Operation

Perhaps It is because I have recently had the opportunity to hear a surgeon give a detailed description of one of the surgeries they perform, but I have been in awe of the human body. Hearing the surgeon left me amazed in two ways. Firstly, as she shared about the complexity of the human body and mind I could not help but be astounded. I found myself thinking that surely something this amazingly complex, intricate and finely tuned is not the product of random chance, but an intentional and finely crafted masterpiece. If the master crafter is, as I believe He is, this God that we worship then He truly we should be brought to a sense of awe and wonder, worship and praise. Secondly, as I heard the surgeon sharing about surgery, I was astounded by the depth of knowledge, insight and skill that our medical professionals have. The things that they have learned, and the things that they can do are truly astounding. I truly believe that God has guided this process too. All too often we can take our medical system and medical professionals for granted. We are no longer left with a sense of awe when we are healed of what we would consider common conditions. The mere fact that we have common cures and routine treatments is amazing in and of itself! Then there are the complex surgeries to truly amaze us. I hope that we do not take such things for granted. Not only can we be tempted to take it for granted, we can also forget to give thanks where thanks is due. We cannot forget that although God can do miracles, he also lies behind the healing that we experience everyday. We look for miracles, but cannot overlook the providential. God is at work healing people all around us everyday and we must give thanks for that as well. I have been challenged to give God thanks and praise for this amazing organism that is the human body, and for the many ways that he can bring healing whether by miracle, family physician or surgeon.

Monopoly

If there is a board game that has achieved pop culture icon status it is certainly Monopoly! I have to admit that although Monopoly is one of the first games that comes to mind I have been hard pressed to find an analogy to the Christian walk. A game that is based on greed, cut throat business and putting all others into bankruptcy didn't ring any immediate bells or bring to mind any of Jesus' teachings. That changed, however, after hearing my mom describe her last game with my kids. While at the cottage my mom played Monopoly with my children. To my surprise she related just how sympathetic and compassionately my son played the game. i say surprised because he is usually quite competitive and cut throat when he plays me! With his grandmother, however, it was a different story. My mother wasn't having the best game, and quickly found herself falling behind. It wasn't long before she was running out of money and did not have enough to pay the rent on the properties she was landing on. It was then that my son began to give her some of his money (he was having quite a good game) and paying her bills in order that she might stay in the game. It was here that I began to consider how, on a certain level this is what Jesus did for us.
Scripture tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is a consequence for that sin, and a price to be paid. Here is what is so amazing...that Jesus, "who, being in very nature God, would not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance of a man, he humbled Himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:6-8). Jesus humbled Himself, giving up the status and privilege of heaven to enter our reality - to enter our game. And while in the game he chose to pay the price and take on the consequences of our sin. In other words he paid our debt in order that we might carry on.
Amazing grace it truly is.

Hockey

Maybe it is because my church meets in a hockey arena and hockey season has just begun, or maybe it is because I have been working on a hockey theme song to submit to the CBC, but I have been thinking a bit about hockey. In Canada, it is hard to think about pop culture and not eventually come to hockey (don’t worry if you are American just substite football and the rest of the world substitute football as well…which is soccer to Americans!) I love some of the analogies I see in hockey that help me focus on what it is as a church we are supposed to be about. Have you ever thought about the bench before? Players go there for a bit of coaching, some direction and strategy. They go there to catch their breath before their next shift, to drink some fluids and maybe check on their equipment. If they are injured they go to get helped by the trainer. The bench is only a temporary stop to help ensure the best performance from the players on their next shift. It is not pretty – its stinks. It is not glorified – it is simple and crude. It is not the center of attention – it serves the game.
Our gatherings should, in some respects, be the same. It is not all about good food, great music, pyrotechnics and preaching that makes us laugh and makes us cry and is better than Cats. There is nothing wrong with this stuff if it does not turn our attention away from the game going on around us. I see my Sunday morning as an opportunity to spend time with the coach and hear a word from Him. Whoever is delivering the message I see as an assistant coach, helping us to understand more clearly and to turn our attention back to the teaching, strategy and purpose set out by our Head coach, Jesus. Pastors may be assistant coaches at best but more often then not are trainers helping heal the wounded, or equipment managers helping equip the congregation for ministry. I think that maybe what Paul was referring to in Ephesians 4:11-12 when he states that Jesus gave “some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service…”
Another thing I notice is that on the hockey bench, aside from a back up goalie, there are no extras or bench warmers. Hockey is played in shifts, and although some may play significantly more than others there is an expectation that everyone will contribute. Everyone expects to play, everyone wants to play and they are very frustrated if they sit on the bench for too long. I hope that we all have the same desire to get out on the ice and play. Let’s face it when you sit too long you get out of shape and out of practice and it will frustrate our spiritual life. There is too much work and the stakes are too high to have bench warmers. As we gather together my prayer is that we might think of ourselves as on the bench. We can celebrate and cheer as we share what God has done in our midst throughout the week. We can catch our breath and get some Gatorade. We can get some help to fix our laces and sharpen our skates. We can use some time to mend the bruises or stitch the cuts. We can get some coaching as we meet with Jesus and get clarification from our assistant coaches. We can get our encouragement and our pat on the back. But it does not end there. We do all this so that we can get back out on the ice and play to win.

