Miracles Open Our Eyes to Supernatural Truth (Epiphany 2, Year C)

The Gospel story of the Wedding at Cana is an Epiphany moment for the Disciples. They suddenly realize the meaning of Jesus miraculous powers. We are all skeptics of what people say. As the person about to be elected Pope in the movie The Conclave says – “The Church is not about tradition, the Church is about what you do next.” Jesus sacrificed His personal peace / safety by saving a bridegroom from disgrace and revealed His divinity. Miracles open our eyes to supernatural truth

 

1. A Dangerous secret is revealed at Cana

This Life Is a Training Game (Proper 28)

(Proper 28 2024 Fr. John)

 

We are nearing the end of the season of Pentecost which is about the work of the Holy Spirit guiding us in our lives. Jesus is dealing with the question of “what must I do to inherit eternal life”. Jesus tells him to obey the commandments. He has – but one thing he lacks. He has not really died to his old way of life by giving up his great wealth. He is not “all in”. Not totally dependent on God. The readings help us understand spiritual testing and divine judgement.

 

1.     This Life is a Training Game

Witnesses To the Resurrection (Easter 7B)

The Readings begin with the choosing of Matthias as a witness who has been with Jesus from the beginning. The First letter of John explains the importance of the testimony of God as a reliable witness who must be trusted. The Gospel Reading (John 17.6-11) is Jesus’ prayer for the Apostles protection as they go out into the world as witness to the Resurrection.

 

1. Witnesses Know Something Important and Special

Life Through Death Is the Paradox of Christianity (Lent 5)

 A paradox is when a statement that seems to contradict itself is in fact a profound truth. To understand the profound truth of Jesus teaching we need to examine it in the context of both Biblical Prophecy and the dramatic events preceding the teaching. Jeremiah had prophesied that God would establish a new and different covenant with Israel. The Gospel Reading follows the stories of the Raising of Lazarus from death. This gives us hope that we will also be raised from death if we give up our lives in obeying Jesus and serving our neighbour. 

1. Jeremiah prophesied a New Covenant

Jesus is Our Light in the Darkness (Christmas Eve, Year B)

The Readings teach us how to cope with the spiritual darkness around us by following Jesus example if being a light in the darkness. We don’t see a lot of happy faces around us. The snowflake generation is in rebellion against God, confused and lost in materialism, drugs, alcohol and depression. The Good news is that we have hope and joy. Jesus has come to save us from this fallen world and guide us into an eternal life of joy that has already started and can only get better.

 

        1. Light Exposes the Darkness

Forgiveness Gives Us New Life in-Christ (Proper 10A)

Abram is called to leave his family and old way of life, go on a long and dangerous journey and put his whole trust in God. In baptism we are asked “Do you put your whole trust in Jesus love and grace?”God desires an exclusive love relationship with us. In the Romans Reading (4.13-25) Paul reminds us that Abraham was given a new name and honoured for his faith in God. In Matthew (9.9-13, 18-26) challenges the Pharisees that “God desires mercy not sacrifice.”. He goes out to model this by healing and giving new life to woman suffering from bleeding and the Synagogue Ruler’s daughter. This is our mission as people who have put their faith and trust in Jesus.

 

1.   Abram trusted God to Leave His Family and Friends

Baptisms of Repentance & Holy Spirit Fire Give Us Hope (Baptism of Jesus)

 John the Baptist teaches us how to become serious Christians with joy and hope. Hope frees people from fear of sin-guilt and death and enables us to love God, ourselves and others. The first step is the baptism of repentance which prepares us for the second Baptism of the Holy Spirit Fire. As the Holy Spirit comes into us and exposes our hidden sins, we experience the baptism of the holy fire of God’s love. The file of God’s love burns up our sins and brings us into an eternal spiritual life of joy in His Kingdom.

1. The First Baptism is Repentance

How To Enter the Kingdom of God (Reign of Christ)

 On the Cross Jesus shows us how God reigns over His Kingdom with love. The Reign of Christ that we celebrate today is a spiritual time that began 2000 years ago on the Cross and will continue to the end of time. The Prophet Jeremiah reminds us of why Jesus had to come. The Apostle Paul explains who Jesus is. The thief on the cross models how to come into this spiritual kingdom that is both visible and invisible. 

