In the Wilderness

It's the second week of advent. Christmas decorations are appearing inside and outside. Christmas music has already been playing in the Dollar Store for a couple of weeks. The mall is getting busier. Mail carriers and couriers are working overtime burdened down with boxes and envelopes, the result of our online shopping. There is a feeling of bustle, of rising excitement, of anticipation. Christmas is coming.

For many though, that excitement seems hard to hold on too. Many find themselves trying to shake off feelings of loss, worry, discouragement. Many find themselves in a sort of wilderness rather than a place of comfort and joy, warmth and abundance. This sort of wilderness is all around us, experienced in many ways and in many places.

The book of Luke quotes the prophet Isaiah as John the Baptist is introduced. A voice crying out in the wildness, a voice that is heralding something new, a voice proclaiming hope from a place where hope is a rare commodity.

We'll spend some time this Sunday thinking about what John's message means for us as we prepare, in this Advent season, to greet our hope.

What is Solid?

Jesus goes for a walk with his disciples through the city of Jerusalem. They walk past the temple, and the disciples, marvel at the size of the stones that were used to build the temple. Huge stones, some of them weighing tonnes and tonnes look so solid, so unmoveable, everlasting almost. Jesus throws cold water on their awe, saying that all of those stones will be moved, will be broken down. the temple is not as solid as they might think.

That causes their earth to shift just a bit. If those stones aren't solid, then what can be?

This Sunday, we'll spend some time with this text, this story. We'll spend some time wondering what are the seemingly solid things in our lives, the things we rely on to hold firm. Are they are solid as we think they are? What is solid? What doesn't change?

The Widow's Coins

The widow with her two coins is a well-known story in the gospels. Jesus, sitting in the temple observes this woman giving her all, her rent money, her money for groceries, her money for heat and clothing. She is giving everything. We know this because Jesus tells us. Jesus knows this woman's condition and Mark records it for us.

We have often used this event, Jesus words, to promote generosity, to promote giving. We raise this woman as an example of trust, of giving back to God. She is often set up as an example to all of us.

But, is that really Jesus' intention as he points this woman out to his disciples? Does he really raise her as an example to be followed, or is he contrasting her with the scribes and leaders of the community that he points out in the verses prior to the entry of the poor widow?

We'll struggle with this on Sunday. We'll struggle with the examples Jesus points to and wonder what lesson he would have us learn from them.

Who's the Blind One Here

The Healing of Bartimaeus, Eustache Le Sueur 1625-1650

Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem (we know what's going to happen there) going through the city of Jericho. He has a pretty big crowd with him, all heading in the same direction. A blind beggar is sitting on the side of the road, hears the commotion of all the people and hears the name Jesus whispered. He gets excited. Starts yelling to get Jesus attention. Folks in the crowd tell him to pipe down. Jesus is on a mission they say. there won't be any stopping to talk to a beggar.

Of course, Jesus stops, he visits, he heals.

This Sunday, we will spend some time with this story, wondering at Jesus willingness to stop, to love and to heal, and the feeling of the crowd that he wouldn't be willing to do those things.

The Upside Down Kingdom

What does success look like? Our society is very much built on hierarchies, power pyramids, where the goal is to work our way to the top of the pile. On our way to the top, we often leave behind some of ourselves, our ethics, our empathy. We scratch and scramble, tramp on the fingers and toes of others in our quest for what we perceive to be a success.

In our text this week, we hear James and John hanging on to that paradigm as they ask Jesus for positions of power in his coming kingdom. They want to be right at his side, on his left and his right hand.

Jesus surprises them with his response to their request. In his kingdom, he says, it's about service, it's about lifting others up, it's about being a servant. In his kingdom honour and power aren't found at the top but at the bottom. It seems to be upside down.

This Sunday, we'll spend some time with this teaching wondering how this teaching relates to our lives and the life of our church.

Let Go and Follow

What is keeping you from truly following Jesus? What is it that stands in the way of truly following, truly becoming a disciple of Jesus?

