Still Listening to Snow Patrol

Sophie leads the way.

I had this super long post about this church in Kentucky that hosted a "bring your guns to church day". But, the post got too long and convoluted and sorted of imploded in on itself.

Thus, you have this post instead.

I spoke at Trinity Western this past weekend to a Mar Thoma Youth Conference. It went really well - really enjoyed my time with them.

Preached on the Holy Spirit this Sunday - I said most Christians treat the Holy Spirit like the weird uncle you try to avoid at family reunions - he's family and all, you just don't really want him to do anything weird.

Someone mentioned to me at how rare sermons on the Spirit are in evangelical churches. That struck me as quite odd. Maybe we are over reacting to charismatic excesses. Personally, I hope our church has more manifestations of the Spirits presence in our congregation: healing, words of knowledge, etc.

I have seen first hand the destruction of the excesses. But, still the dry intellectualism isn't really getting the world attracted about our faith.

I am on a 2 week study leave, which basically means, I have 2 Sundays where I am not preaching. I haven't had 2 Sundays off in a row since starting last year. (By the way - tomorrow will be one full year as pastor of this church).

I plan on doing some strategic planning around our leadership structure, and also try to map out all my sermons for the coming Sept - August time line. Right now, I am thinking the following:

UnChristian series: a 6 week series in the fall focusing on 6 of the biggest objections that 20somethings have towards Christianity.

Old Testament Series: Leviticus

Advent Series

6 week whole church series in January - home groups will all do the same curriculum and I will preach on it on Sundays

Gospel Focus - maybe Matthew - life of Jesus

Lent Series

I suspect that the series on Leviticus might be 1-2 months, and the series on Matthew could go on for a long period of time.

I'm really looking forward to charting these all out, and doing some preliminary work on each series, and possibly even each sermon as well.

Prayer Request

I am speaking at this conference tomorrow:

http://www.bornagainidentity2009.com/

I finished writing my message on Tuesday, and am going over it one last time. There will be a few hundred south asian young adults there from up and down the west coast - from California to BC.

I am excited about the opportunity to speak to this group.

Please pray that the Spirit empowers my words.

My friend on the plane

Walking Together.

My post today is part of a larger initiative of more than 50 bloggers all sharing their thoughts on how to ‘bridge the gap’. You can check out the other links at: http://www.btgproject.blogspot.com/

Ten years ago I was flying back to Vancouver from Saskatoon. I started chatting with my seat mate. I was reading a book on spirituality by M. Scott Peck, so we also started to discuss spirituality.

I asked him if he had a religious background. He said "Yes, I was raised fundamentalist." I was quite taken aback by his response. As we kept talking we discovered that we had attended the same evangelical churches at different times in Saskatoon. He said in college, he abandoned his faith and the church and has never looked back..... until now. He said in the past few months he had felt like he was missing out on something due to the lack of any kind of faith in his life.

As the plane began to land, we exchanged contact information and promised to be in touch. A week later I went for coffee with him in the westend part of downtown Vancouver. He was an artist, so he invited me to first meet him in his home studio to see some of his work. His art was very good.

We headed to a local Starbucks and kept talking. I explained to him my own faith journey and where I was at in terms of my beliefs in Christ and the church. He shared a bit more of his story, and the abruptly blurted out, "But.... I'm gay!"

I said "Ok. But your sexuality is only a part of who you are. I don't think it defines you completely, does it." He said, "No." At this point he related his journey towards the acceptance of his homosexuality. He was currently single and feeling lonely.

It was time to wrap up, and we promised to meet again, and he even expressed interest in attending a worship service sometime. As we were leaving, he stopped me and asked me, : "Why are you so open to keep talking to me? Most Christians I know would have ended our conversation when I brought up my sexuality, but you have just sat here and listened to my story."

I responded that Jesus never had any criteria for who he would meet with, so why should I have pre-requisites for the people I will have coffee with. He was quiet as we left the shop together.

What my encounter with my friend taught me is that people on both sides of this dialogue are not really engaging other human beings. Instead we are engaging with media caricatures of each other. Evangelicals think the gay rights lobby are a bunch of rabid promiscuous people who want to recruit our kids. The gay rights lobby thinks all evangelicals are a bunch of narrow minded bigots who want to sweep them back into the closet.

