We live in a strange time.  I’m not complaining about it mind you, there are plenty of things in our day and age that I love.  Whether it’s our ability to travel to the other side of the world with relative ease or the fact that on my phone I’m able to check email, surf the net and use GPS (never mind actually making calls).  We are a brilliant people, shrinking the world, increasing our ability to communicate and tackling all sorts of the world’s problems with things like medical advancements.

I wonder sometimes to myself if that is part of our problem.  Now, don’t misunderstand me here - I’m not looking to become Amish (I think I can say that without offending anyone since the Amish probably don’t read internet blogs that much…) and turn my back on all that we have accomplished as a people - because let’s be honest, for all the horror we’ve done as a species, we’ve also done a lot of remarkable and incredible things.  But as our ingenuity grows and we continue to accomplish more and more, I wonder if we have become overly arrogant as a people group?  I was reading the story of the Tower of Babel today (Genesis 11:1-9) and was struck by how quickly people get full of themselves - “Let us make a name for ourselves” - we tend to always think we know best it seems.

Now I’m not overly concerned about us building a tower into the heavens, and I’m not looking to stop progress around us.  But as I’ve been thinking about this human tendency, I’ve thought a lot about how this seeps into the church and into Christian thinking.

We’re a part of a generation (I’ll throw myself in here too even though I’m pretty old) that is quick to dismiss where we come from.  Especially over this last decade - as Christians we’ve been quick to point out all of the flaws and shortcomings of the churches we grew up in, and the Christian way of life we were born into.  And some of it is justifiable, but some of it is just because we’re arrogant.  Of course WE know better - THEY missed the point and did things wrong.  Surely WE must know how to interpret Scripture better than THOSE who came before us, and WE most certainly know how to develop a better church model.  I wonder if we’re not essentially saying, “Let us make a name for ourselves”?

Two thoughts have come out of this for me:  first, let’s not be so worried about what we want or how we desire to be seen - in short, let us make a name for Him long before we try to make a name for ourselves.  We can think what we want about the church of the last hundred years, but God was at work in it, accomplishing His will.

And secondly, I get that we need to make changes as time goes on and cultures shift.  What works in downtown Chicago isn’t going to work in rural Manitoba.  We will need to adapt at times.  God may be calling us to plant a new church (in my own life I can see evidence that God may be opening doors in that direction, so this is directed at me as much as anyone) or start a new ministry or whatever.   If that’s the case, then get at it.  But as we continue in being a generation who discovers fresh expressions of what it looks like to live out the call of Jesus in our lives, couldn’t we also be a generation who models grace as we do it?  Instead of constantly tearing down where we came from, why not affirm the good?  Why not point to what God has done, not just in the last few decades but throughout the course of human history?  Because here’s the thing:  in 15 years some fresh college grad is going to want to start a new kind of church because of the blind spots and shortcomings in how we do things.  And some of it will be legitimate and some of it will simply be preference - but when that day comes, I’m pretty sure we’re going to hope he does it with some grace.  I say we begin showing the next generation what that looks like now.

I believe we live in an exciting time that God is doing some incredible things in.  I’m excited to see the church pick up and embrace the kingdom value in numerous areas of social justice.  I’m energized by a generation’s desire to be missional in building relationships with people outside the church walls.  My earnest prayer is that as we continue to pursue Jesus in these ways, that we wouldn’t be out to make a name for ourselves, or to get so caught up in what we are doing that we dismiss all that came before us and forget that it is only through Him and for Him that we accomplish anything.

Reg

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This verse has been killing me lately.
Here’s why:

I love myself more than God sometimes.
I may not say it.
I may not even consciously think it.
But my actions show otherwise.

I’ve been faced with multiple decisions in the past few weeks where I realized just how much I love myself more than God.

And if you think about your life, maybe you might see the same thing.
Maybe not though. Maybe you’re sanctified.
I’m not quite there yet. Still on my way.