For a man who was on his knees in front of Jesus it was his wealth, his possessions. Jesus sees that roadblock, recognizes the thing that is standing in this man's way, and provides a solution. The solution is a bitter pill for the man to swallow. It's a difficult prescription. It's so difficult that it causes grief, it causes sorrow.

This Sunday, we'll spend some time with Jesus and this man, wondering about the things that stand in our way, things that stand in the way of us truly experiencing the kingdom of heaven in our own lives.

Crosses are Uncomfortable

This week our scripture reading from Mark (8:27-38) runs a gamut of emotions. We go from Peter's confident, maybe even triumphant, statement that Jesus is the Messiah Jesus talting about his death and calling Peter satan to a call for disciples to pick up their crosses, to give up their lives and follow.

There's a lot wrapped up here, a lot to digest, a lot of lessons that could be drawn out of these texts.

We've been focused over the past weeks on the broad theme of discipleship and this passage in its last verses, in particular, have something to say about what the life of a disciple looks like. Jesus doesn't make it look easy either. Crosses are uncomfortable things, deadly things. It seems that being a disciple involves giving something pretty important up to gain something even better.

Join us Sunday at 9:30 as we dig into Jesus words to us.

Caring for the Poor

James has witnessed something in the church that bothers him. He has seen prejudice in the church, a deference to the rich at the expense of the poor. He raises this as an example a contradiction between faith and life. He likely could have found another example, but he chooses this one because he knows that in God's kingdom there is no room for prejudice. 

This Sunday we to look at what it means to be a disciple. We move to the book of James.

James also introduces a difficult paradox that we will consider, a difficult question: Does what we do affect our salvation or are we saved by faith alone?

We'll spend time with James this Sunday, time with this question, time thinking even more specifically about our treatment of the poor as we pledge our allegiance to our God.

Clean Hands

We have rules in life, don't we? Lot's of the rules are really good ones that are pretty self-explanatory: stopping at Stop signs; driving on the proper side of the road; not playing loud music in neighbourhoods after a certain time of night. These sorts of rules make sense, but we have others that are so ingrained in our lives, so much part of our identity and our culture, that we no longer see them as rules, would have to think hard to even list them and even harder to be able to explain why we do things that way. 

Jesus was faced, one day, by the "rule police" of his time over the fact that his disciples hadn't washed their hands before they ate. He pushes back on them and their fixation on the rules, on doing things the right way. He accuses them of following their rules (which they think came from God) rather than living in a way that would really please God. 

I wonder how often we live in much the same way. Keeping ourselves inside some invisible, indefensible, boundaries because we think they are important to our identity as Christians while totally missing the point of what God would really have us do.

This Sunday, we'll wonder together about the importance of clean hands in our lives as disciples of Christ.

Where Else

There are repercussions for demanding a lot, for using distasteful language, for telling it like it is. This happens in our lives all the time, and it happened in Jesus's ministry too. He had used some very graphic language to describe himself as the "bread that comes from heaven" and had offended many in his audience.

The synagogue empties out, the crowds go home, and Jesus is left with his small group of disciples, the twelve. Everyone else has had enough and leaves.

"What about you," he says to them, "Aren't  you going too"

Peter answers, and it is in his answer that we find encouragement for our own lives, as we strive to follow Jesus, even when it seems so hard, seems so impossible.

Join us this Sunday as we find ourselves in Peter's words.

You are What You Eat

Eating is a central part of our lives. We eat for energy. We eat to grow, We eat to stay healthy. 

Nutritionists sometimes use the slogan "You are What You Eat" to help us to make good choices about our diets. They want us to stop and think before we put something in our mouths. They want us to recognize that what we eat can have repercussions on our health, on how we can live our lives. They recognize that what we eat plays a big role in who we are. 

Jesus talks about this as well. "The one who feeds on me will live because of me," Jesus says.

