August 30, 2026 Reflection

 “Pay to all what is due them: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honour to whom honour is due. Owe no one anything;..” (Romans 13:7-8a) What a great start to a Sunday morning.

As some of you know, Bob and I just sold the three-year-old duplex we were living in and purchased a 50-year-old rancher. And to do that, we took out a mortgage, something most people our age would consider a bad idea. (and the rationale for which I’m happy to explain over coffee) But in truth, most of the people I know still have mortgages. And credit cards. And lines of credit. And in my cohort, just when it looks like we might be breaking even, many are taking on more debt, or running down their nest egg, to help support the next generation. And the one after that. The Lower Mainland is an expensive place to live and there is debt all around. Lots of it.

Paul goes further: “…pay your taxes”. All of them. Just do it. Now Bob and I actually do pay our taxes. All of them. No clever dodges, havens, write offs. Not only because we’re conservative in that way (when it comes to other things, shoes, I’m the first to admit I’m very liberal with my money), but because we do believe in our national commitment to contribute to the well-being of everyone who lives here. But – I know taxes are something many of us bridle at. Are our taxes being used well? Are they being directed to things we approve of? Are they being managed effectively? Not unreasonably, paying them often comes with some reservations and even resentment.

Paul goes on to push the envelope: “Pay respect to whom respect is due, honour to whom honour is due.” I chose here to place a heavy emphasis on the word ‘due’. I indeed pay respect to those who offer leadership and service in ways that are honourable and who have great integrity and commitment. Many years ago, I was at a party with friends who are very politically involved and Ed Broadbent, the former leader of the national NDP showed up. I was speechless. Rather than any clever repartee all I could choke out was something to the effect of ‘I’m so grateful for all you have done for our country.’ A dear, lifelong friend of mine committed most of his life working for a provincial party that isn’t one I support. And, I was and continue to be in awe of his commitment, his desire to make a difference in the country and even the world. Even though I thought he was connected to the wrong party, his heart and his life were committed to the absolutely right causes, and I did and continue to pay him the respect that is his due. I’ll say nothing here about those who I don’t believe are due my respect, or anyone else’s.

“Just do it” Paul writes in an almost off-hand way. Have no debt, pay your taxes and give honour where it’s due. And then, he makes an enormous pivot. “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” All the other commandments he says, all the ten commandments about adultery and murder and coveting, all the rules about living righteously can be “…summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.” Love fully realized, acted upon, lived out, brings on the fulfillment of heaven on earth.

In this turn, from the worldly language of debt and tax and honour to the kindom language of love, the balance sheet is different. The motivation and currency are not money, guilt, fear, resentment, envy but instead are joy and hope and generosity and grace.

Rev Eric Law is an Anglican priest and writer. Among other things Eric helps congregations implement just what Paul was writing about, different ways of understanding economy, different ways of identifying currency. He, like Paul, encourages us to think beyond cash. Our resources are economic, yes, but also spiritual and human. Eric says that when we think about the exchange of currencies other than cash, we are moving into the economy of God that Paul, and Jesus point us towards. Of course, Eric includes money as a currency, and then he expands currencies to include: time and space; gracious leadership; relationships; truth; wellness.

So, a choir may want to use this sanctuary, but they don’t have a budget that allows for them to pay the usual rent. You might offer them a time and a place to meet at a rent they can afford and they offer to come a couple of Sundays a year and sing with and for you. A different kind of currency exchange; not limited to money but including time and place, relationship, even wellness – a healthy, enriching activity for the singers and a blessing for you on a Sunday morning.

Another example: we cannot, ever, invest the kind of money needed to resolve all the aching of the world. But we can speak truth – writing letters to government leaders, urging them to do the right thing regarding whatever issue is troubling you. Money is not the currency; instead time and compassion and God’s truth in an effort to attain God’s justice. Sometimes this can feel so futile, but finding a way to communicate with leaders is critical – when you think about it, silence is surrender. And it occurs to me that in Eric’s approach, and in the Bible’s, debt means something different. ‘Owe no one anything, except to love one another,’ sounds like another type of debt, another account of the heart we need to keep an eye on.

