Since then, there have been about 15,000 such “marriages” in Canada and about 3,000 of them were for couples who had come from outside the country.

Now a wrinkle has turned up. On January 12, 2012, two women presented themselves before the courts to dissolve the same-sex marriage they had pledged to in Toronto in 2005. One was now living in Florida and the other in the United Kingdom.

A lawyer for the Canadian government made the point that they could not be divorced in Canada because the laws of the states from which they had come did not recognize same-sex marriages. It was also noted that by existing law, in order to obtain a divorce in Canada they had to be residents of Canada for one year.

This immediately caused a stir: If the two could not be divorced in Canada, how could they earlier have been married in Canada? Did not the same limitations pertain? Other such questions surfaced.

The controversy has been renewed and the Canadian government has set about to amend the Canadian law so that marriage and subsequent divorce in Canada can be valid. But will that make marriage or divorce valid in their places of residence – Florida and The United Kingdom?

This episode is one more bump in the road in the ongoing verbal and legal effort by an aggressive minority to make marriage something it is not. The definition that “marriage is the union of one man and one women excluding all others” has been widely agreed to for as long as history has been written.

But for more than half a century a war has been waged on several fronts against this long-accepted understanding of marriage. In addition, against the social and behavioral benefits of marriage as universally understood. Those fronts include no-fault divorces, living-together-unmarried as a widening trend, sex between consenting adults merely for recreation with no thought of marriage, and now “marriage” as a union of two persons of the same sex.

As mentioned above, the aggressiveness of small but well-organized elements in society pushing for same-sex marriage has had its effect on legislatures here and there. But the battle is far from over. Where opinion is sought from an entire population (as in California’s Proposition 8 in 2008) the majority of people favor defending marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

Furthermore, there are organizations that are ready to do battle for this majority and for the historically understood definition of marriage. In my opinion the major line of defense is made up of the great number of Christian schools plus churches, Christian fellowships, cathedrals and synagogues (perhaps as many as 450,000 on this continent) where Scripture is read and expounded, seminars are conducted, retreats are sponsored, and most of all, marriages that are wholesome and honored stand out in faith communities as examples of what is possible.

The objective of this emphasis is not to act against the gay community. The issue is to retain the integrity of what the word marriage stands for. Where civil unions can accommodate civil needs this should be honored. But the objective is to keep the term marriage intact and properly circumscribed because, as one has said, this must be done because there is nothing like marriage.

Also, in faith communities, marriage is not to be emphasized in such a way as to exclude singles or give them the sense that they are second class citizens. With the brokenness of our society their numbers have increased significantly. It can be said that most of them would like to marry but the opportunity does not present itself. When the church ministers to them with equal honor it is contributing to the increase of domestic stability in the church and community as a whole.

What happens to the Canadian law defining same sex unions as “marriage” remains to be seen. And how far the efforts go to make same-sex marriage universally approved is also uncertain everywhere on this continent. However, when the verdict is finally in let us hope that by our example and by voice and vote we have all done what we can to elevate marriage as a covenanted union between one man and one woman. And at the same time, we have treated all humans with love and respect.

My text was from Psalm 139 and as I recall it was the psalmist’s prayer addressed to God as follows: “For you created my inmost being;/ you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Ps. 139:13). The congregation was unusually focused because the Supreme Court’s action seemed to have taken the country by surprise and arguments for and against had not yet been martialed. Christians wanted help in sorting the issues out.

A day or two after that sermon, a young woman came to my study for help in dealing with the guilt the sermon had awakened. It was not that she had had an abortion but rather that she had advised a friend to have one as the way out of a difficult situation. She felt some measure of responsibility for the death of that unborn infant.

During the week after that sermon, I wrote about the abortion issue in the church’s weekly newsletter. This fell into the hands of the Catholic wife of a community doctor. Her response was a sensitive letter, warm with regard for human life, but expressing surprise that I would speak and write compellingly on the subject in what she regarded as a Protestant community. She thought that Protestants at that time had no conscience on the matter. Her letter affected me deeply.

