Community

We all live in community. In fact we live in multiple communities. Our communities are formed from our church, family, school, work, hobbies, friends, etc. We move from community to community as we live out our week. Which one of these communities is primary in our lives? Which one should be? At times we engage in double talk. First we say that the church should be the primary community. Then we tell people that family should be. And don’t forget to make and maintain friendships and to build good relationships at work. So where do we stand? Where should we stand? There are scholars and theologians that could be found to defend and promote anyone of these communities. But perhaps figuring out what is our primary community is not that important.

Perhaps we need a different view of community and specifically of our church community. Why does our church exist? The church exists to glorify God by extending the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. The kingdom of Jesus Christ is not solely extended by increasing our church programs or by making sure that our organization is growing or even by making sure that everyone is so involved in church activities that they do not have time to do anything else. It is extended by us bringing Jesus into our communities. These communities are made up from our families, work, sports, friends, etc. So since the church exists to extend the Kingdom of Jesus and the Kingdom is extended in other communities the church therefore exists to bless these other communities.

This means that the church needs to equip people to live in their different communities and not to just live in the church community. The church needs to be giving and blessing the communities instead of taking away from them. The church needs to help people to be better people in their communities not just better people in the church.

Really it is a call for the church die for the world…just like Jesus died for the world.

God's work

Irreligiosa sollicitudo pro Deo - this wonderful expression means "a blasphemous anxiety to do God's work for him."
This is the anxiety that causes us to be frantic and panicked. We are frazzled and hassled because the work is not done. And for some reason we are not able to get it done. This anxiety does not allow us to rest or to be still before God because their is something else that needs to be done.
Mark Buchanan states that we should still rest. Not because the work is finished but because God is God. Our rest states that we cannot do the work. It declares that the work is not really ours anyways. It is God's work. And he invites us to partner with him in doing it but he also tells us to rest. The world is not resting on our shoulders. God is able to do more with and threw us if we spend times being still before him.
This is not an excuse to be lazy. It is a call to allow God to be God. And for us to stop trying to do his work.

Curling

Yesterday my church went curling together. We rented the rink, curled all afternoon and then some stayed for supper (another group went to the church for a hymn sing). It was tons of fun. I never realized that curling could be so much fun to play (it looks really boring on TV). My daughters really enjoyed playing. My oldest told me that she would like to join a team some day.
The best part though was playing with different people from our church. It was an excellent way to mix and visit with people. A huge thanks needs to be given to the people who organized this event. I certainly hope it happens again next year.

Guidance

I was sitting on a beach in Oregon wondering what I was going to do with my life. Where was I going? What was I suppose to be doing? Who was suppose to marry? What school should I go to? Should I go to school? Where should I work? Live? I sat and struggled with the questions of life. I was never visited by any angels, or heard voices from heaven to give me guidance. But in many years since I have been guided by Yahweh as I take each step.
We are all on a journey. We all need guidance. Last week I hear two really good messages on guidance.
Nathan from our church: God's guidance in my life
Rob Bell from Mars Hill: Leaving control for faith (They also do the sermons on a podcast)

Check them out and let me know what you think.

And if you are a part of our church I would love to know how your fasting is going.

Wierd world

Fact: Ice is colder than boiling water.
Apparently this fact is not always true. A group of scientists have made ice that is hotter than boiling water (check it out). I just hate it when science destroys my hard facts. The world is making perfect sense. And then someone comes along and messes with my perception of reality. In school I was given the idea that the world makes sense. However science now gives me a picture of a world that is strange and bizarre. A picture of a world that I cannot really fit into my brain. I am personally becoming more and more convinced that we really do not have a clue what is going on we just think we do. Sure we can manipulate a few different things but that is not really understanding it.

PLANET EARTH, THE FUTURE

CBC is going to be airing an interesting show tonight. The show is called Plant Earth, The Future. What really triggered my interest was in the description it said: "How can conservation fit into a world driven by economics and development? At what point does eco-tourism cross the boundary of real benefit to the wildlife? Looks at the role of religion in promoting a moral and ethical approach to our world."
That last line really got me interested. I do believe that our faith in God should promote good stewardship of the earth. I am wondering how they are going to approach this issue. Should be interesting. Hopefully I remember to watch it.

