It started with an email from our webguy. He was letting me know that the Mayor of Oshawa now follows St. Luke’s on Twitter. Pretty cool, right? I thought so, too. But in that our webguy and I have a long standing tradition of joking with and poking fun at each other, I replied with an email that said something along the lines of: wow, is that added incentive for me to keep my blogs and sermons up to date?

Our webguy replied and in all seriousness, suggested that maybe I have a problem with a guilty conscience. All he was trying to do was say ‘isn’t it cool that the Mayor is following our little church?’ I fired back an email and said – I think it’s cool, too, and I was just joking about the added incentive

Now, if what I told the webguy was true, I should have been able to let it go at that. But the email conversation stuck with me. And after a day or two, I had to admit that our webguy was right: I have a guilty conscience. I have a certain standard that I set for myself, and I haven’t been able to live up to it. This fall was tough for me – a lot of things were weighing on me heavily – and one of the ways that manifested itself was in the fact that I didn’t keep my blog and audio sermons up to date.

Fastforward a day or two. I was listening to Rob Bell preach. He was talking about the fact that many Christians, despite their faith and wisdom, despite their maturity, despite their love for Jesus, haven’t really trusted Jesus. And this comes out of us in a number of different ways. Sometimes in a negative way: making a judgement about the essence of a person based on a mistake they’ve made. Sometimes in a positive way: continually trying to present the gospel to someone who is not willing or able to hear it. Either way, the deeper cause of these actions is that the Christian hasn’t surrendered themselves and the people in their life to Jesus. These behaviours are an attempt to gain control over our own life, or the lives of those we love. But only Jesus has control over these things.

That sermon (January 10th, "Judging") blew me away, and really challenged me to ask myself: who haven’t I surrendered to Jesus? What parts of my life have I held back from Him? 

I believe that the deepest freedom and peace come from a life surrendered to the Living God of the Universe. And what our webguy and Rob Bell have taught me this week, is that I’m not so good at surrender. I’m not so good at trust.

Are you? If you aren’t, would you join me in praying about this? If you are, would you pray for those of us who aren’t? 

Blessings,
R.

If you read my previous post, you'll find out that I've got some new art on one of my walls at home. It's word art - 5 words (Imagine, Dream, Hope, Inspire, Love) that in many ways describe what being a follower of Jesus means in my life. 5 words that are the things I must DO to become more like Him.

A friend mentioned to me at choir last night that she had read that post, and she wondered what everyone else's 5 words might be. "Because mine would be different than yours," she said. She encouraged me to put a new post up, asking you what your words might be.

I love it when people give me great ideas. So go ahead - share with me what your 5 words might be. If you want to use 'love' as the centre and choose 4 words to surround it, that would be great too.

Blessings,
R.

For the past 3 years I've lived in a little townhouse in North Oshawa. This year, I started with renovations. I got the floor done and repainted the mainfloor and the upstairs hallway (when I say "I did this work" I mean that I watched and helped while my dad, brother, and friend David, did the work).

And all this time I have been wondering what to do with the long, empty wall in my livingroom. My couch sits against the wall and there are no windows (because it is one of the walls that seperate me from my neighbours). A piece of art for the wall would have to be pretty big (and therefore pretty expnsive). So my question has been - what to do?

When my best friend and I lived together in this house, we had thoughts about making a collage of photos of us and our favorite places. But we never got our act together, and therefore the wall remained empty.

Then I got an idea. I was listening to Rob Bell preach and he got talking about Masaru Emoto. Emoto is a Japanese scientist who did a number of experiments involving water. He theorized that our words effect the phsyical world. So he took water and put in a couple of glasses. On one glass he wrote "love" and on the other "hate." Then he froze the water and took pictures of the crystals that were formed. The water labelled "love" made these beautiful crystal shapes. The water labelled "hate" made this ugly, blobby mess. Emoto repeated the experiment over and over doing different things to see how the water would 'react.'

Rob Bell said that he believes that Emoto has discovered what Jesus always knew: words matter, words effect people, and our words tell the truth about our hearts.

That got me thinking about the idea that it would be good to surround myself with good words. So I searched the internet and found a site called Word to the Wall. It's a company that makes 'word art' with which people can decorate their walls. I thought about how much I love words, and how I would like my home to feature words that build up, rather than tear down. 

So I decided on the words I wanted: Imagine. Dream. Hope. Inspire. And at the centre:  Love. Because if we can love, and especially if we can let the love of Jesus live in us, we have the ability to do those other 4 things. These words reflect the Kingdom of God to me.

Yesterday, I received my word art in the mail. I spent last night putting it up above my couch. And here is how it looks:

I have to admit, today I've walked past the words a number of times. I catch them out of the corner of my eye, and then I read them. And then I smile. I hope that these words are the imperatives for my life - the commands I follow. I think if they are, I will begin to look more like Jesus. And that is a very good thing.

Blessings,

R.

...in New Year’s resolutions. I don’t mind hearing other people talk about them. I admit, I’m curious about what others would like to change about themselves. I don’t even mind thinking about some things I would like to do differently in the coming 12 months. And the New Year is, of course, the appropriate time to do that.

But I refuse to go as far as making actual resolutions. And the reason is that resolutions by definition force me to rely on myself for change. A resolution is just a decision to change one’s behaviour.  Here is something I know about myself: I’m not really good at change. Even when the change is good for me. Even when I know I will benefit from it. On my own, I’m no good at sticking to it 

But. Here is something else I know. If I rely on Jesus, if I ask Him to change me, if I give him the authority in my life...I WILL change. Not through my own strength, but because He will be working in me. Because He has been given all authority in Heaven and on Earth.

That’s a much safer bet than trusting in myself. So I don't believe in New Year's resolutions. But I do believe in Jesus. As 2010 starts, my hope is that you, too, will find yourself changed by the light and life of the One whose birth we have just celebrated.

Blessings,

R.

As I write this, I'm taking a break from furiously photocopying (ok, that was an awesome alliteration that happened without any planning!) material for the first meeting of the Search Committee for an Organist/Choir Director at St. Luke's. The meeting takes place tonite at 7:30pm, and I admit I am both excited and a little hesitant. (More)

A number of weeks ago, I blogged about BIG (Big Idea Group) - a group of pastors working together to communicate the same thing at the same time. This Sunday, my BIG brothers and I begin preaching our first series. It's called True[ish] and I think it is going to rock. The ideas we're tackling come out of LifeChurch - a church whose lead pastor's goal in life is to give awayeverything they produce as a church. From videos to graphics to children's church curriculum. It's all free, and it's all available for any church, anywhere, to download and use. (More)