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Let us pray.

Lord when the noise becomes too much, help us to have clarity.
When the mind remembers what was but cannot understand the way forward, help us to have courage.
When our words seem to not have the right meaning, help us to listen to You.
When we are confused about how to live forward in this life, help us to see You through the distractions.
Lord when we are hurting because of the continued brokenness, May we never give up on You as You bring healing and calm into the chaos. Lord Jesus we pray this all in Your name. Amen.

Let us pray.

Lord have mercy on those who are feeling disconnected, disconnected from family, from friends, from the church that You have called them to. Lord with all the struggles that keep people apart, may we find a quietness of the soul.that shines through to Your life giving love. Our weakness lowers us to levels we fear. Reach down Lord Jesus to lift us up. Grab hold of us with the same strength that brought Peter to safety when he was sinking in the waters. Those whose confidence is waning from problems that they did not create. Bless us Lord of with peace that washes away the problems of that seem to be drowning the weary hearts of Your people. Renew our souls that we would not succumb to the disillusionment of the changes that contradict Your will. Hear our prayer Lord Jesus. Amen.

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Let us pray.

Lord Jesus as we live in the contrasting understandings of our world with beliefs lacking substance and the wayward running of policies that contradict righteousness. We don’t always recognize the subtle lies that try to imitate Your life giving truth. Lord protect us from these lies that want to separate us from You.

Lord we are confronted by the brokenness of this world. Friends are sick with cancer, smoke fills the air that should be clear and fresh. Strangers are dying from famine brought on by drought. Wars are cutting to the heart of humanity and leave destruction and death in their wake. Lord have mercy on each of us. Grant us peace in the face of all the cracks of our failing society. We call out to You to lead us. Our steps are failing to walk in Your ways. Your ways bring life that we too often are too weak to follow yet You do not forsake us. You see the destitute and call them to Your blessing. You hear the cries of the broken and seek to bring healing. Your eyes do not miss the smallest person, the feelings of insignificance that seem overwhelming come face to face with Your Holiness and experience the Your perfect grace.

Lord You lift us all up to life once again. We have hope because of who You are and what You have done. Lord help us to keep our eyes on You, putting all of our faith in You. We pray this in Your holy name. Amen.

“We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭6‬:‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Isn’t it great to think that Jesus offers us new life? It is right here in Romans 6:4. But the problem with the new life, is that the old one has to die. Death is a hard topic these days, yet it used to be a natural part of life. One might argue that it still is. Yet it seems that Christians who believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ fear death. We cannot have the new life without the death of what the old life was focused on or rooted in. We have to let go of what was to receive the fullness of what Jesus has given. Letting go of what was and embracing not just what will be but Jesus Himself.

Our baptism is a reminder of dying to ourselves and being raised to life in God’s love and grace. When we think about how hard it is to release our life to Jesus but when we look at what Jesus is offering we must recognize the fullness of forgiveness, hope, love, and grace. The problem that comes up is that people struggle to hear the message of Christ to be able to receive the gift of life that He has died to give. The change in focus from Christ to ourselves while is important to note we too often put too much emphasis on ourselves instead of recognizing the greatness and love of Christ. For some the message has been watered down so much that the new life is not attractive anymore. For some the message is so different from what Jesus given us that it is not possible to experience God’s love anymore. And for others the focus is solely on themselves with an expectation that Jesus will give them what ever they desire, as if they are entitled.

Laying this down burying the misconceptions of God’s grace and living in the fullness of Jesus’ life that He gave for us so that we can be given this new life.

In different conversations I have had in the last couple of weeks the changing social perception of going to church has changed. At one point in time people were expected to go to church and be part of a religious community. If you did not go to church, you would be asked what was wrong with you. Now if you go to church some people will ask what is wrong with you. In the first instance going to church helped with your social standing while in the second it seems like it is impeding being part of society.

I realize this is an extreme generalization but it raises a question why should you go to and be part of a church?

