iLove Easter

I love the entire Easter season, from Ash Wednesday, Lenten, Good Friday, to Resurrection Sunday and Easter Monday. I love the idea of sacrificing something to keep me focused on the sacrifice of Christ. This year I tackled a big one... a fast from sugar. I was 70% successful at it and even lost a couple of kilos for my efforts. This year we (me, my family and our entire church family) were involved in an Easter production with our brothers and sisters from the Chinese Alliance Christian Church called iTouch Easter. This was so excellent. The church building was transformed into a kind of walk through the old Jerusalem format. We broke Easter down into an acronym, E= Entering the City, A= Accusing Jesus, S= Suffering, T= tomb, E= Eyewitness, R = Resurrection. Then we added a twist by associating each of the sections with one (or more) of the 5 Senses. E/A= hearing, S= bitter taste, T= smell of death, E= seeing, and R= touch. It was very well done and we had over 500 people walk through over four evenings. The weather was perfect and the effort was well worth it. We all had such a great time. It was good for our church to take on an ambitious task, it was good for our two churches to work together on a project and it was good personally to be immersed in the significance of the amazing story of love and sacrifice that Easter is. This year as usual I seek the Lord to help me find fresh meaning in this ancient and often told story. I landed on the verses from Matthew 27: 50-54. And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people. When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!” This passage speaks of such amazing things that grab the imagination and fuel a sense of wonder and awe. Jesus gives up his own Spirit, at that moment, the temple curtain tears in two, there is an earthquake, rocks split and tombs open, then holy saints of old are resurrected and after Jesus resurrection they all go into the city of Jerusalem... Imagine the panic, the bewilderment, the absolute horror of seeing dead people up and eating breakfast, trying to enjoy being reunited with shocked family and friends, I mean, what do you talk about with resurrected Uncle Abraham? All of this took place to give us confidence that what we believe is no fairy tale or mythical story, it was real, bonafide, proven, historical and powerful enough that a wily, battle worn, tough as nails, centurion and his entire cohort of guards were not only terrified but also uttered the astounding words, "Truly this man was the Son of God!" Given the circumstances that he and his men found themselves in what other options did they have? It was pure crazy pandemonium and all of it from start to finish just happened to coincidentally coincide with Jesus shouting out his last words and giving up his Spirit. So cool! So if you are a believer be encouraged you are not putting your faith in some mystical fable. If you are not yet a believer what other options do you have given this overwhelming eye witnessed evidence? Hope you all had an incredible and enjoyable Easter Season this year.

Jack Be Nimble

Yesterday we enjoyed a great message from the current director of the Christian and Missionary Alliance of New Zealand, Rev. Andrew Marshall. He spoke from a well known passage about endurance, focus, and discipline found in the first two verses of Hebrews 12. It reads this way from the The Living Bible. "Since we have such a huge crowd of people of faith watching us from the grandstands, let us strip off anything that slows us down or holds us back, and especially those sins that wrap themselves so tightly around our feet and trip us up; and let us run with patience the particular race that God has set before us." Part way through his message he used a word that I had not heard anyone use for quite some time. Andrew spoke of a marathon runner being cheered on, stripped down to the bear essentials, running toward the finish line. Then he began to encouraged us to rid ourselves of anything that could hinder our marathon run of faith as we also head toward the finish line. He spoke of the Christians need of being nimble and the word lodged in my brain. To be nimble means to be quick and light in movement; moving with ease; agile, active; rapid. I began to think through my life wondering if the great crowd of people cheering me on would consider how I live my life, (i.e.how I run my race) and describe it as being nimble. As I reviewed the various activities, actions, attitudes and attributes of my life of faith it became painfully clear that there were things in my life that were keeping me from being a nimble runner. I confessed my need and began to formulate a plan for ridding myself of everything that weighs me down and keeps me from being the nimble runner that God desires me to be.
One of the greatest blessings in my life is the many wonderful and meaningful church services I have participated in where the word of God is preached well. Services where the whole atmosphere of the crowd of believers present is to meet with and eagerly worship our Great God. To hear the word, to let it sink, saturate, and stimulate my life and faith is such a privilege. Often after hearing the word I can recalibrate my life, move forward, run with less to weigh me down, becoming more and more nimble in the race that God has laid out before me. Thanks brother Andrew for being the Lord's servant yesterday morning as you faithful administered the Word of God to us.

Shaken not stirred....

