Musical Prelude and Service.

Matthew 5:14-16 & Mark 4:26-34
A little story to get started with today’s sermon.
As I was preparing today’s order of worship, the people who prepared the prayers and responses offered by the United Church of Canada suggested using the First Nations Version of the New Testament for the scripture readings.
I had heard that this was out and went looking for it. It’s a remarkable publication. And it offers what I consider a fresh perspective on scripture. I find that exciting.
In some promotional materials for this translation, biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann notes that any translation of scripture brings with it cultural biases. Unless you are reading the scriptures in its original Greek or Hebrew, it has been translated and word choices and sentence structure carries assumptions that can’t help being affected by the culture you come from.
That’s not a bad thing. It just is, but it helps to be aware of that. I also believe God speaks to us, regardless of the translation. We just need to be ready to listen.
So this morning we have the opportunity to hear scripture spoken through the lens for our indigenous siblings. They are stories we have heard many times before, but with a few twists. Jesus is Creator Sets Free. The Kingdom of God is the Good Road.
Translating the name Jesus as Creator Sets Free in this version is very much a translation decision based on the Hebrew meaning of the name Yeshua, where Jesus comes from. Yeh, for Yahweh, and the second part for freeing or saving.
We have the light of the creator in us. So we hear in Matthew – or as named in today’s version of scripture, Gift from Creator. This light we carry is a gift from the Creator. But beyond that, it is a gift we share with all of creation.
In the reflection offered in the worship service for today, it provides this thought: The light in you is the same as the light in me.
In all Indigenous teachings, people are taught that we are Spirit first. We are first Creator’s sacred spark that is filled with love, compassion, and tenderness. We understand our precious world with caring anticipation that cannot wait to experience this breathtaking planet filled with deep blue skies, luscious green fields, and sparkling water that nourishes us all.
We are connected through that spark, that light, that spirit. If we read scripture, no matter the translation, we should hear that message, that teaching. It comes in different words, in different stories, but that notion of connectedness, the wonder of creation and how we are woven together within it is still there speaking to us.
You, all the people gathered with Jesus, are the light of the world. Don’t hide who God has made you. In John, Jesus speaks about being the vine and us the branches. We are all connected through Christ, Creator Sets Free.
Jesus, through scripture, offers this message to us and has taught us this for millennia, but somehow it seems many of us over the centuries have stopped listening to this. The stories of how Christ’s message, the call of God’s unending love for all of Creation, has been twisted or corrupted are too many to count. Scripture used to justify slavery, to silence and dominate women, to demonize and marginalize Jews and to oppress and shame whose sexuality doesn’t conform to what we say is
normal. These are but a few of the ways scripture has been twisted to exclude and to harm those we name as other.
We have stopped looking for that light of the creator in the people we meet. We have stopped recognizing the image of God that all of us carry with us.
How else do we explain the horrific way humanity has treated those who look or sound different, or who walk the earth in a variety of ways. We tell ourselves that God loves all the earth, but all too often our actions fail to reflect the words we speak.
And yet, God keeps speaking to us. Jesus, Creator Sets Free, continues to work amongst us. Creator Sets Free continues to sow seeds throughout the world. The teaching of love, of compassion and the desire for a world of justice are still there, and we can and do hear them. And sometimes they take root; and something new, something remarkable begins to grow.
This is one way of reading the parable we hear today from the Gospel of Mark, or, as this version names the author, War Club. Like a mustard seed, those words that we – all of us, are the light of the world, find good soil and grow into a great tree providing shelter and room for the birds to find lodging. We find ourselves in a time when we are open to learning from our siblings in Christ; those whom our church in previous decades saw fit to abuse and treat as less than us. We find ourselves on a journey to some form of reconciliation, to creating a new relationship based on mutual respect and love, where we walk together as equals on a journey. But it starts by us recognizing the light of the creator shining in each and everyone of us.
This translation names the Kingdom of God, Creator’s Good Road.
Many Indigenous people speak of the “good way” or the “red road”. This is a way to understand a manner of living that seeks to live in harmony with the Creator’s plan for all of creation. It means to live in harmony with fellow humans and all of creation. This can be seen as walking the good road.
The writers of this translation working with other spiritual leaders and American Indian theologian George E. Tinker, chose to translate the kingdom of God to Creator’s Good Road. Creator Sets Free came to call us to walk in a new way; a way of beauty and harmony that reflects the reign of God.
And so, as Jesus has planted the seeds that can grow into this new way of life, we continue to wait for them to bear fruit. I believe those seeds have, often over the years, grown and been harvested. Much good has been done in creation, but so too has a great deal of harm been inflicted on creation. A great many human beings have suffered at the hands of their siblings. That garden has a lot of growing left to do.
But if we can see the light that shines in us; if we can witness the light that shines in our neighbours, perhaps we can find the courage to let that light shine together. We can join hands and begin to walk the good road together and help our Creator build something new and lasting and beautiful.
Thanks be to God. Amen

Music provided with permission through licensing with CCLI License number
2701258 and One License # A-731789