Are You Part of a Lost Generation?

Here’s a great video…watch for the cool twist!

For Lent: The Jesus Creed

(This post was written for the Faith Church newsletter;  March 2009)

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a conference with Ray Vanderlaan, a teacher who brings wonderful insight into the Scriptures by highlighting the Jewish and historical/geographical background behind the stories of the Bible. Ray loves to incorporate meaningful Jewish traditions into Christian settings and so we started each session by reciting the words of the Shema, the words of Deuteronomy 6:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Scot McKnight, a writer I appreciate, has written a book based on the Shema, but uses the version that Jesus teaches in Mark 12. He calls this “The Jesus Creed.” This Lent, I am following the 40 day devotional he has written based on these words of Jesus.

Lent is a time of spiritual reflection. This involves repentance, as well as engaging in practices that draw us closer to God, such as fasting, praying, serving, worshiping and reading Scripture. Using the Jesus Creed as a daily focus for our lives is a great place to start. I invite you to join me and post these words somewhere visible in your home or office, and recite them throughout your day.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  There is no commandment greater than these.” –Mark 12:29-31

Happy New Year!

Well, ok, maybe I’m a little late to offer my my best wishes for 2009, but hey, I’ve got to (re)start somewhere!  Jason was on my case (a little) for the lack of blogging activity, so this one’s for you, J.

January has been an intense time both personally and ministry-wise.  But also good.  A renewed sense of clarity and vision is starting to take shape and I’m excited about where God is leading!  I have a couple of days of retreat scheduled with some colleagues on Monday and Tuesday, and I look forward to a time of reflection, prayer and rest.

I was feeling a little bad for not keeping up with the blog until I read this piece by Bob Hyatt.  I don’t pretend to have the insight or influence that he has, but his reflections helped me be at peace with the priorities I needed to make during a busy time.  The quote from Ruth Hayley Barton alone is worth the effort of clicking on the link.

And on a personal note, if your heart is warmed by adoption stories, you may want to check out the journey to China that my brother and his wife, along with their daughter and my Mom, are undertaking right now to pick up their new adopted son, Nico Han Kun.  They are 3 days into their trip and are keeping an excellent blog here.   They are in our prayers!

Merry Christmas! Into the first 12 days and beyond…

I hope that you are enjoying the season!

On Christmas Day, I was a little hard (too hard?) on a certain Christmas song.  When we returned from visiting family last night, there was an envelope in our mailbox containing a napkin with the words of the song and a note telling me to check out a certain youtube video.  I did.  And it (almost) makes me appreciate the song now.  I certainly love this version of it:

My point was that though the song may be hard to sing, the tradition it reflects is worth recapturing:  The idea that Christmas Day is not the end of our celebration, but the beginning.  We carry the hope and life of Jesus into the 12 days of Christmas and beyond.

With that…one more video.  A wish for a hopeful Christmas and a brave new year.  (HT:  Alan Hirsch)

Pray for Guinea

The situation in Guinea is uncertain with the death of their long-time dictator president, Lansana Conte.  Please pray that God would raise up leaders with a heart for justice and compassion for their people.  You can read about the situation here.

The BBC has excellent online coverage here.

[spend less]

This past weekend we celebrated the second Sunday of Advent, and looked at the  [spend less] component of our Advent Conspiracy.  The challenge that was put before us on Sunday was to buy one less gift this Christmas and use the money saved to support our two AC projects:  Digging new wells in Mali, and the Shifra Home.

A quote from Sunday regarding the consumption obsession of our culture:

“We buy things we do not want to impress people we do not like.” –Richard Foster

I showed part of a dated but good documentary from the early 90′s, called “Affluenza.”  The excerpt begins around the 6:50 mark.  Check out the cheesy, but kinda funny beginning.

I would also love to post the excellent “person in the mall” interview video that our iConnect group put together (thanks Jon and Kali!).  If I get it, I will put up on my blog as well.  If you missed it, you’ll have to see it, they did a great job!