All I know is that I need to take careful heed to myself; to daily put my heart in check and actively seek to love the Lord more than myself.

It really does change the way I do things.
I need to put God’s will before my own.
I need to put holiness before my sinful desires.
I need to put other people before myself.
I need to care for the orphan, the poor, and the needy in my own midst.
I need to have compassion on people who I wouldn’t normally have a heart for.
I need to see myself and others through God’s eyes.
I need Jesus Christ.

I hope for the next week, this verse eats at your conscience. I hope that it breaks your heart like it did mine. I hope that through this verse, Jesus can turn your heart from yourself to the Living God.

PJ

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Recently in my neighbourhood there has been much talk regarding older, rundown buildings in the city where I live and their replacement - for good or for bad.  I don’t often enter into the conversations regarding these older buildings for lots of reasons.  First of all, emotions are running high on both sides of the conversation and also, there are lots of politics tied in to it all.  I leave the political conversations for my wife to handle as she’s the news savvy member of our household.  My conversation portfolio revolves around other issues, like consumption of cheese and why dogs are better pets than cats - you know, important stuff…

That being said, it would be inaccurate to say that I haven’t spent some time thinking about about the issue and even forming my own opinion regarding it.  Here is where I hesitate; my opinion could be wrong and I’m not even that interested in debating it with others - but where I have landed on this isolated situation has provoked in me some spiritual thoughts.  Not that the situation is itself spiritual, but rather it has (for me anyway) served as a concrete illustration about a trait that I see in human nature - and specifically a trait I see in me.  It has simply been a springboard; a real-life situation that made me think of something completely unrelated.  Call it a parable.  I can’t stress this enough because it can be so easy to jump into the debate over the value of keeping older buildings (of which there is much) or not, and I don’t wish for us to do that here - plenty of other forums for that.  So, if you know what I’m referring to and have strong feelings one way or another, I challenge you to show restraint and not debate it here.  If you have to send me a Facebook message to get something off your chest, feel free.  My response will likely be: “Tell my wife - I need to go eat cheese.”

I find myself with a unique perspective on this whole issue, as I work in a downtown church near where all of this hubbub is happening.  What is unique is that the church I work in has been designated as a Heritage Building - a designation which some people were lobbying to give to these buildings that are being taken down.  I love the idea of Heritage Buildings (I went to a Pioneer Village with my whole family during Father’s Day and marvelled at where we have come as a people) but I would never want to have ownership of one again.  We are in the process of selling our building - partly because of the cost of maintaining such an old structure (and the limitations of what we are allowed to do to the building) is just too much - especially since there is no financial assistance.  We like the look of an old building but nobody wants to foot the bill of maintaining it.

So I sympathize with those who desired to see our downtown core preserved (I understand the value of history) but at the same time I sympathize with the other side.  As long as I can remember (and I’m an old dude) these old, rundown buildings have been an eyesore on our downtown core.  Historical value yes, but certainly nothing to be proud of, as many have sat vacant and condemned for a long time with nobody doing much to correct their state.  And I guess that’s what puzzles me the most - where were these voices 15-20 years ago, crying for them to be fixed and not removed?  Maybe there were there and I didn’t know of them.

Here is the spiritual thought that has struck me over the past couple weeks as this has all unfolded:  how much of the broken, rundown sections of my soul have I neglected to clean up and restore?  And as I strive to follow after Jesus and He asks me to let go of the things of my past - because they are broken and rundown - how loudly do I protest?  Do I argue that they are just part of my identity?  That they should be allowed to be preserved because I have historical and emotional attachment to them?  They give me “character”?

I could have easily gone a different direction with this - the idea that Jesus is the one who restores the broken and condemned and makes it better.  Even though this is true, part of following Jesus is about pursuing holiness, and that pursuit requires that I let go of certain parts of who I am and what I do in the process of sanctification.  It’s not easy to do - as people we find loopholes and excuses to hang onto all sorts of our sinfulness.  How beautiful it is that Jesus is calling us to something higher; to something more.  How amazing that He is making us something new and better than we were in our broken, sinful state.

