Wilderness Wanderings

“Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me” (Philippians 1:24-25). Yesterday, Pastor Michael reflected on Paul's indifference, even hope in anticipation of his death, but also of his commitment to life for the sake of the church. In today's verses, Paul dives further into why he is committed to remaining an active part of the church that God is forming among the Gentiles. Paul's reasons for staying include the church's “progress and joy in the faith” as well as giving them reason to “boast in Christ Jesus.” Now, if you're like me, growing up reading this passage and others in Paul's corpus of letters where he makes similar statements, you might be asking yourself, “Doesn't Paul sound a bit arrogant? Does the church really live or die by Paul's presence?” Perhaps you're willing to concede that Paul, significant character that he is in the story of Scripture, may be justified in such a claim. He started a lot of churches, had a pretty compelling way of talking about Jesus, and certainly was used by God in some remarkable ways.  However, Paul's confidence in the importance of his presence with the church is not rooted in his particular talents. He is not confident merely in his own gifts for the church, but the necessity of his role as part of the body of Christ as a whole. This means that the claims he makes about the progress and joy of the church, and the fact that believers can boast on account of him are words that can and should apply to any member of a church. We are likely familiar with Paul's teaching on this subject in a different letter, his letter to the Corinthian church, where in chapter 12 he speaks of the necessity of all members of the body of Christ: “Suppose,” Paul says, “the foot says, ‘I am not a hand. So I don't belong to the body.' By saying this, it cannot stop being part of the body. And suppose the ear says, ‘I am not an eye. So I don't belong to the body.' By saying this, it cannot stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, how could it hear? If the whole body were an ear, how could it smell? God has placed each part in the body just as he wanted it to be . . . You are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of it.” The reason that Paul is convinced that he must stay with the church to encourage its progress and joy, to give it a reason to boast in Christ, is because this is true of every single member of the body. Each member of Christ's church becomes an essential part of what God is doing in the world.  Are you as convicted as Paul is that you are necessary to the body of Christ? Do you go to church on Sunday morning, provide leadership as an office bearer, on a ministry team, leading youth of various ages, or volunteering in any other capacity within Immanuel or beyond its walls in the assurance that your presence makes a tangible difference–that it will lead to others' progress and joy in the faith, a reason to boast in Christ Jesus?  If your answer to this is “no,” read Paul's words again. They are as true of you, no matter who you are and what your role is in Christ's body, as they were of Paul, transformative leader that he was. If your answer to this question is “yes,” what are you doing to make sure that others around you are convinced of the same truth? We are Christ's body, and we have reason to remain members of one another and remind one another of why that is significant–for the sake of mutual joy and progress in the faith. For the sake of Christ and his kingdom. So as you journey on, go with the blessing of God: May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.  

“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body (Philippians 1:21-24). Thanks to Kyra for her wonderful series on “New Hope”. Now, back to Philippines. Our text helps us to accept our own impending death, a topic many avoid. Historically, people died at home, with family present. In many places, this is still the case. But in Canada, many die in hospitals or nursing homes, often alone. Their bodies are quickly moved to the morgue or sent to the crematorium, families not knowing what to do with death. It is the worst possible event for those who believe they have an inalienable right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. We cope with death by ignoring its existence. When I started in ministry, most families had a notion of what to do when a loved one died. Today, I often hear the question, “What are we supposed to do?” There are no cultural norms or rituals for responding to death. Preparation for it is avoided. Consider the effort put into staying young and fit. Into this vacuum, Christians enter with a different story. Paul is writing from his prison in Rome, knowing that execution is likely. So, both Paul and the Philippians are confronted with the specter of his imminent death. Paul is conflicted in this passage. He sees advantages both in dying and in staying alive. Paul has been saying, “Living well means seeking the glory of Christ.” This has been his motto since he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. When he dies, he will finally be with Christ and his sinfulness will no longer detract from his Lord's glory. As Christians, we believe that there is life after death, even the resurrection of our physical bodies. And that life is better than this one. Many people do not have this hope. To be with Christ is far better than to be here, says