Christ Cruise is the brainchild of Glenda Jeske, one of our Education Committee members who justly deserves the title of "Christ Cruise Director."  Besides the new curriculum (which is both fun for kids and fast and easy to use for leaders!), there will be fun songs (some old, some new, some original); a regular "creature feature" (thanks to some of our youth and young adults); new paint in the upstairs hallway (thanks to the Property Committee) and in our Christ Cruise room (thanks to custodian Ernie Thiessen for donating the paint and his labour!); great mural boards (thanks Glenda and Tina); and much much more!

For more info, please see our Ministry and Service page--to get on board, talk to our Christ Cruise Director or yours truly, and please feel free to leave a comment.  We'd love to hear from you!

Here's the link if you'd like to read the complete list of being in Christ: accepted, secure, significant.  http://www.ficm.org/whoiam.htm

When I returned, my tender seedlings were very pale and shriveled looking, lying tangled together in the pot instead of green and healthy and reaching for the light as they had been before. They weren't securely established. In a similar way, my sermon text for last week (Colossians 1:15-29) reminds us that unless we're securely established and nurtured in the faith, we will not be a living and vibrant church, a living and vibrant people.

What I didn't say last week, was that my parsley story wasn't finished.  I watered the poor pale shriveled things--although I'm not sure why, since they really looked hopeless--and I moved the pot from our kitchen windowsill to our outside deck.  Soon there was a green shoot, and now there's parsley in the pot!  Not enough yet to start using it, but quite definitely parsley.

Maybe my original parsley wasn't quite as hopeless as I had thought. Or maybe there was a seed or two that hadn't germinated the first time and was now making an appearance.  But I think of it as an example of the passion that's described in Col 1:29: "To this end I labor, struggling with all [God's] energy, which so powerfully works in me."  This was Paul's passion for evangelism and church planting. My parsley had a passion to grow. What's our passion as a church?  What's your passion?  Living with passion is part of what it means to be a living and vibrant church, and living and vibrant people.
 

I've been wearing mine on my wrist, and have seen others do the same, while there is at least one person wearing it on her ankle.  "Don't you want to wear the name of Jesus?" one wrist-banded participant said to another whose band was still likely in the bottom of their Assembly totebag.

For some, wearing or seeing that green band might be a good visual reminder of our faith in Jesus, of our relationship with him, and what it means to put on Christ as Scripture reminds us. But of course wearing Christ is more than physically wearing the name of Jesus like some kind of designer label--it means having "the peace of Christ rule in your hearts" (Col. 3:15) and being clothed "with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience" (Col. 3:12). That's how to dress for success, since these things are always in style in the kingdom of God and go with whatever else we might be wearing. 

Highlights so far include connecting with many people (like Hugo and Doreen Neufeld who spoke at Emmanuel earlier this year, live in Calgary, and are among the many volunteers at this Assembly), learning Colossians 3:15 with actions (that I'd like to share with the children and the rest of the congregation when I get back), spending time in discussion with those around my delegate table, being part of a panel discussion on Jesus Matters, lots of worship and singing (one of the leaders is Alissa Bender who interned with us at Emmanuel a few years ago and is currently an associate pastor in Calgary), meeting Sara Wenger Shenk who is the new seminary president as of July 1.

Today Nhien Pham and I have our workshop on our Vietnamese ministry partnership which is called Hand in Hand. I still have a bit more preparation to do for that and would like to make it to morning worship too--good thing I'm a morning person!

At one point, I quoted from Rick Warren who suggested that not only should we give money, but also the first part of our week to worship and the first part of our social time to fellowship with other Christians.  At the time, I said we might not agree with every detail of the quote--after all, there are many Christians who worship at some time other than the first part of the week--but I hoped it would challenge us to think.  In response, I received an email asking "wasn't it a big priority for Jesus to spend time with people on the edges, people not in the inner fellowship circles, people like Zaccheus and the Samaritan woman at the well?"  That's important for us to remember too.

For those who expressed interest in the George Herbert quote, here's the first and last part of the poem that I read as part of my sermon:

Thou hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more - a grateful heart.
Not thankful when it pleases me,
As if thy blessings had spare days,
But such a heart,
whose pulse may be thy praise.
 

The entire poem is available at http://www.ccel.org/h/herbert/temple/Gratefulnesse.html
 

I started my brief devotional with a story about making dinner for the first time in 9 days since we had been away on vacation, and after the first few bites, my husband said, "This is so good--it's better than anything we ate at a restaurant!"  Here's the recipe that I made:

Apricot-Glazed Chicken

Remove skin from 6 chicken thighs, and place in a single layer in a baking dish. Mix together: 1/3 cup apricot preserves,
2 tsp Dijon mustard, 5 drops hot-pepper sauce. Spoon the mixture over chicken. Bake in a pre-heated 425 deg F oven for 20 minutes, baste, and bake for another 20 minutes, or until done. Good served with rice and steamed broccoli.
 

