And He Loved Us...

Yorkshire and Genesis

I spent the last few days in Yorkshire, more specifically the Jonas Centre in Redmire which is in Wensleydale. The first few days I was there was for the Connect Days. I am currently living in Manchester England under an internship programme called Connect. I have spent two years in Canada doing this same programme under the name LeaderQuest and am now doing a third year. At this point is beginning to look like a career move for me!

From Wednesday to Friday we discussed a book called the Drama of Scripture with the goal of looking at God's redemptive plan as a narrative and where we fit into the story. A large part of this was looking at our creation as well as our fall as mentioned in the story of creation in Genesis chapters 1 and 3. What I want to look at really is the first two chapters and what we can learn about ourselves and what God intended for us from those two chapters and I would like to start with a quote given to us during those Connect Days from the Children's Storybook Bible.

"And when God saw them He was like a new dad. 'You look like Me,' He said. 'You're the most beautiful thing I've ever made!' God loved them with all of His heart. And they were lovely because He loved them."

What an amazing quote! When I heard this during our morning prayer time I fell in love with how well these few words managed to capture what God was doing in His creation! The creation story has grown in its significance for me over these last few months, and even more so over the last few weeks as we have taken a rather in depth look into what it means for us. I have been learning a lot about our relationship with God and with one another and with the world around us through this story, as well as our worth. The best way that I can sort of sum it up is in my own experience as a writer. As a writer, when I make a story, I don't like to fill it with needless characters. I don't want to put in things that don't drive the plot onward or take the reader anywhere in the story. Each character I write into the story has a purpose and is meant to be there and is not there by mistake. This is how I view the creation story and this is how I view God's narrative. We are characters in His story and we gain a lot in understanding this. One of the first and most important things is that we learn we are not a mistake and rather that we are intentional. God took a look at His story and decided that it would not be complete without us. God's story is about revealing the heart of its author to people and He chose to do so through characters that could reflect Him in such a way. We see this in the creation story in Genesis.

Lovely because we are loved... 

In the story of creation God begins to create the heavens and the earth and all that dwell within them. I like to think that even during this creation these things were a reflection of the heart of our creator. As an artist or a writer I like to think that the work I make is a reflection of where my heart is at. I like to write stories that reflect my mood and my feelings and I hope that when people read them that they get a small understanding of where I was when that story was written. It is the same thing when I draw a picture. I like to think that whatever it is that I was drawing was a reflection of a current moment for myself. Sometimes I feel adventurous or cartoony or expressive and that is reflected in my work, either way, when you look at or read some of the things I draw and write, you get a message put across to you. I believe the same thing applies in God's creation. Even the story of creation itself exudes majesty and creativity and love. God loves beauty and He loves the details and whenever I read the creation story I see things bursting into existence through song. This is my creative side kind of taking hold of the story. But amidst this all God created something and set it apart from the rest of His creation to exemplify Himself in a way the rest of it couldn't.

Man was made from the same stuff as the rest of creation, made from the dust of the earth, but with one glorious difference. God took man and breathed life into him. This breath of life is the largest difference between man and the rest of creation. We are set apart from the birds and the beasts and all that crawls and made in authority and given authority and designed to reflect God in relationships; in relationships with each other and with the world around us and most importantly, in our relationship with God and with Him being at the centre of our lives.


"But God saved the best for last. From the beginning, God had a shining dream in His heart. He would make people to share in His Forever Happiness. They would be His children, and the world would be their perfect home."

I may quote this Children's Storybook Bible a few more times, and again because of how much it grasps the heart of the creation story. God showed me over the course of these last few weeks as I did the bible study in preparation for the discussions we would have during the Connect Days, about His reflection in relationships. It is pretty cool to see how in the creation story we are created to be in relationship with God. We are designed to be in relationship with Him and we are designed to look over His creation and take care of it and foster it and develop it and encourage it. It is written that when Adam was created that God took him and placed him in the garden, where he could encourage all that was in it to grow and be beautiful. This is just my paraphrase, but it shows this idea that in the work man did with the creation God made there was a reflection of God; this idea that in everything we do, we reflect the God who made us and offer up our praise in worship in doing well what He set us apart for. But then God creates for us a suitable helper in Eve and a new relationship is born and yet another reflection of our Creator is given. And I think the best example of how this relationship was meant to work is at the end of Chapter 2 and during the fall of man in Chapter 3. 


