Defining Church

I've been working on a definition of the church.  It's for our upcoming sermon series.  I'd like to develop a definition that would allow me to explore a single word from the definition each Sunday.  The whole venture could take six to eight weeks.

Here's what I've got so far:

The Church is the community of the Father, Son, and Spirit--baptized--that live and proclaim the kingdom of God in the world.

We'll begin on Sunday, April 28th.

Getting Closer...

"Get closer."  It came as God's invitation to a distant pastor.  Me.

I'm exiting the most difficult ministry season of my life.  It has been a year of wrestling with heaviness, fear, loneliness, and sin.  

But something is different now, after God's invitation.  I'm leaning in; I'm picking up the phone and calling people.  Some are scary conversations; some are not so scary.  I don't have much to say.  I don't have much to lose.  Just an invitation from God and a mind and heart that is ready to listen.

So, I blogged about it.  There.  It's another way for me to become vulnerable and let you in on my ideas and musings.

Pastural theology

Lately, I've been thinking about farming.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not planning to forsake my ordination vows. Nor am I considering the bi-vocational option of preaching by day and raising chickens by night. Instead, I've been considering the origins of the pastoral office.

Tonight I read this quote from God found in Ezekiel 34, "I will pasture [my people] on the mountains of Israel." The words, "I will pasture" struck me.

First, I was reminded that God is the example a good shepherd.

Second, I realized that the shepherd doesn't feed the sheep, she finds good land for them graze.

Third, I determined that good grazing land is safe land. Therefore a shepherd must guard and protect his sheep from threats--both within and out.

Fourth, I figured that part of the third thing was that a hungry shepherd should not eat the sheep.

Fifth, I wondered if there was anything else I was missing in the shepherding role.

Sixth, I decided that I couldn't think of anything else.

In summary: Learn from God. Find good land. Protect the flock. Don't eat the sheep.

Our Team

Our team has some big ideas. Find out this Sunday at HMC.

Hello from my new study

I'm officially in a new office.

While I was away on holidays my workspace was relocated (don't worry, I agreed with the move before I left). My new space has a similar look to the former (squarish space with one window and one door) but now it's in a low-traffic high-cinderblock laden section of the church.

Since I love drywall and seeing people hanging around in the foyer mid-week, I was apprehensive at first. But now, after one week, my new office is starting to feel like home.

Thanks to all of you who have contributed to the move and design of my new study! I couldn't have done it without you.

Is it weird if I call it a study?

Preacher sends crowd scrambling for the exit

It's been awhile. I've been neglectful lately. I'm sorry.

I spent last week speaking in evening chapels at Mishewah family camp. It's one of our denominational camps near Pembroke, Ontario. My family was there with a handful of others from HMC, a whole lot of people from other parts of the province, and countless blood-thristy mosquitos.

The most interesting part of the camp experience happened shortly after I started preaching on the last night. The winds suddenly picked up and the rain began to pour down and--lo and behold--half the people got up and ran out. I think they went scurrying to close their trailer windows and secure their tent pegs, but I'm not sure. Some may have used the storm as a convenient time to escape the deep Holy Spirit conviction that they were feeling. But I haven't ruled out the possibility that it might have been the preacher.

Now, I'm looking forward to being back at my post on Sunday morning (I've been on holidays this week too). That kind of thing doesn't usually happen on Sunday mornings in Hanover. But I think I'll advise everyone to keep their windows up and items secured before they come to the worship service just in case.

Christ Plays in at least 10,000 Places

I'm finally finished.

I set a goal for myself back a year or two ago to read through Eugene Peterson's 5 volume spiritual theology series. Tonight I turned the last page in my final book, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places.

If you know anything about the series you'll know that this book is actually his first of the five. I picked it up in February while visiting Regent College in Vancouver. A friendly enrolment specialist issued me a $20 gift card for the bookstore. The book choice was a no-brainer. Both the visit and the title were on my list of goals for 2011. Now they're both checked off.

I'll pass along two profound excerpts:

"Stories are verbal acts of hospitality" (p. 13)

"The community of God's people has survived... always as a minority, always marginal to the mainstream, never statistically significant. It gives us pause. If we, as the continuing company of Jesus, seem to have achieved an easy accommodation with our society and culture, how did we pull off what Jesus and the community of Jesus failed to accomplish?" (p. 288)

Did you catch that last sentence?

I wonder, have we done a better job of Christianizing our society--and remember, societies don't follow Jesus, only people do--or socializing our Christianity?