Long Time Coming

I don't know if anyone reads this anymore. So much has happened since January that I'm scared to post!

However, I think I will, even if it's just this once.

Today was a service with a little wreath and two Canadian flags at the front of the sanctuary. I don't like the flags there, but that's neither here nor there. Today was the Sunday before Remembrance Day in Canada. Canadians celebrate Remembrance Day on November 11, in honour of the cease-fire (i think) signed Nov. 11, 1918, at 11:00. It's a day to honour fallen veterans and those still living.

I'm a pastor and a pacifist and I'm still wrestling with how I should approach these kinds of days. We still have veterans in our church. I don't want to offend but I certainly don't want to bow to pressure to capitulate and just celebrate this day.

And so today I tried to walk a fine line. INstead of a moment of silence, I asked if we could pray, and while i don't have the audio of the prayer handy, i remember a bit. I remember praying, telling God that we hate having to live like war is a necessity, that we're grateful for the semblance of peace we enjoy but that we wait for true shalom in the coming of the Son.

I don't if it pleased anyone or displeased anyone, but I do know that it eased my conscience, knowing that even in our division about the necessity of war we could all unite as one to pray for peace.

It's a tough day, Nov. 11. For everyone!

Blessings.

Yeah, I took a break...

For Christmas and for New Years.  It was a wonderful time.  Thanks for asking!

For Christmas Eve service this year I set up a kind of "reverse Tenebrae" service, that is, instead of a service of shadows, we engaged in a service of light.  As each piece of music or scripture reading ended, the sanctuary was illumined with another candle until at the end of the service we lit all the candles and people were holding candles and singing "Silent Night."  It wasn't a huge production, but I heard from a lot of people that it was the most meaningful Christmas Eve service they'd attended, so that meant a lot!

Other than that, I've been preaching a lot.  I was on the 21st, the 24th, and the 28th.  I should have audio up soon (thanks Tay for the push!).  Other than that I'd like to work on some blog series when i get a chance to slow down.  so here you go again! :)

mike

"Sell Your Possessions - lol"

Finally, a Bible that makes SENSE!

A recent breakthrough in Biblical Scholarship came this week with the announcement of a previously untranslatable glyph finally being translated, through a cross-reference with an ancient document found in the Sinai Peninsula. This character, which resembles the English comma, was once thought a mere "slip of the pen." With the discovery of the "R'Hoash" tablet in Sinai, however, Biblical Scholars now believe the small mark to be the modern equivalent of "just kidding," or j/k. With this discovery, Biblical standards thought impossible to follow faithfully are now rendered as humorous hyperbolic statements, showing us once and for all that God indeed does have a sense of humor. HarperCollins has announced a new NRSV Bible using the "j/k" nomenclature will be available sometime in 2009.

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J/K!
So it's a joke. But doesn't it sound like something our churches would rejoice at? Finally, an understanding that the Right-Side-Up kingdom isn't nearly as serious as Jesus makes it sound. Finally, we can get busy doing our real life and not worry so much about the spiritual side of things.

Yet, humour aside, isn't this the way we all seem to act? Sell your possessions? J/K. Turn the other cheek? J/K. Die to myself? J/K.

In our church we've been preaching a series on radical discipleship. The difference, though, between preaching a series on discipleship and living discipleship is our comfort level. I preach on discipleship and do whatever I want the rest of the week. Doesn't sound as hard-hitting as it should, does it?

Maybe it's time for me, and maybe you, to take the j/k's out of our scripture and start putting feet to it instead.

Blessings, and a wonderful Advent,
Mike

A Good Board Meeting! WHAAAAA???*

*this is not intended to put down my board. They're a great group of people. I can't say enough good about them.

We had a great board meeting the other night. I sometimes dread board meetings because we can focus on important stuff that is really uninteresting to me. It happens :) So I was really pleased when, the other Sunday, we got down to "business" and I just felt like we were one in spirit and really approaching the true nature of what it means to lead the church. We didn't change the agenda from normal too much, but we started out with a longinsh period of prayer responding to part of Psalm 119 that I read, all about the law of God and our delight in it. It just felt...right, if you know what i mean. Peterson is right. The real work happens before the meeting, in the prayer that we offer to God as secondary speech.

Praise God for a great leadership team!

Mike

Peterson at His Scariest

I love reading Eugene Peterson for pastoral wisdom and insight but his prophetic edge scares me sometimes:

[pastoral work] begins in prayer. Anything creative, anything powerful, anything biblical, insofar as we are participants in it, originates in prayer. Pastors who imitate the preaching and moral action of the prophets without also imitating the prophets' deep praying and worship so evident in the Psalms are an embarrassment to the faith and an encumbrance to the church.

