Relationship not religion

Recently I attended a conference where Paul Young, author of 'The Shack', spoke about the story behind the shack. First, let me say if you haven't read the book, I would encourage you to do so. I want to share with you some of what he shared because I was captivated with his journey of learning about what it means to be a Christian, or a follower of Christ...or whatever you would call it. That is, that God is a God of and in relationship, and is calling us to be in a relationship with Him (Father, Son and Spirit). That relationship is one of mutuality where we come to see ourselves as deeply loved. By virtue of being a Tri-une God (Trinity of Father, Son and Spirit), God achieves mutuality of relationship and by being and doing so, validates relationship and love. As Jesus lived and was fully human he was dependent on the relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus' cry on the cross 'My God, my God, why have your forsaken me - is our cry - he feels our pain and offers up our cries to the Father. He was not forsaken, but ended with a statement of trust in the Father when he commits his spirit. Most of our lives we may not sense the presence of the Father - it takes process, a journey of seeing ourselves in a loving relationship in which the the Holy Spirit is always with us with 'shameless non-condemnation'. Know that God is with you, His image is in you and you are a unique person that matters. That's why you have been invited into a relationship of love and trust with God the Father, Son and Spirit - to experience a mutuality of love.

Hot Baptism

You can bet that this passed Sunday the angels were a-singin' and the 'saints' were cheering when they saw our sister Merle get baptized, and while both her and her husband professed their faith and became 'members' of New Hope. Talk about the highs and lows of life! Ask members of New Hope what the last couple of months, even half a year (if not more) has been like, and they will say its been the 'highest of highs and the lowest of lows'. We are continuing to feel the tension as a body of New Hope as we work through how to love each other, support and encourage one another, and communicate with each other, when we have different ideas and hopes for our community, different experiences that filter our expectations, and different giftings. And believe me, it hurts. At the same time, we laugh with our friend Calvin at his awesome sense of humour. We enjoy the bonds created in our small groups, the fun we have in our community events and the collaboration we establish working alongside of each other picking up garbage to clean up our streets. And we get to celebrate the work that God is doing in our lives, particularly this Sunday, what he has done in Merle's life. Merle shared her story of how God has been at work in her life to bring her closer to Him as his child, and so we celebrated this through her baptism. As Merle puts it, although she wandered, he never let her wander too far. There has got to be no more of a unique and simply beautiful way of getting baptized, then in a hot tub! And so, 50 plus people crammed into Merle's home to celebrate her baptism with her family. Faces plastered up against the windows of the small hot tub room, a few children were able to fit inside to watch, cameras capturing highlights of the celebration to be used as a continual reminder of God's love. As Merle was brought under the water in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit, and up again, we were reminded of how God calls his children to die to our hurtful, selfish and broken lives (symbolized by going under the water) so that we can be made clean and forgiven - made new (symbolized by coming up out of the water) to have life together with God, forever. Thanks Merle for sharing this day with us, and for singing from your heart about giving your everything to Christ! (Oh, and for being soooo steamy after you came out of the water that we could visually imagine the Spirit alive and radiating from you! :) )

Naming and Unmasking the Powers

I will do my best to share some of the key ideas I heard today at a conference regarding the 'powers and principalities' that scripture talks about existing in our world. Something quite new to my limited or even misguided understanding of the scope of what these scripture passages are really refering to....as our "fight is not against man, but against the powers and principalities"...which I, and I think others, have made into the idea of little (or big) demons that exist in people. What I will share next are ideas and thoughts shared by 3 key speakers: Walter Wink, Stanley Hauerwas and Marva Dawn.

First, there are spiritual realities at the core of institutional life; in government, corporations, schools, churches, our systems and structures. We need to see these institutions as both evil and good at the same time and social change is what happens when we unmask the powers of evil in our systems - ie, unjust systems that perpetuate violence. "Transformation takes place within the limits of the fallen". We recognize that we as individuals are fallen people, so too are our institutions. It is not just a matter of casting out demons, because evil is profoundly systemic, and runs deeper than existing in just one person, or peoples. The best way for us to understand our institutions and structures is to see them as good, fallen and redeemable all at the same time. We ought not to demonize someone who is doing evil if at the same time we are to see them as good, bad and redeemable all at the same time.

