A Decade of Dependence: 10 years of Mercy City Church

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mercy city church

There is a Chinese expression that roughly translates as, “In the blink of eye.” It is meant to describe how time flies when you least aware of it. By God’s grace, Mercy City Church (MCC) celebrated its 10 year anniversary recently. Hard to believe that over a decade ago, God began this new work in one of the inner city neighbourhoods in Toronto. It was a new project with a decidedly old school Biblical approach to church. A church that was not just in a community, but a part of it. Mercy had a vision to be a Gospel light and presence focused on reaching the marginalized, disadvantaged and unchurched. Through showing mercy people would come to know know and become disciples of Jesus. A decade after a rag tag group of 12 faithfully naive people launched the project, Mercy is still doing the work of the Gospel and sticking true to its vision. And if we are to sum up the reason why in one word it would be…DEPENDENCE.

A lot has changed in 10 years. We have learned so much and faced so much challenge. We have also been so blessed to see so much breakthrough and provision. Through all the ups and downs, one thing has been true – Dependence on Jesus is what it is all about.

“…apart from me you can do nothing.” “My grace is sufficient for you…” (John 15:5; 2 Corinthians 12:9)

Starting a new church is hard. Starting a new church like Mercy is really hard and foolish. It is only possible because of the power of Jesus. Surviving and thriving for a decade is all about depending on Jesus.

We Learned early on that we were never going to be a “normal” church. Ironically, if we were faithful to our mission, we would lose people, for a good reason. If we helped people change their lives, they would be able to get out of the neighbourhood. That is what we have seen. Seasons of growth, followed by seasons of restarting. It is a not typical but beautiful to see. We have also realized that our fight is on the two fronts of the physical and spiritual. It is impossible to ignore the obvious challenges of serving those that are marginalized and disadvantaged. With it comes the battle against poverty, social justice, drugs and addictions, violence, and physical and mental health. Yet, fighting for physical needs are reasonable easy when compared to the spiritual needs that lie under the surface of a community such as ours. The spiritual warfare and depravity of people are where the real battle is raged as a church. We are literally in the heart of brokenness and spiritual bondage. This is the fight we are truly called to and for which the Gospel is our hope. This is why people need Jesus. Mercy City is a beachhead in this fight. The only way to fight has been to depend on Jesus for everything from our fruit to our finances; courage to our compassion; triumphs to our tiredness; trust to our trials; and fears to our faithfulness. Mercy only works because we depend on Jesus.

So what does dependence look like at Mercy over the years?

Prayer

Prayer is dependence in action. Prayer covers everything we do. It has to! Prayer is what sustains and breaks though. We once were led by the Spirit to enter a season of continuous prayer. We had a prayer meeting 7 days a week for a year. We fought for our community on our knees. Prayer is not a ministry, it has to be the blood that flows through the church.

Showing Mercy

Living up to our namesake is not easy.  Showing the love of God through acts of mercy is how people first see Jesus. Loving people by being the hands and feet of Jesus is messy and inefficient, but it is what we are called to do. You have to depend on Jesus for strength and patience and compassion in order to choose mercy.

Gospel-centred everything

Apart from The Gospel, nothing can really change a person or a community. We hold that idea sacred so everything we do has to connect back to the Gospel. The gospel we try to live out is simple:  Love God, Love People.  Jesus loves everyone, everyone needs to love Jesus. Repeat.

 

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Audacious Hope: Hope is believing in the transformative work of Jesus and that He will provide all you need to accomplish that goal. Hope is trusting and depending on the power of Jesus to make a way, make things happen, and make us able to be obedience and loving to others even when it seems impossible. Hope can’t lie in our abilities or ingenuity. Dependent hope is audacious because it dares to believe Jesus can do all things, so there is no excuse not to do something.

