I am glad to say that God is in an entirely different ‘class’ than any of us humans. When He makes promises to us His people, He is not only ‘bound’ (by His own nature) to carry them out and knows all possible circumstances and eventualities and can take them into account, but also has the power to fulfil them. That means that He can always be trusted. When so much else in life can (and will) let us down at some point or other, it is good to know that this will never happen with God. And so, we can be quite confident and at ease when we entrust Him with our lives.

Here’s a question, a challenging one for all of us: when we plan out our day, do we consciously ask God what His plans are for us that day? I ask that, because, if you are like me, I simply jot down a ‘to-do’ list of things that need to be done--and that, without consciously or deliberately asking God whether this is what He wants or not. I say that because we are ‘supposed’ to be travelling with Him and doing what He wants rather than just the other way around. Anyway, I ask these questions as a way of getting all of us to think about this.

One of my former neighbours, an ardent Ukrainian Catholic, once remarked to me that what the church always needs is a bunch of new converts, people who remember all too vividly what it was like to be without Christ. She asserted that far too many of us can’t remember that far back--or don’t even remember a time that they did not know and follow Christ. So, she suggested, hearing this good news about what God can and does do in a person’s life would be good for all of us.

In today’s psalm we hear something of that, which serve as a great reminder to relook at our own lives, consider what difference Christ has made, and then to celebrate and thank Him for it.

When Moses speaks of ‘stiff-necked people’, he’s not talking about people who have to wear neck braces. He’s talking about stubbornness, which, sad to say, runs rampant in pretty well all of us. Our reading from Ezekiel speaks about stubborn people, but in two senses. One sense is about the listener, people who refuse to listen and take it and change, which amounts to most of us at some or other. The other sense is about the prophet, who is to be hard-headed, consistent and reliable in saying and doing exactly what God wants. Maybe a bit more of that kind of hard-headedness is what God wants from all of us.

People probably wonder about their clergy at times, especially on those occasions when they seem to ‘stumble’ in the liturgy or seem to pause for no apparent reason--especially if it seems sustained. I can’t answer for anyone else, but I can testify to the fact that sometimes this happens because the liturgy (which basically means God) has spoken to the priest in some remarkable and unusual way.

This happened to me once during the BCP (1959) service of Holy Communion. I was partway through reciting the Prayer of Consecration on page 82. Just a few lines into that prayer it reads, “who of thy tender mercy didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to take our nature about him, and suffer death upon the Cross for our redemption; who made there, by his one oblation of himself once offered, a full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world...”.

What struck me, yes, literally speechless, was two things--firstly that Jesus had truly taken our nature, all of it, upon Himself. That means that there is nothing we experience, nothing we go through, nothing that we are tempted with, that He has not already been part of. So, He truly understands. And, then, secondly, that He has dealt with all of it, all of our sin and failings and weaknesses, once for all, upon the Cross. A full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction with nothing left out.

So all that means that He is a Saviour like none other, someone who not only understands, but also acts. A fully sufficient, fully adequate Saviour, one that we can certainly put our trust in.

Sometimes avoidance is the name of the game for us humans, including, sad to say, us Christians. What I mean by saying this is that sometimes we get hung-up on some minor, relatively unimportant point or issue in God’s word or commandments, and avoid dealing with and acting upon what is relatively straightforward and unambiguous. A point in question is the Ascension, which we celebrate today. Some people get all ‘hot and bothered’ about it, and fail to remember the more important fact, namely that we have been given a job to do--and along with it, the power to carry out that job. We are to show Jesus to the world by word and example, and so we should give ourselves whole-heartedly, and not worry about ’the little stuff.’

I happen to think that worrying is one of the worst, and most frequent, habits that ‘infest’ us human beings. And yet it is so very unproductive. My mother was a tried and true worrier, and with my brother and I, there was good reason. But pretty well all of her worries were for nothing. What she worried about not only did not happen, but was far out of the range of ‘ever’ happening. And isn’t that often the case.

The antidote to this is trusting more fully in God, which comes from knowing Him more fully and deeply, but that isn’t achieved overnight. But maybe that could be our resolve in this special Easter season--to draw closer to God and come to know Him more fully.

Wouldn’t it be nice if life was one continuous ‘bed of roses’, all sweetness and light and no problems or issues? At least, that is what I like to tell myself. But that isn’t what life is about, what it is like. We all face problems and difficulties from time to time--and sometimes more often--whether we like it or not. It seems to be a fact of life.

