Back on the Wagon

Hello Everyone!

I'm back on the blogging Wagon (ha!) I know I'm bad when it comes to this, but I thought I would give it one last attempt. I do enjoy blogging when I get a chance to do it, I'm just lazy! Anyway, so where to begin?

Well for one thing I got the job of my dreams a few months ago. Still working at the Vancouver Aquarium but got the position of the "Interpretation Specialist - Family Programs and Members Events!" (Trust me, it sounds more important than it is!) Basically I am in charge of educational programming for the general public at the Aquarium that is directly geared towards families - and kids. My programming usually has a high musical/storytelling content. The second half of my job is members events. There is a huge membership base at the Aquarium and we offer after hours events for them. My responsibility there is to be a liaison between the interpretive department and the membership team to try and make those events as engaging and as interactive as possible.

To sum it up, I play with toys half my day, and talk with people the other half. Life is good!

On another front, Shawna and I have pretty much settled at a new community: Tenth Church. Tenth's Blog can be found here. Tenth is a great church that embodies everything I love about Church. It's genuine. It's real. It is love. We have been attending their community at Kitsilano Secondary School on Sunday mornings for almost two years now, but only in the last 6 months or so have we really taken a step and rooted ourselves in the community. I have been very active working with the children's pastor to try and come up with new and innovative ways to get the kids engaged as well as to connect the kids church with the greater community. Shawna is a sunday school teacher, as well as starting up a small book club ministry. The book club was short lived but heped her learn a lot about building something like that and will give her the tools necessary to try something like it in the near future.

I think what attracted us most to Tenth@Kits was the fact that it was (and still is) a very young community. We saw an opportunity to be involved in the shaping of a new community of followers of Christ. We saw a community making mistakes and loving every second of it. It was that genuine desire to do good - and to learn when they stumbled that really made me believe that Tenth@Kits was the community for us. We've been very happy with the church so far and really think this will be our home for many years to come.

I have more to say - as I have a lot of thoughts, but this is just the beginning of my re-entry into the blogosphere.

Talk soon, internetz!!!

DP

ChristianLife-Truth

I've had a lot of time lately to think about what exactly it means to live in a Christian community. It's a tough thing to ask yourself, mainly because so many people see it in different ways. I have had many different tastes of what one would call fellowship. Mostly good, but some negative. The negative ones seem to stick out in my mind more... not because I hang on to the negative, but they are the ones that i feel like I learned the most from.

The biggest negative experiences I have had with Christian life have usually revolved around lifestyle choices that people have not approved of. Mainly Shawna and I living under the same roof. That was, without a doubt, one of the hardest parts of my life in a Christian community. Mainly because most people didn't seem to care about how our life was being lived. Instead, they were concerned about the illusion that it conveyed. I say most, not all. Some people whom I have a deep respect and love for (who may very well read this) came to me out of love and told me they disagreed. And that's fine. In fact, that's great! More and more, I am believing that God speaks subjective truths to individuals. I was confused when someone whom I respect came to me and said "I disagree. Here is my argument." and I said "Well, I am not of the same opinion. Here is my argument." We both made valid, solid points, and yet we left the conversation completely unconvinced of each other's opinion. It was interesting because he said something along the lines of "I don't know how to feel. Becasue either the Lord is speaking through me and I'm right, or he's speaking through you and you're right." At face value I wasn't sure how to take that comment. The more I thought about it, wresttled with it and prayed about it the more I relized that I disagreed. Maybe God is speaking through both of us. Maybe that the truths that God has are so profound that they seem contradictory to our feeble minds. I mean, think about the amount of blatant contradictions in the books of the law. Obviously, God isn't worried about his 'rules' being lived in contrasting ways. We can all agree on the ten rules that govern our life, (The commandments) but other than that it's open to interpretation. I'm reading "The Year of Living Biblically" right now and he touches on that so much. The amount of people that interpret the law in completely different ways. They can't all be right, can they? I would say yes. If we, as believers, can find a way that the law and God's word can speak truth and Holliness into our lives, why should we stop it? God's truth is eternal... now I don't know about you guys, but I can't grasp the concept of eternal truth. Don't you think that the Lord is gonna dumb it down for my feeble insgnifigant mind in order to make me understand it on a personal RELATIONAL level!?! Why not? This is the God who holds the cosmos in his hands people! Why wouldn't he? He would REJOICE at being able to relate with us on such a subjective level!

