Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 03 July 2022 and 30 June 2024 by Major Michael Ramsay
It is
the wind down before Summer break in a number of agencies as such I tend to
lend my support at their AGMs. I also sit on a lot of community boards,
I was
at a board meeting a couple of years ago for the Neighbourlink Society: a group
that provides food for children in the schools. Many of the people on the board
have been friends for years. They were telling a few good stories. John and
Carol are very good friends. John was giving Carol a hard time about her
cooking because apparently shortly after she fed him a grilled cheese sandwich
he had a heart attack – he was saying, ‘don’t let Carol make anyone any food’.
Carol then told us more of the story. John was coming over to mow her lawn and
after he had a lunchbreak, he headed outside to finish the work… and he did
have a heart attack. They called the ambulance. It was quite significant. Carol
was quite concerned. They took him to the hospital and then they actually had
to fly him out by helicopter. You have to really understand the humour of these
two for the rest of the story. As he was going up in the helicopter with his
family and everyone around Carol yelled out, ”and don’t think I’m paying you!
You didn’t finish the job!” The paramedic with John, in the helicopter,
apparently said “I wouldn’t want to work for her” and then they heard her yell,
“and don’t think I’m going to give you a reference”. John and Carol were
laughing hysterically as they were recounting the story – especially as no one
else there, at the hospital, at the time (including his adult son, I believe)
realized that it was a joke. This made them laugh all the more.
This
then got the stories going. One of them was telling the story of when their
husband was in the hospital. A friend of theirs came to see him. Now he was in
one of those rooms with more than one bed and there was a curtain drawn around
his bed; so the friend went up to the other bed and thinking it was Fred (or
whatever the husband’s name is) said, “Oh my goodness – Fred you look so bad I
don’t even recognize you!” Fred's family then poked their heads out of where
they were and said, “cut that out, come over here...”
Another
lady told a story about when her mother went to the hospital to see her father
and she leaned over to give him a big kiss only to realize that the fellow she
kissed wasn’t her husband.
John
then relayed the story of when he came up behind his friend and blew in his
ear, for a joke, only to find out that it wasn’t his friend at all. It was some
complete stranger’s ear he was blowing into. That gentleman did not receive
that gesture very well at all. Board meetings can fun...
Monday
is Canada Day. In light of that, I thought that we would look at the verse from
the Order of Canada (and more) today. Can anyone tell me:
• What is the motto of the Order of
Canada? desiderantes meliorem patriam, meaning "they desire a
better country"
• Where does it come from? Hebrews 11:16
The
Motto of the Order of Canada comes from Hebrews 11:16, “they were longing for a
better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their
God, for He has prepared a city for them.”
Pierre
Eliot Trudeau when he established the Order of Canada applied this verse to our
nation but, of course, this verse refers to more than just our nation or any
nation. It is great that he wanted to apply these Christian ideals to our
country, just as an earlier generation had applied the Christian ideals of
Psalm 72:8 to our nation – with the hope that our country would always take
care of the poor and those on the margins. But to fully ascribe this verse to
our nation, of course, would be a case of mistaken identity not entirely
dissimilar from our opening stories. This verse and this passage (though
extended) obviously isn’t actually referring to Canada. It is referring to
someplace else. The second part of the verse, where it says that God has prepared
a city for them… to what city is the author of the Hebrews referring? The new
Jerusalem.
• Hebrews 12:22, “But you have come to
Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God” (cf. 13:14)
• Revelation 3:12 “Him who overcomes (I
will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it.) I
will write on him the Name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the
new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also
write on him my new name.”
• Revelation 21:10 And he carried me away
in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City,
Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.
At the
eschaton – the end of everything – the New Jerusalem, as referred to in
Hebrews, Revelations, Philippians, and Thessalonians (where it mentioned the
saints going to meet the Lord as He comes down) among other places, the city
prepared for God’s children will come down from heaven to earth.
Philippians
3:20 says this, “… our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour
from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,”
Let us
read more from Chapter 3 because tomorrow we will celebrate Canada Day and
today, like all Sundays, we are celebrating on the Lord’s Day with our fellow
citizens of Heaven. Let’s read some encouragement from Heaven, where as
Christians, our primary citizenship resides. How should we, who will be resurrected,
live out our time here in Canada as dual citizens of Heaven? While we are
living here, we are actually primarily citizens of Heaven and the new Jerusalem
which will descend from Heaven. Philippians 3:15 through 4:1 says this:
15 All
of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some
point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let
us live up to what we have already attained [our citizenship in Heaven].
17
Join together in following my example, brothers [and sisters], and just as you
have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 18 For, as I
have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as
enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is
their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly
things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour
from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to
bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that
they will be like his glorious body.
4
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and
crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!
Tomorrow
is Canada and there are many good things and other things about Canada and about
celebrating Canada Day. I always used to love Canada Day – the parades, the
picnics, the celebrations; some places have fireworks. A few Canada Days ago I
remember was quite somber as I spoke at the legion with so much going on in our
country: Covid-19, the discovery of probable graves at the IRS and all the
controversy around our government lowering our flag and not knowing how to
raise it appropriately. Things then became quite uncomfortable and this year
our community has no parade, no picnic, no official community events. I think
it is still good to celebrate the many good things that we experience as part
of Canadian community and I hope that our community will do that again at some
point because there are many good things about living here and many things we
can celebrate with our fellow citizens of Canada. It is good to celebrate some
of the wonderful ways that God has used Canadians to help others: Fredrick
Banting’s discovering penicillin and refusing to patent it so that everyone
could access it regardless of income or circumstance, Terry Fox who died
raising awareness and hope for people with Cancer. Tommy Douglas who made
healthcare accessible to everyone who lives in this country and Lester B.
Pearson who for a time made Canada Peacekeepers instead of war-makers. Blessed
be the Peacekeepers. There are many thing we can thank God and praise Him for
as He has provided for us as Canadians but let us never forget that – even more
important that that - we do have a dual
citizenship and our other citizenship is Heaven and so even as we rejoice in
the things God has done in and through Canada – and there are many good things,
Hebrews 11:16, we are still longing for a better country—a heavenly one. For
God is not ashamed to be called our God, for he has prepared that city for us.
That is our hope. Let us pray.
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