Lately I have been realizing the prominent place of “story” in my life and the lives of the people around me. Sometimes it is easy to coast through life unaware, and in doing so, to miss out on the subtle plot lines and connections that God, the Master Storyteller, is weaving. There are lots of things that seem stressful or don’t make sense until we find their context in the greater story that is being written through our lives and the even greater stage of the community that we live and move within. When we can learn to see and trust His plot – that God is working all things for our good (Rom 8:28) – then we can develop more patience and endurance that we would otherwise have.
Another aspect of this that begins to take shape is the respect that we gain for others and their story. When we realize that each person has a unique story that their life is telling, we are not so quick to judge. We ask more questions and listen more in order to learn the background and the subtext of what we see on the surface of their lives. Sometimes I tend to be a worrier and take too much burden on myself for others’ well being and progress in their journey. Then one day I had the realization that as much as I care for people, how much more does God? And no matter how long I have been involved in their story I am only a blip – a minor character – compared to the Author of it. Even if they don’t know Him, God was forming them in their mother’s womb and has been working in their hearts all through their life. He wants to draw them to Himself – inviting them to participate in the greater story that He has designed with them in mind. It’s good to remember when we meet people that we are just entering a story that God has been writing in their lives for a long time. It humbles our posture as we seek to learn what God has been writing and seek to cooperate with the work He has already begun.
We also share a collective story with the community around us. In the Bible, God told the Israelites to remember and rehearse all the things that God had done for their people throughout history. This was a way for them to remember their shared story so as to honor and recognize God and their place in a larger family and community. These days many people have a strong desire to get caught up in a story that is greater than themselves. This is why reality TV shows and sports are so popular. There is a deep desire in the human heart to be caught up in a movement, to be a part of something transcendent or to feel connected to the greater whole of humanity. This is why God has chosen to write His story in the context of community. It is not as safe as watching a show on TV, but it is hugely more life-giving and ultimately satisfying. If you don’t have a community that you share life and story with, I encourage you to find one. I, for one, believe that spiritual community that runs on the power of the Holy Spirit produces the most amazing story that one can ever hope to be a part of.
This Sunday, Jan 31, we will celebrate our story as a community of faith at The Bridge. We have designated this Family Sunday (the last Sunday of each month) as a time to commemorate all that God has done in our lives over the past year. For many it’s been a hard year. But we can look back on our collective story and see that through it all, the Master Storyteller has been at work. And, even if we can’t always see it, we can trust that He is writing a grand adventure and a great masterpiece with an ending that will knock our socks off!
Ben is happy to find something to write about after a long absence of writing. He is currently hoping that his team, the Flames, can break a huge losing streak with a win over the lowly rival Oilers on Saturday.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Simplicity
We live in a world that is increasingly complex and diverse with a seemingly endless flow of opinions, beliefs and theologies. So much so that the weight of them has begun to tear the very fabric of our society. The myriad of messages that are communicated everyday have filled our minds with a mixture that has brought confusion and despair. Today we see more depression, discouragement and despair then we have ever seen in modern history, yet all in a time when there is more technology and books and self help programs then every before. Self-improvement is a multi-billion dollar industry. They, whoever “they” may be, have put labels on every emotional issue known to man. There are more disorders than ever before, there is a pill for everything that may ail you and yet thousands die from suicide, crime and aids every year. The world says that it is ok to live out your sexuality as you see fit and then wonders why there is an aids epidemic. It seams that the media and entertainment industry in a feeble attempt to justify their existence has created these problems by producing mixed messages that send our society into confusion so that they can make new TV shows, write new books and create more magazines to solve the problems that they have helped to created.
Bono recently launched an awesome program called RED. Basically he is getting huge retail corporations to donate a portion of the profits from the “RED” brand. The purpose is to provide medicine to third world peoples that need help. Now I think what Bono is trying to accomplish is great but there rings an arrogance that the very companies that are participating have their products made in sweat shops in these same countries and don’t pay enough that the workers can afford medicine. Interesting that all the celebrities that are jumping on are the same ones that promote a permissive lifestyle that has contributed to the aids epidemic but are giving their names to this project to provide aids medicine. This is the paradox of mixed messages I am talking about. We have heard it said that life moves faster today but we have the same 24 hours that have been around since the clock was invented. We have the new technology to do more in the 24 hours but it seems at times that we are moving backwards.