Lots of people know this phrase from author Ian Flemings well known fictional series of novels and movies about a British Secret Service Agent named James Bond. ‘Shaken not stirred’, refers to the characters preference for how his martini should be made, the indication being that a shaken martini will be colder and more watered down so as not to interfere with the super sleuths senses or slow his reactions down while on assignment.
Shaken but not stirred deep enough is how I would describe many of the comments I have heard recently from both Christians and those who are not of the house hold of faith regarding recent world events. Shaken is abundantly clear. People everywhere are feeling the sense of insecurity and uncertainty as literally the earth beneath our feet is moving. Earthquakes are happening around the globe at an alarming rate and this has shaken confidence, it has shaken the already fragile economic world and it has shaken people out of their little individual worlds to lend a hand to a neighbour in need. However, one church that was sensing the near hypocrisy of the moment wrote on their bulletin board, “You don’t have to have experience an earthquake to be a good neighbour.” My read on this was that they are trying to get their readers to push a little deeper than just being ‘stirred” by the moment; to dig a little deeper than to suddenly be interested in something or someone other than themselves! Shaken, indeed, but stirred, not nearly deep enough as this billboard would indicate.
Listening to some Christians blather on about judgment and gays and lesbians and sin and this is how God deals with the world today is disheartening and frustrating and simply a sign of not being stirred deep enough as well. It is a fall-back position for those who have the luxury of saying such things because their hearts are hard, their love is shallow and their thin understanding of God is disgracefully projected on a poor, broken and needy world of hurting people. Agenda driven and shaken but not stirred deep enough is what is so troubling about these brothers and sisters.
On the other hand, Christianity is not the only group that has its share of doomsayers out there babbling on about ‘just desserts’ and other nonsensical things like ‘karma’, i.e. what goes around comes around. I read recently of the whale protectionist group who spoke this way of the Japanese, attributing their current multi-front disaster, quake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdowns to karma because of their whale hunting practices. This is so aggravating! It is a clear case of kicking someone when they are already down. Shaken but certainly not stirred deep enough!
In my estimation we need to see how deeply stirred Jesus was when he encountered the destructive power of death in the story of Lazarus. Jesus saw how it causes such turmoil and grief and his response was to be angry about death, to be angry about its destructive nature, to be angry because it is clearly the greatest of enemies to all of life. But he was not only moved to anger he was stirred to weep as well. The grief, suffering and pain that death had brought moved him to weep with those who wept, to be empathetic, compassionate and sorrowful for those affected by this great tragedy. Finally, his anger mixed with his grief stirred him to action. In this case it was to counter the work of death and bring life and hope back into the picture. Jesus efforts were meant to restore, to deliver, to turn around the effects of deaths devastation and bring back joy, laughter and life.
As believers we must imitate the master. We must follow his lead. Be angry at our common enemy death and the destruction it causes, weep with those who suffer and then begin the work of restoration, to counter the effects of death and restore life, joy and laughter wherever we can.

Outcomes...

Who can really control any outcome from any decision or even non-decision made? I was thinking of the tragedy that is almost 24/7 in our faces from newsprint to TV down in Christchurch. Outcomes… two stories come to mind. One man saved from under the rubble and the action was caught by TV cameras. They pulled him out very much alive and rushed him to an ambulance and off to a hospital. He never made it as his internal injuries were just too severe, a casualty of this terrible earthquake. Another man, pinned down with his legs caught under concrete slabs was on the phone with his wife giving her his exact location. Some doctors in town for a convention heard his cries for help, found him, assessed the situation, and decided to amputate both of his legs to free him. All they had was a hacksaw and a pocket knife to do the job. They successfully removed him from his situation however; he had lost a lot of blood. They put him in an ambulance and he was zipped off to a hospital and he is currently recovering from his ordeal and very thankful for the quick minded efforts of the visiting Australian Surgeons who saved his life. Outcomes. In both scenarios the rescuers were brave, quick, efficient, in both cases they had desires for the patient to “make” it, in both the rescuers did everything they could humanly do and in both cases the outcome was completely out of their hands.
On a less traumatic front, my wife is currently searching for a job as a school teacher. She does everything she can do to get a job; dropping off CV’s, volunteering in classrooms, sending emails, and taking upgrade classes and training seminars. She can do all this and do so diligently but the outcome is completely out of her control. She prays, she believes this is God’s leading in her life, she has made many “signs” that this is the right direction but in the end the outcome is completely out of her hands.
As a pastor I moved my entire family here to NZ to work in a church that wanted to grow. We’ve done everything humanly possible to inspire and encourage this fellowship to grow. We’ve hosted music concerts, we’ve held ALPHA classes, we’ve done community volunteering, we’ve hosted evangelistic meetings, we’ve had discipleship training in our home groups, we’ve prayed in big groups, medium groups and small groups. We’ve done strategic planning weekends, we’ve had people come to faith in Christ and we’ve have been working, almost tirelessly, to grow people into maturity in Christ. But in the end the outcomes are not ours to control.
Working towards a desired outcome is not bad, but without understanding that a key ingredient in working towards a desired outcome is trust in the Lord can prove disastrous to our faith. Faith that God will do what is best for his plan, best for us and best for those who we love and care about is a matter of trust. We cannot control the outcomes. Learning to let this sense of control go is difficult, but the result is total freedom to enjoy the journey we are on today. Worrying, stressing, forcing, anxiety, and striving are all symptoms of those who believe they can control outcomes. Joy, peace, patience, calmness and trust are the results of those who labour but entrust the outcomes to God.
Jesus had a conversation with Peter in John 21:18-19 I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, "Follow me!" What really matters is that we simply follow the master, leaving the outcomes safely in his hands.

Riptides and Christians

Living in New Zealand, a place surrounded by two large bodies of ocean water, has been a real education for me.