1. Jeremiah explains why God had to intervene

How To Be a Christian (Pr. 22)

Jesus is preparing His disciples for His departure. He warns them of His death and  Resurrection. He warns them of the danger of listening to Satan or our fear and then gives them the basics of how to be a follower and gain eternal-spiritual life:

• Deny themselves
• Take up their cross
• Follow Him

We begin our spiritual life in Jesus by reading the Bible, getting to know about Jesus, growing in love for Him and coming to Him for forgiveness. These are the three things we must “do” to “be rewarded according to what we have done”.(Mt. 16.27). The Romans Reading (12.9-21) gives us clear guidance on what this means:

1. Deny Self

Deliver Us From Evil - Good News For Difficult Times

 

(Fr John is on vacation and will try to continue weekly Youtube services)

The readings are about faith. Faith is what holds us together in difficult times. Faith gives us the hope we need to carry on. It is very relevant to our present time. Joseph, the Cannanite woman and the apostle Paul all had faith that helped them get through difficult times. I found the Readings comforting after being reminded of the terrible corruption in American society watching a program on Hillary Clinton.

 

1. Joseph believed his hardship was God’s Plan

Holy Spirit – The Yoke of Jesus (Proper 14 2020)

(Available on John Gishler Youtube channel Sunday morning)

Jesus is teaching us that spiritual wisdom is very different from intellectual wisdom. Christians need to put on His “yoke”- the Holy Spirit, to guide them in overcoming the conflict between their bodily or worldly desires and their spiritual or heavenly desires. Abraham’s servant gives us an example of choosing to be guided by divine wisdom instead of his human wisdom in finding a wife for Isaac. This is in contrast to Paul who is so steeped in human wisdom he cannot understand the conflict in his soul.  

1. Spiritual wisdom is very different from human wisdom

Forgiveness, Healing and Reconciliation (Proper 11 A)

(Available on Youtube June 14)

We are all like Sarah and tend to laugh at God when we are promised something that sounds impossible:

·      Having a child in old age

·      Raising from death

·      Forgiving our rebellion and sin to make us holy

But this is the business our God is in as he continues to reach out to us with the offer of forgiveness, healing and reconciliation into our eternal spiritual life with God. He knows we cannot work hard enough to overcome our natural rebellion and spiritual un-holiness. Sadly, many in the Church also laugh at God’s supernatural gifts and fail in their responsibility to bring in the full harvest of heaven. Paul challenges us to persevere in example of Father Abraham and have faith in God’s promises of forgiveness, healing and reconciliation. This is why Abraham was chosen by God as the father of our faith.

1. Un-forgiveness separates us from God, self and others

We Will Come To You (Easter 6a)

(Home Communion video will be available on John Gishler Youtube channel May 16 

https://youtu.be/zgLeSfv68S8https://youtu.be/zgLeSfv68S8)

Jesus is preparing His followers for the traumatic experiences of His death, Resurrection and Ascension (John 14.15-21). The death and Resurrection of Jesus shows us what believers go through at death. It authenticates the whole Covenant of Jesus and His teachings as of divine authority. The Good News is that we are not abandoned – God is with us always in the form of the Holy Spirit with all the power and authority of Jesus.

1. “Because I live you also will live” (v. 19)

Our greatest fear is death. We push it away with distractions but in this time of pandemic we are all more conscious of our mortality. The Good News Christians bring to this time is that death is a false ending.

Easter 3 - Jesus Calls Us Into a Healing and Nourishing Spiritual Community

Jesus Calls Us Into a Spiritual Community

Easter 3a 2020 Fr. John Gishler (YouTube video available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk1vWTY2j-A&list=UUOT1BP_L_3RnOfGqE4K9VWQ&index=1 )

As people going through the upset and confusion of a pandemic we all know what it is like to have your life fall apart like the men on the way to Emmaus. Like them, we need Jesus to come gently alongside us and open our spiritual eyes so we can see the good news coming out of the bad news. The point of the story is that Jesus is not just a good man calling us to love on another. The Risen Jesus is calling us to die to our old way of life and be born again into a new holy spiritual community.

