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Palm Sunday is one of my favourite celebrations of the church year. I know I am not alone. With joy and anticipation we wave the palms and shout our hosannas. What those of Jerusalem did innocently (John 12-12-16), we do with full awareness, living as we do on this side of the cross. We know the cost of this entry of Jesus into our midst. But we celebrate because we know what God worked in spite of and through that cross ‘for us and our salvation’ as the Nicene Creed states.

This year an added dimension is added to Palm Sunday by our journey through the book of scripture known as Revelation. We arrive at the description of the Rider on the White Horse : ‘Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a great white horse! Its rider is called Faithful and True … His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems … On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’ (Revelation 19:11-16).

The humble donkey has been replaced by a white steed. ‘Hosanna’ (God save us) has given way to ‘Hallelujah’ (God be praised). ‘The head that once was crowned with thorns is crowned with glory now’ (Thomas Kelly, 1769-1854). The crucifixion has led to the resurrection. Jesus lives. Jesus reigns.

A recent issue of Macleans includes an article suggesting that Jesus never existed and belongs to the realm of myth. It makes this argument on the basis of the conflicting gospel stories of the life of Jesus, and that the earliest recorded Christian witness, the apostle Paul, mentions little about the earthly life of Jesus. The article is intentionally provocative. There is much that can and should be said in response, but most immediately an article like this reminds me that the foundation of Christian faith is the death and resurrection of Jesus. The experience of Jesus alive after death is the beginning of the Christian faith of Paul, as it was in a sense for Jesus’ disciples before and after him, as it is for us. And this is the great reminder of Revelation.

The battle between good and evil continues to rage. But consider the story of a group of prisoners of war. One of them clandestinely hears of a far-off great battle that their enemy has lost, and with that battle the war has been lost. They remain imprisoned, ill-treated, weakened. Nothing has changed but everything has changed. Even as they suffer, they celebrate. This image of the Rider on the White Horse, the Risen Lord victorious, has provided strength to many Christians over the millennia.

We wave palms, and we wave them with joy and anticipation. We wave them and are renewed to live in the light of what is coming, what is ultimate and true, what is.

If you are in the area, join us. The order of service and invitations to participate are attached below. There is a nursery for infants and a programme for children during the service. And ample free parking along the streets and in a public lot just behind the church off Queen Street. A joyous Palm Sunday to you!

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This Sunday we continue our journey through the final book of Holy Scripture. As the seals of the scroll of heaven are opened and the angels blow their trumpets, the events unleashed describe not what Christians could expect but rather what the Christians of the seven churches were already experiencing – disaster, disease, conflict, war, persecution. The faithful of earth are inevitably asking questions about what it all means, where history is headed, how they should respond. How can the faithful remain faithful? These are questions asked then, and now.

The answer comes in the passage we shall consider this Sunday, Revelation 8:1-5. The seals have been opened one by one, but before the seventh and final seal is opened, there is silence in heaven. Before the next times are inaugurated, the Holy One waits, waits for the prayers of the faithful that rise as the smoke of incense. For reasons inscrutable and incredible, the Holy One has chosen to wait upon the faithful, to work in partnership with them. The prayers of the faithful are an essential part of God’s triumph in human history.
The prayers are of a people who believe that the future can be different than today, that the powers that rule today are not ultimate, that God stands at the beginning and the end, that the future is still open by the grace of God.
As we read this, we are called to be such a people.
There have been many before us, of course. In the midst of trial and tribulation, the first generations of Christians continued in faith to pray, and by their prayers God was able to raise up the Church. This past week we received another episode of Diarmaid Macculloch’s A History of Christianity, focusing upon the witness of the Orthodox Church – through the loss of their spiritual home, the Hagia Sophia of Constantinople, to the Ottomans, exploitation by the Czars of Russia and annihilation by regimes Communist, the people continued to pray. The images of Orthodox worship were magnificent, including many censers and much incense, but even more impressive is the reminder of the discipline and perseverance involved in prayer, in being in partnership with God.

If you are in the area, join us in the worship of God, an hour of praise … and of prayer. There is a nursery for infants offered during the service, and a programme for children. Ample free parking is available on the streets around and in the public lot off Queen Street just behind the church. Have a look at the Order of Service below, and the many announcements with opportunities to grow and serve. And join us this Tuesday evening, 7 p.m., for another episode of A History of Christianity on the wide-screen, focusing on the Reformation.

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Angels of the Seven Churches of Revelation.
Tiffany Studio windows (1902) commissioned for a Swedenborgian church in Cincinnati Ohio

Words of the Holy One are given to John to give to the churches (Revelation 2-3). What I have often forgotten is that these words are given to the angels of the churches. Each congregation is more than a collection of individuals – in the eyes of the Holy One, each is an organic whole and needs to be addressed as such. Each Christian community has their own angel who represents their worship and witness – represents them before the Holy One and represents the Holy One to them. I wonder what the Holy One is speaking to the congregation of St. Andrew’s as this new week begins?

