Category: Wine Before Breakfast

WBB, 9/11 … Ten Years Later

Dear friends:

Wine Before Breakfast was born while the smoke was still billowing from the ruins of the World Trade Center. Exactly one week after that fateful September 11, 2001 we gathered for the first time as a worshipping community at the University of Toronto.

No happy praise songs that morning.
No upbeat enthusiasm to gather in the crowds.

Rather, we began our life together as a community in lament.

And over these past ten years lament has never been far from our worship.
Ten years of war.
Ten years of escalating international terrorism.
Ten years of injustice.
Ten years of increased assault on this good creation and its most vulnerable inhabitants.

And the lament has got personal on all kinds of levels.
We have faced death in the community.
We waited and prayed while Jim Loney and three other Christian Peacemakers were held captive in Baghdad.

And our lament has also been deeply personal at times.
Broken relationships. Struggling faith. Deep disappointments.
But we have still been able to sing.
Read more Wine Before Breakfast Returns

Resurrection, Cover up and doubt: Partying Nonetheless

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

That’s the proclamation on which the whole Christian story hangs.

Indeed, that’s the proclamation on which our Christian life hangs.

No point trying to “practice resurrection” if Jesus is still in the grave.
No point in worship, no point in discipleship, no point, no point.

And the range of responses to this world shattering event are mostly pretty predictable.

Those guarding the tomb “shake like dead men” and their supervisors amongst the religious elite buy them off to say that the disciples came and stole the body.

Deceit.
Bribery.
Cover up.

Nothing new there. That’s the way that the ruling authorities have always dealt with anything that would radically undermine their world.

The women are also full of fear, but to them comes good news from both an angel and the risen one himself, “do not be afraid.”

And so their fear is mingled with great joy. Read more WBB: Resurrection, Cover-ups, and Doubt–and Partying Nonetheless!

Vineyards, Justice and Jesus

Cultural discourse totally hangs on allusion and reference. You know what I mean. You can’t watch any episode of  The Simpson’s without picking up the references to other cultural products – whether they be other television shows, cultural stereotypes, music, art, sports, or politics. Now, of course, you don’t always pick up all the references every time you watch The Simpson’s or go to the movies or listen to a new song on the radio. And not all cultural products are created equal. Some are hopelessly flat. What you see is what you get and you aren’t getting very much.

Kind of like the difference between ABBA and Dylan. Okay, that is too close to home for some of you. How about the difference between Britney Spears and Joni Mitchell?

And it seems to me (in this little email that is starting to sound like an essay!) that the richer the allusions and references, the deeper the cultural product is. That’s why The Simpson’s is great television.

Well, Jesus knew all about allusion. He goes up a mountain to teach a new way, a new Kingdom, and everyone thinks of Moses at Mount Sinai. He feeds the multitudes in the wilderness and everyone thinks of the exodus and sustenance in the wilderness. He walks into the Temple and throws the furniture around and everyone thinks of Jeremiah’s temple sermon (Jesus actually quotes that sermon during his rage).

In all four gospels, Jesus makes reference to a vineyard. And just as  you couldn’t tell a story today with a wolf and a little girl in it and not catch the reference to Little Red Riding Hood, so also everyone who knew anything about Israel’s faith would remember Isaiah’s parable of the vineyard. Just say “vineyard” and the allusions immediately will come to mind.

And it is a vineyard that does not produce what was expected of it. Isaiah’s parable ends this way: Read more WBB: Jesus, Justice, and Vineyards

The Klu Klux Klan once moved into Riverdale.

That’s right, the KKK moved into the lower East end of Toronto back in the 80’s. And the church that I was part of back then organized a “Ban the Klan” rally. It was a profound act of inhospitality that I would repeat today. We embraced a Nimbyism that said in a clear voice that racism was not welcome in our backyard.

At the rally there was every progressive/leftist movement you could imagine. And in an act of hospitality to them we gave everyone a chance and the microphone.

“All union folk should ban the clan!”

“All gays and lesbians should ban the clan!”

“All anti-apartheid activist should ban the clan!”

But it wasn’t until late in the proceedings that a black person finally came to the microphone, and it wasn’t until that moment that a member of the church had finally addressed the crowd.

Sister Bernice was the pastor of that rockin’ black church that I walked by every Sunday night but never entered. This was one of those apostolic, Pentecostal, charismatic churches of the latter times.

And as Sister Bernice came to the podium, I gotta tell you, I was worried.

I mean, what was this woman going to say? And might she, well, “preach” the gospel to all these heathens in front of her?

Here’s what she said:

“When Jesus came to Caesarea Philippi and asked his disciples, ‘Who do men say I am?’ some said John the Baptist, some said Elijah, and some said one of the prophets.

