September 11, 2008 · 1:10 pm

Oh, Election Mode!

What a lot of junk mail elections generate!  I can’t say that most of it influences me to vote for the party that sends it out.

We got a flyer this week that to me appears to be full of half truths designed to distort the thinking of average Joe Citizen so that the party in power will gain their support, or keep it and increase it.  The flyer shows a tattoo "Not on Your Dime" and talks about the perks given to prisoners. 

Hey, everyone is against crime, right?  Therefore criminals should be deprived of all privileges and punished more severely.  So this government is appearing to come down hard on crime.  That should gain votes for sure.

If that is what they want to say, they should come out and clearly state that.  Without manipulating the reader to suppose that the proposed tattooing program in prisons is just about perks for prisoners.  It was proposed as a way to cut down on the transmission of disease as well as a way of teaching safe tattooing methods for those wanting to get into this field – if they aren’t already – when they get out. 

Just be honest, dear government leaders.  Tell all sides of what the proposal meant.  Don’t try to manipulate us into voting for you.  Give us some good stuff that will improve our society.  Don’t play on our fears and prejudices.  We get too much of that anyway.

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Filed under Day to Day, In the News

September 9, 2008 · 12:31 am

I also like this

Via

Jordon

The answer proposed by Darrel L. Guder of Princeton Theological Seminary, among others, is that the Christian church in Canada should return to its roots and become a "missional "church. That is, the church should strike out in a different direction; it should reject the cultural forms that carry questionable assumptions about what the church is, what its public role should be and what its voice should sound like and become a "sent" community. The church should stop mimicking the surrounding culture and become an alternative community, with a different set of beliefs, values and behaviours. Ministers would no longer engage in marketing; churches would no longer place primary emphasis on programs to serve members. The traditional ways of evaluating "successful churches"—bigger buildings, more people, bigger budgets, larger ministerial staff, new and more programs to serve members—would be rejected.

This tugs at something in me.

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Filed under church, Quotes

September 8, 2008 · 6:40 pm

I found this interesting

… seeing that we have a church in this size range.

Via Covenant Church News

Size of Churches: ‘Small Is the New Big’
IRVINE, CA – Following a year of planting churches in Bangkok, Thailand, NewSong Covenant Church pastor David Gibbons has changed his views of what constitutes the best size for a church.
“I visited other churches and discovered that the Evangelical Covenant denomination there (Thailand) had 4,000 people in roughly 400 churches,” Gibbons says in a lengthy interview with Leadership Journal. “It hit me. Back home, NewSong had about 4,000 people in four congregations. I saw four churches with 4,000 people versus 400 churches with the same number of people, and the question I felt God posing to me is, Who’s stronger?
Gibbons’ answer to that question has led his congregation to begin planting  what he calls organic-sized churches. “Not house churches, but mid-sized,” he says. Mid-sized congregations, which he calls “verges,” have attendance of 30-300.
Gibbons questions the mindset that bigger is better. “Small is the new big,” he adds. “Big isn’t bad, but it’s overrated.”

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Filed under church, In the News, Quotes

September 8, 2008 · 3:22 pm

Forgiveness

“Great feuds often need very few words to resolve them. Disputes, even between nations, between peoples, can be set to rest with simple acts of contrition and corresponding forgiveness, can so often be shown to be based on nothing much other than pride and misunderstanding, and the forgetting of the humanity of the other – and land, of course.” P.127 The Good Husband of Zebra Drive by Alexander McCall Smith

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Filed under Quotes

September 8, 2008 · 3:43 am

So, the time has come…

Sometimes we get to see a person demonstrating obedience to God.  The places He takes us aren’t very often what we would have dreamed up – but there you go – God’s ways sure are not like ours. 

Randall resigned this morning.  He’ll be off to a new place soon.  In a field.  We may have to write a new version of "The Church in the Wildwood"  if you are old enough to know how that one goes.  At least his neighbors will be quiet – or far enough away that they can party and he’ll never know.

We have learned so much from God as he has pastored our church.  Now, I guess, God needs him somewhere else for a bit.  We send him off with blessings and prayers and a lot of tears.  But it will be good.  If God is in it, it will be good.

But it is hard saying farewell to someone who has been a good friend.  Oh, we don’t have to stop being friends – we’ll keep our connections in this blog world.  But things won’t be quite the same and we will miss the presence of Randall and Lauralea. 

We love you, Randall and Lauralea, and that will not end here.

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Filed under Day to Day, Dealing with stuff

September 5, 2008 · 3:24 pm

From Henri Nouwen this morning

Choosing Words Wisely

Words are very important. When we say to someone: "You are an ugly, useless, despicable person," we might have ruined the possibility for a relationship with that person for life. Words can continue to do harm for many years.
It is so important to choose our words wisely. When we are boiling with anger and eager to throw bitter words at our opponents, it is better to remain silent. Words spoken in rage will make reconciliation very hard. Choosing life and not death, blessings and not curses often starts by choosing to remain silent or choosing carefully the words that open the way to healing.

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Filed under Quotes

September 4, 2008 · 1:36 pm

The day begins

Got a stupid phone call in the middle of the night – 2:30 am – from someone who must have been drunk as a skunk. 

Lost about two hours sleep after that. 

And today is going to be busy.

Lord,
Give me energy for the day
Help me to see clearly
Make my hands steady.

Though I am tired,
Give me an alert mind
Words that reflect your wisdom
And your love.

I am going to need you near me today, God,
And you promised.

For the honor of your Name
Help me live up to the name I have chosen as mine
To follow. 

Today, Lord, just one moment of grace at a time,
Till rest comes at its end.

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Filed under Day to Day, Poetry and Stuff

September 4, 2008 · 5:08 am

That was a long day

Began with prayer – for our church at our church at 7ish.  Ending with prayer for a hurting daughter just minutes ago.

Lots of work and busyness in between.  One assistant still quite sick so extra busy at work.  Work day ending with a meeting. 

Then straight up to Mama Mia.  A good old popcorn supper that cost as much as a good sitdown meal.  Lots of fun with good friends.

Now bed.  I am needing some good sleep.

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Filed under Day to Day

September 1, 2008 · 3:46 am

Now she is packed

And the baking begins.  It always seems a bit strange to me to begin making banana chocolate chip muffins at 9:30 pm.  Maybe that is to guarantee that a few are left for breakfast?

I think she may let us eat one each but she insists that these ones are to take to Saskatoon. 

Not only the muffins but also the apple crisp. 

 

She’s taking our goodies and then she is up and leaving too.

 

Life is not fair!

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Filed under Day to Day

August 31, 2008 · 12:36 am

Challenging stories

Jamie tells a couple of stories over at his site.  They are reflections of the life he and his wife have chosen to live.  Stories that come out of their experiences as they share the streets and neighborhood with the people in north Winnipeg. 

Read them.  They may challenge you to rethink some things about your own life and what God wants from you.

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Filed under Dealing with stuff, Reading