It is said that Adam and Eve were naked and without shame. Lets not limit this nudity to physical nudity but to emotional, relational and spiritual nudity. They were who they were created to be, they understood this and they lived without shame because of it. Eve was created for Adam and their relationship with one another was affected by their relationship with God and was a reflection of that. But when the fall came, their relationship with the earth, with each other and with God became fractured. The very first thing they do is clothe themselves in their shame and hide from God. Then when confronted by God we see a shift of blame take place. Adam blames Eve, who was created for him, rather than take responsibility for his own actions. Eve then blames the devil for her choice. Yes the devil did tempt them but the blame game still takes place. This gives us an idea of how fractured our relationships became. We hid from God in shame and then we began to blame the things that were given to us.


A story of Redemption, Not Failure...

God's story is not a story of failure. It does not end with the fall of man, in fact it is during the fall of man that God lays out His plan to redeem man and restore creation to where it was always meant to be! God has not left us, and even in our brokenness He still places and immense amount of value on us. God's plan for mankind did not end with the fall, it continued with the promise of His son. Creation begins is process of Restoration with the death and resurrection of Jesus at the cross. What is the result of this?

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband."
Revelations 21:1-2

"And He who sits on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.' And he said, 'Write, for these words are faithful and true.' Then He said to me, 'It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of water of life without cost."
Revelations 21:5-6

"Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, 'Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb.' And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having all the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper."
Revelations 21:9-11

"I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it."
Revelations 22:22-24


I will be honest, I could have put the entire of chapter 22 from Revelations here but I wanted to put a few of the key points. God's story is a plan of redemption, and it is restorative, a return. I think Revelations 22 paints a beautiful picture of what life could have been like had there been no fall, and it paints a beautiful picture of what we are being redeemed to. We are not insignificant. God loves us, He loves us so much that He wrote us into His story, with intention and with purpose. I think that is one of the biggest things I have drawn from during these last few weeks. I am a character in God's story, and in that I have a role, and a purpose. And if I am a character in God's story, than so is everyone else, each person having been written in with love and with intention and the way I treat them is a reflection on the author. I want my role in this story to reflect upon the Lamp.
  

The Lampstand Question

There is a great deal to talk about, and I apologize. I've not updated this blog for some time.

I have been reading the Gospel of Mark for some time now and I am not to far into it yet. Yes, I have read it before, but I believe when I read it before, it was just to "get it done" not to really absorb it. So I decided I wanted to go through it again, and this time I wanted to ask questions, I wanted to pray through it, I wanted God to speak to me in His word. So far it has been everything I was hoping for it to be. If I wanted, I could write enough on this blog entry to make your eyes bleed. Don't worry though, I am not going to. I want to talk about something that I found really interesting in Mark Chapter 4.

And He was saying to them...

"A lamp is not brought to be put under a basket, is it, or under a bed? Is it not brought to be put on a lampstand? For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."

I had spent a fair amount of time reading these couple verses, Mark 4:21-23, and thinking them over. I asked the question, "Is the ministry I am involved in, shinning light on the whole room, or just a few people? Does anyone who walks into the group feel blessed when they leave?"

I want to meet people. I want to meet people who don't know Christ, most of all, I want to bring Christ to them. What does that look like? Do I create an attractive event and hope they come? Do I pull them out of places they feel comfortable in? Do I yank them out of their culture, so to speak? Jesus provides numerous examples where He entered into the culture of people and impacted it for the better. Not even just impacting it, Jesus worked to root that culture in Himself, in God. I think it was C.S. Lewis who said this, and please do correct me if I am wrong, but we don't need more Christian businesses, we need more businesses run by Christians. I feel the same way in regards to ministry, be it on campus, or in a city, or in a church, or wherever. Don't mistake me on this. My point is that we need to be developing ways of engaging people where they are at instead of hoping to create the newest and most attractive thing for them to come and check out. Let's stop fishing off the dock, get a boat, get into the lake and throw some nets over. These questions took me to more, but the big one was, "What exactly is the Kingdom of God?" I like the insight Paul gives in his letter to the Ephesians.

How Shall We Describe the Kingdom of God?

"So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but your are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit." - Ephesians 2:19-22

How cool is that? We are being built, as the unified body of Christ, into a dwelling place, leaning on one another, but most importantly of all, finding our foundation and support in Christ, our cap stone. The cool thing about the Cap Stone, is that attention is drawn to it by the very stones it is supporting. In 1 Peter 2 we are told that we are living stones. And as such, we build one another up, and in so doing, we point to Christ.