On the following Sunday I preached on the subject again in the Sunday evening service. Christians wanted guidance from the Scriptures. Roe vs Wade had struck deeply.

Thirty-eight years have passed since January 22, 1973, and the national debate continues unabated. Roe vs Wade appears to have made the unborn into non-persons with no protection under the law and a growing majority feel their wrong keenly. Canada has no law at all regulating abortions although calls are rising again from some legislators for a parliamentary debate. Abortion has become virtually a global issue.

But it’s not just the incalculable loss of millions of babies “terminated” in the name of personal freedom that counts. It’s also the aftermath in the suffering of women and men forever emotionally wounded, the corruption the abortion industry has introduced into society, the tax dollars that have been siphoned off to support this corruption, and the polarization the debate has produced in the populace.

During the week of January 8 this year, two contenders for the nomination to the presidency of the United States, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, have each stated that Roe vs Wade should be overturned. The impression this gives is that should either be elected to the high office they would lead the fight for that action.

One point firmly established by this 38-year-long debate is that in the governance of any nation (or any other responsible organization) no official act should ever be considered beyond overturning if it is unlawful or immoral. In this case, the moral issue has been behind the debate from the start, and no number of judicial rulings will make it go away.

I remember Maureen well. She was a quiet, shy teenager, very faithful in attendance at the youth group. I remember her as quietly thoughtful. She appeared to be open to the truth of the gospel though she did not say much. And I gathered from my contacts with her that she was blessed with a sensitive conscience.

In her handwritten letter she tells me that last June she returned to New Westminster to attend the fiftieth reunion of her graduating class at Lester Pearson High School in 1961. There she met up with Betty and Shirley. They had graduated in the same class with Maureen and all three had been members of our church’s youth group.

Her letter is addressed to both my wife and me. In it she tells us that during the weekend of celebration the three of them had spent time reflecting on their high school days. She writes me now to say thanks for helping “this quiet shy girl to grow into a self-confident adult with high moral values.”

In agreement with Betty and Shirley she writes that “we three (now 68 year olds) agreed that your family was a wonderfully positive influence on our lives.”

This is not the sort of information that one normally makes public but with her permission I am breaking that expected modesty for a very special reason – there is in it a word for pastors:

We pastors as a class want to succeed in our calling but our success is too often measured mostly in numbers: number of conversions gained, Sunday morning attendance, funds raised for missions, increase in membership, success with major or minor building projects, number of small groups, etc.

Numbers are certainly important and do give certain measurements of our ministry. Numerical growth is not to be scorned. For example, we can’t think of ourselves as succeeding if our statistics are dropping by 10% a year. Even break-even for succeeding years is a danger signal for growth-oriented pastors.

But some aspects of pastoral success can’t be reduced to numbers. Godly influence is not always easy to quantify. Nor is the giving of wise counsel. For examples, who can measure the effect of spiritual support given a wife abandoned by her husband; or wise counsel offered to a couple about to marry; or prayers with an apprehensive patient the evening before surgery; and, of course, the effect of being role models for teenagers who have value struggles as they mature.

We know that effective pastors work hard. Ours is never a mere forty-hour week. And effective pastors work to a system. We have times set aside for study and for pastoral visitation and for the administrating of a church. We build our ministries on prayer and faithfulness to the Scriptures. And often we don’t learn of the effect of our ministry until years later.

That’s why Maureen’s letter has given me such a surge of joy. It has now been followed up by a pleasant telephone conversation. In it all I am reminded of St. Paul’s assurance to the Corinthian believers that, “your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (I Cor. 15:58). Seed sown may not germinate immediately, but it is seed sown. The harvest is with the Lord. For this renewed contact we give our Savior all the glory and we rejoice!

They may wonder: Is this the year for markets to collapse causing my life’s savings to plummet? Or will a surge of high inflation do much the same damage? Will terrorism continue to spread even to the country in which I live? Who will protect children from sexual predators who seem to be everywhere? And is cyber-warfare the next global menace, which could disable the electrical grid, the financial infrastructure, or even the minimal functioning of government?

