A Plea for Face to Face Contact

You've probably gathered by now that this blogging thing is fairly new to me, in fact I learned just today that blog is short for 'weblog'! It is a little odd for me to be typing in these messages and then wondering if anyone reads them or thinks about responding. More than 50 have checked out at least one of my messages, but I don't know who or where they are! You see I am a 'face-to-face' person, I would say for me it is the most vital aspect of being a minister. When you are looking at a person while you have a conversation, you encounter them through all the senses which is what gives emotional life to a conversation. From this, a level of caring can develop most naturally, and I believe this is the goal in every encounter between two people.

While the electronic communication tools available today are very helpful in many ways, they should not be seen as a replacement for a face to face conversation. My concern is that this is exactly what is happening - especially amongst younger people. As a result, we are becoming isolated and I think, lonely. In the movie 'You've Got Mail', shopgirl and NY152 develop quite a friendship through email (I am not sure it really happens to this extent in reality), however the relationship only begins to really develop after they meet and slowly begin a friendship. Too often, I see a group of young people walking down the street together, not talking to each other at all, but rather they are each in a text message conversation with someone else!

My plea is don't forget that relationships are a matter of the heart, not electronic gadgetry. Our cell phones, computers and ipods are wonderful means of communication (I once called my father in Australia from the top of the Empire State building!); and they may well help us avoid the anxiety, the stammering, the sweating when we begin a conversation with someone for the first time, but these are a necessary part of 'stepping out' into life.

Of course, as a minister this is particularly important to me, I don't think this blog will ever replace the sermon. When a minister preaches the love of God from his or her heart to the congregation, they need to be face to face. After all, evangelism is a Christian having a one-on-one conversation with another person about how Jesus has enriched their life.

I am interested in hearing feedback on this, just respond to the blog message!

Pastor Greg

Happy Birthday Dear Church

After his resurrection, Jesus spent time with his first disciples, preparing them to continue the mission of sharing God's love with a searching world. One of the most important things he instructed them to do was to 'wait until the power of the Holy Spirit comes upon you.' He made it quite clear that without the power of the spirit they could do nothing! Hmm!

May 11th is Pentecost Sunday, the day when we say the church was born because on this day the Holy Spirit filled their hearts and they were ready to roll for Jesus! (It is also mother's day, so I pray for a special blessing on all mothers). But what is this power? And is it true that we can do nothing (of God's mission) without it, but empowered by the spirit, nothing is impossible? This is pretty powerful stuff!

It seems to me that we (the church) have not really come to grips with this. In the church today I see the Holy Spirit being neglected/ignored/avoided or directed and controlled to meet our own agendas!

The Spirit is from God, it is the power behind creation, it is the power that enabled a virgin to become pregnant, it is the power that raised Jesus from the dead. The power of the spirit is the power of God's love! God's very essence is love, and his deepest desire is that we might live to the full the gift of life we have been given. For this to occur requires a powerful force that can overcome our shortcomings (aka sin!), that power is the spirit of God's love. And as we learned at Pentecost, that power is poured out as promised on all who open their hearts to receive it in order to fulfill the mission of proclaiming the Good News throughout the world.

That's awesome, and more than a little intimidating! It is not a power to be used for our own selfish reasons, like Jim Carey initially in 'Bruce Almighty'; rather it is the power that enables us to love others as Jesus does. The Beatles were right when they crooned 'All You Need is Love!' It is true, we do, and praise God, we have it when we open our hearts to receive it (perhaps then we wouldn't need songs like 'All My Ex's Live in Texas!'). That's Pentecost power, and on this Pentecost Sunday, the birthday of the church, go to a church near you and "more power to ya!"