But, it is not until we actually engage one another IN PERSON, will true dialogue and understanding be possible. My hope by my post today is that people on both sides will seek out a friend on the other side of the debate. And have no prior "conversion" agenda - simply enter into a relationship with the hope of understanding one another's perspective.

Who know? Maybe you will make a friend among a group of people you had written off a long time ago as the "enemy."

(Note - I lost touch with my buddy after a few months of meeting together. But I trust he is staying true to his own spiritual journey, and moving closer to discovering his place as the beloved of God.)

New friend

Check out Jason Boyle. He's another blogger that I have started reading on a regular basis. I think most of you will like him. He is a thoughtful young Christian thinker and writer.

http://blog.jasonboyett.com/

Also Beth Malena wrote an awesome post on dealing with our confusing relationship to money:

http://bethblogever.blogspot.com/

"Father"

Sermon notes and Starbucks.

Fathers day is this Sunday. I've recently been thinking about why Catholic priests are called "father". I think it is because pastoring is a lot like parenting. From my vantage point, I see a lot of mini squabbles taking place between people, and sometimes I have to try to keep the big happy dysfunctional family from either imploding or exploding.

Most "fights" I am not directly involved in - I just observe, and offer counsel if asked. It is the toughest part of my job, trying to be empathetic and sympathetic to people who are processing their own hurts, by attacking or hurting others.

But then, I also get the joy of baptizing people and walking alongside them as they wrestle with their faith. I also have the awesome privilege of opening up the Word of God on a regular basis, and helping a community journey through what its implications are. And for those things I am grateful.

Good day today overall - had a meeting with a couple of other pastors about some minstry opportunities during the coming olympics. Then I did some admin. and then took Sophia for a walk to a nearby playground.

Adam and I

Possibly my favorite pic of Adam and I. We are playing some game on the internet at a resort while on holiday. I look grumpy, but I wasn't. I really like Adam's expression and the way he is so relaxed.

Aaaah - that funny little kid - always makes my day!

The book I'm reading

A fragment of the gospel of John.

I read a lot - like all the time, all kinds of books. Every once in awhile, I like to tackle a book that is difficult - like academically hard. Well, I've found one: "Scripture's Doctrine and Theology's Bible" is a collection of academic papers that came out of a conference held at St. Andrews College in St. Andrews Scotland (the school my brother presently teaches at).

So, they collected a bunch of New Testament heavy weights to chat about how the church formed their current doctrine by what is written in the New Testament.  Karl Barth and Albert Schweitzer get dissected, along w. a bunch of other major dudes. The book is quite a challenge, but I am enjoying it as it reminds me of many times at Regent College, when I would be in the library battling it out with some book that made no sense at all, but then clarity comes, and I feel happy.

We are still at the resort - we head back tomorrow (told you it was a short trip). It was really a perfect day today, spent time on the beach, napped, Adam and I played mini-golf and then Felicia and I had a nice meal at the restaurant in the resort.

I guess everyone is buzzing about the new iphone. With the new iphone, I guess my current iphone is now old. Now, the new iphone's biggest draws are 3 meg. video camera, faster operating system and ...... a compass. 

Hey, apple - I don't need a compass on my phone. I have my own compass which I carry around w. my protractor and epi-pen. And I carry these items in my fanny pack, along w. my lunch sometimes.

I love Pixar (and I can see the ocean from wher I'm sitting)

Adam and I went to see Up! last weekend. I started to think back to all the Pixar films I have loved over the years. Here they are in chronological order:

Toy Story

Toy Story 2

Finding Nemo

Incredibles

Ratatouille

Wall-E

Up until Up!, Nemo was my favorite. It was Adam's favorite movie for a long time, and is currently Sophia's favorite. So, I have seen/heard it in the background of my life quite a few times, as it has been played over and over in our home.

