Happy Thanksgiving

As was suggested, here is the article I wrote for the local press. I think it is appropriate since today is Thanksgiving here in Canada.

Time to be Thankful

At this time of year we are reminded to be thankful. In the coming week we will be celebrating Thanksgiving Day. For many people Thanksgiving Day is just another day off. However it is one day set aside to help us to remember to be thankful. Living in Canada we have a lot to be thankful for. We enjoy a lot of freedoms in this country that many people around the world do not have. We are greatly blessed to live in such a place.

At this time of year we are reminded to be thankful to the One who has blessed us with so much. We thank God for all his many blessings. Psalm 136 reminds us that we are to “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.” In this Psalm there is a line that is repeated after each phrase. That line is, “His love endures forever.” The Psalm begins by saying, “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His love endures forever…” The repetition of the phrase “His love endures forever” reminds us of why we are to give thanks.

We give thanks most of all because God’s love endures forever. No matter what you are faced with, “His love endures forever.” If you have cancer and don’t have a good prognosis, even in the midst of that “His love endures forever.” If you are struggling financially, even in the midst of that, “His love endures forever.”

If you are doing really well, and have many good things happening in your life, “His love endures forever.” We need to remember that all good things come from the one whose “love endures forever.” We are reminded to give thanks. Paul reminds us in his letter to the Thessalonians, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (I Thess. 5:16-18) Paul of all people knew what it was like to suffer. He was persecuted, beaten, imprisoned, yet he still urges everyone to give thanks in all circumstances.

Some might wonder how can you be thankful when things are going wrong in my life? We can do this because we have confidence in the great creator. As Psalm 136 continues to remind us to give thanks “to him who alone does great wonders, who by his understanding made the heavens, who spread out the earth upon the waters, who made the great lights.” Why? Because “His love endures forever.”

His love does endure forever. He sent his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross to save us from our sin. Through his son, his love continues on, it endures forever. It is because of his great love for us, we are saved from our sins. In this time of year we have one day that is set aside for the main reason of giving thanks. To give thanks in good times and in bad. We can give thanks to “the God of heaven. His love endures forever.”

Frustrating

Why is it that sometimes the smallest things will frustrate us? In ministry there are a lot of things that can get under our skin, that is if we let them. But it seems as if sometimes the smallest things will affect us more than other things. Sometimes it is easier to let some things go in one ear and out the other. Other times, a small, minor comment might stick with us for hours or days.

For example: Where I live we have a fairly active ministerial. A ministerial is the group of pastors from all the area churches that get together and plan activities or just get together for coffee. Anyway, in this particular ministerial we are asked to write an article for the local paper. Last week it was my turn to write the article. I tend to find this very difficult to do. It is completely wide open and there is no guidance given. Coming up with a topic is sometimes hard to do. But, I figured the paper would be coming out the Wednesday before Thanksgiving so something on Thanksgiving would be appropriate. I spent the time writing the article. Submitted it, and even had the editor tell me he received it. Then when the paper came out, it wasn't in the paper, and someone else had written an article.

I dont know why this bothers me so much. Maybe because I do find them difficult to write and when you take the time to do it in an already busy week, it is frustrating that they disregard it and dont even use it. Maybe this is a small thing, I just found it frustrating. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

Child of God?

I have been thinking a lot about baptism lately. For a few reasons: First, I have been able to baptize 3 infants in the first 10 months of ministry. Second, I have started a new tradition in our church by introducing the baby after I have baptized it. When I do so, I say "(Child's name) is a child of God..." As a result of that I have had some interesting conversations about baptism with someone. Third, as I go through the Heidelberg Catechism, I have reached the discussion on sacraments and especially baptism. Finally, even before I received it in the mail, the Calvin Theological Seminary Forum has the entire issue dealing with baptism. To read this go here: http://calvinseminary.edu/pubs/forum/08fall.pdf

I find it interesting that all of these things have come together in the past few months. The main thing that has caused me to think so much about baptism, and infant baptism in particular is the discussion I had. In this discussion, the person was challenging me on what I meant when I said the baby was a "Child of God." In this discussion this person wanted to know if I meant they were physically a child of God, or spiritually. I agreed with this person that physically everyone is a child of God, since God created everyone. But for this person to be a spiritual child of God meant you were saved.

It is at this point we disagree. We agreed that baptism itself does not save the child. So, for this person, the child cannot be a spiritual child of God. For this person, they feel that a child of believing parents is blessed to be born into a home of believing parents, but would not consider them to be a spiritual child of God. In our conversation, it really seemed to hinge on this person's definition of a child of God.

We agreed on a lot of things. This person did not want to give any false assurance to parents, I agree. This person felt that baptism is a sign, not an actual saving element, I agree. But for this person, only those who are saved should be called children of God.