‘And who do you say I am?’ asked Jesus. And Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’

Then Jesus said, ‘That’s right, Peter, and flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, Peter, you are the rock on which I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against my church!‘”
Then she looked out at the crowd and said,
“I’m hear to tell you that the Klu Klux Klan are the gates of hell, and they will not prevail against the church of Jesus Christ!”

Sister Bernice left the stage to rapturous applause from all who were present.

I was right. This woman was going to preach the gospel. And I’m not sure that I’ve ever heard a more eloquent or more radical proclamation of the gospel in my life.

The gates of hell will not prevail. Sister Bernice saw this as an attack from the forces of evil manifest in the KKK.

But I wonder if there is maybe another side to this. You see, gates don’t usually attack. They are usually defensive structures. They repel attack and secure those on the inside.

So I wonder whether Jesus was maybe thinking of something more offensive than defensive here. The gates of hell will not prevail against the church when the church attacks those gates.

It seems to me, friends, that we are called not just to resist the forces of evil, but we are called to go on the offensive against those forces.

That’s what we were doing that Saturday afternoon in Riverdale years ago. I pray that is what we do in every act of justice and compassion, every creative idea, every gesture of faithfulness of our lives.

May it be that in the breaking of the break and the pouring of the wine, we are storming the gates of hell every Tuesday morning.

I hope to see you this week at Wine Before Breakfast, in the face of hell.

Brother Andrew will serve the Eucharist,

Brother David will open the word,
Sister Jacqueline will lead us in prayer,
Sister Deb will lead us in song.

Much depends on dinner.

Anyone at Wine Before Breakfast last week might remember that phrase. I must have said it a dozen times in my sermon, which is not bad for a ten minute homily.

Much depends on dinner, and it still depends on dinner as we come to WBB on Shrove Tuesday. Except, of course, we are talking about breakfast, not dinner.

And this week we meet a striking, and perhaps painful, irony.

You see in our reading from Matthew this week we meet two stories, both of which concern food.

First, there is a woman oddly identified as a Canaanite who asks Jesus for the healing of her daughter who is tormented by a demon. I’ll let Sara explain what is odd about that identification, but I’m struck by the culinary imagery in the story.

When Jesus rather rudely tells this “Canaanite” woman that he isn’t about to throw the food of the children to the dogs, she replies, “yes, but even the dogs get the crumbs from the table.”

Dogs get the crumbs.

This seems to catch Jesus short and he says that this woman has faith and her daughter is healed.

Dogs get crumbs from the table, and this Tuesday is International Woman’s Day.

Dogs get crumbs from the table, and this Tuesday is Shrove Tuesday when we eat a feast of rich and sweet foods at Wine Before Breakfast.

But the story goes on. It seems that once Jesus has healed this “Canaanite” woman’s daughter, once he lets her have the crumbs from the table, he gets even more generous.

I don’t know, but for some reason once this “Canaanite” confronts Jesus about the scope of his Kingdom, he starts healing all kinds of Gentile folk and then comes something that is a heck of a lot more than some crumbs from the table. Another feast in the wilderness. This time with 4000 folk (plus women and children!) at the party.

From crumbs to feast.

That’s where our story goes this week.

The feast needs food. Sweet food and rich food. Please clean out the cupboards and do some baking for the community.

So we move from crumbs to feast,
but then we also move from feast to crumbs.

That’s where we go this week. From the feast of Shrove Tuesday to the fasting and crumbs of Lent.

All “Canaanites” are welcome.

Wine Before Breakfast
Tuesday @ 7.22am
Wycliffe Chapel

Sara DeMoor is preaching,
Chris Dow is our Liturgist,
David Neelands will start the feast with wine and bread,
and the bandhood will likely sing a U2 song.

Jewelery, Black History Month and the Kingdom of God

I’m not much for jewelry. Apart from our wedding rings, the only jewelry that I ever bought for Sylvia was an opal necklace. But to demonstrate how inattentive I can be to such things, I didn’t even notice the tiny little diamond embedded in the necklace. Truth be known, I wouldn’t have bought the thing if I did see the diamond – both because it is so tiny that it adds nothing to the opal (which is beautiful) but also because the odds are that this diamond was mined with near slave labour.

Jewelry and slavery are often not that far apart. Precious minerals and gems are the stuff of masters, not slaves. These are the treasured possessions of the aristocracy, indeed, of royalty.

So when Jesus says that his Kingdom is like a lost treasure that a woman will turn things upside down to find, or that it is like a pearl of great price, he’s tapping into this human desire for things of immense value. This treasure, this pearl, he is saying, are the royal jewels of his Kingdom.

But that is where the analogy ends. I mean it doesn’t help slaves to be told that the Kingdom is like the gems and minerals that they are forced to mine in a context of brutal and violent oppression. It might not be such a great metaphor for Black History month in Ontario.

But Jesus also says that the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, something small that grows into a bush of safety and rest for all who come to it. And the Kingdom of God is like a little leaven that a woman puts into a lump of dough and before she knows it the whole lump has been leavened.

