Prophesy, The One To Come
“Prophesy, The One To Come”
Isaiah 9:1-6
Believe it or not, this is the start of Advent! Less than one month until the Christmas day. Less than one month left to shop, to go to parties, to see family, to wrap gifts, to deliver gifts, to receive gifts, to send cards, to see concerts, to sing carols, to decorate, to put up the tree, to make room to put up the tree, to clean the area you just cleared to make room for the tree, to cook, to eat, eat and eat… less than one month.
Am I helping your stress level at all?
If this coming month is a season of stress for you, I invite you to join us in a season of PEACE. We will enter into a month where we will join in anticipation for what is to come, the true reason we celebrate, the true reason why we get together with loved ones.
That is, of course, for the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
The problem is, the secular grip on Christmas works against the natural need of our souls at this time. For some people, when they look at their calendar when they flip it to December in a few days, they will see nothing but ink all over the page telling them of everything they need to do, and they will wish for January 1st to come as quickly as possible. read more…
A Game of Hope
I came across an interesting video the other day. Sometimes I just save links because they interest me, or look interesting enough to check out later. This was one of them.
This is a big time of year for football, here in Canada it’s our national university final (the Vanier Cup) and Sunday night is the CFL final (Grey Cup). In the US, the NFL is ramping up for it’s final month of games, and things are getting interesting. So yes, the below video does contain football, but the story is far more than that. Check it out.
(click here if you are unable to see it the video)
What a great story. Here is a bunch of outcasts who have no family, no fans, no supporters. I’m sure most of the games they go to they are treated like lepers in the Bible. No one talks to them, no one makes eye contact with them, and I’m sure there are a number of comments being made about where they come from which are hurtful to the boys on the team when they hear them, intentionally or not.
But here is one school who wants them to know they are loved. Here’s a school that wanted to make a difference for them. And when the original email was sent, it could have easily been ignored, yet the whole school embraced it.
To see the faces on those young men telling their story, to see the joy on their faces as they recount how it felt to be cheered and adored, just like the other teams they play against before they head back to their lifeless jail cells.
A simple thought, expressed in an email, the spirit of which, caught by others helped touch the lives of a group of young men who have been forgotten by society.
We all have ideas for helping.
Some might sound ridiculous, or we may think no one will like it.
Our churches have ideas, and you may think nothing of it. But a simple thought, like the one above at a Christian school touched the hearts of “hardened criminals” and moved them to tears. That will have a profound impact on their lives. Forever.
Don’t be afraid. Reach out. Touch someone.
Jesus did it all the time, and invites us to do the same.
Journey and Praise
Another Sunday has passed, and it was a special one.
Once again our Sunday School led us on a journey. We saw the maps and the artifacts of the very long journey Abraham took his family on. The days, weeks, months, and years of travel, covering the distance from our town to Wawa, Ontario.
Then the children walked us around the sanctuary, making stops along the way so we could hear God’s promise to Abraham and all his descendants, and how the promise extends to us in Jesus Christ. All were impressed as our children read to us God’s promise, marched around the sanctuary and leading us in songs.
Then tonight we gathered again at the church, inviting the community in to a Festival of Praise to raise awareness for the Canadian Bible Society and the great work that they do distributing the Gospel both in Canada and around the world.
While finding performers this time of year can be a challenge, especially on short notice, we had a great night of music and learning about the society and how we can help them.
Thanks to all who came. Special thanks to our Sunday School for leading us in such a special and unique service. Thank you for the music in the evening and the message from Rev. Dr. Lorne Freake about the work they do.
It certainly was a great day for praising Christ our King.
What Happens Now?
This morning I opened up my RSS reader and found this post, “Traditional church organization plants 75 house churches”
In it there is the following quote from Reggie McNeal, “Probably most of the people in your city who are interested in coming to your church are already there.”
If you are involved in a church today, how does this statement make you feel?
My initial gut reaction is sadness.
If Reggie McNeal is correct, then all my efforts, all my focus on outreach and community awareness, all my visiting is all for naught.
It tells me that my efforts in changing the way we worship, the way we look at our children’s program, the way we look at music, are in vain. (I don’t believe this, but it does make me wonder)
Yet I also see a great thirst for spiritual nourishment. I see people asking faith based questions, I talk to parents who want their children to experience the moral teachings of a Sunday School environment. Yet they don’t engage with the traditional approach to Christian methods of church. That is to gather passively in a building for song, prayer and a message.
In the post I linked above, it tells of the great success the traditional church has had in offering Christian teachings in a new way. They use the house church model and it sounds like it is working very well for them.
It makes me wonder what sort of new style of church would work in the area I live in. I know of a successful house church in the city that draws young adults from far and wide. How might a house church work in my community? What about a drop-in type centre? A cafe? Something else?
It’s true, the traditional approach to church is not going to work for a lot of people these days.
What sort of methods have worked in your community? What sort of things would you like to try?
How can we help quench the thirst of those who are seeking the life giving water?
How do we bring them home?
We Believe in the Holy Spirit
“We Believe In The Holy Spirit”
John 14:15-31; Nicene Creed
We’ve come to the end of the Nicene Creed. This statement of faith crafted in the fourth century by some of the first leaders in the church. In this creed they cover what they see as the essential basics of what it means to call yourself a Christian.
First up was to believe in God the Father, the creator of all things. This is a relative easy one to accept. Even a lot of people who don’t go to church at all believe in a creator God. Or mayve they at least hope there is one should they need to cover themselves when their time on this earth has passed.
The second, longest and most important section is to believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This belief is important because Jesus is God among us, coming to show us how God intended us to be in creation. Jesus came to show us how God acts in the world, how we are also to act, and also to heal the broken relationship with God our creator.
Which brings us to today. Today we look at what is probably the least understood part of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. read more…