And seemingly also as a fact of life is our wonderment at where God is in all this. Quite naturally, when everything is going badly, we can wonder if God is absent or has withdrawn His love and support. It is easy to doubt God at such times.

But know this: God is never absent. After all, one of Jesus’ titles is Emmanuel, God with us. He is most surely with us, just as the sun is with us even when obscured by heavy cloud. Surely, the ‘clouds’ are temporary and we will once again ‘see' and experience God’s presence and trust. For now, all we can do is trust Him and His love and continue the way He has set before us.

Today’s account of St. Paul’s encounter with the Greek philosophers in Athens has long intrigued me, but even more so after standing on the very spot, the very rock, where Paul would have faced off with these learned and erudite folks. The hill--which now can barely even be called a hill--is a barely known or observable nub of rock just slightly north of the much more famous Acropolis. In the Biblical account it is called the Areopagus (Mars Hill in English) and was much more prominent in Paul’s time. In fact, it was occupied by an important building.

What was especially memorable for me is that I was able to stand on that very spot when I was in Athens and imagine myself preaching to that same lot of enquirers. But, I was quite sure that I wouldn’t have done even as well as Paul. We all have ups and downs: such is life. But, nevertheless, that doesn’t stop us from needing to share the Gospel, whether by word or by deed. It is something that all of us need to be engaged in, no matter who we are.

One of the surprising learnings that I took away from the Camino, the Way of St. James in northern Spain. was one simple thing. I had embarked on this pilgrimage with a whole list of things that I anticipated that God might want to deal with me about. Guess what? He ignored the entire list. His one and only message consisted of just two words, ‘trust me.’ In other words, don’t think about or much less worry about the future, just trust me moment by moment and let me take care of the rest.

That, sort of, is the message of today’s psalm and meditation as well. Trust God for our direction and protection, let Him have His way, and leave the rest to Him. Easier said than done, but that’s it.

Today’s Scripture passage on Jesus’ two miraculous deeds on one day, Jairus’ daughter and the woman plagued with insistent bleeding certainly call into question my own lack of faith, a lack of faith both with regards to the ‘big’ matters of life and also with regards to the little things. I’m afraid that I’m like another man in the gospels who said to Jesus, ‘Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). So, maybe this particular passage will inspire me--and all of us--to have more faith.

Today’s Scripture, from the Apocrypha--not found in most Bibles--touches on the issue of idolatry. And while this entire idea may seem to be totally irrelevant to us today, the tendency to put our trust or reliance in physical, observable things--whether they be people or objects--is still very much with us. Indeed, would I be remiss in saying that we often turn to these things for help, or for support and security, long before we turn to God? I suspect that this may well be true. Anyway, something to think about.

Sorry for taking so long to send this out (had to travel to Edmonton and back today). Today’s meditation touches on something we all know all too well--the unexpected. The good news is that it is of no surprise to God, and not too big or difficult either. What is more is that He is always there, and always ready and able to help, if only we will let Him.

One of the most insistent and dangerous lies of the enemy of our souls is that we don’t really have choices in life, or that those choices don’t matter. Both of those are outright lies. Even though we may not always have ‘big’, seemingly world-changing or altering choices, we do have lots of individual, incremental and daily ones. All of us have been endowed by the Almighty with singular and unique gifts, gifts of ability or interests or experience that no one else on earth has in exactly the same way that you do. That means that using them will be of incredible benefit to those around us for no one else can have the impact that you do. And likewise, with the choices that we have within the realm of our own individual freedoms are likewise quite unique and individual. Each of us has a constellation of contacts, people we meet up with, that is unlike any other person. And so, what we do and say is crucial.

One of the baptismal questions that we are asked in our baptismal service (BAS p. 154) is ‘do you put your whole trust in his grace and love?’ I think that many--or most--of us, if truly honest, would have to say, ‘Sort of’ or ‘Sometimes’ or ‘Yes, but’, or something of the sort. Seldom do we put our full and unqualified trust in God, preferring, instead, to use God as ‘a last resort’ and trust in other things first. I suspect that most of us will trust in ourselves, our family and friends, the latest news or scientific developments, or church or government, before we put our full and complete trust in God. (Not, by the way, to say that none of these fore-mentioned things are not to be consulted!). But, how often are we, like David in our psalm, at our wit's end, running out of options, and forced to rely on God and on God alone? Anyway, it is something to ponder--and pray about.

