A blog to help bridge the gap between Sundays, both in the content of our Sunday worship celebrations here at NPC as well as, and more importantly, in the content of our daily lives.
One of the knocks against the church, faith, the Bible, and so on, is that it can often seem so abstract. Okay, we read/hear that God loves us, that Jesus died for us, that we are called to grow in faith, and much more. But what does that really mean? What does it look like? How does it impact us in real, concrete ways? Sermons, Bible readings, prayer, and worship can be deeply meaningful. But if they only engage the head and intellect with abstract ideas and miss the heart and soul, then they lose much of their power. They are, at best, incomplete. At worst they are misleading, making us believe that all we need to do is hold the right ideas about God in our minds.
I don't know about you, but something that always helps me go deeper than the level of intellect and ideas is hearing real stories of real people. It helps me see and understand how these important ideas about God are made manifest and lived out in real people's lives. This Friday (Good Friday) and Sunday (Easter Sunday), we will be following Simon Peter, one of Jesus' disciples and closest friends, as he sees and experiences the final few hours before Jesus' death and then the first few days after his resurrection. You see, Peter doesn't just learn new things about Jesus, though he does that too. He enters into and experiences everything from great confusion, raging anger, and deep despair, to rekindled hope and full restoration with his Lord and friend, Jesus.
Our two services (both at 10am) form a unified whole, with the story continuing from Friday through to Sunday. Be that as it may, if you can't make it out for both services, please do consider joining us for one or the other. We will look at the first four "acts" of this passion play on Friday, including a celebration of Communion:
Act I: Submission and Service (John 13.1-17)
Act II: Fight and Flight (Mark 14.32-50)
Act III: Denial and Despair (John 18.15-27)
Act IV: Death and... (John 19.16-30)
We will then move on to the final "act" on Sunday morning:
Act V: Resurrection and Restoration (John 20-21)
We would love to celebrate with you and your family this Easter. But whether we see you or not, may the joy and love of God become more and more real for you this Easter season and always!
I was just a twinkle in my father's eye when Edwin Starr hit the charts in 1969 with his, now classic, "War (hunh!)! What is it good for? Absolutely nuthin' (say it again)!" It helped rally a generation in opposition to the war in Vietnam.
So, I must make apologies to Mr Starr as I introduce this week's continuation of our three-week series on the Bible: "God's Word: What Is It Good For?" After looking at 2 Timothy 3.1-15 and "The Power of Perspective" last week (i.e. the Bible's power to clarify and illuminate a good and proper perspective on God, ourselves, and the world in which we live), this week we will look at the usefulness of the Bible in other ways.
Now, you'll notice I have removed Edwin Starr's follow-up line -- "Absolutely nothing!" -- from the title of this week's message. I hope the reason is sufficiently obvious. However, it seems to me that many people in our culture today would be more than willing to keep that line in place when talking about the Bible. For some the Bible, at best, is hopelessly out of touch with the needs and perspectives of people today and, at worst, is hateful and dangerous.
This Sunday, rather than making a full-out defense of the Bible against these claims (though I am always willing to talk with anyone who wants to explre these ideas further), we will look at what the Bible has to say about itself in 2 Timothy 3.16-17:
"All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work."
More than merely giving a list of what is good and bad, right and wrong, God uses the Bible to change us from the inside out. I hope you can join us on Sunday as we explore this idea more fully.
If you have spent a bit of time around the church at some point in your lifetime, I'll bet you have, at some point (if not at many points), been told that you need to be reading your Bible. Some of us, I'm sure, feel guilty and ashamed over the fact that we don't read the Bible as much as we feel we should. Others of us, maybe haven't heard this as much and wonder what the big deal is all about. Isn't the Bible just an old history book of sorts? Why should I bother spending time reading it today?
In our previous series on spiritual formation, we spoke of the Bible, along with prayer and worship, as being a crucial part of our spiritual nourishment at every stage of growth along the way. Over these next three weeks, we will be looking in depth at 2 Timothy 3.10-4.5, a portion of the New Testament that speaks of the ongoing importance of the Bible to the life of every follower of Jesus. If you're someone who needs a reminder about why the habit of reading your Bible is so important; or if you'd like to go deeper in your practice and understanding of Bible reading; or if you're someone who isn't sure what all the fuss over the Bible is about to begin with; then this three part series is for you. Please join us starting this Sunday at 10am! I hope to see you there.
No doubt you've heard the popular catchphrase, "Think outside the box." This encourages us to see things from new perspectives and not get caught in the old way of doing things simply because "that's the way we've always done it before."
Missions has a long and, to be honest, rather chequered history in the church. There are many good examples of missions throughout church history, from Paul's pure and passionate desire to share the Good News of God's love with the Gentiles, to Mother Theresa's humble mission to care for the poorest of the poor in Calcutta. But there are many extremely bad examples too, from Rome's forced Christianization of Europe at the point of a sword, to modern anti-gay protests organized by the "Christian right" piously proclaiming that "God hates fags." I could go on.
Missions here at Nassagaweya, to the best of my knowledge, has always meant financially supporting people and organizations who are engaging in "good causes" from a Christian perspective. Our support of Presbyterians Sharing, PWS&D, The Deck, Evangel Hall, Operation Christmas Child, Jewels for Jesus, and so on has undoubtedly led to a number of good things for many different people in our community and around the world. I, for one, am proud of the fact that our congregation commits to give away at least 10% of our revenues every year to mission organizations and projects. But has this automatic financial support become a "box" for us, something we do simply because that's what we do?
This Sunday, we're taking a bit of a break from our Spiritual Formation series to think about missions and what it might look like to break out of this narrow and incomlete view of missions. (Although it actually relates very well to our topic for next Sunday -- stay tuned for that!) How can we be involved in missions in a fuller, more engaging way? Is there more to missions involvement than raising and sending money to needy people through trusted organizations? What might that look like for a congregation such as ours?
In order to answer these questions, we will be welcoming Karen Plater as a special guest speaker this Sunday. Karen is the Associate Secretary for Stewardship and Education for Mission for the Presbyterian Church in Canada. She will bring her wealth of experience and insight in order to help us envision an expanded understanding of missions. In other words, she's coming to help us "think outside the box."
My prayer for us, though, is that this will lead us to not only think outside the box, but to actually break out of the box altogether and to engage in missions in a fuller, more meaningful way. Of course, that part of the equation doesn't lie with Karen Plater or the Presbyterian Church in Canada, it lies with you and me. So, please come on out this Sunday and be part of the conversation.
Last Sunday (Jan 31) we looked at the idea that childhood is a time of constructing the foundation of our lives. The life we will be able to build is dependent on the strength and security of the foundation.