- Peterson, Working the Angles

Lord, give me grace to pray. Speak that I may hear and return speech.

Good News/Bad News

Okay, this may sound like a post about the gospel, but it's not!

First, the bad news. A few months ago, our church was broken into. The perps (coolest word ever) grabbed one of the axes used to fight fires, smashed in some windows, a door, our communion table (recently refinished - ouch), the wall behind the pulpit, a few marks on the floor, and my guitar as well as our bass-player's guitar. The damage to the two instruments was irreparable. I think they picked up my guitar by the headstock and smashed it on the ground. not a lot left to play :)

The Good News!!! I think i've found my replacement. I was playing a Takamine G-series, a higher end G, but a G nonetheless. It was a great guitar for me, and had lasted close to 13 years. I looked at Tak's again but the sound was something different than i wanted. After soliciting advice from numerous sources i found a guitar from an American manufacturer. The company is Babicz Guitars and they make some beautiful instruments. Here's a pic of the one i'm looking at:





It's a Babicz Identity Jumbo Cutaway with a solid Englemann Spruce soundboard and solid Rosewood back and sides. The neck is Mahogany and the headstock is Rosewood overlay. There are a couple of features you need to know about:

1. The funny-looking spider-web deal on the front. Not a picture. Actually the way the strings are anchored. With a typical guitar, strings are anchored to the centre of the soundboard, right at the bridge, held in with pegs. This puts tremendous upward and forward pressure on the weakest part of the soundboard. So Babicz decided to spread out the pressure and make it solely lateral, so instead of being anchored right at the bridge, the strings are anchored near the bottom of the bout. It spreads out the pressure on the soundboard and allows much less structural bracing on the inside, making the soundboard vibrate much more openly and readily.

2. The neck. Babicz has pioneered a continually adjustable neck. There is a hole for an allen wrench right where the neck meets the body, and the neck runs on rails to lower or raise the action in seconds, without losing tune!!! Pretty sweet stuff. Incidentally, there is an allen wrench hidden behind the headstock!

3. The torque-reducing bridge- the bridge on the Babicz is actually adjustable and is bolted right to the soundboard so one can adjust the intonation of the guitar. hoo-ah!

4. The L.R. Baggs iMix system. The acoustics on this machine are awesome. the Electronics simply enhance without getting in the way. There are two separate pick-ups (hence the "mix" in iMix), a piezo pickup under the saddle, and also the iBeam pickup. You can tweak the mix of the two to your taste on the fly, which is incredible.

One of the most incredible things about this company is the service. I emailed just to ask some questions, and was not answered by someone in a call-centre on the other side of the world. One of the co-founders of the company emailed me back, and we've been going back and forth since. I was blown away!!

So once I've actually played one, i'll let you know what the sound is like. For now, DROOL!

A Friday Blacker

For those of you NOT in the States, today in the USA is called "Black Friday", the biggest shopping day of the year (like Boxing Day in Canada but with more craziness). Named for the chaos it brings to large cities (it was coined in Philly, I believe), it's insane. My wife and I went out for fun last year when we were in the states visiting relatives. There were people lined up around the stores, some who had been camping since mid-day the day before (which is Thanksgiving!). The crowds are enough to make you sick, but to kill you? The New York Times has reported that a young (34-year-old) Walmart Temporary Employee was trampled to death in the New York suburbs. Apparently, thousands were pushing against the doors, which snapped off their hinges, and hundreds trampled the young employee. They continued to stream in, even jostling the police and ems trying to administer CPR.
(HT Daniel)

I don't think I want to comment.

I Wanna Go Home

*to the tune of Sloop John B. by the Beach Boys*

Ok, so it's not really home. But in another way, it is.

I'm thinking of going back to Israel next year. Next fall, if you wanna know. Octoberish.

Why?

Because I can't stay away. Since I came back two years ago, Jerusalem has gnawed at me, worn away my defence, kindled desire I didn't know about. I am desperate to get back there. I can't really explain it.

This time, however, I'm thinking of going as a team leader. Jerusalem University College (formerly the American Institute for Holy Land Studies) offers a Pastor/Parishoner tour that's right up my alley - it's academic in tone, spiritual in outlook, and an absolutely great time.

It's not cheap, but it's worth every single penny you pay for it! So if you wanna come to Israel and you live anywhere near me...give me a call or drop me an email.

Mike