In Mark 4:26-32, Jesus gives two illustrations of the Kingdom of God. In the first illustration, Jesus compares the Kingdom to that of a seed being planted. The man who planted it goes to sleep and wakes up to find the seed is growing. He doesn't know how it happened, he just can see that it has. And when that seed begins to yield a crop, he is there to harvest it. In the second illustration the Kingdom of God is compared to that of a mustard seed, the smallest of all garden seeds. And when it is planted, though it is the smallest seed in the garden, it grows to become the largest of garden plants, creating within it a home for the birds of the air. Here is what God has put on my heart in regards to these illustrations:

• The Kingdom of God starts small, personally, within our immediate communities:

There is certainly enough scripture to show this the case. A friend and myself had gone through John 2 and 3 and looked over the start of Jesus' public ministry and first followers.Jesus was baptized by John, whose mother was related to Marry. Then there was John's followers who left him to follow Jesus, one of whom was Andrew, Simon's brother (Simon who would become Peter). They then found Phillip, who was from the same town as Andrew and Peter; Phillip then found his friend Nathanael. This in itself is so cool! How amazing is this, right there, right off the bat we have the start of Jesus' public ministry moving within relational networks! His first miracle in Cana took place at a wedding that Jesus and His family, and his disciples were invited to. In Acts, Jesus commands the Disciples to be His witnesses, firstly in Jerusalm and Judea, then the ends of the earth. They were to start where they were at.

So we can see that the Gospel progressed relationally. In the same way, we need to build relationships with the people around us. Part of that means being transparent with people. It is in that transparency that people can see the inner workings of God in our lives; be that His impact in the good areas of our life, or His impact in the bad areas. People will start to wonder why we go to God in our good times and our bad. They will start to wonder why we put Christ at the center of our every though, word and action. And when God has worked in them to the point where they want to know, and they ask you the big question; why? You will be there to share with them, to give the account for the joy of Christ in your life. You will have put the lamp on the lampstand and have made yourself available to God to move through you. I just thought of this as I wrote this, but think of it as being the lampstand on which God hands the lamp of his word. You can be placed in strategic places around the room so that God's light may shine upon it. Lift God's word high to light the world.

• The Kingdom of God is believers, rooted in Christ, obedient to Him, and blessing those around them:

So we have seen that the Kingdom of God starts small, with our immediate communities, thus it also is us. We are the Kingdom of God, those who are rooted in Christ, are obedient to His truth and His commands, not simply to the benefit of ourselves, but to those around us as well. If we are lampstands that lift high God's word, it is not only to our gain, but to the blessing of everyone that light falls on. The Kingdom of God is people, centred on Jesus Christ, growing into something that blesses all who enter into it. How many times do we see the call to love and serve others in the name of Jesus Christ in His word? I can tell you with all certainty that John 15 does not talk about loving just a few, and giving yourself over to the service of just a couple. Jesus didn't die for that one dude that He liked. He died for us all. Jesus came as an example of love and service for everyone. We are blessed in that when we entered into that relationship with Christ, He gave us His Holy Spirit so that we may know Him better. We know Christ, He continues to reveal Himself to us all the time. That was His promise to us in John 15:15. So now we have a command to look out into the crowds and pluck out the people who need to know Jesus. Like the four men who plucked a crippled man out of a crowd of people, tore open the roof for him and lowered him down to see Jesus because they knew what Jesus could do for that man. What did Jesus say? He told those men that their faith was rewarded. What an absolutely beautiful expression of the Kingdom of God.

Still Praying, Still Listening, Still Learning

I am continuing to pray in regards to how to make a lampstand ministry. Pardon my coined phrase, I tend to do that. But the question remains. It is something I am going to get to learn so much more about as I spend a year in England working alongside the good people of Manchester. I have no doubt of the growth that year is going to create in how to better serve God, how to better reflect Him in my relationships with the people I meet, and how to go out and meet people where they are at. I am really excited about what God is going to do in that year. And I thank those of you who read this and pray for me. Your prayers most certainly are being heard and answered. God has been speaking to me on how to grow in these areas and some really awesome ideas are coming out of it. I am starting to get a reputation as an idea guy, which is great. But I want that reputation to be backed up by the ability to get out their and implement those ideas. Thanks so much for your continued prayer, your support and encouragement. Sorry for the length of this entry, and for it's lack of cool pictures. Take care, and may God bless you and keep you!

Reveal Our Root Through Our Fruit.

So this weekend was our Navigators Winter Retreat, and I could not be any happier with the way it turned out. God really answered our prayers for the weekend and we got to see some real ministering taking place among the students. We have almost entirely all new students attending Navigators this year, and so we shared with them that they are a brand new generation of students and that they could make this ministry what they wanted to be. We encouraged them to take this ministry and run with it, to ask questions, seek answers, meet with people, share the gospel, be poured into; and the results, I believe, were awesome!