Paul. Do you believe that? When we do, it impacts how we live and how we view death. Paul's conflict is that he also believes the Philippian church still needs his service: “…it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.” He is willing to stay. He is willing to sacrifice his own gain for the sake of the church. He lives what he will later write, “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others” (2:4). Paul believes that continued life is a greater sacrifice than dying. Let me put it plainly, physical life or death are not of ultimate importance to Paul. Living means carrying out his calling to preach Christ and dying means gaining conformity with Christ's death and fellowship with him. He hopes for the outcome that will most clearly advance the gospel of Christ. This strikes us as strange if we have allowed the comforts of our present physical existence to have higher priority than Christ. Paul is astonishingly indifferent toward his own death. He invites us to take the same attitude. This is not, of course, to say that mourning is out of place for the Christian when loved ones die. The fact that they are with the Lord does not take away from our experience of loss. Tears are proper for believers. Jesus himself wept. We can face our own death with assurance, but not with indifference to those who will miss us. As you journey on, go with the blessing of God: May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever” (Rev. 22:1-5). Coming to the end of working through themes related to suffering and healing in connection with the New Hope program and hearing stories about our siblings in Christ in the global church, today we are going to talk about the opportunities for “looking forward” in community which are necessary to healing. In the final weeks of the New Hope program, we invite participants to complete two activities. First, we invite them to write down a source of pain, a sin, a situation or relationship causing suffering which they have reflected on over the course of the program, and write it on a slip of paper. We then burn these slips of paper at the foot of a wooden cross, with prayer and singing, choosing to surrender them to God. Having led the New Hope program over the course of a week in South Sudan, I was doubtful about its impact on some participants. There were three young women in my group who had not answered any of the questions during the week, had not eagerly participated in the rehearsal of the stories from Scripture, and had not engaged with me after the sessions alongside their peers. I had continually prayed for them each evening when the sessions were over, but I was not sure that the program was making the kind of headway it usually made. These young women had stories of tremendous pain–fathers shot dead in front of them in tribal conflict, young pregnancies as a result of sexual violence, and one girl who was living in a refugee camp in South Sudan having fled the bombing of her city in Sudan just months before. Could these stories and simple activities really have made any difference? On the afternoon we brought the slips of paper–and with them pain, suffering, and sin–to the foot of the cross, my perception of the way that God works was challenged. Girls were invited to give testimony of what God had begun to do in their lives that week. And what do you know? The three girls from my group who gave testimony to the others present, through tears and with thanksgiving to God, were the three girls I had assumed unmoved. God does not always work healing miracles for us to see. Others' healing, it turned out, was not about me. Us churchy people, perhaps especially leaders, are not always good at remembering that. When any one of us engages in healing, outreach, ministries of mercy–they are not about us. The people we serve will know our intentions very quickly. We need to have the courage to get out of our own way and allow ourselves to become channels of the Spirit. God will work; what is required of us is a humble acknowledgement of the privilege it is to participate. The second thing we do to wrap up the New Hope program is to engage with the passage from Revelation that we read for today: “On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” I'll never forget the time I led New Hope with an intercultural group of young adult Egyptians, western expats, and Sudanese refugees living in Egypt who, when they acted out this story together, and without prompting, interpreted the line “And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations” and began to take imaginary leaves off the tree and pass them to one another. This is indeed the beautiful work that is ours to do. When we begin to heal, by God's grace, we find the strength of the Spirit enabling us to extend that healing to others. And to recognize that we are part of a global and diverse church is to break down all barriers that existed in that room in Cairo, Egypt, but also in our community here in Hamilton–differences of personality, culture, ethnicity, race, nationality, experience–which led these young people to embrace the eschatological vision of Revelation and pull it into their present. May we too be compelled by this vision, arms outstretched, tree of life leaves in hand, offering friendship and belonging, healing and new life.  So as you journey on, go with the blessing of God: May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.  

