Free Art Friday 12/31/10

I shared a photo a few weeks ago that Kimberley took of an amazing sunset.  Here is an interpretation from that photo. 

Stupid Health Care

Sometimes you just want to scream.  I am off to take my daughter to MacKids in Hamilton because of some stomach trouble she has been having all week.  It was not an immediate emergency situation, so we thought we would do as we are encouraged, and go to the doctors before just hitting the emergency room.  Why clog the emergency room with non emergencies right?  Well, we found a doctor who was actually open today, who after examining our daughter ordered blood tests and an ultrasound.  So my wife called the Milton hospital who let her know that they could fit her in on February 11!  My wife was sure that that was much longer than the doctor had in mind and so went back to the doctor.  The doctor said that the test needed to be done before the weekend and so called the hospital who then informed her that the only way my daughter could get a test any sooner was to come to the emergency room!  So we have wasted an afternoon trying to be good citizens and do as we are told, simply to find out we should have just gone to the ER anyway because, no matter what they actually say, there is no other alternative!!!!!!!! 
So seeing that we have to sit and wait for hours in an ER anyway, we are heading to MacKids where the experts are so that if there is anything to worry about we can at least skip one step and have her to pediatrics.
Sometimes you just want to yell BOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
At least the visit won't bankrupt me anyway.

Painting

Painting started.
1 room down, 8 to go!

Update Tuesday - 12/28/10

This past weekend marked a few "lasts" for our family.  It marked our last Christmas with our family in Milton, and Sunday marked my last service as a full time staff member in Milton.   I am not an overly sentimental person and so this week could have gone by just like any other week, without me even noticing at all.  It is good, however, to stop every once in a while to reflect.  Our time in Milton has been so full - full of celebrations and tragedies, excitement and discouragement, victories and defeats, highs and lows, successes and mistakes but through it all a true sense that God was with us, and along with God a community of people we have come to see as family.  We are not disappearing right away but will be spending a few months transitioning out.  For those whom I only really see on Sunday morning, it may not seem very different at all for a while as I intend to be at church in Milton most Sunday mornings as we transition out.  But I do wonder what it will be like as behind the scenes we begin to move out, spend less time working on the specific details of the Milton ministries, and work to equip others to do it.
Although we continue to pray daily from Luke chapter 10 (see here for details), we would as for specific prayers as we enter into our time of transition.
1) Please pray for Milton - that God would be stirring in hearts and raising people up not just to fill the spots that we may leave, but fill all the needs of the church and all its ministries as it continues to grow and thrive and serve its community.
2)  Please pray for my time - although we are not in Hamilton as of yet, there is much that I can do in Hamilton in  preparation.  Please pray for guidance to discern where and how I should direct my time and attention as we prepare for our arrival this year.
3)  Please pray for the preparation and sale of our house.  Today I buy paint!
4)  Please continue to pray for the right house in Hamilton - our house will be a key connection to our community as well as serve as the centre of our ministry.
Thanks to all who have been praying and supporting us as we begin this new phase of ministry.     

The Sound of Music

Last night my wife decided she wanted to watch The Sound of Music.  She had rented it a few days ago from the library with the hopes of watching it for the first time with our kids.  I assumed that she really meant the girls because, in my mind it was a really girly flick.  Am I wrong to think that, does it not have a kind of girly reputation?  There are definitely some girly moments, the romance, the dancing, the kissing etc.  But regardless, there was nothing else on and so I thought "why not, let's watch it as a family."  Well, I was pleasantly surprised.  It has been a long time since I have scene it and, over and above the few girly things about it, I can definitely see why it was so popular and has endured for so long as a classic.  There are a number of striking features about the film that would rate it such a quality artistic endeavour.  Here are a number of things that caught my attention last night:
1)  Christopher Plummer's suits were amazing - totally cool threads.
2)  Christopher Plummer's hair rocked - serious do.
3)  Julie Andrews - that girl could sing - serious pipes.
4)  The songs - some are famous, some were schmaltzy, some were cute but when you take a close listen some of it was really quite incredible.  If you ever doubt the musicality or depth of some of the music because it was sung by children and laughing nuns, just have a listen to John Coltrane play " My Favourite Things" some time:

5)  The soundtrack was incredible - the score that accompanied all the action was amazing.  I was fascinated to hear how all the themes of the famous musical numbers was so intricately woven underneath the action really undergirding and propelling the drama along.
6)  It has an intermission - I spent it waltzing with my five year old - fun!