The Kingdom of God is like the hope for freedom that burns in the heart of oppressed peoples from the slave plantations of America to the streets of Egypt. The Kingdom of God is like the longing for home that will rise up like grass through cement amongst the homeless. The Kingdom of God is like a treasure of dignity, welcome and justice that a single mom will go through hell and high water to secure for her kids.

The aspirations and hopes of the Kingdom, the radical hope of Jesus, is like a leaven that will permeate and transform everything. In 19^th century America this hope empowered Afro-American slaves to wade in the waters of liberation from their slavery.

This, my friends, is a pearl of great price. At Wine Before Breakfast this week we’ll have a little peak at the jewels of the Kingdom.

Andrew Federle will break the bread and open the word.
Joanna Moon has written her first ever prayer litany (yea! Joanna!)
And the Bandhood will call us to songs of subversion.

The first Wine Before Breakfast service was on September 18, 2001. Gathering one week after the events of 9/11, it was only appropriate that the service took the form of lament.

During the prayer litany, the gathered congregation was asked,
“How long? How long must we sing this song?”

And their reply was, “Till we get the healing done.”

As some of you will recognize, this is a question from U2’s “40” that is answered with a line from Van Morrison.

“Till we get the healing done.”

Not too long ago I was at the Church of the Redeemer when they had prayers for healing. Essentially, anyone who wanted such prayers and the laying on of hands would go up to the communion rail, while the rest of us quietly waited and listened to a guitar/piano duo do an amazingly sensitive and appropriate jazz improvisation on a few tunes.

How long would we wait before the service would move on to the Eucharist?

“Till we get the healing done.”

But there was something about the music that was being played that was itself deeply healing. I didn’t go up to the front for prayer, but felt that I was been ministered to in my own places of deepest hurt and disappointment, my own places of unhealth, as I listened to the music.

Music has a way of doing that to you. Music is one of the most powerfully healing gifts that God has given to us in a creation of sound, vibration, sight, tone, imagery and words. And that is really at the heart of the Bandhood of all Believers at WBB. They play for us every week, “till we get the healing done.” Sometimes the healing will require exposing some raw places in our lives, sometimes the healing will require a good cry, sometimes it will require a good laugh. Whatever it takes, the Bandhood is in the Healing Game.

Some folks don’t like healing. They generally don’t like music either. Or at least if they do like music it will be music that can be kept safely in the background. Nothing that would challenge them, insinuate itself into their lives, perhaps even bring healing.

So this Tuesday we’ll meet some folks who get pretty upset when Jesus starts healing people. Heck, they’ll even call him a child of Satan, while the crowds are amazed and are pretty convinced that Jesus is the son of David.

That’s the kind of crap that Jesus had to put up with. People who can’t speak or see get their voice and their vision, while folks who supposedly have sight and the ability to speak, remain blind and only speak lies.

This week at Wine Before Breakfast we’ll hang out on the corner where Jesus is still in the healing game, against all opposition and slander.

Van Morrison might also make an appearance (of sorts).

Deb and the band will continue their ministry of healing in our midst.
Amy Fisher will open up Matthew 12 with us.
Talina’s got the prayers.
And Judith Alltree, who was there on September 18, 2001, will break the bread and pour the wine.

Wine Before Breakfast
Tuesday, February 8 @ 7.22am
Wycliffe Chapel

New Wine…Before Breakfast

Something new is going on.

The lame walk,
sinners are forgiven,
bureaucrats of the empire are leaving their jobs,
and all the wrong people are coming to dinner parties.

“You know that something is happening,
but you don’t know what it is,
do you, Mr. Jones?”

The scribes figure that this is all blasphemy.
The man presumes to forgive sins!

The Pharisees are offended by the dinner guests.
Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?

And even John’s disciples are confused.
What’s with all this eating and drinking when we’ve all got used to fasting and John’s rather limited wilderness diet?

And Jesus replies:
in a world of human brokenness and sin we are called to be priests pronouncing forgiveness;
remember, God requires mercy, not sacrifice;
and don’t go pouring new wine into old wineskins.

At Wine Before Breakfast, we are all called to priestly ministry!
We all have the vocation of forgiveness!
We are all called abandon our service to the empire and embrace priestly ministry in the kingdom.
We are all called to the banquet of sinners, prostitutes, and tax collectors
– Jarvis Street, Bay Street, and St. George Street all at the same party!
It is an early morning party!
A Wine Before Breakfast party!
A new wine party!

Let’s be careful that we don’t constrain that new wine in old wine skins.

Come on out to the party on Tuesday morning at 7.22am.
Forget your perfect offering.
You see, only sinners are invited.
Know any other sinners to bring along?

Andrew Asbil will join the rest of us priests in breaking the bread, pouring the wine and opening the word.

Wine Before Breakfast
Tuesdays @ 7.22am, Wycliffe College Chapel
Breakfast to follow