My first experience with swimming in the ocean came while I was an intern in Salem Oregon. I remember all too well the frantic feeling of being smashed by a wave that took me by surprise as I was mesmerised by a sea lion not too far from me. The wave tossed me around like a rag-doll and then plunged me head first into the ocean floor. I heard all the bones in my neck crack as I collided with the bottom. I finally got my legs under me and stood up only to be greeted by water that was rushing down the slopped beach back into the ocean. I stumbled, fell, got turned around, and became so dizzy that I was having trouble knowing which way to head back to shore. Needless to say, my respect for the ocean and the mighty power it wields has never left me. One must keep their wits about them whilst playing in ocean waters.

New Zealand has hundreds of beautiful beaches, many of which are decent for swimming, surfing and body boarding. However, the best places for these activities usually include a serious riptide. A riptide is an underwater current, also called an undertow. It seems that over the 4 years I have lived here every couple of months we hear the sad news of someone being swept away by these dangerous riptides. The problem as I understand it is that just forgetting for a split second that you are swimming and playing above a riptide can be fatal. Suddenly the tide has you in its grasp and starts pulling you out to the open seas. The first mistake is that is often made is that people swim where they are not supposed to swim, outside the watchful eye of the life guards. The second mistake that many make is they try to swim against the tide. Doing this very quickly exhausts them and they succumb to the drag of the tide and are swept out to sea. The only way to survive is first of all not to panic and second is to swim across the tide in slow and steady strokes, stopping every so often to wave your arms and cry for help.

I was thinking of this and how it relates to Christians and the power of the culture we live in. The culture is much like a riptide. Forgetting it is there, even just a few seconds, and it starts to drag you off under its tremendous power. Swimming against it is also not wise, for soon you will become exhausted, and with no more power to fight it it begins to consume you or at very least sidelines you. Swimming across the tide is the only way to survive until rescue comes.

This swimming across the tide is called being wise or discerning about how much we allow culture to influence our day to day lives. How often do we passively approach the culture we live in? How often have you seen someone go off taking on the evils of society head on only to run out of gas, get into a rut, and fizzle out against the relentless pressure of culture. Jesus instructed us as his disciples to be crafty as serpents yet innocent as doves in regard to these matters. To swim across the current, to be smart about what we call good, and to remember where we are living and who we are living for is the only way to survive until rescue comes. He commanded us to be in the world just not of it.

Star Gazers Beware!

Hi fellow blog-watchers.... it has been many moons since my last blog. It seems life has been passing me by and I have not been keeping a record of it either here or in my personal journal for about the past 6 months... any who...
This past Christmas season saw us attend an observatory & planetarium event which advertised that we could come and learn how the "Star of Christmas", that the wise men from the east followed to the birthplace of Jesus, came to be. It was well presented and even quite credible especially the theory about the two planets lining up and thereby producing a star-like brilliance in the sky that would have lasted for a significant amount of time (long enough to fit with the Biblical story any way). Afterward, in the car on the way home, one of my daughters said boldly, "No matter what they say, I think God just did a miracle, and that's why the star was there." Somehow the mixing of science, in this case astronomy, and faith is always a fragile mix and often hard to decipher. In my opinion the two often work hand and glove and, in the end, who is to say what God actually did? Perhaps he simply timed the event to coincide up with the planetary alignments, or, he could have just as easily created a special star just for this wondrous occasion. I guess only God could really answer that one.
Recently I read of the serious difficulty that many folks are facing over the announcement that the astrological signs have been misinterpreted over the past 2500 years. Those who read their horoscopes and plan their lives accordingly have been dealt a death blow to their "faith". The zodiac signs they put so much of their trust in have been proven to be wrong! Astronomist Robert Roy Britt is quoted as saying, "The shift in the alignment of the stars, which has come about because the Earth has been wobbling on its axis for millennia, means most people go back a sign." This means that if you thought you were an others-focused and kindly Taurus...guess again... you are actually a self-centered and aggressive Aries! Talk about confusion reigning!
I guess all this simply supports what Christians have been saying all along. We need to put our faith in the maker of the stars no in the stars themselves. We must put our trust in the Creator not in his creation. At least then we can be confident in whom we have believed in rather than completely confused, uncertain and left with nothing but to 'wish upon a falling star'!

40

I heard a preacher say once, “In our western culture it is a form of treason to be unhappy." In fact one of the few places left in society where you can be free to express openly your pain, suffering and misery is in a therapy session after which we are encouraged to medicate until those nasty bad feelings go away... for good!
If there was ever a time and place where we need a season of Lent it is most certainly now. So I have eagerly set out on my journey of Lent this year and I have not been disappointed! (or maybe I should say I have found disappointment?)
I've believe that this season of lent has become for me a dark place. The church calendar calls the 40 days prior to resurrection, "Lenten" which comes from the Latin word meaning "40". Despite its "creative" name it is not meant to be a happy season. It is meant to commemorate the 40 days that Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness. At the end of which Jesus goes head to head with his (and our) mortal enemy Satan and defeats him with the Word of God. Lent, is meant to take us into the dark places of our lives; it is both a sober and somber time where we are encouraged to explore the parts of ourselves that we tend to hide from, ignore and even despise. The idea is that it should therefore set out a counterpoint or better a contrast to the heightened sense of joy, celebration and power that comes from the resurrection of Jesus Christ known as Easter.
Something powerful has surfaced during these darkened days. I have discovered it is OK to be sad about the things of my life that are displeasing to me. The things which I believe affect the joy of God's wonderful gift of salvation to me; the things which decrease my sense of the presence of God in my life. It is OK, not because some morbid sense of wallowing in my disparity or self pity, but rather it is a place where I find God there! He is already there. He is waiting for me to come and shine his light on these dark places, to experience his light push away darkness, to dislodge it from my soul and banish it from there.
I know it has only been a few days, well a week to be exact, since I have started my journey but it is already having this wonderfully unsettling affect upon areas of my life that normally I am complacent about.
I'm sure there will be more to come about this later as I journey along in my season of Lent. I am already anticipating with greater expectancy the glory and wonder and majesty of Jesus Christ bursting forth from darkness, from the tomb, to absolute and indescribable joy and light

