Death counseling 3

What could be some of the dangers in end of life counseling?

People's value may be reduced to simply a money value. How much does it cost to keep you alive? The elderly may be counseled to refuse treatment simply because it costs too much money. And we need to note that within our society we have money - after all we spend millions and millions on things like plastic surgery.
If end of life counseling is done poorly people may feel that they are simply a burden. Each person is precious and has something significant to offer.
Life is gift from God. And death is truly an enemy. When a loved one dies we suffer a great loss - even if the death is expected. End of life counseling may take death too lightly.

Life and death should never be treated as just a rational problem to be solved. Death and life are realities that we experience not solve. The questions that they bring are not questions we give absolute and final answers to, rather they are questions we live in.

Death counseling 2

Last time I asked if there are times when end of life counseling could be a good thing. Here are a couple of thoughts on why end of life counseling could be a helpful.

1. Death is not the end. As a believer in Jesus, who was raised from the dead, I don't believe that death in the final chapter in my life. C.S. Lewis pointed out that death is not the end but is the beginning. The apostle Paul states "for living is Christ and dying is gain". This does not mean that we pursue death. It means we do not need to fear it. I have a feeling that some of attempts to prolong life at all costs has a lot more to do with fear than with a desire to live.
2. Death is inevitable. Everyone who is alive now, will one day die (unless Jesus returns first). End of life counseling may help a person prepare for death. May help a person face death. Many spend most of their life pretending that they are not going to die that they have never prepared for death.
   
3. End of life counseling may also be helpful for families. There are times when families artificially keep a loved alive because they cannot say good-bye.
4. There are times when the person who is dying wants to talk about it. However their family and friends are not prepared to discuss death.

There are some concerns about end of life counseling that I will talk about next time. But the question I would to ask is have you thought about your death? Are you prepared to face it?

Death counseling

Not sure if you have heard about the health care reform that Barack Obama is suggesting in the US. I haven't been following very closely but one thing has caught my attention.
There is a lot of discussion about end of life issues. There is a concern that this new health care program would force elderly people to attend end of life counseling. Counseling that may recommend that the patient chose not to extend their life through medical intervention.

Could there be any value in such counseling? Or should life be extended at all costs.
Could there be some dangers with the type of counseling?

Love and Grace

Love and grace, the way God moves toward us.
At least according to Ephesians 1-2.

In Ephesians 2 Paul says "when we were dead through our trespasses" - which is a really nice way to say when we were in absolute stubborn rebellion to God, hating his guts and wishing that he would just bugger off and leave us alone - God "loved us" with a "great love".

And when we respond to this "great love" God responds with more love and grace. Paul lists some of the ways that God lavishes his love and grace on us: blessing us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms, chose us, adopted us as children, forgives our sins, gives us an inheritance, gives us the Holy Spirit, opens our eyes, empower our lives (with the same power that raised Christ from the dead), seated us with Christ in the heavenly realms, brought peace to our lives and communities.

Every move that I make God moves with love and grace. Father, please open my eyes to see your grace and love. Amen.

Tears

You never know what may cause tears. The sight of the Atlantic ocean can do it, or a piece of music, or a face you've never seen before. A pair of somebody's old shoes can do it. Almost any movie before the great sadness that came over the world after the Second World War, a horse cantering across a meadow, the high school basketball team running out onto the gym floor at the start of a game. You can never be sure. But of this you can be sure. Whenever you find tears in your eyes, especially unexpected tears, it is well to pay the closest attention.

They are not only telling you something about the secret of who you are. More often than not, God is speaking to you through them of the mystery of where you have come from and to summoning you to where, if your soul is to be saved, you should go to next.

- Frederick Buechner

This past weekend my church hosted the EMMC international conference in our town. It was a lot of fun (and work). I really enjoyed meeting people, worshiping God, and attending great sessions. David MacFarlane was the speaker at the main sessions. On Friday night he gave talk on "eight signs of a missional church"

1. Outward focused
2. Movtivated by Hope
3. Intentional
4. Equipping
   
5. Community for missions
6. Innovative
7. Transformation
8. Exciting and fruitful

I found this talk exciting and challenging. As a church we are doing good in some areas. But we also have a lot of room to grow.
I want to do three things better:
Personally share the good news of Jesus with people
Be more intentional as a church in reaching out to our community
To plant churches

Taking captivity captive

In Ephesians 4:8 is says

"When he [Jesus] ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive".

Jesus, our messiah, takes captivity captive. He said at one time that he came to set us free. If Jesus' mission was to set people free, as his followers we most make sure that we don't make people captive. If we are honest too often the church has bound and held people captive instead of bringing them to Jesus who sets them free.
The institution of the church has held many people captive. We feel this need to insure that our institution or program survives. The institution or program holds us as slaves. We become competitive with other churches and other programs within "our church". Instead of serving in love and freedom, we end working because of guilt and fear.
Guilt and fear are two weapons the church has often used to keep people under control - enslaved. Enslaved to our institutions or to our idea of morality.
But Jesus died to set us free. And the one Jesus has set free is free indeed.

Do you have a church?

Just finished reading the book Mere Discipleship: Radical Christianity in a Rebellious World by Lee C. Camp. Good book. Here is one story that grabbed my attention (from pages 110-111).


Clarence Jones established a community that was based on the Sermon on the Mount. He believed that this community would be open to all regardless of skin color. In the latter half of the 1950s segregationists attacked the community. They threatened, bombed, vandalized, burnt crosses, beat people. Clarence sought legal representation from his brother Robert Jordan. Robert responded:

“Clarence, I can’t do that. You know my political aspirations. Why, if I represented you, I might lose my job, my house, everything I’ve got.”

“We might lose everything too, Bob.”

“It’s different for you.”

“Why is it different? I remember, it seems to me, that you and I joined the church on the same Sunday, as boys. I expect when we came forward the preacher asked me about the same question he did you. He asked me, ‘Do you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior?’ And I said, ‘Yes.” What did you say?”

“I follow Jesus, Clarence, up to a point.”

“Could that point by any chance be – the cross?”

“That’s right. I follow him to the cross, but not on the cross. I’m not getting myself crucified.”

“Then I don’t believe you’re a disciple. You’re an admirer of Jesus, but not a disciple of his. I think you ought to go back to the church you belong to, and tell them you’re an admirer, not a disciple.”

“Well now, if everyone who felt like I do did that, we wouldn’t have a church, would we?”

“The question,” Clarence said, “is, ‘Do you have a church?’”

So I wonder "Do we have a church?" Are we disciples or admirers?

I'm back

It has almost been a year since I lasted posted a message. I have all sorts of excuses, most of them are not really that important. But I have decided to work at posting again. So here we go...

On October 14 we Canadians are voting. I came across two resources that might help Christians discern who to vote for.
One is from MCC - election primer
The other is from EFC - election kit

Get informed and vote.

Hands

Over the last couple of days I have been walking with a family as they planned a funeral. Abe, a husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather, died last week. His funeral was today. I was privileged and honored to walk alongside the family in this time.
When I saw the body of Abe his hands drew my attention. They were peacefully folded on his lap. His wedding ring clear for all to see (he was married for 63 years...what an amazing testimony). As I looked at his hands I realized that these hands held the hands of his grandfather (possibly even his great grandfather). That this man walked and held hands with people who lived in the 1800s. He is a link to our past.
Then I saw his young great grandson. Looking at him I realized that this young boy (the lord willing) will hold hands with people who will walk 2100s. He is our link to the future.
We truly are tied to our past and to our future.

