Why the Silence?

We live in our post Christian modern west, where much of what God says to His people is unpopular. We like to be liked. We want to be respected. In our peaceable society conflict is something to be avoided at all costs. We like our comfort - so pain and suffering are things to be managed, controlled and if possible eliminated. We live with an expectation of ease. Seeking this ease it seems we have adopted the nature of the society which surrounds us (or at the very least to stand quietly in it). The good citizen christian has become a reflection of society not Christ. It's easier that way! It's kinder. It's nicer. It's gentler.

The good citizen christian has come to accept the mantras of ease - everyone is entitled to their own opinions! Live and let live! Go along to get along! Never speak of money, sex, politics or religion! All Gods are equal. Separation of church and state means Christian values are not applicable to public discourse and decisions. Jesus has no place outside the home and church building. This all somehow seems OK; reasonable even. But then we realize that bit-by-bit living by these social mantras puts us in opposition to Jesus. Adopting these stances strips away the essence of what it is to be a Christ follower - a Christian. As the Christian wakes up and seeks to live their "yes" to Christ they are branded radicals, haters, judgmental, narrow minded and bigoted. As the Christian lives in Christ we are persecuted through ridicule, prejudice and marginalization.

Perhaps this is why God has given us a wonderful gift in the voice of the Martyrs? What do we hear echoing from the cloud of witness that has gone before us? We hear the costly witness of Jesus Christ!

One such story is that of Perpetua - a young mother who keeps her diary as she approaches her witness in the Roman Ring with a Joy found only in Christ. (read her story here) It is one of the oldest known writings of a Christian woman.

the Martyrdom of Perpetua

There are very popular, accepted secular ideas that Christ followers are called to engage. As they are engaged we are confronted with harsh questions and rebuttals. Christ's answers are so often challenging and contrary to political correctness, to our own human natural reason and to social enlightenment. Saying what Christ said too often brings slander, exclusion, abuse, ridicule, discrimination and even hate upon us; too often we suffer the breakdown of valued relationships. More than once people have laughed in our face; more than once they've yelled; more than once we have been spat at. "Who are you?" "What century do you live in?" "You are a narrow minded, self righteous bigot." "People like you are the worst part of Canadian society." Yet all this pales amidst the echoes of Martyrs gone before us.

Martyr. Greek: μάρτυς [mártys]. It is a word whose English meaning has been broadened in recent years, but the origin of the word referred to those Christians who suffered and were persecuted for their Christian witness. The Greek is literally "witness." So, it is interesting that the word μάρτυς, martyr,"witness" came to be so closely associated with the persecution and torture and murder of the Christian witness. It seems that witness for Christ and persecution have always walked hand-in-hand. Our faith is, and has always been costly.

This week the Anglican Communion disciplined through sanctions the Episcopal Church of the USA. The media and enlightened academic push-back was sadly predictable. The "Third World" Archbishops are archaic, backward, judgmental, simple, narrow minded and bigoted in their thinking which lacks the sophistication of the west; they should be thankful for the God given vocation of the Episcopal Church to yet again lead them from their darkness.

We speak of Martyrs today to remind us of the costliness of the witness which has gone before us; and of the costliness of the witness which lies ahead. We are called by Christ to add our voice to the echo of the cloud of witness which carries from us here and now forward to the end of the age. Say what Christ said, tell what Christ did and teach them to obey all that He commanded.

Jesus did warn us: "If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you do not belong to the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you." John 15

Being Christian is costly - it is the price we accept in giving our yes to Jesus and accepting baptism into His Church.

Can we just stand quiet? Can we leave this witness to others? Can we just mind our own business?

Obviously not!

"But If we die with [Jesus], we will also live with Him. If we endure, we will also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He will also deny us." 2 Timothy 2.

We are called to be Courageous.

What makes us so hesitant and so embarrassed and so worried about sharing the Gospel? From the very beginning, from the commissioning of the Church we were called to be disciple makers, to talk about Jesus and to bear witness. Bearing witness and disciple making has been imprinted by Jesus into the very DNA of the Church. Disciple making is fundamental to who we are as the people called by Christ's name. We were called to be courageous witnesses of Christ. What happened?