Haiti and Siloam's Tower

Wow the devastation is the worst I’ve seen in my life. They are now reporting that hundreds of thousands could perish from this devastating earthquake. I saw one video of the ground bouncing like a trampoline. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhLUMNdO8ic How horrifying and devastating to these poor people.
TV Evangelist Pat Robertson seems to think it is because of some ancestral curse, others think it is a judgment of God. Why has this happened? Or better yet, if you believe in God why would he let this happen?
Jesus taught one day about a tower that had collapsed on a bunch of people, maybe it was an earthquake that caused it, but none the less the death toll was significant. Jesus never asked why. In fact his response on the surface seems cold and callus. Do you think they were any worse than anyone else he asked? I tell you no, but all of you will likewise perish unless you repent. The presence of evil was not shocking to Jesus but what was shocking is that people somehow thought the people who died in the tower deserved it or had done something really bad for that to have happened to them. In other words there had to be some legitimate reason for it. But Jesus never concerned himself with the reason, since sin and the presence of it in this world was and is still reason enough. What Jesus concerned himself with was the necessity for repentance or death will be victorious over anyone who doesn’t repent. Then he told an interesting parable about a tree that had born no fruit for 3 years. The farmer had had enough and said cut it down but his partner said no leave it one more year, I will fertilize it and dig around it and give it special attention and see if it bears fruit. If still doesn’t produce fruit then we will cut it down. In other words God is patient with all of humanity, He desires all to repent, when these things happen it should bring us to our knees first, for as Jesus instructed, there will come an end to God's great patience with unrepentant humans.
In some ways worrying about why is like getting upset about spilt milk. We could spend an enormous amount of time figuring out how it got spilt but perhaps the better use of our time would be spent cleaning it up and consoling the one that spilt it. Haiti has experienced a terrible tragedy. Instead of worrying about the why, let’s allow it teach us to realize that life is full of evil because of sins effects on all of creation. We should let it lead us to repentance, and then let it lead us to pray, give or go and help with the clean up. Compassion is the evidence of good in the midst of such horrific evil.

holding tightly?

I've been thinking.... i know i know it is a rare commodity in this day and age and especially coming from me... but I have been thinking. It seems that at the end of something, like the end of a year or end of a decade, I find myself contemplative. I was thinking about who holds who in our christian walks? Do I hold on to the masters hand as my girls did when they were little as we walked through a crowd? Or does the master hold my hand with a promise that he will never let it go, like I did to my little girls hand determined not to lose her in the crowd. Who was holding who? I have noticed that a good number of newer christian worship songs seem to place a large amount of emphasis to what I do to maintain my relationship with my God but very little on what God has promised to do to keep me close to himself. It seems as though we live out our lives as though the relationship we have with Jesus was mostly up to us. I am as you can tell, not convinced this is the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
It would seem to me that I cannot trust myself to hold on. I cannot say with certainty that I will keep my faith, or i will never let God down, or i will never stop loving him, or only want to do what's right.... it seems that all of those things are true of God but certainty not of me. Yet I sing them to God anyway! Is it just me or is that just a whole-lot-a-proud covered up by lovely music and good intentions.
He is my strong tower, he is my rock, he is my fortress, he is my faithfulness, he is my joy, he is my love, he is my life, he is my comfort, he is my confidence, he is the one who holds me when I'm hurting, he is the one who holds me when I fall, he is the one who holds me when I stumble, he is the one who holds me when I cant find the strength to go on.... he is the one!
I've been thinking....
Happy New Year everyone!

