... we have lots of opportunities for you as a community to engage and experience the cross together. Just last night one small group went through Stations of the Cross together, as families, and had a really amazing time. With 7 kids between the ages of three and seven they had their work cut out for them but it became a really beautiful picture of not just entrusting to a younger generation the beauty of the cross, but by doing it in community, it really spoke of kids who will carry this together.
They had many cool moments - when they got to the station with the coins, illustrating our betrayal of Jesus, and the question was asked “What are some things we make more important than Jesus?” one of the young boys said “lego” and later, as the families gathered around the cross, the kids shared their sins (kicking, not listening, etc) and they nailed them to the cross together. It was an amazing experience for all the families of really slowing down to approach Easter, in community, as more than just a Sunday experience.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
I think I might...
... be the worst pastor ever if my thought for this week wasn't focused in on Easter! I've been reflecting a lot this last little while on the book that John Piper wrote entitled 'Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die'. I know the fact that John Piper suggests that there are 50 reasons why Jesus came to die probably shouldn't shake me, but it does! I've felt this overwhelming conviction that somewhere along the way I bought into some rote-textbook answer to what the cross is about, and I've lost some of the wonder, mystery and majesty of the breadth and depth of what the cross accomplished.
So I'm really focusing on slowing down this week to take all of this in - personal reflection time, talking about it as a family, Stations of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul. I want to encourage you that this week more than any other week of the year, you take time alone and in community, to discover more of the cross, and more of what the cross tells us about who God is. I'm praying for you this week. And looking forward to an epic celebration with you on Sunday!
So I'm really focusing on slowing down this week to take all of this in - personal reflection time, talking about it as a family, Stations of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul. I want to encourage you that this week more than any other week of the year, you take time alone and in community, to discover more of the cross, and more of what the cross tells us about who God is. I'm praying for you this week. And looking forward to an epic celebration with you on Sunday!
God has been moving...
...so powerfully among our youth in the past few months and they have seen really amazing things happening within their community in the Elevate cluster. Tuesday nights Elevate kids gather to share life together, receive teaching and having a blast doing crazy things.
Two months ago the cluster started breaking off into small groups once a month to go deeper in the word and allow kids a place to get really intimate with their leaders. One group in particular has seen radical change as their leader, Johnny, a young man with a great heart and a love for youth, has stepped into building community in a counter-cultural way. He’s pouring his life into these guys, going to their schools, picking them up from work, taking them to the gym AND meeting with them as a whole group once a week to keep digging into helping them grow in their faith. Johnny has taken life-on-life ministry to a whole nother level as he steps into the lives of his youth, outside his comfort zone or even his original responsibility as a youth leader, to see Jesus Bigger in their worlds and real community built. Very cool.
Two months ago the cluster started breaking off into small groups once a month to go deeper in the word and allow kids a place to get really intimate with their leaders. One group in particular has seen radical change as their leader, Johnny, a young man with a great heart and a love for youth, has stepped into building community in a counter-cultural way. He’s pouring his life into these guys, going to their schools, picking them up from work, taking them to the gym AND meeting with them as a whole group once a week to keep digging into helping them grow in their faith. Johnny has taken life-on-life ministry to a whole nother level as he steps into the lives of his youth, outside his comfort zone or even his original responsibility as a youth leader, to see Jesus Bigger in their worlds and real community built. Very cool.
It's been a little weird ...
...waking up the last week and not to be eating breakfast with 23 others like I did for 8 days in Mexico. As an introvert, I'm surprised how much I've missed it (and it's not just that I miss having someone else make my breakfast - thank you Amy Lewis!). After getting back from Mexico I realize just how much I loved living life that intensily with a group of people. It wasn't just eating meals together - it was the being there together to lay hands on Cally as her fever overtook her. It was picking up boulders together as we landscaped an orphanage (and jumping when I uncovered a tarantula!). It was standing on a hill that overlooks a city together and having our hearts stirred together against the poverty, drug problems, and spiritual darkness.
It makes me wonder why sometimes I find it so hard to make time to do the same thing in community back home. Maybe it's because I have a lot of other things to balance here at home, and so understandably I'm not as focused as I can be in Mexico. But maybe it's more than that. I've wondered if maybe sometimes our gatherings back home here lack the missional purpose that our time in Mexico did, and so we're bored. I also think that sometimes back home here we expect to live life individually and to just once and a while come together into community, whereas when in Mexico we expected to live life as a community of people and to once and a while do things individually. Do you get the difference? So what's one thing that you've gotta change today? And who's keeping you accountable to it. I'm working on mine.
It makes me wonder why sometimes I find it so hard to make time to do the same thing in community back home. Maybe it's because I have a lot of other things to balance here at home, and so understandably I'm not as focused as I can be in Mexico. But maybe it's more than that. I've wondered if maybe sometimes our gatherings back home here lack the missional purpose that our time in Mexico did, and so we're bored. I also think that sometimes back home here we expect to live life individually and to just once and a while come together into community, whereas when in Mexico we expected to live life as a community of people and to once and a while do things individually. Do you get the difference? So what's one thing that you've gotta change today? And who's keeping you accountable to it. I'm working on mine.
Last Wednesday night...
...the Wanted cluster headed out to prayer-walk in a neighbourhood they gather in every other week. Desiring to stretch themselves and get outside of the ‘box’ in prayer they’re trying some new things. For some it was exciting and unique, while a few others were uncomfortable but up for something new. As they walked around, they prayed for the neighbours and they prayed that their cluster's presence in the area might be a light, a safe place or just a conversation starter about why all these young adults hang out for dinner every other week and take up all the parking! They're seeking to experience and display His Kingdom.
Ever since...
...preaching yesterday about how our lives are to be a display of the treasures of God's Kingdom I've wondered to myself … 'how would those close to me describe my life?' If, as Jesus says, my life is to be like a house, would they walk into my house and be intrigued and compelled by what's on display?
How would Taylor and Matthew describe their dad's life? What would Wendy say (the one who knows me best)? Or what about those who don’t know me best? What would Steve, a guy from our cluster who doesn’t come to church, say about the treasures I have on display?
Would they say my life is full of Kingdom treasures, or would they say it's full of religosity? Man, I want my life to be an authentic display of treasures - not my treasures, but those of God's Kingdom… grace, mercy, joy, beauty, love…
How would Taylor and Matthew describe their dad's life? What would Wendy say (the one who knows me best)? Or what about those who don’t know me best? What would Steve, a guy from our cluster who doesn’t come to church, say about the treasures I have on display?
Would they say my life is full of Kingdom treasures, or would they say it's full of religosity? Man, I want my life to be an authentic display of treasures - not my treasures, but those of God's Kingdom… grace, mercy, joy, beauty, love…
Last Thursday night...
...the Collide cluster hopped on the bus in Langley to head out for some intentional connecting for the night. They bussed and sky-trained their way downtown, sitting with different people along the way, hearing their stories and having interesting, deep and sometimes bizarre conversations. Once in Vancouver they spent the evening sharing food Canadian-style (Timbits) and talking with some more people. They had an amazing night of loving on strangers and doing mission together in tangible, stretching ways. Connect with any of them to hear funny moments from the night and how they’re seeing the kingdom unfolding through getting on a bus and striking up a conversation.
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