Disciples of Jesus are citizens of the kingdom of peace

Anabaptists have held that our citizenship in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is our primary citizenship. Our ultimate loyalty and allegiance is to Jesus.
Matthew 6:24 - Jesus says "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." (New Revised Standard)
Now the context of the verse is very clear. We cannot serve both our money and God, we have to choose. This message needs to be affirmed and taught in our churches. I wonder if I could stretch this verse to apply to more than just money. Jesus does say we cannot serve two masters. God can be our only master, to him and him alone do we give our loyalty and allegiance. Money is one of the masters that makes a claim for our lives. But what are some of the others masters? Addictions (food/drugs/alcohol/pornography), capitalism, democracy, freedom, security, family, possessions, governments, church...
Now when Anabaptists declared that they are citizens of the Kingdom of Jesus. They were making a political statement (not just a moral one). In a sense they were committing treason. They declared that they were not loyal to the government but that they were loyal to God. Now does the bible actually allow us to say this?
Romans 10:9 - Paul says "because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Confessing Jesus as lord is much more radical than is often believed. It is often believed that this simply means saying a prayer and asking Jesus into one's heart (not a bad thing but confessing Jesus as lord is much greater than that). Brian McLaren says, "Sometimes the Greek term kurios [Lord] simply means 'sir', but it is also the term used for the emperor. He is the ultimate 'sir', the ultimate authority, the king of kings, and the lord of all lords. The earliest confession of the earliest followers of Jesus - Jesus is Lord - was not in this light primarily a theological confession of Jesus' divinity, as many today assume; it was a very earthly declaration that Jesus, not Caesar, was the ultimate authority." ("Everything Must Change", page 98)
As an Anabaptist I say a hearty "Amen". Jesus is my ultimate authority.
Of course this raises the question. How as a follower Jesus am I to relate to my government? What is my responsibility to the government?

Anabaptist core beliefs

I have been reading Jacob Loewen’s book Only the Sword of the Spirit. In this book Jacob explores some of the core beliefs that Anabaptist’s (Mennonites) held to at the beginning. He then examines our history, evaluating how well we have done in living up to these requirements. According to Jacob as Mennonites we have not done a very good job of being faithful.

Here are the 12 main beliefs that early Anabaptists held to.

1) Disciples of Jesus are citizens of the kingdom of peace

2) Citizens of the kingdom of peace must separate themselves from this world

3) The followers of Jesus should live together as a community of equals under Jesus as Lord and master

4) Disciples are stewards, not owners of property

5) The believing community should be governed by the Spirit of God mediated by its servants – the ministers and teachers

6) Disciples are to live by the sword of the Spirit in building the kingdom of peace

7) The Anabaptists read the Bible as a focused rather than a flat canon

8) Menno Simmons believed that the believing community should serve as an exegetical community in interpreting Scripture

9) Menno Simmons believed that the church can best make decisions on the basis of consensus under the guidance of the Holy Spirit

10) Menno Simmons believed that the congregation should fully participate in church governance as part of the Body of Christ

11) Menno Simmons believed that church members should practice sacrificial servanthood rather than seeking privileged status as God’s chosen people

12) Menno Simmons believed that the people of God should be identified by their discipleship, not by doctrine and ideology

Are there any that you agree with? Any that you think are totally crazy?

Apology to Natives

A couple of weeks ago PM Stephen Harper apologized to the Natives for the abuse that took place in the residential schools. I just read this response from Ray Aldred, "Response to the Prime Minister’s Apology to Aboriginal Peoples". I found it to very interesting. What do you think?

Marathon

Yesterday my wife ran the marathon. I am so proud of her. It took a lot of work and dedication for her to accomplish this goal. It was very exciting to see her run across the finish line.

Way to go Cindy!!

God speaks

If you wonder if God speaks - read this post that wife just made.
Cindy Street

Pastoral ministry

I have been reading Pastoral Ministry According to Paul: A Biblical Vision, by James W. Thompson. James overviews Paul's major writings showing what Paul's pastoral vision was. I think I can summarize James by stating that he believes Paul's pastoral vision was the transformation of the people and community to be more loving and become blameless. James states that Paul believes that this is journey and is on going. Conversion is a beginning step not the end result.
I think this book is right on. But it raises some questions.
1) James says that Paul believes that a ministry is only successful if actually leads to the transformation of people. Is this how we rate our ministries? What are some of the other ways that we measure the success of a ministry?
2) Have we failed if no one is changed? I have often heard that we remain faithful to God and let him take care of the results. Is this an excuse? Or is this true?
3) How do we measure transformation? Paul battles legalism (making laws the mark of spirituality).

Story of Stuff

What do you think?

Story of Stuff

An Evangelical Manifesto

I just read an article called An Evangelical Manifesto.
This manifesto comes out of a need to define what it means to Evangelical. The authors note that the term evangelical means different things to different people. They even state that some wonder if "Evangelical is ever positive, and many inside now wonder whether the term any longer serves a useful purpose." The authors believe that the term Evangelical can be redeemed (not sure I agree but I sure applaud their efforts).
I found this document to very interesting. It talks about beliefs and about practices. Here are a couple of my highlights:

"Evangelicals are Christians who define themselves, their faith, and their lives according to the Good News of Jesus of Nazareth."

"our commitment can be seen better in our giving and our caring than in official statements."


Evangelicals fail when "they fail to follow the great commandment that we love our neighbors as ourselves, let alone the radical demand of Jesus that his followers forgive without limit and love even their enemies."

"We confess that we Evangelicals have betrayed our beliefs by our behavior. All too often we have trumpeted the gospel of Jesus, but we have replaced biblical truths with therapeutic techniques, worship with entertainment, discipleship with growth in human potential, church growth with business entrepreneurialism, concern for the church and for the local congregation with expressions of faith that are churchless and little better than a vapid spirituality, meeting real needs with pandering to felt needs, and mission principles with marketing precepts. In the process we have become known for commercial, diluted, and feel-good gospels of health, wealth, human potential, and religious happy talk, each of which is indistinguishable from the passing fashions of the surrounding world."

I could sign a document like this - agreeing with the good and confessing the bad.

Been reading a book called "Kissing the Leper: Seeing Jesus in the least of these" by Brad Jersak. Brad tells story after story about how God is with the people that we have pushed to the edges of society. And we discover God when we open our hearts to these people.
I have been praying for God to break my heart. I have built walls around my heart to keep people who are too different distant and far away. I don't look to find Jesus in them and with them.
My walled heart has created a place of security for me. I know what is going to happen (at least I think I do). I know who is involved in my life. My fear is that if I have a heart so broken that the world falls in anything could happen with anyone. It feels safer (and most likely is) to keep the walls up. But the walls also keep Jesus out - and so I pray with Mother Teresa

May God break my heart so completely that the whole world falls in.

Break my heart

May God break my heart so completely that the whole world falls in.

Mother Teresa.

Moved in Infinite Love - Part 4

My friend Ryan posted a comment on this prayer and he noted that God is moved by almost everything and since we are to be like Jesus we are to not remain cold and impassive but be moved. I totally agree.
But how is to happen?
So often I become overwhelmed with the problems of the world. I feel like I would be crushed if I allowed every painful thing to move me. I mean there are so many painful things ... Aids, poverty, children soldiers, human trafficking, destruction of our world, greed, injustice, violence, gangs, abuse, lies, broken relationships, homeless, and on and on the list goes. Often I just stick my head in the sand because I do not know what to do. I know that this is not what we are called to do though. We are called to extend God's kingdom.
Father, I don't what to do with all the problems of the world, move me. Specifically father move me in compassion to the pain of those who are in relationship with me.