This Sunday, we'll spend some time talking about what Jesus means by this, how repulsive it was for the people of his time to hear these words, and what these words mean for us today.

To Proclaim Good News

This Sunday we will kick off Fruitland Special Needs SERVE. This will be a whole week of excitement for our congregation. A week when participants and their mentors under the direction of the local leadership team will spread out into our community to share the love of God with their hands and their feet.

There's going to be more happening than work. There will be lots of time for fun, for building relationships, for enjoying good food, for relaxing, but the main goal of the week will be to show love for God, and through the power of that love, express love for the world.

As we kick this week off during a special service, we'll spend some time recognizing that that is exactly what Jesus came to do as well.  Jesus, in the book of Luke, suggests that he has come to fulfill a prophecy made by Isaiah and that he has come to proclaim good news, and freedom, and healing, and to end oppression. All bold claims, claims which were rejected by those who heard them.


It's going to be a wonderful morning of song, fellowship, learning, and even lunch. Be sure to join us.

Jesus' Ministry Program

In our scripture reading this week (Mark 6:1-13), Jesus sends his disciples off on a mission trip and gives them pretty clear instructions on how they are to go out and interact. There's something in his instructions that I think can be very helpful to us today. 

Jesus essentially says, "Go light, be nimble, accept hospitality, and don't go alone". He concludes his instructions saying, "If the place you are in doesn't want to hear what you have to say, don't waste your time, pick up and leave"

His words really stand in contrast with the infrastructure we have built for ministry, doesn't it? Our buildings certainly prevent us from being nimble in their unmoving locations, unbending layouts, and unending overhead costs. Our denominational structures, in some cases, add to the burden we carry into ministry, setting direction and adding costs from far away. Our hesitancy to end programs, and even close churches when they no longer appear to meet the needs of our communities and the goals of our ministries, hinders our effectiveness in truly bringing the gospel, bringing healing to our world.

This Sunday, we'll think about Jesus charge to his disciples as he sends them out, as well as his own reaction when his words and ministry don't yield fruit.

Canada Day

This Sunday is Canada Day. It's a special Sunday for us in Fruitland because we join together with neighbouring churches, not only to celebrate our country, but also to celebrate our unity in Christ.

There is a school of thought that says that churches should not celebrate, or highlight, patriotic holidays. This way of thinking understands that we are in the world not of it, that we serve a different kingdom, a heavenly one, that we need to hold ourselves apart from the idolatry of nation worship. All of these things are true, but I think we can, as a church celebrate the good things that God has given us through our country and the opportunities that our country affords us in terms of bringing the shalom of God's kingdom to the world.

We will celebrate in worship, in prayer, in the celebration of the Lord's supper. We'll even sing O Canada. Afterward, we will share fellowship across denominational lines with strawberries and ice cream.

Join us this Sunday as we celebrate our place in Canada and our unity in Christ.

Jesus in the Storm

Storms are frightening things. They are frightening because of the unexpected things that they bring, the danger they hold, and the way they challenge our understanding of the way the world works.

Mark tells the story of Jesus and his disciples in a storm out on the water. Waves are crashing over the boat, filling it with water. The disciples, some of who are experienced sailors, are working the oars and taking down the sails. Others are bailing water out of the boat. It looks like they might sink.  Jesus is asleep while all this activity goes on around him.

The disciples wake Jesus up and what he does next makes them more afraid than the storm they were battling.

Join us this Sunday as we learn with the disciples who Jesus really is.

Uncomfortable Truth

In the weeks after Pentecost, right up to the first Sunday of Advent, the Revised Common Lectionary focuses on discipleship. What does it mean to be a follower of Christ? What does it mean to be a disciple? Using readings largely from the book of Mark (Year B) interspersed with some from John, the lectionary uses this time of the year to focus on these questions, most often through Jesus words and actions.

Reading these passages, hearing Jesus words, seeing him in action, often leaves us feeling uncomfortable, maybe even convicted.

