Monday, July 31, 2006
Modern Day Phariseism
I don't know how to write tonight but I know I must.
It is 2:19am and I should be fast asleep but I am not and cannot. Today I sat in a situation and listened as people cast their judgment and disapproval upon a situation. I cannot go into the details of that situation, only to say that all involved claim to be followers of Christ. As I lie here unable to sleep it is that which is bothering me and unsettling my heart - that these "followers of Christ" would involve themselves in such a tirade of judgment and abuse upon one person.
Jesus once was involved in a similar situation. In John 8, a woman has been 'caught in the act' of adultery and is brought to the temple where Jesus is by a bunch of Pharisee's - they are trying to test Jesus. They explain the situation and ask him what should be done because according to the Mosaic Law, she should be stoned (death by stoning!!!). In this situation Jesus bent down and started drawing on the ground and as they continued to test and question him. He then stood up and said that whichever of the m en that brought was without sin, they should cast the first stone. Slowly they all dispersed, one by one and Jesus ministered to the woman.
Today felt like a similar situation, a group of people gathering in judgment of a situation that they know very little about and deciding that what they think is right and that their opinion should be cast upon the victim - regtardless of what that victim has been through or is feeling. What it was his afternoon was simply modern day phariseism.
It just hurts me that as "Christian's", these folks were more interested in casting judgment than actually following the teaching and example of Jesus. It hurts deep and that's why I cannot sleep. All that this person needed today was a little bit of love and acceptance and all they got was bitterness and judgment. As I sat with them during the tirade of abuse, my heart was simply breaking. I think the other thing that is making me unable to sleep is that I simply sat there and let it happen. In a way, my silence was as bad as the actions and words of the modern day pharisees.
I want to say sorry. Sorry to the person involved - sorry that I did not have the balls to stand up for them and for Christ in that situation.
It is just so infuriating that people continue to be like this in life. As someone who feels the call to minister to and teach folks in the Church, I wonder how many people like this I will work with in the future and how I will react to their phariseism. Will I take the lesson from today and find the words like Jesus did to gently rebuke? Or will I continue to sit in silence. Tonight as I write this I want to state that I hope I will never sit in silence. Today I let some people away with what was simply and purely judgment and abuse of another human being. It was not fair and it was not right. Tonight I am saying that I will not let that happen again, and I pray that I will always be given words of wisdom and grace in order to speak into situations like that.
When are we going to get it that being a Christian is about love, grace, forgiveness and acceptance? When are we going to get that it is not about us or our precious stuff? When are we going to lay our selfish pride down and start living for Jesus and the others that he has put around us. Make no mistake folks, a life given to Christ has to be a life given to Christ, in every situation nomatter how close to home or how much it hurts. It seems that we take Christ when we want him and that is simply not good enough. I know how hard it can be to walk with him, goodness knows how much I let him down day by day. But we have to stop pulling out the Christian card when it suits us. Our Christian ID card should not be kept in our wallets and only brought out when we want in somewhere. It should be boldly worn and displayed in our hearts so that yes, we can get in to those places we want to go into (being accepted by the Christian crowd) but also that we can suffer the shame and humiliation that sometimes has to be suffered by admitting we are followers of Christ. Tonight I am putting my card on my heart and saying aloud that, I am not ashamed of the Gospel or of Jesus. Tonight I am saying that it is no longer enough for me to sit in silence as others are abused by the modern day pharisee's around me.
If you are a follower of Christ, how about joining me?
Blessings
It is 2:19am and I should be fast asleep but I am not and cannot. Today I sat in a situation and listened as people cast their judgment and disapproval upon a situation. I cannot go into the details of that situation, only to say that all involved claim to be followers of Christ. As I lie here unable to sleep it is that which is bothering me and unsettling my heart - that these "followers of Christ" would involve themselves in such a tirade of judgment and abuse upon one person.
