Presented to TSA Alberni
Valley Ministries, 09 July 2023 by Major M. Ramsay
Toronto
As you know we were in Toronto since I last had
a chance to chat with you here. It was good. Our work here was actually mentioned
in two workshops as positive examples – one on shelters was apparently all
about our shelter (but they didn’t mention it’s name; so, that was a little
weird) and one on Public Affairs (we received quite a few shout outs). We also
got to go to a Blue Jays game which was fun and see a musical but then I had to
go home. My cap and part of my tooth fell out – so I had to get a plane, trains,
bus, ferry, and a ride to get back home in time for the dentist to try to save
the tooth. I think she did. I have another appointment in the next week or two.
We had planned to be in Toronto but I wound up back here. This reminds me of
Proverbs
16:9: In their hearts, humans plan their course; but the Lord establishes their
steps.
and
James
4:13-15: Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that
city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not
even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that
appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it
is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
Paris
This summer I have been
preaching on various scriptures and illustrating them with experiences the Lord
has provided for me when we were in France. Today we are continuing that theme
with this sermon entitled, ‘Gospel Sien-ery’.
It was a great trip to
France and our time in Paris, which we are chatting about today, was
particularly good but, relating to Proverbs 16:9 and James 4:13-15, it wasn’t
without hitches. My phone did not work the whole time there so I couldn’t call
about our B&B reservations or anything like that, which can be a little
scary when you are standing on a strange street in a strange place where you do
not even speak the language. It also meant I couldn’t check in with work easily
or anything like that. And then also because we travelled a lot and I did not
know the itinerary in advance, I must confess that I was more than a little
disoriented. While this was very challenging at times, as I can sometimes be
tempted to hide myself in my calendar and my work among other things; it did
force me to be fully present in our trip and experience things in a way that I
would not have experienced them otherwise. God provided a great opportunity
through this unforeseen reality. This is the same with everything in everyone’s
life. We can think that everything is going a certain way; we can plan every detail
and for what we think is every possible contingency but in the end we should
take encouragement and solace in the sovereignty of God for Proverbs 16:9: In
their hearts, humans plan their course; but the Lord establishes their steps.
Seine-ic Cruise
John 7:37-38: On the last and
greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone
who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has
said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
One of the many amazing
things we saw in Paris was the Seine River. The Seine is the river that the
Lord used to bring Paris to life. It is the river the Lord used to bring France
to life. Their culture, identity and history is birthed from the banks of the
great river.
As people who love and
follow Christ, our culture and life, and even eternal life, has been birthed
and are sustained on the banks of the River of Life and as we share the joy and
strength and power of Salvation with others, the heavenly city -like the
analogous city of Paris - can grow in their hearts and their lives and rivers
of living water will flow from them and from us.
Seine at Sunset
John
8:12: When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of
life.”
Matthew
5:14-16: “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be
hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they
put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same
way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and
glorify your Father in heaven.
Paris is built on and
around the Seine so there is so much to be seen. One of the many beautiful
things we saw was the Seine at sunset. We were blessed to be able to have a
short cruise on the river – and us much by accident on our part, but Divine
Design in reality, we caught the city illuminated by the light of the sunset before
the night falls.
As the sunset shone it
showed amazing outlines of things we may not have noticed or at least not noticed
in the same way: the Cathedral Notre Dame, the river facing face of which was
seemingly free of scaffolding; many historic and official building and bridges;
the Louvre (itself a work of art before an orange sky). As the sunset lights up
the silhouettes of the city and illuminates the beauty of Paris, so does Jesus
in our world and our life. Whatever is happening all around us, as we look to
the heavens at sunset, we can look to Heaven anytime and notice the Glory and
the Love of God shining in our lives; compelling and propelling us through-
sustaining us in everything. As dark, busy, turbulent and challenging as all of
our world can be, as we travel through it and look to Jesus there is that light,
so that, we -you and I- never need to walk in darkness.
And the Eiffel Tower! The Eiffel Tower, oh the beauty of it I can
not describe as you see it change from day to light. From darkness to light. As
the sun goes down, you can see the tower beautifully silhouetted and then, when
darkness hits, just when you think you can’t see it’s outline anymore… pop! The
lights come on! The tower is illuminated and just like in the daylight, even
more so in the darkness the Eiffel Tower can be seen from everywhere! And even
more as we were walking back along the shore after the sun had well set and the
Tower was brightly illuminated, there was more! It sparkled! It really did
sparkle so if somehow you could have possibly missed the shine of the light of
the tower, you could not miss it as the sparkles shoot up down and everywhere.
This is so much like
the city on the hill in Matthew. When Christ lights up our life He can fill us
with such joy and love that we cannot possibly hide it. Like a person who has
just met the love of their life for the first time. As in a new relationship so
can our relationship with our Lord and Saviour be lighting up the world and our
hearts with the sparkles of joy even in the darkness of life and that joy can
be contagious as the love of the Lord beckons all around us – so much so that
it cannot be hidden!
Notre Dame Cathedral
1
Corinthians 15:12-14: But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from
the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If
there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And
if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
As it was sunset when we were on the Seine
River and looking up, Notre Dame was brilliantly lit up by the sky. The
Cathedral could also be seen up close by walking around it at other times. We
did. We saw many interesting things about Notre Dame: classic Gothic
architecture complete with gargoyles and flying buttresses; decapitated statues
from the French Revolution; and scaffolding.
