What I Have Learned


Adam watching cotton candy at the PNE.

This Sunday I am preaching a sermon called "What I have Learned" - based on what I have learned in the first year as pastor of this church. Basically, I have learned that people are needy, you will get hurt and that God is sovereign.

I am using 2 Cor. 1:3-11 as the lens for looking at these themes.

The passage explicates the comfort God gives, the suffering we will endure as his disciples and the hope that contextualizes our experiences.

My Dad is in town, which is cool - Adam and Sophia are having a great time!

Other news - Zondervan will no longer be publishing their updated version of the New International Version bible, the "Todays New International Version". This is disappointing - I have used the TNIV since its publication for both personal devotions and for public preaching since its publication.

This particular translation uses gender neutral terms when referring to people. Example - God created humankind in his image - instead of - God created man in his image.

As you might expect, this generated all kinds of controversy by conservative types - I had thought the furor had died down, so I was quite surprised when the publisher announced this week they are going to stop publishing it.

Which leaves me in a quandry - I would like to keep preaching from it, but also want to preach from a translation that I can encourage others in my church to get if they like. I like the English Standard Version which one of my former profs spear headed. It has more archaic language, but is a more literal translation.

Or maybe I will just preach in Greek and Hebrew from now on.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Whine and Geez

Image
Last night we hosted a wine and cheese party for our floor. Out of the 11 other people that live on our floor, 5 came over. It was really fun. We had 3 kinds of cheese, crackers, red wnd white wine, baklava, fruit and other goodies. It was really great getting to know some of the folks on our floor. We have always talked about doing it so it was nice to finally pull it off. One of our neigbours is a concierge at the 4 seasons. She said one of the oddest guest requests was a guest from Texas who wanted 100 A&W ketchup packets. He said he really liked their ketchup - I guess. Finished " Joyful Exiles " so unfortunately no more excerts for you - buy the book. Have moved on to " A Grief Observed " by C.S. Lewis . This might seem like an odd choice - I'm not really grieving the death of anyone or anything like that. I just have a personal goal of reading everything Lewis wrote. In the past few weeks I've finished Miracles and Mere Christianity (sorry - I got ...
Read more

Coaster goes up (a little)

Image
Unused photo from the Globe and Mail shoot. So, last night and all day today I was on the top floor of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Vancouver. Quite auspicious surroundings for church council/pastors meetings! there were stunning views of the North Shore mountains, Stanley Park and the downtown buildings. The meetings were lengthy, exhausting and a lot of work. Basically, FBC has been on a year long journey of crafting its vision statement and core values - we did it with the assistance of a coach from Outreach Canada. We are coming down the home stretch and needed to hammer out everything for presentation to the congregation. Today was the first day that I have begun to feel lighter and ready to resume the work. Although still feeling wounded from this whole mess, I'm ready to limp on. It's true: Sunday,Monday - elation at finally reaching a goal of holding a first@night service in a trendy nightclub - excitement at getting press coverage - even thoug...
Read more

Oh no, Dr. Montgomery!

Image
"Healthcare in the heart of Yaletown - if you can afford it" For the past 6 years I have had the same physician: Dr. Brian Montgomery. We are quite close and I call him Brian. He knows me inside and out (literally). This is the longest period of time I have had the same doctor. We have quite a good relationship. I've invited he and his partner over to our place, but we've never been able to sync our schedules up. Well, I am sad to say our professional relationship is over. Brian will no longer be my doctor. I made the decision earlier this evening. As I was watching the news, Brian's face all of a sudden popped up - His clinc - the Mainland Clinic - is now going to start charging its patients to make appointments. The fees are going to be $30/appt. or $75 for the year to become a "member" of the clinic. The only motivation I can see is obviosuly money. The physcians obviously decided that the amounts they were billing the government was not enough. I hol...
Read more