Spiritually speaking, our foundation, our cornerstone, is Jesus (see 1 Corinthians 3.11, Ephesians 2.20). Our spiritual lives are also limited by the strength and security of this foundation in our hearts.
This week, we will see that adolescence is a time of discovering who we are, a time of growing into our own skin, of figuring out what we were made to do. What is the "calling" upon our lives? Who would God have us be? What would He have us do? Are we strong enough to move ahead and grow in this calling? These are the questions, the essence, of adolescence.
I hope you can join us on Sunday. If not, you can listen to this message, and all past messages, HERE.
A couple years ago now, one of my daughters was invited to a classmate's birthday party. We had to reschedule a couple of things to make it happen, but my daughter really wanted to go so we did what we had to do. When I called to let the parents know that Mary would be coming, the Dad told me that some of the kids at school had been mean and spiteful to his daughter. They were saying that no one wanted to go to her party so why bother having one. Apparently some of the girls she had invited had already called to say no, they couldn't come for whatever reason. So the Dad said that his daughter would be really excited that Mary was coming. Was I ever glad we had gone to the trouble (though not too much trouble at all, really) to change things around so Mary could go!
Can you imagine inviting a bunch of "friends" to your birthday party and no one came? There is something deeply meaningful about having a group of friends gather to not only celebrate with you, but to celebrate you on your birthday. As we move from "Birth" to the next stage of spiritual growth this week ("Infancy"), one thing we see is the importance of celebrating new birth. A baby's most important emotional need is to be loved unconditionally, to be celebrated simply for being alive. This love and celebration is not dependent on what the baby has done or will do. Family and community express to a baby that s/he is precious, wanted, and an incredible joy. If a child doesn't receive this kind of love and affirmation as an infant, its emotional growth will forever but stunted as a result. They will be more guarded, less able to share joy and love with others, and much more besides.
This need to celebrate new birth also holds true when it comes to spiritual birth and growth. "Baby" Christians also need to be celebrated, to be loved unconditionally, and to be joyfully accepted into the "family" or community. Of course, knowing and experiencing the unconditional, unfailing love of our Heavenly Father is critical to this. But this love and celebration also needs to be embodied by the church (i.e. the "body of Christ").
Isn't it interesting, then, that an informal lunch and skating party has been organised for this Sunday, completely separately from this series of messages? One of our Community Groups decided recently to host this event and to extend an invitation to the congregation, and especially to the newer people and families among us. God certainly does have a neat way of pulling these kinds of things together sometimes! So, whether you like to skate or not, please join us on Sunday after church for lunch, skating (weather permitting), games, conversation, and plenty of celebration! (Directions will be available at church Sunday morning.)
You know, whether it's archery, darts, or anything else, anyone can get a bullseye... if you draw the target after you've fired the arrow/dart. The key to improving, though, is to set the target out in front of you, shoot the arrow/dart, and then look to see how you've done. Then you do it again... and again... and again.
Of course the question, for those of us who would call ourselves followers of Jesus, is this: what's the target? In other words, what are we aiming for? What's a bullseye? And how will we know if we're getting better?
Well, here at NPC we have set out the target in the following terms: "Our Mission is to help people experience a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ." While the Bible can sometimes seem a little arcane and difficult to understand in places, there is absolutely no doubt that God invites us to grow and change, to become more like Jesus (e.g. John 3.3, 2 Corinthians 3.18 and 5.17, Ephesians 4.11-15. This is not something we do for ourselves, mind you, simply trying hard to be like Jesus. It is God's Spirit at work within us, though we do need to open ourselves and partner with the Spirit in this work.) And there is no doubt that those of us who have experienced and are experiencing this transformation are called, also by the work and power of the Holy Spirit, to introduce others to the life-changing love of God as seen in Jesus (e.g. Matthew 28.18-20, Acts 1.8, 1 Peter 3.15-16).
Great, sounds good! But there's an old piece of wisdom that crops up in my mind at this point. Maybe you've heard it before: "You can't lead someone somewhere that you have not been to yourself." If we are setting a target of "helping othersexperience a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ" when we have not experienced or are not experiencing that kind of life-changing relationship ourselves, then we are doomed to failure from the start.
Over these next few weeks, we are going to be looking at the question of what it means to grow in Christ, to mature spiritually. Like the stages of development in our physical, emotional and intellectual growth, there are also stages of growth and development in our relationship with God. If it is true that "we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ" (Ephesians 4.15), then maybe we can see similar stages in our spiritual growth, i.e. Birth, Infancy, Childhood, Adolescence, Young Adulthood, and Adulthood.
Please understand, I have no interest in wagging my finger at you or anyone else for not being spiritual enough or mature enough. I simply want us to be able to take an honest, searching look at ourselves so we can each figure out where we might be on this continuum of growth. Then we will be able to see more clearly where the target is for us and ask the Holy Spirit to start moving us closer to bullseye, closer to Jesus.
As always, if you can't make it out to the services (Sundays at 10am), you can catch up by downloading an audio recording of the messages HERE. Hope to see you soon!
I've never been much of a steak lover, I must admit. I only remember having steak as a kid when I was at the cottage with my Dad and siblings. The steaks were always grilled well beyond "well-done" on the little hibachi we kept up there. The only thing worse than trying to saw through the steak with a dull "cottage" knife (you know, the cast-offs that had been relegated to occasional use at the cottage) was trying to actually chew and swallow it. Having a dry baked potato to wash it down wasn't much of a help either (my family didn't go in for the mounds of sour cream and cheddar cheese topping that I now love on a baked potato). For years, I could never figure out why so many people thought steak was such a great meal.
Well, a few years ago my wife and I bought half a side of beef from a local farmer. Of course, there was a variety of meat that went along with that: roasts, stewing beef, ground beef, and a few different cuts of steak. The steaks stayed in the freezer for quite a while because I had no interest in once again putting my teeth and taste buds at risk as I had been forced to as a child. But then we had a distant cousin and his teenage son come to stay for a couple days, and apparently they liked steak. So my wife did a bit of research (she was not a steak connoisseur either) and found a recipe for a nice marinade. She soaked the steaks in the marinade for 24 hours before handing them off to me to grill. I had heard enough about steaks by this point that "well-done" really meant "burn the flavour out of the steak." So I carefully watched over the steaks until they were moist and brown on the outside and just a little pink in the middle. Then we sat down to an incredible meal, the best steaks -- BY FAR!!! -- that I had ever tasted.
