Minister's Blog

Trust?

rebekah — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:58:06 -0500

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.

Follow Up

rebekah — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:28:37 -0500

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.

Imagine Dream Hope Inspire - LOVE

rebekah — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:01:05 -0500

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,

I don`t believe...

rebekah — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:31:30 -0500

...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,

Would you pray?

rebekah — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:24:27 -0400

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.

This is a big step for St. Luke's. This is the first time I have ever been involved with a Search Committee from the side of being ON the committee (not interviewed by it as it sought a new minister). There are a tonne of unanswered questions at this point.

And so, I would appeal to you: would you help us out by praying over the committee? Would you appeal to God that He would show us His wisdom and give us His guidance? Would you pray that God would choose someone to lead us musically, and that the committee would see that person clearly?

In the Gospel According to John, Jesus says that if we ask God anything in Jesus' name, he will grant it. I always want to limit that directive, because I worry that it might be misread as we can ask for even selfish things and as long as we slap the name of Jesus on it, God will have to do it. That kind of thinking takes us back to the TRUE[ish] thoughts which lead us to God serving us, instead of us serving God, which we looked at this past weekend. (Check out the sermon: As Long As You're Happy.)

Jesus is not saying we can ask for any old thing (i.e. God, I want you to kill my neighbour so I won't have to deal with his/her loud music anymore!). Jesus says ask for anything that reflects his character and his will, and he will do it. In this case the neighbour's-loud-music prayer becomes "God, help me to have a more loving heart, to see my neighbour as infinitely precious in your sight, so that small things like loud music wouldn't bother me."

As you pray for the committe, I hope that your prayers would be for that which will honour God. And I hope we will see the results of those prayers as the committee does its work.

Let's lift our voices together and see what God does next!

Blessings,

TRUE[ish]

rebekah — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 23:15:13 -0400

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.

So when BIG met for the first time, we thought it might be good to use a LifeChurch series as our openner. This gives us the ability to have video bumpers, and other resources without having to come up with them on our own while we are trying to find our stride as a group.

I'm excited about True[ish]. I hope you'll come and check it out as we begin this conversation about truth. We'll explore how what we believe determines how we behave. I hope you'll also pray for the congregations and pastors of St. Paul's Nobleton, St. Andrew's Scarborough, St. Giles Kingsway, Bridlewood, Chedoke, and Amberlea, as they travel through this conversation at the same time as us!

Want a visual idea of what True[ish] is all about? Check out the teaser video here!

Hope to see you and worship with you in the coming weeks.

Blessings,
R.

CY Report #2

rebekah — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 08:03:54 -0400

Last week I had the opportunity to share some of what I learned at CY 09 (Canada Youth, 2009) with the congregation at St. Luke's. CY was a really interesting time, especially when Mark Yaconelli spoke to our branch - the Youth Ministry branch.

Mark's opening statement was, "I preach God's love, I study what it means that God loves us, I believe in God's love, I pray about God's love. But sometimes I feel like that whole 'God loves me' thing is just something we say. Like, I really know myself, and I know no one could love me that way, so it's just something we say."

Right away he had my attention. He was so honest and real, that I knew whatever he said to us would be worth listening to. If you want to hear more about it, check out the sermon "Summer Vacation: CY Report."

One of the things Mark did was to lead us, as a group, through a number of contemplative prayer exercises. One of these, I share in the sermon mentioned above. But there was another one I'd love to share, so I will post it here. Try this out. It may sound a little strange, but if you'll give it a chance, you may be amazed at what God says to you through this exercise.

Here it is:

Praying a Difficult Emotion:
1) Find somewhere quiet, and get comfortable. This may take 20 minutes or more, so aim for a time when you are unlikely to be interrupted.

2) Think of some difficult emotion you have experienced lately. (This could be anything - grief at the passing of a loved one, anger at a difficult or unfair person in your life, the frustration you experience in dealing with one of the youth you work with, etc.)

3) Turn that emotion into a person. Who would that person be? What would the look like? Get as detailed as you can (anger might be a grumpy old man, insecurity might be a sad teenager, etc.)