As Mercy City Church celebrates a decade of dependence, realize that we are actually all in this together. The whole EFCC family shares in its victories and challenges because we are all one church. Every prayer, phone call, and donation through the years have made it possible. We are grateful for all the support and we ask for it to continue. We have come to depend on it! We will keep fighting the good fight as long as Jesus and you have our back.

chris yu-lead pastor MCC

 

Chris Yu
MCC Lead Pastor

Learn more about MCC

 

A Law of Love: The Witness of Supporting Government Leaders

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law of love

Christmas greetings Free Church friends!

Bill TaylorI trust that you are sensing the presence of our Saviour in your life – especially during these challenging days of COVID Lockdown. Please know that we are praying for the very real challenges that the pandemic and the lockdown will pose for all of you this Christmas.

My thoughts in this blog article are exactly that – my thoughts! This is not an “official” EFCC declaration on what you should think about how the federal or provincial governments have handled the COVID-19 pandemic or about how you should respond as individuals and churches. Every church in the EFCC is self-governing – and every individual has the right to think biblically about how they should follow our Saviour during these times. I do trust though, that what I will share in this short article is biblically informed. You may disagree with me – that is fine! But it is our responsibility as followers of Jesus to agree to disagree graciously. We also are to base our beliefs on a careful understanding of biblical passages, not simply our personal biases.

It is inevitable that we will not all agree because there are certainly a variety of biblical principles at play.

  • In I Peter 2-3, Peter reminds us to respect authorities and to make sure any criticisms of our witness are not founded on our evil doing.
  • The apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 13:1-4 and Titus 3:1 to obey even pagan rulers.
  • On the other side, in Acts 5:27-32, Peter and John declare that they must continue to declare the good news about Jesus, even though the religious rulers are forbidding it.
  • And of course, the author of Hebrews (10:24-25) reminds us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.
  • Added to that we have the Great Commandment and numerous passages challenging us to love our neighbor, the poor and the vulnerable.

If I had more room, I would flesh out the context of each of these passages. The historical and grammatical context certainly impacts the principles we can draw on and how they should be applied to these days of pandemic. The context also helps us to decide which principles supersede the others in our response to our federal or provincial government’s restrictions on our individual and corporate freedoms.

However, as I wish to keep this brief (so that some of you will read it!) Let me simply highlight two things I think are critical for followers of Jesus to keep in mind.

1. THE LAW OF LOVE

 Jesus elevated that as the most important commandment for His followers. And in John 13 he seems to tie that in to a second concern:

2. OUR WITNESS

I don’t wear a mask to protect myself – I wear it to protect others (those who are vulnerable or are caring for the vulnerable) from me. And just as Peter and Paul were so concerned that the gospel witness not be hindered (see I Peter 2-3 or I Corinthians 9) by the selfish exercise of my freedom, so too I am concerned that the good news not be sullied by my words or actions that might appear uncaring or callous.

Do I think that governments are getting this 100% right? Or that they are being 100% consistent? No, but I think they are getting it mostly right. I have participated in calls with both Federal and Provincial leaders. I can testify that they are trying to be fair and balanced. They understand the human costs restrictions bring. Is it fair that Walmart will be open and our churches closed this Christmas? Maybe, maybe not. One of the things that governments don’t have the ability to do is explain the full rationale for every rule of lockdown.

I suspect that they feel the human cost of not allowing people to work, to buy presents, to get out of the house, is greater than forcing us to avoid congregating: whether that is congregating at the gym, in a movie theatre, or in a worship service. So yes, we can only worship and make disciples online and do pastoral care in creative ways for the next few months. Yes, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees us freedom of religion and expression – but even then, there are reasonable limits involved. Throughout history pandemics have been viewed by the church as a reasonable time to restrain our activities as the church gathered and to focus heavily on our role as Christ’s ambassadors as the church scattered.

Do I wish churches were considered an “essential service” and liquor stores were considered “non-essential”? For sure. After all, we are about the care of souls. But that maybe is the point. As long as we still have freedom to worship, declare the good news of Christmas to the world, to care for souls – even if Sunday morning looks different – I think we are ok. Our brothers and sisters in China and Iran and…well, those folks experience real persecution.