In talking with some steak lovers after that, I discovered that there were a few factors that went into making them so good. There was the cut of steak, for one. I forget now what this particular cut was, but I was told later that this is perhaps the premiere cut for steak. Then there was the right amount of grilling, for another. But perhaps the most important thing, I was told, was the 24 hours of soaking in marinade. The flavour didn't just sit on the outside of the steak, like the burned Kraft BBQ sauce of my misspent childhood. It had soaked in, permeated every bite, made it more flavourful and juicy than I had ever experienced before. (Wow -- anyone else feel like having a steak about now?!)
Over the last five Sundays, we have looked at some different images of and ideas about God, most of which paint God in a rather negative light (e.g. God as punisher, absent, and/or intolerant). As we discovered, though, while there is some underlying truth to these images, they ultimately point us back to the all-encompassing love of God -- His steadfast, faithful, and unfailing love. I'm hoping that those messages have pointed us in the right direction (to the right cut and marinade, so to speak). But now it's time to just soak, to let it wash over us, permeate every part of us, fill us, change us.
That's what we'll be doing over these next few Sundays. The messages will be less sermon and more worship; less talking and more singing; less of my words and more of God's Word. This Sunday, we will focus on the love of God, our Father and Creator. Next Sunday, we will focus on the love of God as revealed in Jesus, our Saviour and brother. Then, on December 27 (the children's Christmas play will be performed on December 20), we will focus on the ongoing revelation of God's love through the Holy Spirit. We hear so much about God and God's love in the church. But do we take the time to soak it in, to allow it into our hearts and minds? Join us us over these few Sundays as, together, we "Marinate Until Tender."
Calling someone "intolerant" is one of the worst insults you can give to someone these days. And rightly so, because so much prejudice and violence arises out of intolerance. Of course, we need to be careful how we define tolerance. Tolerance does NOT mean that anything goes, that everything is true, or that everyone is right. Tolerance means that, even though you and I may disagree on this issue or that belief, we will tolerate each other. As long as no one is harming, belittling, and/or impinging upon the rights and freedoms of others, tolerance means that we will agree to disagree, that we will not resort to violence or power struggles to force our views and beliefs on others. This is a crucial part of living in a free and open, democratic society like Canada.
One of the difficulties Christianity faces in our society today is the belief that God is extremely, even punitively intolerant of anyone who doesn't follow His rules. When we look at certain passages of Scripture, especially passages from the Old Testament, this is hard to argue against, because God does seem to be rather intolerant at times.
This Sunday we will look more closely at one of these passages -- Exodus 34.10-16. Without going into too much detail here, what we find in this passage is that, yes, God is intolerant. But the intolerance of God is not aimed primarily at people, it is aimed at practices, habits, and perspectives that lead people away from the fullness and abundance of life that is found only in Him. Remember the context of this story: God has just freed Israel from 400 plus years of slavery in Egypt and, the thing is, He wants His people to stay free. So yes, God is intolerant... intolerant of everything that will lead His people into slavery once again. This isn't the forced labour they experienced in Egypt. It's far more dangerous and debilitating than that. It's a slavery of heart, mind and soul, a slavery with eternal consequences. God's intolerance is actually yet another expression of His steadfast, faithful, unfailing love.
So, maybe we need to be a bit more intolerant too. But not intolerant of people with different beliefs, lifestyles, and points of view -- not at all! We need to be intolerant of the subtle (and not so subtle) pulls of culture; intolerant of our unthinking habits of self-centredness; intolerant of everything that leads us away from God and, ultimately, into slavery.
Please join us this Sunday if you want to go deeper into the ideas we've touched on here. If you can't make it, you will be able to listen to the message next week at www.nassagaweya.com, following the links to the "Sermons" page. Hope to see you all soon!
"The LORD has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me." (Isaiah 49.14)
This was the complaint of the people of Israel during one of the most difficult points in the history. Their country had been overrun, the temple destroyed, and their leaders exiled to Babylon. Surely God had forgotten them.
Ever feel that way, that God is little better than an absentee landlord? You know, the One who's supposed to be present and taking care of things, but never around when you really need Him? How can the Bible speak of God's unfailing love if He's never around when He's needed?
This is the question we will be looking at more fully this Sunday as we continue our series, "Unfailing Love." If you have ever felt alone, abandoned by God, then please join us as we wrestle with this important question.
I don't want to give away the ending or anything, but I thought maybe I'd give you a pretty strong hint of where I'm coming from on this issue. Here are the next few verses of Isaiah 49, the ones that come immediately after Israel's complaint (above):
"Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands" (Isaiah 49.15-16a).
I'm kind of taking the easy way out this week. Below is a quote from a 20th century Christian writer named A.W. Tozer. It, along with the story of Moses and the children of Israel from Exodus 32-34, will provide the framework of our messages over these next few weeks. Hope to see you Sunday!
“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
“The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God, just as her most significant message is what she says about Him or leaves unsaid, for her silence is often more eloquent than her speech. She can never escape the self disclosure of her witness concerning God.
“Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question, “What comes into your mind when you think about God?” we might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man. Were we able to know exactly what our most influential religious leaders think of God today, we might be able with some precision to foretell where the Church will stand tomorrow.
“That our idea of God corresponds as nearly as possible to the true being of God is of immense importance to us. Compared with our actual thoughts about Him, our creedal statements are of little consequence. Our real idea of God may lie buried under the rubbish of conventional religious notions and may require an intelligent and vigorous search before it is finally unearthed and exposed for what it is. Only after an ordeal of painful self probing are we likely to discover what we actually believe about God.
“A right conception of God is basic not only to systematic theology but to practical Christian living as well. It is to worship what the foundation is to the temple; where it is inadequate or out of plumb the whole structure must sooner or later collapse. I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God.”
A.W. Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy, ch.1 Why we must think rightly about God.
I'm going to keep it short this week in order to better highlight two important events coming up in the next few days.
The first is this week's Sunday service (10 am here at the church as usual). We will have two special guest speakers coming this week. Karin Schemeit and Steve Sainsbury are members of Trafalgar PC in Oakville. They aren't ministers -- at least not in the sense the church usually reserves for the word -- they are just regular folk who decided to get involved in an awesome initiative their church started a few years back. Trafalgar PC is now partnering with a community in Uganda. I don't know exactly what the church's role is in the community's ongoing plan for development and sustainability, but that's why Steve and Karin are coming to share their experiences with us. It is a wonderful testimony to what a few ordinary people can do when we prayerfully engage in mission beyond the safety of our own churches, communities, and countries. You won't want to miss what Karin and Steve have to say, so please join us if you can!