So how do we confront and unmask these powers and principalities that are evil or demonic? By dying. We must die to what has killed us; oppression, abuse, injustice, domination, power and control - die to social entities in order to live authentically. Personal redemption cannot take place without the redemption of our social structures, so we must set out to liberate powers - calling them back to what their created intention was to be, in order that there may be universal restitution of all things. The gospel is not just a salvation of individuals from the world, but a world transfigured. -Walter Wink

To get rid of war, we need a moral substitution for it. Unfortunately, war is a force that gives us meaning, purpose, reason and meaning for living. War gives us a cause and allows us to be noble. War makes the world coherent by creating black and white, us and them. War enables us to create a unified story and binds us together as a nation or people group. To preserve the humanity of those we are killing, we dehumanize them and the act itself. War is violent and counter to the gospel that calls us to be at peace with each other and God. But, do we have an alternative? According to Hauerwas, the church is that alternative. (As discussion ensued, others talked further about the chuch's ability to show solidarity with the poor as a moral practice that is an alternative to war. It is in our ability to see ourselves as forgiven and broken people -even though we are often in the position of power - that we can demonstrate the radical practice of forgiveness, not violence, as our response). War demands sacrifice - sacrificing our moral unwillingess to kill. Since Christ paid the ultimate sacrifice, we no longer need a sacrifice. - Stanley Hauerwas

Only by grace can we face the 'powers and principalities'. Ephesians 6. It doesn't say fight the powers, it just says, stand against the powers. (What sense does it make to overcome evil by doing evil - violence?). Churches can be these principalities that are fallen and we need to expose or be exposed when we act in a fallen way, ie., attracting people through our worship. Yet there is hope. The reason we can stand against the "powers and principalities" is because we know we already have victory. God has already defeated the evil in our institutions, structures and systems when Christ defeated them on the cross. God calls us to a universal work of bringing shalom in the world. We have a place in the greater meta-narrative of His redeeming work in the world. That place is to stand against the methods of the Powers and Principalities - our struggle is not against persons. We need to understand that the "rulers and authorities" that scripture talks about are human institutions that can become fallen and act like demonic forces. We don't really know the essence of these powers - scripture does not speak into that. Nor do we need to know. But we do need to know how they work - signs of corrupt institutions and systems; injustice, greed, (a business does not exist to make money, that is a means to the end...that of giving back to the larger community - Wink). We are to be peace makers, with armour that defends us and gives us authority to stand against these powers, for the battle has already been won! (read Ephesians 6 and dwell on the armour that we are given). - Marva Dawn

A look at Hamilton

This morning we had the pleasure of meeting Larry Strung who came to our Worship Service this morning. He has a website called Hamilton 365. Check this out - www.hamilton365.com


check it out!

Truecity - Churches working together for the good of the city

This weekend was the annual, Hamilton, Truecity conference. Liz Weaver of the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction was asked to attend to share the story of HRPR and its work in the city - and this what she submitted to the Spectator's Poverty Reduction blog:

Last weekend over 350 citizens representing over 80 church congregations gathered together listen to stories of change in community and determine how they can personally, and as churches advance social justice issues in Hamilton. TrueCity (www.truecity.ca) is a movement of churches working together to bring good to the city of Hamilton. The movement brings local churches together to learn from each other, capitalize on each other’s strengths and make a difference in neighbourhoods and in the city as a whole.

The TrueCity collaborative has invested in the City of Hamilton over the past four years. The weekend conference combined an opportunity for participants to worship together as well as session focusing on strengthening neighbourhoods, partnering on poverty reduction, responding to mental health and addictions, welcoming refugees well and digging into environmental concerns.