In this week's reading Mark takes us to two instances where Jesus seems to condone breaking the Sabbath laws. These laws were part of the foundation of the culture of Israel, made them unique in the world and were often rigidly held and enforced. Jesus shows himself to be the king over the Sabbath, shows his anger over the inhuman application of the laws and makes the leaders so uncomfortable that they go away to begin to plot his death.

This Sunday, we'll wonder together about Jesus words and how we too have turned some of our ways of living into something other than discipleship.

Walking In His Steps (GEMS Sunday) Take 2

Back in April, we had to cancel our service because of an ice storm. That Sunday was meant to be a service aimed at celebrating our GEMS (Girls Everywhere Meeting the Savior) club focused on their theme for the year "In His Steps". This Sunday we will take up this theme and this celebration again. 

The text that the GEMS have chosen this year, as their theme text, is 1 John 2:6 where John writes that whoever claims to live in him (in Jesus) must live as Jesus did. We might use the analogy of walking through our lives in Jesus footsteps, following the path that he set out in his life. Jesus provides the example to us, but how can we follow it? How does it apply to our lives over 2000 years later? Jesus was holy, he is God can we really walk in his steps?

We'll spend some time with these questions this Sunday morning in a service led by our GEMS.

Out Into the World

Sometimes it's exhausting interacting with the world around us. Everywhere we look we see things that we are sure don't match up with God's plan for a new kingdom.  Politicians say one thing and do another. Poverty continues all around us. We recognize the evils of discrimination and the entitlement that seems to be a part of our society. We see that what passes for justice is not always fair, or right. We also recognize the pain of rejection when we do stand up for the ideals we hold when we stand against wrong when we stand for God and God's kingdom. 

In all of this, it seems that the simplest, easiest path is to withdraw, to move into safe enclaves. Christians have done this for centuries gathering in monasteries,  communal living, retreats, all created to make a space that is unencumbered by the troubles of the world, a quiet and peaceful space without the noise and stresses of the world outside.

Jesus speaks against this isolating tendency in our text for Sunday morning. Jesus prays for God's protection of his disciples not their removal from the world in John 17. Join us this Sunday as we spend some time thinking about what these words mean for us.

Love One Another

Love, love, love. love..... Jesus talks a lot about love, demonstrates love through the way he lived, the way he interacted with those around him. Love is his theme and through his life, Jesus shows who God is, how much God loves his people. 

This week we are going to talk about love, but the passage is not so much about God's love for us as it is about our responsibility for those around us.

"Love one another" Jesus says, "If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love. this is my commandment"

Suddenly, it seems that there is a job for me, work for me in my salvation, a command I need to keep. I wonder what happened to grace. I thought it was all about grace and that Jesus had done it all.

We'll struggle with this conflict on Sunday morning, struggle with what this command to love means in the light of Jesus sacrifice for us.

God Seeking Us (Cadet Sunday)

Many times in the Bible, God is described as a shepherd.  Right from the earliest writings of the Hebrew Bible to the end of the New Testament this picture of God as a shepherd is repeated over and over again. 

A shepherd does a lot of things for and with the sheep, provides food and shelter, protection and healing. The shepherd business, focus, is on the wellbeing of the sheep. The sheep don't always seem to know this, don't seem to recognize this love of their shepherd, or maybe they are just dumb, and wander away from the flock. The shepherd goes out to look for these wandering sheep.

That's the picture the Cadets have been looking at over this past year around their theme: God Seeking Us. This Sunday, our boys will be part of the service as we explore the picture of God as our shepherd.

Walking In His Steps (GEMS Sunday)

We all follow something or someone. Our world is filled with voices calling us to follow them. These voices often lead us to a mall or a car dealership or some other retail establishment promising that our lives will only be full if we purchase what they have to offer. These voices bombard us from our TV's, our radios, our computer, and smartphone screens. They are relentless virtually all of them are in some way misleading. They promise more than they actually have to offer, promote happiness and fulfillment when all they really have is a short-term high followed by disappointment as we go out again looking for that one thing that will fill the hole in our lives.

