Dreams Unlocked

This morning I preached in my favorite new church. Joy Fellowship is a church made up primarily of mentally and physically disabled people. And they really live up to their name. You can feel the joy and love as soon as you enter. One of my biggest beefs with any church is if no one talks to you. Here, I was bowled over by the reception - 3 people shook my hand within the first 10 seconds of entering the church - 1 dear woman in a wheel-chair asked my name and then gave me a hug. Another woman from Sri Lanka was thrilled to find out that I was both from India AND a pastor. Things are a bit "unorthodox", as you might imagine. But, they worshipped joyfully, and were quite attentive when I gave the message on the doubts of Thomas. After, my message a few of them gathered around and prayed for me. It was one of the most meaningful and touching moments of my life, as these dear brothers and sisters prayed for me, my church and my family. Urban Sanctuary and Joy Fellowship will lik...

I spent the last 3 days at a Benedictine Monastary in Mission BC. It's called Westminster Abbey. I've been on this journey into the spiritual disciplines of silence and solitude, ever since re-reading the chapter on solitude in "Celebration of Discipline" by Richard Foster. It's odd - I am quite extroverted - I get energized mixing it up with people. Yet, I am drawn into this discipline of deliberately pulling away from others. The idea was to spend as much time as possible alone, and in silence. This was pretty easy to do, as I barely ever saw any of the Monks, except at meal time. But, they eat all their meals in silence. The first time I walked into the dining hall I was pretty freaked out. 25 men in intimidating black monk habits standing in silence during the prayer. I was wearing jeans and a hoodie - at least I had a hood. I journalled the whole time I was there. The first thing I noticed when I sat down at my desk in my room is that my ears were ring...

"Grief" (c1965) - Gene Gould One of my friends has cancer -brain cancer. After his last MRI, the oncologist told him that the chemo. is no longer effective. 6 years of painful treatment and for what? He is not expected to live to see Christmas. His wife and he now are meeting palliative care staff and making funeral arrangements. He has 2 kids - 8 and 10. They cry every time he talks to them about how daddy's cancer is winning. Must be tough to be so young and have to grapple with questions of mortality and loss. There is a musician called Warren Zevon who was also diagnosed with cancer. On his last appearance on the Letterman show, Letterman asked him how the diagnosis had changed him. He said, "Well, you learn to enjoy every sandwich." I've always loved that line. Taking the gift of life for granted may be our biggest road-block to fully appreciating and enjoying every moment. May we all have the grace to "enjoy every sandwich" as long as God giv...

Ran 10 kms. with 60 000 of my best friends this morning. My time was brutal!!! 1 hr.!!!! Slowest 10 km. I've ever run. I'm already scheming to do a half marathon in June to redeem myself. After church tonight, we had Sophia's birthday. It was pretty good, except there was quite a few Urbsan people missing. I'm tired, nothing left to write.

Waiting to run a very wet Victoria marathon last year. I might be a late bloomer on this whole skype thing, I'm not sure. But, it is quite revolutionary - you can video chat with anyone in the world with a web-cam and a skype account.... and it's free!!! You can also do a conference call with up to 24 people, although I'm not sure why you would want that many people together trying to talk. This morning my parent's set up a conference call with relatives in Chetrapur India, Hyderabad India, San Diego, Oxnard, Vancouver and Regina - it was kinda trippy. Just my brother in Brooklyn was left out. It was actually pretty amazing - it had all the same disorderly madness, as if all these relatives together. You can't video, just talk. Today, I was focused on my sermon, which is actually coming together pretty well - 1 Peter 4:8-11 - Marks of a healthy community: love, hospitality and service. Sunrun tomorrow - this is one of my favorite events in Vancouver. The other being...

Adam with some sartorial issues. Well, this week proved to be a toughie. Felicia worked Monday day, Wed. night and now tonight. And then she turns around and works on Monday. I had meetings Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It was a real test, as I had to write a sermon in the midst of feeding, changing, bathing and playing with the kids. Today, I took a day off. I find that when I am doing a lot of heavy mental lifting - like doing exegetical research for a sermon, there comes a time when you just have to step back from it: walk to Starbucks, walk around the block. Do anything that removes you from the task at hand for awhile. This applies to the weekly rythym of Sabbath. Sabbath is a day for non-activity, rest. Sabbath forces us into the position of being "non-God". One pastor told me, that if a friend he was witnessing to, told him that the only day he could meet with him, was during a time when the pastor had already scheduled some r&r, the pastor would cancel his plans ...

