Update Tuesday - My Favorite Story of Late

Kim and Mike

Kim: "Lord, I lift Mike up to You.  I pray that You might grant him relief from the chronic pain that he experiences after his accident.  Lord, help to heal his ribs and help to heal his mind.  I also pray Lord, that You might take away his urge for alcohol.  I pray that you might take away a taste for the alcohol and release him from..."

Mike: "Whoa, whoa, whoa...I actually like drinking."

When Kim told me her experience it made me laugh out loud.  Kim shared that she did not know what to think, but at the very least it seemed to indicate that Mike believed that prayer might work.  All in all, we served over 70 sandwiches, 7 pots of coffee, had many conversations and prayed for many people right on the streets this past Sunday.  Based on our conversations, and the prayer that we were able to share, it seemed so obvious that God was stirring. 

We have been spending quite a bit of time on the streets of late and have been trying to be much more direct about prayer.    Rather than just asking for prayer requests from people and saying we will pray for them, we are pausing right there to pray.  In fact, after over a year and a half at our Beer Store street ministry, serving coffee and sandwiches every Monday morning, and inviting them to join one of our fellowships, we realized maybe there is a different approach.  We are a group who already gathers together each week, who shares fellowship over coffee and a meal and with whom I pray and have spiritual conversations.  This week, rather than just praying for them as individuals, I gathered them all together around the coffee urn, asked for prayer requests and then had us all pray together on the sidewalk.  We have changed our thinking and have come to view this as our third fellowship.  Small steps like praying together are leading us towards a deeper spiritual component of our time together with the goal of, slowly but surely, developing a full fledged spiritual community.

We will also be taking our prayers to the streets, parks, and neighbourhoods with our other fellowships as well in the coming weeks as we seek to see a movement of God happen in our city.  The weather is getting warmer and it is the perfect time to get out of our houses and meeting places and into the streets.  We will be asking what does it really look like to live our lives and to exist as fellowships who live in the 3/4 rhythm of Up, In and Out...Up, In and Out.  Up is our relationship with the Lord, In is our love for one another and Out is our joining God in His mission to the world.

We ask that you might continue to lift our ministry up in prayer, asking for direction in how to best be in rhythm (Up, In, Out, Up, In, Out) as we engage the city around us.   

Missional Monday - Rhythm to Dance

I am not much of a dancer but I spent many years as a drummer and I play a whole lot of rhythm guitar these days. One of my favourite things is to play in 3, or a waltz. Whether an old country ballad, an uptempo jazz waltz, or the many things in between, I just love it. (And if you think a waltz sounds kind of girly or sissy just go search My Favourite Things by John Coltrain on YouTube, it will change your mind).

I recently heard Mike Breen share about rhythm in a missional context. He shared about the rhythm of Up, In and Out. I, of course, heard the three beat of a good waltz, felt the rhythm driving a wonderful dance and my attention was captured.

When you look at your life, or the life of your church do you feel that waltz pattern driving the dance. Can you feel the Up- the relationship with Jesus, the In-the community of other believers and the Out- going to the community around you?

If you have followed this blog, or our ministry in Hamilton then you will have heard me share John 13:34-35, which are key verses for how we understand what we do. Jesus gives the command that as He loved us we must love one another. Imitation of Jesus requires we know Him- the Up. The One another is community -the In. Jesus goes on to say that all men might know we are disciples by our love for one another. Jesus is very concerned that we impact the community around us -the Out.

You might not be a dancer (I am certainly not), and you might not be a drummer but all of us are called as Christ followers to this rhythm. Is your life a waltz?

Both/And - come and go

Mike Breen reminds us that discipleship, as Jesus did it, is marked by both "come"and "go." It is invitation and challenge. It begins with an invitation to come unto Him, but is always marked by a commission to go. These become the two axes creating the quadrant in which discipleship is lived and plotted.

Oh Canada- Talking to Americans

We had the opportunity to show some of our American colleagues the YouTube clips of Talking to Americans that Rick Mercer did while at This Hour Has Twenty Two Minutes. It is really funny stuff. If you have not seen it you really have to check it out. Rick Mercer asks questions of Americans about Canadian events or politics, but he makes up ridiculous things, they don't catch on and it reveals a rather hilarious lack of knowledge about Canada. We, as Canadians love to laugh at this kind of thing. The reality is that Canada is saturated with media and culture that diffuses northward across the permeable border from an area if high concentration to low. Canada has much more access to American thought, history, culture etc. than does the average American to Canadian things. Thus, in good fun (although not always just in jest), we enjoy laughing at the ignorance.

