Attention K-Mart Shoppers!
Random memory – my mom used to love the “blue light special” deals that would take place at Kmart. It was kinda funny because she would be looking at a specific item and filling up the cart with purchases when suddenly pandemonium would set in at the mention of 3 little words. “Blue Light Special”
I remember running behind my mom through a Kmart after hearing this phrase over the PA system. We were racing through the store at break neck speeds in order to get in on this amazing clearance special that would only last for a few short minutes.
Kmart had this ingenious idea – they would roll a cart up to any item that they were looking to clear out and flip the switch on the cart that in turn would light up a blue beacon, perched on the top of a 8 ‘ pole for all to see. They would then announce the location of the cart and the huge discount that could be found by the customers that could get there within the next 5 – 10 min.
My kidz tell me that I am not cool, ‘cause I don’t know all of the new and trendy phrases that circulate through the school hallways but I have heard a new phrase around the church that grates at me — “Church Shopping”
It is often overheard in parking lots and foyers of churches these days as consumers pursue their own blue light special of sorts throughout North America. The philosophy behind the term is that we are consumers looking for a product that will satisfy our needs and desires with the least amount of cost on our part possible.
I am concerned for those who are approaching the local church today with this consumer mindset that asks questions like: “what does this church offer me?” or “what programs are being offered to meet my needs?” and “Is the worship and preaching style conducive to my personality and my preferences?”
What would it look like if we asked different questions when searching for a church? Questions such as “what can I contribute to this church?” or “what programs could I initiate or help serve in to meet the needs of hurting people?” or even “Is my life a worship and am I preaching Jesus in my actions and attitude?”
Seems that there are too many people today running from one church to the next at break neck speeds looking to find that elusive “blue light special” that will be the deal they were looking for. The “product” that will make them feel good, and safe, at peace and well fed only to miss the call of Christ to service and sacrifice (Romans 12:1,2)
I wonder what church would look like if we left the shopping cart at home and brought along a towel and pail much like Jesus – serving (John 13:1-17)
“Us”
“US”
I am excited about a brand new series of messages that I am delivering at City Church over the next 3 Sundays. I am naming the Sermon Series “US”. God has been working in us as a church over the past year and a half to prune away much of what we have seen as “church life” and “success” and more recently is calling us to pursue a new avenue of ministry that can be summed up as “Serve and Share”.
There are seasons in the life of every church just as we in Canada experience with regard to our winter, summer, spring and fall. City Church has come through a trying winter and is now entering a season of new life and growth (a spring season if you will) where we are together looking forward to some new life and growth in our lives and those of the community we serve.
I invite you to join us on this journey if you are a resisdent of our Nations Capital or online at www.citychurch.net
It will be an adventure
Love These!!!
Found these on Michael Hyatts Blog: www.michaelhyatt.com
THE PARADOXICAL COMMANDMENTS
People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.— Kent M. Keith, Speaker and Writer
Often attributed to Mother Teresa
because she posted them on her wall
DERECH ERETZ COMES BEFORE TORAH
A week ago I returned from an AMAZING trip to Jerusalem. My first time there. The flight alone is like 12 hours!! Just wanted to share some of the amazing sights that we were able to enjoy with you as well as a quick side story that impacted me:
for my pics you can visit this link www.flickr.com/photos/jayzsnaps/sets/72157623261135912/
Our fist night in Jerusalem we were privileged to arrive on the Friday (Sabbath for Jews) and were invited to participate in the celebration with a visit to the “Western Wall” (Wailing Wall) where there were well over 2000 people praying, dancing and worshipping.
In order to be allowed entry into the area we had to line up, walk through the metal detector and pass through a guard post. Our group waited patiently as several orthodox Jews seemingly walked past us and cut in line to get to the Wall without any delays. Our tour guide (a Secular Jew) spoke up – “Derech eretz…” He continue to speak the phrase and caused quite a stir with a few men who were cutting line, to the point that they waited for us to gain access so that they could clarify their reasons for cutting line.
After watching them banter about the situation, I aked our guide what it was he had said to them in Hebrew that brought about such an interesting reaction on their part? His answer was that he simply used words from their own teaching that loosely interpreted says “it is better to be polite than to go to worship”
It seems to me that Jesus often issued similar warnings to his hearers with regard to offering a gift at the altar as worship when we are aware of an odd we have against our brother or looking for the best seat at the table or even washing each others feet…
“Politeness before Worship”
Food for thought
Free Costco Treats
The other day I was walking through Costco with a friend. The thing I like most about Costco is those little “TREAT stations” that are situated around the store. You are walking through looking for a 5 gallon pail of Irish dill pickles or a 62 pack of Red Bull and “BAM!” there in the middle of the aisle is a little table with a lady dressed in a white lab coat serving up Smurf sized portions of cheese cake. This is where things get interesting. I love to watch people and their response to Free Stuff. My kids, for example will make a bee line from one station to the next looking for the best treat table and then spend the remainder of their time trying to figure out how they can disguise themselves so that they can get more free treats without getting caught. I have watched as other families line up at the table as though it is their personal buffet, stuffing crab cakes and crackers with jam down as quick as they can. Then of course there is the intellectual – this person pretends to be interested in the minute details of how the berries were hand picked on the mountainside of Bagumba Venezuela by the Shamiikqua Natives during the rainy season for the best possible flavour. The reality is that they couldn’t care less about any of that nonsense, they just want to distract the Lab coat lady for a few moments with their dazzling knowledge about Venezuela so that they can walk away with a second treat unnoticed. This doesn’t work by the way… they are on to you. They have cameras you know??? Then there are still other shoppers that try out their amateur magician skills by crashing their cart into the mountain of Cheeze Whiz to create enough of a distraction for them to snag a tasty treat unnoticed.