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

I’m not saying there wasn’t and isn’t a place to cry out for the preservation of older, historical buildings in our communities.  There probably is.  But in our lives, as we claim to pursue Jesus, let that pursuit be our priority even when it means letting go our our past and our sinfulness.  May our lives be characterized by these words of the apostle Paul:

“Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13, 14)

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I had a crazy busy week a few weeks back. I spent an extended weekend (which I loved) at a youth retreat and then came home dawg tired. Something you need to know about youth retreats—they’re not vacations for the youth leaders. Kudos to any volunteer youth leader who keeps doing this. They sacrifice time, energy, money (or a chance to make extra), family time… the list goes on.

So, to keep this short, tongue in cheek—I had less to complain about than Johnny (a youth leader in his 40s) who was back to work the night we got home.

But still, I was dead tired… and upon arriving home, I had one day to recoup before I was back in the saddle.

Wednesday and Thursday flew by as there was so much to do (gotta love those days). It wasn’t until Friday where I realized that I was holding onto something—resentment… anger… a few other emotions that aren’t my best suit.

It wasn’t because I felt overworked (I got over that feeling long ago when I was in college). No. My beef was the fact that I had spent so much time serving people and had no one serving me… that was, until I was in the coffee shop.

I love Tim Hortons. I love the smell. I love the rush of a coffee at anytime in the day. I love the atmosphere. But what I love the most is that I don’t have to do jack all. Are you getting where I’m going here?

The hardest place for me to be a life long servant… is when I’m expecting people to be there for my benefit. And here’s what usually happens when I expect that:
-When someone butts in front of me, I want to shank them in the neck
-When someone takes waaaay to long to order, I want to kick them in the rear.
-When the girl behind the till has to make coffee because of the influx of customers, I begin think less of her.

For all I know, her dad may be dying of cancer. Her mom might have just left home because of an abusive relationship she’s in. The girl behind the till might be pregnant and her boy might have just left her because she chose to keep the baby. And all I can think about is getting what I want and getting out.

Lets look at this a different way.
Jesus Christ came to serve. He taught his disciples how to serve. Never, not even once, have I observed Him telling us that we can have a day off when it comes putting other people before ourselves.

Because you can’t be a Christian 40 hours a week.
You can’t work overtime in the Kingdom and you’re always called to a higher standard.

My challenge to you: know what you’ve signed up to do as a Christian and just giver.
Giver when it’s easy, Giver when it’s tough.

Because that’s how Jesus did it.

-PJ

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Something you should know up front about me: despite what a contingent of people I went to high school with might think [they missed the boat] I’m a relatively enjoyable person to be around.  Case and point: my wife and I are coming up on one year and she hasn’t yet tried to suffocate me with a pillow as I sleep - that has to mean something right?  Obviously I’m no social superstar or I wouldn’t even feel the need to write this paragraph but conversely, I could hardly be accused of being a consistent buzz kill - I say consistent because one must allow for those moments when the brokenness of my humanity breaks through at such times as [although not limited to] Monday mornings, traffic jams and after Colts losses.

I wanted to throw that reminder out there because this past week I have spent a considerable amount of time thinking about suffering.  It has been a pretty sobering week at the church where I work at, this coming on the heels of a year where we have watched the people of our community battle with illness and death as well as financial and relational strain.  As the messiness that is life continues to pile up it can grow wearisome and that weariness quickly can become frustration leading to resentment.

It is easier to handle the idea of suffering when it is the result of our sinful choices and can be construed as being the consequence of action.  Then there is the subtle sense of heroism we can cling to when we find our suffering is a direct result of the fact that we follow Jesus.  But the suffering that our church has encountered for the most part this past year is not connected to either of these ideas, at least not as a direct correlation.  Our suffering has been the result of flawed economic systems, and the fragility of the human body, both physically and mentally.  It can be disheartening and tiring to us as we attempt to persevere.

