Westwood Presbyterian Church

July 29th, 2008

197 Browning  Boulevard, Winnipeg, Manitoba  R3K 0L1

REV. PETER BUSH's SERMONS

Living in the in-between times - Rev. Margaret Mullin

    

      We are living in the in-between times. Between the time when Jesus came to earth a little over 2000 years ago to show us how to live God's way, and the time when Jesus will return to the earth and all of the people of all the nations will be made whole and live in peace with each other. I can hardly wait! It is hard even to imagine what that will be like. The waiting is so exciting. But the waiting is becoming increasingly frustrating for me. How long must we wait God? The people I have grown to love in the inner city of Winnipeg are hurting. I wake up each day hoping something will have changed. And every day it's the same. Every day I encounter the dry bones of people's lives that are devastated by addictions to drugs, alcohol, solvents, or gambling. The valley ahead of me is so full of the dry and scattered bones of people's lives that are dried up by unrelenting poverty that I don't even know where to start. All I know is God says Prophesy to the bones!

 

      It is difficult ministering in inner city. I often feel powerless as I watch lives being sucked dry by drugs, alcohol, gambling, violence, rape, beatings, curb stompings, shankings, murder, and suicide. Some of the children, teenagers, and adults I know who are hurting so badly that they just loose hope that their world can ever be different. They cannot wait a second longer for the new life God promises; they cannot take the pain one more moment! So they choose death. have presided at funerals of 8, 9, 12, 16, 19,21 year old suicides.

 

      Working in an unending, parched valley of dry bones day after day it sometimes seems even to me like there is no hope! And you have to know I was born with eternal optimism. I never give up on anyone or anything. God just keeps saying to me ... Prophesy to these dry bones Margaret! And say to them. Dry Bones hear the word of the Lord. "I will put my Spirit within you and you will live." And I say but how long God? Everyone else gives up on them, the social systems, the justice systems, the education systems, even their family systems. And God says to me "I will put my Spirit within them, and they will live. " Margaret. Just prophesy! So I do!

 

      That is hope for any inner city, or any situation that looks beyond hope. That is hope for the people I minister to on your behalf. All it takes is believing. All it takes is speaking the dry bones back into life, and breathing the breath of the Spirit of God into people and situations that look beyond hope from our worldly point of view. Ezekiel's vision is one of power and of Hope because it was God that made the promise that new life would come. The setting was at the time of the Exile, the people had lost their homes, their wealth, their church, and they were forced to go to a country far from their homeland. There was nothing more to loose, their hopes and dreams were completely shattered. And new life did come!

 

      But can we dare Hope in our modern day valley of dry bones? Whatever that happens to be for me and for you here in Winnipeg, or for you if you are trapped in despair? The answer is yes. The power of Christ can destroy anguish and despair. Bones that are scattered and dried out will come together again over time. New life and new strength are breathed into lives that were once dried up by the power of the Spirit of God. The staff at Winnipeg Inner City Missions sees it happen over and over again in lives of the people who come to us for help.

 

      Living in the in-between times is a hard place to be.  While we live waiting expectantly for Jesus to return, it seems to me that we only have two choices we can make. We can give up hope that it will ever be different in our world and work at looking out for ourselves and those we love. Or, we can hold onto our hope and work with God to breathe new life into the valley of dry bones that are scattered around us while we wait.

 

     Warren and I, Sandy our nurse and Susan our Social Worker all choose to Hope. We choose to work at building Hope in others while we wait for Christ to return. We know that poverty, hatred, violence, racism, and mean-spiritedness will come to an end some day. God says so. Something different and wonderful is on the way. In the mean time at Flora House and Anishinabe we choose to be like the person Jesus told his disciples would be ushered into the Kingdom of God. We choose to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to give the thirsty a drink, to welcome the outsider and the stranger, and to visit the sick and the prisoners. We choose to go further now and offer clean, safe, affordable housing with social and Spiritual supports to people between the age of 30-50 who have made a clear commitment to change and who want to work. It was an impossible dream - 2.3 million dollars. But God specializes in impossibilities, we are just $160,000 short of our goal, and the building is going up!

     We know that God's Spirit has the power of renewal - of bringing new life. But the community of Faith has to take some steps with us if we are to be successful. To be a Christian is to see the world through Jesus eyes. To be a Christian is to have our hearts broken by what breaks God's heart. To be a Christian is to be incensed by what incenses God: Poverty, abuse, the vast inequality in the distribution of the world's resources, oppression, hunger, thirst, loneliness, hatred, violence, and addictions. Those are not philosophical words, or conditions out there somewhere, they are affecting the lives of very real people with real and hurting hearts. To be a Christian is to do something about it. We are at Winnipeg Inner City missions! We minister on your behalf. We are on the front line because that is where we have been called to be. You can help us with your prayers, your encouragement, and your financial support .. $3,000 will furnish an apartment, $50,000 will give us finished sanctuary and drop in space, $10 a month will help with the utility bills and keep the doors to the missions open. Intentional daily prayer will uphold and encourage the staff. How can you help?