I missed it. It was on CBC News world which I do not have. :(

Going Slow

Have you ever experienced a time when the whole world seems to suddenly get in line? When it feels like God has reached down and is ordering things to drive one message into your head? Well that is sort of how I am feeling right now. And the message is "Go Slow."
First, we have chosen to read a book called The Rest of God. It is all about the Sabbath and slowing down. Second, a good friend of mine gave me the book The Contemplative Pastor. In the first chapter Eugene (the writer) states that he wants to be less busy. Third, a friend stopped into my office today and told me about the "go slow club". It was a club a four year old started because he felt that life was too busy. So he would just go slow. Fourth, I was checking out a magazine called Geez (looks really interesting) and found a website called De-motorize your soul (check this site out). It states " Relax a bit, and join the spirited slow-down."
So I think God might be whispering (possibly yelling) for me to slow down.

Van Morrison

Last night my friend Frank and I went to the Van Morrison concert. It was totally awesome. I would have to say that it was the best concert that I have ever been to. It was better than Pink Floyd, Ziggy Marely, Midnight Oil, Tragically Hip (who I saw three times), Third Day, Crash Test Dummies, Elvis Costello (he was awful), U2 (who happen to be my favorite band), or any other group that I have seen. It was also totally different from any concert that I have ever seen.
Every concert (with exception of some blue grass concerts I went to with my Dad) I had ever been to had been a show. A show that rehearsed and programed. It did not matter if the group was a large name or just some local group. Pink Floyd I am sure was programed down to the second. And one Christian group when I saw them the third time I could say their jokes along with them. Van Morrison was just about the music. There was no light show, no smoke, no jokes, just really good music. And you could tell as they played that nothing was programed. They at appeared to decide to do certain songs while on stage. And during the songs Van Morrison would point to different members of the band to indicate that they should do a solo at that point. It was amazing. They were so very, very talented.
The other thing that made Van Morrison different from other groups is that he really highlighted his band. When he was not singing or doing a sax solo he would move to the back of the stage to allow the other musicians to have the spot light. Often I have seen other rock stars love to be worshipped.
There was also no warm up act. His band came on and did two numbers without him. Then he joined them and played for 90 minutes. Van Morrison then walked off to the side (the band stayed where they were) and then came back on to do two closing numbers.
Can you tell that I really liked the concert.

JD Miner

My Dad is in a band called Jd Miner. And they totally rock. You need to check out their website jdminer.com. At their website you get the opportunity to buy their CD - it is really good.

How Shall We Worship?

I have begun reading a book called How Shall we Worship? by Marva Dawn. It looks like a really interesting book. I have just read the introduction but Marva is already asking some good questions about worship and the church. Here are a couple of the questions that you might want to struggle with. I would love to hear what you think.
Does our worship enable us to be ready to die for the sake of God's glory?
Why do so many who say they are "spiritual" want nothing to do with our churches' worship?
Are we really encountering God?

Worship

Last Saturday we had our annual meeting as a church. I rather enjoyed the meeting. Though I did find it interesting that there was not a lot of discussion...except for on worship. When the topic of worship got mentioned then there was lots and lots of discussion. Actually most of the discussion was not about worship in general but about music. People are very passionate about music. This has been an on going discussion in our church for a long time (and one I do not think is going to go away over night). But there have been some people who have been expressing a desire for sometime to make a significant shift in our music on Sunday. Since this has been talked about for so long our chairman decided that we should have a meeting in which we will discuss this issue. In light of this up coming meeting (not sure when) we thought it would be good to give the people in the church the resources they need to study the issue of worship. Also we are hoping that we can get people to discuss this issue before the meeting.

So... I have decided to post an article on worship. I am also encouraging you to share your thoughts - on worship in general and on the article in particular. Please note that even if you are not a part of the church I would love to hear what you have to say.

I am just posting a portion of the article (click to read the rest). This is from Freedom and Framework, Spirit and Truth: Recovering Biblical Worship, by NT Wright

My third urgent point concerns the relationship between worship and culture. The great Christ-and-culture debates of the last century have taught us that we cannot simply go with the flow of a particular culture on the one hand, nor yet simply renounce our own culture as being opposed to the gospel.[20] Each aspect of culture must be assessed on its own merits. This, too, is a subject for another time.[21] As C. S. Lewis never tired of saying, there is nothing in God’s world which cannot be redeemed; but there is nothing which can simply be embraced as it stands. Everything must be brought to the bar of the gospel, of the cross and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah.