I also believe that we are not only to be moved by the painful things in our world, we are also to be moved by the good things. The bible tells us to be thankful and to rejoice.
Father I give thanks for my children who bring so much energy into my life, my wife who loves me so much, for health to ride to work, a nice bike, the sun shine, birds, computers, friends, the many different colors, books, Fruit Loops. Father move me to see you and your blessing so that I will always give thanks to you.

Moved in Infinite Love - Part 3

Soren prays
"submitting ourselves to the discipline of Your unchangeableness, so that we may in unconditional obedience find our rest and remain at rest in Your unchangeableness."

What does it mean to submit ourselves to the disciple of God's unchangeableness?
Too often I have sought to change God - to remake him in an image that I find more pleasing and less offending. I try to make God to be a god who hates my enemies instead of loving them and who never seeks to change me or demands anything from me.
One of my struggles is resisting this temptation to change God and just allow him to be God. My prayers too often are asking God to change his character. "Bless me but don't shape me." "Do things my way and not your way."

In what way does unconditional obedience help us find rest and remain at rest in God's unchangeableness?
Unconditional obedience is a sign of trust. If there are conditions to obedience then we do not fully trust God. And we can trust God because his character does not change.
Rest is the result of trust. When I first went sailing the wind caused the boat to slightly lean over. I sat in the cabin holding on to a metal pole convinced that I was going to die. I was not at rest because I did not trust the boat. Eventually I would stand on the very front of the boat completely at rest because I trusted.
Trusting God results in resting and I learn to trust God when I obey him unconditionally.

Moved in Infinite Love - Part 2

Yesterday I posted a prayer by Soren Kierkegaard. Here are some thoughts I had when I prayed this prayer.
In Soren's prayer he praises God that he does not change.

For I the Lord do not change - Malachi 3:6

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. - Hebrews 13:8

Since God's character does not change I can trust him. Trust him to relate to me out of his love for me and for all. Trust him that in pouring out his grace he will change me until my character reflects that of Jesus (character not personality). I can trust him that he will love the world, even though it can be very ugly. I can trust that my sin breaks his heart. I can trust that God will accomplish that which he started in me. Simply put, I can trust.

Moved in Infinite Love

A prayer by Soren Kierkegaard (from Devotional Classics);

You who are unchangeable, whom nothing changes! You who are unchangeable in love, precisely for our welfare, not submitting to any change: may we too will our welfare, submitting ourselves to the discipline of Your unchangeableness, so that we may in unconditional obedience find our rest and remain at rest in Your unchangeableness. You are not like us; if we are to preserve only some degree of constancy, we must not permit ourselves too much to be moved, nor by too many things. You one the contrary are moved, and moved in infinite love, by all things. Even that which we human beings call an insignificant trifle, and pass by unmoved, the need of a sparrow, even this moves you; and what we so often scarcely notice, a human sigh, this moves You, You who are unchangeable! You who in infinite love do submit to be moved, may this our prayer also move You to add Your blessing, in order that there may be brought about such a change in us who pray as to bring us into conformity with Your unchangeable will, You who are unchangeable!

Pangea Day

One of the characteristics of the kingdom of God is that we seek to love those who are different than we are. To truly love someone we need to begin to understand them.
I came across an initiative to create understanding across the globe through film. It is called Pangea Day. To me this looks like kingdom work. So I encourage you to mark May 10 down on your calendars. Join the global camp fire.

Ethanol

Lots of people tell me that Ethanol is the (almost) perfect fuel of the future. It is perfect on every level. Our governments are starting to totally support this move.
However things might not actually be so good - in fact they might be worse. But don't take my word for it here is an article written by Times magazine - The Clean Energy Scam.

Do the test

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Science of Superman

God all-knowing?

I have been looking at the confession of faith for my conference. In the commentary on the confession of faith we state that God is all-knowing. Now if knowing is more than just head knowledge but also experiential knowledge. Is God truly all-knowing? Does God know everything experientially? Specifically I started to wonder if God has ever experience shame or guilt.
Two ways I see that it might be possible for God to experience shame and guilt.

There was a man who had a son. When the son was grown up he set his heart to do evil all the time. The son continued in his evil behavior for many years. Soon everyone knew about this son's evilness. As time passed the community began to associate evil with the son's family name. Does the father experience shame even though he has done no wrong?

There was once a man who decided to never wash or change his clothes. As time passed his body and clothes became filthy. This man and his clothes were infested with fleas and lice. He was miserable. One day another man passed by, this man had just had a bath and had bought new clothes. When he saw the filthy man he had compassion on him. The man with new clothes offered to trade his clothes with the filthy man. Once they trade clothes would not the clean man now experience the consequences on the filthy man's choice to not wash? Is this not sort of like what Christ does for us - taking our sin upon himself?

Walk to Winnipeg

A group of Native youth have decided to walk 500 km from Northern Manitoba to Winnipeg. Their goal is to help raise awareness about some of the problems that they are facing. They want to meet with government officials to talk about what can be done.
What can we do to support them?

Seven deadly sins

The Catholic Church has just announced that there are a new seven deadly sins. They are

• Bioethical" violations such as birth control.
• "Morally dubious" experiments such as stem cell research.
• Drug abuse.
• Polluting the environment.
• Aggravating social injustice by contributing to the widening gap between rich and poor.
• Excessive wealth.
  

This is in addition to the old list

• Lust.
• Gluttony.
• Greed.
• Envy.
• Wrath.
• Pride.
• Sloth, which replaced sadness in the 17th century.

I am some what surprised at this list and that they have come out with a new list. Pleasantly surprised that Catholic Church sees the destruction of the world, social injustice and excessive wealth as major problems that need to be addressed. I was sadly surprised that certain things were not on the list. Things like abortion, terrorism and sexual abuse.
Over all I am not sure that making a list of the worst sins is the best idea. First of all, it comes across as really judgmental. This list would be a lot more powerful if sexual abuse was included because the Catholic Church would have been identifying some of their sins. Second reason a list might not be a good idea is that this implies that Christianity about following rules and not about following God. Third, I have real doubts that this list is going to change anything.

Cross Current

For the past I week I have been at Winkler Bible Camp teaching at their Cross Current program. They have 20 students and I had the privileged of walking through Genesis with them. I certainly learned a lot from the students. I would definitely do things a little differently if I were teach again - more hands things and not just intellectual things.
My highlight of the week was getting to know the students and seeing videos of their talent night. One person sang a pop song (can't remember the name) in low German. It was very funny - and I don't even speak low German.

What happens when you die?

Tom Wright is one of my favorite authors. He has written a lot about life after life after death. Here is a link to an interview done by abc.

Rosenstrasse protest

Could non-violence have been used to stop the Holocaust? Sounds crazy, doesn't it.

However there is the interesting story called the Rosenstrasse protest. Allow me to summarize the story. It happened in 1943. Nazis rounded up the last of the Jews in Berlin with the intent of shipping them to concentration camps. However many of them were married to German woman (who were not rounded up). These women showed up at the prison and peacefully protested for about a week (about 6,000 in total). What happened? The Jewish men were released - in fact 25 men were even brought back from Auschwitz.
Perhaps non-violence could have stopped the Holocaust.

