The previous week that was…
So, I’ve had an interesting last 10 or so days. It all started off with a Unite In Worship conference that featured Robin Mark and Brian Doerksen as the headliners. It was amazing to sit and listen to these to in workshops, and to sit (or stand as the case tended to be) and be in worship with them. The primary preacher for the weekend was the very entertaining and engaging preacher Calvin Miller, but also there was Barry Adams of “The Father’s Love Letter” fame.
Given that I think Bev and I were the only two UCC members in the whole building for the entire weekend, it was really interesting to sit and chat with people from more evangelical backgrounds. Besides the amazing worship that was there, these discussions gave me some things to think about as I continue to ponder how to reach out to today’s potential worshipers, without turning away those already in the pews. Given that I am now tasked with implementing a weekly contemporary service for a local church, these thoughts will be running through my head a LOT in the next few weeks and months as I get a reasonable amount of free reign to try out new things.
Spiritually charged, yet physically drained, I then spent 5 days in Sackville, NB at the annual Maritime Conference meeting of the UCC, and spending it the best way possible. That being with 100 youths from ages 15-19. What a blessing it is to engage these amazing youth in faith discussions, and to see them grow not just year-to-year, but in many cases day-to-day as well. The music by The Message was amazing as always, and the energy was infectious. Only I wish I hadn’t had a wicked cold this weekend, and thus not much of a voice at all (not that I let it stop me!).
So… this week I continue to process all that I have seen and experienced in the last 10 days, as I start this new ministry with the youth of this church. I have already met with a youth leader at a nearby church, and am beginning look at ways in which we can share resources to allow our youth to experience and feel safe and at home in the church.
I am very excited to see what lays ahead of me in the next 12 months as I start to build a youth ministry and at the same time wrap up my degree so that I may begin a new minstry, one where I’ll hopefully be ordained and active in a whole new community!
10 years!!
And what an wonderful, adventuresome 10 years it has been.
Bev and I walked down the aisle May 16, 1998. I can guarantee that we had no idea that 10 years later we would be sitting in a house in Halifax waiting for the final year of my MDiv to begin.
As with any couple, there have been good times and some rougher times. But the good times are far more numerous and life giving than the bad times.
In the 10 years we have:
- moved 8 times
- had a something like around 10 jobs between the two of us
- had two beautiful children
- I graduated from my undergrad… 12 years after starting
- Bev started grad school, quit grad school, and has recently started again in a new field
- I have started, and nearly finished grad school
- had 3 cars
- rode the rollercoaster of high tech employment, from the top to very, very near the bottom
- we have both found God in a way we never knew Him
- which has lead us into a new vocation
- bringing us to today, people who do our best to live for God, continuing to fail doing so, but being loved all the same as God’s children, and enjoying the relationships we have made in the last 10 years with others who seek to do the same
God has really blessed us. I never, ever would have predicted that I would be in a pulpit 10 years ago. 10 years ago I was scared to death of public speaking, and now am very comfortable speaking very personally to hundreds of people, often all of them strangers as I find my way into various pulpits doing supply on occassion.
We don’t know what the next 10 years and beyond will bring, but are very excited to see what God has in store for us next.
What hasn’t changed is that I love this woman and look forward to spending the rest of our lives together, no matter what happens.
So much…
1. So much time has passed since my last post.
2. So much to write about: reflecting on internship, the move back to Halifax, etc…
3. So much to think about: the environment, politics, the state of the church, things happening in the world around us. I’m not even sure where to start.
I think what I’ll have to do is take one at a time… but this takes #1 off the list, I’ll probably start drafting a couple new posts to start looking at the various parts of 2 and 3. When they’ll hit public space, who knows! 🙂
I’m not preaching again until the end of June, so I need to find some place to explore and share. Might as well be here, right?
Sermon, April 20-08
“Living the Way, Truth and Light”
April 20/08, John 14:1-14
“I am the Way, and the truth, and the light. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Do we believe this? What do these words say to us today? We live in a world that has changed a lot, even in the last 50 years. 50 years ago every church in the country seemed full. For the United Church, the late 50’s and early 60’s is when our membership was at it’s very highest. From there began the steady decline to where we are today. Globalization and immigration have introduced us to many new ideas and ways of living, including all the religions of the world. This is a good thing, it helps us to open our eyes and see how others live elsewhere in the world. It helps us maybe get some sort of understanding as to why the world is the way it is. Or maybe it confuses us more… read more…
Remembering Virginia Tech
Exactly one year ago we turned on our televisions and saw the horror happening at Virginia Tech. A shooting rampage taking 32 innocent lives before the shooter took his own.
It’s important we remember what happened this day, and as Christians to reflect on what it does to our faith, to ask the question, “Why did it have to happen?”
It is appropriate to take a moment this day to remember the victims and their families who will find it a struggle to make it through the day today. But it is also appropriate to reflect on what is happening in the world around us.
There is another victim from that day, who will be remembered very differently. The unknown victim is the shooter himself. He fits into the popular profile of many of the shooters we have seen in the last decade. A loner, quiet, a little odd, different. These characteristics are examples of reasons we don’t associate with people. Reasons we use to alienate others, to insulate ourselves in our own safe little world. A world where we can be comfortable and feel safe. How offended or uneasy we are when those we alienate find their way into our safe little cocoon.
Saul was a notorious persecutor of the early church. Yet Jesus comes to him and transforms his life. The early church has no idea what has happened. What is Saul up to? They have every reason to shun him, to keep away from him. Afterall, he has jailed and even killed many of their fellow Christians. But what do they do? They reach out to him. He is baptized, he lives with them, and he learns and grows with them.
We too have the opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives. We too have the opportunity to see places where God’s love MUST be shown, just as He shows it to us each and every day. We are to love our neighbours, even if those neighbours are people everyone else pushes away and ignores because they’re different, just like the shooter at Virginia Tech. A young man who lashed out in hatred for all those who pushed him away, pushing him to the point where he felt he had no other course of action but the one he chose.
So, on this solemn anniversary, let us remember those who lost their lives in a very tragic way. But also let us remember how much God loves us. Each and every one of us. Let us share and show that love with all of God’s people. You never know who’s life you may change.
The answer to the question “Why did it have to happen?” could be… “Maybe it didn’t have to.”
Article cross posted to CrossDotNet