Truth vs. Grace

You might think this is an interesting title. Truth vs. Grace, shouldn't the two be together? What do I mean by this title? There is something that I have been struggling with for a while. The thing that I am struggling with is how the church, should address certain issues with members within a given church.

The problem is, that in this day and age, "Church discipline" is not something that is really practiced very much. Many people are not comfortable with confronting people. We don't want to stir the pot, we want to let everything be as it is. The church tends to lean towards a "hands off" approach. We don't want to upset people.

The thing that bothers me about this way of doing things is that we seem to be afraid to stand on the truth. We are afraid of upsetting people to the point that we would rather not say or do anything. Even if it is complete and outright sinful, we would rather not say or do anything. Even if is directly contrary to what the Word of God has to say, we still don't want to get involved.

When I write, "Truth vs. Grace" I mean that many people would rather see grace then stand for the truth. Even when people are living lives in a sinful way. How should the church respond in these times? Should we continue with a "hands-off" approach, or should we take a stand for what is right and true?

As I am writing this, I am thinking about some of the reasons why we are afraid to stand for the truth. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think maybe one reason might be we are afraid of people calling us "hypocrites." Are we afraid that people will say that we are too "judgmental." I don't really know, just some of my thoughts. What do you think??

Be Still

Every few months I have the opportunity as part of a local ministerial (a gathering of local ministers) to write an article for the "Local Press." I never know what to write for these things. But here is my latest effort anyway. If you have any suggestions for me for future articles I would really appreciate them! Thanks.

Be Still and Know

Now that the weather is finally warming up, and it seems to be staying, we all begin to think about the coming summer. We think, finally, we will be able to slow down and relax. We will finally be able to enjoy time with our families. During the school year things are just so busy. I mean we have to take Johnny to hockey practice and games how many times a week. After dropping Johnny off, we have to take Susie to dance practice or skating lessons. Not to mention making sure they get all their school work done.

Even though I am not a parent yet, I know what this is like. I was one of the causes of my parents running all over town to make sure I made it to sports practice of some kind. Parents get excited at the end of hockey season because finally, we can maybe slow down…but then soccer starts up, then baseball…you name it there always seems to be something.

We live in a culture of busyness. We are busy people. We don’t really have time for “extra” things. We don’t have time to slow down and to look at the things around us. We don’t have time to “stop and smell the roses.” Often times in this busyness, we get caught up, we lose focus of something that is important: we lose focus of God.

Some people think, when summer hits then I will be less busy, then I can spend more time with God. Summer is supposed to be a time of relaxation, and rest. But in this part of the world, it seems to be the opposite, it seems to be when people are the busiest. God calls us even in the midst of all this busyness to focus on him. He says in Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

This is difficult for most of us. We just don’t have the time to “Be still.” One of the things that I have come to love about where we live is the opportunity to get out and to see all that God has made. We live not too far from a couple of National Parks. We live close to the mountains. We can see amazing things at different provincial parks. It is amazing to take the time to “be still” and see what God has done. This summer, I hope that everyone is able to take some time to get out and see all God has made. To take time to “Be still and know that [he is] God.” It isn’t always easy to take the time. But when you do, you will be refreshed and renewed in knowing that the one who created all things, that he is God.

Highlights

There are some things in ministry that I see as being highlights. Being able to baptize a child I find as one of them. Another is when someone accepts the promises of God in baptism and they make profession of faith.

Last night as a council we were able to experience the highlight of having a couple of young people come to make profession of faith. It is exciting for me to see. We spent the last few weeks discussing what it means to be a Reformed Christian as well as what the Bible is about. It is great to have them come and tell us why they are at a point they want to make a public profession of faith. It was really moving for me. Praise God!

Sermon or Discussion for Evening Service???

For anyone who might read this, I would like to have your feedback with what you think I should do. Since I have been at this church, I have been going through the Heidelberg Catechism in our evening service. I wanted to do this as it is something that has been neglected I think over the last number of years. But also, it helps my preaching schedule. I have been here a year and a few months, and we are getting to the end.

For the last number of weeks instead of having an actual "sermon" I have been leading a discussion based on the specific Lord's Day. I did this because we were dealing with the Ten Commandments and I felt it served as a good discussion starter. The discussions were based on Ethics class from Seminary as well as my Catechism class I taught in Ontario. Some discussions went better than others. A lot of good and challenging questions came out of our discussions.

