the other day how blessed I am with such conversations. I have lots of friends whose ministry is with traditional churches and they have these invigorating conversations much less than I do. I mentioned this to one of my friends and he said that at least he isn’t faced with the hopelessness that I see daily. I suggested that “the hopelessness I meet is indeed visible but is there really that much less despair in the suburban church he pastors?”

This week I had the chance to engage in a conference call with some other Threshold members. We had a good time of sharing and support, over the miles. I am indeed blessed.

This week, at the Community chapel, I had a great conversation with M. He had just read about the calling of Levi the tax collector. He was amazed that a guy would just walk away from a profitable business and follow Jesus. M. is extremely excited about following Jesus. In his past he spent over 25 years behind bars. I explained to him that the Jews of that day saw the Romans much as an inmate sees the guards (the word we used was “Screws”) and that Levi would have been viewed like a “Rat” who collaborated with the oppressors. A “Rat” is not liked or respected by either group, in fact he would be despised by just about everyone. This was Levi’s lot. He was among the lowest of the low in that culture. So Jesus’ offer of a fresh start following him was the best offer Levi ever had heard. It is no wonder he left his old way to walk in a totally new way. This was an answer to the unspoken cry of Levi’s heart. M. teared up as he realised how much forgiveness and love Jesus had for Levi and by extension how much love he offered him.

For Levi (Matthew) and M. following Jesus is a radically wonderful thing. Wonderful because of the life and love that Jesus brings and radical because that love changes everything for the good! Jesus followers at our Chapel know that it is a radical thing to follow Jesus in a way that most of my “church” friends do not. We of “church world” are poorer for this lack. We can, we think, follow Jesus without abandoning all that much of our old life. Levi and my friend M. remind us that following Jesus is more wonderfully radical than that! “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”

This week I went to Westmorland Institution and visited eight guys who hope to be released to our area sometime in future. It was good to make connections with them. I think it takes a bit of the fear out of it for them and we will connect again immediately upon their arrival.

Our Community Chaplaincy Board will be doing some fundraising for the ministry soon. I am starting to visit folks to chat about our financial need. This is not my favourite part of the ministry but I know it is necessary. A friend Ed Coleman is a well-known local artist (Google him!) and he has painted a cityscape with our Chapel in the foreground. In the near future we will be auctioning it off.

I have a new role model for ministry, Monsignor Bienvenu. I have been familiar with Victor Hugo’s Miserables for years but I am finally beginning to read it. I have fallen for the character the Bishop. Hugo writes of him “He respected learned men greatly; he respected the ignorant still more and, without ever failing in these two respects, he watered his flower-beds every summer evening with a tin watering-pot painted green.” In that sentence I picture a man who has a love for: orthodoxy (a commitment to ‘right understanding), orthopathy (a commitment to right relationships) and orthopraxy (a commitment to right practice). This strikes me as the balance I need in my life, if I am to successfully follow Jesus. All of these ortho-virtues are humble virtues. Pride it seems is the great enemy of fruitfulness.

James writes about the power of the tongue and compares it to a spark that sets a huge blaze or a small rudder which turns a great ship. There is power in littleness dedicated to God. As I contemplate my relatively new ministry as Community Chaplain I have an image of where I am called to lead it. I am tempted sometimes to come in like a dictator and by dint of brawn and will impose this vision but Victor Hugo and God remind me that my power to change things relies in being a small rudder rather than an oarsman. I need to constantly remind myself that I am in this for the long haul and that over time the tiny rudder has more effect than a fatigued burnt-out rower could ever hope see.

This attitude requires constant attention for I am my own worst enemy. Here to the Bishop is helpful. He says “Let us never fear robbers nor murders. Those are dangers without, petty dangers. Let us fear ourselves. Prejudices are real robbers, vices are the real murderers. The great dangers lie within ourselves. What matters is what threatens our head or our purse? Let us think only of that which threatens our souls.”  Of course Jesus tells us “What does it profit a man to gain the world and lose his own soul?”

I admit that I can be an introspective person (that is probably why I enjoy the discipline of writing a weekly blog.) but I am more and more convinced that such introspection guided by the Holy Spirit is key to fruitful life. It is in this kind of, dare I say Examen, that we find ourselves firmly attached to the vine (Jesus). Abiding in Him without examination of self is tenuous at best and so cannot be fruitful.

God always has the end in mind. People who only look at the ‘now’ question his wisdom but time is moving toward an end that He alone knows. I too want to work from an end and as a small rudder set a course to get there. I may have to do a lot of tacking on the way but I feel the winds of God today!

Quite a few years ago I was asked to speak on the topic of “Metanoia”.  I have often bragged that I know a little Greek but I don’t always say that he lives on the Danforth in Toronto. Needless to say I had to do a bit of research to find out that Metanoia is a change of heart. The youngest son in the story of the Prodigal Father is a prime illustration of this kind of change of heart.