Another recipe I shared at the bridal tea was this recipe for a happy marriage that I had come across on the 'net: 

Recipe for a Happy Marriage
Take one happy man and one happy woman - and separate them from their parents.
Add the following ingredients in generous proportions:
Love
Respect
Commitment
Acceptance
Communication
Patience
Kindness
Gentleness
Self-control
Hope
Truth
Mix together, then thoroughly sift in daily life.
Strain out jealousy, arrogance, selfishness, provocation and accounting of wrongs.
Bake in the trials and tribulations of life for 50 years.
Celebrate when golden. 

It's actually an untitled poem that appeared unattributed on a pull-out poster in With magazine a number of years ago.  It's been sitting in my files unused for quite a while, until it seemed to fit so well in last Sunday's sermon.  I don't totally agree with every detail (esp the part about growing, since I don't think anything--whether carrot or human being--actually grows on its own apart from God's sustaining power and life-giving energy), but it's thought-provoking and a lot of it rings true, so here it is:

I prayed to God to take away my pride.
And God said, “No.
It isn’t for me to take away—it’s for you to give up.”
I prayed to God to grant me patience.
And God said, “No.
Patience is a by-product of tribulations—it isn’t granted, it’s earned.”
I prayed to God to give me happiness.
And God said, “No.
I give you blessings—happiness is up to you.”
I prayed to God to make my spirit grow.
And God said, “No.
You must grow on your own, but I will prune you and make you fruitful.”
I prayed to God for all things, that I might enjoy life. And God said, “No. I will give you life so you may enjoy all things.”
I prayed to God to help me love others as much as God loves me.
And God said, “Ahhhh! Finally, you have the idea!” 

Or, Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get. Or, Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.

This week when I returned to the church office, I realized that there had been a bulletin blooper of our own.  The bulletin looked fine, but if you actually read it, you may have noticed that all of the prayer requests were the same as the previous week!  And there were a number of announcements about our Volleyball group, Childsafe, etc. that simply didn't make it in.

I hasten to add that none of this was the fault of our very competent church secretary who was unfortunately off sick on Thursday and Friday--and since I was already on my way to Victoria on the Friday as well, I wasn't able to look over the bulletin as usual before it was printed, so our temporary office help went ahead on her own as best she could and somehow skipped over all of my new announcements.

Fortunately though, Roberta is back in the office now and so am I, so stay tuned, and you'll see those announcements this coming Sunday!

Some of the things that inspired me:

- the obvious effort on the part of the planning committee to include women of all ages and ethnic backgrounds

- the memorial time for women who had passed on since the last Women's Inspirational Day that was such a fitting way of honouring their memory and legacy - although I knew very few of the women personally, it was still a very moving and meaningful time

- the personal stories shared by three of our women who reflected on their own experience in light of the experience of women in the Bible - although I knew each of their stories, I heard them in a fresh way as they related them to Scripture, and was struck again by God's leading in their lives that left many of us in tears

- wonderful worship leading, preaching, music, food, fellowship - what a wonderfully gifted group of women there are in Mennonite Church BC!

The next MCBC Women's Ministry event is the fall retreat October 15-17 at Camp Squeah - Feather Janz will be the guest speaker, and incidentally, she was a student of mine when I taught at Columbia Bible College years ago!  The next MCBC Women's Inspirational Day is Saturday, April 30, 2011.  If last Saturday was any indication, we can all start planning now to be inspired :-)

- that children would become so engaged in Sunday School that they would beg their parents to bring them

- that people might get so excited about teaching Sunday school that they would eagerly volunteer to contribute and use their gifts

- that youth who don't normally attend Sunday school might get  connected - possibly with a youth band or by being involved with SonForce where the younger kids would benefit from their example and look up to them

- that the banquet room might be filled with adults wanting to learn

These are wonderful dreams--and yet they're much more as we also seek to put foundations under them:

- for the On The Way adult class: we've already started providing sound in the banquet room so all will be able to hear easily; this Sunday we will follow up on the suggestion to re-arrange the chairs to make the room more inviting so people can enter behind everyone already seated instead of at the front; between now and September, Allen has volunteered to convene a subgroup to plan a new On The Way schedule with a view to promoting and distributing it in advance; new ideas are being considered, like providing coffee and a place for fellowship or perhaps an informal praise and prayer time during Sunday school

- for the younger classes: we've already started SonForce and plan to continue that as a fun time of active learning; plans are underway to paint the upstairs hallway with colourful, inviting murals; curriculum is being reviewed as we explore a new pod format that will allow teachers to focus on areas of ministry that they especially love, allow other teachers to take a much needed break, and engage the kids with memorable songs, activities, and Bible stories

- for the library: we have dreams to make the library catalogue available online; to continue to provide resources from Mennonite Publishing that may be difficult to find locally elsewhere.