Project Censored

I came across a webwite called project censored. "Project Censored is a media research group out of Sonoma State University which tracks the news published in independent journals and newsletters. From these, Project Censored compiles an annual list of 25 news stories of social significance that have been overlooked, under-reported or self-censored by the country's major national news media."
It is very interesting. Two stories caught my attention.

From 2007 #18 Physicist Challenges Official 9-11 Story

From 2008 # 11 The Scam of “Reconstruction” in Afghanistan

Raises a few questions. Like why do we have troops in Afghanistan?

Lent

How is lent going?

I have committed to praying the Jesus creed every evening and every morning. The creed is "Hear oh Israel the lord our God, the lord is one. Love the lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind, and all your strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these."
I found that by reminding myself of this I have been more aware of my need to love the people around me. I guess what I am saying is that I am starting to see how badly I sometimes love.
Also if I am honest I have forgotten to say the Jesus creed some evenings and mornings. Though I have started to get my children to say it before they go to bed.

Genesis and anxiety

Walter Brueggemann in his commentary on Genesis says the creation/fall account deals with anxiety.
"This text may be brought to comment upon the power of anxiety among us: (a) The causes of anxiety among us are wrongly discerned . This text fixes the issue in terms of accepting the realities of our life with God. Our mistake is to pursue autonomous freedom. Freedom which does not discern the boundaries of human life leave us anxious. (b) The attempts to resolve anxiety in our culture are largely psychological, economic, cosmetic. They are bound to fail because they do not approach the causes. (c) Our public life is largely premised on an exploitation of our common anxiety. The advertising of consumerism and the drives of the acquisitive society, like the serpent, seduce into believing there are securities apart from the reality of God."
"Failure to trust God with our lives is death."

Authority of the Bible

Christians claim that the bible is authoritative. What is meant by this is twofold - first that the bible is God's word, literally. The bible is what God has to say to the world. Second is that because it is God's word we are called to obey it.
Now this belief is under attack right now (and has been for a long time). As the church we have defended the authority of scripture, argued for it, written about it. But have we convinced anyone?
I personally don't think we are going to convince very many people about the authority of the bible by well reasoned arguments. One of the reasons for this is that Christians have used the authority of the bible to justify all sorts of injustices. We have recognize that this is our past and regrettably this is our present (as seen in the health and wealth gospel).
What will convince people is if they see the power of God in our lives. If through reading/studying/submitting/meditating on the bible we become more loving and more engaged in justice it will be evident that the bible is authoritative in forming us to be truly human.

coffee with Warren

My Dad sent me an article that Warren Harbeck wrote about peace and reconciliation. Read it at coffee with Warren follow the link "Nigerian imam and pastor heal animosity through love".

Let me know what you think.

self-understanding of the church

Craig Van Gelder, in his book The Ministry of the Missional Church, says that every church has an organizational self-understanding - an understanding that makes up the core of their identity. He says there are three major understandings of the church.
"Established Church. Self-understanding: Exists as the primary geographical location of God's presence on earth through which the world can encounter God, with this authority being legitimated by the civil government."
"Corporate Church. Self-understanding: Exists as an organization with a purposive intent to accomplish something on behalf of God in the world, with this role being legitimated on a voluntary basis."
"Missional Church. Self-understanding: Exists as a community created by the Spirit that is missionary by nature in being called and sent to participate in God's mission in the world."

What understanding does your church have? Do you think it should have a different one?

Mission Fest 2

On Saturday my girls were feeling better so we went to mission fest. It was really good. I enjoyed talking to some of the different missionaries - it is amazing to hear about what God is doing in the world. We also listen to Gracia Burnham. She and her family were missionaries in the Philippines. Gracia and her husband, Martin, were kidnapped and held for just over a year. When the government moved into set Burnham's free Martin was killed in the gun battle. Gracia was rescued. Gracia told a couple of stories about her time in captivity. After telling some stories she talked about sacrificing everything for God. She challenged us to give up everything and join God in his mission in the world.
Did anyone else go? If you did what was your highlight?

Mission fest

This week is Mission Fest in Winnipeg. It should be very exciting to hear about what God is doing in the world. I love wondering around talking to the people from the many different organizations. Hopefully I make out some time this weekend but right now my daughters are sick.

What is church?

In his book, The Ministry of the Missional Church, Craig Van Gelder says, "The church is created as a community into which individuals are incorporated, rather than being a community that is constructed by self-selecting individuals (as understood by modern, Western social contract theory in relation to volunteerism)."
Is this true? Thinking about the bible I do believe that Craig is right. But how does this work?
In my context people self-select what church they belong to (there are lots to choose from). This is mostly based on personal likes/dislikes. At times they will deselect themselves and pick a different church. Also in my context there are lots of questions about baptism and membership being held together. There is a push to say that a person should not have to become a member when baptized. So, how does what Craig say actually work?

Our Father Abraham

I just finished reading the book Our Father Abraham: Jewish roots of the Christian faith, by Marvin R. Wilson. I have posted a couple of times about this book - I wrote when something really stood out to me.
Marvin reasons that as church we should realize that we have deep, deep Jewish roots. We worship the Jewish God, follow a Jewish messiah, the bible was written by Jews and was written mainly to Jews. Marvin states that we need to grasp this heritage. I totally agree.
The beginning of the book does a good job of reasoning why we should engage in Hebrew beliefs. In the second half of the book Marvin explores some aspects of Jewish thought he thinks is important for the church to understand.

The Gospel

In 2 Timothy 2:8 Paul gives a definition of the gospel that he preached. He says "Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel".
My wife pointed out that this verse mentions nothing about the death of Jesus. Now it is implied - to be raised from the dead means that you have died - but it is not the focus. However, usually when we talk about the gospel we emphasize the death of Jesus (in fact I have heard people preach "the gospel" without ever mentioning the resurrection of Jesus). We say that Jesus died for our sins. Now this is true but here Paul does not make that the focus of the gospel. The focus is on the fact that Jesus is King (Christ is not Jesus' last name it is his title and means King) and he has been resurrected. My wife pointed out that with us focusing so much on Jesus' death we often get very focused upon our sin instead of upon Jesus.
How do you think sharing the gospel will change if we focus on the fact that Jesus is King and has been raised from the dead instead of solely focusing on him dieing for our sins?

Doxology

I love the Doxology. My friend just informed me that what we normally sing is only the last verse of 10. He directed me to this website (ysmarko.com).
Here are all the verses.

Awake, my soul, and with the sun
Thy daily stage of duty run;
Shake off dull sloth, and joyful rise,
To pay thy morning sacrifice.

Thy precious time misspent, redeem,
Each present day thy last esteem,
Improve thy talent with due care;
For the great day thyself prepare.

By influence of the Light divine
Let thy own light to others shine.
Reflect all Heaven’s propitious ways
In ardent love, and cheerful praise.

In conversation be sincere;
Keep conscience as the noontide clear;
Think how all seeing God thy ways
And all thy secret thoughts surveys.

Wake, and lift up thyself, my heart,
And with the angels bear thy part,
Who all night long unwearied sing
High praise to the eternal King.

All praise to Thee, Who safe has kept
And hast refreshed me while I slept
Grant, Lord, when I from death shall wake
I may of endless light partake.

Heav’n is, dear Lord, where’er Thou art,
O never then from me depart;
For to my soul ’tis hell to be
But for one moment void of Thee.

Lord, I my vows to Thee renew;
Disperse my sins as morning dew.
Guard my first springs of thought and will,
And with Thyself my spirit fill.

Direct, control, suggest, this day,
All I design, or do, or say,
That all my powers, with all their might,
In Thy sole glory may unite.