All of this makes us wonder again, will 2012 be the year? And if so, the year for what?

Christians have a special answer to the question. It is lodged in the word “hope.” Paul wrote of hope to young pastor Titus who had been assigned a difficult mission on the Island of Crete where paganism flourished. Paul reminded him of the “hope in eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began.” (Titus 1:2)

Elsewhere he writes to the Christians in Imperial Rome that because God has forgiven our sins through our faith in Christ “we rejoice in the hope of seeing God’s glory fully revealed” (Rom. 5:2 free translation).

“Hope” is the Christian’s word for the future’s positive outcomes, but a word always lodged in eternity.

This eternal hope tempers our fears and at the same time strengthens our resolve to live faithfully and with strong Christian intention in “this present evil world.” Will you join me in the following resolves for 2012?

I. We resolve to make 2012 the year for rooting our lives more deeply in the daily practice of earnest prayer, letting our prayers blanket the world in faith. As Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote, “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.”

Just as Abraham’s prayer for mercy for his nephew, Lot, brought a divinely ordered escape, so, today it will be the prayers of the saints that hold back divine judgment from a world gone sadly awry (Gen. 18).

II. We resolve to make 2012 the year for deeper commitment to the ministries of Christ’s church on earth. Churches everywhere on this continent need renewal. E. Stanley Jones wrote that although the church on earth is admittedly flawed, it is still the best instrument that exists for doing God’s work in the world. But as Paul so clearly saw, it is concentrated prayer on the part of the saints that make its ministry effectual (Eph. 6:18).

III. We resolve to make 2012 the year for a deeper commitment to personal righteousness in daily living. The sweep of relativism (“there are no absolutes”) and the excessive application of pragmatism to moral issues (“truth is what works”) has brought a moral softness to all of us. This softness affects the church at all levels. It makes it too easy for us to look the other way rather than face and resist evil for what it is and stand for righteousness.

In that regard, “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink (do’s and don’ts) but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). Beware: the issue here is not self-righteousness, a deadly substitute. It is true righteousness – the commitment to live out our lives in Christ by God’s given moral standards as they make their appeal to our consciences.

IV. Above all else, in 2012 we resolve to keep our ultimate hope anchored in the visible return of Christ. We know that we occupy enemy territory here on earth and the New Testament has many promises and exhortations that say our eternity with Christ is where the Christian hope is anchored. Someone has estimated that one out of every 28 verses in the New Testament is centered on this glorious hope: Christ will return and every eye shall see him! Will 2012 be the year?

Let us lift up our eyes, believing that 2012 could be the year! And in so believing may this renewed hope give us holy zeal for living for him in the here and now.

The purpose of Advent is to renew the faith of believers by helping them to review important events connected with the Messiah’s birth.

The visitation of angels, a baby’s miraculous birth to a previously barren elderly couple, the heavenly announcement to shepherds, the virgin birth of Jesus in a cattle shed – these are compelling accounts. But how do we know they aren’t just myths, legends or folktales?

Most would agree they make wonderful material for skits and programs that can be enacted during the holiday season. But do they report actual happenings at a specific time in history?

The physician, Luke, who recorded these stories is the one to ask. He answers the question in the opening paragraph of the gospel account that carries his name (Lk. 1:1-4).

Luke writes in classical Greek, which fact is not obvious to those of us who read his account in English. And his opening words are the longest sentence in the Scriptures, which also is not evident in our English translations. In this sentence he sets forth carefully his specific intention in putting the Christ story into writing. I’ll break down and paraphrase that one long sentence. I’ll recast it in a series of short sentences. He wrote:

Truly remarkable things have happened. Many have tried to capture the story of these happenings in writing. They’ve gathered their details about these unusual events from first-hand observers. I have done my own careful investigation of everything from the outset. I’ve left nothing out. So it seemed like a good idea for me to write my own account of what has happened. I’ve done this for you –- most excellent Theophilus — for a special reason. I want you to be even more certain than you now are of the things you have already been taught.