For one reason or another I have spent a bit more time in the US and with Americans the last few years. What I have been learning is that I did not know as much as perhaps I thought I did. Yes, with regards to media, culture and basic history and geography I probably know more about the US than many Americans do about Canada. On a deeper level however, there are things I am learning. I have learned the difference in BBQ across different regions. I have learned to say Restroom not Bathroom while here. I have learned to beware of coffee below the Mason Dixon and biscuits and gravy above (although that seems to be changing). I have also learned that Americans give more per capita to charity than almost any other place. This has lead to a deeper understanding of cultural differences between Canada and the US. Whereas many Canadians would pride themselves on our state driven social institutions, such as socialized healthcare for example, Americans have a different approach. It not that they don't have a heart to care for one another which would be a simplistic conclusion one could reach that I have heard. Similarly, Canadians are not communists. With a very different history and thus a different cultural and social framework we can approach this from a similar heart but by different means.

As a Canadian, it has been easy to recognize some differences in culture, jump to conclusions and make generalizations. I am learning that the tips of the icebergs just point to substantive things still to be uncovered. All in all it points to a humility that is needed to really understand people and to have a well informed perspective. That having been said, I still laugh at loud at Ruck Mercer's stuff.

Update Tuesday-Exponential

This week finds me outside of Hamilton, attending the Exponential 2013 conference. As we move forward with The Hamilton Fellowships I am taking a few days out to humble approach others in the field to see what might be gleaned from their wisdom and experience. I am praying that God might open my eyes to things that could be very beneficial to the ongoing mission in Hamilton.

Meanwhile, back at home, Kimberley has been holding down the fort. So far she had been caring for the kids, led our street ministry connecting and feeding our homeless neighbours, fixed our dishwasher and is preparing to host our Wednesday Fellowship. This evening she will also be following up on a great conversation she had with a Muslim lady from Yemen that she met last week.

Thursday, our Fellowship@Fifty Rd. gang will be continuing our exploration an preparation to be a missional outpost in Stoney Creek with facilitation by Michael. I am expecting to hear great things about there time together.

Please continue to hold up The Hamilton Fellowships in your prayers. We so appreciate all the support.

Missional Monday-Luke 10

I am at the Exponential conference this week. I was reminded when listening to Mike Breen today, about the Luke 10 principle, and specifically, finding a person of peace. What is a person of peace? Someone who likes you, listens to you and serves you. If you are looking to find a way to begin to impact lives with the gospel here is a biblical place to begin. Find a person of peace and invest in their life. Follow the natural connections that flow from this relationship.

Friday Art - Upcoming Gig

A number of years ago my friend Liz was working as a kindergarten teacher at a local Christian School.  One day she was telling me a story about one of her students who was recounting a bible story about Jesus and his "Recyclers."  It made me laugh right out loud and I thought to myself, "that would make a great name for a band."  Here I am a few years later and I find myself starting a work in Hamilton in which I spend each Monday morning on a street corner, ministering to guys who go through recycling boxes looking for recycleables to return to the Beer Store for deposit.  I am not Jesus, but they are definitely recyclers, and I do think that Jesus is there with us each Monday morning.   Well, I am happy to announce my first gig under the band name "Jesus and the Recyclers."  A few friends will be joining me on May 11th for an acoustic set during which I will be playing some songs that have come from the streets of Hamilton.  We are playing at a fundraising event for a non-profit organization named Student Open Circles here in the city.  Below is a link to the organization with details about the event.

May 11th Fundraiser.

Both/And-Galatians

Galatians 1-2 is a passage that revolves around the Apostle Paul making a defence of his apostleship and for the gospel that he preached (salvation by grace alone). But in the midst of it there is one line, easy to fly right past, but important none the less. Paul states in 2:10 that, after conferring with the other Apostles, and being in agreement about the message being preached the others asked only one further thing. That one thing was to remember the poor, which Paul was happy to do.

Care for the poor is not what saves us, but it is certainly what those who are saved do. Salvation and care for the poor are distinct things, but they stand together and cannot be separated.