If you are in the area and are looking for a time of praise and reflection, join us! There is ample free parking on the streets around our historic sanctuary and in the city lot just behind off Queen Street. During the service there is a nursery for infants and a programme for children.

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After the snow, the worship! We welcome the Rev. Marian Raynard to lead us this morning. Marian is the Minister of St. John’s Middle Road and Sand Hill Presbyterian Churches, and is coming to St. Andrew’s with Elder Lucy Curtis on behalf of the Presbytery of Kingston to conduct the every-three-year pastoral visitation of the congregation. Lots of free parking on the street and in the city lot just behind the church off Queen Street. A programme for children and a nursery for infants is offered during the service. Join us! And linger for a time afterwards for a congregational lunch in St. Andrew’s Hall – your presence will be the contribution.

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The revelation given to John begins with an awesome image of Jesus. It is not an image of the babe of Bethlehem, or the one who turned water into wine, or the one who healed the ill and embraced the outcast, or the one who was rejected by religious authorities and crucified by the powers political. The image is of Jesus the Christ, Jesus raised and reigning over all history with all honour, glory and authority (Revelation 1:12-16). It is an image of assurance and encouragement given to a generation of Christians who were suffering an eruption of evil, asking about the presence and relevance of the One they worshipped.

Perhaps of most assurance and encouragement was the fact that this Jesus was found in the midst of seven candlesticks. The candlesticks were well-accepted symbols of the churches, the seven churches of Asia to whom John passed on this image of Jesus. This vision reminds those Christians that the Lord of all history is found not in corridors of palace or majesty of temple or influence of market, but with them, dis-spirited, weak and faithless as they are. There Jesus the Christ stands. Here he stands. With us. Now.

To make the image even more personal, the great German artist Albrecht Durer carved himself into the scene. You may think that is John kneeling before the One like a son of man, but it is Durer, with his own hooked nose! With John, with Durer, with so many before us and around us, we are invited this Sunday to gather in worship of the One who not only lives and reigns above, but is with us and for us in our churches.

If you are in the area, please join us in the worship of God this Sunday. Have a look at the Order of Worship below. There is a nursery for infants and a programme for children during the service. And lots of free parking on the street and in the city lot off Queen Street just behind the church.

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When we speak of ‘the cloud’ these days, we speak about the great digital resource pool available through the internet. Originally ‘the cloud’ was where data could be stored and made accessible to individual computers throughout the world. Increasingly ‘the cloud’ is where even software programmes themselves are stored, rather than taking up precious memory on any individual computer.

In the Christian scriptures, ‘the cloud’ is a symbol of the divine mystery and presence. Recall the pillar of cloud that lead the people of God through the wilderness, and the cloud that descended upon Mount Sinai as Moses was given the stone tablets. This Sunday morning we will complete the season of Epiphany (from the original Greek meaning ‘manifestation’) with another cloud. Peter, James and John see Jesus transfigured with light, Moses talking on one side and Elijah on the other … and ‘suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’ (Matthew 17: 1-8).

In preparation for worship at the beginning of this new week, I have been thinking of these different clouds. And how providential, that being the first Sunday of the month, we will be celebrating the Lord’s Supper. Unlike the disciples of old, merely observers of the divine presence in that cloud, by baptism we are united with the Risen Lord, we know ourselves raised into that cloud ourselves, albeit for a time only for a time … If you are in the area, please join us. There is a nursery for infants and a programme for children during the service. And if you can’t be with us, have a look at the inside of the Order of Worship belong, and join us by reflecting upon the passages of scripture and prayers. After all, it is not only the transfiguration of Christ we celebrate, but by the grace of God the transfiguration of Christians in the cloud of God’s presence and love …

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Artists over the centuries have imagined the baptism of Christ in many different ways. The Greek painter who spent a large portion of his career in Toledo Spain and there was known as El Greco himself painted this scene several times, each time with a different perspective, a different emphasis.

When I consider the meaning of various scenes of Scripture, I think of the truth of the adage ‘You never step into the same river twice’. Part of the truth is that the river itself is never the same – the water itself flows past and changes constantly. The other part of the truth is that we ourselves are constantly changing, and therefore experience life differently.

What I appreciate about this particular rendition of this scene are the eyes of Jesus. Sometimes Jesus is imagined with eyes looking down, head bowed with humility before the Holy One above whose commission as Christ he here publicly accepts. Sometimes Jesus is imagined with eyes looking up, head raised to the heavens, with the Holy Spirit descending from the Father above, with Jesus receiving assurance for the divine task before him of the renovation of humanity. But here, on this canvas, it is as if El Greco has Jesus looking directly into the eyes of the people around him. And at this point in my personal life, I find here a particularly meaningful dimension of the baptism of Jesus.

It is as if Jesus is saying ‘I am here to bring God to humanity, I am here to renew humanity and this world. I am here … for you.’

Have a look at the Order of Service for this Sunday and join us in the worship of the God of love, Father Son and Holy Spirit. There is a nursery for infants, a programme for children, and ample free parking along the street and in a public lot behind the church off Queen Street.

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