I liked Nemo because there were several grand themes that were part of the story:

the quest of a father to be reconciled to his son, sending him on a Ulyssian journey

the wounded hero (Nemo has a small fin)

the gift of companionship to meet life's battles (Dory helps Marlin find Nemo)

There are many more grand life themes in this film. But Up! seems to go a bit further, in its challenge to carve out an adventure in the life we have been given, and that nothing in life need be wasted. The characters are great, the animation is great and the story is great. I have really not been so moved by a film in a long time.

I don't know how Pixar keeps doing it - they just keep churning out, not good, but GREAT films. They haven't made a lot of films, but the ones they do make are of the highest quality - pure entertainment without the need to be vulgar or violent.

In other news, the fam and I are currently staying at a resort on a beach in Parksville, on Vancouver Island. I think I mentioned that we have been in a vice of pressure for about the past 2 months, and just needed a break - this is a mini holiday in a beautiful spot. We walked on the beach and the kids discovered crabs, clams and shells. Tomorrow, Felicia and I are going for dinner at the resort - this place supplies baby-sitters which is pretty awesome.

Time to de-compress.

Moved

Finally moved in to our new place. I have a temporary office set up in our over-sized bed-room. We had some contractors come in and look at our basement. They are going to start next week, and said it should take them a couple of weeks to get it done - so thats pretty cool. We are going to put in a large office, kids play area, storage area and bathroom down there.

Until then, I have to work up here, which is fine.

Started a new sermon series today on the book of Galatians - looks pretty promising. Already had 2 e-mails of people excited about the series, including one woman who said she was "jumping out of her seat" that we are studying Galatians. Never really had that kind of reaction before.

We are taking a mini holiday this week to a resort on Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island. We have been going through some pretty intense times for the past 6 weeks, and just felt we need a respite.

Going for a much longer break in August to Banff in August to meet up with the rest of my family in some big chalet in the mountains, so that should be fun.

The Murphy's Law Day

Why did you go to Winnipeg?

I have this inner practice of gratitude that I try to carry on throughout the day. What I do, is I silently try to thank God for everything that goes RIGHT during the day. I find this helps prevent me from being side-lined from everything that can go wrong.

So, today, I am thankful that the coffee maker worked, that the shower worked, that my lap-top and wireless connection work.... you get the idea.

Today's problems: My current iphone has something wrong w. it - it drops pretty much every call that I make or receive. Rogers has tried countless times to fix it, and have finally decided to simply send me a new one.

They sent the new phone on May 25, from Delta to Port Moody. Should've taken a day, right? On May 27th the phone was scanned in Winnipeg Manitoba, and was labelled as "out for delivery". And that is the last anyone has heard or seen of the phone - it is out for delivery in Winnipeg Manitoba.

I spent yesterday and today on the phone w. both UPS and Rogers to try to find this prodigal phone. Today, Rogers finally put a trace on it, which they informed me would take 7-10 days to resolve. So, I asked, what do I do in the mean time? My only phone, which is also the church phone doesn't work. I get a loaner phone for the time being.

And then the movers called saying they are going to be an hour late - so everything is pretty much working out.

But, I am grateful for the sun outside, a new home to live in, friends.... This gratitude thing is basically the only thing that is staying my tongue and blood pressure from going through the roof.

Amen

Moving

Good-bye 2 Spruce Court.

My office and the rest of the house is packed up in boxes.

We move into our new town-house tomorrow. We're all pretty excited about moving into our OWN home. I will miss certain aspects of this house - it is certainly the largest house we will ever live in at almost 4000 sq. feet! - 4 X larger then our yaletown apt. and twice the size of the town-home we move into.

The Froeses had a nice flat-screen tv and bose sound system which made watching movies really great. Back to our old non-flat-screen tv w. no sound system. There was also a very nice deck off of the master bedroom w. commanding views of Mt. Baker and the rest of Port Moody. It was very nice and peaceful to sit there and read and pray - will miss that.

The new place will present some significant challenges at first - namely the fact that my office is not yet built! I will have to work in an unfinished basement for the first couple of weeks - a long way down from my 26th floor office overlooking false creek in downtown Vancouver! At least, its only temporary.

Another chapter in the Ninan family begins tomorrow - will keep you posted.

Also - some new music to check out: Silversun pick-ups, Phoenix and Bat For Lashes.