Rouge River Community Church

Friday, December 19, 2008

Missional Update

Over the last few weeks, we as a church have had some great connection opportunities with our neighbours and friends. Two weeks ago, we ran the Christmas Edition of our River ReUse Store. We had dozens of people come to the store, highlighted this year by a huge donation of new winter coats from a local business. Over 20 large boxes worth! Thank you so much! By our estimates, between 15 and 20 families who are also clients of the Markham Food Bank were helped by the ReUse Store. Thank you to everyone who donated new and used items to make this edition of the Store so successful! A special thank you to Cheryl Lindquist , who did a fantastic job organizing and running the Store! Thank you Cheryl!

Last Saturday, Current (River High School Group) hosted an appreciation event for those who volunteer at the Markham Food Bank. Both the regular volunteers from the food bank, and our own volunteer "pick-up artists" (River people who pick up food donations from local Fire Halls) came together for fabulous food, frenzied fun, and to be served by our high school teens. What a great event! A special thank you to Mary Graham and Jeno and Emily Guest for decorating the office! Wow! And thank you to Mary again for arranging all the food- and there was lots of it- and to Beth Nolson for providing the drinks. Way to go Current! You did a great job!

Over the last month, The River Laundry has been open. Two families have started using the free-use washer and dryer at the church office on a regular basis. We hope that the facilities will be used even more in 2009! Along those lines, the River received a most generous Christmas gift this year- money to buy a brand new washer and dryer. Thank you to the donating group! We were overwhelmed to receive your gift. So, in the New Year, we'll have two washers and two dryers available to use at no cost for those who need the service.

As all of us go into a rather gloomy looking 2009, at least economically speaking, my fear is that more and more people will find it difficult to make ends meet. The Markham Food Bank is feeding 800 mouths a month, up from 650 last year at this time. More people in our midst are unemployed or under-employed, and that trend seems to be growing. I am so glad that as a church, we can offer the ReUse Store, the River Laundry, and continue to volunteer at the food bank to help in these troubled times.

Merry Christmas!

Posted By Andre Lauzon At 9:41 AM • Comments (0) Trackbacks (0)

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Mega

Mark 4:35-41:

35 As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” 36 So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). 37 But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water.

38 Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”

39 When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. 40 Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

41 The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!”

Jesus and his twelve closest followers depart on a boat journey across the lake- likely the "Sea" of Galilee. It is early in Jesus' three-and-a-half year ministry, and the disciples are still getting to know him. They trust him enough to leave their jobs and past to follow him. Four of them were fishermen, so they knew their way around a boat. One had been a tax-collector, one a terrorist. One had even left his twin behind to follow Jesus. These twelve men in the boat with Jesus were a fairly representative group of the working classes in Israel 2000 years ago.

All seems fine at first. A simple lake crossing to get to the next stop on their ministry journey. We can just imagine what was running through the minds of the twelve as they pushed off from shore. Their teacher taught with such authority! He healed the sick! He cast our evil spirits! Wow! I am sure many of them were lost in thought as they set out across the lake. Then the storm came.

Richard Bewes, former rector at All Souls Church (C of E) tells the story about visiting the Holy Land one year. He and his wife were walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, enjoying the bright sun and warm breeze. Suddenly the wind picked up, and Bewes could see local boats beginning to make for shore. Within moments, dark clouds appeared, the wind grew stronger, and a fierce storm started. Bewes and his wife ran for cover, startled by how quickly the storm set in. Sharing the shelter with some of the locals, they soon learned that it was not uncommon for wild storms to descend upon the Sea of Galilee without notice. It was likely one of these storms that blew in on Jesus' boat in Mark 4.

Let's try to picture the scene. Jesus is sleeping in the stern of the boat. The kind of boats used on the Sea of Galilee back then were not little row boats. Within moments, the trip went from pleasant to perilous. The twelve begin shouting at Jesus, lost in a panic because of the storm. Four of them were experienced fishermen! They look at Jesus sleeping on a cushion, apparently unconcerned with the storm that is sinking the boat. I love what the twelve say to him, "Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?" In effect, they are saying, "Hey Jesus! Wake up! We're all about to die!"

I can imagine Jesus waking up. Slowly sitting up, taking his time as he stretches and looks around. This would have irritated the panicked disciples all the more. Eventually, Jesus gets up, and without a word to the twelve, shouts at the storm, "Silence! Be Still!" In the original language, the words meant, "Shut up! Stop it!". And the storm stopped. Not gradually, not over a few minutes, but immediately the storm, the wind and the waves stopped. The silence must have been deafening! Into this silence, Jesus asks the twelve two questions, "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?".