I meet people all the time who are remorseful. They make and continue to make poor choices. Some of these choices hurt others and all of them hurt my friends. The day after going out on a ‘bender’ or after a bitter fight with a spouse, these folks are tearfully remorseful. I feel sorry for them and commiserate because I know what it is to make poor choices and to have to live with the consequences, but my empathy does not lastingly benefit anyone. Remorse alone is a club with which we beat ourselves unless it leads us on to repentance or metanoia.

This week I had a conversation with a fellow who was in tears. “Why do I never learn?” he asked. He has felt this deep remorse many times before. He was beating himself and I really didn’t want to pile on at that moment. We chatted and prayed that day but the next day I had opportunity to say “You know that question you asked me yesterday about why you never learn?” and we went on to have a conversation about a change of heart that comes from deep repentance. He has a real uphill battle because his apologies and attempts to make amends are viewed quite sceptically. As we meet together we pray and cling to the promises of God. We know that we need to take a long view and not be discouraged by the difficult road in the immediate.

On a personal note, we now have one wedding down with one to go. It was great occasion. For me the best moment was watching my son as he watched his bride come down the aisle. Seeing him reminded me of seeing Linda come down the aisle. I remember thinking that there is nothing I wouldn’t do for her. Unfortunately that was a fleeting resolution because, as my Dad used to say “You could almost write a book” about things I failed to do for her since. But as David looked at Victoria I revisited that moment and gave thanks that though I fall so short of the ideal of love, Jesus totally fulfilled this ‘law of love’. There seem to be a lot of apocalyptic predictions for 2012 but if we can hold onto this unfailing love I believe it can be a great year. I pray it will be for you!

<>< Reed

This Christmas we worked hard at not being consumed by consumerism. I think we did rather well on that score. I was feeling a bit spiritually smug until I went to a Christmas Eve service and the preacher spoke on Luke 2:41 – 52. It was not a typical Christmas text for it is about Jesus’ visit to the temple at age 12. It was about how in the business of family and friends and activity, that his family lost track of Jesus. I vaguely remember being left behind at my grandparents by my mom and dad. They had the excuse of having to hustle a big family into a little family car. In all the hub bub of getting packed up they drove all the way home without me. I know what MacAuley Culkin felt like! But just earlier in the chapter (though 12 years before) they had intimate knowledge of who Jesus was and their sacred role in redemption’s story. Yet some how they misplaced the Saviour. It made me smile to recognize what fallible characters inhabit the pages of scripture. How could they so easily forget? But I soon found myself smiling at my own penchant for spiritual amnesia. I had not been spending money but I had been spending a lot of time and effort on Christmas activities. I have a responsibility to feed a lot of people each week and to try and provide a festive time for them. This is a duty I love and willingly undertake. It is a task I do out of love for Jesus. But in the midst of Christmas dinners and Christmas brunches and a whole host of very good activities I found myself having forgotten to be with Jesus. Now I cut myself all sorts of slack for good deeds and good intentions. I even give myself credit for being preoccupied with weddings (one of which happens tonight). But good deeds and good intentions and even family celebrations are no excuse for misplacing our saviour.
Jesus’ parents rushed back and found the misplaced Saviour. He welcomed their return but it made it clear that, after all it was not he who was misplaced but it was them. I am glad that I can rush back to a forgiving Saviour who was never really misplaced and be restored to the intimate fellowship for which I was created.
All this goes to show how easy it is to become distracted but how simple it is to return! I’m grateful.
David (our son) gets married tonight to a woman he simply adores. I’m looking forward to the celebration with family and friends. I am so pleased that he and Victoria know Jesus and are determined not to misplace Him in their lives.
Have blessed New Year with Jesus in the proper place in your life.
<>< Reed

I have to admit I love the schmaltzy movies that are on this time of year. “It’s a Wonderful Life” is a particular favourite. From it we learn the influence one person has on the community, and the world. The world is a much poorer place without the good hearted George Bailey. Likewise, “A Christmas Carol” illustrates the influence of one life poorly lived. Mr. Scrooge was in danger of leaving the world a much poorer place unless he changes his ways.

I meet people all the time who are looking for significance in life, and I realise that significance is not something we acquire, like so many Christmas gifts. It is ours already through God’s design. We, quite simply, affect others! This is built in by our Creator.

Last week I opined a bit about the Incarnation and, as it is the season, I continue with these thoughts. Jesus pitched his tent among us (moved into the neighbourhood) and “we beheld His glory.” This was what Philippians 2 describes, Jesus’ descent into greatness. This one life lived well before the Father has an incalculable influence on the world and eternity.