It is not, then, simply a matter of working out how, in worship, to bring together the traditional with the contemporary. That is important, but it is equally important to ensure that the tradition is celebrated through the lens of the gospel, not uncritically, and that the contemporary is adopted likewise through the lens of the gospel, not just because it is new. What T. S. Eliot called the “easy commerce of the old and the new” is not, as the poem makes clear, achieved easily or without struggle; but it is there if we will work and pray at it.[22] It is not a matter of slavishly adopting a particular culture, whether that of sixteenth-century Europe or of twenty-first-century America; nor, equally, is it a matter of slavishly renouncing the one or the other. (In England this sometimes acquires the dark overtones of class snobbery, both regular and inverted: some people would not want to be caught attending a worship service led with guitars and drums for precisely the same reason that they would not want to be found watching a soap opera, and other people would avoid cathedral-style worship for the same reasons that they would avoid black-tie dinners. This cultural prejudice, which can easily disguise itself with plausible theological language, must be smoked out and repented of.)

Nor is it a matter of working out “what this congregation will be comfortable with.” Who says you ought always to be comfortable in the presence of Almighty God? But nor should one simply ask “what does this congregation need to wake them up?”; who says it is your place to shock and startle the people of God? There will be shocks, of course, and there also will be the deep comfort of the familiar. Good liturgy, planned carefully week by week and year by year, will bring the two together so that they complement and reinforce each other and, most importantly, build up the worshipers in the knowledge and love of God and send them out refreshed for their kingdom-tasks in the world. And if we know what we are about this should mean that in our worship, in its music and readings, in its drama and movement, in its silence as well as its speech, we are not only reflecting different cultures but contributing creatively and in the power of the Spirit to the culture which our God is bringing about in our own day.

7 wonders of the world

Can you name the 7 wonders of the world?
I was not able to. In fact I was very sure that the great wall of China was one of the wonders of the world. But it isn't. 6 out of the 7 wonders of the world have been destroyed (a very long time ago). Which totally sucks because one of my goals when I was a little kid was to see the 7 wonders of the world.
However all is not lost. They are naming a new 7 wonders of the world. In fact people get to choose the wonders by voting. Check out 7 new wonders. I am going to vote for pyramids (I think they should get in because they are really cool and they are the only ancient wonder left standing) and for the great wall (that way I can be right - I will just say that I was prophesying).

The Christian Right = Fascist?

Last night on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos there was an interview with Chris Hedges. Christ claims that the Christ Right are a bunch of fascists and should be resisted.
Watch the interview American Fascists

What do you think?

Why Men Hate the Church

I just finished reading the book Why Men Hate the Church, by David Murrow. His basic argument is that men hate the church because the church is feminine. Men he states feel that by attending church they will become less masculine. His solution is to make the church more masculine. David says we can do this in a few ways. First is to offer challenge. David states that the church is big into comfort. Men do not want comfort they want challenge. Second men need a man that they can follow. They need examples. And they need to become examples to other men (specifically to younger men). Third men need a band of brothers. They need a group of men who will hold them accountable and push them to be better.
David states that as a church we are losing the men.
What do you think? Have you read the book?
Even if you haven't read the book what do you think? Do you think that the church is more feminine than masculine? Do you think that as a church we need to challenge more?
Are we losing the men?

Missionfest

Missionfest was this past weekend. If you did not get a chance to go you really missed out. It great to hear what God is doing in the world. I went in on Saturday night with some friends. We wanted to hear Steve Saint. He is the son of Nate Saint. Nate was killed by natives when he went to share the gospel with them. Steve's family (he was just a kid when this happened) continued to love and share the message with this tribe. Many have given their lives to God including some of the men who killed Nate Saint. It is an interesting story. The DVD is called End of the Spear. Well Steve had a good message. He called for us Christians to be active in sharing our faith.
A couple of other things happened at Missions Fest which were highlights for me. One was finding a book written by a Jim Cunningham. Jim attended the church that I grew up in. He would occasionally preach. I still remember one of his sermons. It constantly challenges me. I have not seen him in many years. Another highlight was meeting a missionary who was in the Philippines with us. We did not specifically with him but we meet him and his family a couple of times. It was really neat to hear about what God is doing in that country.