This Christmas my freedom is going to be temporarily limited – and I am ok with that, because my witness and the law of love move me to be a good neighbour. If the government ever seeks to permanently shut down the declaration of the good news – the assembling of the saints for worship – be assured that I will be one of the first to write to our leaders requesting they rethink those decisions. But at this point I don’t see that kind of conspiracy in the works. I might be wrong – but for now, let’s pray for our leaders who have the difficult task of balancing the physical, mental, social and economic and even spiritual costs of a pandemic that has impacted us all.

In the midst of what may be a lonely Christmas, let us connect with family, friends and neighbours and encourage each other with the good news of Emmanuel – God with us. And may 2021 give us an opportunity to once again enjoy connecting in person to worship, and encourage and equip one another for the mission!

Merry Christmas to each of you from Deb and me!

Bill Taylor

EFCC Executive Director

Prayer Calendar: Subversive Kingdom

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The prayer that Jesus taught us to pray ends with a benediction that reminds us who the king is and what he is like. We need reminding. We forget. We go blind. Earthly values brainwash us.
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Prayer Calendar: The Battle Belongs to the Lord

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Battle Lord

Jesus gives us these words to pray: “Deliver us from evil (or the evil one)”. I believe Jesus is trying to reminder us that this spiritual war is all too real, that Evil desires to undo the Good News, and that Satan is the ultimate guerrilla warrior.

Jesus is pushing us back to the Deliverer. He knows our human tendency to either ignore evil or arrogantly overestimate our own defences. He knows our flight/fight response. He brings hope by reminding us that the battle belongs to the Lord.

As I type this, another war is starting. Turkey is going on an offensive against the Kurds. Another conflict in a long line of human hatred. I recently saw a list of the major wars in world history. It took over four pages to complete the list. No wonder Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers”.

Yet we are also in a war. Not a physical war against flesh and blood. Not cultural war. Not ideological war. Ephesians 6 reminds us:

We are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

This is spiritual war conducted behind the veil, unseen by human eyes, yet all too real. These schemes of the devil are attempts to “steal, kill and destroy” the life that Jesus has brought and continues to bring.

In this war, we tend toward two extremes:

  1. We give very little thought, intention, or preparation to the conflict. Because it’s not physically present, we ignore it. If we do think about it, we cower.
  2. We over-sensationalise our role in it. We believe that we can somehow single-handedly defeat all the powers of evil with the words of our mouth or the actions of our hands.

My descriptions may be overly simplistic; however, both extremes are recipes for disaster.

Jesus gives us these words to pray: “Deliver us from evil (or the evil one)”. I believe Jesus is trying to reminder us that this war is all too real, that Evil desires to undo the Good News, and that Satan is the ultimate guerrilla warrior. Christ defeated Him, yet he is still waging war. We need our eyes opened, like Elisha’s servant in 2 Kings 6. We need to be aware and prepared. However, if that is all this phrase does for us, we are still doomed. On our own, we have no hope; no matter how prepared we think we are.

Jesus is pushing us back to the Deliverer. He knows our human tendency to either ignore evil or arrogantly overestimate our own defences. He knows our flight/fight response. He brings hope by reminding us that the battle belongs to the Lord. “When your enemy presses in hard do not fear; the battle belongs to the Lord”. We stand in His power, with His authority – not ours. The words of the Lord’s Prayer are an acknowledgement of our frailty and a plea to the one true source of strength and deliverance.

Even though our deliverance comes from Christ, we can’t remain idle. We still have a part to play. Prayer is key! The war can never be won when communication breaks down. An army can’t carry out commands if they haven’t been briefed.

May the words of Ephesians 6 guide us into God-powered deliverance:

A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in His might power. Put on all of God’s armour so that you will be able to stand firm against all of the strategies of the devil…Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armour so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil…Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

Prayer Calendar: To Err is Human

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human err

neil bTemptation!

Have you ever faced it?

Of course!

Temptation is a universal human experience. It is almost as human as breathing or eating. We have all faced it. We have all yielded to it somewhere along the way.