For many of us fear happened. We have not spent enough time getting to know God. We don't know who God is, we don't know who we are in relation to God and we don't know what God wants to do in and through us. Because we don't know God, we have our own doubts and uncertainties. Our doubts lead to fear. We are afraid to obey God because we are afraid we will be found lacking both in faith and our witness of God.

Often our fear is compounded by the teachings of self styled christian "theologians." Too often they use God as a tool; an instrument of persuasion; a rhetorical device. Their teachings are thin, incomplete and manipulative arguments which advance social, moral, ethical and political agendas NOT the Gospel. Rather than risk embarrassment in challenging these learned authorities we sit quietly thinking we surely must have missed the point. We end up confused about God not courageous in God.

For others our human intellect has gained sway over God's intention; our pride reigns in our lives rather than God's purpose.

But here is the thing: Christian witness is not a matter of choice. We are commanded by Christ to share the Gospel - all of us - not just a select few. Jesus promised His followers He would remind us of His words as we had need of them. Our obedience does not depend on how clever I am but rather on how faithful Christ is.

This next point is important: Christ's followers are not called to argue, debate, dispute, disagree or defend. We are called to witness. Our response to challenges and denials of the Gospel shouldn't be "oh ya, well let ME tell YOU a thing or two!" No, our response must be  "Ya, I hear you. I have questions too. I know God loves us. I know God sees all and knows all. So, can I tell you what Jesus said?" We are commanded to witness - witness is not about opinion, extrapolation, interpretation or rhetoric. Witness is about saying what God said and telling what God did, does and will do - that is our assignment.

Witness is not an option. It is a command and commission we accept when we give our yes to Jesus. It is the job we freely accept as we are baptized into the Church.

Our choice is to follow Christ or not. Let us pray for courage as we now live out our yes to Jesus.

The world will be different if we are courageous Christ followers.

Change the picture ... change the world.

Matthew 6:2 "So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full."

United Nations World Humanitarian Day

"Chill! Relax! What's the harm in it?" I watched the video - a grand opulent celebration of self; an egocentric shout-out across the universe for self recognition and self glorification. "I was here" the mantra; "I was here" the doctrine; "I was here" the creed sung and viewed over 145 million times!

Truly, its heartbreaking.

"Look if it gets people excited, if it gets people involved and actually doing something good what's your problem?"

The problem is "only God is good." The problem is the total idolization of self. The problem is "good" is not good if it separates us from God. In 4 minutes and 34 seconds this video encapsulates the great lie of "good." Good is not our God.

Me-ism is a word I used rather flippantly more than a decade ago. I was trying to capture that self-indulgent, self-glorifying, self-absorbed consumerist, commercial, material, humanist etc etc etc bent of human nature in one phrase. I did not imagine that soon we would exist in a context where disaster, disease, despair or poverty would simply be the backdrop to my selfie. Me-ism distracts us from the call to Love.

"Leave something to remember, so they won't forget ... I was here."

I have seen the schools, hospitals, wells and latrines boarded up, broken  and empty in the poverty of East Africa. Our immortality is not found in bricks and mortar or rusting treasure. You can trace those decaying projects to the websites and Facebook pages of well meaning "western charities." You can see the smiling faces of the westerners gathered around their work; work found in ruins mere years later. Our call as Christians, Christ's command to Christians is more than mission tourism or bucket list activities. Our eternal destination is found in God alone.

God alone is immortal, eternal and infinite. God calls us to the foolishness of the selfless, self emptying, self sacrificing, self giving, other-loving way of the Cross. It is the paradox of the Cross - only by losing the mortal self do we find our eternal life; our increase is found only in our decrease.

Our Light is the Light of Christ. It shines to bring glory and honour to God.

John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."

Change the picture ... change the world.

Can you be Atheist and Christian?

from CBC.ca

There is an interesting idea that ideological pluralism (the welcoming of every ideology/philosophy as equally valid) is an obvious "good." The first problem with pluralism is its adherents are not truly pluralist! Christianity, for instance is scorned because Christians claim the Way of Christ is unique and the absolute Truth. There is no way a Christian can mitigate this claim and remain Christian. Christians know that many can and do challenge and deny Christ but know also that this is a path away from Truth. The pluralist is as closed minded, narrow, regressive and bigoted toward Christianity as they claim Christians to be. Christianity and Pluralism are mutually exclusive conditions.