Just a few reasons that it was worth spending the three hours!

Free Art Friday

Merry  Christmas Eve!!!!!

You may have already seen some of these shots from my wife's Facebook page, but credit where credit is due here, these are the ones that I took.  Last Friday we had our annual Before the Flood (a band I play in) and Kensington Prairie Christmas concert at which we raised funds for a local charity called Kerr Street Ministries.   I managed to sneak in a few shots of Kensington Prairie and these are some of the ones that turned out.  Just so that no one thinks I am a scrooge, I added one that Kim took as well - it is the close-up of the orange Gretch (nice shot Kim!)

When Life Forgets That it Is Christmas TIme

It is not that I have anything against Christmas at all, I will be gathered with family on Christmas day and enjoying the company, the cheer and the food.  I love to walk the streets at night and see the houses all aglow with the beams of Christmas lights.  I love the festive cheer, the warmth and the celebratory nature of the season.  But I am reminded that although it all may be fine indeed, that sometimes it is not enough.  Sometimes life does not follow our calendar.  Despite what is going on in the world around us, everything is not all happiness and cheer.  Sometimes life forgets that it is Christmas time.
This year the advent season began with my cousin in the hospital with a serious infection that threatened her health and the health of her unborn child.  Thankfully she is at home now and the worst of it seems to be over, but she arrived home just in time for my grandmother to be admitted with heart trouble.  There is the possibility that she may be in the hospital for Christmas.
My friend has had two friends pass away over the last two weeks, and so his Christmas season has been marked with saying goodbye to friends.
And perhaps the hardest story of all so far came when we heard a friend of ours and a member of my congregation lost his wife this week.  So he, along with his two grown children and his 16 year old daughter, will be grieving this holiday.
Sometimes Christmas cannot be about family and feasts when our situation has us separated from the ones we love.  Sometimes Christmas cannot be gathering with friends.  Sometimes Christmas means saying goodbye.  It is then that we need our Christmas to be a bit more, a bit more concrete than the abstract "Christmas Feeling," and a bit more than just the "happiest season of all."  Sometimes Christmas needs to be...well...Christ mas.  When Christmas is about the Christmas story then, despite the circumstances in which we might find ourselves,  we can find hope and reason to celebrate.
When Christmas is the Christmas story we celebrate the child who was Immanuel - God with us, and we can trust that no matter what our circumstance, we are not alone.  God continues to be with us.
When Christmas is the Christmas story we celebrate the coming of the child who was called Jesus - the LORD saves.  And although we may say goodbye to friends and family, if they knew Jesus, we know that they will not perish but have eternal life and we will see them again.
When Christmas is the Christmas story, then we celebrate the birth of Christ, knowing that it was the beginning of a life that saw Jesus go to the cross but then raise again three days later - conquering sin and death.  Although our present Christmas celebrations may still be marred by effects of the fall in a broken world,  Jesus has promised to return again, has promised a new heaven and new earth where God will "wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain..." (Rev. 21:4)
When life forgets that it is Christmas time, and it always does somewhere for someone, there is still hope and joy and celebration to be found when we let our Christmas truly be...Christmas.

Caroling in the Park

If you have been following this blog, or that of my wife, you have been reading about some of the experiments that we are doing this advent season to help us focus on the true meaning of the season.  With this in mind, we were really happy to get an invitation from Cam, a friend of ours from camp who works at another local church here in Milton, to a carol sing in a park not too far from our house.  Kimberley, T.J. and I bundled ourselves up and headed out into the dark and quiet of night to walk to the park a few blocks away.   The walk in and of itself would have been worth it; a chance to get out into the calm, quiet, starry night and walk down the streets all aglow with Christmas lights.  Even before we reached the park we ran into Cheryl (Cam's wife) and had a brief opportunity to catch up before she headed off to knock on more doors and invite some more neighbours.  We arrived at the park where we were greeted with hot chocolate and a song book handed out by some familiar friendly faces.  Soon there was a whole group of people all gathered in the glow of a street lamp singing songs of the season together, and the name of Jesus was lifted high.
Thanks for the invite Cam!   