Having said that, the words “Lead us not into temptation” ought to strike us as somewhat odd. Theologically they are strange. Yet even more than that, it just sounds inhuman. How is it possible to go through life without facing temptation? What exactly is Jesus modelling for us in this prayer?

In all the time I have recited the Lord’s Prayer, I have never quite gotten used to the words, “Lead us not into temptation.” I have to admit there are times when I pause and ponder while everyone around me continues reciting the words. Over the years as I have studied, looked at various translations, and read numerous commentaries; and I have never quite come away with an answer that fully satisfies my curiosity.

Here are some of my questions. This is hardly an exhaustive list, but I grouped them together by theme:

  • Does the petition mean that sometimes God can lead us into temptation?
  • Wouldn’t that contradict other passages like James 1, where it says God does not tempt us?
  • Is temptation the right word English word? Are “trial” or “testing” better words?
  • Yet does that not also contradict huge swaths of the biblical story?
  • Would that not fly in the face of James 1 again, where we are encouraged to endure trials?
  • Is temptation the real issue, or our yielding to it?
  • Why do my commentaries say the idea of yielding is a bad translation of the original words?

To be candid, I still do not have a great explanation, but I am not sure I need one. I suspect Jesus is pushing us to imagine something deeper.

What if Jesus’ point is simply this: we are human! We are frail. To err is human. We will face temptation. We will fall. On our own.

Is Jesus opening our eyes to where our desire for control, our penchant for doing life on our own, and our reluctance to yield our lives to Him actually leads? Is He helping us face the fact that without Him in control we are doomed to fall, and fall, and fall, and fall, and fall again? I suspect so.

Jesus is graciously guiding us to an incredible source of strength and help. He is inviting us to live life with Him, in His strength, in the power of the Holy Spirit. He is inviting us into everyday dependence on the guidance of the Spirit living within us. He is not asking us to throw up temptation SOS prayers when we are desperately at the end of our own ropes. If we wait until we are at the end of our own rope, we will likely hang ourselves.

Let me conclude with the words of Paul that seem to summarize our thoughts here:

“After starting your lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? Let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.” (Galatians 3:3, 5:16)

Let us pray that the Spirit guides our lives this month.

Forming Forgiving Conversations

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prayer calendar

neil bassingthwaighteTrue conversation is a give and take. It is an act of hospitality. We suspend our own agenda and invite someone else’s in. Conversation also changes us. It re-forms us as we honestly engage with the ideas and feelings of others. We may not agree with everything we hear, but it helps us think through our own preconceptions and biases. Prayer is conversation. Unlike our human conversations, we don’t have much room to disagree with God. We can choose to, but that is usually a dangerous game. Like other conversation, prayer also forms us. As we spend time with God, wrestling through what is important to him, the Holy Spirit re-forms us into the people he desires us to be.

I spent a few minutes this morning googling “forgiveness”. I wanted to step outside of my viewpoint to see a different understanding of the concept. According to Google (or at least the first several websites listed), forgiveness seems to be about an individual’s well-being. Forgiveness, for the most part, is defined as an intentional and voluntary process where by an individual undergoes a change in attitude and feelings toward someone who has caused offense. Almost immediately after defining it, most websites highlighted the release of tension, bitterness, and the personal peace and well-being this would bring.

All of the above is certainly true. Yet, is this Jesus’ point about forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer? The phrase is, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” This has always sounded a little strange to me. Is there a conditional element to the forgiveness here? Would that clash with what we read elsewhere in our Bibles? Does it really mean if we don’t forgive others, we won’t be forgiven? I certainly don’t have all the answers to those questions. I do wonder though, if these kinds of questions stem from an individualistic interpretation of the prayer as opposed to a more communal interpretation. Which leads me to ask, “What was Jesus’ purpose in asking us to pray these words”?