The second is a meeting at NPC coming up this Monday evening, Oct 26, at 7:30 pm. The meeting is to explore the possibility of partnering with a community in the Third World ourselves. As I spoke about this past Sunday, Paul's (and Jesus') dream for the church was of an interconnected, worldwide, loving partnership of brothers and sisters in Christ. If we think of church as something only here in our own communities, then our church is too small. On Monday, I will be sharing a bit more of my desire to connect with the broader church and we'll begin brainstorming and dreaming together about what the possibilities might be. We'll ask questions like: Where could we go? What could we do? [And most importantly,] Why would we do it? You won't be committing yourself to anything by simply coming to the meeting on Monday, but if you're at all interested, please come and join the conversation. If you're interested but can't make it on Monday, please email me to let me know.
Remember Bell's old advertising tagline of "Reach out and touch someone"? Maybe this will help refresh your memory...
It's a great commercial, really. We all want to share good times with good friends. This vignette of meeting new friends on a family camping trip and connecting so strongly that you want to keep in touch certainly connects with me, anyway. And while a phone call (or emails, texting, or other more current modes of communicating) might not be as good as being together, it can go a long way in maintaining that connection from a distance.
As we've seen over the last couple of weeks, Paul is very interested in creating and maintaining connections among the many churches scattered around the world. He not only facilitated a collection for needy Christians in Jerusalem, he even arranged to have representatives from the various churches come with him to Jerusalem to deliver the collection. This is much more than just good PR. Paul's heart was to create and maintain real connections and relationships with real people in strong and meaningful ways.
Following Jesus' lead (see Mark 3.31-35), everyone in the early church called fellow believers "brother" and "sister." But Paul didn't want to just use nice words of relationship and family, he really wanted to live it out and see others live it out too. Of course, Paul didn't have the convenience of our modern communication technologies, so he wrote letters -- lots of letters. But even more important than the letters were his travels, his visits. He wouldn't have been writing all those letters if he hadn't first made all of those real and lasting connections with all those people (i.e. brothers and sisters) in places like Ephesus, Corinth, Philippi, and so on.
It seems to me that what we in the modern church have gained in ease of communication, we have lost in real connections and relationships with our brothers and sisters around the world. Just because we have access to so much information about what is happening all around the world; just because we know what groups like PWS&D and World Vision and Canadian Foodgrains Bank are doing around the world; just because we choose to support these and other groups financially; we seem to feel that we are more connected than we truly are.
I'm not saying we shouldn't support these organisations -- of course we should! Why would we have collected a special offering for PWS&D last week otherwise? I'm saying that we need to go deeper, make stronger connections, develop and maintain real relationships with real people (i.e. brothers and sisters) in real and meaningful ways.
And how do we do that? Well, that's what we're going to look at this coming Sunday. Using Philippians 2.19-30 as the starting point, we'll look at Paul's vision/goal for the church of real connections with real people in real ways. And we'll ask the question, "How can we make this a reality here at Nassagaweya?" My vision/goal for us at NPC is that, over time, this will become a distinctive identifying mark of who we are as a congregation. Please join us on Sunday if you can.
(PS If you weren't with us last Sunday and would still like to contribute to either the Centsability or special offering to PWS&D, please bring it along this Sunday. You can listen to last week's message about it HERE. Thanks!)
Yes, it's true -- I am going to be asking you for money. But before you click quickly on to another page, muttering, "I knew he was going to get to this sooner or later; the church is always asking for money," please hear me out for a minute first. I don't want you to give anything unless you are fully convinced that this is the right thing for you to do.
First, I am not asking for myself or the needs of my congregation. I am asking on behalf of some of the poorest and most devasted people on the planet, those caught in the grip of circumstances well beyond their control, whether famine or flood, disease or disaster, economic downturn or national debt. Just as Paul collected money among the churches for the needy of Jerusalem, fellow brothers and sisters in Christ (see e.g. 2 Corinthians 8-9, the subject of our message this coming Sunday), we are collecting money for the needy of the world through the work of Presbyterian World Service and Development (PWS&D). In partnership with churches and mission organizations around the world, PWS&D is active in bringing sustainable development (health, food, water, shelter, etc.) to some of the most underdeveloped communities in the world. They are also active in bringing emergency relief to places caught up in natural disaster, like the South Pacific after the many typhoons, earthquakes and tsunamis over the past few weeks. Yes, I am asking for money, but it isn't to keep the lights or the furnace on in our little church building here in Nassagaweya. It is to bring food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, clothing to the destitute, and shelter to the homeless.
Second, if you have been following along with our current series of messages about mission, then you won't be able to escape the fact that so much of the good work people are able to do through organizations like International Justice Mission, Sleeping Children Around the World, Canadian Foodgrains Bank, World Vision, PWS&D, and so on, can only happen when people give generously to their work. We are merely trying to facilitate a collection of money at the moment to go to one of these organizations, PWS&D. If it is your practice or your plan to give to one or more of these other organizations, that's wonderful -- please give generously! If not, or if you would like to give to PWS&D as well, please consider giving to this collection this week.
This Sunday is Thanksgiving. As we give thanks for all of God's goodness and bounty to us here in this rich and abundant land, we will be collecting a special offering, over and above usual weekly givings to the church, to go to disaster relief and other pressing needs through the work of PWS&D. If you can't be with us on Sunday, you can either visit their website and donate directly (www.presbyterian.ca/donate/pwsd), or drop off your donation to the church sometime during the next two weeks.
Well, I hope you're still with me. More than that, I hope you'll consider giving generously. The need is great, yes, but we can make a difference.
Sorry about missing last week (I know you were all sitting by your computer just waiting for the weekly update!) However, I was away for a week in Ohio for the final portion of an enrichment programme that I have been part of for the past 18 months. I was able to get back for church this past Sunday but, not having the preparation time I usually do, I didn't preach. Instead, we watched a video message from Gary Haugen, the founder and president of an organization called International Justice Mission (IJM). Gary used to work as a lawyer with the State Department in the USA. His work took him to places of terrible suffering and injustice in the world, places like South Africa and Rwanda. Through this experience, Gary heard God call him into fulltime work against the powers of injustice and oppression in the world. IJM is the result of this calling. Gary has an incredibly challenging message for all of us about the need to stand up for and stoop down with the poor and oppressed.
But his message is especially challenging to those of us who call ourselves Christians, i.e. followers of Jesus. You see, Jesus doesn't ask us simply to believe the right things in a cerebral, intellectual way. Jesus calls us to follow him, i.e. the one who stood up for and stooped down with the poor and oppressed in everything he did, in everything he was. The Bible is pretty clear on the fact that it's not enough simply to believe that Jesus did these things or that God desires these things. We are called to follow him. (For example, see John 13:17, James 1:22-25, 1 John 3:17.)