1. Emmaus story is my story and your story

Christ's Mass Is A Birthday Celebration (Christmas)

I was trying to figure out a way to explain our Christmas service to some very young children.  I realized that what we do in church to celebrate our Faith in Jesus is the same as what we do at a child’s birthday party. We invite their friends and family to gather for a meal and celebrate the child’s birth. Christ’s Mass – the first Mass or Holy Communion service of Christmas has all the same elements:

1.     We invite friends and family to gather

2.     We talk about the person

3.     We renew relationships, sing, pray have special food

4.     We go home with a special gift

1. We invite our friends and family to gather

We Are Called to Persist in Our Historic Faith (Proper 29C)

The Readings call us to repent our collective failure as a church to proclaim the historic Gospel and to persist like the widow and Timothy in teaching the Faith that was handed down to us. We need to recognize our place as a Church that has been marginalized and in effect exiled as irrelevant to the culture. Like the Hebrews in exile we need to call on our leadership to repent and be more persistent in proclaiming and sharing our historical Faith.

1. The widow refused to give up in her quest for justice

Lords' Prayer Bible Study

General Outline of Sessions:

·      Opening Prayer

  - Introduction

·      Readings and questions for discussion

·      Closing Prayer and Prayer requests (daily bread)

·      Time for personal conversation and private prayer

Opening Prayer

(Mt. 6.9-13 NIV 2013)

Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name,

Your Kingdom come, your will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread,

And for give us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one

 

         1. Teach Us To Pray

Introduction

Jesus is teaching His disciples how to pray. They were all devout Jews and the Jews were a praying people. Everyone believed in God and believed God heard each individual prayer.

For What I Received I Passed On To You (Mens Cursillo verse Oct. 2019 1 Cor. 15.3)

For What I Received I Passed On To You (1 Cor. 15.3)

(Men’s Cursillo Verse Oct. 2019)

Our mission on this Cursillo is to pass on to others what we have received. This includes both head knowledge and personal experience. The most important take-away from Cursillo is a life-changing experience of Christian community and witness. The experience itself verifies the teaching. This is the pattern of the Bible:

·      Jesus performed a miraculous healing – then he gave a teaching

·      We are all sceptics – need to see it or experience it ourselves

·      Weekend is a series of experiences and teachings

·      Experiences and teachings go deeper and deeper as the weekend progresses

1. What was it Paul experienced?

Jesus Can Free Us From Bondage (Proper 21C)

The Luke reading (13.10-17) reminds us that Jesus mission to proclaim the good news, open the eyes of the blind and free the prisoners includes freeing those “crippled by a spirit” (v 11). Sadly many in our time do not believe in spiritual warfare and would interpret this as a psychological problem or victory over superstition. One has to be blind spiritually, another form of bondage, to miss the clear meaning of “whom Satan has kept bound for 18 years” (v 16). Other forms of bondage mentioned in the readings are:

• Fear that almost prevented Jeremiah (1.6) from accepting his call to be a prophet 
• Legalism that criticized Jesus for healing on the Sabath
• Religious spirit that prevented the Pharisees and teachers from seeing the love of God 

New Anglican Primate Drops Ball On First Run - Comment on Anglican Synod in Vancouver

It is sad that after 30 years of divisive debate and political pressuring our new Anglican Primate (senior Archbishop) Linda Nichols’ first comment on the defeat of the proposed change to the Marriage Cannon (church law) at General Synod was that the voting rules should be changed. It is not leadership to change the rules when you do not get your way. We have had a long and destructive debate between those who thought we could go against the clear teaching of the Bible and offer the sacramentof Holy Matrimonyto same-sex couples and those who did not. It has sidetracked the church from proclaiming the biblical Good News of forgiveness, healing and spiritual life in Jesus Christ to a whole generation, particularly to children and young people. 

Real leaders have the courage to change course when the direction is not working.