A King is Not a King Unless he Rules

A King that does not rule is no king at all. Now granted in our day and age, being King is more of a governmental status than anything else. More for pomp and circumstance than a real live ruling kind of king. However, back in Jesus day, a King that did not rule was not a king at all.
The wise men arrived in Jerusalem asking questions about one who was born king of the Jews. Upon hearing this news King Herod became very suspicious and it disturbed him very much. Those wise men had some stones going to a king asking for directions to another king born to the Jews! Herod had a terrible history of violence and insecurity and so it followed that the whole city of Jerusalem was very nervous and disturbed not knowing how this insanely jealous King Herod would react.
Herod called two strategic meetings. One a public one were he gathered all the religious leaders together to discern the foretold birthplace of the King born to the Jews. Once finding out the information he called a private meeting with the wise men; telling them of the prophecy that Bethlehem would be the birth place of such a king. Finding out when the star had first appeared he sent them on their way only asking that when they find the child they return and tell him so he could also go and “worship” him too.
After the wise men had found the little king and worshipped him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, they were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod but to go home another way. Which they did post haste.
When Herod found out he had been outwitted he went from disturbed to furious. In his uncontrollable rage he issued an order to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and surrounding area under the age of two. He did this based on the intelligence gathered from the wise men regarding when they had first seen the star.
This part of the Christmas story is not often told. We hear of peace on earth and good will toward all people in songs and carols and Christmas readings. But, try and tell that to all the moms and dads of Bethlehem. Try and explain to them that Christmas is the happiest season of all or the most wonderful time of the year.
You see the existence of another king is serious business. A king demands allegiance. A king demands loyalty. A king demands your life. Or more simply a king demands…full stop!
If Jesus really is a King then his demands must be met or the consequences could be very dire! We are not accustom to being told how to live. We humans like to think we are the masters of our own destiny. We all think we are like royalty. Nobody has the right to tell us anything, especially how to live!
But King Jesus is very clear about this. If we try to save our own lives, if we try to rule them and be the masters of our own destiny then we will lose our lives. However, if we lose our lives, if we submit to him, if we give him rulership of our lives, then we will find our lives full and rich and rewarding forever.
This Christmas try and think through how the birth of Jesus was responded to by King Herod. Think of how those families in Bethlehem, for the rest of their lives, were minus one little boy. The pain never went away completely like a not so wonderful Christmas gift that keeps on delivering grief.
Jesus is a king. He makes demands. The question is will we react like Herod trying desperately to hang on to the rulership of our own lives or will we respond differently, handing over our lives to King Jesus and in doing so find true life.
The darker side of Christmas is not often spoken of. But now you know the rest of the story.

The Real Unsung Hero of Christmas

Jesus Birth: Through the eyes of Joseph Matt 1:16-24
Have you ever just wondered about Joseph? Who was he? Where did he come from? Talk about a quick entrance and a mostly unnoticed exit in story of the nativity. But what would the Christmas story be like without old Joe? The expressions "second fiddle" and "unsung hero" definitely come to mind when we examine this remarkable man. His short but rich documentary is found mostly in the first chapter of Matthew in the New Testament.
We are introduced to him at the end of a long genealogy where he is uncharacteristically and certainly in ancient Middle Eastern culture, unceremoniously noted as the "husband of Mary". I'm not sure we can fully appreciate this description in our day and age but back then, in a deeply entrenched patriarchal society, was there a more profound insult than to be known as somebody’s husband? This is where he appears on the pages of scripture and then a few verses later he disappears never to be seen or heard from again. Mostly unsung, certainly un-thanked, largely unrecognized, and almost completely unknown in life. I guess in some ways you could say like most of us! And yet, what we do know of Joe is anything but unimportant. He is profoundly faithful, seriously devoted to Mary, meticulously righteous, and wonderfully gracious. Pretty much what every man wants to be like and pretty much what every women wants her man to be like. Good ol' Joe!
But how did the birth of Jesus affect him? A pledge to be married was only broken through death or divorce. A year long waiting period as the couple prepared for married life after the dowry was paid and the transaction was complete. Yet, his bride to be is suddenly found to be pregnant and not just pregnant but apparently loosing her mind becuase she was blaming the pregnancy on God! And just like real life, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, all his dreams are shattered! The little white tent, 3.4 goats, 20 or so sheep, a wood shop to ply his trade and somewhere between 10 and 15 children running around. All of it gone with the wind. Crushed, destroyed, and broken, all his future dreams vanished. He knows he not the father. He believes his beloved Mary has been unfaithful to him. Why else would she run off to her relative Elizabeth's place for 3 months without a word to him. Now he must make the most painful decision of his life. He must divorce her to protect his righteous reputation. To salvage at least his clean name. Yet, his profound commitment to her pushes his broken heart to quietly get this done and save as much face for Mary as could be saved in such a nasty situation.
Exhausted and worn out from his most horrible bad day, his head hits the pillow and the tears begin to flow and he falls into a restless sleep. Thinking he has only two options before him, to stone his bride to death or to simply divorce her.
But God.... those two famous words appear on the page. When those two words appear we can with certainly know that God can make a way when there seems to be no way forward. When all is lost and our dreams are crushed, God steps in, and brings about things that we could never have imagined. And God's way, well, his way is truely astonishing. The child is from God. Mary is not deluted. She will be his again, he will be given the most sacred responsibility of any human father... to raise a son that was not his own, and to bring him up in the fear and admiration of the Lord.
The new dream is so delightful that Joseph wakes, gets dressed and does exactly as the Lord told him without hesitation. Who cares what everybody thinks. I'm going to raise the son of the living God. Who cares about my old dreams... this dream supersedes them all by far!
So, he doesn't mind being known as Mary's husband because Mary was the mother of Jesus. He can handle the scandal this little fella would make because he, Joseph son of Jacob, son of the great King David, is a significant part of a grand play written by the God of the universe.

Joe, a man for all men to model their lives after. Joe. A man that every woman would be proud to marry. What a treasure his man's life is for us to ponder this Christmas. The real unsung hero of Christmas.