Update Tuesday

Well, this week we decided to combine our advent experiment (during which we have been trying to do something each day to break the commercialism of the season and focus on the spiritual) and our Hamilton update. We had some free hours on Saturday and so decided to slip into Hamilton and spend some time there. We went to the Locke neighbourhood for a bit of prayer walking and while we were there managed to do a bit of Christmas shopping. Before we headed for that neighbourhood however, we made a quick visit to McMaster Children's Hospital. The girls had dance class in the morning, but while they were gone Liam and I took some time to bake some cookies. For those who may not know, Liam is quite good a baking cookies and it sort of became his thing. Each time he would return to the hospital for check ups etc. he would bring cookies for the team that he was going to see as a sort of the thank you and an encouragement. So even though he did not have an appointment we made a trip to the hospital to deliver cookies. Specifically, we took them to the Ronald McDonald Room which is just outside the Pediatric Critical Care ward of the hospital. This is a very special room, run by the Ronald McDonald House, but that is right inside the hospital. It functions like a little retreat room, furnished with a living room, kitchen and laundry facilities, it provides some moments of normalcy for patients and their families to help break the stress and intensity of a hospital stay. We found ourselves using the room a lot while Liam was there and are happy to give back in any way we can, even if it is just a small gesture of home baked cookies for the kitchen.
For those who may not know about our connection to McMaster Children's Hospital, our son Liam was there in November of 2008 for two surgeries to remove a brain tumour. God has used this experience in a profound way over the past few years. It would be hard to overestimate the impact that this time in our lives has played in our discerning where God may be calling us to plant a new church. For those of you who continue to support and pray for our work and who are interested in really trying to understand about us, our work and our connection to Hamilton, I would encourage you to visit my wife's blog. If you scroll down the page, on the right sidebar, there is a documentary as well as a label a bit father down, both of which will take you back to some of our experiences with the hospital and with Hamilton over the past two years. You can find it at the link below:

Kim's Blog

Lottie Moon

I am still back at Matthew 8:20 and have been stuck thinking about it. It is where Jesus tells someone who wishes to follow him that :

“Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

Jesus was homeless. He intentionally left behind comfort, convienience, safety, security and family and so many of the things that we in North America spend our time persuing. What would it look like if more of his followers were willing to follow his example? These thoughts are once again brought to mind as I have been reading a short biography of Lottie Moon. This time of year, Southern Baptist churches collect an annual Lottie Moon Christmas offering for international missions. It is named after Charlotte (Lottie) Moon, a missionary to China from 1873 until her death on Christmas Eve 1912. At one time the "most educated woman in the South," Lottie would be one of the first single woman to serve as a missionary overseas and she would go on to give her life wholeheartedly and sacrificially to her mission in China. As well as her mission in China, however, she was also instrumental in sharing with those back in her home country of the United states the need for missions, missionaries and support, for sharing the true nature of missions and the true cost and conditions for those serving on the mission field. It was Lottie's persistence and tenacity as well as her incredible example that would lead to many policy, procedure and program changes that would improve the situations of those sacrificially giving of themselves for the sake of the Kingdom. Lottie reminds me, however, that no matter how many improvements we might make, that truly serving Christ and working for the sake of His kingdom is not easy. Kingdom and comfort are not compatible.
Am I more concerned with comfort than the Kingdom?
Do I pursue the American Dream (really the North American Dream) more passionately than my Christian Mission?
What can Lottie Moon teach us today?

How Is This For An Evangelism Technique...?

I am still reading through Matthew and today I read chapter 8:14-22 when it struck me, when was the last time you heard this proposed as an evangelism strategy?...

"Give up your house and your security and you can be a follower of Jesus."

Or,

"Give up your family and you too can follow Jesus."

Or what about,

"Give up all your resources and you can follow Jesus."

Then there is,

"If you become a follower of Jesus you too can face beatings and persecution."

Or

"Become a follower and you too can be killed for the privilege."



I have to admit I have not heard those particular phrases in most evangelism programs but, strangely, as I read the gospels I see this technique being used by Jesus. Maybe it is because it is Christmas time when we think and speak a lot about presents and gifts and credit cards, and we hear a lot about family and warm and fuzzy feelings, but these words of Jesus seem to stand in contrast to a lot of what I see, hear and do.
Is it just me or am I missing something?