I would not wake nor rise again
And Heaven itself I would disdain,
Wert Thou not there to be enjoyed,
And I in hymns to be employed.

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Training our children

An interesting understanding about training our children from the book Our Father Abraham,

"The Hebrew of Proverbs 22:6 is hanokh la-na'ar al-pi darko, literally "Train [start] a child according to his [the child's] way." There is a great difference between the training of a child according to the child's way (i.e., encouraging him to start on the road that is right for him), and training him according to a way chosen, prescribed, and imposed by the parents. The former is in keeping with the child's unique God-given bent, disposition, talents, and gifts. It it considerate of the uniqueness of the child; it does not treat all developing personalities the same. As Derek Kidner has correctly observed, since the training prescribed in the verse is "according to a child's way," this verse implies "respect for his individuality and vocation." In short, "the instruction of youth, the education of youth, ought to be conformed to the nature of youth." (page 293)

Lent

In two week Lent begins. Lent is the 40 days before easter, traditionally this has been the time that the church has set aside to prepare for easter. Easter being the greatest and most important Christian holiday, since it remembers the death and resurrection of Jesus our king.
Historically the church has encouraged people to fast from something for Lent. The purpose for this is to 1) remember the sacrifice that Jesus made for us (becoming human and dieing) by sacrificing something ourselves. 2) to give up something (often these things are good) to remind ourselves that we need God more than anything else.
So allow me to ask you what are you going to fast from? What are you going to give up for Lent?
It can be anything: jelly beans, TV, books, food, certain kinds of food, ext.
Or perhaps instead of giving up something you want to add something to your life that will help you focus on Jesus this Lent season.

Psalm 99

On February 3 I am going to be preaching on Psalm 99. I would love to hear what you think about this Psalm. It begins off,

Yahweh reigns,
let the nations tremble

The nations that think they reign should tremble because they don't. For the psalmist it would have been the nations like Egypt or Assyria or Babylon or even that nation of Israel.
What nations today think they reign?
Perhaps we can be more personal. What things think they reign (control) our lives?
What do you think it means that they should tremble?

Martin Luther King

Children and money

I came across an article that talked about how to teach children about money.
Important lessons to teach your children about money

We give our children an allowance. And right now we are trying to teach them about tithing and saving.
What have you done to teach you kids about money?

Meditation

"Their delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law they meditate day and night"
Psalm 1:2

Meditation involves being silent and thinking deeply. At least this is the way I have often viewed meditation. Silence is foundational to meditation. A person can meditate without thinking deeply - many say that meditation's goal is to empty the mind (I am not convinced that this is actually Christian meditation though).
However, I have been reading a book called Our Father Abraham: Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith. Marvin Wilson says "Meditation is the outward verbalizing of one's thoughts before God, of the poring over his teachings and works." He states that the Hebrew word for meditation means to "murmur" or "mutter". Wow. This totally changes the way I view meditation. Instead of being totally silent, meditation is an invitation to mutter and murmur about the things of God. One part of meditation is talking to ourselves, reminding ourselves about God, his word, what he is doing...
Now I do believe silence is a good thing - to be still and listen to God. But meditation does not equal silence.

Online library

For those who love books. I just found an online library where you can download audio books and ebooks. It works just like a library - you can download the book and use it for 14 days (at which point it gets locked and you cannot access it any more).
elm.lib.overdrive.com

Coffin

My friend Dan just emailed me plans for building my own coffin. Just to be clear it was not a death threat (at least I don't think it was). We have been having an on going conversation about death and funerals. We took a course together in fall about death.
Now I have to say before I go any further I have great deal of respect for funeral directors. The funeral director that we have in our town is great - he is kind, compassionate and is a blessing to the families that are grieving. So this is not an attack on him, rather these are thoughts about funerals in general.

Why do I need a fancy coffin? Why padded cushions? I don't plan to use the coffin until I am dead - so must likely I won't mind lying on plain old wood. If I get buried then the coffin is just going to be buried in the ground, where it (and my body) will decompose. Now I don't have exact numbers but I have heard that a basic coffin can cost hundreds of dollars. What are we paying for?

Tony Campolo wrote a book called 20 Hot Potatoes Christians are Afraid to Touch. One of his chapters is called "Are funerals a rip off?" Very thought provoking. I want to quote a small part. He is talking about his experience as a pastor.
"I worked hard to dissuade an economically pressed widow not to buy a foam rubber mattress for her dead husband, in spite of the undertaker's claim that the mattress would be providing a comfortable rest for the corpse for all eternity. I also balked when this same undertaker tried to sell the widow an expensive airtight vault for her husband's casket which was 'guaranteed to keep him dry.'"

With all of this in mind I decided perhaps I should build my own coffin. Actually I am not very handy (and not sure where I would put it - a toy box for the kids might look a little twisted) so I asked one of friends to make me a coffin if I die any time soon.

An Emergent Manifesto of Hope

I just finished reading An Emergent Manifesto of Hope, edited by Doug Pagitt and Tony Jones. It is a fascinating collection of articles written by people who in some sense are regarded as part of the "emerging church". Some of the articles were good and some were so so. Over all I think this book gives a good picture of the emerging church and what its passions and hopes are.
One of things that stands out in reading this is book is how hopeful these people are. Doug in the conclusion states "We must see the world as hopeful even when it is hurtful." (page 306) Hope and love underline almost everything written in this book. One gets the sense from this book that the people in the emerging church are looking forward to what God is going to do in the world. I have to say, Amen! Lord open my eyes so that I may see (and be part of) the amazing things you are going to do.
Now the problem with this book is that the articles raise some interesting questions but they lack a certain of depth. This lack of depth seems to be the result of a lack of space. The articles are thought provoking and good but I often ended the chapter wanting more. I should mention that in the introduction Doug says that the articles "should be considered discussion starters." However I do wish there was more unity from the writers. Each writer seemed to have freedom to write on whatever they want which meant that each chapter would often move to an entirely new thought.
Over all I found book thought provoking and good.

It has been a long time

Wow it has been a long time since I have posted anything. I have just gotten back from holidays. My family and I spent three weeks visiting family through out BC. It was great. Some of my highlights were: connecting with our families, seeing our brand new niece (we were there three days after she was born), being rained on for a few days in a row, sledding. Here are a couple of pictures.


The kids showing my brother some love

My new niece.


Cindy's parents house.

Christmas tunes

What are you doing on May 16?

Fire insurance

The other day one of my friends was listening to CHVN, our local Christian radio station. They heard an add about how to become a Christian. It began by saying, "you have house insurance. You have life insurance. You have car insurance. You need fire insurance." Salvation was simply viewed as fire insurance! This is absolutely terrible theology.
First, making salvation equal to fire insurance makes it a product that you buy. However, salvation is not a product that we purchase, or even are given. Salvation is all about relationship with God through Jesus our Messiah. Making it anything less than this destroys the very essence of what it is about.
Second, this view of salvation cheapens what Christ did on the cross. The cross is view as a gimmick to get us into heaven. Get your insurance and you get in - nothing else matters. You don't need to really love God, or submit your life to him, just have your 'paper work' in proper order.
For these reasons I believe that "fire insurance" salvation is actually not preaching salvation at all.
Now CHVN should really know better. They are representing Christians on radio and therefore they should be professional. Bad theology should not be part of what they teach on the air, especially theology that distorts what Jesus was all about.

Banjo

My Dad sent me this video. It is great.

