Journaling through Lent

This year, instead of giving up something for Lent, I decided to add teaching a 4-week course at Columbia Bible College on Journaling for Personal and Spiritual Growth. Like any other spiritual discipline, teaching this course took commitment and a regular investment of time, it put me in a place where God could work in a new way in my life, encouraged me to relate to God in a deeper way.

These four weeks have been a wonderful blessing:
- I've had the opportunity to reflect in a more disciplined way about spiritual discipline in general and journaling in particular
- I've experienced renewal in my own journaling practice - I've journaled more than usual in the last four weeks
- I've been prompted to explore new journaling techniques and resources, especially on-line resources that I was vaguely familiar with but never looked at closely before
- I've broadened my reading in the area of spiritual discipline and journaling
- in teaching, I found I also learned a lot and was encouraged by the small group of six participants. God is growing them and me!

Yet for all these blessings, I also feel a sense of relief that these four weeks are over--like savouring that first piece of chocolate after giving it up for Lent, or finally listening to music in the car after observing a Lenten discipline of silence. I'll miss teaching next week, but I'm also thankful that I'm not in the midst of preparing for another class! Instead, I look forward to gathering together as a church for a time of communion and remembering again the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus in the Lord's Supper.

Mar 26, 2010 at 6:40 PM

Permalink

Be the first to comment on this post

Jesus Matters has arrived

If you ordered a copy of Jesus Matters--or if you didn't order but would like one anyway--please pick up a copy at the Welcome Centre this Sunday after worship.

With the author's discount, the cost per book is $13 including tax and shipping costs. 

Thanks to the clerk at the post office who carried the almost 50 lb box of books to the car for me, thanks to Trent for carrying the box from my car to the Welcome Centre, and thanks to Gary for being at the Welcome Centre!

Sep 24, 2009 at 8:16 PM

Permalink

Be the first to comment on this post

Jesus Matters Ordering Info

I've just received confirmation that I can use my author's discount to order copies of Jesus Matters: Good News for the 21st Century at about $13 Canadian including GST and shipping. The exact price will depend on how many we order, but it'll be less than the regular $19.54 Canadian plus shipping.

For the table of contents and a book excerpt, please see store.mpn.net/productdetails.cfm   To place your order at the reduced price, please add a comment to this email, or sign up at the Welcome Centre in the church foyer.

Aug 21, 2009 at 12:58 PM

Permalink

Comments (2)

Jesus Matters - Now in Print!

A few weeks ago, I received my advance copies of Jesus Matters: good news for the 21st century, published by Herald Press, with a foreword by Shane Claiborne (of "Jesus for President" fame who seems to be speaking at youth and young adult events everywhere these days), and chapter one by yours truly. . . .

I haven't had a chance to read the finished book yet, but the process to this point has been very satisfying (see earlier posts, April 12, 2008 and March 14, 2009), and I'm excited now to see the book in print!

Copies were actually available at the Mennonite Church Canada Assembly in Saskatoon, and I understand that the book table sold out at that time--which I hope indicates a strong interest in the book, and not just that the book store had brought in too few copies in the first place!  Stan, did you get a chance to pick a copy up for the library?

Since then, I've also heard from the editors that funds were provided so that all lead pastors in Mennonite Church USA received a copy, as well as every leader for youth and young adults at the recent Mennonite Church USA Assembly (with over 4000 youth and young adults registered, that means a lot of young leaders!).

Since the book focuses on Jesus, and since our worship and preaching theme for  the coming year Sept-June 2009-2010 will be "Jesus Be the Centre," I hope that the book will be useful for us as a congregation as well.  And beyond that, I pray that it will also reach those in our community and world who are sorely in need of good news, the good news of Jesus.

I'll have more info soon on ordering books at a discounted price, so stay tuned!

Aug 2, 2009 at 7:24 AM

Permalink

Be the first to comment on this post

Home

I've been thinking a lot about "home" lately, partly because we've been very much occupied with moving from house to townhouse over the last while, and partly because of what I've been learning about the 8 million (!) Palestinian refugees who have no place to call home. As a response to the refugee sponsorship information meeting earlier this week, I wrote the following poem/prayer/summary using some of the images and phrases that were part of the presentation by Gloria Nafziger and others working with refugee concerns:

A child peers out from a tent in the desert--

where is the world?

A man still bears the scars of brutal torture--

where is the world?

A woman tells of waiting weeks and months and years--

where is the world?

Is it really that much easier to fly to Mars, or even up to heaven?

Yet we have seen a garden planted in the desert,

and we have heard the children's cry:

"make our pains happiness forever"

"make our dreams truth forever"

"please help us"

May God have mercy.

May Christ have mercy.

Amen.

May 13, 2009 at 3:04 PM

Permalink

Be the first to comment on this post

BC Christian News: debate over the cross

During Thursday's sharing at communion, Peter Kehler mentioned an article in BC Christian News on understanding the cross.

If you normally receive a copy of the BC Christian News, you've probably already seen the article on the front page, and I agree it's definitely worth reading for a broad understanding of the meaning of Jesus' death.  For those who don't have a copy of the paper, you can read the article at www.canadianchristianity.com/bc/bccn/0409/01shack.html.