WOW!!!

My reading of Matthew led me back to this prophesy today:

Isaiah 53

¹ Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
² He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
³ He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

⁴ Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰ Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
¹¹ After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

WOW!!!!

Advent Update

Our advent experiment has been interesting if nothing else. We have been trying to focus less on the commercial and the hype and more on the spiritual. We have had some wonderful moments of worship, wonderful devotional time as we trace the history of God's redemptive plan through the Old Testament, wonderful family time and some great opportunities to serve. But lest we paint this rosy picture and make it seem like we have it all together and that it has been a wonderfully deep and spiritual season of our lives, here are some moments of reality check:
First, there was our sidewalk chalk experiment. There are a number of buses that stop right across the street from our house so we thought that would be a great place to write out a part of the Christmas story from Luke's gospel on the sidewalk in chalk. We planned and planned. We planned which verses would be written by whom and on how many sidewalk blocks etc. We planned which direction to write it in so that it could be read as you walk down the sidewalk...or so we thought. We rushed out of the house, not considering how cold it was and without dressing appropriately. When we got to the spot we quickly realized we did not all have the same picture as to how it was to be laid out. So confusion and cold led quickly to bickering and complaining. Not quite the Christmas spirit and witness we were hoping for!
My favourite moment however, came last Thursday when we were to spend some family moments decorating the tree. We do this as a family and we unwrap ornaments that had been carefully stored form the year before and share the story about the year we got it and to and from whom it was given. We take turns hanging them one by one. As it seems to go theses days, we were stealing these few minutes together in the midst of a pretty busy day. Our weekly home church and band practice was to be starting soon and so dinner was in the oven. I was slipping away every once in a while to prepare the meal while we decorated the tree. Things were going well and it was a beautiful scene. The family gathered around the tree, the warm glow of the Christmas lights, Bing Crosby singing "O Come All Ye Faithful" playing softly in the background and stories of Christmases past being told to the children...when...the door to the stove was opened...and an overly sensitive smoke detector started to blare its ear piercing siren! As I stood there in the kitchen I saw the most amazing sight. The living room scene just carried on as if nothing was happening with the sole exception that a few of the kids had fingers in their ears. What a crazy juxtaposition of the cozy and the cacophonous, the family and the frenzy, the serene and the surreal. It really was our own Christmas Vacation moment being lived out in front of my eyes.
In some ways that sums up our experiment so far. In some ways that sums up our life!
I am brought back to a recurring theme to me this Christmas as I reflect on what that first Christmas must have been like. It too was not a perfect and serene moment despite how we might like to see it. This amazingly special moment in time, when heaven and earth would connect in the form of a child upon which the future of the world would be hung, came down to child birth in a barn. A crazy world whirred around them, so full there was no room for them to lodge and so crazy that most of the world missed it. In the midst of that craziness were some shepherds who heard from the angels, and a young girls who "pondered these things in her heart." A moment of peace and reflection in the midst of the chaos. Is that not the serene in the surreal?
So there you have it. Two reality check moments in our advent experiment.

Update Tuesday

For the last few weeks I have been sharing some of the thoughts and reflections that God has laid on our heart about how our new work in Hamilton will begin and what it might look like as we start. I took those basic ideas and came up with the following summary and vision. Being a musician, I took the idea of a lead sheet and played with it. A lead sheet is a piece of music which has the basic information to communicate the foundation of a song: the melody, the harmony, the rhythm and the lyrics. Fuller arrangements, instrumentation, interpretation etc. may be left up to those who will play the music, but the basic building blocks of the song are well established and laid out. So with that in mind, here is a summary of what we plan to be doing:





What We Envision...
A network of interdependent home churches playing from the same lead sheet...








The Lyrics:
John 13:35 - ... “As I have love you so you should love one another. By this all men will know you are my disciples...”

The Melody:
Discipleship
a) Who Is Jesus, What Has He done for us - Study a Gospel using COIN.
c) What does He want to do through us - Five Marks of a Disciple

The Harmony:
Community
A home church setting in which families share meals, their lives, study, prayer etc in a highly relational way.

The Rhythm:
Mission
We will be a missional community that seeks to be a foretaste of the Kingdom living and proclaiming the kingdom.