Merry Christmas everyone

Mary's Boy Child

Yesterday afternoon we enjoyed our churches Christmas car park party to bring in the 2009 Christmas season. Before that we had spent time at the Howick Christmas Parade. A float went by that was a giant birthday cake with big letters spelling out "HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS" around the cake. Both events help put us in the spirit of the great season of Christmas. Birthday parties at our house have always been massive events, a kind of season if you like, as all three of our girls share the same birthday. My wife Cheryl has always been very creative at putting together a celebration that the kids all enjoyed. When babies are born, most of the time any way, it is an occasion of great joy and rejoicing for the parents and surrounding family and friends.
My thoughts this Christmas have turned to a unique prophecy that was spoken by one of Israel’s ancient prophets named Isaiah. In the book of the bible that bears his name Isaiah 9:6-7 it reads, For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
Many people have heard these lines in Handles great musical piece known as "Handle's Messiah." But have you ever slowed down and noticed the subtle yet powerful way in which Mary's boy child is described here? A child is born...a son is given. It is the primary reason for this Christmas season otherwise it would simply be the birth of any other person in history. But a child is born... a son is given makes all the difference in the whole world. A child is born speaks to the human nature of Christ the messiah. He was human as we are human and was tempted as you and I are tempted. He can identify with all we face as humans. But a son is given changes everything. The son pre-existed. He was not born he was given to us by God the Father. Yes he was tempted in all ways we are tempted yet…. without sin! He was perfect in every way. He was God wrapped like a Christmas gift in human skin! That is why we celebrate his birthday. It is the reason we have this strange ritual of giving gifts to each other at someone else’s birthday party. Because we have all been given a gift from God the Father…. A son is given. Mary’s boy child… Jesus Christ. Have you by faith recieved this wonderful gift? Merry Christmas everyone!

Uniformed Imaginations...

The caption reads "
Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground"
Last week I wrote of the power of prayer to open up our imaginations to all the goodness that God has in store for all of us. Most of us, if not all of us, use our imaginations to dream of a life that is beyond words to describe. A life full of joy and marvellous in as many ways as it could be here on earth. We imagine for ourselves and for those who we love “great things” that are all positive and glorious and wonderful. We often use our imaginations as a form of “escape” from this current life of hardship, difficulty, trial, suffering, cruelty and pain. When we come to prayer with our imaginations engaged our prayers take on this type of language as well. We mostly pray for good things, great things, remarkable things, miracles, bliss, healing and basically all things positive, glorious and wonderful. I pray this way too but I wonder, I wonder if this is all that God has in mind when he speaks to us about his will for us as immeasurable more than we could ever think or imagine? Is there a way to inform our imaginations so that what we actually dream about is saturated with what the Holy Spirit really desires for us and not so much what we want the Holy Spirit to desire for us?
Remember Peter, after Jesus had informed him of his soon coming suffering and death. Remember how he responded? Even in his wildest imaginations he could not for the life of him imagine that the Messiah would have to endure such horrible things nor should he have to. The Son of God, the Anointed One, the Chosen One, the Holy One of God, most certainly would not have to go through such terrible things! In essence, his imagination was more informed by his religious culture than the words that had just come out of the Son of God’s mouth. The Son was trying to inform the disciple’s imaginations of what was truly great, what was truly positive, glorious and wonderful. Peter took offense; he took Jesus aside and in no uncertain terms told the Lord of the Universe that he shouldn’t talk like that.
I think Paul worked hard in most of his letters to debunk poorly informed imaginations about what the Christian life is all about. In what could be argued as his literary master piece, known as the Christ Hymn in Philippians 2:4-13, his writing is beautiful, poetic and dripping with powerful imagery to inform our imaginations of the true pathway to greatness, to glory, to wonder and to exaltation according to the mind of God.
When we imagine great things in the Lord, we must include this vital information about the pathway to the great things we imagine when we pray. Remember Peter? Remember what Christ said to him? Jesus responded to Peter’s rebuke with a shocking rebuke of his own, “Get behind me Satan! For you only have in mind the things of men and not the things of God!”
When we pray with our imaginations intact and engaged let us never be guilty of having only the things of men in our imaginations and not the things of God!
Let your imagination be well informed and stop trying to arm wrestle what we consider good things, great things, wonderful and positive things out of God and calling it prayer!

5 Habits in Spiritual Formation

I have been asked a couple of times to summarize the sermon on Saturday evening by reviewing the 5 habits we discussed. These habits are essential to good healthy growth in our spiritual lives. However, unless we are genuinely dissatisfied with our current rate of growth or perhaps our overall lack of growth in our Christian life these habits will become rigid and rule driven rather than stemming from a deep desire for greater intimacy with the Lord and each other.

Habit #1: regularly meditating and studying the scripture (2 Tim 3:16, Luke 4:4, Rom. 15:4)
Habit #2: a progressive, contemplative & imaginative prayer life. (Lk 5:16 & 18:1-8; Eph. 3:20)
Habit #3: cultivating relationships with fellow believers (Acts 2:46; Heb. 10:25)
Habit #4: an attitude and general posture in life of being a generous person (2 Cor. 8:7)
Habit #5: Volunteering in the greater community ( Mt.5:16 & 1 Peter 2:12)

Repetition, doing something over and over is the only way for it to turn into a habit. Not sure where this saying comes from but it is a good.
Sow a thought, reap an act
Sow an act, reap a habit
Sow a habit, reap a character
Sow a character, reap a destiny!

