Author: Walter Thiessen

Peter Fitch spoke today about John 2, the story of Jesus turning water into wine. This was Father’s Day, but it was also the Sunday closest to Juneteenth, World Refugee Day, and National Indigenous Peoples Day. The mother of Jesus knew that it was time for a change. Jesus didn’t think so, but he followed her lead. The mother of Emmet Till, the 14 year old who was killed in Mississippi in 1955 for offending a white woman at a store, insisted on an open casket so that people could see what had been done to her son. It is believed that 600,000 people walked past his coffin over three days when he was returned to Chicago. Three months later, Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus, and soon the Civil Rights Movement was underway. Jesus took the old system and produced something better. So did Emmet Till’s mother and the other heroes of that day. Peter thinks we need new and better wine now. 

We listened to Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel to end the time today.

In this talk, Peter Fitch continues to examine the first chapter of John’s Gospel. Today he looks at Nathaniel, the person in the narrative who has the easiest time believing that Jesus is the Messiah. His name means “gift of God” and his story can be a reminder that we ourselves ought to quickly receive God’s gifts. Sometimes, for instance, we struggle to receive an attitude of contentment. His example could help us to be more open to this and to other gifts of perspective and wisdom.Music shared today: ‘Be Thou My Vision’ by Fernando Ortega, ‘I Shall Not Want” by Audrey Assad, ‘A Sky Full of Stars’ by Coldplay

Peter Fitch continues to ask questions based on John, chapter 1. If Jesus is the perfect blend of humanity and divinity, of Spirit and matter, what does this mean for us? What is it like to be too focused on spirit? What is it like to be too focused on matter? How do we achieve the blend that Jesus modelled for us? Sacraments and Gothic Cathedrals speak of the need to bring the two realms together, as do the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle, but the best example is probably a human being submitted to God and flowing with the Spirit in order to bring justice and compassion into his or her surroundings.

Peter Fitch continues the discussion from last week regarding the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Thomas. If both have beautiful and important things to say, is it possible to bring the best points together? Is a synthesis possible? To explore this further, Peter asks everyone to spend a few minutes in silence, thinking about the meaning of John, chapter 1, verse 1. What is meant by “the Word”? Behind it all, there seem to be questions about matter and spirit. How are they married in Jesus, and what should our posture be like? Should we concentrate on spirit, drawing bounds of exclusion with those who don’t share our interest or belief, or should we ignore spirit in our quest to be comfortable and, perhaps, some of the richest part of the human experience?

Peter Fitch retells some of Elaine Pagels story and shows why she values Christianity and, at the same time, finds things within it with which she cannot agree. He wonders if there is a way to bring together a traditional understanding of the Gospel of John with the things that she finds beautiful in the Gospel of Thomas. Is Jesus to be seen as God or as a Jewish teacher who has come to help each of us learn how to develop the image of God in which we all share? Is he, perhaps, both? Either way, Peter thinks there is a value to divergent knowledge and looks for a richer way of understanding than he has had to this point. 

Peter Fitch discusses the metaphors that Jesus uses in John, chapter 10. He is the Gate and He is the Good Shepherd. Then Peter focuses on verse 16 where Jesus says that He has other sheep, “not of this fold.” This leads Peter to speculate about who these people might be. One candidate, he thinks, is Rumi, the 13th century Turkish Sufi master, and he reads two brilliant poems, The Great Wagon and Moses and the Shepherd, to illustrate this thought

Peter Fitch wonders how to bring together the teaching of Jesus and St. Paul that we ought to live as though we had no rights while at the same time trying to respond to oppressive systems by advocating for justice. He finds great wisdom in Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” (April, 1963) and also in a recent documentary at Toronto’s Hot Docs Film Festival called Faceless, about the courage of young protestors in Hong Kong.

We began this service by listening to Art Garfunkel singing “Bridge Over Troubled Water” in a concert at Central Park. We finished by listening to Patty Griffin sing “Up to the Mountain”, a song she wrote to honour Dr. King.

Peter Fitch examines the parable of the Wedding Banquet from Matthew 22. It seems harsh at first reading. Peter wonders whether historical context played a role in this. Then he looks at it through the eyes of Peter Rollins, who sees in it an invitation to a new community without hierarchical divisions based on ethnicity, economics, or gender. Finally, Peter Fitch wonders about this parable as an invitation to come to the table with all that we have, embracing the rich and important moments of life.