The logo and name are just temporary working titles that we will put more thought into as things progress, but we would love to hear thoughts and comments about the things that we have been sharing as we continue to think through and refine our ideas about our new work in Hamilton.

Free Art Friday

One of my favourite photographs. I did not take it but my wife did so I am keeping it in the family at least. It is a summer sunset at my family cottage. I dedicate it to all who are buried in over a metre of snow, living in London. A dream of warmer days.

Bondage to Self

So, I am still reading through Matthew, and currently am part way through a slow reading of the Sermon on the Mount. I was reading through the "turn the other cheek" verses and thinking about what it may mean about non-violence and pacifism etc. when it occurred to me that maybe this verse is actually about something different. I wonder if at the heart of it this verse is really about pride. The verses that follow have less to do specifically about violence and yet they are grouped together. If someone sues you for something, give them more than what they expect, even to the point of being naked! If they force you do do something, do more than they expect. Add to this the turning of the other cheek, a conscious choice not to retaliate to an overtly insulting and violent act and I start to see this chunk as a comment on avoiding pride. What is it that often leads us to want to retaliate, or return violence with violence? It is pride..."you can't do that to me"..."I will show you"...etc. Our ego is hurt so we fight back. The last point in this passage ask us to give to anyone who asks and not to turn away from one who wants to borrow. It challenges us to turn away from our self interest and to the interests of others around us. This whole chunk from Matthew 5:38-42 could really be a call away from pride and self interest, the bondage to self that sin creates, and a call to turn to others in love.
So, it got me thinking...could this really be the heart of the whole Sermon on the Mount? I have been going back, and then reading forward and asking if this theme of bondage to self could really lie beneath all that Jesus shares in this famous chunk of teachings. Have a look and tell me what you think. Does it fit, or are there some sections for which that would be a big stretch? I would be interested in what you observe.
Whether it is a current running through the entire sermon, or just some parts of it, it should come as no surprise. Reading this sermon during the advent season, I am reading it in light of the Christmas story. There is perhaps no greater example of humility and turning from oneself then the story of the divine High Prince leaving the glories of the heavenly realm, power, prestige and status, omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience, to be born as a human baby in a far of nowhere special place and put in a feed trough because there was no room for you.

Advent Update

As we mentioned, the weekend got a bit crazy. It was fun but hectic, so when Monday rolled around there were some pretty tired kids in our house. I was off early to my part time job but when I checked in with home part way through the morning I learned from my wife that she had declared a rest day. I have come to appreciate the flexibility of schedule of Homeschooling which allows us to adapt to our lifestyle and ministry! So, half of the kids slept in until after ten and the rest of the day was spent just doing some tidying up around the house, trying to prevent it from becoming a disaster that would require an epic cleaning. Although this was not on our advent idea list, it struck me that perhaps it could have been. When you are trying to slow down a bit, be a bit more reflective and not let the season get away from you, sometimes the best thing to do is to do nothing at all. It was a day of rest, a Sabbath. Rest was one of the earliest gifts given to man was it not? God paused from His work at creation to rest, leaving for us a model and example to follow. He would later command that His people do the same, and although Jesus would challenge the Pharisees about their interpretation and legalism regarding the Sabbath, He did declare that "the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath," (Mark 2:27) both affirming the Sabbath while reinterpreting it. Rest is an important thing; rest from the day to day grind and time to rejuvenate physically, mentally and spiritually.
We followed Monday up by again tweaking our regular schedule and carving out a few hours in the morning to go and get our Christmas tree. We were excited about the opportunity to head out to Rena's, our favourite Christmas tree farm. Bundled up in our winter warmest, and with saw in hand, we hiked out into the bush to find the perfect tree. For us, it is about more than just getting a tree, it is about a tradition of family time. We have been doing this ritual for years now, and it is a time that we all look forward to each year. We remember back to the first time when we went with friends from our small group at church and the many years that we are able to do it together when schedules permit. We remember the times that it has just been our family. We remember the years that we tried to save time and money by finding something closer to home, driving around all morning, only to make a mad dash to Rena's in the end anyway where we always find a great tree. And although we have never had a squirrel jump out of our tree after we have brought it home, we did find a hummingbird nest in our tree this year! So that was Tuesday, pancakes and tree hunting, before heading back home for school and work.
Today is another day, so we will have to see what can figure out for today.