4) Ask that person three questions: What is your deepest desire? What is your deepest fear? What is the role that you play in me? This helps us to put some identity to this difficult emotion. And allows us to step back and really see the truth behind the emotion.

5) Stand with the person that represents your difficult emotion. Welcome them. Acknowledge them. Then invite Jesus into the picture and see how he interacts with you and with the person that represents your emotion.

6) Think about what God is teaching you through all of this. Thank God for being present, even in your difficult emotions.

I have to say - I found this exercise liberating and freeing. I hope to use it the next time I'm weighed down by an emotion.

Blessings,
R.

Report from CY #1

rebekah — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 08:03:41 -0400

So my plan was to blog every day while I was at CY09 (Canada Youth 2009) - the youth conference held by the Presbyterian Church in Canada once every three years. But then I arrived and found out there was no wireless internet access in the dorm rooms at Brock. And then the conference began and the moments seemed to fly, and there never seemed to be enough time to get the laptop out of my room and hooked into the wireless that was available elsewhere on campus.

So now that I am back I'm taking the time to put together a few of my thoughts from the week. This blog is just the first in a 'CY series.'

I've never been to CY before, so the experience was brand-new to me. This year's theme was "Rooted" and used trees found in significant Scripture passages as the theme images for the week. Worship focused on the tree in Genesis - you KNOW the one...Eve took a fruit from it and gave some to Adam - and the cross, and the tree whose leaves are 'for the healing of the nations' in Revelation. The different conference tracks were called 'branches' and there were three of them. The Conference Branch was for kids aged 15-18 years old. The Mission Branch went out to do good works in the surrounding community and was comprised of youth aged 19-25 years old. My branch, the Youth Ministry Branch, was for anyone interested in ministering to youth in the Presbyterian Church in Canada. We were all ages and all levels of experience - from those for whom this was their first experience in youth ministry, to those who had been doing this for 35 years.

In my branch we gathered to learn about how to minister to youth. Our speakers were Andrew Root and Mark Yaconelli. Both were excellent. Andrew was funny and interesting. He told good stories and used GREAT video clips. He encouraged us to stop worrying about what to DO with our youth and start learning how to BE with our youth.

My favourite moment from Andrew's talk was when he used a scene from the movie "Little Miss Sunshine." It was my favourite scene - in fact, I think it's worth watching the whole movie just to see this one scene. In this scene on character has just suffered the death of his dream to become a military pilot. He has learned that he is colour blind and will never fly a jet. He is heart broken and literally begins to freak out - weeping and wailing and screaming at his family. Then the youngest member of the family, Olive, walks down the slope to where her brother is falling apart and simply puts her arm around him and rests her head on his shoulder. After a few minutes he says "Okay." And then he and Olive walk back up the slope together to their family. He apologizes and the story continues.

What Andy pointed out to us was that Olive is there for her bother in a way that not only helps him, but leads to reconciliation in their family. It’s a love that is so incarnational that it leads to transformation. In laymen's terms? It is a love that is so REAL that it has the power to CHANGE the world. Sound familiar? It should - that's the kind of love that lead Jesus to lay down his life.

Andy encouraged us to be that way with our youth. Not to love them with the hope of changing them, but simply to love them because they are precious children of God who deserve to be loved. 'Cause that's what Jesus would do.

Stay tuned...in my next blog I'll tell you all about what lead me to Twitter that "Mark Yaconelli's session kicked my emotional tail!" (And yes, I did want to use the three-letter-word for posterior in that Twitter post, but I thought it might be a little inappropriate.)

Cheers,
R.

BIG it up!

rebekah — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:02:39 -0400

Some ideas are just BIG.

My friend Fred Stewart recently read a book called The Big Idea. In it, the authors state that church should communicate one idea per Sunday. The idea should be BIG and it should be something that people can DO. They assert (and I agree with them) that this is how the church can facilitate life-change in the people whose butts are in the pew every Sunday.

