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Prayer of the People, 5 March 2021

March 8, 2021 0 Comments

Heavenly Father,

We praise you and glorify you. Not to us but to you be the glory forever. Through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ you have made it possible for us to share in your life and your love. You have brought us into your communion — the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We came — bowed down and humiliated. But you lifted us up.

Thank you for this grace in which we now stand.
We stand before you loved not condemned.
We stand before you forgiven not abandoned.
We stand before you welcomed not cast away.

Oh Lord, may your true reality be driven deep into our hearts to transform our character so that we are full of good fruit. We confess, that like Esau, we so easily trade our birthright as children in your Kingdom for quick and momentary satisfactions. We lost sight of the promises You made and we gave in to false promises made by the world. 

Forgive Us Lord.
Come Holy Spirit Come — 

Fill us with new songs so we can testify together of your faithfulness, righteousness, and peace. Cause original moments to flourish in our fellowship.

Your peace Lord, may it come for the people of Yemin.
Your peace Lord, may it abide in the hearts of Christians under pressure in Pakistan.
Your peace Lord, may it transform every valley and hill, city and town in Syria.

Oh Lord we need you and so we pray as Jesus teaches us:

(Please join me in the Lord’s Prayer.)

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one;
for yours is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory, 
forever. 
Amen.

This prayer was part of the Origin Church Weekend Broadcast on 5 March 2021.

Prayer

It’s Been A Year

March 6, 2021 0 Comments

My awareness of the Covid-19 virus and it’s devastating and multi-varied symptoms, started in January 2020. A member of our Origin Church congregation had traveled home to Wuhan with her son for Chinese New Year. She texted my wife and I, saying something wasn’t right. People were sick; it was hard to get information. I started looking.

Within a couple of days I read a tiny article saying that Wuhan was going to be locked down. We texted and encouraged her to make her way home to Canada if they were healthy and she could leave. She made it.

Once in Canada she went straight from the hospital and quarantined with her son in the apartment for 21 days. Yes that’s right — 21 days! She did this voluntarily and in consultation with her family doctor while the rest of us were still trying to figure out if there was really a problem. She and her son were fine, but she was stunned that there were no questions and no instructions at YVR.

Sometime in the middle of February I heard a strange alert on CBC that come from the CDC asking organizations to begin making or reviewing plans to be shut down or continuing with limited operations for several weeks. This was strange! I had never heard such an alert in my life. So I came home that night around 9 PM and asked my family, “What would you want to have in the house if we had to stay at home for two weeks?”

Wow, the looks and the incredulity. But they answered, “Chocolate and toilet paper.” So off I went right then at 9:15 PM to the Superstore and did a big shop for extras that we would want to have in the house if we were here for two weeks. Yes, I bought chocolate and toilet paper.

Then I started following a couple of people on Twitter who were providing almost hourly updates on what was happening in Italy and Iran. Wuhan, Italy and Iran were part of my regular prayer and intercession for days. The images of people dying or dead in the streets were shocking. This was no ordinary flu. Our lives were about to change.

On Sunday March 8th 2020 our congregation gathered on the UBC campus. But I felt strange. Our team of students and staff decided that we were not going to shake hands at the doors and that because we were not sure we could safely administer the Lord’s Supper we were not going to include this in our gathering. These decisions did not feel easy. We tried to work out plans for gathering safely, but we were planning in the dark. We also decided that we would not reach out and touch the shoulder of our neighbour for the blessing at the conclusion of the service. We started socially distancing on March 8th. That’s the last Sunday we gathered publicly since the beginning of the pandemic.

By the next Sunday, 15 March 2020, the UBC campus was rolling up the carpet, shutting the doors, and moving online. So did we.

It’s been a year.

Change, Church

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Reading hy·giene

March 3, 2021 0 Comments

When you read a book do you just read it without context or concern for the author?

Do you find out about the author and their own story?

Do you explore the influences and relationships that may have shaped the author?

Do you wonder about when it was written and why?

Do you think about the original audience who may have taken up the book before you?

Do you look up unfamiliar places on a map?

Do you read the preface and dedications?

Do you explore how other readers experienced the book and may have critiqued it?

Do you explore the cultural perspectives of the people who inhabit the pages of the book?

Read A Book!

All of these practices are like washing your hands. Let’s call it reading hygiene. I know one can just read the book anyway without any thought to these matters. However, habits of reading hygiene will also help when you take up the newspaper, read an email, watch a YouTube video, read a tweet, or even read the Bible.

Maybe you don’t read critically all the time. I get it, we don’t turn on our “observing self” all time. However, maybe you can start with it when you pick up the book and then leave it. Maybe you could get to the end of the book and then decide you’d better wash your hands, or “wash your mind.” But then, you have already consumed the delicacies of what was presented with the germs of your assumptions, proclivity for preoccupation with self, and de-contextualized readings.

Read The Bible

Interested in developing your reading hygiene with the Bible? Here’s some books you might find helpful.

How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, 4th Edition, Gordon D. Fee & Douglas Stuart

How to Read the Bible Book by Book, Garden D. Fee & Douglas Stuart

Read the Bible for Life, George H. Guthrie

Guerrilla Gospel: Reading the Bible for Liberation in the Power of the Spirit, by Bob Ekblad

Society

Prayer of the People, 26 February 2021

March 1, 2021 0 Comments

Prayer of the People  —  26 February 2021

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for rescuing us from a cascade of lies and for bringing us into the truth of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. In your communion — of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — there is nothing false. Transform us into true worshippers through the love you pour into us.

Thank you for providing us with food and shelter. 
Thank you for the promise of each new day. 
Your faithfulness continues to all generations.
Thank you for the warmth of friendship with others.
Thank you for the strength to make meaningful contributions through our work. 
Bless the work of our hands and our minds.
Thank you for our remembrance of your interventions in difficult days past.
Thank you for the promise of your company through difficult days to come.
Thank you for the joy we find in simple moments of quietness.
Thank you for the breath we breathe.
May your Spirit  blow through us again. Come Lord Jesus. Come.

May faithful generosity emerge from our delight in you and your word.
May faithful attention to our accepted responsibilities and duties bring glory to You.
May faithfulness be formed in our character as a fruit of lives deeply enriched by your Spirit.

Oh Lord we lift up your church under pressure in Myanmar, Tanzania, and in Hong Kong. Enable your disciples to share their lives with neighbours and to see the promise and power of Jesus’ good news released into people’s lives.

Oh Lord we need you and so we pray as Jesus teaches us:
(Please join me in the Lord’s Prayer.)

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one;
for yours is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory, 
forever. 
Amen.

This prayer as part of the Origin Church Weekend Broadcast on 26 February 2021.

Prayer

Conveyance

February 26, 2021 0 Comments

CON VOIE MENT

pipes water shit
wires energy ground
souls wellness confession

cord name death
canal relations rites
babe character wake

thought christ cross
word breath blood
creation people love

View the picture to see the poem.

Poetry