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The Soul-Filling Impact of Good Friday

April 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

For many Christ followers, Good Friday is merely the warm-up act to the main event; Easter Sunday. But I believe there is tremendous “soul-filling” value in focusing on a key moment in the Good Friday narrative.

It starts by looking at two critical “walks” that God took with his people.

The first walk took place in the Garden of Eden, where Genesis records how God would walk in the garden with Adam “in the cool of the day.” Imagine how much God must have enjoyed those times, simply strolling with His people, just doing life together.

But the next “walk” we read about takes place in a very different reality. God was about to lead Moses and the Israelites on a 40-year walk through the wilderness. But the presence of sin meant that God would not be able to enjoy the kind of communion he enjoyed in Eden.

Instead, God instructed Moses to:

Make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim worked into it by a skilled craftsman…The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. (Exodus 26: 31–33)

 

That curtain came to symbolize the separation between God and his people.

But on Good Friday, everything changed. At the moment where our Savior cried out, “It is finished!” we read that:

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. (Matthew 26:51)

 

It was as if God reached down out of heaven, took hold of that symbol of separation and ripped it apart with his bare hands! In that moment God was declaring, “No more separation! With the sacrifice of My beloved Son, communion is restored. We will once again walk together, just as we did back in Eden.”

As followers of Christ we live in the power of the resurrection, making Easter Sunday a day completely worthy of celebration.

But on Good Friday, let me urge you to take time to remember the ripping apart of the veil. For it was in that moment that God declared for all time that you and I would walk together with Him, “in the cool of the day.”

Filed Under: Canadian, Community, Featured, Joy, Missional Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

How God Used Africa to Stretch My Heart

April 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Last week I had the privilege of visiting Ecuador with our partners at Compassion Canada. I posted some reflections on my blog March 30th. I’ve also been fortunate enough to visit the work of another key partner, World Vision Canada. Below is a re-post of my reflections from that incredible trip.

———

[Originally posted September 7, 2010]

I’ve just experienced a truly incredible morning.

Here at the Bakubung Bush Lodge in South Africa we woke early to catch the sunrise. Under a brilliant orange sky we saw and heard South Africa Day 9the wilds of Africa come to life, with exotic birds bursting into song and a herd of wildebeests wandering by.

In this remarkable setting I took the time to reflect on this two-week South African odyssey I’ve been privileged to experience. With our World Vision hosts and a group of Canadian pastors, I spent time in some of this country’s most beautiful and affluent areas, as well as her most desperately needy regions.

I thought back to the days leading up to this journey, and specifically to the ways in which I believe God was preparing my heart. I had sensed a very real challenge from God’s Spirit to not simply come and look at what’s happening around me, but to really see things in and through God’s perspective.

So, what did I see?

  • I saw people who’s annual earnings most of us will spend on a month of Starbucks coffee, but who are rich in their love for God. To have had the privilege to worship with these people was to experience a freedom in worship I’ve rarely seen before.
  • I saw people whose generosity was not contingent upon their level of income. Among communities of people with very little of what the world would call “wealth” there was a consistent spirit of looking out for those with even less.
  • I saw in the hearts of the Canadian pastors on the trip a spirit of compassion and mercy that should inspire all Canadian Christ-followers. Their genuine love for the people we met should come as no surprise, but it was nonetheless affirming to see such care demonstrated.
  • I saw God do a work in my own heart. I was challenged to examine my own life and my own priorities. I found God changing my definitions of words like “necessities”, “security”, “possessions” and “needs”.

My final reflection would be that, as a result of this life-changing trip, I find that my resolve to see the Church in Canada become stronger, healthier and more vibrant to be more intensified than ever.

Because I believe to the core of my being that God has a truly global role for the Canadian Church to play. And the more we can see our churches prevail, the more we will see God work through us to truly make a global difference.

I can’t wait to see what the future holds. For all of us.

Filed Under: Community, Featured, Joy, Missional Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Beware of These 5 Seductive Churches

March 9, 2012 By 2 Comments

Here’s a question that could reveal an awful lot about the health of your church.

“What church are you in love with…really?”

You see, you can often discern a church’s vital signs by how much love the senior pastor has for his congregation.

Really.

And few seductions can steal a pastor’s heart away from his congregation quite like the lure of another church.

These are what I have found to be the 5 most common churches that can steal a pastor’s heart:

1.   The church you want to lead
If you find yourself saying, “Man, I can’t wait until we’re a younger, hipper church” you may be falling out of love with your present congregation.

2.   Your former church
You might be infatuated with an earlier church in your ministry where you had a particularly good run. A classic warning sign would be if you find yourself looking out over your congregation and secretly asking, “Why can’t you be more like my old church?”