Second, there is nothing obvious about good. This morning on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (#CBC) there was an interesting #documentary. It is always good for us to hear the language and manipulation of language by broadcasters, those who are walking in error and those who adhere to wayward (anti-biblical) teaching. So much "sounds" good on the surface but if you really stop and think about it, it is not. The Christian knows this - sounding good is what got us into our sinful condition in the first place. We must read and listen carefully and speak precisely. Eve was NOT attracted to evil - she was attracted to what seemed good! "When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it." (Genesis 3:6). Too often when things sound too good to be true, they are.

#CBC #RadioOne This is the very sad and disturbing story of an #Atheist minister who wants to keep her job in the United Church of Canada [#UCC].

So today's blog is an open letter to #TheCurrent, host #AnnaMariaTremonti and the CBC:

"I will never claim expertise in matters ecclesial. However your documentary (as is often the CBC habit) speaks from a position which elevates human intellect above the awesome (that is unimaginable, indiscernible, indescribable) nature of God. The appeal of Gretta to the CBC is thus understandable as she does likewise.

So from the perspective of a very simple person I wonder this - is there a national story in this scenario: I work at #BlackBerry but I continually extol the virtues and superiority of the #Apple product line. I send all potential BlackBerry customers to pick an Apple. BlackBerry wants to remove me from their employ. Is that a story? Obviously not. Gretta’s story is no different – she’s flogging Apples.

I want to claim the title “BlackBerry Sales Representative” but if I sell Apples I simply am not. Even if I hold up an Apple which is painted over with BlackBerry branding, stuffed into a BlackBerry box, spoken of as a BlackBerry in BlackBerry language (suitably redefined and muddied for my purpose of course) and claim I am now selling a BlackBerry am I truly that “BlackBerry Sales Representative” I claim to be? No! My fraud is revealed by the fact of the device I am selling. If I encourage the consumption of Apples I am an Apple salesperson. These Apples of mine might look good, but I am deceiving, they are not genuine. If Gretta is atheist then she is no more Christian that an Apple vendor is a Blackberry vendor – thus  - by her own choices she has become “not-of-the-Church.” Her choice is her resignation from the Church.

There is also a very practical legal and taxation concern. The incorporation documents, the NPO rulings and the charitable status rulings related to the United Church of Canada I suspect are all framed within the mandate to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to bear witness to Christ and to teach Christianity. Gretta is not doing this so thus she jeopardizes her employer as a Canadian charity.

Christian (a witness of Christ) is not a negotiable condition. The foundational document of the Church warns against this. One bears witness of Christ or one does not – one is Christian or one is not. If you were to be called to court to witness for Christ and said the things contrary to Jesus broadcast today I fear you would rightly be held a perjurer, a fraud and in contempt. What we have to get beyond if we are to know Christ is the notion that Christianity is a matter of
plurality and opinion – Christianity is a matter of bearing witness.

Be blessed"

Jesus answered: “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

Pilate said to him: “What is truth?”


To whom are we transformed? Jesus or Pilate?

the Passion of Jesus Christ: whom do you choose?

Why do you call Me good?

Today's post is a nice little video for a friend of mine. That friend prayed that God would open her eyes and open her ears and transform her life.

Jesus asked why do you call Me good? (Mark 10)

Great question! Why? Why do we call Jesus good?

One response is to declare who Christ is; but that was not the response Jesus got when He posed the question. Frankly today many of us would botch any attempt at answering this question. Why? Because our understanding is distorted - our wisdom is broken - we are blind to our own limits - even our sense of good and evil is off.

After asking the question Jesus illustrated our misunderstanding of the word good, our misconception of who we are and our overestimation of ourselves. Jesus showed us that our ways are not God's ways, our understanding is distorted, our good is not God's Good.

This video is interesting. Some will dismiss it. Some will think about it. Some will cry over it. Some tears will be of joy at the goodness of humanity; other tears will be tears of repentance. Some will see Christ's truth and it will convict.

We often pray for eyes that see and ears that hear. Be careful what you pray for ... God just might give it to you; it will totally shake your life.

Be blessed my friend.

Mark 10:17-22 "Now as Jesus was starting out on His way, someone ran up to Him, fell on his knees, and said, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’” The man said to Him, “Teacher, I have wholeheartedly obeyed all these laws since my youth.” As Jesus looked at him, He felt Love for him and said, “You lack one thing. Go, sell whatever you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.” But at this statement, the man looked sad and went away sorrowful, for he was very rich.