Regent College professor Hans Boersma is right when he says the debate on different theories of atonement is not new.  For another look at the historical perspectives he cites, you might also be interested in one of my older sermons:  "How We See Salvation: What Difference Does It Make?" published in Vision (Spring 2006) and available in the church library.

Apr 12, 2009 at 6:11 AM

Permalink

Be the first to comment on this post

Testimonies

Hearing or reading testimonies from new members is always a highlight, so I'm looking forward to this Sunday April 5 when we plan to hear from eight new members. Related to that, this week I received an invitation from Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology to write an article on "Testimony."

The invitation comes from Steven Schweitzer, assistant professor of Old Testament at the Mennonite seminary, who is also on the editorial council for Vision:  I am wondering if you would be willing to write an article on "Testimony in Congregational Life. The article would be approximately 1800 words, which should discuss the function or importance of testimony in the life of the congregation (worship, community formation, etc)."
 

I've already said yes to writing the article, because I think testimony is vital and writing will give me a chance to think more deliberately about it.  I haven't given it much thought or prayer yet though, since the deadline isn't until July.  What do you think of when you hear the word "testimony"?  How important is it to you, or in the life of the church?

Apr 4, 2009 at 7:26 AM

Permalink

Be the first to comment on this post

From Simply Jesus to Jesus Matters

Last year at this time, I was in the beginning stages of writing a chapter for a book on Jesus with the working title Simply Jesus.

Since then, the title has changed from Simply Jesus to Jesus Matters; my chapter--which focuses on following Jesus--has been moved from being the last chapter of the book to being the very first chapter; between my writing partner (Peter Sensenig), the two editors (James R. Krabill and David W. Shenk), and me, there have been 6 different revisions (not including the initial writing and re-writing that I did on my own!); I learned how to use Moodle (an on-line platform used by educators to develop on-line courses, which can also be used to share and comment on works-in-progress like my chapter); and now finally my work is done!

My last revision has been approved by the editors and sent to the publisher, and Jesus Matters is listed in the 2009 Herald Press Catalog. The Catalog lists the publication date as March 3, 2009, but the book isn’t actually out yet, and there’s no information about it on the Herald Press website yet either. But the print catalog says:

Jesus Matters
Good News for the Twenty-First Century
 

People around the world are intrigued by Jesus Christ, and he is popular with most North Americans. But do we honor the Jesus of the Scriptures? This book commends the Jesus of the Bible. Each author works with a young adult to consider the various ways Jesus encounters people today. Topics include Jesus and creation, Jesus and the cross, Jesus and salvation, Jesus and mission, and Jesus and the future. Authors include Stanley Green, Amy Barker, Michelle Hershberger, Willard Swartley, Jack Suderman and April Yamasaki. Edited by David W. Shenk and James R. Krabill.
Paper: $16.99
Classification: Religion/Christian Theology/Ethics

I’ll have more information once the book is actually available!
 

Mar 14, 2009 at 7:27 AM

Permalink

Be the first to comment on this post

Church and Technology

The Spring 2009 issue of Leader is out, and I see that my words have come back to haunt me! In the “Leader Tip: starting a pastor’s blog,” I list as one of the do’s:

“Do post a new entry at least once a week”—which if you check the dates on my postings, you’ll see that I haven’t quite followed my own advice. Mea culpa—I’m guilty! So let me add another “do” to the list that underlies all of the others: Do be flexible so that time at the computer enhances life and ministry and doesn’t become some kind of (less than adequate) replacement!  (p.s. to read the whole issue of Leader, please check out the church library)

Feb 7, 2009 at 8:44 AM

Permalink

Be the first to comment on this post

On (not) being at home in the Mennonite Church

“At Home in the Mennonite Church” was not actually my title, and what appears in the Canadian Mennonite is really part of a longer message that I had given at the Mennonite Church Canada/Mennonite Church USA Summit last July. Not long after that, editor Tim Miller Dyck said he’d like to reprint my personal story at some point, but I had forgotten about that until I actually saw it in print.

As a stand alone piece, that excerpt paints a rather rosy picture of my sense of being at home in the Mennonite Church. It’s all true, but it’s also not the whole story. In fact, later in the same message, I said, “I began tonight by sharing some of my own experience of discovering a sense of community and a sense of shared values with the Mennonite Church. It’s a wonderful part of my story that I’m delighted to share—but it’s only part of the story. Along the way, I’ve also discovered that sometimes community can be a very lonely place. For all the earnest talk and sincere efforts at becoming more multicultural, there is still a long way to go. There are times when I’ve felt more claustrophobia than community, times when I’ve realized with some dismay that not everyone shares quite the same values or lives them out in quite the same way.”

So although I do feel at home in many ways, I am also keenly aware that “home” can be disappointing, frustrating, painful, full of failure, a “home” where I am sometimes still treated like a stranger and outsider, where I feel I don’t quite belong and am not sure I really want to. That’s also part of my story, and I don’t think it’s at all unusual.

Whether your family has been part of the Mennonite Church for generations, or you’ve become a part of the church more recently; whether you’re in church leadership or on the margins of church life-- any of us may experience times when we feel at home and any of us may experience times when we feel very lonely. For our true home is not of this world at all—not in any human denomination or institution or relationship, but our true home is found in the heart of God.

Dec 13, 2008 at 4:11 PM

Permalink

Comments (1)