“How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?     How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts     and day after day have sorrow in my heart?     How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, Lord my God.     Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”     and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love;     my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord's praise,     for he has been good to me” (Psalm 13). Continuing to work through themes related to suffering and healing in connection with New Hope and hearing stories about our siblings in Christ in the global church, today we are going to talk about lament. In the fifth week of the New Hope program, participants engage with the story of Jesus' crucifixion, and they hear the words of Christ's own lament on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus is quoting the beginning of Psalm 22, a lament which would have been well-known by the Jewish onlookers and similar to Psalm 13, our text for today. Lament psalms like these are prevalent in Scripture, particularly in the Psalter. In fact, individual psalms of lament are the most common type of psalm in the Psalter. As we've just noted, Jesus himself, in his death on the cross, affirms the centrality of lament to the Christian experience of suffering. And yet, even as the importance of lament is being recovered in some church contexts, we are still often uncomfortable with this practice. John Calvin loved the psalms and wrote a commentary on them, describing the Psalter as an “anatomy of all parts of the soul.” Yet, many churches today continue to be ill-equipped with liturgical resources for the practice of lament. Perhaps this is because lament disrupts the status quo evident in popular modern cultural scripts related to suffering such as “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” or “mind over matter.” In answer, lament psalms give scriptural testimony to the importance of allowing space for deep grief, fear, betrayal, and anger, and inviting God to meet us there.  On another note, the language that these lament psalms use, addressing God directly and inviting him into suffering or questioning his role in it, challenge another impulse common in our context–that suffering can only be effectively dealt with through medical or psychological interventions, and that spiritual and religious traditions are only for the seasons that things are going well or for the private lives of individuals, not to be engaged in the public sphere (something the church regrettably and often unintentionally confirms when we fail to engage in lament in corporate worship and allow it to translate into public action for justice).  In one New Hope group I led, a training for ministry leaders from around the world who were learning the program so as to be able to pass it along to their own ministry teams, one of the leaders confessed in frustrated tears to the group that they could not engage in the activity for this fifth week of the program. The activity involved writing a lament using four simple prompts: First, “Jesus, these things happened to me…” Second, “Jesus, I am/I feel…” Third, “Jesus, the worst part of this was…”  The fourth prompt was the most challenging for the leader because it then makes the same movement that Psalm 13 does in the last couple of verses when it says, “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord's praise,  for he has been good to me.” The fourth prompt asks participants to finish this statement: “But I believe (or want to believe because I've heard this about you) that you are…” This prompt indicates that lament is not an expression of the worshipper's own experience or personal desires exclusively, but always grounded in God's character and faithfulness. It's often the greatest challenge because, in the midst of deep suffering, it is only natural to wonder about who God is and what he is up to. What we came to together as a group of ministry leaders when we discussed our members' challenge with writing this part of the lament is that this final phrase is not simply tritely hopeful or falsely optimistic. Rather, it is an acknowledgment that the source of our complaint or our pain is something which not only offends and causes us pain, but it is actually an offense to God himself. The Bible's testimony is that the sin and evil which causes harm to God's beloved creation, including each of us, is even more painful to God. Thus, lament faithfully insists that God be who God has revealed himself to be.  If you'd like to try writing a lament of your own today, I'll include the prompts in the notes of the podcast. God is not threatened by your complete honesty about your pain. He chose to make known his character and promises to his people. So you can freely answer: How are you hurting today? What do you believe, or want to believe, about who God is? As you journey on, go with the blessing of God: May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors. Lament Prompts Jesus, these things happened to me: ____________________________ Jesus, I am/I feel ____________________________ (suffering, hurting, in pain, discouraged, desperate) Jesus, the worst part of this was ____________________________ But I believe (or want to believe because I've heard this about you) that you are ____________________________  

“And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, ‘If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.' Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, ‘Who touched my clothes?' ‘You see the people crowding against you,' his disciples answered, ‘and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?'' But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering'” (Mark 5:25-34). This week, we are continuing to work through themes related to suffering and healing in connection with the New Hope program and hearing stories about our siblings in Christ in the global church. If you haven't been following along with this series, feel free to look back to last Wednesday's podcast intro which will provide some context. “Go in peace,” Jesus said to the woman in front of him, “and be freed from your suffering.” I read these last words and look up, and I see the woman's shoulders shaking with suppressed sobs. The silent tears rolling down the young man's cheeks. Tears fill my own eyes. God is doing something in this room, and to say anything else, to add anything to Jesus' own words seems somehow wrong.  