This is one of the hardest stories Mark tells us.

So why bother? Couldn't we all use the extra sleep?

If "going to a church" is not mandatory for the making of a Christian then why bother? Couldn't we all use the extra sleep?

As we speak of Christ, His Church and His followers we must carefully consider
the words we choose and how we use them. It is necessary to refine our language and precisely define the words we use. Much of the majestic Christian vocabulary has been hijacked and rendered mundane in our culture.

There is another interesting thing happening today. We have this odd idea that I can call myself anything I want to and that I am whatever I call myself. I declare myself Christian so I am Christian. Nouns and adjectives have become something I choose, something I consume rather than something that points to or describes truth; it is an irony of the commercial consumption self indulgent context we inhabit. The implication of this is that everything becomes consumable and subject to my choice. This context has tamed our understanding of Church. Church is now something I shop around for to suit my needs; it is where I will go as long as I get something out of it.

So this brings us back to: (1) going to church does not make "me" Christian and (2) Christians don't have to go to church.

Is there a response to this? Yes! Christians have always had the urge to gather not because it is what "christians are supposed to do" but because it is what Christians can't help but do. Call it a symptom of being Christian. The Church naturally instinctively inevitably unavoidably tends to gather as one because God is One; in Him we are one.

In our present darkness this gathering can happen only in fragments and splinters. Christians cluster sharing the pure joy felt as we are nurtured in relationship with God. Christians come together in worship because joy overflows the Christian heart.  In these gatherings our infinite God is the focus; we set aside our mundane finite agendas, works, economies and indications to worship. Christians gather in response to God's Love and the instinct to thank Him - the gatherings celebrate being Loved by God. The gatherings share and remember who God is, what God does and oh how He Loves.

Notice here that neither the gathering nor the gathering place is the Church. In our secular language we reference the place of gathering and the gathering itself as "Church" because both are closely associated with the Church - but neither are. Scripture indicates that one day all Christians, the entire cloud of witness (that is the Church) will gather - something that we await eagerly but has not yet occurred (as of the moment of writing that is).

So finally, the desire to gather is a symptom of being Christian; Christians gather not by discipline or demand but from desire. Church is not where we go. Church is the people of God (across the ages) set apart for God to bear His witness. Church is God's missional instrument to the world in the world! Are you part of it? That is a matter between you and God - Scripture tells us Christian lives will reflect Christ in the world. That is true. This is also true: God wants you to be part of it; but He won't force you. He truly leaves this choice to you.

We need to think carefully about our words ...

It is wonderful that the Church is thinking a bit more about "its words."

We are called (commissioned in fact) to bear witness to the teaching, deeds and commands of Jesus. The Church must become more precise as it communicates the Gospel. I was sent this video - in this song Laura Story is teasing out the ideas, assumptions, presumption and preconceptions we bring to words like blessing, trials, suffering, mercy, prosperity and healing. Thanks to Laura for the wonderful questions she sings.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Bwana Asifiwe

Why the ruckus? (Not #JustinBieber again)

picture from Complex Magazine

Recently Justin Bieber seems to have caused a real ruckus when he said:

"You don’t need to go to church to be a Christian."
(we'll talk about Taco Bell later)

Major media outlets covered the statement and they truly seemed to revel in (even promote) the anguish of many christians and the turmoil in their churches. Push-back came from faithful "church attendees" claiming that for the majority of christians going to church is mandatory - that a Christian would never forsake the gathering of the Body.

Perhaps it might be helpful here to ask: why the ruckus? The answer is: because we're afraid of the answer.

The statement by Bieber (a young man newly seeking after Christ) seems, in reality to be a plea for clarification on his theological journey. Lacking understanding he posed the statement. Within the statement there are two fundamental questions: What is Church? What is a Christian?  These questions strike at the very heart of our "Ecclesiology" (our thinking about Church) hence our knee-jerk reactions to it. Why? Because the young man asked questions that struck a nerve. They force us to take an hard look in the mirror and to ponder our reflection. Quite honestly, few of us will like what we see reflected in the questions. Frankly, many of us are comfortable, prosperous and enjoying ourselves - Bieber's questions undermine us.

