Are we ready for Christmas?

Are we ready for God to break in?

Christmas is about the creator of universe, God almighty himself, breaking into humanity.  Yahweh becoming human.
Who was ready for Yahweh to come?
No one in Bethlehem.  They did not even care enough to make room for a woman about to give birth.
There were some who were ready.  The shepherds, the wise men, Simenon  Anna.  Even Herod (though he tried to kill Yahweh).
Where was everyone else?  The priests?
Yahweh faced rejection the moment he entered the world as a baby.
But he still entered into the muck of this world.

And the miracle is that Yahweh still breaks into this world, still enters into the muck.
Are we ready?

"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me."  

Revelation 3:20

Prayer affects God

Regarding prayer from Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy:

God's "response" to our prayers is not a charade.  He does not pretend that he is answering our prayer when he is only doing what he was going to do anyway.  Our requests really do make a difference in what God does or does not do.  The idea that everything would happen exactly as it does regardless of whether we pray or not is a specter that haunts the minds of many who sincerely profess belief in God.  It makes prayer psychologically impossible, replacing it with dead ritual at best. (page 244)

prayer is a matter of coming to a person other than oneself and asking that they do something that one cannot do oneself.  It is coming to One who has repeatedly invaded human history and continues to do so.  It is intelligently working with him to accomplish ends that fulfill his purposes in creation and in fostering human life upon the earth for a short while.  (page 249)

Was Jesus fun?

Dallas Willard, in The Divine Conspiracy, invites us to think about who Jesus is:

We should, to begin with, think that God leads a very interesting life, and that he is full of joy.  Undoubtedly he is the most joyous being in the universe.  The abundance of his love and generosity is inseparable from his infinite joy.  All of the good and beautiful things from which we occasionally drink tiny droplets of soul-exhilarating joy, God continuously experiences in all their breadth and depth and richness.  (page 62)

We have commented several times on how the currently accepted image of Jesus all but makes it impossible to find him interesting and attractive, lovable.  The responses of common people to him throughout the pages of the gospel show how false that image is.  He was such an attractive person and such a powerful speaker that, from the human point of view, the leaders of the day killed him out of envy for his popularity (Matt. 27:18).  He was a master of humor and often used it to drive home the truths he imparted, as any good speaker does.  But few today would put him on their guest list for a party - if it were really going to be a party.  Jesus as we don't think of Jesus as intelligent, so we don't think of him as pleasant company, someone to enjoy being around.   (page 239)

Is Jesus smart?

Dallas Willard, in The Divine Conspiracy, invites us to think about who Jesus is:

It is not possible to trust Jesus, or anyone else, in matters where we do not believe him to be competent.  We cannot pray for his help and rely on his collaboration in dealing with real-life matters we suspect might defeat his knowledge or abilities.
And can we seriously imagine that Jesus could be Lord if he were not smart?  If he were divine, would he be dumb?  Or uninformed?  Once you stop to think about it, how could he be what we take him to be in all other respects and not be the best-informed and most intelligent person of all, the smartest person who ever lived?  (page 94)

Voice for the voiceless

My wife, Cindy, just got back from leading a team from our church to visit SEEDS of Hope's home for orphans in Zambia.  To hear of their stories see SEEDS of Hope blog and Cindy's blog.

Why did they go? 

A voice for the voiceless.  This team is now the voice for these kids who had no voice.  Most of the kids that our team held and played with would have been dead without SEEDS of Hope.  They would have had no future.  But someone saw them and spoke on their behalf.  These kids are no longer a statistic or a tragedy that happens far removed from us that we can easily ignore.  They are people.  We know their names.  We see their faces.  We hear part of their story.  We care for them.
And this is true even for us who have never gone, because our friends and family have gone and are speaking for these kids.

Seth Godin and Education

Education is important.  Something that should be constantly talked about, reviewed and improved upon.
I have a friend who just pulled one of their kids from the school system to home school because she believes that her kid is not being taught anything.
Another friend told me that in one of her kids classes they watch a couple of movies every week.  These are not educational movies but Disney movies.
Now my kids' schools are great.  I am impressed with most of the teachers in my community.  However I am wondering if that is the norm or are we just an exception 
The questions that I have are:
Why are bad systems tolerated in our society?  
Can we make great systems even better?  
Seth Godin has some interesting ideas about education and its future.