I don’t want to be like Scrooge (at least in the first part of the movie) and I don’t even want to be like George (a mostly admirable character). No I want to be like Jesus! His humility is, I think, a key quality to emulate. He humbled himself to becoming a single cell in a virgin’s womb, to be laid in a manger wrapped in cloths, and on and on the humility goes.

I believe that it is in this kind of humility that we should live and that not despite but because of humility we have great significance.

Most days I get to spend a few moments with R. He was a successful architect who developed a debilitating mental illness. He suffers from other health issues. R. is the most generous guy I know. He is always quietly helping others. He is one of my greatest encouragers. His is a difficult life well lived.

My Christmas prayer for each of us is that we receive the gift of humility and so follow Jesus example of descent into greatness. May the humble birth of “the Word made flesh” be our model and inspiration so that we too may live lives of true significance.

Jesus spent time with people. That is a simple and profound truth. The incarnation is about Jesus spending time with people. His God-given nickname Emmanuel illustrates this “God with us”. Jesus spent time with the multitudes. Jesus spent time in the synagogues and the Temple with religious leaders. Jesus spent time with sinners. Jesus spent time with His disciples. Jesus spent time with an inner circle (Peter, James and John). He did not spend equal time with all people. His ministry shows his priorities. He got in a lot of hot water for spending time with sinners and this seems to be a priority in his ministry, but the biggest chunk of Jesus’ time is spent with his disciples and particularly that inner circle.

I am spending a lot of time with people. I hang out with ‘the sinners” quite a bit. I feel quite at home in this group. A lot of this time is spent in the crowds with only moments of personal interaction taking place as ‘grace opportunities’ happen. This week though I have had some great chances for deep one on one conversations. We are experiencing a bus strike here, which disproportionally affects the poor. T. needed a break from a distressing domestic situation so I gave her a drive to her daughters. P. needed to go to the hospital in Moncton for brain surgery and I drove her.  M. is a prodigal story. She hadn’t been home for years. I had the chance to drive her to her mother’s where she will see her favourite aunt she hasn’t seen in years. In each case we shared deeply with one another in ways we just can’t in the crowds. I spent hours with these three wonderful characters instead of spending that time with the multitudes at our drop in at chaplaincy. This week confirmed to me what I had been thinking for some time, that spending time in small groups or one on one must be my priority. This is why “Over Comers” is one of my favourite times of the week. We are a smaller group who are serious about following hard after Jesus and discovering the wholeness that comes from Him alone. We are blessed with a wonderful team of volunteers so that the ministry with the crowds can happen without me, for the most part. In the new year I’ll be seeking more and more opportunities for this type of ministry.

We are celebrating the Incarnation this year with Up Town’s 2^nd Annual Christmas Day Brunch. We mark Jesus’ coming to spend time (dwell among us) by spending time with those for whom there is no room in the inn. I am grateful to Stone Church family who are letting us use the hall even while they will be having their Sunday Service at the same time, in the sanctuary.

Tonight we have a local fiddle group preforming at our drop in. They will be doing a Christmas set. The ladies from All Saints Church are bringing the lunch. A generous donor has provided resources for our Up Town Church family dinner. We usually have stew (Merry Christmas Stew You) but this year we will have pizza delivered. This is a real treat for a group who get a bit tired of Turkey this time of year but rarely have pizza.

I’m sorry I missed last week. I had a touch of flu but I am much better now. Have a blessed Christmas time. <>< Reed

I was saying to friends yesterday “This is the day I have been waiting for, for 27 years!” Yesterday was moving day for my son. He is getting married at the end of the month and is moving into the apartment. It is not that I am overjoyed that he is moving, though I have plans for the space. My joy is in seeing David launching out on his own unique journey. He is the very definition of a gentleman. He loves his work and is good at it. He has in the last year or so found a level of physical health that he hasn’t experienced in a long time. Pride isn’t always a sin and I am very proud of David. As a parent my goal was always that he grow up to be an independent person of God and yesterday was another landmark. I can say, to quote George Bush, “Mission accomplished!” It is a good feeling.

I have also been experiencing a sense of melancholy because I have never and will never experience these same emotions with our son Jamie. Jamie died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome 29 years ago. I miss him still. It seems that many glad occasions are tinged with a sense of loss. I expect to carry this hurting heart until Jesus comes or I go to Him.

This is the meaning of Advent to me. Advent is the season for people like me, and like you I expect, who have hurting hearts. They ache but they can ache with a real sense of hope, because the Kingdom of God will one day be experienced, by us, in its fullness. Advent calls the hurting heart to look up. We long for that time when the burdens we find so heavy will roll away like Pilgrim’s. Advent is the season when our hurting hearts turn toward Home.