Even Jesus did it. I mean When the disciples got mad at Mary for annointing him with oils instead of selling them to feed the poor, he said "Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me." (Matthew 26) In contrast, when asked how he could get into heaven, he told the rich man "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your posessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven. Then come, follow me." (Matthew 19) Isn't it interesting how God can speak two completely different messages to people who are in completely different places in life and in their relationship with him!?! I love it.

I don't have any answers. Just my thoughts on truth and how the eternal truth relates to us on individual levels. I think it's gloriously quasi-contradictory. I love it!

Why Church?

As you may, or may not know, Shawna and I are fast falling in love with a new Church here on the lower mainland. With a bit of guidance from our Pastor and Friend, Randy, we were able to find our way out to Westside Church. (www.churchonthewestside.com) And it’s really been a big blessing in the short while we have been here. We really have found a place that we think we can make a solid foundation, and where we can grow as Christians and as a couple. Really, we have found church.

But what do we (not Shawna and I, but we as a collective) look for in a church? What is it that draws us in? That keeps us coming? Why do we go? This is something I have been mulling over for about five days now, and I don’t think I’m much closer to an answer. But I figure I’ll share some thoughts on the matter. I guess it can be boiled down to two categories: What we want church to be. And what we need church to be.

What we want church to be

Comfortable.
What’s really cool about Westside is this idea of ‘found’ church spaces. It doesn’t do church in the traditional ‘pew’ sense. When we meet for the 10:30 am service, we meet at a movie theatre in Kitsilano. What is so awesome about that, is the wicked comfortable seats you get to lounge in and pray in. Best church seating ever! Seriously though, we want people to be comfortable. Something I always hated going to Mass growing up, was all the kneeling in Church. That isn’t comfortable. I’m not saying kneeling doesn’t have it’s place. I kneel at times when I pray, but the ritual nature of kneeling at the same time, and praying at the same time and speaking at the same time isn’t comfort. Pews aren’t comfort. Guitars and bongos on the grass. That’s comfort. That’s church. (I know that’s my opinion, and some people may find comfort in the rigid nature of mass. But I can only speak from my experience.)

A community
It’s fair to say that people who go to church (for the most part) are looking for community. They are looking for fellowship. They are looking to be a part of Christ’s living breathing body. Whether it be through attendance, small groups, ministries, community is something we as followers crave and are commanded to participate in.

A Guide
Ah. Guidance. We want direction. We want purpose. We want to be able to go to church every Sunday and use it as a Gyroscope. We feel like God is going to speak through the sermon, or the worship, or the people and tell us what direction we should be taking in our lives.

What we need church to be

Accountable
This is a tough one, because I know some people (myself included) who cringe at the utterance of the word Christian Accountability. But I don’t mean, as Stacey out it at the Place, walking around with your righteous sniper rifle picking off people who interpret scripture differently than you. But it’s a matter of being challenged. The pastor at Westside is great about reminding us of the radically offensive nature of Jesus. He is the ultimate anti-establishment. He is a kick in the face to “the man.” He is the social revolutionary, spouting out concepts that are relevant and controversial even today. Know it or not (and like it or not) Jesus keeps us accountable and he calls us to do the same to one another.

Indiscriminate
God’s house is for everyone. What’s the point in representing the God of Justice if we don’t love justly? I see so many Christians who are scared to let none believers into their churches for fear of the poisonous venom of the heathens! Ooooh! How, oh how, are people going to hear the news if we don’t let them in? I’m convinced that about 90% of the people who refute the faith do so because of an ill-founded belief that Jesus following is about judgment and persecution. (I’m not saying that’s not how we have acted over the years. I’m just saying that what we did – like the crusades for example – are not what Jesus is about.) Jesus ate with lepers, asked a Samaritan for water and chilled with prostitutes… Can’t we do the same?

Home
You need to be able to call church home. If you can’t, why are you there?

These are just my random thoughts on the topic. For those who have a home, I hope it continues to grow and flourish. Those who are looking for one, I pray that the Lord guides you. And for those of my gentle readers who don’t have one and aren’t looking for one, I ask, why not? If this is all that church is, what’s not to like? What’s not to want? Why not?