Pulpiteering

On relevance, soul patches, and emergent doods

Back in October, I had the privilege to attend the Christ Church Ministerial Conference in Moscow Idaho.  It was a whirlwind couple of days of travel, fellowship, amazing speakers, and books!!  Along with Douglas Wilson, the other speakers were Ben Merkel and Tim Bayley.  They all gave great messages, and I can't wait to hear them again when the CDs of the conference I ordered get in.  Anyhow, this was not just a ministerial conference for the CREC, it was also as my wife put it, "the beards and bellies conference."  So I tried my best to fit in.  Now the belly part isn't the problem for me, it was the facial hair.  Being Asian the most meaningful facial hair I could produce in a week was a tiny "soul patch" that you had to stare at my bottom lip to even notice.  Anyhow, on the last day, following the last session, my dear friend Rogers Meredith and his wife, Marlene, humoured my stupid Canadian self by taking me to the local hardware store where they sold GUNS! Yeeeeehaw!  There we happened to meet up with Tim Bayley and his wife who were there trying to find out why this particular hardware store was the self proclaimed "most interesting store in Moscow."  We had a great time chatting with these wonderful people (it's one of the highlights of my trip!).  At one point, Tim suddenly grabbed me by the shoulders, looks me in the eye and said, "What's with these glasses, the shaved head?  Are you trying to be like Rob Bell?"  I mean look at the picture (above) of that guy from his own website!  He's all sensitive and on the verge of tears!  And what is he staring at?  That is not me.  I'm gonna get you, Tim Bayley, I'm gonna get you good.

Autism and the Sovereignty of God

My son, Isaiah, has an autism spectrum disorder.  It's hard for me to even write that on my blog.  "What would people think?" I wonder as I type those words.  To some, it's an admit of defeat, or a sign of weakness.  I've had people postulate that it's a curse from God for some past action, and if they don't say it, they think it.  Someone once pointed to Izzy as a signal from God for me to step down from ministry.  Imagine someone telling you your child is a punitive judgement from God, a curse even.  What an awful way to think and live (I have choice things to say on that type of comment, but I'll save those words for another post).  Thankfully, I have seen nothing but God's grace in Isaiah's life.  We are surrounded by a loving church with members who genuinely love our son.  My family is amazingly generous with everything that they have.  Isaiah is always happy, and in life with him, every little achievement and improvement counts and has a gravitas that you couldn't imagine.  My son is a blessing.  I am emboldened by videos like this one featuring Chuck Colson and R.C. Sproul.  What a blessing it is to see these men joyfully pronouncing the love of God in the lives of their disabled grandchildren.  Enjoy.

Doug Wilson on the *shudder* Joy Behar Show

Here's a clip of the Joy Behar Show where Pastor Doug Wilson and Christopher Hitchens humor the hapless hostess by trying to break down their arguments to the most rudimentary levels.

Spong Opens His Mouth and Christians Everywhere

puke.  Read the literary ipecac here

Please Don't Shoot the Messenger

As a natural introvert, it is quite difficult for me to deal with change.  It's also very difficult for me to deal with people, although I think I mask it pretty well.  My personal preference is not to be around people at all, but that's the irony of the position I'm in as a pastor.  I have no clue why God called me to ministry, other than to magnify His Grace and transformational power ("If God can change THAT GUY, then anything is possible").  Caring spiritually for a number of people is taxing.  In a small church, there's nowhere for people to hide, and it's quite brave for those who stick around not to take off for a bigger venue where one is easily lost in the crowd.   I'm thankful for the people in my church; at the same time, I think it's hard to express being tired from the work as well.  Now, I didn't say I'm tired of work, but that the work is taking its toll on me.  People expect me to be outgoing and happy all the time.  I suspect that some feel that I only work one day a week as well.  Both these attitudes are regrettable and a detriment to my ability to serve.  Every detail in a small church, for the pastor, is sweated out and rehashed in my mind for a very long time.  People who leave with easy throw away critiques such as "they're unfriendly" or "unloving" think this is helpful in some way.  It isn't.  It's torture for me.  Even more discouraging are those who throw into question my integrity or my drive for ministry in a quest to make me better.  This sort of talk also covers over a mountain of their own sinful attitudes in their hearts as long as they can say to themselves "Well I'm better than that guy".  It would be easy enough to just write these individuals off, but by the grace of our Heavenly Father, we're still here and we all share in the hope of life eternal with our wonderful Saviour.  I'm not here to sort out who goes where.  I'm merely a signpost showing you the right way to go.  Some people ignore signs and wonder why they're lost later on, others obey them and get to where they want to go to, while others take a bat to them and then urinate on them afterwards.   The sign still tells you where you should be headed--it's a matter of how you handle it. It's just that sometimes being that sign sucks big time.  Please pray for me.  