It has been a growing year in the sense that we are learning more clearly what it looks like to rely completely on God - and He has shown up numerous times answering our prayers with blessings like healing.  But what about those times that He hasn’t?  It is this tension that I have been wrestling (and even preached about this past Sunday) with especially over this past week and a half.

I think we have to begin with jettisoning this subversive idea that somehow Jesus came to make our lives easier and more stress-free.  I’m not sure if this seeps into us because as we watch Jesus in the Gospels He leaves this wake of people fixed from illness and demon possession and hunger and even at times death.  But Jesus never says that if you follow Him life will get easier - in fact He says the exact opposite.   Not only will you live in a world affected by the brokenness of sin, but now you will also be hated for your faith in Christ, as He was hated before you.  So much for the prosperity gospel…

It occurred to me this week that in Scripture where we see Jesus intervening on the behalf of broken people, what He does for them is a temporary fix.  The 5,000 people will get hungry again.  The healed will get sick again.  Even Lazarus will die a second time.  Where Jesus heals, feeds, and casts out we are amazed as well we should be.  But when Jesus does these things they are simply a taste, a preview, a signpost of His Kingdom.  They are not the Kingdom itself.

Jesus didn’t come to make our lives free of suffering.  What he came for was that so when we suffer (note the use of the word “when” and not “if”), we are able to find meaning and hope in the midst of suffering.

Jon Foreman wrote this great article in the Huffington Post a while back and in it he wrote this: “Hope is believing in a world that does not exist yet, a concession towards the kingdom of the heavens.  To hope is to believe that life could be better.  It is ultimately our belief in this ‘unbroken totality’ that allows for the potential of tragedy.  For without this hope, tragedy is no longer tragedy - it’s simply expected.  Without belief that allows for a better world, the tragic is fact.”

Where Jesus shows up and does the miraculous we get to see a glimpse of the Kingdom.  But in the times where He chooses not to intervene, those times serve us as well - they serve to remind us that this is not all that there is; we were made for something more than this. This is not the final chapter.

This past Sunday I preached on the woman at the well (John 4) - in the narrative we find that Jesus does not fix the woman’s circumstances (she had been pushed to the outskirts of society by choices she had made [immorality] and by things that were out of her control [her being a Samaritan and a woman] and would have been quite alone) but rather what He does is takes her eyes off her situation and the broken system she finds herself in and points her towards a future kingdom of hope.  And then He uses her to become the messenger of this kingdom in her town.

I don’t know what the level of suffering is in your life at the moment.  Maybe you are right in the thick of it, or maybe hardships are a ways down the road.  Let’s not be afraid to call out to God for temporary redemption in the here and now - He is the only one who can do it.  And where He does, let us praise Him for His goodness.  But, if God chooses to leave us in our circumstances let’s not be consumed by our situation - take your eyes off your suffering and look forward, towards what He does promise us: a Kingdom that will last forever where there will be no suffering.  Look forward in hope and then in the midst of the messiness that is life, become a messenger of this Kingdom to a world that is in desperate need of hope.

Reg

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It’s been one of those busy kinds of months for me.  Not necessarily busy in the sense that I always felt rushed or behind or stressed, but busy in the sense that it has been a full month - it’s nice to have stretches like this I think - lot’s gets accomplished and I stay pretty engaged in life; not a lot of wasted moments.