We know from the next verse the disciples' reaction. They are completely freaked out. Jesus was a teacher with great authority. He could heal the sick and drive out evil spirits. But this! Their teacher, their rabbi and master, commanded the weather. How do you process that? One moment you're facing death, the next you have a thoroughly new revelation of the man you have chosen to follow.

There are three elements to the story that I want to focus on. The first is the storm. In the original language, the term used to describe it is "mega", a mega-storm. Its huge. We cannot emphasize enough that this storm was so bad and so large that even experienced fishermen panicked. When Jesus rebuked the wind and the waves, they calmed immediately. The prefix 'mega" is used again. It was not just calm, it was mega-calm. And then we have the terror of the twelve. It was bad when they thought they were going to drown, but it went to 'mega' levels when Jesus stopped the storm. Just a brief glimpse at the power of Jesus sent the disciples into a state of mega-fear.

This is a big story. It puts Jesus' into a whole new class of being. Teaching is one thing; healings and exorcisms are another. But commanding the weather! How do we process that? I think a beginning is found in what Jesus asks the twelve. After shouting down the storm, he turns to them, with a calm reflected in the sea around them, and addresses their fear, "Why are you afraid?" If the twelve were not so completely undone by what Jesus had just accomplished, I am sure they would have said something. Their fear traces back to the danger they perceived. They thought they were going to die. They learned Jesus was more powerful than fear, maybe even more powerful than death. That's when Jesus asks the second question, "Do you still have no faith?". Jesus connects their mega-fear with their mini-faith.

I wonder if the weather in the story communicates the spiritual condition of the characters. Is the storm representative of the disciples' fear and uncertainty about Jesus, if not life in general? Does the storm reveal the real characters of the twelve, even to themselves, so that Jesus could address that? Is the calm a picture of Jesus' soul?

What I do know about this passage is that it is clear that Jesus makes a connection between fear and faith. It seems that one drives the other away. I am left wondering about my own soul condition. Is my soul overtaken by mega-fear, or has it been quieted by the mega-calm faith of Jesus?

Posted By Andre Lauzon At 1:32 PM • Comments (0) Trackbacks (0)

Friday, December 05, 2008

Message Next Steps for The River

I entered Christianity through a church that was very conservative. The church was self-described as evangelical, and put a high value on the communication of the Gospel. The word Gospel mean "good news"; it comes from a Greek work in the New Testament from which we derive words like evangelist and evangelical. The word gospel is used as a shorthand way of talking about the message of God in the person and life of Jesus. Our essential story as humans is that we have a broken relationship with God because of sin. This sin is passed on to us from our forefather Adam (as in Adam and Eve), and realized in our own thoughts and actions. God sent Jesus to rescue our relationship with Him. Jesus, both man and God- a mystery- entered into creation, lived and ministered in love and perfection, then allowed himself to be beaten, crucified and resurrected to deal with the sin that caused broken relationship with God. His work is made effective in us through faith- a belief in the message and person of Jesus, and God who sent him.

My whole career, I have pastored in churches that have placed a high value on the gospel. The River is no exception. Over these past several months, we at the River have focused on the mission given to us by God (see previous blog entry ). We now add to that foundation a renewed commitment to pass on the message of God.

Already, we have begun to look at the essentials of the message, and have started to identify some of the damaging cultural and theological baggage that is added to the gospel. In the new year, we will spend an extended time on Sunday mornings deconstructing the message through a teaching series in the book of Galatians. In this, likely Paul's first letter to a church, we will see how early Christianity dealt with those who would add to or take away from the gospel. From there, we will actively re-integrate a commitment to passing on the message of God in the context of our mission- serving.

A real joy for me is the serving heart of this church. A real concern for me is that we never artificially separate the social justice aspects of what we do, from the foundational message of God. Other church movements in the western world have done that. They have poured so much energy into serving the community, and have linked so much of their collective identity to their social justice initiatives, that the gospel has waned in importance to the point of effective non-existence in their work. The result has been an erosion of Biblical literacy and Biblical commitment within their movements, such that theological distinctives have been lost in favour of "helping others". Once the message of God was gone as the primary motivation for the mission, the mission itself has lost focus and has gone into decline, leaving behind churches that are empty shells, with only ceremony and tradition as the binding forces.