Happy Growing...

Imagine...

My faith has so many unique qualities about it that it never ceases to amaze me. There is wisdom and insight and things that stretch even the wildest of imaginations in christianity. In the spectrum of world religions it really does make it difficult at times to see why others would want to believe in anything else! Sounds like I am bragging doesn’t it... well just maybe I am and I am doing it as one who is boasting in his Lord, and that is part of a what I believe is a healthy christian life. For too long now we christians have been told to hush up about our marvelous faith, we've been told our ideals, philosophies and values do not belong in the public arena, we've been marginalized by savvy spin-doctors and script writers from TV and movies, from tricksy authors of books and brash radio announcers and, tragically, we've been really good at doing what were told! We've forgotten the words of both the Older and Newer Testaments... Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.
Last night our church hosted something we call a Prayer Pinnacle. An evening of meditation on God and his word, a time to sing worship songs that stir the soul, a place where prayer with other likeminded believers could take place uninterrupted. It was delightful to say the least. One of the things that so impressed me about the Lord last night was his ability to stir the imagination while in prayer. In fact, I would say that the bible pushes us to pray with our imaginations fully engaged, to let the word of God and the Holy Spirit leave stretch marks on imaginations, to pray with total confidence that whatever we ask of our God it will inevitably be smaller than what the Lord had in mind for us.
God is good all the time and his desire to lead us into greater goodness knows no limits. His love for us is described as abundant, his joy over us is described as exceeding, his mercy for us is described as new every morning and faithfulness toward us is described as great!
If that was all you knew about anyone else we would boast about them to the high heavens. If that was all we knew about the Lord there is enough here to keep our imaginations going for quite some time. Truth is, this little bit of information doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and his paths are beyond tracing out...
now let your imaginations soar…
and for heaven’s sake brag a little bit more about him today…
what’s not to brag about?

The Thinker

Romans 2:4 in the NASB bible reads this way... "Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience..." I suppose there could be a double meaning to the words "think lightly" here. One meaning could be to distain or hold in contempt or just not care the other meaning could be more literal, to just not give much thought to it. My challenge fell around the second meaning this morning. Not enough thought.
Thinking takes time. When we think about something intentionally we need space in our daily lives to do it. I believe that thinking time is on its death bed in our western culture. Thinking takes silence, that is the absence of noise, of T.V., telephones, text messages, DVD's, radio, CD's and MP3's and other people. Where can I go to flee from the presence of all these distractions?
Thinking needs a place. A quiet, comfortable, secluded place. A private place for solitude so that I can think undisturbed.
I think we think too little. We've lost the art of solitude. We've almost lost the capacity to think and spend intentional time thinking.
We must get it back or we will think too lightly which will lead to the first meaning. To hold in contempt; to just not care… and we breathe our last breath… and then it will be too late to think.

Death and Easter

The evening service was finished and I made my way toward the back of the sanctuary. As I stepped through the back door I noticed a group of folks, forming a tight circle around someone and they were all praying. As the circle opened up it revealed the one who was the focus of all the care and support. I saw my friend, tears streaming down her cheeks, eyes puffy, swollen from much crying, nose rimed with redness, tender from all the tissues rubbing it, and she was barely able to speak.
As it turned out, she was very sad because unknown to all of us it was the one year anniversary of her father’s passing. He had died suddenly from a heart attack and my friend missed him so much.

What can you say? Probably the better part of wisdom is just to remain silent, offer a hug, and a sigh of sympathy.

Death is such a robber. I hate it. I hate what it does to people; I hate how it separates us from each other. It steals loved ones, it steals young and it steals old, rich or poor, strong or weak. It plays no favorites and is always just a breath away from each of us.

The Bible is full of the stories of death because the Bible deals with life as it really is. No rose colored glasses there! It even provides us with a window into the origin of death. It goes way back to Adam and Eve when death was allowed to enter the human experience after the first couple disobeyed God. First it appeared in the animal skins God made for them and then it manifested its full ugliness when Cain murdered his brother Abel. And death has been with us since then. It is the wages for disobedience to God.
Jesus came to destroy death. He came to die, the perfect and pure saviour for the imperfect and impure human race. He then rose from the dead, conquered it, because it could not hold him down. He rose victorious over death 3 days later. He offers life to all but only those who receive it for themselves are saved.

It truly is an amazing story of how death brought us life! How the death of one man, Jesus Christ, has offered life to all human kind. The truly good part is that every single human being has been forgiven of every single death wage ever paid out for sin. All we have to do is humbly receive this amazing gift that is offered to us freely.

As the bible asks, “Death where is your sting?” For all who believe the sting is gone and life forever more has come.

This is the true meaning of the Easter season.

The Cry of The City....