Jesus once was involved in a similar situation. In John 8, a woman has been 'caught in the act' of adultery and is brought to the temple where Jesus is by a bunch of Pharisee's - they are trying to test Jesus. They explain the situation and ask him what should be done because according to the Mosaic Law, she should be stoned (death by stoning!!!). In this situation Jesus bent down and started drawing on the ground and as they continued to test and question him. He then stood up and said that whichever of the m en that brought was without sin, they should cast the first stone. Slowly they all dispersed, one by one and Jesus ministered to the woman.
Today felt like a similar situation, a group of people gathering in judgment of a situation that they know very little about and deciding that what they think is right and that their opinion should be cast upon the victim - regtardless of what that victim has been through or is feeling. What it was his afternoon was simply modern day phariseism.
It just hurts me that as "Christian's", these folks were more interested in casting judgment than actually following the teaching and example of Jesus. It hurts deep and that's why I cannot sleep. All that this person needed today was a little bit of love and acceptance and all they got was bitterness and judgment. As I sat with them during the tirade of abuse, my heart was simply breaking. I think the other thing that is making me unable to sleep is that I simply sat there and let it happen. In a way, my silence was as bad as the actions and words of the modern day pharisees.
I want to say sorry. Sorry to the person involved - sorry that I did not have the balls to stand up for them and for Christ in that situation.
It is just so infuriating that people continue to be like this in life. As someone who feels the call to minister to and teach folks in the Church, I wonder how many people like this I will work with in the future and how I will react to their phariseism. Will I take the lesson from today and find the words like Jesus did to gently rebuke? Or will I continue to sit in silence. Tonight as I write this I want to state that I hope I will never sit in silence. Today I let some people away with what was simply and purely judgment and abuse of another human being. It was not fair and it was not right. Tonight I am saying that I will not let that happen again, and I pray that I will always be given words of wisdom and grace in order to speak into situations like that.
When are we going to get it that being a Christian is about love, grace, forgiveness and acceptance? When are we going to get that it is not about us or our precious stuff? When are we going to lay our selfish pride down and start living for Jesus and the others that he has put around us. Make no mistake folks, a life given to Christ has to be a life given to Christ, in every situation nomatter how close to home or how much it hurts. It seems that we take Christ when we want him and that is simply not good enough. I know how hard it can be to walk with him, goodness knows how much I let him down day by day. But we have to stop pulling out the Christian card when it suits us. Our Christian ID card should not be kept in our wallets and only brought out when we want in somewhere. It should be boldly worn and displayed in our hearts so that yes, we can get in to those places we want to go into (being accepted by the Christian crowd) but also that we can suffer the shame and humiliation that sometimes has to be suffered by admitting we are followers of Christ. Tonight I am putting my card on my heart and saying aloud that, I am not ashamed of the Gospel or of Jesus. Tonight I am saying that it is no longer enough for me to sit in silence as others are abused by the modern day pharisee's around me.
If you are a follower of Christ, how about joining me?
Blessings
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
I have just got back from visiting four of the intrepid missionaries from Port St Lucie today. Stevie and I started of by driving north to Ballymoney where Miss Molly Skinner is based. She is based in Ballymoney town centre in a very cool and well decked out youth centre called 'Cheers'. We walked in and found Molyl sitting interacting with two young men as they played some pool. She is doing very well indeed and fitting in well to her team. They all seem to get on well and she seems to be building good friendships. She described the youth they are working with as being great and has already been involved in leading a game up front at their evening 'drop-in' ministry. I think she will be fine there and will continue to flourish.
From here we moved in to see Megan McKenzie at Ballymena. They are involved in childrens and youth ministry and seem also to be doing well. They ahd maded a movie togetehr for their outreach in the evenings which was based on theLord Of The Rings Trilogy. It was hilarious and Stevie and I had a great time watching it. I did not get to spend a lot of time with them as they were just entering their planning time for tomorrow, but she seemed to be interacting well with her team mates and they seem to be gelling well. I will hopefully get to see more of Megan and her team next week when I go out on my travels again.