Zambia - SEEDS of Hope

On November 8 my wife, Cindy, leaves for Zambia.  She will be gone for two weeks.  She is leading a short term missions team from our church.
A couple of years ago our church asked a question at our annual meeting.  "There are 15 million orphans in Africa.  What is our response?  Do we have a responsibility to help and if so, what should that look like?"
Our answer was to partner with an organization called SEEDS of Hope.  They have a home in Zambia for children with or affected by AIDS.  It is our desire to be committed for the long haul, not just send some money once and move on.
This means relationship.  We want to have a relationship with the people and kids we are partnering with.
So we are sending teams of people to Africa.  To build these relationships, to learn, to grow, to help out wherever we can.
Please pray for the team.  Pray that they will be a blessing, they will be blessed, and that relationships will be strengthened.

Wrong direction?

Reading The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard.  
Willard really challenges how we orientate our lives.

"Stand up for your rights" sounds so good.  How about "All I ever needed to know I learned in kindergarten?"  And "Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty?"  And so forth.  Such saying contain a tiny element of truth.  But if you try to actually plan your life using them you are immediately in deep, deep trouble.  They will head you 180 degrees in the wrong direction.  You might as well model your life on Bart Simpson or Seinfeld.  But try instead "Stand up for your responsibilities  or "I don't know what I need to know and must now devote my full attention and strength to finding out" (consider Prov. 3:7 or 4:7) or "Practice routinely purposeful kindnesses and intelligent acts of beauty."  (page 9-10)  

Flimsy walls

Ezekiel 13
The prophets are rebuked: "when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash".

What areas of my life am I "whitewashing"?

When do I minimize my sin?  Claiming that it is "not that big of deal" or "it is not really affecting anyone else" or "others are worse than me"...

When do I try and cover up for my brokenness?  Distract myself by pointing out the faults of others.  Work hard at maintaining my image.  Allow no one to come close and see what I am truly thinking or feeling.

Perhaps Jesus and I need to work on the foundations of my life a bit more.
Character development not just painting over flimsy walls.

Trespasses or Debts

The Lord's prayer:

"forgive us our trespasses as we have forgiven those who trespass against us"
Or
"forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors"

Trespasses or debts.

To trespass means that we have violated the rights of another person.
The most common use of this term is to go on to someone's land without permission, to violate their private property.
To ask for forgiveness for our trespasses is to ask to be forgiven for the way that we have wronged others.  To forgive people for their trespasses is to forgive people for how they have violated our rights.
This is very important, extremely important.

To be in debt means that you owe someone something. 
We could be in debt to someone because we have been bad.  Throwing a brick through someone's window for example.
Of course we can also be in debt for a neutral reason.  I am in debt to the bank, not because I am bad but because they hold the mortgage to my house.
Or we can be in debt to someone because they are good.  When someone helps us we feel that we are in their debt.  Someone helps you move and you feel like you need to pay them back some how.  We become indebted to others because of their goodness.

"forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors"

Stop trying to pay God back for his goodness.  Just accept that he is good and he loves you.  
Bless and encourage people without expecting them to pay you back.  Just bless because you are filled with love.

** Interesting side note: I cannot find an English translation that has trespasses, they all say debts.  As far as I can tell trespasses comes for the book of common prayer put out by the Anglican Church.  I have no idea why it says trespass.

Does God speak?

Hearing God is sometimes difficult.

Why does God not speak more?

These are common feelings and questions.

However

In the book of Jeremiah (25:3-7, 35:14-15) God asks again and again

Why do people not listen to me?  

He speaks - persistently - but people do not listen.

The problem may not be that God is not speaking, it may be that I just do not want to really hear what he is saying.  

Thanksgiving

Being thankful changes how I approach the world.

I see more beauty
I have deeper sense of wonder and amazement
I am happier
I treat others with more respect
I pay attention to the details of my world
I am inspired by people

I guess being thankful helps me see God...

What are you thankful for?

Divorce

A topic we avoid, while at same time embrace.

We avoid because it is filled with pain.

We embrace because it has affected all of us.

On Sunday I preached on Matthew 19:1-12.  Jesus talks about divorce.