"What is Church" forces us to examine the nature of Christ's Church relative to what we do. "What is a Christian?" leads us inevitably to the question "am I a Christian?" Many of the outbursts in response to Bieber seemed to follow the logic: I am a Christian, I go to church thus christians must go to church. In truth our push back is not even against the question, it is against the truth staring us in the mirror. Our push back is self defense; it is preservation of self image and self esteem and our self definition. Our push back comes from not liking our own self convicting answers. If my christianity is based on my going to church, then what am I if going to church does not make a Christian?

Christians are Christ followers. Christ followers follow Christ. Christ followers take seriously what Christ taught, what He said and what He commanded. Are we following Christ? We are not completely fools - we see the answer too clearly in our comfort, leisure and prosperity - we see the answer in our sisters' and brothers' pain, toil and poverty. We don't like Bieber's questions because we don't like the answers we bring to them and the inevitable conviction in the conclusions we draw.

Christian is not a banner we can claim; it is a condition: we either are, or, we are not. Similarly Church is not a place we go, it is the cloud of Christians bearing witness of Christ. Thus the statement "You don't need to go to church to be Christian" is true. IF I am Christian I have stepped into the place prepared for me in the Church: this is a constant regardless of where I am - this is a constant reflecting in my witness of Christ.

Too often Christ's teachings are muddled as theological words morph from the majestic to the mundane. Two words that are too often misunderstood are these very fundamental words Church and Christian.

(subscribe, follow and comment below - in the weeks to come we will explore the symptoms of being Christian and of Church)

Psalm 150:1-6 "Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!"

Now for deeply contemplative chuckle:

One City. One Night. 10 minutes. Unknown $millions?

One City. One Night. 10 minutes. Unknown millions? (rumour is Dubai spent a "world record" dollar value on this display) ... impressive until you think for a minute of the millions suffering and starving as 2015 ends ... hmmm

One Boy. One Girl. One Bible. One year. Two lives. $10.

What's Important?

Please help ACrossMission as we build capacity and empower indigenous mission in Africa.

Matthew 6:21 "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

The numbers will come out in the next few days - billions will have been spent around the world in one night. Just ponder that; hear the words of the One we have given our yes to; are we living our yes?

ACrossMission wishes all a blessed new year. Seek Him with all your heart and all your spirit and all your mind. And Love each other. 

Let the whole world hear - and then see what a difference that makes in 2016.

God blesses us with lessons in every season of life

Natalie Cole - God blesses us with lessons in every season of life

#Wow #Really

Natalie Cole leading worship. Closer walk with thee into Let it Be (Beatles, Paul McCartney)

It reminds us that our lives are full of ebbs and flows. It reminds us that though today we walk in darkness, tomorrow we can stand light and to always cherish and worship the giver of light.

Take a moment to sit in prayer and hear a voice crying out to God.

Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."

Psalm 25:4-5 "Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long"

Psalm 23:4 "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil"

Jesus is the Bridge over troubled waters.

ACrossMission - Taking the Word to the World

Today we hear the voice of Jesus in remembrance. We remember the only Bridge Over Troubled Waters is Jesus. We seek Him and claim His truth.

Having heard both Whitney Houston & Natalie Cole speak of their faith in Jesus it does not surprise us that these beautiful children of God return the Simon & Garfunkel classic to its Gospel core in Christ.

Today, Natalie Cole died (age 65). Let this song live on in worship of the One true, Triune God who conquered death, removed its sting and seeks the restoration of each of us. Let the gift of music be returned to God in worship. Sing to God, let everything that has breath sing to the Lord.

Whitney and Natalie: Bridge Over Troubled Water

New Year's Differences. #LiveYourYes

One City. One Night. 10 minutes. $10 million?

One Boy. One Girl. One Bible. One year. Two lives. $10.

What's Important?

Please help ACrossMission as we build capacity and empower indigenous mission in Africa.

Matthew 6:21 "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

The numbers will come out in the next few days - billions will have been spent around the world in one night. Just ponder that; hear the words of the One we have given our yes to; are we living our yes?

ACrossMission wishes all a blessed new year. Seek Him with all your heart and all your spirit and all your mind. And Love each other. 

Let the whole world hear - and then see what a difference that makes in 2016.