It is week four of the New Hope program, it's February of 2024, and I am gathered in a room full of my friends, most of them Sudanese refugees living in Egypt, those forced to flee when the war broke out again in Sudan in April 2023. A war that most of the world had, at this point, largely ignored for the better part of a year. A war which had resulted in more than 150,000 deaths of civilians through a combination of bombings and massacres but also malnutrition and disease resulting from lack of access to basic life necessities. The woman across from me, weeping, had escaped from Sudan and into Egypt the previous spring, having been held at gunpoint by officials, separated from both her older brother and the man she had intended to marry just weeks after the war broke out. The young man with tears running down his face escaped with his aunts, but neither of them have been able to re-establish contact with any other loved ones who remained in Sudan–at least as far as they know–since the beginning of the war. They face discrimination daily in their lives in Cairo, treated as outsiders by most they encounter. The group has just walked through the story of the bleeding woman and her encounter with Jesus through a visualization activity which ends with an invitation for the listener to do as the woman did, to tell Jesus the whole truth. To tell him their story. We paused for silence. Then the words of Jesus, “Daughter, son, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” They hang in the air in the room. “Amin, amin, amin,” a woman's voice says through tears, as though with the voice of the woman in the story herself, “bashkorak ya rob.” Or, in English, “Amen, amen, amen, thank you God.”  In my mind, there isn't any kind of exegetical work or systematic theology (necessary though those things are) that does a better job of explaining what Jesus does than what happened in that room that day. I think the invitation for us, in reading this story, is much the same as it is for New Hope participants. To walk through the story and allow it, allow Christ, to encounter us as we are.  So who are you in the story today? Are you the woman, struggling desperately forward, believing that to touch Jesus will mean your healing? Are you the disciples, skeptical of Jesus' encounter? Are you in the crowd of onlookers, watching in wonder or judgment? Are you being given the opportunity to, like Jesus, extend belonging and mercy to someone in pain and fear, desperate to believe who he is, desperate for transformation? No matter where you are in the story, it is for you, as are Jesus' words–to claim as your own and to offer to others: “Daughter, son, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”  So as you journey on, go with the blessing of God: May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.  

“And it will be said: “Build up, build up, prepare the road!     Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people.” For this is what the high and exalted One says—     he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place,     but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly     and to revive the heart of the contrite. I will not accuse them forever,     nor will I always be angry, for then they would faint away because of me—     the very people I have created. I was enraged by their sinful greed;     I punished them, and hid my face in anger,     yet they kept on in their willful ways. I have seen their ways, but I will heal them;     I will guide them and restore comfort to Israel's mourners,     creating praise on their lips. Peace, peace, to those far and near,”     says the Lord. “And I will heal them.” (Is. 57:14-19). Today, we are continuing to work through themes related to suffering and healing in connection with the New Hope program and hearing stories about our siblings in Christ in the global church. If this is your first devotional this week, and this doesn't sound familiar, the first few minutes of Wednesday's episode provide more context. In the third week of the New Hope program, we talk about barriers to our healing and in our relationships with God, others, and ourselves. We read Scripture together and do a drawing activity to demonstrate how we see these barriers. In one group, a young woman sat staring at her paper for the better part of ten minutes as the women around her created detailed images of the barriers they perceived in their own lives. When the time was nearly up, she scribbled down two words and showed them to the group: “sin” and “suffering.” “I can't figure out where one ends and the other begins,” she said. “What part of my pain is my fault, and what part is other people's fault. It seems easy for the rest of you to find the line, but I don't know how.” This young woman had suffered from several addictions and escaped an abusive relationship. She, like so many others in her circumstances, had been shamed by others into blaming herself for what she had experienced. She wondered aloud to her group whether God's grace was for someone like her. She had left her home country and run far from the source of her pain, but as is true of many in these circumstances, to escape physically is only to have one of many barriers removed. Today's verses from Isaiah draw us into the situation of the people of Israel post-Babylonian exile. Following closely after chapters which speak hopefully of God's redemption of his people from their captivity by a foreign empire, the later chapters of Isaiah, including today's passage, reflect a kind of disappointment among the people. They were free from exile but not experiencing the kind of dramatic restoration they had expected their freedom to bring. They were back in the land of their ancestors, but their holy cities had become a wilderness, and there were serious divisions in the community about pressing ethical issues. They had been forced to recognize the reality of their sin, as well as the persisting effects of the suffering inflicted on them in exile. Like the woman in New Hope, the line between their own responsibility and that of others was blurry. They had moved physically out of captivity, but barriers in relationship with God and others remained.  What is God's response in today's passage? He reminds them that he lives “in a high and holy place” but that this does not prevent him from being “also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit.” He acknowledges his anger at their sin, but promises healing, guidance, and restoration for mourners.  For God, the barriers that his people construct, whether due to their own sin or to protect themselves from the pain inflicted by others, like the young woman in New Hope, are not insurmountable: “Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people,” he commands. To those of us who live with–or watch people we love live with–the lingering effects of sin or suffering, and to those of us for whom the line between them remains indiscernible, causing us to wonder whether God's grace is wide enough, receive this promise to his people: “I have seen their ways, but I will heal them . . . Peace, peace, to those far and near, says the Lord.” So as you journey on, go with the blessing of God: May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.  