Star Trek

The other night I watched the first episode of Enterprise. This was the first time I had ever seen this series. I know that I am behind the times (since the series has run for three years and was cancelled last year). But I just have peasant vision so I don't get to see some of the new shows.
Now the first episode was not too bad. However it did not really have a Star Trek feel. The music was wrong. But the my biggest problem with it was that instead of promoting diversity like some of the other Star Treks this one just felt like a bunch of cowboys on a space ship.
Everyone is just the same. In Star Trek the original series they had a Russian and a female African- American on the bridge. Now this was in the 1970s. That would be like putting an Iraqi Muslim on the bridge. Star Trek gave a positive picture of the future. Which I thought was totally great.
Well I will have to see where this series ends up going.

Cuban Friends

As I mentioned in my last post one of the highlights of the Cuba trip was meeting new people. Specifically for me it was meeting one family - actually it was a family and two friends: Guy and Kathleen (not sure if that is how you spell her name), their son John and their friends Kieth and Dirk. They were a really cool group of people. We spent a fair amount of time together - eating together, hanging out in the evenings, playing games. It is really too bad that they live really far away from us (map quest says it is about a 20 hour drive). I am not sure what drew us together. But I felt really comfortable hanging around them. It will be neat if we keep in touch with each other.

Cuba

Last week Cindy and I went to a resort in Cuba (Blau Colonial - which I highly recommend). It was totally awesome. We had a great time swimming, playing games, dancing, hanging out with each other and meeting other people. Cindy has posted some pictures on her blog (I do not have any on my computer - so check them out there).
One of my highlights was meeting new people. We meet all sorts of interesting people. We meet a forensic psychologist, a Russian who moved to Canada and married a Cuba (they were interesting because when they were first married they both did not speak english that well and also did not speak each other's language - Russian and Spanish), a couple of young british men, a couple who were on the honeymoon, a family that brought a toy dinosaur with them on all their vacations (the dinosaur's name is Eldon - we are hoping to get him to come to visit us but he is going to Peru with some other friends), Cuban workers (they organized crazy games for us to play every day and gave dance lessons as well as did performances in the evening).
As we meet people one of the things that I found interesting was the responses people would give when they found out I was a pastor. Many of them were shocked - some of the facial expressions we got were priceless. I wondered why people were so shocked that a pastor was in Cuba having a good time. Do they think that as a pastor I am not allowed to have any fun? And if the leadership is not allowed to have any fun what does that say about the religion? About God?

Guys

Guys like to show off. Specifically we like to show to women that we want to impress. Now I am maddly in love with this one woman. She just happens to be the smartest, best looking, all around coolest person in the entire world and she is my wife (which makes me the luckiest guy in the entire world). With me being so in love with this wonderful woman (Cindy) I will at times show off trying to impress her. Now my attempts at showing off can sometimes be dramtic but most often they just small little things. Little things that let her know that I am smart, cool, powerful, graceful ... you get the idea. Anyway all of this should help explain what happened to me today.

At lunch I was riding my bike across a parking lot. One important thing that you need to know before I carry on is that it is January and I am living in Canada - which means it is freezing cold and icy out. So I am riding my bike and I see my wife driving in her van. Now I get this great idea that I should catch up to her on my bike and say hi (ok so it may have something to do with showing off how fast I can ride my bike - which is not fast at all in reality). Well I start peddaling hard across the parking lot. As I pick up speed I notice that my wife has to stop at a stop sign and there are some cars coming so she is going to have to wait. Great I think this is going to work. The plan is that I am going to pull up beside her (casually and without huffing and puffing to much I hope) and say hi. However as I come racing up behind the van I hit a patch of ice. Yep that's right I totally bail (thankfully I did not cream into the van). My wife did not see a thing (or pretended not to) she just carried on to her appointment. I was left lying on the road in pain and my pride broken into little bits.
So much for showing my wife how graceful and athletic I am. At least until the next time...

Best of 2006

Every year my wife puts together our best photos for the year. If you want to see (and vote) the best of 2006 check out her blog Cindy Street