Well, this Sunday I will, once again, not be preaching. (I'm taking the weekend as holiday time so I can go stoop down with my friends on my baseball team and scoop up a few ground balls and maybe win our league championship!) Instead, you will be treated with a number of short messages from people who have, each in their own way, heard Jesus' call to stand up for and stoop down with a wide variety of people in need. There will be messages...
about the fabulous charity, Sleeping Children Around the World (www.scaw.org);
from a missionary couple who are working and living right here in the Nassagaweya area at the Liebenzell Mission (www.liebenzell.ca);
about a group of mothers who gather each week to pray for the children, teachers and administration of our local schools;
and about the outreach and helping ministries going on right around the corner among some of the workers at the Mohawk (i.e. the local racetrack).
Whatever your interest or theological perspective, I know you will be challenged by these real stories of real people trying to follow Jesus in big and small ways in his call to serve the needy of our world. Please join us if you can!
Our annual Community Breakfast is happening this Sunday (9:00-11:30am). This is a free breakfast open to everyone who wants to come (freewill donations to Canadian Foodgrains Bank towards relief in Malawi will be accepted if you choose to give). It's simply a time to relax with friends and community and enjoy a good meal together. There will be activities for the kids (including bouncy castles!) and a very short programme for the adults at 10:15 (approx. 15 minutes). Please join us if you can!
Following our theme of "Paul: Man With a Mission," the programme for the adults will incude a brief reflection on Paul's visit to Athens where he found countless little shrines to countless little gods (Acts 17). His message to the Athenians? You're getting pulled in 50 different directions, pursuing all of these little things you see as being good, but you're missing out on the one thing that is best, i.e. a relationship with the one true God of the universe. People were running around trying to appease the gods through their good works and religion, but Paul reminds them that the Creator of all things doesn't actually need anything made by human hands. Human hands were made to reach out to Him, the One we need more than anyone or anything else.
Seems to me that we have a lot in common with the ancient Athenians. We too are running around after many little things that seem to be good at the expense of the things that are best: families are spending less and less time together as school and kids activities take up more and more time; children are missing unstructured play time, one of the most vital things for overall healthy development; career and increased family earnings have become more and more important as we seek to indulge our desire for more; and the list goes on.
Fortunately, God is not an extra item that needs to be added to an already busy schedule. He wants to be at the centre of every aspect of our lives. Yes, the church has programmes and events that we can get involved with, and yes, there are things like Bible reading and prayer that can take up some of our time. But these are not things we do in order to check them off the "To do" list (or they shouldn't be). These are things that help us get in postion to grow in the knowledge and experience of the love and power of Jesus in all things.
In any case, I hope you can find some time to be with us on Sunday for breakfast. Hope to see you there!
I watched a video the other day, called "The Secret." You've probably heard of it. It started out as a book that made the coveted "Oprah's Booklist" a few years back, ensuring that it would become a blockbuster. I didn't have time to tackle the book this week, but I did find time to watch the video version. Wow, it was something else. (By "something else," though, I don't mean I thought it was good and neither am I recommending it to you. It was "something else" entirely from the way of Jesus.)
Remember "An Inconvenient Truth"? You know, the environmental presentation-become-movie made by Al Gore? The catchphrase for that movie was something like, "The scariest movie you'll ever see." After watching the well-thought-out and scientifically based presentation of the potential environmental disaster waiting for us, I didn't think I would ever see a scarier movie. Until now. Wow, where do I start...
The basic premise of "The Secret" is that "thoughts become things." In other words, whatever thoughts you dwell on (positive or negative, conscious or unconscious) will become a reality in your life: "Whatever you think about, you bring about." The video was full of images of women looking longingly at gold necklaces, a kid at a new bike, a man at a sports car, and so on. At some point there would be a magical pulse shoot out from their minds, showing how they are thinking about, dwelling on, visualizing themselves with this thing that will apparently bring them fulfilment. At one point, the universe is likened to a huge catalogue of stuff we want, and we are told straight out to "place your order with the universe." The psalmist declared, "The heavens proclaim the glory of God" (Ps 19.1). But I guess he got that wrong, eh? Maybe it should be, "The heavens purvey the glory of gold, easily accessible for your personal pleasure from the catalogue of positive thinking."
I almost had to laugh aloud at the point where it was talking about the story of Alladin and the magical lamp. (You know, Alladin finds a lamp, frees a genie, and is given three -- or, according to some versions of the story, unlimited -- wishes, and he goes on to great fame and fortune.) Well, the universe, we're told, is like the genie, ready to say, "Your wish is my command." And then -- and this is the part that almost made me laugh (or was it cry?) -- the incredible leap is made from Alladin's genie to saying, "Every tradition has told us there's something bigger than us." And suddenly the creating God of all that was, is and will be, the God who showed Himself in Jesus' life of sacrificial love, and who called all people to follow Him, is made a Divine Genie, just waiting to fulfil your every selfish thought. Wow. (Sorry, I know I'm saying that a lot, but every now and then I'm just flabbergasted all over again.)
And of course, it doesn't just work with positive thoughts. If you dwell on negative thoughts, then this too will become your reality. Worried that you will be late for an important meeting? You'll be late. (That accident on the highway that held you up? Yep, you caused it by worrying about your meeting!) Dwelling on all that pesky debt that keeps piling up, all those notices of repossession you keep getting? It's all because you are attracting the debt through your negative thoughts. (I don't suppose "spending beyone your means" had anything to do with it, huh? Or an economy that tanked because literally millions of people were spending beyond their means? Hmmm.)
Okay, want me to find something positive to say? I'll try. I did like how they talked about the need to live from a place of gratitude. (Gratitude to Whom, however, was never mentioned.) And you know what? I don't actually have a problem with the idea, or even the "power", of positive thinking. But the power doesn't come from some mystical or pseudoscientific "law of attraction." It comes from the attitude realignment when we begin to live from a place of gratitude (i.e. to God) and, I would add, a place of trust (i.e. in Jesus).
This is what Jesus lived. He spoke about how everything he did came from the inner strength of knowing the living presence of God in every situation: "Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise" (John 5.19). And the same goes for Jesus' followers. To us, Jesus says, "I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me and I in them will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15.5).
"Apart from me, you can do nothing." Hmmm. Doesn't sound as nice as "think nice thoughts and get nice stuff." But this was Paul's "secret," and it can be yours too... for only $29.95 plus shipping and handling!! (Sorry -- couldn't resist!) Here's how Paul puts it in one of his letters (which, by the way, was a consistent best-seller for hundreds of years before "The Secret" ever came along): "I can do all things through him [Jesus] who strengthens me" (Philippians 4.13).
Wow. Now that's a secret I want to share. How about you?