If it is completely dependant on what others think then it will depend on who and when the question was asked because the view has changed. But the why we should be addressing comes from Jesus who said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew‬ ‭28‬:‭19‬-‭20‬ ‭NIV‬‬. We also have to recognize that Jesus brought together people to learn and grow together and to support each other as Jesus supported them.

Are we part of church for ourselves or for our love of Jesus? Are we looking for approval or seeking to be faithful? Faithfulness is huge. If it wasn’t for God’s faithfulness we would not be here, we would not have hope, we would not know what God’s love really looks like. Being part of the church, not just a church is suppose to be life changing not just something that we can change. As a follower of Jesus being part of the ‘Church is not an option, it is a necessity. Being part of the church is a matter of life and walking with Jesus. Jesus showed us through his compassion and grace how the Church can and will flourish.

In my limited experience in ministry and life in general, how we look at what we have will dictate how we live. Do we see what we have as something that we have earned or something that we have been blessed with. When it is all because of us and our hard work, we might think that it is just for ourselves and we have to protect it. At times we even try to protect the blessing that we have been given. But what would happen if we see what we have been given as a blessing and be willing to share it. Not to abuse the blessing but to recognize that the blessing is a gift from the giver, a gift from God.

It seems that when we focus too much on the blessing we forget how much God can give. Why do we put our limited ability on to God’s profound providence? Is our trust in God so thin that we don’t think that God will continue to bless us or be able to continue to bless us.

Sometimes we as the church, act the same way. When we have something to lose we are afraid to lose it. But like the love that God has given to us through Jesus, the more we share it the bigger it grows. We see this through the struggles of the early church as they were trying to decipher what it meant to be followers of Christ and who could be followers of Jesus. We see it today when people are afraid to act or speak because they are afraid of losing, whether it is respect, influence, money, or any other item that we might value. \

God’s blessings haven’t stopped coming, why do we think they should?

As we enter the month of June, I will be winding down my ministry in Arthur as my family and I transition to Winchester, Chesterville, and Morewood. I will be continuing these devotions through most of June and will be taking time off in July and possibly for August. I will resume on my personal Facebook page after that.

I have just started reading a book called, “In Dying we are born” by Rev. Dr. Peter Bush. In the next few weeks what we will be going through is a time of remembering and a time of grieving to an extent. This will be an ending but like many endings there is a new beginning. It has happened before and I am sure that it will happen again. It is a strange concept in our society to think about dying, yet we are Christians and part our faith is based on Jesus dying and His resurrection. Death is part of our faith because we have the reassurance that from death there is new life.

This truth applies to us individually and for the wider community. Jesus invites us to follow Him which means that our lives change whether we like it or not. It means that Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow but we will not be. It means that we will see amazing blessing filling up our lives. We don’t always get to hold on to those blessings for as long as we would like but we aren’t meant to hold onto the blessing, we are meant to hold onto Jesus. What those blessings will look like I don’t know exactly but I do know that Jesus if faithful. I have experienced His faithfulness in many different ways as have many of you. Trust in Jesus and live in the fullness of new life.

“things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us. We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done. He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭78‬:‭3‬-‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

What anchors the church?

An anchor is a useful tool, it can keep a boat from drifting away but it can also impede the movement of the boat if it is not used at the right time for the right reasons. If the chain that holds the anchor to the boat is not strong enough, it will break and the boat will anchor.

When we think about what is to hold the church it is Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God the Father as starters, followed by the Holy Scriptures, and followed by that is discipline with the gift of faith coming out of each of these. Tradition does play a part in this to a lesser extent but also to a greater extent than some would put it today.

Tradition when used correctly helps us today connect with those who lived by faith so many years ago. It is arguable that through tradition we can get a clearer understanding of the original practises and beliefs of our early brothers and sisters in Christ. We have to be aware as the early reformers were aware that at times tradition can lead us away from the actual practise that we are trying to follow. That is why the reformers wanted to look closer at the earlier practises when the current practises that had grown up in the “tradition” did not seem to align with the word of God. Yet today there are those who would throw out tradition because it guides us in a way that people do not want it to. As I said tradition can be helpful if used properly it can actually help to guide us back to a faithful practise of worship and a relationship with God because tradition incorporates every one and thing that I mentioned before, it should never be separated from them.