You would think that in the wake of such a busy couple of weeks, when I sat down to think about and write up a blog entry for SexRev that I would have several competing ideas to work from, harnessing something from my past month’s wisdom that I could share with you.  Sadly, this is not the case and it’s really not from a lack of exposure to stimulating conversation (I can think of one excellent conversation on a car trip back from London and another from a small group gathering last Monday) or being challenged by Scripture (I’m working through Ecclesiastes and the Gospel of Mark right now) or other books (NT Wright and Michael Frost are both giving me lots to chew on)…

I’m quite sure that if I wrestled enough with my recent conversations and readings I surely would be able to assemble something of interest for us to think about and discuss.  But here is what the dominant thought on my heart is this morning: there is something to be said in staying quiet.  Granted, I get the irony that it took me three paragraphs to “say” that, never mind the paragraphs that are to come, but stick with me here.

We live in a culture that is always on the move, and always has something to say.  The media is constantly pounding away trying to steal our attention; we are almost always plugged into some sort of device whether it be a phone, computer or iPod.  Between activities and work and friends, life fills up pretty fast and we can quickly find our day-to-day experience being a non-stop rush of organized chaos and noise.

In fact, the post on March 23 is a beautiful reminder (at least it was for me) and helped prime the pump for my current stream of thought.  It is good for us to take time and listen.  To unplug ourselves from a culture of distraction - whether that means turning off our iPods or shutting down our computers and phones.  Maybe this looks like escaping into nature, or maybe it is as simple as closing the door of your room for half an hour.  I don’t know what it will take for each of you but I do know this - it will require that we make an effort to make room for the quiet, because the quiet will not find us on its own.

If we look to Jesus as our example (and I would suggest that we should) we several times in the Gospels that He took time to slip away to be alone with the Father [Mark 1:35; 6:47, Luke 6:12; 9:18].  There is value in spending time with God, listening to what it is that He has to say.  The admonition in Psalm 46:10 is to “Be still and know that I am God.”  Take time out of the craziness of life to reflect on the truth that is our God.

I wonder how many times God has something to say to me but I’m too busy saying something else myself or being distracted by the many noises and voices around me?  I’m going to commit to listening for Him this week, even if it means sitting in awkward silence for a bit in the morning , settling my soul and giving Him my complete and undivided attention.  How about you?

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As I pulled into the Zehrs parking lot, I began to think of how deserving I was to be there.

Food was at my fingertips. I just had to choose the food that I wanted and I could use my card to get it. Shopping carts were there for my convienience. I wouldn’t be caught dead shuffling to carry everything in my arms. Workers were there for my benefit. A man even gave me a cart so i wouldn’t have to waste my enegery pulling it out.  Plastic bags are the best invention known to man. I could use it, throw it away and forget about it.

Yep, this was my store.

That was until a guy in line with a high horse attitude caught my attention. He was your typical waterlooian. Suit jacket, dress shirt, casual designer jeans. As the cashier asked how he was, he looked away and didn’t seem to care.
She gave him the bill and without a word, he tapped his card with more money that I could ever afford.
She said “have a nice day” and he turned and walked without acknowledgement.

“what a jerk” I thought as I paid for MY food, put it in MY bags and headed to MY car.

I then headed out to the parkinglot and began to cross at the crosswalk. It was then when the same man in a BMW honked, pointed and glared furiously at me. I was in HIS way.

Little did he know, it was MY crosswalk.

I then got angry, gave him the classic “Wong” stare where if he crossed me again, I’d put him in the ground.

Yep, this is my store and he got in my way.

On the way home, Jesus gave me a play by play of what just happened. The man driving the BMW was in the wrong, but the man walking the crosswalk was in the wrong, too; and all of us here feel so entitled to the cattle on a thousand hills that aren’t even ours.

Truth is, we don’t really own anything. We don’t deserve what we have. And what we do have is simply a gift from above. When we live as if life itself is a gift, we tend to treat people better. We’re thankful for what we have and don’t ask for things we don’t need.

And when we live as if we’re royalty; we get mad because we don’t have, murder those who get in our way and expect everything to be ours. We envy others. We treat them as if they are less than us and frankly, we forget who we really are.