Here are a few things that I had in mind as I preached:

1. Grace.  There is grace and forgiveness.  The story just before this one is a story of forgiveness.  A man who owns too much to pay back is forgiven.  He then is to forgive those around him.  We are forgiven by God based on the cross, this includes those who have been divorced.  All of us need to extend the same grace that we have received.  
2. Hard hearts.  Jesus states that divorce (marriage breakdown) happens because of hard hearts.  Yes, there may be an innocent party in divorce (it takes two to make a marriage thrive).  But we need to realize that divorce is a result of sin.  Most of the time both individuals in a marriage breakdown have hard hearts.
3. All of us have hard hearts.  
4. Two shall become one.  The goal of marriage is greater than not getting divorced.  The purpose of marriage is to not suffer through life with some other person.  The goal is oneness.  To be one means that you stand together and face all of life together.  It is not about being roommates.  Divorce happens because we are not pursuing "oneness".  We do not want a spouse, we want cheerleader. 
5. Change.  To be married means that we need to change.  Marriage changes everything.  Our hearts have to be open to allowing the other person to change us.
6. Singleness.  Sometimes it is better to be single rather than being married.  Jesus holds up that a single life is blessed.  Married life is also blessed (in different ways).  

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur - or the Day of Atonement

Recently I have begun to explore the Jewish holidays.  I am actually a little surprised that I know so little about these festivals.
As a Christian:

• I read the Jewish scriptures
• I follow a Jewish Messiah
• A Jewish Messiah who would have observed all the festivals
• The New Testament was written by Jews

And yet I know almost nothing of the holidays that are mentioned in the scripture.  I have even been to Bible school, studied at seminary.  Yet even in these places little was ever mentioned about the Jewish festivals.  

So I am beginning to ask how much am I not seeing in the Bible because I do not have a grasp of the Jewish festivals.  

Now I should note I do not believe that as a Christian I am obligated to follow the festivals (just like I do not believe we need to strictly observe the Sabbath).  But on the other side it is not wrong to follow them.  So why not?  Or at least become aware of them.

Yom Kippur (which started Sept 25 in the evening) is the most holy day.  The major themes are repentance and atonement.  The people are called to repent for the wrongs that they have done to God and to others.  Actually they are to spend the days leading up to Yom Kippur getting things right with God and the people around them.  This day is then spent in prayer and fasting.  

Jesus made atonement for our sins.  Out of being forgiven by God we are to repent and forgive others.

Today would a good day to confess, make things right with others, and remember the wonder of God's mercy and grace found in the cross.

Young Adults

Young Adults are leaving the church.  It appears that as soon as young people get to decide on their own to come to church or not about 70% walk away.
Next week David Sawler, author of Goodbye Generation, is coming to Altona and will be doing a workshop Saturday morning.
Also there was a new report just released that looked at this issue from a Canadian perspective.  It is called "Hemorrhaging Faith" (you tell by the title this is not good news).
100 Huntley Street interviewed some people about this.  Take a look.

Give away your shoes

Amazing story!

Bus driver gives his shoes to a homeless man.

Matthew 18:1-14 - Going deeper

Sunday's message was on Matthew 18:1-14. 

A quick summary:

• How to be great in God's kingdom?  
• Become radically dependent upon God
• Become passionate (care for) the little ones (children).

Here are some things we should do as result of this passage:

• Practice hospitality
• Volunteer and serve (Sunday School possibly)
• Pray for children/youth/young believers

End of Summer

Summer is almost at an end.
Summer often disrupts my routine in life.  Not a bad thing - holidays, camping...
However now in fall I get a chance to re-think what routines am I going to keep doing, which ones should I drop, and which ones should I add.  Here are some of things I am thinking as of right now:

• A prayer time as I walk my dog (pray as you go)
• Continuing to read through the bible
• Learning French
• Learning drums
• Riding bike

Pacifism

I am (or at least close to being) a pacifist.
Interesting to see some reasons why C.S. Lewis was not a pacifist.  And interesting to see how Stanley Hauerwas responds to him.
Hauerwas responding to C.S Lewis.

I would like to read C.S. Lewis entire argument against pacifism.

Prison

Read about increase of violence in prisons due to overcrowding (CBC).
Pray for the chaplains (Dean and Brian are the chaplains at Stony Mountain), guards, wardens, and inmates.  Pray that the believers would walk closely with the Holy Spirit.