So where does the church fit into all this? What message do we have that can stop the madness and why are we not speaking it out? I think personally we have fallen into the same trap and it has weakened our message. We have become irrelevant and disconnected to the truth we preach. We have more preachers, more ministries, more Christian media, more Christian education then ever before but it seems like we have more dysfunction, more division and more personal agendas as well. The fact is that Christendom is also a multi-billion dollar business and we continue to argue over who has the right doctrine, who has the best ministry, which preacher is the best and so on. There is more teaching on leadership in both the world and the church yet there is a leadership crisis in both places. In George Barna’s book “Revolution” he surmises after much research that the church has become so irrelevant that unless something dramatically changes there may not be a next generation. Thankfully God has always provided a radical remnant to lead the charge. So what is the answer? Is it a complex dissertation on the meaning of life or a world gathering of scholars to give us a clear path to a bright future? Maybe more books and seminars and conferences or we could add more church services to the week. Get everyone even busier then they are now, that will bring revival. No it is just the opposite! The solution is so simple that we call it cliché.
It is found in Matthew 11:28-30 “come to me, ALL who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me. For I am gentle, and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and burden is light.”
We must return to our first love - to the place of peace and rest that God designed us for. We must return to a life of simplicity.
Love God! Love our neighbors! Love ourselves!
“Love God” is foundational because He is the one who created us, He knows us best He knows what we can handle and what we cannot. I think we have complicated faith in God to the point we have lost the simplicity of the love of God. He made us from an outflow of His love. So it is only His love that can give us life. It is His love that brings perspective and value to our lives. We have allowed the clutter of information and opinions to cloud the simple truth of God’s love. We have value because He created us to be an expression of His love and creativity. Think about the fact that each person that has ever lived or who will live has a unique DNA that no one else will have. We each have unique personalities and appearances. The thing that is so great about God is that with all the complexities and millions of unique little things in His creation, He was able to bring all that into a simple point of expression through Jesus Christ. All He is, His very nature and Life can be simplified by looking at the life and times of His Son Jesus. It doesn’t get any simpler then that. He loved us so much that He gave His only Begotten Son, so all we have to do is believe in Him and we will have eternal ABUNDANT life!
“Love our neighbor” Just as we are an outflow of God’s Love so we must see the flow of love continue outward. He did not create us to be containers but to be conduit. For us to have perpetual peace in life His Life must continue on through us. We are the portholes for heaven to touch earth. The world with all its messages and ideologies is really all summed up in one thing. They are looking for love and meaning. We know the one who can give them both and it is we who through allowing Him to flow through us to others will bring them the answer. If we are so busy and cluttered with information then what is flowing from us? We will add to the confusion and rather then being a place of rest and refuge for the world we join the rat race. We get caught up on the hamster wheel and it weakens our message because we look the same. The power of the love of God is that it gives rest. The more we fill ourselves with knowledge and busyness the less room there is for His Life. “Come all who are weary and I will give you rest”
“Love yourself” the world’s message is to be “lovers of self” but God’s love compels us to love who He loves - including ourselves. The type of loving self that the world is offering is the basis of all the confusion. The opposite of love is not hate - it is selfishness. If you look at every war or every tear in our society’s fabric it is rooted in selfishness. The very message the world is giving is self-gratification. And before we think it’s just out there, in the church we call it self-righteousness and whole theologies and organizations have been built on it. God’s Love calls us to love ourselves in such a way that it is rooted in humility and a giving heart. It is simply accepting who He made you to be. Accepting the gifts and abilities He has given you by using them to Love Him and others. It is our act of worship and worship always comes out of a place of intimacy and rest or it is not truly worship. By being grateful for the life he has given you, good or bad, knowing He will use it all for the good of those who love Him including YOU!
So the conclusion…lets get rid of the clutter and come back to the basics. Love God with ALL your heart and let that Love flow to others knowing that God’s purpose for you is to live in simplicity because His yoke is easy and His burden is light!
Mark is an author, counsellor and proud family man. He is currently working on a book about how discovering the value in your life changes the way you respond to the world.