John 15 and Intimacy With Christ

This weekend I was to give a talk to the students. We did things a little differently than most years in that this was much more of an equipping weekend. Firstly, we did not have a guest speaker; secondly, the talks were given by staff and myself (being an intern). We offered up two sessions on the Saturday where three talks were available each session, giving the students a chance to choose which talk they wanted to go to. My talk was a discussion group on John 15 and what intimacy with Christ looks like and how that is a mark of a disciple. Both talks brought something different to the table, but remained mostly the same in regards to what was being shared. I had an absolute blast and it was a real time for growth, not just for the students, but for me as well.

One of the things that jumped out to us was that often when God gives us a command, it is then followed by a promise. In the case of John 15, I will refer you to verses 12-15 where it says:

"This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you." John 15:12-15

What an incredible statement this is! What religion in the world makes this kind of promise? That if we love one another as Christ loves us, we will have complete and total intimacy with God? This was a real eye opener for me. I have read John 15 several times and have always skimmed past these verses without really giving them a second glance, but this weekend God really opened them up to me with a whopper of an understanding! We continued to explore just what John 15 was talking about, in regards to loving one another, what it meant to bear fruit and we came up with the need to die to our selfishness, as well as one of the more cheesy sounding phrases I have come up with so far; to reveal our roots through our fruits.

"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing." John 15:4,5


This was another thing that jumped out at us; that intimacy with Christ is what allows us to serve others with a selfless heart; that the glory of God and His kingdom and the encouragement of others thus becomes our motivations. If I may paraphrase one of the students (who is also a born again believer as of 6 months ago):


"Without Christ, we feel as though we have gone above and beyond ourselves when we serve, while with Christ our motivation is completely in Him and the love He gave us. We want to give that same love to others. It doesn't become about us anymore."





God Goggles, Washed Feet and Other Highlights!

This was such an incredible weekend for sure. There were so many opportunities for growth as a community of believers as well as a chance for one person, who does not yet know Christ, to learn more about Him and see the Joy we have in Him! This young girl has been brought to Church before and had come to understand Christians having something she couldn't quite put her finger on. When she left the retreat this weekend she admitted that she felt as though her heart had changed, that she was in some way different! We could not be more excited for her and plan to continue meeting with her in the future to see what questions she may have!

Another highlight was a guest we had with us. Andy Utley with the Navigators in Halifax, soon to return to his native Australia with his wife and kids, was able to join us, and it was an absolute pleasure having him there! He shared on the importance of using our time wisely, especially for our students still in University; how this was the best time to get connected with people and ask for mentor-ship, investigate questions, find answers, etc. I could not help but feel like his talk had really struck a solid cord with the students and could sense a real change within that community. I am really excited to see how it translates into the rest of our semester!

Daniel, our first year intern, humbled himself in obedience to the Lord and washed the feet of every single person at the retreat. This was an incredible witness to everyone there in regards to the mark of a disciple. Willingness to first of all; not run away from what God places on our hearts, and secondly; to take a step back in ourselves and put the needs and feelings of others first. The whole thing came in to close with our new student exec president in eagerness washing Daniel's feet. It was the cherry on top of the icing for me, getting to see that. I sat there watching and reflected on the actions and couldn't help but praise God for making that weekend together so successful! Christ modeled intimacy with God for us, as well as intimacy with each other, what a powerful promise and action.

Lastly is the student I have been meeting up with personally for the last semester, Hudson. I am so thankful to God for putting this student into my life and could not be more thrilled with the journey Hudson is on! We had talked about the idea of "God Goggles" together in the past and got a chance to talk about them a bit more this weekend. The idea is that sometimes God lends us goggles in which we can see people as He sees them, a process meant to help us love those people even more, and to pray for them. We have been talking together about what that means, what it looks like, and how it affects our relationships with others. We have made a promise to one another to serve our immediate communities, the ones closest to us, the way Christ would and then to branch out from there. Acts1:8 demonstrates that we start with where we are and move out from there, and so we are going to keep one another accountable to that.

Please continue to pray for the students and for God's ministry on campus! Pray particularly that God guards each of the students and what they learned at the retreat, that they would become convicted of their role on campus and what intimacy with God has provided them. Pray they would see the heart of this picture and be challenged to share those same gifts God gave them with others. Thanks so much for reading, for your prayer, and your support!