The church has always had to navigate a tricky course when it comes to the pull and pressure of the surrounding culture. We're told not to be "conformed to the pattern of this world" (Rom 12.2). And yet Paul says that he makes every effort to engage people through the surrounding culture ("I have become all things to all people so that I might, by all means, save some." 1 Cor 9.22). So, which is it? Are we to engage culture and use it to share the Good News of God's love in a way that is culturally relevant and accessible? Or are we to do so by actively working against the prevailing culture?
My answer? Yes. This isn't an "either/or" question; it's "both/and." This Sunday we're going to look some more at the distinctions made in the early church between Jews and Gentiles. It was a huge debate: do people need to become Jews in order to be true followers of Jesus? Acts 15 answers this question clearly and finally -- all people are called to follow Jesus and do not need to be circumcised (i.e. follow the Jewish Law) in order to do so.
So then, why does Paul have Timothy circumcised when he decides to take him along on his next missionary journey (Acts 16.1-5)? And more importantly, what does this have to do with us today?
Please join us this Sunday at 10am to find out. Or on the web at www.nassagaweya.com and follow the link to "Sermons". Hope to see you soon!
What are you willing to spend money on? Most people, I find, have one or two things that they can easily spend money on, even when they don't really need anything new at all. For me, it's books and computers. I don't tempt fate by browsing through a book store unless I'm prepared to buy a book, because I'll almost always find something I think is worthwhile to buy. For some people it's clothes, or shoes, or tools, or music, or sporting equipment, or... (fill in your own blank here).
And why do we do this?
"Because we're mindless consumers who, no matter what we actually say, seem to believe that money can buy us some amount of happiness?"
Well, yes, that too, but that's not what I was going to say. It's because we see the value of the things we buy. Unfortunately, all too often the value we find in this "stuff" is dubious at best -- no, that new pair of shoes is NOT going to transform your life. It can even be downright harmful -- "Hmmm... healthy groceries for my family? Or a down payment on a killer 60 inch flat screen TV?"
But what are the really valuable things in life? What are the things worth suffering for? What, if all else fell away, would we continue to continue to fight for, no matter the cost?
This Sunday, as we continue in our series "Paul: A Man With a Mission," we'll look at what Paul thought was worth suffering for. It's not that God asks us to go looking for trouble or suffering. But we need to ask ourselves if we are ready and willing to suffer for the sake of Jesus, if need be. If you're curious about what Paul says, here's a clue for you: 7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ.
Please join us Sunday at 10 am, or find us on the web at www.nassagaweya.com. We hope to see you soon!
Actually, I don't know what your mission is, not in a specific sense anyway. Sure, I could talk about our mission as a church, how we are called to Worship, Discipleship, Community, Service, and Outreach, but that's not what I want to focus on right now.
Starting this Sunday and over the next couple of months, we are going to be looking at the life of the Apostle Paul as told in Acts 13-28. Now Paul was a man with a mission, no doubt about it! He journeyed all over the Roman Empire sharing the Good News about God's love made known in Jesus. Almost half of the New Testament was written by him -- letters he sent to churches he had started or at least visited. He also worked hard to support the poor and needy. He was always clear on his mission, right?
Well, maybe not. When we read back in Acts 9-13 and compare that information with Galatians 1-2, we find a period of about 17 years when very little is known about what Paul was up to. But God wasn't finished with Paul, not by a long shot. During a time of fasting and worship, the Holy Spirit tapped Paul and Barnabas on the shoulder and set them apart for a new and challenging work. It is from that point onwards that Paul does, and writes, almost everything we know about him.
Are you willing to consider the possibility that maybe God isn't finished with you yet either? If you're not, then don't bother coming out on Sunday -- it'll just be a waste of time. But if you are, then please join us as we not only consider this possibility, but begin to seek God's direction and leading for each of our lives. (Or, if you can't make it, you can listen to the message on the web next week at www.nassagaweya.com and follow the links to the recent sermons page.)
As we have seen over the last two weeks, then, all believers are called to be priests of Jesus, standing in the gap between God and humanity. We have the privilege and responsibility of speaking to Jesus on behalf of others, bringing friends, neighbours, and family members to Him in prayer. And we are also called to speak to others on behalf of Christ, doing everything "as a representative of the Lord Jesus" (Colossians 3.17).
This Sunday, we move from a theoretical to a hands-on approach as we invite all of the children and families involved with our VBS programme to join us for our annual VBS Sunday celebration. While many of the families have a family connection to a church somewhere, many are not currently involved in the church in an active way. Let's be clear about something here: We are not inviting them to join us in order to try to persuade them to start attending NPC. No, we're inviting them so that we, as the people of God and followers of Jesus here in the Nassagaweya area, can collectively "show others the goodness of God" (1 Peter 2.9). Or, as Marion put it this past week, so that we can invite them into the branches of our "tree" and help them experience God's welcome through us.
So, whether contemporary music, song actions, interactive stories, and a message geared to kids and families is your preferred mode of worship or not, please join us this week as we seek to shine the light of God's love to all comers!
Priests have always been the ones who stand in the gap between God and humanity. In ancient times, and in many religions still today, they brought prayers and sacrifices to God on behalf of the people as well as speaking to the people on behalf of God.
The great reformers of the 16th century argued, based on many Bible passages, that we don't need any human priests in order to come before God. Christ alone, they said, is our Great High Priest. As the Bible puts it in the letter to the Hebrews, "We have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens.... Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4.14, 16) We do not need a human intermediary in order to help make us right with God. Jesus has done the work for everyone, once and for all. However, the reformers also emphasised that we are all, in fact, priests. As John Calvin put it: "In him [Jesus] we are all priests." While Jesus has done the work of salvation for us, he also drafts us in his service to stand in the gap as priests. We saw last week how it is both a privilege and responsibility to pray for those who, for one reason or another, is unwilling or unable to pray themselves. This--bringing prayers and "sacrifices" to God on behalf of others--is one of the roles of a priest. But there's more to it. As the apostle Peter puts it, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." This is the other role of the priest, i.e. speaking to people on behalf of God. Notice that this doesn't require a special or rare experience. We don't have to witness a burning bush or have a vision of the glory of God. We are simply asked to "proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." We don't need to be preachers; we don't need to be theologians; we don't need to have had a Moses type of experience. But we are called to be priests, to share with others the experiences we have had of God. We'll be looking at this idea this week through two shorter messages. The first will be delivered by one of our elders, Marion Snyder, as she looks at Jesus' parable of the mustard seed in Matthew 13.31-32. The other will be delivered by me, looking at Colossians 3.12-17 as a call to live all aspects of our lives as "priests" of Jesus. Hope to see you Sunday!