This Sunday is GEMS (Girls Everywhere Meeting the Saviour) Sunday. the girls will be involved in our worship and we will spend some time thinking about their theme for the year In His Steps based on the words of 1 John 2:6 where John tells his readers that if they really want to find fulfillment in life they need to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. 

Join us as we celebrate the work of our GEMS club and learn about the full life available when we walk In His Steps

He is Not Here

This Sunday is Easter Sunday. It's a day when traditionally we rejoice with the women as they bring the good news to the disciples that the tomb is empty. We marvel with Mary as she meets Jesus in the garden. We celebrate Jesus victory over death. 

This year though, as we follow the assigned texts from the Revised Common Lectionary, from the book of Mark, we find ourselves somewhat confused. Yes, the women come to finish the job of preparing Jesus body, yes, the tomb is empty, and yes they receive the message that Jesus has risen and the direction to go and tell the rest of the disciples, but the passage ends abruptly with the womon running away in terror, not telling anyone.

We have to wonder what this means. We have to wonder what Mark is trying to tell us in this abrupt ending if it is, in fact, the end (some theologians feel that part of Mark's manuscript has been lost). We have to wonder how the terror of the women might affect our joy on this day.

This Easter Sunday we will wonder together about how we respond to the empty tomb and the Good News it symbolizes.

We Want to See Jesus

What does it mean to want to see Jesus?

The Gospel of John tells the story of some Greeks who come to Jesus disciples asking to see him. This takes place just days after Lazarus is raised from the dead, just days after Jesus rides into the city of Jerusalem to the cries of Hosana, just days after he had cleared the merchants out of the temple. Jesus was making the news. The things he was doing were talked about around the neighbourhood wells and in the streets. He had become something of a celebrity.

I wonder what those Greek visitors expected to see. I wonder what they were hoping to learn. The Gospel doesn't tell us if Jesus even met them, but the fact that they wanted to see him for themselves says something about them and their desire to understand who this Jesus was.

I wonder too, how many of us really want to see Jesus. Are we satisfied with the picture we carry in our minds or who he was and is. So often, we make Jesus into what we need him to be rather than really trying to see who he is.

This Sunday, we will spend some time thinking about seeing Jesus. Who is he to us and how can we help those around us see him too.

For God So Loved....

In all of the Bible, John 3:16 is likely the most well-known verse. It's also the one that has been drawn into popular culture more than any other. We see it promoted at sports events. we see 3:16 tattooed on biceps and waved on signs at protests.  The text fully deserves this prominence. It is powerful, it summarizes God's love for the creation and the extent to which God will go to reconcile a fallen world. 

In his commentary on John, Dale Bruner points out that he once saw John 3:16 laid out as follows as a way to highlight the amazing power in this most famous of Bible verses:

“God ……………………………………………………………The greatest subject ever
So (much)…………………………………………………….. The greatest extent ever
Loved………………………………………………………….. The greatest affection ever
The world (kosmos)…………………………………………. The greatest object ever
That He gave His One-and-Only Son,…………………….. The greatest gift ever
So that every single individual, whoever, …………………..The greatest opportunity ever
Who is [simply] entrusting oneself to him…………………. The greatest commitment ever
Would never be destroyed, ………………………………….The greatest rescue ever
“But would even now have a deep, lasting Life.” ………….The greatest promise ever

The verses around this famous one, describe how Jesus, that one, and only son, will be lifted up, not only on the cross but all the way up to heaven, to make this reconciliation possible, to bring light into the world. 

This Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Lent, we will spend time reveling in God's love, recognizing that Jesus has been lifted up for all of us to see and to find life through him.  

Taking up Crosses

What does a messiah look like anyway? I suppose your answer is going to depend on your situation, depend on what you see as the problems in your life. Messiahs solve problems and they do it with great ease. Messiahs lift burdens without seeming to have to strain themselves very much at all. Messiahs rally the troops, pull people together to get a task done.