As I think of this phrase in the Lord’s Prayer, I wonder if this isn’t a re-forming conversation. Is Jesus giving us another way in which he can mold us into His image? As we pray these words, do they help to form us into healthy community? I think so. Here is how I could see that working:

– we intentionally pray for forgiveness, in doing so we hold up a mirror to our lives,
– we begin to see our sin and failures more clearly thereby humbling ourselves,
– in this humble posture we realize the offenses against us are not greater than our own,
– this makes extending forgiveness to others easier (not easy),
– which, through the power of the Holy Spirit, brings healing into our relationships,
– helping us grasp a greater appreciation, and appropriation of the forgiveness we have in Jesus.

It’s a big circle. Yet, the benefits of forgiveness are not mine alone. An entire culture of forgiving develops and a fellowship of the forgiven forms. James encourages us to “confess our sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” The context of that verse is in the middle of a passage on the power of prayer and healing, and the verse just prior to it speaks of forgiveness. So why do we not see this as a common practice in our churches?

This last week, as I have watched the news, and listened to the events in the Christian world, I am deeply disturbed. More than ever, it feels like our communities and churches are fragmenting. Unity seems next to impossible. I might be crazy, but I’m thinking praying through the implications of, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” as formational conversation would be a huge step in the right direction.

Neil Bassingthwaighte
National Mission Director

Prayer Calendar: Warrior Kings Need Humble Bread

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prayer calendar post plug

neil bassingthwaighteWarrior Kings Need Humble Bread

As we continue our journey through the “Lord’s Prayer,” we get to the phrase, “give us this day our daily bread.” It’s a simple request. Straightforward. A petition to God for daily sustenance. There is no greed here, only dependence. No desire for a banquet, only bread enough for the day. No hint of hoarding desperation, only a daily journey of trust.

It’s a humble request. Yet we live in a world inundated with North American pride and self-sufficiency. So we have to ask ourselves, when we pray these words, do we really mean them?

Language is interesting. Sometimes an obscure word or phrase is suddenly everywhere. This is the case in church culture as well. The phrase “Warrior King” popped up on my radar recently. Someone used this term for Jesus. They were talking about what He will do at the end of the age. The phrase, for a variety of reasons, caught my attention.

As I began to listen, I heard this term elsewhere. Quite often! One particular theologian (who will not be named here because I don’t want to drag his name through the mud) in promoting an upcoming speech on Mature Manhood said, “We will only honor God as men when we understand Scripture’s warrior motif. We are not idiots; we are not goofballs; we are not boys. We are men of God. People do not understand the warrior motif that runs through the Bible like a stream underground. The ideal figure of Scripture is not a bureaucrat, a functionary, or a self-esteem expert. The ideal figure of Scripture is a warrior King.”

Wait…..what? Is he really suggesting that godly men ought to be warrior kings?

Suffice it to say, Jesus is the ideal figure of Scripture. Yes, he is King. There is even room to talk about Him as a warrior. However, that needs a lot of nuance. As I read my Bible, warrior is not the dominant picture of Jesus that I see. I can think of several descriptions I would use instead of warrior:  Savior, Lord, Suffering Servant, the Lamb that was slain, etc. Here is the bottom line: none of those descriptions applies to me. The closest I ought to come is suffering servant (small “s”), as I live out Jesus’ life with a basin and towel

I understand that men feel under attack in our culture. Yet getting men to believe they should all live out “warrior king” lives seems to be doubling down on a mentality that has enabled all kinds of abuse. Just an interesting side-note here: I’m writing this on the day when the Southern Baptist Convention released a significant report on sexual abuse in SBC churches. Issues like these are a black eye on the witness of Jesus that should concern all of us.

What also ought to concern us are the issues of pride, and self-sufficiency a warrior king mentality could bring, and the fractured society it would yield if all men (and women for that matter) ran around acting like warrior kings.

Is this not the antithesis of “give us this day our daily bread”?

Warrior kings don’t need to ask for daily bread, they just pillage and plunder. Asking is for the humble, the needy, the weak, the dependent; but not for warrior kings.

I might be reading too much into the “warrior king” idea. Yet, I believe it’s a cautionary tale. The warrior king motif directly appeals to the arrogance of our fallen nature. It stands as an example of what Jesus came to undo as He tears down our Babel edifices of human pride. When we mean the words “Give us this day our daily bread,” we step away from that pride towards a spirit of dependence on the one and only true King.