Bono recently launched an awesome program called RED. Basically he is getting huge retail corporations to donate a portion of the profits from the “RED” brand. The purpose is to provide medicine to third world peoples that need help. Now I think what Bono is trying to accomplish is great but there rings an arrogance that the very companies that are participating have their products made in sweat shops in these same countries and don’t pay enough that the workers can afford medicine. Interesting that all the celebrities that are jumping on are the same ones that promote a permissive lifestyle that has contributed to the aids epidemic but are giving their names to this project to provide aids medicine. This is the paradox of mixed messages I am talking about. We have heard it said that life moves faster today but we have the same 24 hours that have been around since the clock was invented. We have the new technology to do more in the 24 hours but it seems at times that we are moving backwards.
So where does the church fit into all this? What message do we have that can stop the madness and why are we not speaking it out? I think personally we have fallen into the same trap and it has weakened our message. We have become irrelevant and disconnected to the truth we preach. We have more preachers, more ministries, more Christian media, more Christian education then ever before but it seems like we have more dysfunction, more division and more personal agendas as well. The fact is that Christendom is also a multi-billion dollar business and we continue to argue over who has the right doctrine, who has the best ministry, which preacher is the best and so on. There is more teaching on leadership in both the world and the church yet there is a leadership crisis in both places. In George Barna’s book “Revolution” he surmises after much research that the church has become so irrelevant that unless something dramatically changes there may not be a next generation. Thankfully God has always provided a radical remnant to lead the charge. So what is the answer? Is it a complex dissertation on the meaning of life or a world gathering of scholars to give us a clear path to a bright future? Maybe more books and seminars and conferences or we could add more church services to the week. Get everyone even busier then they are now, that will bring revival. No it is just the opposite! The solution is so simple that we call it cliché.
It is found in Matthew 11:28-30 “come to me, ALL who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me. For I am gentle, and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and burden is light.”
We must return to our first love - to the place of peace and rest that God designed us for. We must return to a life of simplicity.
Love God! Love our neighbors! Love ourselves!
“Love God” is foundational because He is the one who created us, He knows us best He knows what we can handle and what we cannot. I think we have complicated faith in God to the point we have lost the simplicity of the love of God. He made us from an outflow of His love. So it is only His love that can give us life. It is His love that brings perspective and value to our lives. We have allowed the clutter of information and opinions to cloud the simple truth of God’s love. We have value because He created us to be an expression of His love and creativity. Think about the fact that each person that has ever lived or who will live has a unique DNA that no one else will have. We each have unique personalities and appearances. The thing that is so great about God is that with all the complexities and millions of unique little things in His creation, He was able to bring all that into a simple point of expression through Jesus Christ. All He is, His very nature and Life can be simplified by looking at the life and times of His Son Jesus. It doesn’t get any simpler then that. He loved us so much that He gave His only Begotten Son, so all we have to do is believe in Him and we will have eternal ABUNDANT life!
“Love our neighbor” Just as we are an outflow of God’s Love so we must see the flow of love continue outward. He did not create us to be containers but to be conduit. For us to have perpetual peace in life His Life must continue on through us. We are the portholes for heaven to touch earth. The world with all its messages and ideologies is really all summed up in one thing. They are looking for love and meaning. We know the one who can give them both and it is we who through allowing Him to flow through us to others will bring them the answer. If we are so busy and cluttered with information then what is flowing from us? We will add to the confusion and rather then being a place of rest and refuge for the world we join the rat race. We get caught up on the hamster wheel and it weakens our message because we look the same. The power of the love of God is that it gives rest. The more we fill ourselves with knowledge and busyness the less room there is for His Life. “Come all who are weary and I will give you rest”
“Love yourself” the world’s message is to be “lovers of self” but God’s love compels us to love who He loves - including ourselves. The type of loving self that the world is offering is the basis of all the confusion. The opposite of love is not hate - it is selfishness. If you look at every war or every tear in our society’s fabric it is rooted in selfishness. The very message the world is giving is self-gratification. And before we think it’s just out there, in the church we call it self-righteousness and whole theologies and organizations have been built on it. God’s Love calls us to love ourselves in such a way that it is rooted in humility and a giving heart. It is simply accepting who He made you to be. Accepting the gifts and abilities He has given you by using them to Love Him and others. It is our act of worship and worship always comes out of a place of intimacy and rest or it is not truly worship. By being grateful for the life he has given you, good or bad, knowing He will use it all for the good of those who love Him including YOU!