Shalom

Pastor Greg

Choices of Lent #3 "Choosing Fun Over Drudgery"

Everyone would rather have fun than drudgery! However when you look around today most people are not having much fun, sadly unless they are high or drunk! Even sadder is the fact that most Christ followers are not seen as fun people either! In fact I grew up believing that anything fun, joyful or celebratory had no place in the life of the believer, we were serious and humble before the Lord! I'm pretty sure the church is still largely perceived the same today!
Shame on us! The bible is more than anything else a story of joy! Christianity is a joy-filled, exuberant faith! We recently celebrated Easter, but the church seems to focus on the sadness of Jesus' death on the cross for our sins. This is of course true, but it is not the full story! Jesus death was cruel and despicable beyond measure (watch "The Passion of the Christ"); but beyond the cross is the triumphant love and power of God who raised Jesus from death so that our lives could be renewed!
Easter released an explosion of joy in the hearts of every person who opened their heart to receive the life-giving joyful Spirit of the risen Christ. And that is still the absolute truth today! We are by definition, experience and belief the most joyful people on the face of the earth!
Why then would we choose drudgery rather than joyous, victorious living? And Jesus is the only way to receive this joy, because he is the means to live in a new relationship with God. We should be singing more songs and hymns about the joy of the Lord, then let the fun begin!

Till next time
Shalom,
Pastor Greg

After Easter - then what?

Taking a break from the "Choices for Lent" series, I want to invite us all to reflect on what comes after Easter. The death and resurrection of Jesus was the awesomely loving response of God to his erring children, we have renewed life because Jesus removed all barriers to God at the moment the 'veil of the temple was rent asunder!'
As essential as this was to God's plan for his Kingdom, what ultimately decides the issue is how christians respond to the cross and the empty tomb! Jesus said quite emphatically, 'As the Father sent me, so I send you!' 'Go into all the world to preach, teach and baptise.' 'You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth!' It can't be any clearer than that - if we call ourselves disciples of Jesus, then we are called to be a witness to the Good News everywhere we go and in everything we do. Every other part of our church life and journey is secondary, and yet it seems to me that we have made 'church life' our top priority in order to avoid being disciples!
On the cross Jesus gave his all, absolutely, we are called to do the same. We all know and can recite John 3:16, but take a moment to read 1John 3:16 - the completion of the story!
Easter is only joy when God's love overflows our hearts and is shared with others at every opportunity in our daily lives, and oh what joy it is! I am convinced that one of the main reasons many people do not come or stop coming to church is because they do not find the joy! And joy is profoundly life-giving; it is way beyond mere happiness which most people settle for - it caused Paul to sing hymns in prison before he was to die!
Take a moment to focus on the joy of Easter. Who do you know who shines with that joy? Is your heart filled with the joy of Christ-risen-from-the-dead-giving-you-new-life? My Easter prayer for each of us is that we will open our hearts as never before to receive the spirit of the risen Christ.

"Joy to the world, He is risen, hallelujah!"

Choices of Lent - Choosing Community Over Isolation

One of the most dangerous trends in our modern society (in my opinion), is the extreme individualism that has largely separated us from each other. For example, if you see 4 teens together today (or adults for that matter), they are not talking to each other; each has their cell phone out text messaging a faceless person somewhere else, and the same is true for our whole society. More than once I have observed a couple at a restaurant for a meal who spend the entire meal on their cell phones to other people! Email, IM's, voicemail, the whole bit. I know people who purposely call someone when they know they will not be there so they can leave a voice message rather than actually speak to them! And the automated voices directing us through an automated maze that too often does not include the option of actually talking to someone, not fun! Fewer and fewer people make real contact with other people any more, and we miss it and are lonely without it. And the on-line dating thing may have a place but not as the main or only way to meet people! Sadly, I have to say, this isolation is happening in many churches!

The very foundation of life is a network of meaningful one-on-one growing, personal, intimate relationships; husband and wife, parent and child, student and teacher, friend with friend, even employer and employee (wouldn't that be great!)

Of course, nowhere is community more crucial than in the church, the Body of Christ; because the essence of the Christian faith is a personal intimate conversation in which one person is sharing with another the love of Jesus who is life, and how it has enriched their own life. Because Jesus is life, forgiven, renewed, abundant, joyful life! You may want to pause here and read Ephesians 2:19-22 in the bible, but come straight back! The season of Lent is about journeying to the cross and beyond to the resurrection of Jesus, in order to find that life.

The church is called into existence to be the Body of Christ, a welcoming, meaningful, accepting, joyful, inspirational community. That's my choice, I pray it is yours.

If it is, find such a church and become part of the community, and take a friend with you! Or you may need to help your own church rediscover the joy of true community.

I look forward to your response and ideas.

Shalom, Pastor Greg