Update Tuesday

I can't believe another week has passed already. I have been using the last few Tuesdays to share some of the thoughts and reflections that have been stirring in our hearts and have been influencing our thinking about what our new work might look like in its earliest formation. I have been sharing specifically about John 13:34-35 which has been a very influential passage of scripture for us (to read the last few updates please feel free to follow the Hamilton Update label at the right of the page and scroll through the last few weeks). This week I thought I would share about the part of the verse in which Jesus states "by this all men will know that you are my disciples."
As I was sharing about what I thought God was trying to help us see about community, and in particular a fellowship of faith, I mentioned that Jesus was in an intimate setting, with his 12 disciples when he gave this commandment to "love one another." I believe it says a lot about his expectation for His followers to be in relationship with one another. There is something powerful and unique about being in community with other believers. But even here, in a passage in which Jesus is commanding a community of love amongst believers, He never losses His attention for the world around them. I really believe that these words are a keen reminder about our mission here on earth. The church has a responsibility, in imitation of Jesus, to always be aware of the world around us with the intention of being a positive influence for the Kingdom in what we say and what we do. Even the way in which we interact with one another is a part of our mission and witness to the world. And here is how I see what being missional is about. It is about all that we and all that we do being a positive example and influence on the world around us, where ever God may have us, and being intentional about living out that role and responsibility. I think Jesus challenges us to consider how we see mission and evangelism. It is more than just words, as if the right question or script could introduce people to the fullness of Jesus and His kingdom in 30 seconds or less. It is so much more than just a program that we might run. It is, rather, all that we are. I am reminded of Jesus' words as he taught about prayer, praying "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." I believe that this is the purpose of the church, to be a community that does its best to live out the Father's will, that others may see Kingdom principles and Kingdom living being lived out before them, while being invited to consider participating themselves. Now of course, we could look missions from this angle and come to a mistaken conclusion that it is all about what we do and little about what we say. Let me be clear in saying that this is not what I believe, nor what I am suggesting. Sharing our faith and sharing the gospel particulars are a must if we are truly going to invite people to consider Jesus, consider a relationship with Him and consider His Kingdom. There is a sad discussion I often hear in which words vs. deeds are debated as if they can ever really be separated in a full and robust missional effort. They cannot and so we must endeavour to do all, and to consider all that we say and do as a part of our witness to the world. And, of course, if we take this more wholistic view then we realize that all that we say and do, for good or bad, are a part of our witness.
I am reminded of a term that I learned years ago with respect to missions, and an image that I found quite helpful. The church is supposed to be a "foretaste," of the Kingdom. What do we mean by "foretaste?" No matter what we think about the specifics of the end times there is general agreement in evangelical circles that it is not until after Jesus' return that we will see the Kingdom come in its fullness. In the meantime, we the church endeavour to live it out and demonstrate on a small scale, what is to come in its fullness later on. So this idea of a foretaste was described to me like this: Imagine the Kingdom to be a banquet, a big feast that is to happen. Currently however, the preparations are being made. Imagine that you sneak into the kitchen and there on the stove is the sauce for the main dish. You pick up the spoon and sample the exquisite sauce. You cannot say that you have experienced the banquet, not in its fullness, but you have had a sample. It was amazing and from that sample you know that the feast is going to be amazing. And that kind of sums up what it means to be a "foretaste," a sample of what is to come. The church is supposed to be that spoon that people get to lick!
So, as well as being based on discipleship and community, we will strive to make our new work a missional community. We hope to start with a neighbourhood fellowship that seeks to impact it's neighbourhood for Christ. Right from the first house church that we grow, we hope to be that "foretaste" for our community and then, as we learn to do that, to multiply and seep into the surrounding neighbourhoods. And, although we don't have a sense of what everything will look like before we begin and before we meet who God brings to us, we can state that we intend to take Jesus' words in Acts 1:8 seriously as well, and consider where and how He longs to use us globally.
So there are the three key foundations to our new work as we see it so far: Discipleship, Community and Missions and so we would invite you to pray for those three things and for the specific ways in which the community we start will live them out.