What is “Missional”

The Out of Ur blog posted this great excerpt from a talk by Michael Frost on the definition of missional.  Well worth viewing…

Advent Conspiracy

This Sunday, we kicked off our “Advent Conspiracy.”  We are joining about 1000 churches in North America, using the themes of AC to enter into the story of Jesus and his birth in a fresh way.  The challenge in front of us is to focus less on material gifts and more on deepening our relationship with God and others.  How can we make Christmas less about us?  To that end, we are using the money we save from buying less gifts to support a global and local ministry:

1.  Our global ministry is providing the financial resources to build wells in Mali.  A big part of the Advent Conspiracy campaign is addressing the need for clean water in many communities around the world.  You can find other wonderful, similar projects here.

2.  The local ministry we are supporting is Shifra Home.  This is a ministry in our region that provides safe shelter and support for young women dealing with unexpected pregnancy.

On the afternoon of December 14, we are also throwing a Christmas celebration and inviting the residents of Bethany Home to join us.  Bethany Home is a residence in our church’s neighbourhood for adults with special needs. Whether you are part of our church or are part of your own church community, I hope that you embrace the themes of this Advent Conspiracy.  You can read about what one of the founding churches of the AC is doing here.

On Sunday, we showed a promo video for AC.  We had some technical difficulties in our first service, and ended up showing the American version in both services. Here’s the Canadian version of the same video.  Share the message!

Utah and Thoughts About Leadership

I’m writing this on a plane somewhere over Kansas, on my way to Salt Lake City, where I will be participating in a gathering of leaders of Leadership Development Networks (LDN’s) from across our denomination.
Salt Lake City seems like a strange place for a Christian Reformed conference, but apparently it’s a fairly central location, and it’s outside the hub of our usual CRC spots.

I have been serving in the Eastern Canada LDN (ECLDN) for 6 years now and it has been an exciting adventure.  We have graduated 3 groups of participants from our 3 year program and we currently have 31 enrolled this year.  I’m traveling with four others who are involved in the ECLDN–we’ve been thrilled to see our program expand to a second site east of Toronto which was just launched this Fall!

My work with the ECLDN has been somewhat behind the scenes in relation to my role as pastor at Faith Church.  But it has been so important to my own growth.  My involvement with the ECLDN has taught me how vital good leadership is to the mission of the church.  As church communities, we do not simply “drift” toward becoming more effective.  Engaging our neighbourhoods, growing in prayer, deepening our spiritual walk doesn’t just happen.  It must be taught and modeled and practiced.

This is humbling, since I know that I have a long way to go in my own leadership journey.  I often feel like I’m just stumbling along toward a vision of being a person who reflects Christ in a compelling and compassionate way.  But being involved in the ECLDN has been a huge part of my own growth, because it has connected me to so many passionate Christians who share the same vision and want to stumble along together.

It will be good to hear the stories of what God is doing in other LDN’s across our denomination.  And I’m looking forward to the conversations that will take place and the ideas that God will bring to the surface.  Please pray for us as we meet.  I’ll post updates if I get the chance.  And if I run into Donnie and Marie, I’ll let you know!

Sunday Quote and Link

On Sunday, I introduced the Advent Conspiracy, a movement that challenges us to rethink Christmas–to see it for what it is:  the arrival of a Child whose birth changed everything.  We will explore the upside down nature of His Kingdom and enter into the story during Advent this year.  You can learn more about it here.

And this from Philip Yancey:

I’ve become more convinced than ever that God finds ways to communicate with those who truly seek him, especially when we lower the volume of the surrounding static. I remember reading the account of a spiritual seeker who interrupted a busy life to spend a few days in a monastery.

“I hope your stay is a blessed one,” said the monk who showed the visitor to his cell. “If you need anything, let us know, and we’ll teach you how to live without it.”
-Philip Yancey, “What 147 Elk Taught Me About Prayer,” Christianity Today (March 2006)