On the other side of western Christianity are those church movements that have so focused on the gospel, that anything that could be described as social justice has been relegated to third-class status, or has been forgotten completely. Week after week they sit through their worship services, their Bible Studies, their prayer meetings and discuss and debate scripture. They grow large in Biblical knowledge, but have spent so much time creating and perpetuating an "evangelical" Christian sub-culture, that they are completely out of touch with the life experiences of their neighbours. When they do step out to share the message of God with others, they have no resumé to give credibility to what they say. Can you imagine Jesus ministering without works and miracles? Just another teacher of religious philosophy. These church movements take Jesus' challenge of "take up your cross daily" as the burden of persecution they must bear in this world for being the holders of truth. I have been around these circles enough to discern a contradiction in their belief system. In one moment these churches are passionate about "saving the whole world', then the next moment they are bemoaning the social decline of the day. Had these same churches actually been relevant and present 50 years ago, perhaps we would still be a 'Christian nation', as they are so fond of saying. You can't be the fortress church and the hope of the world at the same time. You can't both want to save the world, and hate (or fear) your community. You can't long for opportunities to share the gospel, and then pray for the destruction of the pagans.

As we step forward into the next season of life at the River, our goal is to ensure that God's message is the motivating foundation as we carry out the mission God has given us. A message with our practical expression is just a well-meaning theory. A mission without a higher reason is ultimately self-defeating.

Posted By Andre Lauzon At 10:26 AM • Comments (0) Trackbacks (0)

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Missional Next Steps for The River

The further away I get from traditional protestantism, the more my soul breathes. I started my faith journey with God in a fundamentalist- baptist setting. I take from my early years in that church a genuine thankfulness for the solid grounding I was provided as a new believer. It is that grounding, and that experience in a conservative church, that has allowed me to appreciate as well the direction I have gone within Christianity.

I have heard the criticism, since I became part of the emergent movement, that we are "dumbing down" Christianity with an over-emphasis on works and practical expressions of faith. That always surprises me when I hear it. I have come to understand that a full appreciation of Christ is not possible without works. The New Testament is filled with passages that discuss this. A favourite of mine is Ephesians 2:10. The more practical side of ministry, without being programmed based, is often referred to as missional living.

Here at the River we have just come through a year of significant change. The decision was made early in the year to accelerate our transition from a Willow Creek style church, to joining the emergent movement. This has meant a shift in our approach to practical helps in the community. We identified a ministry neighbourhood, and covered it with prayer walks and a survey to find out the key needs/ issues here. We also explored our congregational talent and gift mix. The results were neat!

The River has a much higher than normal mix of people with a primary gifting in helps/ works (3X the usual church average). Our neighbourhood and neighbours communicated two major needs; help making ends meet economically, and a desire for connectedness with others. Right out of the gate this year, we focused on economic needs.

We have grown our relationship with the local food bank. We collect donated items each Sunday at church. Several River families volunteer to pick up donations from fire halls in Markham and Unionville. We help out during food drives with the pounds and pounds of sorting that needs to be done. The River values the food bank because it provides a free service to those feeling an economic crunch, allowing limited income to go to other areas.

We have picked up on this philosophy with our ReUse store, that provides free new and good used clothing, housewares, and recreational equipment to the same constituency as those who are clients at the food bank. The River Laundry, a free-use laundry facility to those in need, has just opened. Also, last summer we did a River garden, with all food grown going to the food bank.

Our next steps in our missional journey are exciting ones. We see 3 main areas of focus; Local, Global, and Creation Stewardship. Local mission is what we are doing now with the food bank, River garden, ReUse store and Laundry. Global mission is expressing our gift mix as a congregation beyond our own neighbourhood. We see gradual steps from local to a provincial level, then a national or North American context, and then onto the world stage. This doesn't mean we are planning for global conquest, but rather are looking to be intentional about expressing our gifts and talents in need areas outside our hometown. This will likely be on a short-term mission basis. We could see ourselves sending a team to help with disaster relief somewhere in North America, and eventually overseas. We hope to send out our first team in 2010. This will take much prayer, time, preparation and willingness to be available to God, but if there was ever a church ready to take on that challenge, I think its this one.

In the area of Creation Stewardship, the River garden was, in part, a good first step. We could find ourselves having neighbourhood cleanup days, tree planting parties, and even helping in the reconditioning of wetlands. We are just at the beginning of this part of our journey. We hope to expend more effort in this area, beginning in Spring 2009.

To make sure we stay in contact with the shifting needs of our neighbourhood, and growing personality of our congregation, we plan to repeat our surveying exercises in 2011.

We have set out before us an ambitious plan to fully express our faith in a number of key contexts. The years ahead will be challenging, but very exciting as well. In the next blog entry, we will look at our next steps in regards to communicating the Message of God.

Posted By Andre Lauzon At 9:41 AM • Comments (0) Trackbacks (0)

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