Today’s passage and meditation touch on a rather crucial subject, namely our foundations and how we build upon them. What this put me in mind of was that perhaps I, and each of us, should preface everything we do or say with two questions:

a) number one: in this word or action, am I truly building upon Jesus, basing it on Jesus, or am I building it on something else, things perhaps like our own ideas or prejudices, or our own agenda, or our own comfort zone, or our own pride?

b) and number two: is this word or action calculated to build up the church and its people, to strengthen and empower them, or potentially to harm or hurt them or render them less effective and healthy as follow members--and builders--of the church?

My guess is that far too often we say and do things without thinking--almost as a reflect action--without considering what impact they might have on others and on the church as a whole. And, when you think that the church--and each and every part of it, each and every member--is so vital and important that Christ died for them, it makes our treatment of them all the more important.

To be quite honest, folks, when I initially took on the Christian faith--or more accurately, Christ Jesus--as an adult, I found the Christian life and all that it encompassed, to be quite daunting, and really, quite impossible. My record ‘up at bat’ (to use a baseball analogy) was more characterizes with strike outs than with runs--much less home runs! In fact, my attempts left me quite frustrated and quite depressed. I did not realize that what I was attempting was--quite frankly--impossible. I was trying to live like Christ, without the power, the power of the Spirit, that He possessed and that animated and empowered His life.

It was not until I discovered the reality of that same Spirit, the presence and the power that He alone can give, that I experienced anything by way of a change. I found that I was much more ready, and much more able, to carry out the duties and be that kind of person that Paul describes in today’s passage. Today’s little spiel is much too short to go into my discoveries of what the Spirit meant to me, but I would be quite happy to share more of that with anyone who is interested.

I have a surprise for you today, not one but two meditations. It comes about from the fact that I misread my devotional guide today, a guide put out by the Forward Movement in the United States. Whatever Scripture the day’s author chooses is normally the one that I use for my meditation. This way I can’t give in to the guilty pleasure--or bad habit--of just choosing passages or themes that I particularly like but have to sometimes subject myself to passages that I would never choose, not in a million years.

Well, today the selected passage was Psalm 40, but I didn’t ready the page correctly and got Psalm 50. It wasn’t until later that I realized that it should have been something else, so I ended up reading and meditating on both of them.

Both of the passages have a curious interconnection, namely how we are to please God. Psalm 40 talks about us trusting God with our needs and actions, and obeying Him, and Psalm 50 suggests that we put this trust and obedience into practice by giving God thanks. Indeed, as the apostle Paul was to say later on in Philippians (Philippians 4:6) what better way is there to express our trust in God than thanking Him even before we see the results.

I have a surprise for you today, not one but two meditations. It comes about from the fact that I misread my devotional guide today, a guide put out by the Forward Movement in the United States. Whatever Scripture the day’s author chooses is normally the one that I use for my meditation. This way I can’t give in to the guilty pleasure--or bad habit--of just choosing passages or themes that I particularly like but have to sometimes subject myself to passages that I would never choose, not in a million years.

Well, today the selected passage was Psalm 40, but I didn’t ready the page correctly and got Psalm 50. It wasn’t until later that I realized that it should have been something else, so I ended up reading and meditating on both of them.

Both of the passages have a curious interconnection, namely how we are to please God. Psalm 40 talks about us trusting God with our needs and actions, and obeying Him, and Psalm 50 suggests that we put this trust and obedience into practice by giving God thanks. Indeed, as the apostle Paul was to say later on in Philippians (Philippians 4:6) what better way is there to express our trust in God than thanking Him even before we see the results.

Today’s Scripture and meditation raise some very important questions, namely how we view life and reality--in other words, how we see. Even among people of faith how people view things can vary widely--just consider the varied views on Covid, or on government and government regulations, or on medical advice and information, or on the press and social media, or on pretty well anything. And that isn’t even touching on the really contentious issues like gender or race or sexual orientation.

Anglicans have typically looked to three things as a basis for authority, Scripture, tradition and reason, with Scripture being primary. But, even here, we can have issues, for not everyone interprets Scripture similarly or takes the same ‘lessons’ from tradition or reason. I think that I can truthfully say that probably most of us, myself included, tend to rely on or turn to sources that apply these authorities in the same way that we do. We tend to turn to sources we agree with and shy away with ones we don’t.

So, all of this incredibly affects the way that we see. In my meditation I suggested some ways that we might counter these tendencies. I guess, when it comes down to it, we just have to take a humble attitude, recognizing that we don’t have a stranglehold on the truth and being willing to listen, and take seriously, what other people have to say. Not very definitive. Sorry.