5 conversations within a 24 hour period; 5 conversations with a common thread running through each one; 5 conversations with complete strangers, new acquaintances and intimate friends; 5 conversations expressing pain, suffering, longing, brokenness and uncertainty; 5 conversations and the city cries!
First it was my earliest encounter of the new day at the checkout counter of the grocery store. I said "good morning" she responded, "I will hold on the good"... a tale of a cancer fright, alone, with added relationship strain... all this while the queue behind us grew... Then onto a stranded woman, bonnet up, looking frustrated... I stopped and helped and out tumbled long term relationship broken, job lost and no luck finding a new one... what to do... it's been like this for year... from there I went for a cup a coffee and one of staff plunks themselves down as says, "something is wrong with me, a friend says it could be my heart, I’m kind of scared, I’m always so tired and my job is stressing me out like never before...." then later on as a conversation grew out dropped, "I feel so undervalued, so underpaid, so blah... I know that there is so much more out there for me but I feel trapped, unable because of circumstances to stretch out my wings and find it.... finally, a little boy, a broken home, he started reaching out to daddy's new girlfriend, mom freaks out and tells him to never come home again... he's 10 years old.
Pain, suffering, longing, brokenness and uncertainty and the city cries. The bible recognizes this condition of all human kind and it offers hope to the hopeless. It really is full of promises, full of wisdom, and full of stories of the human drama that can offer insights and guidance when times are tough. For example it says “The groans of those who are dying are heard from the city. Those who are wounded cry out for help.” And then it offers this council, God doesn’t hear! God refuses to move! At least that is our perception of him anyway... and ain’t that that how most of us really feel most of the time! But it goes on to tell us that He is indeed there, he is in the midst of whatever we are going through, hoping our desperate situation will cause us to call out to him for mercy and for salvation. And everyone who comes to him he will in no way cast out! He will listen to the prayers of the destitute. He will not reject their pleas. His invitation is sure… "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me — watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

You've Been Robbed!

There I was, walking along listening to my favorite podcasts on a beautiful late summer morning walk when all of a sudden I hear a voice from behind me. I turned to find a man in his mid 30's with a deeply concerned look on his face. As he spoke I immediately knew he was from South Africa by his accent and that he was not too happy about his current state of affairs. It seems that for whatever reason he had left his van unlocked during the night and for whatever reason he had left his wallet in there as well. In his hand he held his driver’s license and he was asking me if I had seen the rest of his wallet long the path I had taken for my walk. Apparently, what had happened is that when he went to hop into his van to go to work he noticed the door was ajar. He immediate made a search only to discover that his wallet was missing. He looked around, walked into a little park area where he noticed his driver’s license in the grass. He went a little further and discovered another piece of ID from his wallet. Evidently the thief had decided to chuck whatever he didn’t want from the wallet as he fled the scene of his crime. He told me his name and asked that if I see his wallet that I return it to him and I assured him that I would. We parted ways and i never saw his wallet along the rest of my journey home.
Theft is such a violation. Someone else invades your space and takes what belongs to you when you are not looking and makes it their own. The worst part about it is that they do this when you least expect it! You lock your vehicle 6 nights in a row and the 7th night you forget and that is the night someone decides to break in and steal from you.
Jesus used the image of a thief to describe what life is like. He stated that it is like a thief bent only on stealing from us, killing us and destroying us. But he said that he was the exact opposite of that. He claimed that he had come to give us life and that this life was not like anything that we’ve experienced before in this world. It is real life, more and better life than we could ever have dreamed of. He seems to be saying that anything less than what he was offering is a thief come to rip you off!
That is quite a claim. In fact the more you investigate Jesus the more you find him making these outlandish claims. As someone else has said, either Jesus was a lunatic, a liar or he was indeed telling us the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth!
Perhaps this week you could check into a local church near you and examine for yourself these claims.
I know you won’t feel like you just got robbed!

Breaking up the Fallow Ground

Our church moved it worship service from the traditional Sunday morning time slot to not so traditional (for us anyway) Saturday evening. As a family we really like this and are enjoying the change very much. So far my Sunday mornings have been relaxing and enjoyable and slow paced which is such a huge change of pace for me. I have preached on Sunday mornings for the past 17 years and so I have to admit a fleeting bit of uneasy guilt that comes over me every once in a while. Fortunately I can easily dismiss it as I take another sip from my coffee cup.

This morning however, I took advantage of a Sunday morning off to visit another church. Something I have wanted to do but just never got around to it until this morning. It was great to just go, relax, and take in the worship and hear a good message from the bible without having to give oversight to anything at all.

The message was just right for me. It comes from an ancient prophet named Hosea. He was writing to inspire the people back then (as well as us today) that it takes preparation from us as we understand and anticipate that God is desirous of birthing a new thing in us. The passage is found in Hosea 10:12 Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the Lord that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.

This struck a chord in my heart this morning. Fallow ground is just ground that has not been used for a while. It is good ground; it is just not ready for seed to be dropped into it. This can be like our lives. God is asking us to prepare ourselves, make ourselves ready to receive his new and often amazing plans for us. I see it as prayer, fasting, meditating on the passages of the Bible with a renewed sense of urgency.

I must begin anew to prepare myself for what it is the Lord is about to do in my life and the lives of those around me. I am excited to see where this will take me.