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A Pastor’s Agony on Easter Monday

April 2, 2018 0 Comments

In 24 years of ministry in Vancouver I have never preached an Easter message I am completely satisfied with. The Resurrection of Jesus has more to say to us than I can say. Texts built around the Resurrection of Jesus provide a frame, the subject, and the colour for the message, but I must admit again, I am terribly inadequate to the preaching of the Resurrection of Jesus on the day of our celebration. I fall short of finding words conveying the joyful and fearful surprise of this great reversal.

 

Lord help.

 

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”  Matthew 28:5-7 (NIV)

 

Did you see that?

 

“Now I have told you.”

“Now I have told you.”

Who gets to end a message with that? Who gets to say, “Now I have told you” and be done?

Apparently the first messenger who proclaimed the good news of Jesus’ resurrection, that’s who!

The angel says it.

And next, the women proclaiming this good news to the disciples could have said it too.

“Now I have told you.”

 

But for me, on a Resurrection Sunday I am plagued with the indictment that I’m going to have a crowd who have heard it all before and somehow are not moved. Somehow we have been conditioned to non-response. I don’t get to say, “Now I have told,” with the same confidence that somebody is going to get moving.

 

Lord help. Stir us again Holy Spirit.

 

Maybe I should take up painting. Well on second thought, probably not. Last year Mike Frost introduced his readers to what he calls the “greatest Easter painting of all time.” I like it. The painting, The Disciples Peter and John Running to the Sepulchre on the Morning of the Resurrection, by Eugene Burnand, is most appropriately housed not in a great museum, but in an old railway station in Paris. Typically no one stands still for long in a railway station. If your train is called, you get moving. “Now I have told you.” The word assumes a change is coming, in fact the change has come, whether you are ready for it or not. Scroll up and take a look at it again. John to the left seems to joyfully anticipating the possibility of a reunion with Jesus. Peter though has a look of agony and fear at the possibility. They have been told, and they are moving.

 

8So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”  Matthew 28:8-10

 

Before the women preachers got to their audience they were interrupted by the subject of the Resurrection.

 

Did you noticed the pairing of fear and joy?

Did you notice how Jesus interrupts their movement?

 

The Resurrection of Jesus will illicit both fear and joy. Fuelled by these we may want to dance; we may want to run. We may be so ready to take action. Zeal for the message and task may consume us. But it seems our Lord, would have us pause before the apostolic action is taken, and simply meet Him and worship.

Change, Discipleship, Leadership

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The Cost of Prayer

February 23, 2018 1 Comment

The cost of our redemption is succinctly captured in the phrase, “Jesus paid it all.” So, why do we treat prayer as a struggle? Why is it a struggle to pray? We struggle to pray not because prayer for us is meant to be a struggle. It is not that God Himself has ordained for us that prayer must be a struggle. God does not gain from our struggle to pray. Rather we have gained the right to pray from His struggle.

 

And yet, I do struggle at times

to pray.

And I struggle

in prayer.

 

Oswald Chambers suggests our struggle in prayer may spring from unsettled regions of our heart and mind, places where we have not yet rested in the redemptive work, agony, struggle of Jesus Christ.

 

The more we get into the atmosphere of the New Testament the more we discover the unfathomable and unhastening leisure of our Lord’s life, no matter what His agony. The difficulty is that when we do what God wants us to do, our friends say, “It is all very well, but suppose we all did that?” Our Lord did not tell all the disciples to sit there while He prayed. He told only three of them. The point is that we must take as from God the haphazard arrangements of our lives.

 

If we accept the Lord Jesus Christ and the domination of His lordship, we also accept that nothing happens by chance because we know that God orders and engineers circumstances. The fuss has gone, the amateur providence has gone, the amateur disposer has gone, and we know that “all things work together for good to those who love God” (Romans 8: 28). If Jesus says, “Sit here while I go and pray over there,” the only appropriate thing we can do is to sit.

 

We ought to give much more time than we do— a great deal more than we do— to brooding on the fundamental truths on which the Spirit of God works the simplicity of our Christian experience. The fundamental truths are redemption and the personal presence of the Holy Spirit, and these two are focused in one mighty personality, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank God for the emphasis laid on the efficacy of the Holy Spirit to make experientially real the redemption of Jesus Christ in individual lives.

 

Remember, what makes prayer easy is not our wits or our understanding, but the tremendous agony of God in redemption. A thing is worth just what it costs. Prayer is not what it costs us, but what it cost God to enable us to pray. It cost God so much that a little child can pray. It cost God Almighty so much that anyone can pray. But it is time those of us who name His name knew the secret of the cost, and the secret is here: “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.”