This isn't a new idea to me, or to Fred, or to many of the preachers I know and admire. But what WAS new in the book was the idea of setting up a Big Idea Network. This is a group of churches that work together to collaborate on producing Big Idea Sundays every week. The preachers and worship leaders meet together to idea-share about series, illustrations and resources to help communicate the Big Idea for that Sunday. This caught Fred's attention: churches working together to communicate the same thing at the same time? Pastors actually writing sermons in concert with each other? Sermons actually being completed weeks in advance so that each pastor could then figure out how to deliver the message in their context?

Fred said to me on facebook chat: I read a book called The Big Idea. It's going to CHANGE OUR LIVES.

That was a number of months ago. First, he passed the book on to me, then I passed it on to our friend The Rev. Dr. Jeff Loach. The circle went round. And now we are a few days away from our first B.I.G. meeting (B.I.G. = Big Idea Group). At this meeting, we'll hammer out our sermon series for this fall. Then we'll plan to meet again. We will always have three timelines running through these meetings: the long horizon (in which we finalize the marketing of the next series - i.e. branding, images, tag lines, etc.), near horizon (in which we brainstorm on ways to illustrate the next series - i.e. idea sharing around video or drama elements that might be used to help communicate the big idea) and immediate horizon (in which we hammer out the bottom line of the next two sermons - this will be done in advance so 'immediate' doesn't meant this coming Sunday but the next couple of Sundays after this one). Our plan is to meet once every two weeks, and I expect that the meeting will take most of the day.

What's really exciting to me about this is the thought that instead of being alone as we try to communicate God to our congregations, we will be part of a team. God likes teams. In Ecclesiastes a case is made for the idea that things go better when we work together. In the Gospel According to Matthew, Jesus promises to be with us whenever we gather in a group - even a group as small as two people! In fact, God himself IS a team – this is the concept of the Trinity...the God who is one substance, but has three persons (Father, Son and Spirit).

What really excites me about B.I.G. is not the idea of time-saving and experience-sharing. It's not even the idea of having a deeper well of wisdom and ideas from which to draw. Those are good things, but what excites me the MOST is the idea that in doing this, we will be a closer reflection of God.

I don't mean we'll be perfect, I don't mean we'll always get it right, I don't mean that we'll solve all the world's troubles. But this is one way that we are taking a step to reflect God more accurately in our lives. I totally dig that.

What about you? Is there anything you can think of (small step or BIG step!) that you could do to reflect God more accurately in your life? This is what following Jesus is about!

Blessings,
R.

Joy

rebekah — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 08:01:17 -0400

So it's midnight on Sunday and I'm blogging. This is not normal behavior for me. I just got home from a brief road trip with my buddy Fred (we went to see the new minister ordained and inducted at Trinity Community Presbyterian Church in Oro). It's been a good day - we worshipped together at St. Luke's, and then went outside to enjoy our annual picnic on the grounds, then I came home and did some random house stuff (laundry, dishes, tidying, etc.) before Fred and I hit the road.

I left my house at about 4:30 p.m. and got back at about 11:45 p.m. Some people would have just stumbled up the stairs to bed, but I am addicted to email and facebook and twitter, so I had to check my computer before I could do that.

What I discovered brought me serious joy. Our awesome webguy posted a video on our homepage of me snorking watermelon in our watermelon eating contest at the picnic earlier today. He also posted lots of photos, included some great shots of our resident fire-eater.

Why is this worth a blog? Well, it just brought me this great moment of joy. It's a silly video...but it's also a video that bears out the sermon that I preached today. I was talking about the message of the Bible - what does that whole library of books have to say to us? What is it really trying to communicate? Well, when it comes down to it, it's telling us to love God, love others and then go and share this message with others so that their lives may be changed by the power of Jesus Christ (what churchy-folk call 'making disciples').

The video is essentially me making an idiot of myself. But if you look at the edges of the frame and listen to the comments the folk watching the watermelon-eating contest - what you really see is a community of people loving each other. That's something I'm feel pretty privileged to be a part of, right now. It brings me deep joy to see the children of God loving one another.

St. Luke's: you bless me.

Blessings,
R.