On another note, I would like to thank all of you who have joined us in praying thus far. I shared some key requests in an update a number of weeks ago that came from Luke 10, those being finances, workers and people of peace. It has been an amazing week for the finances part of that prayer. We are praising God for the ways in which we have seen Him respond to this request this past week. Between what our small Milton church has been able to sacrificially give in support over this next year, an incredibly generous grant from a long time friend of the Sanctuary church planting efforts and the generosity of some new friends we have come very, very close to covering the costs of the whole first year of our new work! Thanks be to God and thanks to all of you who have been praying. We thank you for your continued prayers in support of the work beginning Hamilton.

Advent Update

Well we have just got through one of those kind of crazy weekends that happens this time of year. It was all good stuff, but there was a lot of it. An association Christmas party on Friday night, two family Christmas parties on Saturday, church on Sunday, our church Christmas dinner on Sunday night and then Kim and I were invited to our sister church in Oakville to share about our plans for Hamilton. So this weekend was jam packed. In the midst of it all, however, we were able to carve out some special opportunities for our advent experiment.
Friday began with our children going online to look for children who are in need of sponsorship through Compassion International. They had done a project last year about sponsoring children and after all their research, they chose Compassion as the organization with whom to work (to read more about it check out Kim's blog: www.zoo-ology.blogspot.com). Well, they found Silvan from Kenya who had been waiting for a sponsor for almost 500 days. We chose to sponsor a child in place of getting small gifts for each of the families in our extended clans as we have done in some years past. We were able to share a picture of Silvan with note explaining the sponsorship to each family as we let them know that we have sponsored Silvan in their honour this Christmas. The amazing thing was to see our kids make the decision to use what money we would ordinarily spend on small gifts to sponsor Silvan instead and then decide to step up and cover the sponsorship for the rest of the year themselves, with their own resources.
Saturday was the busy day, but before we went to the parties and were able to deliver the cards with Silvan's picture, the boys and I were off to the grocery store to volunteer for the Salvation Army's Food Drive. Our good friend Mike made the arrangements for us and so we were able to go and spend the morning collecting food and cash donations. My favourite part was when an older lady approached us to make a cash donation just because my son Liam, who was manning the kettle, "was such a cute little girl." Liam - I don't care what your grandpa Bob says, I still like your hair long and I think he is just jealous!
Of course Sunday morning was church, and what a great time to really focus on the meaning of this season.
So that was the weekend, crazy and busy, and yet a meaningful time altogether.

Free Art Friday

If you have been reading the blog for the past few days, or have read my wife's blog, you know that we are trying to do a few things differently this Advent season. So in keeping with that Advent theme, here is a song I wrote during the Christmas season last year. I was inspired by Linus from A Charlie Brown Christmas and the passage that he reads from Luke 2. I took some of the thoughts and lines from that passage and wrote this song. You can find it at the link below:

This Is Christmas

To read about yesterdays advent activity check out Kim's blog:

Z00-ology

Off to today's advent adventure!

Advent Conspiracy

Well, yesterday was the first day of our advent experiment where we hope to do one special thing each day leading up to Christmas to buck the commercial trends of Christmas and to help focus on the spiritual (if you have not had a chance to read my wife's blog on the topic then check out the last few posts over there: www.zoo-ology.blogspot.com ) We decided to start off simple and reflective, focusing our hearts at the beginning of our journey and so we gathered together by our nativity scene in the living room and with lights dimmed we read the Christmas story from Luke 2 together, sang Away in A Manger and prayed together. Two moments still stick out to me. First was when we began to sing Away in A Manger and my youngest daughter T.J. reached up behind her to the nativity set, carefully took the baby Jesus and began to rock Him...oh so cute. Soon after we finished singing, and just before we began to pray, again T.J. had a moment. She stopped us to ask,
"What is baby Jesus in?"
"A manger" said her mother.
"What is that?" asked T.J.
"A feed trough, where they would have put the food for the animals to eat." explained her mother."
"Blechhh." whispered T.J. expressing her disapproval, yet in a hushed, reverential tone.
And that really brought things home to me. This juxtaposition. The reverence of the occasion, the wonder of that night, the holiness and otherness of the nativity, the incarnation and yet the very real, humble and irreverential circumstances by which the King of the universe entered the muck and mire of our world.

It also reminded me about taking things for granted and assuming what people know about Jesus and the bible, but perhaps I will save those thoughts for another time.