Typical Post Modern thinking

Post modernists are funny in the way they are predictable.  Post something they don't like and they'll critique the poop out of you without offering any shred of proof as to their point of view or what their point of view is in the first place.  It's easy to sit on the fence or come off of the towering mountain of your own personal opinion if you keep it ambiguous enough not to have to stand on or for anything.  Take the latest musings of a self proclaimed presby-mergent Adam Cleaveland on a post  by John Piper.  Cleaveland prefaces it by ridiculing all who enjoyed Pipers works as elitist at his school.  The bias shows but notice no real hard evidence, merely personal opinion.  I'll let you read the rest, it's craptastic.  Needless to say, typical post modern stuff where personal opinion rules the day.  On a personal note, I've been really Emergent since I've been upping the fiber in my diet.  (That's known as "edgey" comedy and it's so hip with the kids, so eat it!)  Now to work on my douchey beard, or maybe just a soul patch.  How's that for personal opinion?

Disclaimer: all ad homonym attacks, and self opinionated trumpeting are offered as irony, and it's just funny.

Stepping in it again

Tim Challies posted an article on his blog from guest writier John Bell who's a pastor of a church plant here in Downtown TO.  The article talks about John's methods for evangelizing the gay community.  At the end of the article there are the requisite "you're doing a great job!", "amazing work" kind of comments which is great but at the same time i'm quite disturbed by what I read in the article.  First, it seems as if John's gay-baiting to evangelize.  Now hear me out before you get in a huff (easy haters).  I'm sure John's not tempted this way, but the men who approach him as he sits alone in a notorious gay district pick up joint most certainly are.  I find it highly dubious for John to be doing this sort of ministry sitting alone at a coffee shop.  A wiser course of action would be to be there with another guy or gal.  For gay men, the sight of a guy sitting alone at a pick up spot sends a different message from the one John's trying to get across.  Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with ministering to the gay community; in fact, it's needed.  But when you do this sort of ministry, you should be wise and make sure your every move can be accounted for.  It's the same wisdom that plays into keeping your door open when counseling a woman, or having pairs or groups work with children.  It just keeps the minister safe from accusations and the possible awkwardness of unwanted attractions. 

Blow hards

One thing I've noticed while surfing the Christian blogging circles are the great number of people so filled with self-importance that it bleeds out into the very language they use.  To my wonderful congregation: The day I start referring to Sunday School Class as a "lecture" please Ramshambo me.

Post Wedding bliss

Just finished up a wedding at HWC this weekend and things were quite busy for everyone  involved.  It's nice to see that we all pulled together and things got done nice and smooth.  One of our brothers who wasn't invited showed up after the festivities and pitched in with the clean up effort!  Thanks to all who made this event an encouragement to a very tired Pastor.  Now, time for Ramen!

Science vs. Religion. Move along, nothing to see here.

Pure hilarity ensues when our newest science minister Gary Goodyear, a professing Christian didn't think it relevant to declare whether or not he believes in evolution instead deflecting the question as one of religion for an article in the Globe and Mail.  Though I could go on and on about how the writer of this article chooses to insinuate erroneously that Science and Religion can't go together, what really caught my eye are the nearly 900 comments on the article mostly from the "Science is good, religion is bad" school of thinking.  What's striking about these comments is that they mostly slam Christianity as narrow minded bigotry while ironically proving that they themselves are in fact the small minded bigots.  God is the creator of Science, people should get over it.