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Seeking Jerusalem – Day 45 "The Helper"

March 22, 2018

Frederick Buechner, in his book Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy and Fairy Tale, tells us that the world of the gospel is “a world of magic and mystery, of deep darkness and flickering starlight It is a world where terrible things happen and wonderful things too It is a world where goodness is pitted against evil, love against hate, order against chaos, in a great struggle where often it is hard to be sure who belongs to which side because appearances are endlessly deceptive. Yet for all its confusion and wildness, it is a world where the battle goes ultimately to the good, who live happily every after….That is the fairy tale of the Gospel with, of course, one crucial difference from all other fairy tales, which is that the claim made for it is that it is true, that it not only happened once upon a time but has kept on happening ever since and is happening still” (quoted in The Sacred Romance p. 46).

The Holiness Project – Day 8 "Spiritual Sin"

March 21, 2018

We have been talking about the Sanctification Gap, that chasm between the holiness and perfect love of God as seen in His justice and mercy on the one hand, and the depths of our sin, our selfishness, our inability to love ourselves, much less God or anyone else on the other. That Sanctification Gap continues even after we have been justified by grace through the blood of Jesus Christ. In fact, precisely because it is a substitution, that it isn’t our righteousness, the gap exists because we are not made immediately perfect in love. Our Sanctification is progressive. But that gap between our Justification and our Sanctification also creates a credibility gap, both in our own eyes as well as in the eyes of other people. And so it should. It is a necessary part of our situation as Christians.

The Holiness Project – Day 9 "Spiritual Perspective"

March 20, 2018

This little story is making the rounds on the internet and on facebook. I love it. It’s a wonderful way to describe our situation as we live in darkness and grow and prepare for our delivery. It is very well done. But the metaphor isn’t perfect and I would like to improve it a little bit. Let’s talk about the umbilical cord….
So, the two babies are there in the womb but one has an umbilical cord and is fed by her mother but the other one is dead and withered in the womb (but still able to talk and discuss and “pretend” that it is alive when it is really quite dead). The metaphor is already starting to get ugly but it is closer to the truth.

Seeking Jerusalem – Day 42 "The Sweet Spot"

March 17, 2018

I remember the early years of Bible College when I was surrounded by other young Christian students and we studied and prayed and discussed and argued to our heart’s content. We went on Mission trips together. We sang songs with our guitars, the Sound of Silence right along with Amazing Grace and Hallelujah. We ate pizza and watched movies but most of all we talked about the reality of God. It was great.
I come from a religious family in the Dutch Reformed tradition and discovered that I was good at public speaking in High School. I won all of Southwestern Ontario and was supposed to go to the Big Apple and speak at the United Nations for the North American Public Speaking Competition. But I didn’t go. I was already committed to a summer mission trip and in a burst of religious zeal, I decided that my priority should be the church. Not that I was a believer really. But I was convinced that I should become a Pastor since I had the gift of the gab.

Seeking Jerusalem – Day 38 "Spiritual Unity"

March 13, 2018

In a couple of weeks on Palm Sunday, we will have a potluck fellowship dinner. Everybody brings a dish and a desert. Drinks are provided. We get together and chat for a while and call it fellowship. Fellowship is supposed to be another word for Spiritual Unity. Doesn’t sound very interesting but it is nice, I suppose.
We have been talking about the Way of the Cross – confession, repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation. Fellowship or Spiritual Unity is supposed to be the result of reconciliation.

Seeking Jerusalem – Day 37 "Healing Power"

March 12, 2018

Money may make the world go round, but love is what makes it all worthwhile. Without love, without relationships it just isn’t worth the trouble. Everybody knows that.
People don’t wish that they spent more time at work or made more money when they are on their deathbed. They just want to be with their loved ones. They wish with all their heart that they could recapture those wonderful moments with their children on Christmas eve when they were young. They regret the hurts and misunderstandings that still hover over their heads and relationships. They want nothing more than that their estranged children, their brother, their ex-wife or friend would come back, that somehow, someway, a miracle would happen and love would be in the air, that Christmas would come in the middle of summer, something, anything that would close the distance and heal their hearts and make it better again.

Seeking Jerusalem – Day 36 "FaithWalking"

March 10, 2018

So my daughter and I were on our way to the mall the other day to watch a movie. I’m not sure why but she asked me a question about something I was writing about and I decided to ask her the “Chicken and the Egg” question. It’s a good question.
“What came first, the chicken or the egg?”
“That’s easy,” she said. “The chicken, of course. God had to create a chicken before you can have a chicken lay an egg.”

Seeking Jerusalem – Day 33 "Brokenness"

March 8, 2018

Today I want you to help me solve a mystery. It is a mystery, I suppose, of our own making but it is a deeply shocking revelation of the human heart. I know, I know, it’s nothing new. The Bible says that the “heart is deceitful above all things” (Jeremiah 17:9 NIV). And that especially applies to mine. The mystery is really about the ways my heart is deceitful, the manner in which my spiritual blindness manifests itself and what I can do about it. Let me try to describe the problem in some more detail….

Seeking Jerusalem – Day 32 "The Courage of Transparency"

March 7, 2018

We gave it a try. We really did.
The new Pastor asked everyone to get together for a meeting and we all came. I brought my wife and daughter (since they were also involved) and the Pastor brought the elder who had offended. The Pastor was a believer in the power of reconciliation and apparently had convinced the elder to show up. One of the other elders had given the Pastor our names as people the Board needed to reconcile with. When we had stood up for Scottie, a street evangelist who was thrown out of the church for making people feel uncomfortable and always asking for money, we got thrown out as well.
So we all showed up, all of us believers, all of us excited about the prospect of true reconciliation. Everyone except for Scottie. They never did get around to him. They should have started with him. The ministry of reconciliation is spiritual warfare and we were terribly unprepared.

Seeking Jerusalem – Day 31 "True Confessions"

March 6, 2018

Confessions are scary business. For everyone.
True confessions sounds like one of those rag mags you find on a newstand full of the foibles and follies of the rich and famous. People love their reality shows and true confessions spice things up nicely. And celebrities are used to it, aren’t they? Nobody gets hurt. Some people like to air their dirty laundry in public, sharing their accusations and stories of betrayal and disappointment with the whole world watching. Those of us who have a bit more sense, avoid those kinds of situations like the plague. True confessions are the dirty side of reality and it just mires you in bitterness and resentment as you are reminded of all your hurts and offenses.
So when it comes to the church, most of us are rather uncomfortable with the idea of confession. Isn’t that a Catholic idea anyway? We don’t do that in my church. The Pastor might talk about it once in a while, but it is always a silent confession just between God and myself. Nobody else’s business. It’s a private thing, not public. Thank God.

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Tag: Discipleship