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day” (Gen. 1:27-31). For those of you who listened to yesterday's reflection, you will recall that Pastor Michael is away for the week, and so we are going to take a break from our progress through Philippians. For a few days, I'm going to walk us through a week of devotional reflections based on themes of a program called New Hope, which I participated in and led during my time serving in Egypt and South Sudan. If you didn't get the chance to listen yesterday, I invite you to go back and listen to the first couple of minutes to get a sense of what the program is and how it will shape this week's installments of Wilderness Wanderings. The first time I led the New Hope program was with a group of Egyptian women and girls. About half the group were employees of a non-profit serving unhoused children and youth; the other half were unhoused youth themselves. In particular, in this group, were several young girls who were teenage mothers. In an honour-shame culture like Egypt, a teen pregnancy has impacts often beyond what we can imagine in a western context. These girls did not have any family support system, lived in a shelter (one of just two I am aware of in the whole city), and were cared for by non-profit staff. In week two of the New Hope program, we read the story of creation together, including today's verses, and reflect on what the story tells us about God and about us. The three things about today's verses which resonated most with the young women in the group were the fact that they are created in God's image, that God gave them a task–to be fruitful and to rule, and that God called all that he created good. One of the girls, through tears, remarked that she found hope in God seeing everything he had made and calling it very good: “That,” she said, “is very different from the way that everyone else sees me and my baby. Is it really how God sees us?”  The verses we are looking at today are known in our tradition as the “cultural mandate,” humanity's God-given vocation at the time of creation. It might seem curious to some of us to start here. I've said I'll be taking us through a series on suffering and healing, and at the point these words enter the story of God, there is no suffering and thus no need for healing. But that's exactly why we need to start here. Just as the girls recognized so poignantly, the cultural mandate reveals how God sees all of us, all of his creation. Before we can talk about the corrupting forces of evil which cause suffering, we need to understand God's intention for creation. Before we talk about healing, we need to understand humanity's telos, the way in which we were created and what we were created for. Only then can we discern the reason that suffering impacts us in the way it does and, ultimately, the end to which our healing is meant to bring us: As the girls recognized, to the dignity of identity with the Creator, and the empowerment to participate as co-creators of life in all its forms. So as you journey on, go with the blessing of God: May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.  