Last post was #666. Scary. Today we held an "Open House" for Urban Sanctuary. We had all kinds of goodies and free coffee and Ice Tea, balloons for kids and even treats for dogs! I had 5 significant conversations with some locals that passed by. Everyone we met was very enthusiastic about the idea of a church in Yaletown. I was sooo encouraged. This is what we were placed here to do - start to build significant relationships with people, and see where it goes. At least 2 of the 5 I spoke with indicated they would return next week for our "regular" service. The people I met: - a photographer from New York, with a Catholic background who married a Canadian -2 young guys, one also from New York with a Catholic background (no kidding!) - these guys were extremely enthusiastic about what we were doing -a couple who are quite involved with a gay church in the westend - actually my conversation with the guy, was the most encouraging one I had - he shared about his spiritua...

They had the "Idol Gives Back" episode where they focus on various charitable works around the world. A lot of stars were on, including Bono. I was blown away that the show ended with "Shout to the Lord" - a very popular contemporary worship song written by Darlene Zschech of Hillsong Australia. I have to admit, it was pretty moving hearing that song performed on what will likely be one of the most watched t.v. episodes of 2008. (American Idol is the #1 show on tv right now - and the "gives back" episode is usually the most highly viewed). The performance did not come without some controversy - one word was changed. Instead of singing "My Jesus, my savior", the lyric was "My shepherd, my savior" . Now, I'm not going to get all right wingy here and moan and groan about how once again Jesus has been kicked out of the secular arena. I just think that in terms of integrity, they should not have changed the song writer's original lyr...

Fun times with Sophia. Well, it's been a week since the loss of our unborn child. Tough week. Felicia is physically back to normal - she went back to work today. But, emotionally... do you ever get over something like this? We had an amazing service last night. Felicia and I both shared what this has been like for us. Felicia sobbed as she spoke. I was composed until I got to this one part where I discussed how I wasn't mad at God, because in the past I had felt God's kindness, goodness, kindness and grace. Then I said, if I, a sinful human being could experience that here on earth, then how much more would our daughter be experiencing it in God's presence right now. When I got to talking about our baby, I stopped and the words got stuck in my throat. In the silence, I could hear the sobs of just about everyone in the room. It's one thing to see a woman cry, it's quite another to see a man cry. We also had another couple share their similar story of a miscarriag...

Ninan Family - Missing One On Monday Felicia suffered a miscarriage. She was three months pregnant. On Monday and Tuesday we started slowly telling family and close friends. Today, I e-mailed about 100 people who know us well enough to be able to grieve with us. As of tonight 34 people have e-mailed back with their condolences. As, is usual when things like this happen, I turn to writing. I am finishing up an article which I will probably submit to Relevant and some other rags and see if they will publish it. Losing an unborn child is one of those things I never expected would happen to me - just other people. I prefer grieving vicariously. Felicia's physical pain is over - Tuesday was pretty tough. I think about the baby everyday. I feel like something is missing inside me too. This Sunday we will talk about the loss at church. We have invited another couple that lost a child in a similar way this year to also share, and then pray with us, and then we will pray for them. We are a...

Last post, I said I thought the Springsteen concert would be one of the best shows of my life... and I was right. This guy is unreal - non-stop passion. He would play 5-6 songs in a row like he was sprinting a marathon. It was absolutely amazing to see the whole E-Street band there: Clarence Clemons, Little Steven, Max Weinberg and Nils Lofgren. I saw legends play last night. Springsteen may well be the most passionate and energetic performer alive right now. I was stunned. I have now seen Bob Dylan (3 times), U2 (6 times), Bruce Cockburn (9 times), The Police, The Rolling Stones and Arcade Fire (twice)... and now Springsteen. I feel like quite the happy fan. I think Springsteen's strength is that he can paint very vivid images with his words and imagery. His descriptions of people's stuggles and the fading possibility of the American dream are vivid and real. This show was a non-stop party. He has ended every show of this tour with a rousing Irish jig rendition of Pete Seeger...