Neil Bassingthwaighte
National Mission Director

Prayer Calendar: Bombs Away

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neil bassingthwaighte

As I write this, a street in my neighbourhood is closed. The bomb squad is investigating. A university in the area also has all five campuses shut because of a bomb scare. You probably think I should move.

Bombs are destructive. They do incredible damage. What if that was not always the case? Imagine a bomb that could reorder matter for good; that could deconstruct what ought not to be, leaving what should be.

What if God were to take our prayers, which ascend to his throne, and hurl them back with divine power? A prayer bomb of God’s will, done on earth as it is in heaven.

The book of Revelation gives us so many great images. The problem is we don’t spend much time looking at them, because we don’t quite know what to do with this particular piece of literature. One of those images in found in Revelation 5:8, where we see golden bowls of incense in the throne room of God. In Revelation, John usually just relates what he is seeing. Yet here John gives us a brief word of explanation about these bowls. He explains that they are the prayers of God’s people. Is he making sure we don’t miss the point about prayer? That all of those fervent, and sometimes despairing, words offered to God are stored up before the throne. They are known! They are heard! They are precious! That is an awesome truth. Yet if that’s all there was to the story, it would end in disappointment.

It is not the end of this image, however. We see it again in Revelation 8:3-5.

Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

God puts prayer into action in a powerful way. Prayer Bombs! The prayers of God’s people ignited by the divine power of God destroying what ought not to be, and bringing about what God desires. Did you notice where those prayer bombs landed? Right back on earth. This is the image that always comes to my mind when I read the words in the Lord’s Prayer, “Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven”.

Do we really pray with this picture in mind? I suspect not. Instead, I often find myself in Annie Dillard’s famous quote:

“Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.”

I would say it’s us who need to wake up. God is at work, powerfully. He desires us to join him. We have the privilege of doing that in a variety of ways. One of them is life-altering, earth-shaking, prayer. Strategic prayer strikes from the throne room of heaven. Bomb blasts that will significantly further God’s plan of lovingly caring for, and redeeming all things. Do you want to join the bomb squad?

Neil Bassingthwaighte
National Mission Director

 

Prayer Calendar: Long Live the King

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long live the King

Scar menacingly growls out “Long Live the King!” as he hurls Mufasa to his death. This scene from the old movie, Lion King, uses half of a historic phrase.

The full line is “The King is Dead, Long Live the King.” This contradictory sounding statement marked the death of one monarch and the ascension of the next. The claim was that it helped sooth uncertainty by assuring the public of continuity.

We could spin the phrase into a metaphor for the work of Christ. Jesus also taught His disciples to pray: May your Kingdom come. May King Jesus truly be given His rightful place in our prayer this month.

So, let’s break this down.

The King is Dead

It’s always good to go back and remind ourselves of the basics. I don’t ever want us to be lax theologically. However, sometimes in our desire to get our theology right and explain it well, we lose our wonder. From time to time, it’s important to simply let the weight of what Jesus did drive us to marvel.

Use your imagination to be there, at the foot of the cross. Look up into the face of the Creator of the universe, the Lord of everything, as He hangs dying for you. Imagine the love that is evident on His face as He looks at you, His child. This cross is a manifestation of that love. He stepped out of heaven for you. He went to this cross for you. Although He rightfully is king, because of this love the kingship becomes personal. He has won our hearts. He has the scars to prove it. As the songwriter Brian Doerksen says, “My King has got scars on His hands.”

Spend some time absorbing that. Then let it shape how you respond to Him in word and deed.

Long Live the King

Thankfully, the cross is not the end of the story. Last month we celebrated Easter. For me, that is always one of the greatest days of the year. We celebrate life! Long Live the King is exactly the right phrase to express the fact that we have hope because Jesus is alive. Our good and great king is furthering His work, growing all that acknowledges His rule and reign. I was reminded of this the other day as I read the words of Psalm 93:

The Lord is King! He is robed in majesty. Indeed, the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength. The world stands firm and cannot be shaken. Your throne, O Lord, has stood from time immemorial. You Yourself are from the everlasting past…Your reign, O Lord, is holy forever and ever.

