Mid-Week Message - March 5

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be always with you!

Today is Ash Wednesday - the first day in the season of Lent.  Today we begin our journey towards the cross, and then beyond to resurrection.

How are you feeling these days, as we begin this journey?  I don't know about you, but I've been feeling a bit battered and bruised (or at least my heart is) with everything going on in the world this winter.

To narrow in on just one issue among many, one of the things that the government to the south of us has done is to remove the full personhood from people who are transgender. The government is trying to claim that there are only two genders and that your outside body parts must match your gender. So this might be an appropriate time for another round of Queer Theology. Because queerness has always existed (queerness in terms of both gender and sexual orientation), and can't be legislated away.

One of the passages in scripture that is sometimes quoted by people trying to deny the existence of transgender people comes from the first chapter of Genesis at the beginning of the bible:

"Then God said, 'Let us create humans in our image, according to our likeness'... So God created humans in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:26-27)

The transphobic argument goes that God only created male and female as rigid genders.  But this argument fails to take into account the context of these verses.  If you read the verses that come before this, a very different picture emerges.

"God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night." (Gen. 1:4-5). Yes, God created day and night, but God also created dusk and dawn and twilight and all of the other beautiful shadowy in-between times. God didn't create a rigid one-or-the-other.

"And God said, 'Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.; And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas." (Gen. 1:9-10). God created the sea and the land, but what about the shoreline? What about marshy estuaries? What about swamps and tidal zones and rivers?  Again, the poetry of Genesis only lists the two poles of the whole spectrum that exists.

And so if we understand the poetry of Genesis to include twilight even when it only states day and night, if we understand it to include tidal zones even when it only lists land and sea, why would we think that gender only includes male and female?

And remember that God said, "Let us create humans in our image, according to our likeness."  All humans are beautifully and perfectly created in God's image. And not only that, but the greater the variety of expressions of humanity that we include here, the more beautiful and expansive the image of God becomes.  God's image includes cisgender men and women, transgender men and women, non-binary, gender-fluid, gender-non-conforming, agender, and gender-queer folx.

And if God's image includes everyone, of every possible gender on the gender spectrum, I might even suggest that this makes God gender-queer!

There is a great cartoon by David Hayward (aka The Naked Pastor) that expresses this:  Jesus Looks in the Mirror. You can see it by clicking here!

(Also - we are coming close to PIE Day - March 14. This is a day when Affirming Churches are called to be Public, Intentional, and Explicit - PIE - about God's inclusive and expansive love. I apologize - I've dropped the ball by not getting the ball rolling sooner. And now I apologize for mixed metaphors! The last couple of years, we've done a free pie giveaway on March 14 in front of Westfield United. People have donated tarts, and we've packaged them up in paper bags with a rainbow flag "God Loves You" sticker. Is there any interest in doing this again this year? We only have a week to get it organized. In order for it to happen, I would need people to make/donate tarts, as well as people willing to help give away tarts in front of the church on March 14. Please e-mail me if you are interested in being a part of a Free PIE giveaway this year!)

Moving on to announcements:

• Ash Wednesday service - This evening (Wed. March 5) at 7pm. This service is the beginning of our Lenten journey. We will receive the mark of ashes (usually on our foreheads) to remind us of our own mortality; but then we also share in communion to remind us that death is never the end of the story. See you then!

• Worship on Sunday - 9:15 at Summerville and 11:15 at Westfield and on Facebook Live. Our Lent theme is going to be the Calls of the United Church of Canada:  Deep Spirituality; Bold Discipleship; Daring Justice. This Sunday, our scripture reading will be Luke 4:1-13, the temptation of Jesus in the desert, and we will be addressing the theme of Bold Discipleship. Most years, during Lent, we extinguish candles one-by-one each week; but given the darkness and shadows in the world this year, we are going to be lighting candles each week. These candles will help to light our way as we follow the Way of Jesus (even when it leads to a cross).

• Asking the Big Questions - our next gathering is coming up on Tuesday March 11 from 4:30-6pm in the parlour at Westfield United Church. Our big question this month will be:  What do we do in the face of evil? As always, we will have different prompts and activities to engage in the big question, and we will share pizza at the end of the gathering!

• Lent Mid-Week Gatherings - Every Wednesday evening in the season of Lent, there will be a gathering at Westfield United Church at 7pm. Tonight we will be sharing in our Ash Wednesday service, but next week and in the weeks following, we will be watching episodes of The Chosen, a TV series that depicts the life of Jesus. (I haven't watched it yet, but have heard only good things about it.)

• Dungeons and Dragons - If you have been curious about Dungeons and Dragons and would like to give it a try, now is your chance! The last campaign has wrapped up and a new one is about to begin. If you would like more information, you can get in touch with Ken at kennethfury@gmail.com

• World Day of Prayer - The Grand Bay Westfield community World Day of Prayer service will be held at Westfield United Church on Sunday March 9 at 7pm. This service will be led by the women of Westfield United Church, Church of the Resurrection, and St. Matthew's Church, and everyone is invited to attend as we pray for the world.
  

Thank You Corner:  This week's thank you goes out to the Westfield UCW for the fabulous worship service that they led at Long Reach and Westfield this past Sunday morning!  I know that they put a lot of work into organizing this, and their work was much appreciated by both congregations. If you would like to see a picture of our worship leaders, you can click here.

For a closing thought this week, I want to go back to some of the themes of my opening reflection. The song "Lovers in a Dangerous Time" (written by Bruce Cockburn) includes the fabulous line, "You've gotta kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight." My favourite cover version of this song is by T. Thomason, an artist formerly from Nova Scotia (now based in Toronto) who is transgender. If you are a CBC radio listener, you may have heard his fabulous interview with Tom Power on Q this week, all about his upcoming tour in Europe. If you want to hear his version of the song, you can click here.

Blessings to you and yours, today and always!

Kate.

Rev. Kate Jones

Two Rivers Pastoral Charge

(506) 757-2201 (office)

(506) 343-1307 (mobile)

www.tworiverspastoralcharge.com

Pronouns:  she/her/hers

"Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law?"

Jesus replied, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: "You must love your neighbour as you love yourself."

(Matthew 22:36-39)