Now we see as through a glass darkly but then…. Ah the joy.

We can so easily miss the hope filled anticipation of this season as we hurry toward Christmas but we do so at our own loss.

As a parent I will experience thousands more joy filled moments but my hurting heart longs for the “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” which accompanies His advent.

These days I meet a lot of very interesting people. One fellow came up to me this week to introduce himself as the Anti-Christ. Not long into our discussion, it was plain to see that rather than being the ultimate victimizer of humanity he was a tragic victim of mental illness and the callousness of the world system. Afterwards someone else who listened to our exchange asked me, “What is the Anti-Christ?”. We had an interesting discussion and I look forward to follow up conversations.

I believe I saw the face of the Anti-Christ on this morning’s news as they showed crowds celebrating Thanksgiving by camping in front of malls and rushing in to spend and spend and spend! This is thanksgiving at the altar of materialism. The economy was recently ravaged by unbridled greed but past lessons about the cost of worshipping the idol of materialism, go unheeded.

We in the west hold capitalism in such high regard that it can eclipse our view of God. This  truth is exceedingly evident in these lead up days to Christmas (a month away at this writing I’m not sure how many shopping days that is , probably 30). I do not want to rail against those who do not know Jesus for judgement ought to start with the household of God. Does our witness show the all surpassing abundance that comes from being in Christ? Or does it get severely mingled with a heavy dose of materialism? Does our bending the knee to materialism give the message that Christ is not sufficient?

Several years ago my daughter was taking a mission trip to Mexico. We decided to scale back our already modest spending and contribute toward this trip. We entitled it “Have Yourself a Mariachi Christmas”. We made things and wrote things and preformed things for Christmas. It was a lot of fun and this fun flowed from the abundance we have in Jesus.

Since that time we have managed to buy chickens, goats and once even a water buffalo (everybody wants a water buffalo) for families in India. We do this in defiance of the Anti-Christ, this god of materialism, and as sign that God is sufficient.

Since we became attached to Up Town and lately Community Chaplaincy we have opportunity every day to live generously rather than materialistically. I am becoming known for never having any cash and so my generosity cannot be material in nature but must instead be relational generosity. This type of relational generosity, witnesses to the wealth that we have in relationship with Jesus.

I do not want to be the prophet of the Grinch and steal Christmas but instead I want to advocate for a relational generosity in the Spirit of the Christ of Christmas. It is a battle but a battle worth waging and a witness worth living. It is our way of saying to the world that there is another and better way.

Be good.

I have been doing a lot of thinking (meditating) on Luke 4:18 – 19

 “God’s Spirit is on me; he’s chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor, Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind. To set the burdened and battered free, to announce, “This is God’s year to act!” (The Message)

I believe this was Jesus’ mission statement.  I have had this conviction for a long time but I come to it with a renewed sense of passion. The context for these words of Jesus is that He has been baptized as a symbol of death to self and the self-willed life and a rising to a life of obedience to the Father empowered by the Holy Spirit. To me this is a preview of Gethsemane when Jesus reaffirms his ‘obedience unto death’ (Philippians 2: 8). Jesus invites me ‘to take up my cross and follow him’, so this mission statement must be mine, as well.

Having been thus baptized Jesus is anointed with the Holy Spirit and God acknowledges Him as His beloved Son with whom He is well pleased. Immediately this anointing is put to the test, not for the last time, and the Anointed One (Messiah) returns victorious from the Desert of Temptation. He proceeds to His local synagogue and reads the above passage explaining that the anointing He has received is for this purpose, that these words are fulfilled in Him that day.

I am drawn to the last sentence of this statement “This is God’s year to act!” God is on the move. Most translations say “the year of the Lord’s favour”, which shows me that we are currently in the time when God is on our side. He is in our corner. It is not His will that any should perish. This last line summarises the preceding lines about the poor, captive, blind and oppressed, for the good news to each category is that God is actively on our side.

Too often we can complicate the good news and fill it with all sorts of religious content but the simple good news is that Jesus has demonstrated that God is actively on our side. In Romans 8:31 Paul writes “With God on our side like this, how can we lose?” (The Message). So the good news to all ‘the losers’: the poor, the prisoner, the blind, burdened and battered, is that God is on our side and so we are not losers at all. The great danger is to think, in our own self-sufficiency, that we are okay without the active intervention of God, and so miss out on the active favour of God.

For many in the liturgical church we approach “Christ the King Sunday” which reminds us that our chief allegiance is to Jesus before nation, family, or race. We show this allegiance only when we follow in His way. “Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that we should walk in His way.” (1 Peter 2:21)

I want to spend my life sharing and living this simply good news. It is at once simple and yet impossible apart from the baptism into His death and the anointing of the Holy Spirit for life in Jesus.