The king who is mightier than all, sits on the throne forever. If that doesn’t influence our prayer, I don’t know what else will.

May Your Kingdom Come

That brings us to praying for the kingdom to come. We could spend a lot of time talking about what the kingdom is. But again, I wonder if that might actually lead us away from the focal point of the prayer. Isn’t the main point to be servants and followers of the King? Do we pray for the reign and rule of Christ to grow in our lives and in our world? Are we grateful for the opportunity to be ambassadors for the King? Do we represent the kingdom well? Do our lives and our prayers align?

These are all great questions. I’m hoping that as we ask them, it drives us deeper into listening and communicating with our ever present King.

 

Prayer Calendar: The Name Game

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name game

neil bassingthwaighte

Recently in Alabama, President Trump scrawled giant autographs across the covers of Bibles.

Shocking? Hardly! Sad? Yes!

However, whatever sadness I feel does not come from the actions of the President, as much as it comes from the possibility of God’s people putting their adoration and maybe even their trust in a name other than the hallowed name of God.

We might be tempted to stand on our soapboxes and point fingers at the people in Alabama who clamoured for Trump’s name to adorn their Bibles; but we shouldn’t! We might be guilty of the very same attitude, even if our actions are different.

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he said, “Our Father, who is in heaven, Hallowed be your name…”: One translation says – may your name be kept holy. My concern as I read this phrase is twofold: we don’t keep God’s name holy, set apart, and secondly we raise up other names to take his place.

We live in a world that thrives on name recognition. Making a name for one’s self is a big deal (we looked at this last month). Companies understand how important it is for consumer confidence that you maintain a good name. As we play the name game, it is relatively easy to replace the one name that is above all others.

Psalm 9:7-10 says, “But the Lord reigns forever, executing judgment from his throne. He will judge the world with justice and rule the nations with fairness. The Lord is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. Those who know your name trust in you, for you, O Lord, do not abandon those who search for you.”

What an awesome description of God’s greatness. Did you catch that last part? “Those who know your name trust in you.” When we truly recognize God for who he is, our trust in him grows. Inversely, our need to find other names to laud diminishes. There is more. Out of knowing the name of God (putting him back in his rightful place), and building our trust in him, grows the bedrock truth that he will not abandon all who continue to seek after him.

This has huge implications for our prayers. It reminds us that God is always with us in the midst of our everyday turmoil. No one else walks with us in the same way. No one loves and cares for us as deeply as he does. No one else can do what he can. No one else has the answers that we long for. No one! I’m truly grateful for an abundance of wonderful loving people that surround me and care for me, but they are still human. They are not God and I need God. As our need for God – the one and only “set apart” ruler of the universe – grows; our prayer deepens.

Neil Bassingthwaighte

National Mission Director

 

Prayer Calendar: Tower Tipping

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tipping towers

neil bassingthwaighteAs I write this, I’m looking down on fluffy white clouds from an airplane window. On occasional flights, the landscape is visible and breathtaking. I especially like seeing the way a city lays, where the landmarks are, and how they relate to where I will be. It brings a lot of clarity.

When Jesus taught us to pray, He asked us to address God as the one who is “in heaven.” God has a bird’s eye view, and so much more. I think we can all agree this certainly speaks to God having the power, wisdom, clarity, and resources to listen to and answer any prayer.

If we truly acted on those beliefs, would it change the way we pray?

Here’s the thing: I’m not convinced that we truly believe God is “in heaven.” Well, maybe you do. But I have to confess there are times I don’t. If I did, I wouldn’t wait so long to pray about a situation. I certainly wouldn’t try to fix whatever the issue is before I prayed about it. Yet there are so many times when I find myself thinking “I got this.” God “in heaven” is an afterthought.