Happy belated Father’s Day!As we saw this past Sunday, though, not everyone has had a wonderful relationship with their father.This is one of the things that rarely gets said around Father’s Day.But you don’t need to talk to too many people before you know this to be true.Maybe you don’t need to talk to anyone because you know it from personal experience.
And so, even though some of us may have had wonderful fathers, it’s no wonder that others have trouble relating to God as “Our Father.”As we saw this past Sunday, however, God’s Father-love for us is the ultimate model for what the love of our earthly fathers (and mothers!) can be, what it was always meant to be.That’s why Paul says in Romans 8.1, “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”A Father’s love guides us into what is good and right, into being all we can be. And it doesn’t condemn or reject us when we mess up, even when we condemn or reject our Father by refusing to follow His guidance.His love is always present, always constant, as the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15 shows us so clearly.
And that’s all well and good.What a nice message!Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, right?But then the question needs to become, “So, what do I do with this?What difference does it actually make in my life?”This is the question we’ll be looking at this Sunday, though in a bit of a roundabout way.We’re going to look at one of the great tenets of the Reformation, what’s known as “the priesthood of all believers.”As we’re told in 1 Peter 2.9, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”Maybe you’ve never thought of yourself as a priest before.That’s okay (and no, you don’t have to start wearing robes and pointy hats).But if you’re free on Sunday (10 am), or want to take a listen online sometime after that, why not join us in considering what it might mean to respond to the incredible love the Father has poured out upon us, what it might mean to be a priest of Jesus in our daily lives.Hope to see you soon!
What does a "becoming church" look like? Maybe you think about a beautiful sanctuary, active programmes, a talented choir and/or worship band, attractive grounds, and the like. But, as nice as those things might be, they're pretty superficial in the final analysis. A truly "becoming church" isn't a picturesque church. It is a church that is becoming all that God calls it to be.
This Sunday, our 173rd Anniversary celebration, guest speaker, musician, and former pastor here at NPC, Glen Soderholm, will delve into this idea with us as he looks at 2 Corinthians 5.14-21. He will argue that the church's mission is to become, in the Holy Spirit's power, an instrument of the Father's work of reconciling the world through Jesus Christ.Please come and help us celebrate not just 173 years of ministry here at NPC, but the presence of God's Holy Spirit through Christ here and now! Hope to see you there.
No, I haven't seen the Mickey Rourke movie, so this post isn't about that. It's about the original wrestler, the story of Jacob wrestling with God (Genesis 32.22-32). Or it will be in a moment. But first...
Last week (May 24) we looked at a few passages, all of them about people finding God in the midst of difficult, unlikely situations. It was Jacob who summed up the situations best: "Surely the Lord is in this place--and I didn't know it!" Elijah, Mary Magdalene, and the Apostle Paul may not have used these exact words, but they might as well have.
And what about you? Have you ever found yourself in that kind of situation; realized that God had been present with you all along and you hadn't known it? I shared a recent story about "hearing" God speak into my life as I sat daydreaming beside a river. (Actually, it's the same river that's in my profile picture over on the side there!) Some might say it was just my own subconscious speaking, and I would have nothing to prove otherwise. But the truth I "heard" from God was too true, the experience too real, for me to believe that it was nothing more than my own imagination.
I challenged people at the end of the message to share a story from their own experience where Jacob's words could have been their own: "Surely God is in this place--and I didn't know it!" I heard some neat stories of God's presence and activity in the day-to-day lives of regular people. If you've had a similar experience, why not share it with us all in a comment below? If you'd like to hear the message to get the juices flowing, click here.
But back to the wrestler. Twenty plus years after that vision of God and Jacob's experience of God's presence, Jacob now has 2 wives, 2 concubines, 12 children, many flocks and herds and servants. He is now on his way back to his homeland, knowing that he is going to have to see his brother, Esau, again. Remember Esau -- the one Jacob connived and cheated out of his birthright and blessing; the hunter, the outdoorsman, the tough guy; the one who had vowed to kill Jacob as soon as their father, Isaac, passed away? Jacob is justifiably nervous, frightened for himself and his family, as he travels home.
The night before Jacob was going to have to confront Esau, "a man wrestled with him until daybreak" (Gen 32.24). We're told that this man couldn't prevail against Jacob, and yet he is able to yank his hip joint out of its socket with a mere touch. Jacob, to his credit, figures out that there's something special about this man. In spite of his pain, he hangs on and demands a blessing from his assailant. So, the man changes Jacob's name to Israel, "he wrestles with God." When Jacob, now Israel, asks the man's name, his enigmatic response is, "Why is it that you ask my name?" In other words, "Why do you need to ask my name? Haven't I already called you, 'the one who wrestles with God'? You already know who I am!" And so Jacob calls the place Peniel, or "Face of God." From there, now wounded and limping, he moves on to meet Esau who... Well, you can read all about it in Genesis 33 if you like. Or, you can come out on Sunday to hear the rest of this amazing story.
I realize that I have done very little here other than tell you part of a story you could very well read for yourself. That's because I'm still wrestling with this story myself. Was Jacob right to wrestle with God? Why is Jacob able to prevail against God? I mean, God should have creamed him! Why would God bless Jacob after all his deception, his conniving, his unwillingness to give himself fully to God's will? And what is the ultimate effect on Jacob/Israel? This seems to be a life-changing experience, but we still see the deception, conniving, and dysfunction alive and well in Jacob. These are some of the questions I'm wrestling with this week. Please come and wrestle along with me this Sunday at 10 am as we dive more deeply into this story together.
This is what Jacob said after he had a mind-blowingly vivid dream of angels, heaven, and the surprising presence of God in the midst of heartache and trouble. More on that in a minute. This past Sunday (May 17; audio available HERE), we looked at Genesis 27.1-28.9 and Jacob's and Esau's heartbreakingly familiar relationships with their father, Isaac. Jacob was the bitter one, ready to stick it to his father and brother because of the way he had been excluded from his father's love. Esau was forever eager to please, the beloved son yes, but never knowing it, never hearing words of affirmation from his father, never knowing he was cherished, loved, approved by his Dad. What a surprising place to find the presence of God! God is at work in the midst of all that?!
And yet, maybe it's not so surprising after all. Because when look at the image Jesus paints of God, it is always as a loving, engaged, available, generous Father. Could God really be at work in the middle of all the hurt and heartache so many of us have when it comes to our relationships with our fathers? You bet -- 100% yes!
This Sunday, we will continue to look for and explore the surprising presence of God. As Jacob is now on the run for his life, sent away by his father, with only a rock for a pillow, God shows up in a powerful way. Jacob doesn't make a sudden turnaround and become a new person right then and there. He's still rather wary of God and somewhat iffy in his commitment. But Jacob has turned a corner and is now on the road to becoming the person God made him to be.