So the conclusion…lets get rid of the clutter and come back to the basics. Love God with ALL your heart and let that Love flow to others knowing that God’s purpose for you is to live in simplicity because His yoke is easy and His burden is light!
Mark is an author, counsellor and proud family man. He is currently working on a book about how discovering the value in your life changes the way you respond to the world.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Loving Money
When I woke up this morning there was one phrase from a Christmas song repeating in my mind, “Do they know it’s Christmas time at all?” With all the abundance of this Christmas I feel almost weighed down with material wealth. Despite my good intentions to give from my abundance to those less fortunate, I realize that practically, I really do very little. Sure, I give my token $30 a month to good causes, but the large majority of what I receive is spent on me or things kept for my well being without much thought of how much I could sacrifice to help those who have far far less than I could imagine. This fact really bothers me. It’s not right. I fear I might have gotten caught up in the materialism of my culture and not kept a balanced perspective on how I should share with the rest of the world. What would it look like to share equally with the rest of the world?As I walked along Mission Creek the other day pondering this, I wrestled with the fact that I really do want nice things. I really do desire money for dance classes. I really do desire to be able to afford a nicer house. And yet over the last two years as we have lived by faith (having a low salary and trusting God to bring in enough for our bills each month), I can’t complain for lack. God led us to a wonderful house that has been an abundant blessing. He has always, often miraculously, provided enough money for all our bills, including money for date nights at the movies, regular visits to coffee shops etc. Really we are very wealthy. As we have lived dependant on God we have been so happy. I remember a conversation with my husband that we would almost prefer to live by faith than to live dependent on a salary, because we didn’t have to fear or worry or ‘manage’ as much; we just lived and trusted that the money would be there and it always was. It was simple.
Even the small things we desired have been provided – from small things like needing fruit in the house and someone giving us a pile of extra fruit without knowing our need, to being thousands short and receiving cheques from unexpected and unknowing people, to personal things like desiring a nicer set of plates and bowls for our kitchen (as we have been living off our grandma’s old set for 7 years) - amazingly, without us mentioning anything, my mother-in-law bought a beautiful 8 piece set from a church sale, which ended up being the exact set I had secretly admired in the mall a few weeks earlier. God knows and He provides. “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart”.
Another Scripture came to mind, “You cannot serve both God and money”. It struck a deep chord in me. I realized that my mentality was twisted. I figured there were two choices: that I could live serving God and depend on Him to provide for me, or I could choose a lifestyle with a better paying job, manage my money myself and trust in my job to provide for my wants. How wrong! Even if I had a better paying job, my Provider is still the Lord. I must be so careful not to trust in money. Money comes and goes – it is not safe. Companies rise and fall. This is no place for security. God is my Provider. This means that even if I receive a pay check from a company, God is still providing that for me. My trust and hope cannot shift from him, so that if I lose my job I am not shaken or worried because nothing has changed – God is still providing for me in one way or another. He has just changed the means. Maybe it will be people bringing food over to the house, or someone lending us their car – one way or another I will be provided for and He will give me the desires of my heart.
I feel this is an important lesson for all of us. I feel God has started to challenge us as a nation regarding our security. I feel the lesson has begun but is not over. The world will continue to shift and shake and where we place our hope, our dependence and our security is very important. If we believe that a solid paycheck is the answer to security, we better work on changing our perspective or we may be quite shaken when it’s not there.
Perhaps simple living really is the answer for it all… when we depend on God we don’t have a tonne, but we have enough, and not just to scrape by, but to enjoy life too. When we give money away sacrificially to others, again we are forced to live simply. Be content with what we have - not believe the lies that my older TV or last year’s version of phone makes me any less than those that bought the newest versions. Knowing that my identity is not in what I own, and that I can be content and grateful with much less. Seeing that those around the world with less are brothers and sisters and deserve just as much as I have…
The Bible says, ‘The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil”…it can cause me to trust money rather than God, it can cause me to selfishly hoard for myself rather than considering the desperate needs of others. Loving money leads to evil, but loving God leads to life. Food for thought.
Jennifer Gumienny is the Regional Director of Heroes - an experiential program that helps teens see their value and live positive lives. She loves the outdoors and can be found hiking no matter what season of the year it is.
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