Of course with doing something different there is different feedback. Is it good or not? Well, I have of course heard the "negative" side of the feedback from a few of the loyal second service attenders. But to my delight there are a number of people who really enjoyed these discussions.

Now the things that I am faced with, we are finished with the Ten Commandments. Now do I go back to preaching a sermon, or do I continue to lead discussions. The last section deals with Prayer, and the Lord's Prayer, specifically. Some might lend to good discussion.

Now some of the reasons why I did the discussion on the Ten Commandments. 1. They bring up things that we deal with all the time, and it can open our eyes to the wider meaning of the command. 2. I had the discussions pretty much made up from catechism a year ago, and it made it less work. 3. Smaller crowd makes a discussion easier to do.

I have found that after the discussions, often times the discussion continues in the foyer. Rather than the first thing out of people's mouths "well, have you started seeding yet?" "Is the weather going to hold this week to allow us in the fields?" I hear more people continuing the discussion, even if it is joking around, they are discussing it and it seems to be applied more. I don't know.

The thing I struggle with is whether or not to lead discussion. Was it done in an attempt to get more people to come to the evening service? Possibly. Did it work? Not necessarily. I must say that lately we have had a good turnout, 20-30 people. The numbers thing really doesn't bother me too much, I have come to accept that fact that people just don't come. Why that is, is probably another blog post!

Anyway, I guess what I am looking for is what people think. There are positives and negatives. I am just interested in what other people think about this topic.

Camping Season

It has been a long winter. Or so it seems. It seems as if it will never stop snowing. In fact this past week we have had more snow, and as I type there is still some on the ground outside. Should be gone today...But just a bit south of us, only like 30-40 minutes south of us, they got about 5 feet of snow, unbelievable. But, there is hope! The forecast seems nice for the next few days.

I am looking forward to taking our tent trailer out a few times this year. Last year we never really got to use it except on our way back up from California. In a few weeks is May long weekend, (the week before Memorial Day in the States.) I just made reservations to camp there for the weekend as I have the Sunday off.

This morning, I spent over an hour trying to make these reservations. It is only two weeks away, and I tried to reserve the other day, but they said they didnt start until May 1. It didnt make much sense to me, as many people want to go camping on this particular weekend. I tried calling, and the recording said to try the website. So I did. But that was too busy. So I tried calling again, busy signal. I did this over and over again, until finally, an hour later, I got through on the website. I find it a bit ridiculous that they tell you on the phone they are too busy, try the website, but then the website is too busy. Wow, I guess everyone wants to go camping that weekend! Anyway, I am really looking forward to this. It should be a good time!

Oh yeah, we are camping at Writing on Stone provincial park. Just for those who are interested, it is only a few miles from the Montana border I guess...Looks like a neat place.

Lost in the Busyness

Last week was a busy week. Not only did we have Good Friday and Easter, I had a funeral to do on Thursday. The thing that I found out was that it was really busy. But I tried to make sure that I didnt get lost in the busyness of the week. It would have been very easy to get lost in making all those sermons and planning the worship services.

I am extremely thankful for people who are willing and able to help during a busy week. There is one person who really helped me with the planning of the Good Friday service as well as Easter. It was a relief to be able to sit with her and plan the service. It took a major weight off my shoulders. As a result I was able to enjoy the worship services on Good Friday and Easter and not be too stressed out about them. These are highlights of the Church year and to get lost in the busyness of it all would be a shame. It was great to hear the story of how Christ was crucified for our sins and then on the Third day he rose from the grave! A story that we hear each year, but yet never gets old!

I was thinking that I am probably not the only person who felt overwhelmed with how much was going on. A lot of people have big Easter celebrations. Many people get stressed out over these things. I am sure they too could have felt lost in the busyness. I hope that they too were able enjoy the special day and that they were able to remember why we celebrate this each year.

Exciting News

For those who read this, (I dont know who reads this generally), but you notice I dont post on Sunday's because generally I am too busy, tired, etc. But, my wife and I wanted to be able to share our exciting news with everyone. So, I thought it would be good to write this today.

My wife and I are expecting our first baby in October 2009. We are really excited about this, but also nervous as it is a major adjustment. That along with the fact we dont have our families near us. That is one of the hardest things about this, but know that our church supports us in all things. Anyway, that is our exciting news, I would love to hear any comments you migt have. Thanks