From Ballymena we travelled to Ballyclare and then onto Kilbride Presbyterian Church where Asa Conant and his team were enjoying dinner. Stevie and I naturally took advantage of the good Christian women that were copoking dinner and when asked if we would like something we said that we would never refuse dinner when it is offered. We enjoyed beautiful home made lasagne with peas and chips (fries) followed by ice cream and chocolate cake. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!! I wondered how Asa would be away from the rest of the Floridians and caite (his girlfriend) in particular, but I am really pleased to report that he is doing well. God seems to have stepped right into the middle of my worry and put an amazing team around Asa that he gets on with and seems to mix well with. This team as a whole seems to get on well. They were laughing together a lot and had been out and about in the community doing ministry in the afternoon. Asa will also do well in this team.
We tried to visit Doug Gifford at Carnmoney Presbyterian Church after this but were unsuccessful as his team were out having dinner at individual houses, we will try tomorrow to see him.
So with spare time on olur hands we called in with Bailey Swager on our way home. Bailey is based on Belfast's Ormeau Road at St Jude's Church of Ireland (Episcopalian). This is an area of town where I both went to school and then worked early on in my community work life. It is a hard area to work in and an area where kids will definitely not be sugar and spice and all things nice. Bailey and her team mates are experiencing this. The youth they are working with are youth that will think nothing of cussing out an adult who is trying to help them. It is a way of life for them and Bailey is finding that hard - as are the rest of her team. They are doing a daily children's ministry in the morning and then following that up with a youth drop in ministry (coffee house ministry) in the evenings. The stress of being disrespected and wondering if they are getting anywhere is making the team tired as well as discouraging them. They need prayer. I told Bailey that she will come out of this stronger and that she will learn big lessons from it all. She was also worried about the fact that she might be getting through to the kids. However, she showed immense wisdom by saying to me that she understood that the work she was called to Northern Ireland to do might not reap immediate fruit. She knows she is investing in something bigger than what she knows. I like that kind of wisdom.
Okay, I have to go. It has been a great day and I really enjoyed seeing everyone. but, I have to go now and make a phone call to Rich as I promised I would,
Asa and Lisa, AJ would like to know if you all got him into his classes for next year. I promised I would ask.
Blessings
From here we moved in to see Megan McKenzie at Ballymena. They are involved in childrens and youth ministry and seem also to be doing well. They ahd maded a movie togetehr for their outreach in the evenings which was based on theLord Of The Rings Trilogy. It was hilarious and Stevie and I had a great time watching it. I did not get to spend a lot of time with them as they were just entering their planning time for tomorrow, but she seemed to be interacting well with her team mates and they seem to be gelling well. I will hopefully get to see more of Megan and her team next week when I go out on my travels again.
From Ballymena we travelled to Ballyclare and then onto Kilbride Presbyterian Church where Asa Conant and his team were enjoying dinner. Stevie and I naturally took advantage of the good Christian women that were copoking dinner and when asked if we would like something we said that we would never refuse dinner when it is offered. We enjoyed beautiful home made lasagne with peas and chips (fries) followed by ice cream and chocolate cake. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!! I wondered how Asa would be away from the rest of the Floridians and caite (his girlfriend) in particular, but I am really pleased to report that he is doing well. God seems to have stepped right into the middle of my worry and put an amazing team around Asa that he gets on with and seems to mix well with. This team as a whole seems to get on well. They were laughing together a lot and had been out and about in the community doing ministry in the afternoon. Asa will also do well in this team.
We tried to visit Doug Gifford at Carnmoney Presbyterian Church after this but were unsuccessful as his team were out having dinner at individual houses, we will try tomorrow to see him.