Of course, the tariffs we are hearing so much about will impact taxes and debt. But in God our responses are not limited to worrying about the financial cost. We can be attentive to who is being impacted locally. We can hold them in prayer – a power that is not to be underestimated. We can offer space if organizers need somewhere to meet.  And here’s something I’m thinking about doing, hopefully with your help. I came across a list of small businesses that are being hit by the new tariffs, and there are two local ones I think we could support. Ohana Sweets and Vancouver Island Sea Salt. They’re random choices – I found them online in an article by Tod Maffin. (mainstreet.todmaffin.com) I’m thinking of buying some of their products with my own money. And then setting up a table here for you to buy them. One small thing we can do. Using currency of risk, trust, good will and money. One tilting at the windmill of political machinations run amok. More information to come. But keep in mind, Christmas shopping is around the corner.

Paul calls on the people of Rome and us to wake up to the time we are in. I love this: “Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is already the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone; the day is near. Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us walk decently as in the day…put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 13:11-14)

When it feels like we are living into increasing darkness, let us be people of the morning. People of the inbreaking realm of God. Let us arise from spiritual slumber or a sense of hopelessness. Get up and get dressed – put on Christ. The verb ‘put on’ is indeed the verb used to describe putting on clothes. Put on your allegiance to Christ, to the Peaceable Realm of God, and let people see it, just as they can see what else you are wearing. Bear witness to the hope that is in us. Lives characterized by loving our neighbour as our self will give testimony to an alternative future, financial and otherwise. Will give witness to the kingdom of God. Here on earth.

But let’s not romanticize or minimize this time, this challenge. As much as paying your taxes may cause you grief, living in the economy of God is even more challenging. “When Jesus comes along saying that the greatest command of all is to love God and to love our neighbor, [God] is asking us to pay attention. If we are to love God, we must first stop, look, and listen for [God] in what is happening around us and inside us. If we are to love our neighbors, before doing anything else we must see our neighbors. With our imagination as well as our eyes, … we must see not just their faces, but the life behind and within their faces.” (Fredrich Beuchner)

I am thinking now, as an example, the dreadful Israel-Palestine conundrum. Over and over, we have seen so many images of the atrocities committed in that part of the world. In this part of the world the responses are most often polarized. There is of course huge sympathy for those in Gaza. And anti-Semitism is at a historical high in Canada and around the world. There is, I believe, an orchestrated dance between criticizing the actions of the government of Israel and being perceived as antisemite. A dance between being outraged at the atrocities in Gaza and forgetting about those committed throughout history against Jews, most recently the October 7 massacre in Israel. An egregious pitting of a people against a people rather than identifying the leaders involved, those in Israel and the Hamas and others for whom their people seem to be an expendable casualty. How do we love our neighbours, all our neighbours, in the midst of media that pits us against each other, rather than letting us see each other? Again, “…we must see not just their faces, but the life behind and within their faces.”

In The Brothers Karamazov Dostoevsky writes: “…love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams.” (www.laureldykstra.com)

Loving our neighbour in a world of complex economic and social relationships is not easy – all of you know that. We’re not sure whom to trust, who to believe. In practical terms lived love can be a harsh and difficult thing. No wonder people turn to the licentiousness and debauchery that Paul worried about, to running up debt as we seek to run from the realities of life.

But as a people of the Light we are called to enter the morning, the inbreaking of God’s time, with eyes wide open, hearts vulnerable to cracking and confusion and minds engaged in sorting through the voices of the night and the promises of the day. Every Sunday I close with telling you that the love of God, the grace of Jesus Christ and the strength and the solidarity of the Holy Spirit are with you. I mean it, I count on it, and so can you. Because we are a people of the day, lit by the light of God in Christ.

Thanks be to God. Amen