Does this sound like Luke intends to spin a fairy tale? He says, I have “carefully investigated” what I am about to write; I have been meticulous in my research. I’ve checked it against other first-hand accounts. I am convinced of the facts and I reduce this to writing to increase the certainty of my reader, Theophilus, who already is a believer.

Luke is self-consciously attempting to record history. But it’s sacred history. He wants to avoid inaccuracies in saying what actually happened, and he does so well. He winnows out the chaff of speculation from the weighty grains of fact. But, in doing so, his story can’t be authentic without including details of the miraculous elements in the account. He is regarded by most impartial scholars today as, “One of the very best and most reliable historians of antiquity” (New Bible Dictionary p. 756).

That gives us our key to the celebration of Advent. We believe it’s rooted in history. It’s about events that really happened. But Advent is a holy season because we believe these things happened miraculously. The message to Zechariah was solid and he and wife Elizabeth really did receive a child, John, against the impossibilities of nature. And Mary was indeed the virgin mother of the one who became the world’s saviour, Jesus the Christ.

So, in Advent we celebrate the historical coming of God into human flesh. He came as a real person, to be worshiped by his followers as fully human and fully divine. He came into a real world, blessed by resplendent beauty and scarred by the ravages of sin. He came to bring redemption through a perfect life and a sacrificial death.

For those who embrace this truth and declare themselves his followers his coming will now be three-fold: he came in an historical moment; he comes to the hearts of his followers wherever they are and whatever their situation; and he will come again to rend the skies and declare his universal lordship over all.

Originally, when this greeting, Merry Christmas, first formed (back in in the period of Middle English or earlier), “merry” meant “peaceful” or “pleasant.”

So far as I’m concerned, those original meanings represent a part of what this holy season should mean. Along the way, the word merry drifted toward such meanings as “high spirited” or “jolly.” I think those adjectives fit the Christmas season too.

From the birth of Christ onward, this holiday (note: holy day) has picked up numberless practices, traditions, and customs from many sources.  Examples are exchanging gifts, feasting, kissing under the mistletoe, etc. — and Christendom has attempted to draw them all together into one celebration.

To large portions of the world, whether Christian now only by tradition or Christian due to a living faith in Christ, the day is peaceful and pleasant because on it we celebrate the coming of the world’s only Savior – Jesus, the prince of Peace.

So because of a living faith in the salvation he came to bring we can seek to be peacemakers in our world, despite that world’s sometimes shocking conflicts whether glaring or subtle, near at hand in our personal lives, or on distant soils.

The word Christmas originated as ”Christ Mass,” definitely a religious term. Although for Protestants it is not a mass, a word which in its origins meant death, it is about Christ, and definitely a day to celebrate the coming of God in bodily form in order that by this means he could become our Savior.

All of this is why I send you a warm greeting and the wish that this Christmas season will be peaceful and pleasant and also full of good cheer!

A century ago, at 13 years of age, in Lancashire, England, my father entered the coal mines to work alongside his father. During winter months he saw daylight only on Sundays. That was child labor.

Today in many cases the opposite extreme exists. A professional man in a highly technical position tells me that in his numerous employment interviews with well-trained candidates he all too often senses that their purpose rises no higher than an easy job, lavish lifestyle, and lots of money. He always asks candidates about their first jobs and finds that some he interviews had no work experience until college, and even then often at relatively undemanding jobs.

Avoiding both extremes, what can we glean from the Bible about work as a noble activity, belonging to mature manhood?

When Jesus returned to his home town after being away for some time, the townsmen asked, “Is not this the carpenter?” (Mk 6:3) Before leaving he had apparently identified himself by his work.

Likely somewhere between 12 and 30 years of age, under his earthly father’s tutelage, he had learned a craft (Matt 13:55). Later, he called his ministry of teaching and healing his work. He said: “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working” (Jn 5:17).

The Scriptures themselves make the importance of work clear. To some Thessalonian Christians who thought that Christ’s soon appearing made the routines of this life unimportant, Paul writes, “If a man will not work, he shall not eat” (II Thess. 3:8). And he exhorted slackers in the church to “settle down and earn the bread they eat” (II Thess. 3:12).