There are all kinds of approaches that people take towards FREE STUFF. However, the reality here is that there is a whole other group of shoppers out there that REALLY want the chocolate chunk brownie and are too shy, proud, distracted, fearful … to reach out and taste and see how good these Costco treats really are. These people tend to rely on others to get them a sample out of fear of what the 78 year old lady in the lab coat might say, or make excuses for their desire by saying they are still full from breakfast. Still others are distracted by their cell phones, ipods, children, husbands, flyers … and miss out on these treats all together. (more for me)
The saddest story is the shopper that never takes that RISK, that step of faith to reach out and taste these scrumptious treats for themselves. They are missing out on all the hard work that the Shamiikqua Natives have put into this jam.
Can I just encourage you today to take some time to approach the table of the Lord by faith this week. What He has to offer you is far more valuable and life giving than any Costco Sample. Would you be brave enough to allow Jesus the opportunity to speak into your life and bring sweetness, blessing and refreshment back to your soul?
The Bible encourages us in Psalm 34:8 “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.”
Running on Reserve
my toy
It is amazing how accustomed we get to relying on gauges and indicators when we drive.
My van has all the typical gauges that most vehicles have: engine, speedometer, oil, odometer, turn signal indicators etc. The Caravan will even give you a little warning bell when you are low on fuel or the lights are left on.
Life gets so busy with Heather and I working full time, 3 kidz in school, sports, clubs etc during the week and a Schnauzer that needs her walks and her hair buzzed (thanks youtube for the tips).
I have been really enjoying my newest “de-stressing toy”… a 2004 Kawasaki Vulcan motorcycle!
Ever since I was a little ripper playing with hot wheels in the driveway, I have wanted to have a classic mustang or bike. This past summer I took what little $$$ I had saved up and treated Heather real nice for a couple weeks before bringing home my Classic 800.
If you are a biker, you will understand the awesome freedom that comes from pulling back a throttle and finding some curves on a sunny day. I have been riding for just over 3 months now and try to get out every chance I get for a few rips. Yesterday after our morning service at City Church I caught a couple zzzz and then jumped on “misty” for a tour before having to keep a date with a hockey arena and my all star son in Nepean.
Most bikes (mine included) do not have a fuel gauge. Maybe you can see where this is going? About a km from my house the bike starts to miss, cough and spit a bit. Usually, this would be a reminder to reach down and flip the fuel switch over to “reserve”. You see, motorcycles gas tanks have a kinda top and bottom half to them and when you fill the tank you are supposed to remember to reset the switch to the full position. As you will soon see, it turns out that this is pretty important for those who are not pre-disposed to pushing heavy, gasoline starved bikes through their neighborhoods while wearing all your gear.
Without knowing it, I was running my bike on “reserve”. Fumes!!
Of course this caused the bike to eventually stall out, and I had to endure the heavy work of pushing this chrome beauty down the windy strip rather than flick my wrist and hear the “BBlllahhhmmmmm” of the engine.
Oh by the way … I wasn’t feelin’ very Christian at this point.
You see, running on reserve is not meant to be the norm. The moment you reach for that switch, your brain tells you that it’s time to fuel up and you are now running on a very limited amount of fuel. Maybe that is why they call it “reserve.” I still don’t remember flippin’ that crazy switch.
Ticked off, embarrassed, tired and maybe a bit stressed, but I did learn a valuable lesson in humility after the first half km of pushing my ride. The lesson???
Fuel up! As a matter of fact I recommend to all you riders out there to fuel up every chance you get. Unfortunately, God didn’t design us with fancy gauges that blink, whine and chime at us when we are running on reserve. Most of us are constantly exhausting the limits of our tank and I am sure there are even some of you out there who are tired of doing the heavy work of pushing.
Let me encourage you with the refreshing words of Jesus. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matt 11:28)
Did you get that?
The apostle Paul also encourages all us road warriors to “be filled with the Spirit” (Eph 5)
Next time you are gassing up, take a look around the pumps and maybe I will see you there.
INDUCED at Church
So this past Sunday City Church celebrated 16 years of ministry to the people of our Nations capital. We were privileged to have Rev. Craig Burton (PAOC Eastern Ontario District Superintendent) with us for the celebration. Pastor Craig shared a challenging word with our members, encouraging the people that make up City Church in the reality that “we are the church”. Too often we forsake the truth of 1 Corinthians 3:16 (“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?”) for the ease of being entertained by those who are called to bring leadership through serving.
Another personal highlight of the morning was the induction ceremony that Craig conducted for myself as the new Pastor at City Church. I have been in ministry for the past 16 years and have been involved in a handful of inductions however, this one stands out as being exceptionally powerful for me. Questions are posed, vows were exchanged and promises made on behalf of myself, my wife, the church
board and our new church family. It was a day of celebrating Gods faithfulness as well as a day of recommitting to the call that He has placed on all of our lives to serve in His Kingdom.
I want to take a moment here to say a BIG “THANK YOU” to Pastor Craig Burton and the City Church Board and members for their support and encouragement over the past months as well as their affirmation at this most memorable Sunday Celebration.
My prayer is that God would revive His Church in the midst of our years
Blessings
Pastor Jay