Oh Canada - A Sad Day for Canadian Music

Twitter is a buzz this morning with tributes to two Canadian music figures who have passed away.  Many mini obits and tributes can be found on the twitter feeds of many Canadians marking the passing of an East Coast legend, Rita McNeil.  with her down home, east coast demenor and songs such as Working Man, she was a voice of the people.  To read more of her career and place within Canadian culture, follow the link below to her Wikipedia entery:

Rita McNeil

Another Canadian singer has passed away as well, although interestingly, his passing is being marked more on American twitter feeds than Canadian.  George Beverly Shea, most famous for his connection with Billy Graham Crusades is considered one of the first American Gospel music stars.  You can read more about his legacy at the link below:

George Beverly Shea

Update Tuesday - Good from Bad

After a little over a year of spending every Monday hosting a coffee ministry on a street corner for some of the cities less fortunate, I have to admit there are many days when I ask, "what am I doing," or "what is the point."   Sometimes the work seems far less than miraculous and the impact seems minimal at best.  It is not everyday that I ask such questions, however, and we have had many small victories to celebrate.  I think of Paul who expressed that the Christmas hamper we gave him was the first gift he had received in years.   I think of Easter when a number of the guys joined my family  for an Easter dinner at our home.  And then I think of yesterday, and pray that it might, in fact, be another small victory to celebrate.

Yesterday my friend, one of the Monday morning regulars, informed me that he had been involved in an altercation the night before that led to police involvement, and him being charged.  He has been sharing with me for months now that there has been someone harassing him and threatening him while he is out collecting cans and bottles for recycling.  This time the individual started to become physically threatening and so my friend, after warning him, sprayed him with Mace.  At some point this resulted in the police being called and my friend being charged.  We will see how it all plays out as there seems a pretty clear argument for self defence as well as a history of problems with the other individual.    My friend is a little shaken up, needs X-rays for a potential rib fracture and is concerned about all the upcoming legal proceedings.  Although I would never wish such circumstances on anyone, God has a way of taking bad things and bringing good from them.  We are praying that this is one of those cases.  It seems that already this may be serving as a bit of a wake up call and an opportunity to reassess life circumstances.   For one thing, there is a no alcohol stipulation between now and the hearing which may be an opportunity to help break some of the habits and patterns in which he lives.  He seems to be reassessing his life situation, even discussing the possibility of a more regular and formal source of employment.  Lastly, although we have always had an open invitation to contact us or stop by for coffee, for the first time he has begun to take us up on the offer.  Interestingly, we have been praying more diligently for our friends from the street corner over the past few weeks, and it seems that we might be seeing some direct answers to those prayers.

Again, the circumstances are less than ideal and there are questions about what will happen legally, but we are encouraged that some positives may be coming out of this trauma.  I would ask for your continued prayer that God might bring some very tangible victories out of the darkness.  

          

Missional Monday - R.A Dickey and Tom Waits

It is not all that often that CBC's Q, arguably the most important Arts and Culture show in the country, features an Evangelical Christian.  I don't think that the show has a particular bias against people of the faith, but it just does not seem to happen all that often.  I was very intrigued then, to hear that R.A Dickey, pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays, would be a featured guest.

Below is a link to that interview.  I think that you will find, as I did, that it is a touching and sensitive example of someone bearing witness to Jesus when given the opportunity.  Listen especially at about 16:20 when he is specifically asked to share about Christ...beautiful. It may seem a bit understated, and it would be easy to let the moment go by, but put in context, this does not often happen on the CBC very often.  It is quite a powerful moment. 

RA Dickey on CBC Q

If you want have a very real, messy, missional experience however, follow the link below and listen to the whole episode from 5/4/13.   Later in the episode is a fascinating interview with Tom Waits, which always promises to be interesting, and is an absolutely wonderfully rich juxtaposition to the Dickey interview. 

Full episode

Friday Art-New Painting

This was just a quick painting from the other week. I think I may be coming to the point where I have worked the Bunt Sienna brick walls out of my system-maybe.

Oh Canada - Marketing Identity

The "Canadian" identity is an elusive thing to be sure, if a singular identity is even possible at all.  Canadian patriotism is also a tricky thing to get a handle on, being a much more subtle expression than that of, say, the United States.   Although subtle and elusive, there are  things that are deeply rooted in Canadian culture and Canadian self understanding.  One fascinating study with regards to Canadian culture is the place of Tim Horton's.  It is surely one of, if not the most, iconic Canadian brand.  In some people's thinking, Tim Horton's is almost synonymous with Canada.  To be honest, I don't know if this has been an organic development or a synthetic work of masterful marketing.  Perhaps it is both.  Case in point, below is an example of a nationwide add that aired a few years ago.  It incorporates a subtle (or maybe not so subtle) patriotism, exploiting numerous features of Canadian culture including hockey, multiculturalism, and, of course, coffee.