So with spare time on olur hands we called in with Bailey Swager on our way home. Bailey is based on Belfast's Ormeau Road at St Jude's Church of Ireland (Episcopalian). This is an area of town where I both went to school and then worked early on in my community work life. It is a hard area to work in and an area where kids will definitely not be sugar and spice and all things nice. Bailey and her team mates are experiencing this. The youth they are working with are youth that will think nothing of cussing out an adult who is trying to help them. It is a way of life for them and Bailey is finding that hard - as are the rest of her team. They are doing a daily children's ministry in the morning and then following that up with a youth drop in ministry (coffee house ministry) in the evenings. The stress of being disrespected and wondering if they are getting anywhere is making the team tired as well as discouraging them. They need prayer. I told Bailey that she will come out of this stronger and that she will learn big lessons from it all. She was also worried about the fact that she might be getting through to the kids. However, she showed immense wisdom by saying to me that she understood that the work she was called to Northern Ireland to do might not reap immediate fruit. She knows she is investing in something bigger than what she knows. I like that kind of wisdom.
Okay, I have to go. It has been a great day and I really enjoyed seeing everyone. but, I have to go now and make a phone call to Rich as I promised I would,
Asa and Lisa, AJ would like to know if you all got him into his classes for next year. I promised I would ask.
Blessings
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Yesterday was another fun day for the Floridians in Northern Ireland. They continued their training and fellowship at Methodist College in belfast. I was again honoured to be able to lead one of the training sessions in the afternoon. It was well attended and seemed to go well.
After this session all the youth and Mike and Diane met me outside the main hall. I had been able to secure use of East Belfast Mission's bus and thus would have enough room to be able to take everyone to our house for dinner. The extra surprise was that John and Renee were in town and we were able to extend an invitation to them and so last night we had a full house at dinner time. Margaret was amazing as usual and managed to put out a feast of pizza, potato wedges, bread rolls, chicken wings and lasagne for everyone. We had a fun time having everyone here and I think it menat a lot to the youth to see where we live. After food, the guys went outside and starting playing bungalow in the back garden, it was so cool because Eva just got herself right in the middle of it and was clapping and dancing away.
After this, I drove everyone back down to Methody where the all the missionaries would be commissioned in a special service. It was a speecial and blessed time for all that were there. The worship music as well as the preaching where of the highest standard and the presence of God was extremely evident. I was privileged to be asked to pray for all the participants of Summerserve. The service finished with us all sharing in the Lord's Supper together and some more worship. It was a moving church service - possibly the most moving I have been to in a long time - there was a real sense of call and purpose upon all the young people gathered as well as a strong feeling of prayerful support from the hundred or so other people that had come to the service. It really was an awesome time and I feel blessed to have been a part of it all.
I have some pictures of the youth at our house for you.
Blessings
After this session all the youth and Mike and Diane met me outside the main hall. I had been able to secure use of East Belfast Mission's bus and thus would have enough room to be able to take everyone to our house for dinner. The extra surprise was that John and Renee were in town and we were able to extend an invitation to them and so last night we had a full house at dinner time. Margaret was amazing as usual and managed to put out a feast of pizza, potato wedges, bread rolls, chicken wings and lasagne for everyone. We had a fun time having everyone here and I think it menat a lot to the youth to see where we live. After food, the guys went outside and starting playing bungalow in the back garden, it was so cool because Eva just got herself right in the middle of it and was clapping and dancing away.
After this, I drove everyone back down to Methody where the all the missionaries would be commissioned in a special service. It was a speecial and blessed time for all that were there. The worship music as well as the preaching where of the highest standard and the presence of God was extremely evident. I was privileged to be asked to pray for all the participants of Summerserve. The service finished with us all sharing in the Lord's Supper together and some more worship. It was a moving church service - possibly the most moving I have been to in a long time - there was a real sense of call and purpose upon all the young people gathered as well as a strong feeling of prayerful support from the hundred or so other people that had come to the service. It really was an awesome time and I feel blessed to have been a part of it all.
I have some pictures of the youth at our house for you.
Blessings
Friday, July 21, 2006
Today was a fun day with the team from Port St Lucie. they began their training at 9am this morning and have been hard at it all day until after 9pm tonight when I finished with them. All the youth seem to be having a great time as they walk through their new daily routine here. Keep praying - I know God is at work in their hearts.