Dwayne Cline, Pastor, Hughson Street Baptist Church, Marv Friesen of Welcome Inn Community Centre and I were storytellers in the session called partnering on poverty reduction. Each storyteller shared their partnership story and then the participants were invited to tell their individual stories of partnership around poverty reduction efforts. What struck me during this session was the compassion of the community to respond to the issue of poverty and their willingness to contribute to community change efforts.

I left the TrueCity conference with a stronger awareness of the vibrancy of the faith community in Hamilton. The individuals attending the conference are committed to playing a role and assisting their neighbourhoods and communities. Churches play a pivotal role and the fact that 80 churches are coming together to create change builds momentum.

Intensification

Recently, at our Crownpoint Community Planning Team meeting (CPCPT), we had a presentation done by Green Venture on liveable cities . "Development that encourages urban sprawl and its inherent inadequacies with respect to sustainable transportation, infrastructure drain, tax burden and natural spaces degradation needs to be re-thought. City planning and development that embraces infill and intensification is the smart way to grow our communities." At our meeting, we were able to take a look at the types of work being done to make liveable neighbourhoods in our city through things like alternative modes of transportation - Streets that are built or re-built with features that provide safe and equal access for all users. New Hope, CPCPT and every member of this CrownPoint Community, has a responsibility to work together to improve our city, in this case, in terms of transportation and urban sprawl.

Great work being done in the City

I am continually reminded of the many people here in the city of Hamilton who are doing great work, and are leaders in this community to which the church should follow (if not partner with and help promote their work!). As I try to keep up with some of the papers and websites like "Raise the Hammer" I get glimpses of sound and honest work being done for the good of the environment, the poor, the city as a whole - JUSTICE issues that need attention. (Side-Bar reminder and encouragement to check out the 'cool websites and blogs' section of this blog that highlights some great things happening that we in the Hammer should be aware of)! I am in the midst of some planning for the Truecity conference coming up in February which reminded me of the efforts being done to address poverty in our city. There are some great stories by churches on their involvment in this area. As well, as I sit around the table of local community members and agencies at our CrownPoint Community meetings, I get excited about the interest and desire by folks to look out for each other, like addressing the increasing rat infestation in homes occuring as a result of the Centre Mall deconstruction, or the support of grandparents in our midst who are raising their grandchildren (ROCK). I love this city, and love that people from all walks of life are investing in it and each other, because we should.

The necessity of conflict in congregations

I would be the last to say that I thought there could be a necessity in conflict - I tend to avoid conflict as much as possible (and I know I'm not alone). However, I'm learning that there is room for healthy conflict, "because congregations without conflict are dead or dying". On the flip side, "a byproduct of conflict is energy and passion" - and New Hopers have demonstrated these two attributes many times specifically over the past year. We are heading into a new year, but also a time to take stalk of where we are, how we got here and where we are going as a community of hope in the east end of Hamilton. We have had, over the past months, some different perspectives of ministry within our body. We need to continue to dialogue about these perspectives or it will drain the passion and energy of the body. But I am expectant and hopeful for this coming year. We have acknowledged and named this tension and are working towards taking ownership of where we individually contributed to the tension, and we are moving forward together, to see how God is shaping us and calling us into our community in this coming year.

Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful Christmas eve dinner together. We had ample amounts of leftovers, some great Christmas carol singing (with a few extra diddies like Elvis), and an opportunity to share and reflect on Christmas. We talked about hope, and what living in that hope would look like for this New Hope community. Peter shared about being "in-tune" with God and demonstrating this with his hand to his head like a satelite dish on his head (either way - the image is now stuck in your head too!). We all agreed, hope in this community and living lives of hope would create a safe place of acceptance, forgiveness and anticipation. So, let's see what 2009 brings! The evening was certainly a highlight of 2008 for many of us, but we cannot fail to see and acknowledge the many ways God has answered prayer and blessed us this entire year. Our motley crew of a family has grown together, struggled together, and can already anticipate some hard work ahead of us. But God loves us, forgives us and gives us GRACE. I look forward to recognizing and tasting this GRACE so much more this coming year - and desiring to share that freedom and grace with my community.