 

Beware of placing the emphasis on what prayer costs us. It cost God everything to make it possible for us to pray. Jesus did not say to these men, “Agonize!” He said, “Watch with me.” Our Lord tried to lift the veil from before these disciples that they might see what He was going through. Think who He was— the Son of God. “My soul”— the reasoning mind of the Lord Jesus Christ—“ is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”

 

Chambers, Oswald. If You Will Ask: Reflections on the Power of Prayer (Kindle Locations 223-229, 242-249, 256-259). Discovery House. Kindle Edition.

 

Heavenly Father,
I have struggled to drag myself forward into prayer. So, I’m going to sit here in this moment and trust You in the shadow of the your Son’s Cross. I will take each thought that comes to mind and consider it under your gaze and your grace. I trust you. May Your Spirit direct me into Your thoughts and your ways. Thank you for creating me anew as your child. Thank you for calling me into your Kingdom.
AMEN.

Change, Discipleship, Prayer

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Neighbours’ Hope

October 25, 2017 0 Comments

 

As the Southern sun
angles across the North,
monochromatic green gives way,
revealing sweet treasure
in leaves of gold,
and red, and orange,
so Grace does
for our
souls.

Change, Poetry

After Noon Prayers

October 20, 2017 0 Comments

 

 

Most days my sight
avoids the intersection
of creation and sorrow.

 

Others are standing there.
I see them; they are caught mid-step
by the weight of loss.

 

Grieving in Mogadishu;
running as Rohingya;
neighbours on the other side of my heart.

 

Oh, that I could run.
Together we could kneel
before One who knows the hours.

 

We would cry
for mercy.

 

Change, Poetry, Prayer

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Jump Start Your Church Commitment

August 14, 2017 0 Comments

Jumping into life in your new University community can be exciting and intimidating. We’ve learned that when moving to a new place its tempting to leave our engagement in church community as a “I will get to it someday” kind of thought. But getting involved with a church on campus could be one of the best decisions of your life.

In the first few weeks of University getting involved in a church may seem like something that can wait. But I encourage you,  don’t wait. Your mind and time is soon going to be truly occupied with study, new friends, and incredible opportunities to grow. If you don’t put your engagement in a church community at the front of your agenda you may never get to it.

 

First the Benefits

Maybe you have never really had to think about the benefits of being part of spiritual community charged with following Jesus Christ and fulfilling His mission. When you were with friends and family, “gathering with the church” with just assumed. But now that you are on your own in University — nobody is there to bring you along; its your decision.

But think about it. What have been some of the benefits of being part of your church? Have you

1. Had a community that overflowed with a passionate pursuit of Jesus Christ in worship and mission together?

2. Had a community that challenged you and showed you how to grow in your walk with Jesus?

3. Had a community that laid their lives before Jesus and courageously integrated His Word into all that they do?

4. Had a community that rejoiced in an created opportunities to use the gifts given by the Holy Spirit to men and women?

5. Had a community that cared for you and shared life with you even when things were not going well?

This is what church does. And as a follower of Jesus you are called to be a part of making all these things happen.

 

Choosing a Church

So how do you go about choosing a church? Maybe you have never done that before; it may have been done for you. Maybe you tagged along with friends or were “happily” compelled to go along with your family. But now its up to you. Here’s a few things to do:

  1. Pray. Ask God to help you get situated in a church family.
  2. Search online. Just google it: “churches on campus.” In our case, you can search out “UBC churches” and you will see what’s here.
  3. Make a plan to check out the gatherings — large group and small group.
  4. Settle in quickly. Our suggestion is to get settled in congregation within the first 5 weeks of the term.

 

Some questions to consider as you visit:

  1. Am I familiar with the tradition or network of churches this (new congregation I’m visiting) is a part of?
  2. What’s the environment like here for lifting up Jesus and elevating God’s Word in life?
  3. Are there opportunities for me to serve, get connected, and to grow?

 

A church is Jesus’ people. Its the very movement that Jesus started and He calls the church His. Jesus loves the church and will help you, even call you, to be a part of a church family during your university years. Jesus seems to reserve some lessons and some healing in our lives for what will happen in the fellowship of His people. For example, Jesus didn’t show Himself to Thomas, until Thomas had gathered with other disciples of Jesus (See John 20:24-39). So it is with our growth with Jesus. Some lessons on faith, life, love, and ministry will not be learned unless they are learned in relationship with other followers of Jesus. So I encourage you, plan now to find a church a make commitments there. The lessons you learn there and with that people can serve you for a lifetime of mission and discipleship.

 

If you went off to University and got involved in a church — how did you go about making the decision?

 

Filed under: UBC Churches, church on campus, Origin Church, UBC, Born for More

 

 

Change

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