Greg Boyd

Greg Boyd has become one of my favorite theologians over the past couple of years. In his blog he claims that he is a Mennonite - Random Reflections

He actually has some interesting thoughts about Mennonites.
Greg states that many Mennonites are "open theists". An open theist is a person who believes that God has plan for the world but does not control every detail. God is going to bring history to its proper conclusion. However he does not know what choice every person will make. He knows all our possible choices and the consequences of each.
What do you think?

Misplaced

Check out this video. It will make you think.

Misplaced

Let me know what you think?


Edited:
Ok this video takes a really long time to load up. Sorry about that.

cyclocross

Yesterday there was a cyclocross race in our town. Cyclocross is sort of like mountain biking, except there are times when you have to get off your bike and carry it.
My daughter joined the kids race. She did totally awesome. I am so proud of her. The winner of one of the adult races gave her his prize because he thought she did great as well. My wife says she won the cutest kid award.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!
A couple of thing that I am thankful for:

• My wife - who is the most beautiful, wonderful, smart person I have ever met
• My children - they are amazing and I am so proud of each one
• Family - wish I was with them this weekend
  
• Friends
• Laughter
• Health
• A van that works
• A house that keeps me dry and warm
• A wonderful bed
• Freedom
• School
• Books
• Stories
• Different languages
• Enough food to eat
• Beauty of creation
• Rain
• Internet

What are you thankful for?

Blessed or cursed?

If you have grown up in the church you most likely will have heard of something called "the curse". What happened is that Yahweh created people in a perfect world and placed them in the Garden of Eden. However people chose to rebel against God. As a result humans fell under a curse. Growing up I was under the impression that God had specifically cursed people.
However I just reread the story in Genesis. Yahweh actually does not curse people specifically. The ground is cursed and we suffer consequences for our actions. But no where in Genesis are humans cursed by God.
My teacher in Genesis says that this is important because foundationally we are blessed by God and not cursed by him. God never removes his blessing from humans and places them under a curse in Genesis.
Do you see yourself as blessed by God? Or cursed by him?
How can we help people see that God has blessed them not cursed them?

Death

This fall I am taking two classes with Winnipeg Center of Ministry Studies (an Anabaptist seminary) - Genesis and Death (actually my Death class is called Death, life and happiness but our teacher told us that he was forced to put in life and happiness). I have had one class of each so far and they both seem to be totally fascinating.
In my Death class our teacher read a chapter from Michael Wyschogrod's book, Abraham's Promise: Judaism and Jewish - Christian Relations, called "A Jewish Death in Heidelberg". It told the story about how a Jewish man died in Heidelberg. His Christian friends wanted to bury him next to the woman he loved (though never married) in a Christian cemetery. In fact he had expressed this wish (though he never left a will). The Jewish community objected to this and insisted the he be buried in the Jewish cemetery. They argued that being buried in a Christian cemetery is contrary to the Torah. This story raises several interesting questions. How binding is the desires of a dead person? What if their wish goes against their religious convictions?
Who has the authority to decide these matters? In this story the man had no family. So do his friends or does his religious community have the authority?
What does it mean to honor the dead?
Fulfilling the final wish a person is often seen as a way of honoring them. However this was the struggle. The Jewish man was apparently very Jewish (though he did have a falling out with the Jewish community). So is it more honoring to bury him in the Jewish fashion (keeping the spirit of who he was) or by fulfilling his desire?
These are difficult questions. I wonder if they are more difficult because I do not like really talking about death.

Aliens

Do space aliens actually exist? I am not sure how many of you actually think about questions like this. But it is something that I occasionally think about. I really enjoy reading/watching science fiction. One of my favorite movies is Star Wars and favorite TV is show is Star Trek. So on occasion I wonder about life on other planets.
Now I have often concluded that there is no other intelligent life on other planets. However the other day I was driving all my reasons began to fall apart. I had suddenly thought about angles. Angles are intelligent beings that God has created. Which means that there are at least two intelligent beings that exist. And if there are two why not more?
Right now I do not believe that aliens have visited our planet or that there is any really good evidence that they exist. But I do not have any reasons for them not to exist either.

First reactions

I wonder how a person changes their first reactions. Often in my life my first reaction to things is to see the problems and negatives. It may be a great idea (even the greatest idea ever). Still I often start listing the problems. I think I can see the potential of some ideas. But my first reaction is not to list those benefits and blessings.
And my initial reaction can get even worse if something disrupts my life. I am convinced that deep within is a belief that I am the center of the world. I deny that I believe this but sometimes...

The Missional Leader

Just finished reading the book The Missional Leader (an excellent book if you want to know how to move a church to being more missional). One of the concepts that the authors talk about is dwelling in the scriptures. The purpose is not to read lots of the bible or to even study the passage in depth (though those are both good things and should be done). The goal is to stay in one story long enough that this biblical story begins forming new questions in your mind, challenging your assumptions.
I know that when I have spent lots of time in a passage it seems to almost take on a mind of its own. I begin to see and understand new things. The passage comes more alive.
Have you ever experienced anything like this?

Rain

The other weekend I went camping with my family. And we wanted sunny weather. The only thing we could do to try and get sun shine was to pray. After all God alone controls the weather. Right? Humans don't control the weather. Or do we?
Global warming is a reality and science is stating that we as humans are the cause of this. And global warming is affecting the weather. I just read an article by cbc stating that rain and global warming are linked (Changes in rainfall man-made, Canadian scientists say).
Now I am not saying that we should not be praying. We need to pray more and pray about everything. However we cannot just pray and pretend that our actions do not affect our world. Changing the way I live today will not give me sun on the weekend. But we are changing the weather of the world.

Convention II

Convention is over. It was great to hear about how God is moving in our conference. There were many stories from the different parts of the world. Stories about people coming to faith and churches being planted. We were called to continue to be faithful to God and pursue him. The best part of convention (as mentioned in my last post) was connecting with people. I talked to several different people about how we can equip and empower the people in our churches to reach out and spread the gospel. It is so energizing and exciting to connect with people who are totally passionate and on fire for God.

Convention

I am at convention right now. It has been a really good time. The highlight is connecting with people from around the world and hearing what God is doing. There are some really cool things happening.
Another fun thing was playing killer bunnies last night. What an interesting game.
Well I have to take off to a meeting so I will write more later about convention.

Blink

Have you ever made a decision based on your 'gut' or instinct? You make a decision without really knowing why you made that decision. It just felt right (or not). When I was in grade 12 our school got a new choir director. When I first met him he immidiatly asked if I would join the choir. For some reason I said yes without hesitation. Now this is strange because I am not a singer (I had been told by people in church to sing quietly). And I had no desire to be in a choir. Yet for some reason I said yes (I still do not really know why). And being in the choir turned out to be one of the best things of grade 12.

Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell, is about these kinds of decisions. It is about "the power of thinking without thinking." He reasons that we can make great decisions using our 'gut'.
In the first chapter Malcolm argues that we can (and do) make decisions based on very little information. He calls this "thin slicing". We can ignore the useless information and just focus on what is important. In fact he states that sometimes the more information the worse our decisions are. He tells a story about 80 college students. Their friends are asked to take a test and describe the students. A group of strangers are also given 15 minutes in the college student's room and then given the same test (so these people actually never meet the students). The strangers actually do better in describing the students. Amazing.

Malcolm is a great writer and story teller. It is an enjoyable book to read.

