I’m unplugging you right now . . .
This computer is going to the living room. There it will be used to record music.
Beautiful music . . . Unique music . . . One of a kind music . . .
I’m unplugging you right now . . .
Oops, one last commercial. This will be great music . . .
I’m unplugging you right now . . . Good b – – . . .
The weather of Saskatchewan is often indescribable.
I wanted to start this blog entry by describing the chill of the outdoors. My son is on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. There the temperatures do not dip to -10 degrees Celcius — or to any Fahrenheit equivalent. To talk about the cold of -30 degrees Celcius is meaningless.
I have watched students come to Canada from tropical climes. Theire first reaction to snow is incredulous. From the sky comes a solid substance that can sting in a strong wind, can melt on a sunny day, or can be pounded into mounds of rock like formations.
So how do I describe the cold of the last few days? There are always times when a quick temperature change disorients you. Even the hottest day can bring an unexpected breeze or a cold shower. What you had expected from that balmy day is immediately dispelled.
Take that exact moment. Stand in a doorway and pretend you are walking into the chill of that moment. Now, increase the exposure by around 10 times. Add a growing tingling to your face and exposed skin. Finally, shiver so that you feel you will never recover. That’s -30 degrees Celcius.
Wait til you meet -40 degrees Celcius. You become an ice cube wishing you could thaw, an ice cream sundae whose frozen toppings are impenetrable, a reverse furnace who finds more warmth on the outside than on the inside.
If you want to join the extreme sports crowd, venture this way. Welcome to the wind blown prairies of Canada.
While sitting at my work desk, I’ve been pondering a statement from an email I received about a month or so ago:
The email had come in a discussion on servant leadership for churches. In the discussion, some questions had arisen, expecially the matter of truth in a relativistic society. In the midst of that discussion the ethics of what we do became a question to be examined.
For years I have equated ethics and morals. Maybe I have been too simplistic. The statement above made me evaluate my own approach.
In our society I can quickly point to things I think are wrong — to morals that stare me in the face every day. Abortion, homosexuality, rape, murder, stealing, fraud, hypocrisy and much more. These are very much the practices of our culture. I can categorize and synthesize and even analyze them.
But in the end, when I have all this laid out in front of me, these are just desciptions. The real question that we need to examine as a society is the matter of what the prevailing atmosphere is around us — the steady state of the “air”.
Take the case of a cave that is full of carbon dioxide (CO2). The culmination of many observations of CO2ness within a cave leads you to conclude that this is a CO2 cave. Where carbon dioxide is in greater supply than oxygen we have an ethic of CO2.
Now arises the matter of a way of life. Or more rightly put a way to life. You can state that your “cave” is a CO2 cave. But is that healthy? Is that life? You thus must come to a concensus of the “truth” — of what is healthy and what is life.
Most people around us are content to merely describe the ethics and morals of what is happening around them. They will “live with it”, or as some say, “if it feels good, do it”. But as a Christian, I am called to be a change agent — to be leading people to be reconciled with God — to know truth, to come to life, to find the way — the way that brings life and not suffocation and death.
And in the end, the old cliche from the ’60’s still stands — “Jesus is the answer.” What is looked on as a simple answer is actually the most complex, fulfilling and inexhaustible answer for our society and for each individual in it.
One of the objectives of our church family is to release people into areas of ministry.
Today, Lloyd Pierce preached. His sermon was on Acts 9 — Terrorists can change!!! He used Saul to help us see that we all can change — from where we are to where God wants us.
I had the great opportunity of sitting in on his preaching.
Lloyd was not preaching because I wanted a holiday. He was not preaching because no one else was around.
Lloyd was preaching on purpose. He is a good speaker whom people respect. He is able to preach in such a way that it is simple and yet not simplistic. He was preaching because this is an area of giftedness in his life.
Although a pastor may need to be preaching most of the time to give vision and direction within a church — and to lay doctrinal and biblical guidelines, that doesn’t mean all the speaking needs to be done by him or her. If anything, a strong sense of ecclesiology (the study of the church) will show that we need to share with those who are gifted. When someone takes on all the jobs in a church, then we are providing a place for spectator sport and not for the participation of the whole group of people we call the church.
So, I participated in the worship service today at the Kindersley Alliance Church. I did not preach. I did not take up the offering. I did play and sing (a gifting area that I have been a part of for years).
And somehow God refreshed me and the congregation!!