We can even draw from the Scriptures a theology of work:

The first worker was God – the Creator (Gen 1:1). At the end of creation he rested from “his work” (Gen 2:2,3). The second worker was the first man, Adam, who by the Lord God himself was assigned his work as a gardener in Eden (Gen 2:15). Then Adam and Eve’s first two sons Cain and Abel had occupations – one kept flocks, the other worked the soil (Gen 4:1,2).

It’s true that the Fall of man gave work a bitter-sweet quality. Because of sin, the ground in which food was to be raised was cursed and toil took on a painful aspect. Work was no longer to be sheer pleasure. Nevertheless, in the New Testament, work is seen by the Apostle Paul, the tent maker, as a noble and deserving activity: “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands …” (1Thess 4:11).

All of this could suggest that very early, children should get their first lessons in contributing to family life by chores – making their own beds, setting the table for dinner, etc. Later on they may graduate to baby sitting, shovelling snow, mowing lawns, or delivering papers, and thence on toward an adult vocation.

Such a regimen should mean four things for parents: (1) limiting the time children spend on video games, TV gazing, text messaging, etc; (2) fathers working beside their boys from time to time to teach and show camaraderie in work; (3) some tasks assigned without pay to show that their boys share responsibility in the functioning of the home; and (4) reasonable monetary rewards given for other tasks so as to give a child pleasure in receiving the rewards work brings.

Blessed is the growing boy who lives in a family where work is given its rightful place in the spectrum of daily life; and who grows up accepting the challenge of work that is sometimes pleasant sometimes tedious but always a vocation for that time of life.

(If you are friends with a young married couple or a young family, please pass this blog on to them)

They say that too many appear to want nothing more than an easy job that pays well. They observe that many young men seem reluctant to launch a serious career because it would limit their freedoms. Furthermore, for some, the demands of marriage and fatherhood appear to frighten rather than challenge. The path to maturity seems arrested.

Certainly the manhood crisis is not universal. There are brave men who offer themselves freely in service to their country, and many young men from varied backgrounds are committed in their pursuits, including establishing a family, and treating life as a challenge worth pursuing.

Yet, it is a problem sufficiently large that it should engage every local church.

Thankfully, In Jesus we have the example of perfect manhood. Who of us is not moved in reading of Jesus’ strength in the face of severe mistreatment and at the same time his compassion in the presence of those he found suffering? Who is not drawn by his readiness to lay his life on the line for others? What an example to hold before the young!

Even more amazing is his offer to enter the lives of the young in a transforming way. This is called the New Birth or conversion. It is a moment of yielding oneself, at whatever level of understanding one has reached, to become a follower of Jesus. It includes a life-giving quickening of the Holy Spirit. Today I speak to that issue.

Jesus went to the Passover in Jerusalem for the first time at 12 years of age. ( Lk. 2:41-52). When his parents discovered that he was missing from the pilgrim band as it wended its way toward his home in Nazareth, his parents searched for him and found him in the temple. He was listening to the rabbis and engaging them with questions about the faith of Israel. In this awakening he called the temple, “My Father’s house.”

An adolescent conversion to Christ will not completely parallel that moment but a conversion can be a major step in a boy’s life toward becoming a man after God’s own heart. It may be as simple as his saying “yes” at his present level of understanding, or it may involve a complex struggle dealing with an awakening conscience or a resistant will.

In this struggle, the church has a role to play by instructing and coaching — all with patience and persistence. Jesus said, “Feed my lambs” (Jn 21:15) and that is the church’s ongoing assignment.

In the light of all this, a genuine conversion can set the stage for a life that unfolds with purpose and that moves toward a manhood that is strong and resolute. When an adolescent boy is led to know and follow Christ one can’t even guess what the life-shaping, long-term results will be.