No matter how you feel about marketing and commercializing a national identity (I am not sure how I feel to be honest), the below example is no doubt a brilliant piece of marketing.  

The add had been embedded here, but if you are unable to see it then a link has also been provided.

Commercial

Update Tuesday

This week has me looking toward the summer when we will have a few mission teams join us as we serve our neighbours here in the city.

Today we have visitors from Fairlawn Baptist in West Virginia arriving for a vision tour of the city. We will spend some time showing them around as we discuss some if the ways in which their teams will be serving this summer.

I will also be putting some details together to share with another team of ladies who will be investing a week with us at the beginning of June.

Your continued prayers are appreciated!

Missional Monday-Love not Pity

What can do the marginalized, prostitutes, foreigners and sinners teach us about being missional? When we recognize such individuals in the genealogy of Jesus there is a lot that we might learn.

There has been a lot written about the fact that The Gospel of Matthew includes five women in the genealogy of Jesus, an unusual feature for genealogies of the time. Such an unusual feature is surely meant to capture our attention. Here are a few things that I have taken away from the insight as I think about carrying on Jesus' mission.

1) God has a heart for the marginalized. The fact that the list has women, some put in vulnerable positions (Tamar was left without a husband and denied motherhood), and some foreigners helps me recognize that we should have a heart for the vulnerable on the fringes of society.

2) God longs to bring salvation to the sinner. Tamar, Rahab and Bathsheba have reputations for some morally questionable behaviour. I need to be engaging the "sinners" as well.

3) God has a heart for the nations. Ruth and Rahab were definitely Gentiles. We are given a foreshadowing of the eventual expansion of the Mission of God to all nations.

4) There is no place for pride in missions. If God used the outsiders to preserve the messianic line when His own people seemed to be dropping the ball, we who are God's people should enter missions with humility. Sometimes missions has come from a place of pride and pity. Whether rich to poor, developed nation to developing etc. it is not our status, our culture or our socio-economic standing that we seek to export. For those of us in the modern West, we can find it jarring to hear that the rest of the world is now sending missionaries to us! Cultural or economic pride, superiority or condescension has no place in Missions. Missions must come from a place of humility and love.

Friday Art - Thinking About Creativity

Christianity Today just recently posted an article by Makoto Fujimura entitled My Top 5 Books on Creativity.  I thought it might be of interest to any of you who may be invested in the creative process or interested in thinking about creativity.  You can find the link below:

My Top 5 Books on Creativity

Both/And - Faith and Good Works

It is one of the perpetual discussions in the Christian world, how do faith and works go together?  On the one hand we can read that "we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law." (Romans 3:28)  We are saved by God's grace alone through faith, and not by anything that we do.  On the other hand we can read in James that "faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead." (James 2:17).  It is here that Ephesians may provide a helpful way forward. 

Ephesians 2:8-9 reads like this:

For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift-not from works, so that no one can boast.  For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.

(Ephesians 2:8-9 HCSB)

This passage helps us to see that faith and good works, although distinct, do in fact, go together.   We are saved by grace through faith, and the passage makes very clear that it is not because of anything that we do,  it is God's doing.  But in the very next verse, so as not to miss the point, good works are brought into the picture.  Although not saved by good works, we are saved for good works.  Although faith and works are two distinct things, they do go together.  

Below is a link to a very helpful discussion of this theme by Timothy Keller.  It is a short video in which he discusses Justification and Sanctification.  He makes the argument that they are two distinct ideas, but two that cannot be separated.  As you will see, it speaks quite directly to our discussion today and brings some very valuable insight.

Tim Keller on Justification and Sanctification

Hopefully you find it as helpful and interesting as I did.

Although I would like to be able to recommend the book that he mentions in the clip, I have yet to read it.  I was generously given a copy by a colleague but my wife took it and began to read it before I could.  I can say, however, that she turns to me every night to tell me how great a book it is and tries to read to me from it. 

Oh Canada - Let's not be overly romantic...

It was not that long ago that "coloured" people were barred from drinking fountains, restaurants, pool halls and barbers in the South - Southern Ontario that is.  It may come as a surprise to many who see Canada as an example of multiculturalism and tolerance to hear such stories from as late as the 1950's.  The reality, however, is that up to a hundred years after being the last stop on the underground railway, black residents still experienced severe discrimination in many communities.  One such community was Dresden, Ontario, itself a last stop on the railway, and a community that would be the focus of civil rights action in Canada in the 1950's.