For this person then, Baptism should only be given to those who have a personal relationship with God. That is why I think the Forum article is so timely for me. It reaffirms everything I said to this person about infant baptism. It isn't about the person's choice to choose God. In infant baptism, God is the one choosing the child. As a community we also make promises to do our part in raising this child in the covenant.

I think that is what makes infant baptism so special. It is God who is doing the action. God alone is saying that this child is a child of his. That he loves this child so much, that he sent his son to die on the cross for him or her, even before they were born. The thing that made this whole discussion so challenging is the person's view on what is a Child of God. I couldn't fully agree with this person's definition because I know that baptism doesn't automatically save the child. But yet, God is separating the child and calling it to be his own, so I am still confident in saying at an infant baptism, "This is a child of God."

Immigration

Immigrating to a new place is not the easiest thing to do. Even though I am married to a Canadian citizen; even though I have a job in Canada; even though it is a job that doesn't need a work visa - it is still challenging. Everything is affected by my temporary status. I can't import fully until I have my permanent residency. I cant get an Alberta License until I get my permanent residency. I couldn't even get financed for our car because I might skip the country soon.

It is a bit frustrating all the things that you have to do. Today I went for my medical exam for immigration. Well, it was basically a joke. Sure it didnt take that long, but the Doctor seemed more interested in talking to me about other people who have gone through this, or other people who havent showed up for their appointments. He told me stories about people who have medical history that is a lot worse then mine, yet they are allowed in. So, I was thinking, if they allow people in with such conditions in a social health care system, why do they put us through these hoops?

Is it a cash grab or what? The visit lasted less than an hour. I paid 186 dollars for this. He listened to my heart. Asked me some questions, hit each knee. Then sent me for an x-ray. Tomorrow I have to go back and get some lab work done, which I think I have to pay for that too.

I guess it is frustrating that you pay so much for the doctor to ask you questions you could have answered on your own. I could have weighed myself and checked my height. It seems a bit much if they accept people with worse anyway? What's the point?

Lesson in Patience

The last post I talked about the fact that we got a new puppy. I think this is one of the greatest lessons of patience anyone can ever have. We have had her for over a week now and she is learning a lot. We are having a lot of fun, but there are also a lot of frustrations. Just when we think she is learning, she has an accident again. But, so it goes, she is only 9 weeks old.

Everyone we talk to says it is good practice for having kids. Well, then I guess I am happy we have a puppy first. It would be interesting to have kids without ever having gone through something like this. It is such an adjustment. But it is still fun.

It does make it hard to work sometimes. But, I am learning how to get things done when I can, and also to still have time to take her out and train her a little. It is a fun adventure, but we still need much patience!

New Puppy

Well, it has been a while again since I wrote. Things have been a bit busy since we got home from Ontario two weeks ago. Last week I was golfing at a Christian School golf tournament and a Pastor from another church had a heart attack and died on the course. It was pretty tragic. As a result, I was asked last week to do a wedding this past Saturday. It ended up being a good thing.

But the other things that will keep us busy for the next while is the fact we got a new puppy. She is only 8 weeks old and she is a Weimaraner. So now we have the fun task of house training her. I think it will go okay as I work out of the house, but we need to train her to be okay when we are not home as well, that will be the interesting part. Anyway, this is a fun time now for us. I am looking forward to it! Another new challenge.

Interesting

I haven't posted in a while due to some unexpected travel. My wife's grandfather passed away and we went back for the funeral. It was a good time to be with family and to see how the Christian community really supports people during a death in the family.

While there, we had the visitation with the family at the funeral home. This is when family and friends come and visit the family and also to witness the body of the one who has passed. It is tradition there to line up as a family to receive people as they come. Something we noticed which we thought was kind of funny was the number of people that commented on my height. It is funny to me, because if someone is short, people don't go up to them in a place like that and say, "Oh, your a small one!" I just find that funny....

Anyway, the one thing that I really wanted to comment on was the other thing people would say to me, that was: "Oh you are her husband, the minister." The reason this sticks out in my mind is because I guess, I haven't gotten my mind completely around the idea of the "specialness" of being a Minister. To some people it is very "special" to be a pastor. The reason I think that people feel this way is because you didn't hear people saying about my in-laws: "Oh, you are her husband the manager/dispatcher." Or, "You are his wife the nurse."

Being a pastor has a lot of different expectations from people. It isn't always easy to accept the role as representing Christ. As Fredrich Buechner puts it in Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy & Fair Tale, "...not because of anything he knows or anything he is in himself but because, as an ambassador is revered for the government he represents, he is to be revered for representing Christ." (pg. 40) This is hard to accept at times, but I think as a pastor I need to think of it in this way as well. It is not because of a degree I hold from a certain Seminary. But it is because I am representing Christ that people think my job is "special."