God on Mute Part II

I finished. And now I am sitting at the computer trying to figure out how to summarize this book. Pete Greig says too many things to be wrapped up in a couple of paragraphs. So I am not going to try.
Just read this book if you have ever experienced unanswered prayer. If you have every been crying out to God and he seems distant, uncaring (even cruel), powerless...

God on Mute

Nathan gave me another book that I "have to" read, God on Mute, by Pete Greig. I have read a couple of chapters and it is good. Pete deals with the question of unanswered prayer. Here is something for you to think about (let me know if you agree or disagree):

The thing that keeps God out of our lives is not our sin. It is our compulsion to pretend, to cover up our nakedness with fig leaves, to climb sycamore trees in order to see without being seen. (Chapter 4, page 78)

The Irresistible Revolution

The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne.
Shane claims to be an ordinary radical. He says that he is just an ordinary person (there is nothing magical or extra-ordinary about him) who is living a radical life. Shane has taken the call of Jesus to follow him seriously. Within this book Shane tells stories and talks about what it means to give everything to God. It really gets a person to think.
Community is a very important aspect to this book (and to Shane's life). There is a realness when it comes to discussing community. Shane clearly states that it is hard to live in community. However he also states that it is natural and normal. I know this. Many times my wife and I have thought about how natural and normal it would be to share garden tools with other people (like lawn mowers). But the problem is that sharing means that I cannot have it whenever I want. I may feel like mowing my lawn but someone else is using it. Or what happens when it breaks? Especially if one person seems to be harder on it than another. Community is natural and hard. Through out the book Shane notes that community is the best way to live though. To live without community is to not really live at all. He states that he grieves for the rich because they are so lonely.
Another statement that really got me thinking was Shane's response when people would ask him what issues they should be involved in. Instead of listing the issues Shane states choose people and the issues will chose you. We are to be passionate about people not issues.
Shane deffinetly lives out his faith. I do have questions about some the things that he does. Not sure about all the protesting that he does. I wonder about his refusal to receive help because other people did not get the same help.
This is a good book.

Outreach

At semi-annual meeting we talked about vision for our church. The leadership proposed the idea that outreach be the vision for our church. At the meeting this is what was shared (with some modifications and additions):

This vision is really about how do we empower people to live Jesus in their communities. Which means things like how do empower people to be better friends, neighbours, parents, workers, leaders, etc? How do we bless the people who are around us? How do we do this organizationally?

This vision also joins our spiritual world (church) with the secular world (everything else). What I mean is this. At church we speak about God and Jesus and pray. Often everywhere else we don't bring God into the conversation and pray with one another. This vision seeks to bring the two together - talking about God and praying with people outside of our church. And this needs to be done in a way that sensitive and blesses people (not condemning people). There are times within our church where we have not really engaged in what is happening in the world (we act as if church is all that there is). An an example would the AIDS crisis. What are doing about this as church (or conference)?

Further this vision pushes us into missions. How do we support our missionaries? How do we raise up new missionaries (ones who will go for life)? How do we get involved with the changing face of missions (with people from third world becoming involved in sending missionaries)?

What do you think?

World Environment Day

June 5 is World Environment Day. This year's theme is climate change, which happens to be the hot topic of the day. It seems that every where I look people are talking about global warming. This is really good because I believe talking about global warming naturally leads people to discuss what does it mean to take care of our world. And this is something that the church needs to really address. There have been some really good things happening - but there are some really appalling things also happening. For example the other day I was reading in a "Christian" newspaper and there was an article on theology. Within in this article caring for the environment was not seen as a God given responsibility but as just a fad (with the impression that it should be resisted). So I am happy that climate change is being talked about - with enough noise even the church cannot ignore what is happening. We may be even worse than the government when it comes to denying reality.
However there is one concern that I have. It does seem that climate change is the latest fad. There have been many other issues that have been talked about: AIDS, poverty, sex trade, slavery (yes this still is happening today), child labour, etc. Each seems to have its time and then fades into the back ground. I wonder has anything changed? Climate change sometimes feels like a smoke screen. We can talk a lot about it but what can we do? Will it actually be effective? It feels a lot safer talking about climate change than about justice - for to live justly will call us to change. Climate change calls for the industry to change.

sex, lies and paratroop deployment

My friend Lee put up a post talking about sex, lies and paratroop deployment. It is a little long but really worth reading.

Music

A while back my wife and I bought a couple of DVDs that are suppose to teach us how to dance. Dancing seems like such a fun thing to be able to do. Inspired by Swing Kids one of the DVDs is on how to sing dance. It looks so simple, easy and fun. So the other night we put it on and began to learn.
What did I learn? That it is not simple or easy - it might be fun once you can do it. That my feet do not move the way they are suppose to. That as a guy I am suppose to be the one leading. That I have no idea how to lead. That my wife can dance really well.
It was like there was a barrier between my brain and my body. My brain would tell my body to do a certain move. After a delay my body would begin moving the wrong way then jerk the right way. But now I would be a step behind so I would rush and then stumble. The whole time my brain would be yelling at my body "move this way. Not that way you idiot. Faster, no slower." And well all this is happening I am suppose to be listening to the music, the video instructions, lead my graceful wife and in some way connect deeply with her through dancing.
I think I need a lot more practice.

Money and Church Part II

One my friends sent this in reply to the post I did a while ago about money and the church (It was called Money). He had some really good insight. So I asked him if I could post what he wrote. Here it is...

About preaching about money, I would say both do and don't. As you say, how we use our money is of great importance - its use can be both good and produce good. The same could go for being sinful and producing sin. But you also mention that there are taboos surrounding preaching about money and the church. Whether those taboos are justified or not isn't really the issue. The fact is they're there. They're in the mindset of the leadership, as well as in the mindset of the congregation. Confronting that taboo, by preaching directly against it, could result in a backlash - either conscious or unconscious. I’m reminded of some of these TV evangelists who preach directly about giving money to the church. With thousands in attendance and millions watching, these fellows rake in millions and don’t necessarily use that money for good. Instead, some of these people have a dozen mansions around the world, helicopters and an entourage. Investigation has shown that some of these people do little good with that money for anybody but themselves. Less overt, I’m also reminded of the Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal. It’s the most beautiful building I’ve ever seen. Although this could be controversial, I’d say that the display of opulence, though stunning, is also very ugly. Built in the 1800s, with parishioners’ money and the lives of a number of those who constructed it, what went into that building, in my view, was a gross misallocation of resources by the clergy, in a time when peoples’ lives were hard and backbreaking, luxury meant adequate weather, and death from disease, child birth, or injury was ever present. Should that church have been built as it was? I’d say no – especially not in the context of that time. But I’m sure the vast majority would fervently disagree with me. The point is that the taboo is there and if we at least keep that taboo in the back of our mind when discussing money, it will at least foster a little humility as to what we do with the money when it does come in and perhaps get us to think about how we can best put it to uses that are good. It would also address the perception that ‘the church is just about getting your money’. Regarding getting beaten for that preaching, I don’t think you have to worry about that. You’re preaching to the converted, as the saying goes.