Do
you remember the fire that ravaged the Cathedral in April of 2019. Many, many
firefighters were called in from all over to try to save the cathedral. The
ceiling melted. It burned and burned and burned. But then it was saved. And the
rebuild began. People donated time, effort, prayer, funds, and so much more to
the restoration, the resurrection of the great Cathedral. On the banks of the
Seine there with the river (symbolic to me of the river of life flowing in
front of it) and the sunset behind it (symbolic to me of the Light of God); I
could not help but look to the resurrection as it relates to each and every one
of us. One day our bodies will all perish (unless Christ returns first!); even
now they are falling apart from wear and tear but when Christ comes back we
will all be built anew and we will be build in bodies that will never perish, never
decay, and never get old. And we will serve our Lord forever in His Kingdom in
our new glorified, resurrected bodies.
Arc De Triomphe
Luke
12:16-21: And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man
yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no
place to store my crops.’
“Then he said,
‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and
there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty
of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
“But God said to
him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who
will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
“This is how it will be with whoever
stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
We also saw Napoleon’s tomb and the Arc De
Triomphe. I walked between the Arc and the Eiffel Tower a number of times
actually trying to find Susan after I climbed the Eiffel Tower by myself –
Susan, as one who is not particularly fond of heights, passed up on that
opportunity. Napolean’s tomb and even more so the Arc De Triumph he had constructed
reminded me of the parable of the rich fool. Napoleon’s tomb is grand and all
around him are his generals – almost like an Egyptian Pharoah surrounded by his
slaves and household members, with him in the centre. As important as he was –
for good and bad, a lot of bad, a lot of death – he died just like everyone and
if He did turn to Christ than He is in the same better place that all of us can
be but, if he turned to himself and his hubris instead..
The
Arc de Triumph. Napoleon, convinced of his continuing victories in Europe; so
sure of himself that he will wipe aside any who try to stop his murderous
armies, he builds this amazing Arc of Triumph that he and his soldiers could
march through to show Paris and to show the world their power and their
strength. When the Arc was built and all ready for a parade, do you know who
the first to walk through in full military parade were? The Germans. Napolean
had built this symbol of power and hubris to himself and his soldiers and, like
the parable, his life was demanded of him before he had completed it and others
(France’s foes) got what he had prepared for himself.
So
with us. The Alberni Valley Salvation Army has been honoured with so much in
the community. We have been able to help with so much: making the shelter,
saving and growing the Bread of Life, Covid-10 Response, and so much more in
just the previous few years alone! Not to mention the many, many things, God
has done through all of you, and your forebearers here in the Valley before
you. Let us celebrate all of those victories but let us never fall prey to the
hubris of believing that we are doing it, rather than Christ in us. Let us
never think that we ourselves or anything else is more important than being
rich towards the Kingdom of God.
Shakespeare
and Company
Hebrews
13:2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some
people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.
This verse was on the wall of the Shakespeare
Bookstore in Paris, just around the corner from Notre Dam on the Seine. The
Shakespeare bookstore is an amazing place many famous authors have visited
there, stayed there, written there; many famous poems and works of literary art
could have been composed there. Even today, as well as buying great books and
other works of literature, we are invited to stay and write. The verse on the
wall of the bookstore, relates to their historic hospitality that the Lord has
used to bless us through the writings of the authors and poets who have stayed
there. I have stories of entertaining or being entertained by angels myself
which I will certainly share another time. This passage is important. We should
remember that anywhere and anytime, any stranger might just be a messenger of
God, and even if they aren’t we should treat them as if they are for God
created us all in His own image and He can use us all as His own agents to do
His own work here on earth; May it be so.
Streetside Cafés
Matthew
5:14-16: “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be
hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they
put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same
way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and
glorify your Father in heaven.
We saw many great things along the Seine and in
Paris (as well as in the rest of France). As we conclude our talk today about
“Gospel Seine-ry”, I want to circle back bring our attention again to Matthew
5. Along the Seine and everywhere in
Paris and everywhere we saw in France actually there was outdoor seating. There
were cafes lining the streets. When we were there it wasn’t actually the nicest
weather in the world. It was quite a bit colder than it was here. Every time
you went to a café or a streetside restaurant, they sat you outside. It was
neat on nice days especially so many people side by side, as restaurant
bordered coffee shop, bordered restaurant, bordered coffee shop. The atmosphere
was great as everyone in the morning enjoyed their croissants and espresso and
their meals in the evenings. The noise and the joy drew you in. People were not
hidden away inside (unless they insisted, I assume) unless the outside was
full.
This
reminded me of Matthew 5. These restaurants were not hiding their customers
inside and as a result potential patrons could see the crowds, and/or their
friends and decide to come in for a meal or a coffee themselves and then they
also can experience all the joys of that experience.
So
it is with us. As we feast at the Lord’s banquet, let us not do it in secret.
Let us not hide away from the world as if it is too cold to be warmed by the
love of Christ; let us instead, each and everyone of us, move the metaphorical
chairs of our salvation outside so that we can catch the eyes of our friends
walking by and invite them to join us in this great meal of eternal life that
can begin even now and continue on for all eternity.
Let us pray
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