Crayola Crayons

Crayola Crayons made their debut in 1903, were sold in a pack of eight, included the colours black, brown, blue, red, purple, orange, yellow and green and were sold for a nickel! Times have changed a bit and today there are over 100 different types of Crayola Crayons costing a little bit more than a nickel. It got me thinking about all that we have, and all that we have access to. It got me thinking about thanksgiving and contentment.
I have some friends that just recently came back from a mission trip to Kenya where they served in a church that was in a slum area. They were helping the church put on a Vacation Bible School program for the community. One thing that really struck them was the colouring portion of the day. All the kids would spend up to an hour each day colouring with colouring sheets and crayons. The most remarkable thing was that each child received just one crayon. There were opportunities throughout the hour to exchange the crayon for another colour, but each child only had one crayon at a time and patiently used the crayon to its fullest. Even more than just patiently, however, the children used the one crayon with excitement and enthusiasm. Would I have been so appreciative about the opportunity to use a single crayon? I often find myself thinking about all that I need (which stated more accurately would read all that I want) that I miss the opportunity to be thankful for what I have. Why is it that so often the more that we have the more we want? That which we have should lead us to offer prayers of thanksgiving to God who provides for our every need, but ironically it can give us a sense of security or a hunger for more that distracts us from Him instead.
I am praying that I too might return to the sense of wonder, awe and thanksgiving that a single crayon can provide.

Tiny Tom Donuts

Ok, so unless you have grown up around the Toronto area, and the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) has been a yearly end of summer pilgrimage, you may never have heard of a Tiny Tom Donut. If you have experienced this long time pillar of the CNE experience, there is no doubt that it is a deeply rooted pop culture phenomena. At the Ex (that what we call the CNE) you can find Tiny Tom vending trailers where you can watch these tiny donuts being made fresh before your eyes. When you purchase them, the fresh warm mini donuts are placed in a bag and then icing sugar (or now you can choose cinnamon, apple and cinnamon or chocolate) is sprinkled on top. I have discovered two little keys to maximum enjoyment. Firstly, you always give the bag an extra shake to ensure full coverage by the icing sugar. Secondly, they are best enjoyed warm and fresh not only because the donut is fresh, but because the icing sugar sticks the best. If you wait too long, the icing sugar can fall to the bottom of the bag, harden a bit, and is much more difficult to get on the donut. It is here that I found myself thinking about the life experience.
How often do we attempt to understand ourselves, define ourselves and change ourselves by externals? When it comes to bettering ourselves we can so often focus on external things, adding or subtracting habits, foods, material things etc. We approach it all from the external, and all from our own power with varying degrees of success and longevity. When it comes to the Christian experience, there is one powerful difference for which I am so grateful. Although there is much in the Christian walk calling us to change, to strive for holiness and to be transformed more and more to the image of Jesus Christ, we are not left to do it on our own. Sanctification is the term we use for the progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and like Christ in our actual lives. Firstly, we are given God the Holy Spirit to dwell within us to change us and give us greater holiness of life. God calls us to it, but importantly also gives us the power of the divine to dwell within equipping us to make those changes reality. Secondly, this change is internal, initiating from the deepest part of who we are. The change will manifest itself in external things that can be seen, but they are the fruit of internal change and can not so easily be shaken off.