We're all looking for one sort of messiah or another.

But what happens when the messiah you find turns out to want to deal with a different problem than the one you had in mind? What happens when that messiah seems to want to throw away all the opportunities that you can see and instead of solving the obvious problems wants you to follow in a whole other direction? What do you do?

That is the sort of scenario we find ourselves in this Sunday, the second Sunday of Lent, as Jesus talks about the suffering and rejection ahead of him.

Join us as we see how Jesus words continue to impact our lives.

To the Desert

Last week it was mountaintops and this week, the first Sunday of Lent, we go to the desert. Mark tells us that after his baptism, Jesus is driven into the desert by the Spirit. Driven, not led by, enticed, or moved by, no Jesus is driven into the desert. Driven is a word that we might use with cattle as we drive them in from the fields. It's not a word that we would necessarily associate with the work of the Holy Spirit, or even think that Jesus could be driven.

But that is what Mark tells us.  Jesus is driven into the desert, before Mark lets him speak a single word, before he is able to start to gather followers, before he is able to start to describe the kingdom he is bringing, to share any good news, he is driven to the desert.

We'll spend some time thinking about that desert experience this Sunday and wonder together how Jesus beginning his ministry, beginning his journey to the cross, touches our desert experiences.

The View from the Mountaintop

Being on the top of a mountain really changes the way that we see the world. We see so much more than we can when we are on the ground and, unless you have a fear of heights, the experience of being on a mountain can lead to a sense of both euphoria and power.

Sunday is Transfiguration Sunday as we remember Jesus taking his disciples up both a physical mountain and a spiritual one. The picture they get overwhelms their minds they suffer fear, in the middle of their exhilaration and yet, also feel that they would like to preserve the experience. Peter suggests they build houses there so they don't need to leave, don't need to go back to the real world with its struggles and troubles.

We'll spend some time together thinking about our own mountaintop experiences, wondering how Jesus might react to the way we handle them.

What Is Our Mission?

What is our mission? It's a question many of us ask throughout our lives. We wonder about career trajectories. We wonder about relationships. We wonder about retirement plans. In it all, we often ask the question: What am I supposed to be doing? What does God want me to do? What is the mission that God has for me?

As churches, we often ask the same questions. We work hard to attract people to our community with programs and gatherings, with games nights and potlucks to the point where the real mission of the church is hidden, lost even, in the busyness of running the church. We sometimes lose touch with why we are here, why we gather, why we worship together.

The book of Mark describes a similar crossroad early in Jesus ministry, a time that confused the disciples. Mark shows clearly that Jesus was holding his mission, his Father's will, in front of him and would not waiver from it.

Join us this Sunday as we wonder together about keeping ourselves on mission as Christ followers and as Christian congregations. 

Come and Follow

Early in his ministry, Jesus gathers a group of followers, a group of disciples. Last week, from John's gospel, we watched a Nathanael joins this group. Mark has a little different perspective as he describes Jesus calling four fishermen to join him.

It's important to recognize that these men, these fishermen, were not biblical scholars, they were not civic leaders, they were not even from a place that had any power in the politics of their country or of the world. They were ordinary people, from an ordinary place who ended up seeing and doing extraordinary things because they answered the call to follow.

This week, we will spend time with this account of Jesus ministry to wonder just what it means for us and our following, our discipleship, our place in the bringing of the kingdom of God to our community and our world.

Come and See

This week the lectionary reading takes us to the Gospel of John and the growth of Jesus' little band of disciples. We meet Nathanael a man who grudgingly responds to Philip's invitation to come and see. His scepticism turns to amazement as Jesus tells him about himself without ever having met him before.

Meeting Jesus has that effect on people, all they need is an invitation to "come and see". Philip gets his friend in front of Jesus, but Jesus does the work of convincing Nathanael that he is indeed the promised Messiah.

Join us as we spend some time thinking about what the call to extend the invitation to "come and see" means for us in our world.