Below is a link to a very interesting radio documentary that aired on CBC program, The Current.  This program tells the story of a relatively unsung hero in the Canadian fight for civil rights named Hugh Burnett.   Hugh was a carpenter in Dresden Ontario who would become the prominent figure in the fight for civil rights in Ontario.  It is a fascinating story and well worth the time it takes to listen.

As Missiologist Leslie Newbigin once said, "History is a conversation between the past and the present about the future."  These stories become important for understanding who we are and for shaping where we go as a country.  If we hear such stories and are surprised, then perhaps it indicates the importance of engaging with these stories, ensuring that we don't create a romantic, revisionist understanding of ourselves, but seek the truth.  I have to admit that I was a bit surprised to hear of the depth and the blatancy of discrimination.  I still have much to learn.

CBC The Current - Hugh Burnett 

Update Tuesday

This past weekend marked the first full Easter Weekend celebrations by the Hamilton Fellowships.  It was a true blessing to be able to celebrate all the events of Easter here in the Hammer. 

We began with a Good Friday communion service on Friday morning where we gathered with members from our Fellowships in an intimate time of reflection and sharing the Lord's supper.   Looking to Genesis 12 and seeing the many aspects of Passover Lamb that were fulfilled by Jesus we reflected on what it means to understand Jesus as the ultimate Passover Lamb.  We then entered a time of sharing the Lord's supper in remembrance and proclamation of His great sacrifice.

Friday night my family held a dinner for the guys that I meet with on a street corner here in Hamilton each Monday morning.  Some are homeless and all of them live below the poverty line.  Over a year ago I began meeting with this group of guys who go through recycling bins each garbage day looking for empty alcohol or beer containers that can be returned to the store for a deposit.  I take coffee and sandwiches each week, talk, listen, pray for them and have built relationships with a few of them.  I invited a number of them for dinner on Friday and two thirds of whom I invited showed up (which based on my experience is a really good turn out)!  Those who came shared a meal, a lot of conversation and fellowship staying almost 3 hours.   It was a great opportunity to get to know them more intimately and to further our relationship.  I have a lot more that I will be able to follow up with them about.  I have already had a follow up conversation with one which provided an opportunity to invite him to our Fellowship group on Wednesdays.    

Sunday morning was another great time of celebration during which we shared an Easter brunch together followed by a time of celebrating the resurrection with music and a word from 1 Corinthians 15.  It was great to be together with friends and family, both new and old.

Missional Monday-teaching them to obey

If you do not have the gift of hospitality, do you never have anyone over for dinner ever? Surely not. I see a similar parallel in the idea of teaching when it comes to the Great Commission. We may not be a vocational preacher or teacher, but surely we can help someone younger in the faith move towards a deeper understanding of Jesus.
If a disciple is meant to go and make disciples, that will include the command to "teach them to obey everything I have commanded." And if we teach them to obey everything, this must include teaching the command to make disciples, and that includes the teaching. There is an inherent, built in multiplication within this command from Jesus and it is built on the premise that all disciples can participate in helping another learn and obey the teachings of the faith. We all can, and should participate,in some capacity, in helping another grow in spiritual maturity.
This idea of teaching is probably the most intimidating part of the Great Commission for many. "What happens if someone asks a question that I don't have an answer for?" "I don't know enough to share with someone else." These can be paralyzing thoughts. If this is where you find yourself let me offer just a few ideas:

1) Are you a disciple yourself continuing to grow and learn. If you are stagnant, then yes, it will be hard to ever help someone else. But if you are continually growing, God can and will use you. Just share what you know.

2) Who are those around you who are younger in the faith? If your church does not have any, the church may need to ask why, but that is another question. Begin to engage with them and you will find how what you have learned over the years might be of benefit.

3) Lastly, let me share the most liberating words you could ever learn- "I don't know." No one expects you to know everything. Just be honest and most people respect that. If something comes up that you don't know then there is an opportunity to learn together.

It is a bit intimidating, but we can all participate in the process of making disciples. I tend to see it as an amazing invitation by Jesus to participate in His mission. But lets be honest, it is a command as well. But if He commands us then surely He will equip us. And let us not forget that He is with us to the end of the age.