Ms. Pac Man

I had the opportunity to take my kids to an old beachside arcade that I remember going to as a kid. Apparently it had the same game machines as when I remember being there last, it was great! The games only cost a quarter and were the great classic games. I played Ms. Pac Man myself. Although I thought it was great, my kids were underwhelmed to say the least. Eventually they came around and recognized the true history lesson they were having the opportunity to live out! Ok, maybe they just found some games they thought were funny enough to be amusing, but we had a good time.
I should not be surprised that they were less than impressed when I consider the level of sophistication that the video games that they experience have achieved. I must admit I am awed at the technological advancements. I am also, however, astounded at some of the content in these new video games and am left wondering how it could ever be classified as entertainment! Someone recently showed me a brief edited clip from a current video game to give me just a glimpse of what is out there. He said it took him 4 hours to edit the clip so as to find enough footage to give us a taste but to avoid the really graphic stuff. I remember thinking that if sex with a prostitute in the front seat of a car, along with colourful play by play commentary by the prostitute herself, followed by her murder in order to get the money back was not the really graphic stuff I don’t want to know what is! Unfortunately, it seems that we have taken these amazing technical advancements and in many cases used them to present explicit language, explicit sexuality and extreme violence in the most extremely realistic presentation we have ever been able to create.
I want to avoid coming out with a blanket “this is the Christian response” type post but there are a few significant questions (Ok, there are innumerable questions but here are a few to start with) that I think we who claim to follow Christ should be asking ourselves when it comes to such material.
Firstly, is this the kind of material that we want to be promoting? When we play it, talk about it, invite others and specifically when we buy it, we are promoting it. Our culture runs on supply and demand, and when we become part of the demand we are implicitly asking for more of this to be produced.
Secondly, how is this affecting us? Sadly I think that there are many who would say that they don’t agree with the content, but that they know it is just a game at that it does not affect them. I am not one to claim that just because you played a violent video game you are going to go out a kill someone. But, let’s be realistic, if we claim that we can sit and engage with this stuff for hours on end and then not be affected we are just kidding ourselves. At the very least it desensitizes us. The mere fact that some of us could watch this type of sex and violence and claim that it does not affect us is proof in itself. These are not documentaries trying to open our eyes to the realities around us. They are not ever satires meant to graphically point out the foolishness of it. These are games glorifying depravity and evil and inviting us to play along. They are glorifying things that break God’s heart about our world, and if our hearts are not broken as well, then I would argue that we have become desensitized. This brings me to my last question.
How does this affect my witness? When we are desensitized to the things that break God’s heart, when we choose to engage in it and even worse when we can laugh at it, how well are we representing God? As Christians is it not our job to represent God’s heart to the world around us, to be ambassadors of the kingdom and to have God make His appeal through us to be reconciled unto Himself? We should be heart broken about what breaks God’s heart. We should be angry when evil is glorified and we should be motivated to respond!
Video games, along with all other forms of media and entertainment, are extremely influential in shaping our worldview. We should be asking ourselves what is the effect of exposing our culture, our kids and let’s not forget ourselves to such extremely realistic portrayals of pornography (yes, I would call watching and listening to sex with a prostitute porn), violence and explicit material.

The Twinkie

The Twinkie is definitely an American icon that has achieved world wide recognition. They look great, taste great and have some slick packaging. The reality is, however, that a steady diet of these things would be terrible for your health. With the amount of sugar, preservatives and other odd man made ingredients I think that Twinkies have a longer shelf life than I do! Although they are a fun snack they don’t have much to offer in terms of sustenance and health.
When I consider the spiritual climate of the world I live in I see some parallels. There is no shortage of pop religion, philosophy and psychology to be had. There is a steady diet of man made ideas and world views being sold to us. Many of them have elaborate flashy packaging. Many of them, like Twinkies, are designed to be very appealing, palatable and very accessible, but are too short on truth to ever provide any sustenance. If we ever hope to stay healthy in this world, we will need to get back to basics and keep it simple. Just like real fruits and vegetables will always make a healthier snack option, we need to get back to real truth. We need to get back to basics and read our bible which alone can provide the truth to sustain us. It is simple in concept but one that is so important. When we are steeped in God’s Word we will then be able to discern what is truth and what is deception, what is healthy and what is a hindrance to our spiritual walk. We will be far healthier where our spiritual life is concerned.