Genesis 11 opens with the Tower of Babel story. The human population at the time wanted to build a city and a tower that would reach heaven. The purpose for this was two-fold. It would keep them from being scattered, which was a direct violation of their God-given command to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth (Gen.1:28; 9:1). It would also, according to the residents, “make us famous.” Another translation says, “Make a name for ourselves.”

What is remarkable about this whole story is that they subverted the typical reason for the tower. In ancient cultures, building a tower was a common thing. Its purpose was to provide a gateway for God—or the gods if you were pagan—to step out of heaven and come to earth. Here, however, notice what is up. They have no desire for God to come from heaven. They want to ascend to heaven and make a name for themselves.

In our lives, we don’t build actual Babel towers, but maybe we live in such a way that we are doing the same thing. When we rely on ourselves and our sufficiency in an effort to build our reputation more than we build God’s reputation, did we just build a tower? Did we try to make a name for ourselves or reach heaven, instead of inviting the God of heaven to come into our lives?

Praying “Our Father in Heaven” prayers is a practice that enables us to tip over idol towers. It puts both God and ourselves back in the respective right places. It opens up a world of surprising possibilities that we could never have when we place ourselves “in heaven.” It also allows us to appreciate the things and people in our lives as good gifts from God as opposed to turning them into tools we use for our purposes.

As we pray together this month, may this reminder of who we pray to encourage you to keep looking to our great God “in heaven” and find your hope and sufficiency in Him.

Neil Bassingthwaighte
National Mission Director

 

Prayer Calendar: Our Father

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2019 0122 prayer

neil bassingthwaighteJesus gave his disciples a prayer. We call it “the Lord’s Prayer”. Since Jesus said, “pray like this…”, I suspect it is actually a model for us. Over the next number of months, I want to centre our thoughts on this model. I believe we can glean some good reminders from it.

The prayer begins with two simple words, “our Father”. Just two words! Yet what a depth of riches. We could spend a lot of time unpacking those two words. More than we have space for here.

Maybe the most applicable reminder that grows out of “our Father” is simply this; prayer is about relationship and family

When Jesus used the address, “Our Father”, he actually flipped the prevailing perception of God on its head. No Jew at the time was addressing God in such down to earth ways as “Abba” (word in original language). The overwhelming tendency was to address God with titles that would display his greatness, sovereignty, or glory. This title was a stark contrast that brought God close and familiar. I have often joked that we need a Grover-like understanding of God. You remember Grover from Sesame Street? He is the Muppet that made “far” and “near” famous.

He was trying to draw a contrast between the two words, but always used them together. I think we need to put them together as well, but not as a contrast. When we pray, we like the far aspect of God – he is big, bold, great, sovereign, over-all. We appeal to that because we desire God to act in ways that we cannot. However, we must hold on to the nearness of God. He knows us, cares for us, longs for the best for us, desires to be deeply involved in our lives, and even celebrates over us like a proud dad. We need this “near” picture of God.

I suspect Jesus gives us this picture because we naturally default away from it. We are fiercely independent. We are human after all. We really don’t want God messing about in the stuff of our every-day lives. We often turn to God only when things are too problematic for us to fix. And then…we want the big bold God who can soar in like Superman, not the close intimate one that shows up to care for us like dad. Yet, Jesus reminds us we get both.

There is one more aspect that I want to add in here. Its not, “my father”, although that would be true; but “our father”. We have the same father. We are family. In the family, we care for one another. Well, we ought to. Sadly, Christians all too often are outraged like the rest of our world, instead of being graciously Christ-like. Open Facebook or Twitter and you will see Christians screaming about the smallest things. Recently one pastor in the States got in trouble from some of his fellow pastors because his large church cancelled services one Sunday of the year, and he tweeted that the congregation should spend time worshipping at home with their families. The horrible assumptions and personal accusations that were thrown his way for this choice were ridiculous.

May it not be so among us EFCCers, please!  We are able to lift up brothers and sisters to “our father” and let him care for them in ways we never could. Let us make the most of the opportunity.

Neil Bassingthwaighte
National Mission Director