I got to speak with the whole group a couple of times. Youth For Christ here in Northern Ireland have very graciously asked me to be part of their training team for the Summerserve programme and so I was really honoured today to get to provide two of the training sessions for the young people. This afternoon I spoke with everyone about sharing our faith. It went well and seemed to be understood by most.
This evening I was asked to talk about cultural differences between Northern Ireland and North America. It was a harder talk but it seemed to go down reasonably well and we were able to work our way through things. It felt really good to be part of it all with our youth - I am thankful to Allan at YFC for asking me to come and speak. I have one more workshop tomorrow on how to live in community - I am pretty excited about that.
Tomorrow night the youth will be commissioned for their two weeks of mission and service at a service which I would imagine will be pretty awesome. margaret, Eva and I will go along. We are hoping to have the crew up to our house for some eats before that - though they don't know about that, it's a little surprise as we are still trying to make sure we can get them all here before we tell them officially. Hope it will work out for us - I just have to borrow the bus from East Belfast Mission which should not be a problem - here's hoping!!!
After the trainign sessions tonight and this afternoon, Margaret, Eva and I just spent some time hanging with the kids, I took the guys down the road to get some pizza and then we arrived back to find the girls all hungry - how much pizza did the guys get? Not as much as what we had planned thats for sure!!!! But at least everyone got something! After we had got the pizza we were walking back to the car. I managed to break some wind as I was walking and I apologised and said, 'Oops, I stood on a frog." This is terminology used when announcing that you have passed wind, I think it is something to do with the sim ilarity in sound between farting and stepping on a frog. Anywhooooooo, So I am walking, I do the deed and I say the words. The guys plainly don't get it and they stop, turn around and look back hoping to find a dead frog. It was hilarious for me and then them also after I explained it to them.
Tomorrow should be another good day for them all. the weather has been amazing for them - almost too hot which is weird in this country.
I shall update more tomorrow night
Blessings
I got to speak with the whole group a couple of times. Youth For Christ here in Northern Ireland have very graciously asked me to be part of their training team for the Summerserve programme and so I was really honoured today to get to provide two of the training sessions for the young people. This afternoon I spoke with everyone about sharing our faith. It went well and seemed to be understood by most.
This evening I was asked to talk about cultural differences between Northern Ireland and North America. It was a harder talk but it seemed to go down reasonably well and we were able to work our way through things. It felt really good to be part of it all with our youth - I am thankful to Allan at YFC for asking me to come and speak. I have one more workshop tomorrow on how to live in community - I am pretty excited about that.
Tomorrow night the youth will be commissioned for their two weeks of mission and service at a service which I would imagine will be pretty awesome. margaret, Eva and I will go along. We are hoping to have the crew up to our house for some eats before that - though they don't know about that, it's a little surprise as we are still trying to make sure we can get them all here before we tell them officially. Hope it will work out for us - I just have to borrow the bus from East Belfast Mission which should not be a problem - here's hoping!!!
After the trainign sessions tonight and this afternoon, Margaret, Eva and I just spent some time hanging with the kids, I took the guys down the road to get some pizza and then we arrived back to find the girls all hungry - how much pizza did the guys get? Not as much as what we had planned thats for sure!!!! But at least everyone got something! After we had got the pizza we were walking back to the car. I managed to break some wind as I was walking and I apologised and said, 'Oops, I stood on a frog." This is terminology used when announcing that you have passed wind, I think it is something to do with the sim ilarity in sound between farting and stepping on a frog. Anywhooooooo, So I am walking, I do the deed and I say the words. The guys plainly don't get it and they stop, turn around and look back hoping to find a dead frog. It was hilarious for me and then them also after I explained it to them.
Tomorrow should be another good day for them all. the weather has been amazing for them - almost too hot which is weird in this country.
I shall update more tomorrow night
Blessings
Thursday, July 20, 2006
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