The simple fact is money is an essential part of our lives, and as you mention, the gospel should penetrate into all aspects of our lives. I read in one of your other blogs about the question of community – that is how to we situate ourselves in giving importance to one community over another. With respect to money, anybody who is in the paid workforce spends the bulk of their time (apart from sleeping and maintaining oneself) working for money. The workplace itself is a community, in which one may wish to involve oneself. But we are also spending that time there for the purposes of making money. And when we spend that money we are entering into a relationship with the producer. We enter that community so to speak. So in effect we spend 4 to 14 hours a day for the potential to enter into the sphere of the economic community. As you mention, how we spend our money can be of great good or sin. I think it is detrimental to ourselves and to our neighbours around the world if we ignore the effects of what our money can do. If we buy, say, a widget from Mr. A, who greases the wheels of his machinery with the sweat of little children, we are in effect telling Mr. A that we condone his activities and that by giving him greater resources, we are asking him to continue – to continue sinful actions. I’d add that lesser degrees of exploitation also fall under this category, with say, workers who are underpaid. Then on the other hand, the converse it true; if we support Mr. B who treats his workers well and gives what is due to the workers, then we are applauding in a very concrete way (by spending money on that widget) to a relationship that is good, or at least produces the potential for good. In real life, it is difficult to know the inner workings of each company and what the relationship between workers and bosses are. But a little research here and there can go a long way in producing good around the world.

Now how should the church approach the issue of money? If I was over stepping by bounds in the above, I’d be on my face if I were to continue. But if I didn’t fall off my bike continually while I was learning the skill, I’d have never learned. So I would say preach at the issue of giving money to the church less directly and approach it more broadly. A question like ‘how does a Christian spend their money’, or ‘how can a Christian do good with their money’ or such like questions I think would be useful. Then, to bring the question back to the more specific question of giving money to the church, simply be honest with the congregation of what you are doing. As I’ve mentioned, I’m not sure of what goes on in the weekly service or other church related events – so all of what I’ve written may be redundant, you may already be open with what the church is doing and with what the needs of the church are. But I think simply stating what the church is doing and/or what you would like to do (given the funds) would be reason enough for people to look within themselves and to make the decision on their own, with the knowledge of what is going on, to give.

Richard Dawkins

The other day I watched this interview (Richard Dawkins) on The Hour. Richard Dawkins raises some interesting comments about Christianity, actually about all religion. At times I agreed with him. There are times when as Christians we have been asked to set aside our brains and just take things by "faith". One time I can remember in my life when this happened. I wanted to go to a museum. I had a thing for dinosaurs a kid and I was in a city that had this great dinosaur museum so I asked if we could go. I was told "no, because we don't talk about dinosaurs." Dinosaurs were used to prove evolution and therefore I was told to ignore the facts. And it is this attitude that Richard Dawkins gets so upset about (I also get upset about it).
This interview also made me ask a couple of questions - which I am now asking you.
What is faith?
And can we live without faith?

Education and creativity

Cindy found this interesting video. What do think? How does this apply to our Christian Education?

Money

People hate it when the church talks about money. One of the main objections that I hear about church is that the church is just about getting your money. The feeling that I get is that the church should deal with spiritual matters and not talk about money. Money, how people spend it and if they give, are personal convictions and the church should not really get involved.
Many churches agree with this (at least in practice). They will not preach about money. When the offering is taken they will offer an apology about taking it.
Personally I have bought into this whole concept as well. I feel uncomfortable when I have to talk about money. I would never bring up the conversation of giving with my friends. Money is just an issue that is taboo.
In a couple of weeks I am going to be preaching on Acts 16:16-34. This passage does not really address money specifically but something happens which caused me to take note. Paul is preaching in Philippi and everything is going fine until his actions cause someone to loose money. As a result of this action he is beaten and thrown in prison. The gospel is tolerated until it starts to affect money. People were not upset about what Paul was preaching they were upset because they might loose money. Really they are saying "preach what you like but don't do anything that will affect our money." That sort of sounds like today.
However within the bible the gospel is view holistically. If the gospel is true then it should impact all of lives, including our money. Money was a great idol in biblical times and it still is. The gospel challenges all idols. This means that as a church we need to challenge how people spend and use their money. Money is not evil, making lots of money is not evil. How use and spend the money can be of great good or sin.
So what do you think? How should the church deal with the issue of money?

The New Testament and the People of God

NT Wright is one of my favorite writers. Right now I am reading his book The New Testament and the People of God. It is really good - though it gets very technical. If you are interested in reading a book by Wright I would highly, highly recommend Simply Christian.
Back to The New Testament and the People of God. At one point Wright begins talking about the authority of the bible. To explain the authority of the bible he gives the illustration of play that has four acts written but has lost the fifth act. Now the first four acts are amazing - great plot and characterization. So the play should be done. In order to get the fifth act the actors will be invited to make it up. In order to make it up they will have immerse themselves in the first four acts. When the fifth act is then acted out it needs to be consistent with the first four acts. It has bring the play to a conclusion. Now people could argue whether the actors where right in how they acted based on the authority of the first four acts. Were they faithful to what was written? The one thing they could not do is keep re-acting the first four acts, they would have to do something new.
Wright says that this is way that the bible is authoritative. We are called to be the actors in act 5. In order to do it right we have to immerse ourselves in the first four acts (creation, fall, Israel, Jesus). Not just doing what they did, but living in a way that is faithful to what happened in the past.
Very interesting. What do you think?

election

Manitoba has called for an election. This will be the first Manitoba provincial election that I will vote in. So I decided to make an informed choice I should discover some things about the different parties. So I went to their web pages. And what have I discovered?
Liberal party has a web page which is not very useful. It just has some rants.
PC party has nothing to say. Well actually all they have to say is that NDP is related to Satan. Nothing about what they are going to do.
NDP party has a little bit to say. However most of that is expressed in how evil the PCs are.
What would I like to see on a web page? A statement of vision, some core values, some practical steps on how they would work out the vision and core values. I do not enjoy hearing/reading about how the other parties will destroy our province. Generating fear really bugs me. And I would appreciate facts - no name calling.
One thing I found really funny is the both PC and NDP claim that the soccer field is their idea and the other is just getting on board to gain some votes. Not sure exactly who to believe.
So I am not sure who I am going to vote for. Seeing as I have no idea what any of the parties stand for. I believe voting is important. And I am hoping to make an informed vote.

Theology of play

I am reading this book called The Rest of God, by Mark Buchanan. The last chapter I read talked about a theology of play. Mark states that the sabbath (which is what the whole book is about) needs to be about playing and having fun. He mentioned how in some traditions the Sabbath was about doing nothing - a person was not allowed to work or play. I can totally remember being at my relatives house one Sabbath and it was awful. We were not allowed to be noisy or play or doing anything. We had sit a listen to Christian programs on the radio (not that these were bad). As I thought about this I think I have come to the conclusion that this is part of the reason for most of life I have been anti-sabbath. If the Sabbath means that we can do nothing than I wanted nothing to do with it. I felt like the Sabbath robbed life instead of giving it. Now Buchanan talks about playing. This sounds like fun. It sounds life giving. When you play you just do it for fun you are not playing to be useful or productive or to check things off a list...you just play.
So let me encourage you to take a day to just play - waste time just having fun.

Second Hand Pants

Do not hold on to me

One of the things that struck me this Easter was the fact that I cannot hold on to my picture of God. I have to constantly allow God to be god even if that means he is different than I believe him to be or even want him to be.
On Sunday 8 people gave their testimonies about how God had worked in their life. Most of them recounted how they had a picture of God that was wrong. And through experiences, others, reading the bible their view began to change with the result that their life began to change.
Also when reading the stories of the resurrection I got the idea that disciples had to let go of Jesus as they knew him. They had to allow him to be greater than they had imagined. Jesus' death, resurrection and ascension changed everything for them, including their ideas of who Jesus was.
I came to realize that I am very arrogant to believe that I have full understanding of who God is. I have come to the conclusion that I really do not know a whole lot - I just think I do.