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December is a month when I’m focused on Christmas and the birth of Jesus. But last week I was invited to a seminar on the life of Muhammad. It was a reminder to me of the religious and cultural diversity of our city – and it impacts how we witness about Jesus. In the past with a Christian cultural majority, it was easy for Christians to ignore the beliefs of other people and simply share the Good News. Today, a subtler approach is needed. Let me explain how I responded to the Muslim invitation.
At Christmas, Christians usually warn each other about not getting caught up with the materialism of Christmas and instead encourage one another to focus on the Saviour. That's an important message. But I’d like to encourage you to consider buying yourself or someone you know a particular kind of present this Christmas. I want to encourage you to make an investment in your spiritual tool kit with a study Bible.
For me, Frozen is an almost perfect parable of the Gospel. The story begins with two sisters, Elsa and Anna, playing happily in a beautiful castle. It’s like paradise, until Elsa hurts her sister with her ice power. Until then they had played innocently but this one incident changes everything. Elsa is afraid of what’s inside her, she’s ashamed of what she’s done, and she’s afraid of hurting people again. We can relate to Elsa, not because we have ice power but because we each have a cold side to our heart and can hurt people with our words and our actions. Frozen, like the Bible, talks about how to deal with a frozen heart.
Repentance is one of those old words. It doesn’t get used a lot in everyday conversation. It isn’t a word that trends on Twitter or show up in the titles of the latest bestsellers. But it’s a significant word and more importantly a crucial concept. That’s why I was intrigued by the article, “Are you repenting the wrong way?” by Jon Snyder. He leads a ministry that has counseled thousands of people but he says that at the outset all of them are struggling with the wrong kind of repentance. And the problem is that “not only is this wrong repentance extremely emotionally unhealthy, but it actually produces more death and more sin. The damage this mentality does to your soul and your intimacy with God is far worse that [sic] the consequences of your sin itself, so in His wisdom, God will not help you overcome your sin if it means it affirms this mentality.” Got your attention yet?
Two weeks ago I began to talk about our Learning Centre discussion on the “no strings attached” (N.S.A.) approach to relationships that North Americans are characterized by. I shared that sociologists summarize the Canadian mind-set as being typified by low trust, low obligation and high freedom. These qualities are not just unbiblical but extremely unhealthy because:
Given the emphases of our culture, it’s not surprising to me that baptism has become less and less popular in the church – and yet I’m convinced that it’s one of the things God has designed to bring healing to our N.S.A. issues. When was the last time you thought about baptism?
At last week’s Fellowship conference there was a report about a youth ministry in a poor, urban area. A teenage girl had been attending the church’s youth group meetings but her attitude was terrible and unfortunately it had spread to other young people in the group. One week the leader took the youth to an evangelistic event geared towards young people. The speaker asked for a volunteer but no one offered to take part, and so he pointed to someone in the crowd and asked for them to come forward. The person he chose was the teenage girl that had been causing so much trouble in the youth group.
Earlier this fall, I shared in the Learning Centre about one of the things I learned about Canadian culture when I went to Japan. I didn’t realize until I left my own culture that the Canadian approach to relationships is known by sociologists and others by the acronym N.S.A. That doesn’t refer to the National Security Agency but the “no strings attached” style of relationships that Canadians and Americans have become known for. We’re considered friendly and informal, but as one sociologist described, they “always think everyone is their friend. But they don’t trust anyone.” Or someone described the mindset as, “relationships should be something that exist for the sheer enjoyment of them – not something to which you’re obliged.” Or another person has said, “Our friendships are based on freedom to come and go as we please.”
Politics, Injustice and the Kingdom of God
Having just come through election time, it’s good and appropriate that I was recently asked my position on abortion and what we should do about it. While I know that there are a wide variety of opinions in this area, I thought it would be an opportunity for me to share some of my thoughts on politics, injustice and Christianity.
Did you hear what happened? In Psalm 71 the psalmist is dealing with people who attack and accuse him. Clearly people around him are hostile to him and his faith. And so he seeks refuge in God but he does more. Rather than argue with his accusers or criticize them or give up on them, he resolves to tell them how good God has been to him.
You may think there's a typo in my title. Often pastors talk about the importance of not just being Sunday Christians. "We've got to live out the Good News throughout the week." That's really important to me too. But I think it's important to think about how to be Christian, how to act Christian when we come to church on Sunday too. There are many things we could talk about, and so this is a theme I will revisit in the future, but for now let's talk about loving our neighbour in the pew.