Yet one of the main focuses that we find in our society is a heightened focus on humanism, individualizations, and self pronouncements. Tradition when followed back to Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, through the scriptures, through the practise of discipline should not lead you to ourselves. The rootedness of tradition can give life to us because it should be leading us to Jesus and this is a problem for some people because it changes the narrative that they want people to live by. The church is not suppose to be focused on toxic, self centred individuality, it is suppose to be a gathering of people who are blessed by Jesus coming together to share that blessing in the world as the hands and feet of Jesus. The Church is a community of Faith empowered by the Holy Spirit. The Church is rooted in Jesus not in me. But we believe that we are made alive by the Holy Spirit living in each of us joining us together as the body of Christ.

When tradition is helping to keep us rooted in Jesus it is doing what it should. When tradition starts to take us away from Jesus we need to take a hard look at it especially when tradition is elevated above Jesus.

“the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel”
‭‭Colossians‬ ‭1‬:‭5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Our message of hope from Jesus is the same and yet slightly different for each generation. The focus is always on Jesus’ redemptive gift of grace but how does that connect with the realities of each generation. Too often we only listen to our own voices speaking and not what others are saying.

One of the realities of Jesus’ ministry is that He listened. He listened to what people were saying and people listened to Him. He addressed the problems that people were dealing with not the ones that were assumed.

The Apostles would give of what they had to help those around them. Yes they helped those that they knew, because they got to know people around them.

What are the problems that people are dealing with today? Who am I in this world, what is my purpose in this life, relationships that are stressed because of money problems, despair eating away at people’s souls, bodies riddled with sickness, grief stricken hearts mourning the death of loved ones, just to name of few of the problems that are troubling lives of the people today.

Yet the ears that strain to hear words of hope are closed off because believing in the hope from Jesus is out of style in a world that arguably has the most knowledge than it ever has but has not been able to eliminate the problems that we all live through. However the good news that Jesus has given us while at times has been pushed aside, it is still the real and lives on in us and around us. The suffering servant and the king who is to bring justice knows our hearts and lives. We can relate to Him because He has endured all that troubles our lives and world.

“News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭11‬:‭22‬-‭24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

How is it that in the Bible people were flocking to follow Jesus but in our society we struggle to keep people following Jesus. The temptation to focus on ourselves is subtly leading our hearts and minds away from the giver of life. In a time where the church is struggling to keep pace with the multitude of messages that are competing to bring us hope and worth, why was the message so attractive then that seems to have lost its lustre today.

At the time when them message was being given, it would have been different for a god to want to be among the people and giving to the people. It would have also been strange to forgive and not want people fear. And to think of someone dying for the sins of others and fulfilling promises given long ago. It was a message of hope, of love, and of grace. Hearing the message of Jesus’ death and resurrection was something great for the common people. There was hope for them.

Have we come so far that Jesus rising from the grave and forgiving our sins is so far from believable or relevant? Or have we gone so far from the Gospel that it is unbelievable.because our actions do not line up with what the Gospel is expressing.

Sending Barnabas showed the people that the message that had been preached to them was being followed by the many people who came to encourage people to follow Jesus. Barnabas’ presence and message gave validity to what they had already heard. The consistency and faithfulness that Barnabas lived by continued to bring hope to the new believers as he continued to teach them more about Jesus.

We need to be able to convey the hope of Jesus for our day and time. The message of Jesus should be able to continue to bring hope to all people. That the creator of the universe loves us and wants to give us the freedom from our sins. To offer us the hope of forgiveness and redemption. To be able to create community that cares for and supports each other in with the grace of God. To continue to work in the redemption of creation. To be a blessing to friends and strangers