If you’re not a christian today and you’re reading this… congradulations.. you’re off the hook today. Go ahead and point at people like me who give you another reason not to have faith.

But if you are, remember this… you belong to God.
Quit acting like you are entitled to anything. Quit acting like you’re better than anyone else. Quit thinking that you deserve anything in this life.
 
And if you’re a Chrsitian living in waterloo, I’ll pray for your salvation and a radical lifestyle change…
It’s a joke buddy, get over it!

Because the only thing you are entitled to is the cross that you picked up the moment you decided to follow after Christ.

Live in light of Christ and not your pride.

PJ

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I went for a drive to get coffee, saw a kid… post deleted, new post written.

You’re 12, a girl, everything in your world should be about having crushes and finishing grade 6.

But, Moms boyfriend has been “accidently” walking in on your showers. Leaving his door open when he changes, and buying you clothes that won’t fit  a barbie, and look like they belong in a trashy video. A few nights ago, he got drunk and came into your room “by mistake”… and didn’t leave for a while.

You have to get out, Mom already calls you a slut. She will be really pissed if she finds out. You call your 16 year old boyfriend, and ask if you can stay with his family. His mom says sure, you can stay in his room. She works evenings, and he has been drinking and tweaking all day.

Where do you go? What do you do?

Now, I understand this is posted in No Girls Allowed.  So here is my challenge guys… do you know where these girls are? Could you find them help? Can you be the one that helps restore their faith in men again? Will you help them see the kingdom?

Because this girl is in your town. I live in a town of 4500, and there are dozens of her here. I hear countless stories of girls  being raped screwing for a bed to sleep in… and they are condemned for their “choices”. Time after time they are passed around, fed whatever substance helps them forget, then left.

Men, its time to step up and put and end to this s#!t… Its time to get angry that our daughters, sisters and future wives are being treated like objects. We may not be the ones who are perpetrating these atrocities, but by not standing in the way and saying ENOUGH, WE let them occur.

This post may not have lots of scripture, or new ideas about God… But this the kind of thing, I imagine in reading about Him, that would fire Jesus up.

He told us we have to become like little Children to enter his Kingdom. To me that means he put a high value on the innocence and trust a child has. Do you have the onions to help protect it?

Your town will have resources, drop in centres, womens centres, Christians who care… ask them how you can help… they are waiting for you because they can’t do it alone!

Jimmy

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But for us, it’s not about the money. It’s about how much clutter we found in our 100-year-old apartment. I cut my wardrobe in half, Tabitha cut hers in a third. We’re getting rid of dressers, couches, comfy chairs, and shelving units. We’re giving away vacuum cleaners, cans of paint, and lawn chairs. And we have never used any of it.

We are spoiled rotten in the Great White North. Did you know that over well over the people on the planet today can’t afford to eat today, and yet we can walk into a Montana’s, and pay to have someone make our food? That just makes me SICK! We  have to respect the privileges that Christ gave us. It’s not like you’re evil if you eat at Montana’s, or the Big Wing Sandwich at Turtle Jack’s (praise Jesus for Big Wing Sandwiches) but just think of your clutter. Of your house, appartment, or bedroom. How much stuff do you need?

What can you use to give to others and use for God’s kingdom. Any stories are welcome.

Aaron

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Do you ever take on too much in life? Where your tasks and chores take up the time that your relationships should hold?

Well I did, I felt very disconnected from my friends and family. Seeing them would ‘put me behind’ in my work. With our God being a relational God, he wasn’t in my sight line.. creating selfish ambition. (which won’t please your wives gentle men!)

When you wake up in the morning, what are your first few thoughts? If they aren’t about love and Christ.. we should probably get back to the basics.

I choose to not let my tasks dominate me. I choose to read and pray when I get up, to align my thoughts with God. So I have something to give my peers at work, and my wife at home and all else who i contact throughout the day.

what’s your daily routine? do you have one? would structure help you grow?

brotherly love,
c.g.

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