And in the final analysis, that's maybe the most we can say about anyone. Some may have been on this road a bit longer than others. But that doesn't matter, isn't the point. What matters is the surprising presence of the One who walks with us even when we're far from home; even when we're on the run from trouble, from pain, from heartache; even when all we have is a rock for a pillow. Even then, maybe especially then, we can say with Jacob, "Surely God is in this place, and I didn't know it!"
Join us online at www.nassagaweya.com to listen, or in person on Sunday morning at 10 am. Hope to see you soon!
This past Sunday (Mother's Day), we began to look at the story of Isaac, his wife Rebekah, and their twin sons Esau and Jacob (Genesis 25). (To listen to the message on your computer, click HERE. If you right click on the link, you can also save the audio to your computer to listen to later.) Instead of the warm fuzzy we expect on Mother's Day, however, we got a glimpse of a fully dysfunctional family -- mom with dad, parents with kids, kids with one another... it was a mess! It's something you expect to see on Dr. Phil (or even Jerry Springer), not in the Bible! But there they are, in all their dysfunctional glory. Kind of makes it a bit easier to claim our own dysfunctions, our own mistakes and shortcomings as parents, kids, siblings, etc..
But life as a Mom is especially hard sometimes -- wonderfully rewarding, yes, but also hard. As much as Dads love their kids and do their best for them, Moms tend to take all of the pain, missteps, problems, and heartache of their kids onto themselves in a way that Dads don't. And Moms tend to carry a load of guilt as a result, thinking, "If only I'd _________ then things would be better/healthier." And the truth is, Moms do sometimes make mistakes; they do sometimes lose patience; they do sometimes get angry; and they do sometimes respond to their children unthinkingly. And so do we all, because that's life -- we make mistakes and mess up even with the very best of intentions.
But God's grace (i.e. God's unmerited love and favour) is BIGGER than our mistakes. Have we ever missed the mark? God's love is wider! Have we ever fallen short? God's love goes further and reaches higher! Are we ever shallow? God's love goes deep! (See Ephesians 3.14-21) God's love and grace is BIGGER than our mistakes, our shortcomings, our guilt. And that's something we all need to hear, whether we're Moms, Dads, kids, single, married, young, old, or whatever. We CANNOT go beyond the bounds of God's love!
Of course, that's not easy for a lot of us to believe. No matter what we say we believe, too many of us struggle with the idea of a loving and forgiving Heavenly Father who really is out for our best in this life. There are perhaps many reasons for this, but one of the most crucial reasons has to do with the relationship that we have, that we had, or that we don't have with our own earthly fathers. (And that's where we'll be following the story this week in Genesis 27.1-28.9.) We don't know exactly what happened between Jacob and his father, Isaac, but there is a deep wounding in that relationship. And even Esau, Isaac's favourite because of his love of hunting and the great outdoors (Gen. 25.28), seeks and strives after his father's love and approval his entire life, never feeling like he's quite good enough, that he's a disappointment, a failure. There was no abuse, no abandonment, no obvious trauma to either Jacob or Esau that we can see in the story. Just a father who isn't able to give his sons the love and affirmation they need to thrive. (Isaac never had any daughters, so we don't know how he would have been as a father to girls. But my guess is that he wouldn't have been able to give them the love and affirmation they needed either.)
How sad, and yet how familiar, because this is the story of far too many of us today. How many of us are still seeking and striving after the love and affirmation of our fathers, some of them long dead now? It's not always a case of an abusive father or a poisonous home life growing up. Sometimes it's just because our fathers never got what they needed from their fathers and so weren't able to pass it on to us. Whatever the case, though, the result is the same: we are wounded children of wounded fathers, and most of us are still carrying those wounds today.
I believe that's why so much of the message of Jesus is wrapped in the language of God as our Father. God wants to bring healing and wholeness to the wounded places of our lives. God is our Father who pours out his love upon us fully and freely, who affirms our worth, our value, assures us that we are his beloved son, his cherished daughter.
Well, that's already more than I set out to say, so we'll leave it at that for now. Please join us this Sunday at 10 am for worship and the rest of the message. You can also visit us on the web at http://www.nassagaweya.com/. Thanks!
It began with a casual conversation after our weekly community group meeting. We were talking about keeping in touch with people in our church -- maybe following up on the previous Sunday's message, pointing ahead to the theme for the coming Sunday, or whatever -- and I was told with such certainty, "What you need is a blog!"
Now, I didn't exactly grow up in the internet age. I was 24 when I got my first email account in 1994. (I soon realized, though, that there's not much point having an email address when you don't know anyone who has one themselves! How times have changed!) I don't know when blogs became de rigeur for the internet savvy among us, but it isn't something I have ventured into before now. My hope for this blog is that it will be useful in helping us remember what God might have been saying to us in worship the previous Sunday, or preparing us for what God might want to do this Sunday coming. And if it does something else or becomes something more, that's all to the good. This is "a work in progress" after all!
Speaking of which, let me say a brief word about the name, "A Work in Progress." As I went through the sign-up process to get started as a new blogger (ooh, I feel so "with it" -- I'm a blogger!), I came to the place where they ask for the name of the blog. Not being into blogs before now, I didn't even know I would be expected to have a name for the blog. The idea for the name first came from the idea that the blog will be a work in progress as I learn the ropes and add posts from week to week. Not a brilliant or original idea, I know, but what can you do? Then, as I thought about my first purpose for this blog -- i.e. to reconnect us with what God might have been saying to us in previous weeks and looking ahead to how God might want to connect with us again this Sunday -- it occurred to me that the title fits on another level too. Maybe this isn't a brilliant or original idea either, but you and and I are all "a work in progress" -- emotionally, relationally, spiritually, etc.. Of course, while my focus here will be mainly on the spiritual side of things (give me a break, I'm a Christian pastor and a preacher -- it's what I do!), I think we'll find that there isn't much distance between the spiritual, emotional and relational. In fact, as I see it, the spiritual lies at the centre of all that we are: heart, mind, body and soul.
If you're not connected to Nassagaweya Presbyterian Church (or NPC, the church where I pastor), a special word of welcome to you. If you're interested you can learn more about what's happening at www.nassagaweya.com. Either way, connected or not, thanks for reading and -- perhaps? -- joining the journey with me. I'd love to hear your comments, so please fire away!
I am a Christian, a husband, father of three great kids, a Presbyterian pastor, a baseball player (just slo-pitch these days), and a Star Wars fan (and no, I've never dressed up as a Star Wars character).
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