I’ve been pondering this for some time. With too many developing males, something is diminishing the forward surge. In 1970, men earned 60% of all college degrees. The figure had fallen to 50% by 1980 and by 2006 it was 43%. Women now surpass men in college degrees by almost three to one. (USA stats)

These facts are produced in William J. Bennett’s new book, The Book of Man: Readings on the Path to Manhood. For sure, not all men need to go to college. Nevertheless, it can be argued that these few facts alone point to a growing crisis in manhood in western civilization. In a summary sentence Bennett says, “For the first time in history, women are better educated, more ambitious and arguably more successful than men.”

In no way do I set this information out to diminish the laudable accomplishments of women during the 20th century and into the 21st. It is rather a cry of alarm over the shrinking of something we can call healthful manhood in our society. If boys are to be men, growing boys and young men need more help, more prompting, more encouragement than they are getting to “man up.”

Some argue that this critical state of affairs started with the Industrial Revolution of the 17th century when men’s work began to separate boys from their fathers. If so, it is too deep to be fixed by a lecture here or there or even a college course on masculinity. It will require some big and interacting shifts in the notion of true manhood itself.

Whenever it began, it appears to me that local churches — stations of the one universal church of Jesus Christ — have a foremost opportunity to contribute to the needed repair but they must catch the vision for it. They have resources — worshiping communities where all ages can intermingle, teachers of church school (both men and women) to point the way, and opportunities for mature, trustworthy men to share personally in the lives of growing boys and young men. In the Bible, they also have a large stable of heroes to be tapped into — Joseph, Caleb, Joshua, Jeremiah, Daniel, The Apostle Paul, Luke, and many others.

Above all else, they have Jesus, the Messiah, the perfect example of manhood. That fact deserves exploring. I will continue the development of this thought next week.

(FAITHFUL READER: IF YOU HAVE RELEVANT QUESTIONS YOU WOULD LIKE TO SUGGEST FOR FUTURE BLOGS PLEASE LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW, OR BY E-MAIL. THOUGH I MAY NOT BE ABLE TO RESPOND TO ALL OF THEM, I WOULD BE GLAD TO KNOW WHAT IS ON YOUR MIND)

N.B. Due to a slight technical hitch the wrong version of this post was published earlier. A revised version of that post will now be appearing in instalments. My apologies for any confusion! DNB

Kathleen was with me. She doesn’t say much in class but her presence makes clear that we have a shared vision of the calling.

One week before my visit, the class is given a packet of 140 pages of papers I’ve written on pastoral issues both during my active life as a bishop and during my retirement right up to the present. For example, at this recent session I gave the class a fresh piece I called, “A Pastor’s First Church – Priorities For the First Thirty Days.”

We used this new piece to begin the evening encounter after I made brief introductory comments to show that ordained ministry is much more than a job (a time-limited task); it’s a vocation (a God-ordained, life-encompassing calling).

The packet these seminarians are given is wide-ranging. It takes up such subjects as: The Theology of Worship; How To Critique Your Own Sermons; Sexual Integrity in the Ministry; Guidance For The Pastoral Prayer; and Officiating at Weddings. I am given freedom to choose which subjects to deal with during the evening. The four hours go by fast and to me always seem to generate a certain strong interest if not excitement.

During my most recent visit, after dealing with the paper on priorities during the first thirty days at a new church I followed with in-depth reflections on the pastoral prayer and then sexual integrity in the ministry.

Before the class was over feedback told me I was opening windows on new vistas for pastoral ministry. One seminarian noted that at the outset of the class his view of the pastorate was that it’s a free-flowing assignment, perhaps not highly regulated. But, he said, in each of my papers he saw a certain pattern — with a strong sense of “intentionality” (my word). In essence, he saw that effective pastors work to a plan and have clear priorities.

Another older seminarian offered that he had often filled in short-term for churches that were without a pastor, but he had felt resistant to being a full-time pastor himself. He indicated clearly that from the evening’s exchange this reluctance had diminished.

This once-a-semester opportunity is dear to my heart. I recognize that Northeastern, by its standing invitation, gives me the privilege of touching the lives of men and women who will be leading Christian congregations long after I have departed this life. And it’s deeply gratifying to see that the classical sense of pastoring that I was first introduced to in seminary more than half a century ago — and that has grown on me ever since — still can resonate with seminarians of the present.