We are also still in need of a Chairperson for our Education ministry, so please join us in our dreaming and praying!  If you sense that God might be calling you to this ministry, I'd love to hear from you at pastor@emmanuelmennonite.com

Another comment was that the sermon could have gone on for another "5-10 minutes" without feeling too long, so I thought I'd list here a few things that I could have included in that time:

- in the New Testament, the robe is a significant piece of clothing - so e.g., when the lost son returns home (which I preached on during Lent), he receives a new robe not just so he would have something nice to wear, but also as a symbol of new life.  in the same way, the saints in Revelation wear white robes as a symbol of purity, forgiveness, new life

- at the beginning of Revelation 7, John describes the saints being "sealed" before their great trial; then in our text Revelation 7:9-17 he describes them after their tribulation as "the church triumphant."  He does not actually show their martyrdom

- the verb tenses change throughout the text, indicating that this is not meant to be a chronology, but different images that are meant to wash over us 

- "I know that trouble don't always last" is a gospel song that expresses the same xtreme hope as our Revelation text - whatever troubles we have in this life, they will not last since the time is coming where there will be no more hunger, no more tears   

Please feel free to add a comment of your own here, or send your feedback to Maria Wiens, Worship Committee Chair

As one Emmanuel member pointed out to me, according to MCBC stats, Emmanuel's average 2009 worship attendance of 230 is the third highest among the 31 churches of MCBC.  By total membershp of 265, we are also the third largest church.  Only three churches had a net membership gain for 2009, including Emmanuel with a net gain of 11.  For a list of Emmanuel members who carry MCBC responsibilities, please see the issue of Connecting...which should be out this Sunday!  

There have been many changes since Emmanuel began as a congregation in 1981 – from rented premises, to building their own, to adding the sanctuary, and then adding a gym. From a single song-leader and pianist to the music teams we have today with piano, guitar, drums, and other instruments. From the occasional use of the screen to project a song to projecting all of our songs as well as an opening slide, sermon points, and illustrations. There have been many many changes over the years!

For this coming Sunday (April 25), some of us have been thinking about planting some change in our morning worship.  The intention is not to try something new just because we've never done it that way before, or just because some other church is doing it that way.  Instead, it's because we realize that many people come to worship distracted--for many, it's a challenge simply to get to church, and even when physically present, their thoughts may still be going in a million directions.  So the intention with these changes is to minimize distractions as much as possible, to help draw all of us into worship and to be prepared to hear God speak to us.

To this end, we're working with an overall worship flow that might be described as a crescendo, where everything builds toward the message.  Part of this flow includes:

- instead of verbally highlighting announcements during the service, there will be highlights projected on screen beforehand
- instead of listing all of the songs in the worship order, we will list some questions that relate to the sermon and leave some space in the bulletin so people can write their own notes
- the music team will begin our time of worship and stay at the front until the sermon to minimize movement to and from the stage - they'll call the children to the front to sing a song with them, and then have the children's feature take place in the Noah's Ark room
- instead of having the team come forward to lead us in a closing song, I will end my sermon with a prayer and words of challenge/sending/benediction to end our worship time
- there will be more music during transitions and also played softly underneath the prayers and Scripture to help provide continuity and keep people engaged

At this point, the plan is simply to try this for one Sunday, and then to reflect on our experience—how will these changes impact us?  will they help to (re-)engage middle- and younger-aged adults?  will they help us to be more focused, or will the changes themselves be a distraction? I’m excited to try something new, and look forward to what God is doing/will do among us!
 

One of the ice cream stories that I thought of, but didn’t make it into my sermon in the end (and makes a better post script/commentary afterward anyway I think!) is a story I read about a man named John Harrison who tastes ice cream for a living. He’s the chief ice cream taster for Dreyers ice cream, responsible for developing new ice cream flavours (like Dreyers French Silk Slow-Churned Ice Cream that I’ve never had but would like to try some day), he trains ice cream tasters all over America, and his tongue is actually ensured for over $1 million. As an ice cream taster, he always tastes ice cream with a gold-plated spoon because wood, plastic, or other metals leave an after taste. He avoids caffeine, garlic, and spicy foods because they would interfere with his taste buds.

That got me wondering about our spiritual taste buds—whether we lose or damage our taste for spiritual things, whether we allow other things to interfere with our taste even for the good news of Easter. Just like eating too many chocolate bunnies dulls our appetite for dinner, maybe watching too much tv, or spending too much time on the internet, or just generally wanting to go our own way, can dull our longing for God and spiritual connection. That’s a good reason to be deliberate about giving up something for Lent or adding in a deliberate spiritual discipline. Just as John Harrison gives up caffeine so his taste for ice cream is at its best, we can give up something for Lent to sharpen our spiritual taste buds so to speak. And just as he deliberately uses a gold-plated spoon, we can deliberately use a daily quiet time or journaling or some other spiritual discipline.

So during--and now even after Lent--may our spiritual taste buds remain sharp so that we may “taste and see that the LORD is good; happy are those who take refuge in him” (Psalm 34:8). Happy Easter everyone!