Tag: Rev. Jaebok Gu

Matthew 5:1-11, 17-18, Psalm 124, and Romans 13:8-10

When I think about residential schools, I ask myself: “What can change people?” How can good intentions and plans lead to different outcomes? When the Canadian Church operated the Residential School, my home country was colonized by Japan. At that time, Canadian missionaries who came to Korea supported Korea’s independence. They respected Korean culture and helped prevent the Korean language from being lost through Korean churches. And this became an essential foundation for preserving Korean culture through the Korean language and creating today’s Korean songs and movies. So, I feel that there was a huge difference between the domestic and overseas missionary policies decided through the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the same era.

So, I feel a sense of regret as we approach the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. At the same time, I would like to express my gratitude to my fellow believers who honestly admit and confess their mistakes because admitting errors takes a lot of courage. The truth is uncomfortable sometimes. And what about forgiveness? There are times when forgiveness in personal relationships is not easy. In my case, I feel that it is harder to forgive someone or confess a mistake now than when I was in elementary school. We can also see how difficult forgiveness and reconciliation between one group and another group, country, or people are through various wars and conflicts, including Israel.

Nevertheless, today, we confess our past wrongs and tell the truth. Our Presbyterian Church operated 11 residential schools across Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Ontario until 1925, when some churches split into the United Church. Since then, we have operated only two schools in Manitoba and Ontario. Our mistakes have caused great pain to our First Nations friends. Even though our apologies are insufficient, we pray that God will comfort the hearts of our friends in the Indigenous community.

So today, Jesus’ sermon in Matthew sounds like a prayer to me. We pray for those who have lost family and friends because of the residential school system. We also acknowledge our mistakes in standardizing them by our standards. We hope today’s scripture will comfort our First Nations friends who are still suffering because of this.

I tried to interpret today’s message as Jesus’ prayer. and we pray for them. ”Heavenly Father, we are the poor in spirit. Our Indigenous friends still mourn. They are meek. They seek your righteousness. Almighty God, let us be pure in heart. We hope to be peacemakers. We pray for them. They can get a kingdom of heaven. They are comforted. They can inherit their earth. They can experience and enjoy the justice of God. They could see God.”

We also pray for the Christians and their descendants who participated in this work with good intentions but suffered from unfortunate consequences. Heavenly Father, we are the poor in spirit, too. We are waiting for your mercy and the mercy of our Indigenous friends. We hope to be pure in heart. May we live as peacemaker.

As David sang like this, we have escaped like a bird from the fowler’s snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Since the Lord has been on our side, we can free ourselves from anger, sin, and past wrongdoing. So we can live today and dream of a new future together with First Nations.

As the Red Deer River crosses the Saskatchewan border, it flows into the South Saskatchewan River, which becomes part of the Hudson Bay Watershed. The river joins other rivers in the middle, passes through Lake Winnipeg, and heads towards the Atlantic Ocean. It is a very long and arduous road. But rivers dream of the sea. Just as the river finally meets the sea, at the end of the road to reconciliation, we will experience the gift of peace from God. The sea we meet at that time will be in a completely new state than before, symbolizing a new era.

To love and embrace is to fulfill the Law, Paul said. “Whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.” I recognize that the decisions of my respected predecessors in the Presbyterian Church in Canada and the choices and actions we all make today can have consequences that we cannot imagine as time passes. That is why I believe the apology confessed and adopted at the General Assembly this year will be a significant milestone. So now, I invite you to read the apology accepted by the PCC and express your sincere feelings together.

Mark 9:30-37, Psalm 1:1-6, and James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a

If we could know what would happen in a month, a year, or 10 years as we live, our lives would be very different. But we know that this is impossible. On the other hand, you may have already known two months ago that you and I would be here now. But we couldn’t have predicted this three months ago, a year ago, ten years ago.

None of us can predict the future, but we live in a world without these abilities. Even though we may not have the gift of prophecy, we do know God’s way of living. I hope to share two of those secrets with you today.

Today’s psalm is about blessed people. They do not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers. They also meditate upon His Law, day and night. The Lord watches over the way of the righteous. Blessed are those who know and meditate on the law of Jehovah, who walk in Jehovah’s ways and do Jehovah’s will. You and I are blessed because we know God and the gospel. What is Jehovah’s will and teachings? It is a simple and straightforward command to love God and love one’s neighbors.

We love God. And God loves us very much. We love our neighbors. We worry about the homeless. We feel sorry for them. When I come to church during the week, our members often come to church. And they tell me this story of Red Deer and other stories. Then, I think, “Our members love Red Deer and are doing a good job of fulfilling the trust God has given us as stewards of this area.” That’s right. God has a will and plan for us to live in Red Deer. It means cultivating and preserving this area according to God’s will. However, it is not easy to solve any of the problems I mentioned, such as homelessness, poverty, and drug addiction.

However, last week, I continued to meditate on God’s perspective. In today’s Word, God gave me this heart in Jesus: to serve our neighbors and the world with wisdom and humility.

Today’s verse from James 3:13 expresses this well. “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.”

The humility that comes from wisdom. And the service of love through this enriches our lives. It further makes the world beautiful. Giving them money directly and putting my heart at ease is not simply a good deed. Instead, it is to create a wiser plan. The problems of poverty, drugs, and homelessness are not just Red Deer’s problems. In particular, the problems of Indigenous families and refugees are also issues in Canada and around the world. Fortunately, in this unfortunate time, the government and all related organizations are seeking cooperation. And we pray and support materially for them. We do our work, politicians do policy work, and police, firefighters, and medical staff do their jobs responsibly. Of course, it is difficult for us to achieve positive results quickly.

What struck me when I studied Canadian society was First Nations life expectancy. Between 2015 and 2021, the life expectancy dropped a shocking seven years for First Nations men and women living in Alberta due in part to drug poisoning deaths.

In 2015, the average life expectancy for a First Nation man was 67 – today, that has dropped to 60. For First Nations women, it’s gone from 73 in 2015 to 66 years in 2021. The life expectancy of a non-First Nations man is 79. For non-First Nations women, it is 84. According to data from First Nation’s health statistics from the Alberta First Nations Information Governance Centre, the rate of opioid poisoning deaths is seven times higher for First Nations people compared to non-First Nations people.

Dear brothers and sisters in faith, we are all peacemakers. We must plant and create peace in the face of the pain and issues of society. James 18 says, “Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.” As this verse says, we must plant peace and harvest righteousness in every corner of this land. This righteousness is the righteousness of God. We need to look at them as God looks at Indigenous people. When we look at the homeless through God’s eyes, we can plant peace in this land. And I believe that we will reap the fruits of righteousness.

Finally, we can see that this service is revealed more clearly through Jesus’ teachings. As told in Mark 9:37, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”

We are optimistic about the world and welcome our needy neighbors. But we will welcome and embrace them wisely. In the church I served in the past, church members served meals to the homeless twice a week. Because it was a church in metro Seoul, the homeless often came to the office during the week. It was heartbreaking just to let them go. So ministers gave them a dollar or two. However, the problem was that they went to other churches to collect money and drank a lot, and the situation worsened. Some drunk people even committed violence in the church. Therefore, wise service is needed. We also need to delegate this role to those who are more professional than us. And there is a role that our church can play in unity with the entire denomination. And just by welcoming and smiling at a young child around my house and yours, the kingdom of God begins in our lives today. Also, as we all serve the Disadvantaged People with wisdom and humility, as Jesus Christ said, we will all accept Jesus and the God who sent him.

I hope we will all receive God and experience the joy of heaven through loving service during the week ahead.