3.   Someone else’s church
“I wish I had Bill Hybels’ volunteers at my church.”
“I wish I had Craig Groeschel’s media people at my church.”
Other ministries can, and should, inspire your leadership. But heed the warning sign when you begin to romanticize their congregation.

4.   The “good ol’ days” church
If you’ve had a long ministry run in your present church you can find yourself waxing nostalgic for the way things used to be, and the people you used to have.

5.   A sub-set of your own church
You might love a particular group in your own church more than other groups. Here’s how you can tell. In referring to groups within your church do you ever find yourself using “us” and “them” language? For example, “Our church is on mission! But the seniors? They just don’t get it.”

To love your present congregation doesn’t mean to leave them as they are. To quote Bill Hybels, your job is to take them “from here to there”. But it’s these people you are to take on the journey, and to do so requires that you love them without reservation.

So be careful that these “other” churches don’t steal your heart. Because there is a direct link between your love for your church and the health of your church.

How do you remain “in love” with your church?

Filed Under: Church, Community, Featured, Temptation Tagged With: , , ,

Repost – How Your Family Can Survive Multiple Christmas Eve Services

December 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If you serve on the staff of a church with multiple Christmas Eve services, you may already feel the tension mounting.

You know that this is one of the highest-impact seasons on the church calendar, and yet if you have school-aged children (or younger) no season of the year demands more of your family’s attention.

It’s the classic Christmas tug-o-war.

In my early days as executive pastor in a church of 2500, with six Christmas Eve services, I felt this tension mount every year at this time.

On the one hand, since Christmas Eve was like our church’s ‘Super Bowl’, I felt I needed to lead by example by being there for each service.

On the other hand, we had family Christmas traditions to uphold, and I

didn’t want to let down my wife and children.

By my third year, however, I had learned that it really is possible to be fully engaged in multiple Christmas Eve services, and still be fully present with my family. And if you find yourself in the same stage of life, this can be true for you too.

The key, I learned, is to fully engage your family in your church’s Christmas Eve celebrations. Rather than looking at our Christmas Eve services as something that was taking me away from my family, all five of us became volunteer maniacs at Christmas, and it became an irreplaceable part of our family Christmas traditions.

Specifically we learned four vital ingredients to achieving this:

  • Getting your children excited about the genuine fun of serving in the Christmas Eve services.
  • Guiding them into volunteer roles that interest them and suit them.
  • Reconnecting as a family during breaks between services.
  • Throwing yourselves a family party when the last service is over.

Try it. You really can win the Christmas tug-o-war

How do you manage this tension?

Filed Under: Christmas, Community, Joy Tagged With: , , ,

3 Things That Irritate Christians About Christmas (and what we should do about it)

December 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

For many Christ followers, few things are more irritating than the way the world has “messed up” Christmas.

There are at least three distinct ways that many Christians are irritated by Christmas these days. Here’s what I believe they are, and how I believe we should respond.

Charlie BbrownIrritation #1: The Way the World MISPREPRESENTS the Sacred in Christmas

Sometimes the world tries to incorporate elements of our faith into their observance of Christmas, and often they just don’t get it.

Think It’s a Wonderful Life. So, are we to believe that part of the Christmas narrative is that angels need to perform good deeds in order to earn their wings? And when they succeed a bell rings? On a Christmas tree?

For many Christ followers this is exceedingly irritating.

Irritation #2: The Way the World HIJACKS the Sacred in Christmas

This irritation is typically found in the world’s commercialization of Christmas.

The other day I was listening to a radio commercial for a local muffler shop. They were pitching their “Annual Christmas Muffler Sale”, and the background music for their commercial was O Holy Night.

Again, for many a most irritating trend.

Irritation #3: The Way the World INGORES the Sacred in Christmas

Oooooh, this one really gets under the skin of many Christians.

First, “Christmas” became “X-Mas”…Then our nativity scenes started disappearing from city parks and town halls. Then “Merry Christmas” became “Happy Holidays”.

Where will the madness end?

How Christians have responded thus far.

Increasingly, Christians are responding to these irritations with angry letters to the editors, by jamming the phone lines on local talk radio shows and by threatening to boycott places of business who don’t say “Merry Christmas”.

May I suggest an alternative?

How should we respond?

Instead of protesting against culture, learn to engage the culture.

Look, even though our culture has indeed messed up much of the “holy” in Christmas, this is one of the rare times in the year that we’re all singing the same songs. We’re attending the same neighbourhood and office parties.

Never compromise on what we believe, but seize this wonderful season as an opportunity to engage the world in real, meaningful conversation about the true hope that Christmas represents.

Who knows? We may even turn a few “Happy Holidays” back into “Merry Christmases”!

How to you engage the culture during Christmas?

Filed Under: Christmas, Community Tagged With: , ,
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