While Pastor Michael is away for the week, we are going to take a break from our progress through Philippians, and I'm going to walk us through a week of devotional reflections based on a program that I participated in and led five times during my time in Egypt and (briefly) in South Sudan. Just for today, our reflection is going to be a little bit longer than usual so I can provide some context for this. The program is called New Hope, and it was developed by a team of licensed clinical psychologists and counsellors, church planters, and resource specialists in teaching Scripture in oral cultures, focused on multiplying healing in suffering communities.  Rather than taking us through the entirety of the program (not possible in short reflections like these) I am going to lead us thematically through elements of it, focusing on key Scriptures which illustrate the themes, and sharing with you brief stories of the ways that I witnessed healing through them. I trust that as we daily encounter Scripture and the stories of our siblings in Christ in the global church, we will experience the Holy Spirit drawing connections between their stories, our own stories, and God's great story, directing our attention to the way that our God works through his word and his church to multiply healing for the sake of his kingdom. Our text for today is from Gen. 45:4-8: “Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Come close to me.' When they had done so, he said, ‘I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt'” (Gen. 45:4-8). These verses come from the end of the story that groups tell together in the first week of New Hope, the story of Joseph–favoured son of Jacob, who is sold into slavery by his brothers, accused of sexually assaulting his first master's wife, sent to jail, interprets dreams for the king of Egypt and his servants, and is eventually released and put in charge of years of plenty and famine in the land of Egypt and its surrounding regions. Here at the end of the story, Joseph, second in command over all of Egypt, makes himself known to his brothers, who have appeared before him without recognition to receive food during the famine. It is a remarkable ending to a complicated story full of suffering in many forms. This part of the Joseph story also provides the vision statement for the New Hope program, a paraphrased version of the words we have just heard Joseph speak to his brothers upon the revelation that he is still alive. The goal for New Hope participants is that they would be able to come to terms with their suffering in such a way that they can truthfully say with Joseph, “Do not be afraid. You meant to harm me. But God has used what has happened for good. Not just for me, but so that many other people can be saved.”   Like Joseph himself at the beginning of this narrative, most people beginning the New Hope program are highly skeptical about the truth of Joseph's words to his brothers. Perhaps, in the midst of your own suffering, you are too. “Don't be afraid,” (or don't be distressed, in the version we read today), is how Joseph begins. Well, that's already quite something. It's the most frequently given command in Scripture, and perhaps it has been a comfort to you in seasons of suffering. But for others, maybe it just feels like an extra burden for an already difficult season. If you look closely at the contexts this command is given in Scripture, it quickly becomes apparent that this is one of God's instructions which is not necessarily meant to logically cohere with the circumstances in which it is given. For example, it is offered to the Israelites at the shore of the Red Sea, while Pharaoh's army is hot on their tail, by Jesus to Jairus when he comes to him with his daughter on the brink of death, and by Peter in his letter to churches scattered throughout Asia Minor and facing intense persecution. All of these people have good reason to be afraid, and the command is not a judgment of their fear, but an expression of God's heart for his people–that he does not desire their fear nor the circumstances that cause it. Thus, with this command, suffering individuals or communities are invited to witness in hope to something that is beyond their immediate reality. The command “do not be afraid” is not all that Joseph says. He goes on to insist not only that it was God, and not his brothers, who sent him to Egypt, but that he did so for the salvation of Joseph's brothers and the many others who received food during the time of famine through his leadership. Joseph is able to see redemption in his pain, and able to forgive his brothers because he has taken note of God's presence with him and his plan not only for him in the midst of his pain, but for others encountering suffering whom God has cared for through Joseph's presence. If Joseph's declaration is a difficult one to hear today because God's redemption of your pain still feels an impossibly long way off, I would draw your attention to Genesis 39. Just a few chapters before Joseph's words in our passage for today, three times (vv. 2, 21, 23), the narrator of the story notes that “the Lord was with Joseph.” This does not mean that Joseph was free of his suffering. He remained in slavery and then in prison. His circumstances did not change, but God was present with him there. And he is present with you. To trust that, and to trust with Joseph that God works for good, even in suffering, not just for us, but so that many might be saved, is not easy. For some of us in the midst of pain, it may be beyond our capacity right now. And that's okay. Your uncertainty is not a liability to God because he is not confined to what we can imagine. So do not be afraid.  As you go on, go with the blessing of God: May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.  

Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and God's provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:18-21). Yesterday, Kyra adeptly explored Paul's ability to rejoice in the proclamation of the gospel, even when that proclamation comes from impure motives. This rejoicing leads him to reflect on his current situation: imprisonment for the gospel. He expects deliverance by either of two means: release from prison or death. It doesn't matter which. Both are a good end if he does not bring shame to Christ. Is Paul being flippant about his life? Does his life have only marginal value? Not in the least! To understand this, we remember the first great commandment, “love the Lord our God will all of our being” (Mark 12:30). This includes our bodies. Secondly, we recall Jesus words in Luke 9:23, “whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Since he met Jesus on the road to Damascus Paul has been practicing this kind of life. He has been dying and rising with Christ. Daily denying himself. Daily loving God with his body. Daily facing death for and with Jesus. Daily experiencing Christ's new life. His life hinges on his Lord's death and resurrection. Having daily lived this kind of life, Paul is convinced that through the prayers of the Philippian Christians and the Holy Spirit, God will deliver him, either by release from prison or by death. Following Jesus, Paul has daily picked up his own cross—a thorn in the flesh, enduring suffering and hardship, bearing grief, tending to difficult relationships, repenting from sin. In this work of dying to self: relinquishing control, admitting weakness, grieving well, turning from sin, offering forgiveness and blessing to enemies—Paul has learned what it means to face death well. To face it, indeed, with hope and trust that the Spirit works to bring the new life and fruitfulness of Christ in every circumstance. As he writes in 2 Corinthians 4:10-11, “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.” That's how Paul lived. Paul knows the Lord may secure his release from prison. Even so, he will die soon. He knows that. He is an old man. But, since he has lived for many years, picking up his cross daily, dying to himself with Christ, and thereby, discovering the new life of Christ in his own body, he can rejoice. He has discovered that dying to self always leads to new life in Jesus. The future holds no fear for him: he will keep living for Christ or gain all the glories promised for believers. An old Christian tradition says that the role of the church is to prepare us for a good death. When we live for ourselves, life is always too short. There is never enough time to satisfy our itches. Death cannot be good. When we live for Christ by dying to self, then life and death are not so different. Then physical death is just another way of dying to self to be filled with the life of Christ. Do you live in this way? Do you already now practice for a good, Christian death? If not, you can start today. As you journey on, go with the blessing of God: May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

“It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice” (Philippians 1:5-18). Last week, Pastor Michael talked about the challenge of praying for and loving our fellow believers who frustrate or disappoint us by their words and actions. In the verses today, Paul adds a layer of complexity in being obedient to this command. There are some, he says, who preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, with selfish ambition and not sincerity, to stir up trouble.  Many of us have likely encountered people, whether in-person in churches we have attended, or in online ministry or other spaces, and discerned that perhaps their motives in sharing Christ with others are not entirely pure. We are regularly exposed to stories of the corruption of church leaders whose ministries are centred around ego and personality, and yet in those same places are congregants who speak about transformation, of conversions, baptisms, healed bodies and relationships, care for the poor and oppressed. What do we make of such collisions of beauty and brokenness? In the words of Paul in today's verses, I think we see a couple layers to the way we are called to respond. First, is the necessity to name what is wrong, to call out false motives, to bring to light abuses of the gospel message for the sake of personal advancement. There is a temptation to read this passage as a sort of “ends justify the means” approach to ministry, to ignore the twisting of scripture and mistreatment of persons through a misreading of the text which declares, “Well, Paul said that we must rejoice whenever the gospel is shared! Sometimes that requires us to put up with the consequences of bad leadership.” But before Paul's declaration of joy, he names the false motivations of envy, rivalry, selfish ambition, and stirring up trouble. He draws the church's attention to those who would presumably use the message of Christ in such ways, with the intention to put them on their guard, not to excuse their behaviour. This is the first thing Paul does, and to forget this has been, in the history of the church, to use passages like this one to sanction or turn a blind eye to much abuse. When he has called out the failures of leaders, Paul then gives thanks for the preaching of the gospel in spite of the falseness of those who have done the preaching. Now, how is it that he can do that? How do we ourselves follow this pattern without the mistake we have just identified? First, we need to examine ourselves. Rather than being too quick to identify ourselves as the Philippian church, subject to false motives of others, we need to discern our own false motives, our own twisting of the gospel to serve our own ends, and our own limitations to see how Christ is at work among those with whom we might disagree, those whom we might be tempted to “stir up” our own trouble for.  Second, we are called to develop, by the Spirit, a capacity to do what is at the heart of the gospel (but also one of its most challenging expectations): To live in paradox. To find redemption in brokenness. To anticipate resurrection as we contemplate the cross. To hope in the “already and not yet” of new creation.  To give thanks for a gospel message preached even with false motivation as Paul does in these verses requires profound spiritual maturity and prayerful discernment with the community of the church. It requires condemning and pursuing consequences for what is false and still desiring what is true, even when it means we have to do a lot of untangling to find it. This kind of work can be deeply painful, and so it is critical that we remember that to bring beauty out of brokenness, redemption out of sin, led Jesus on the road to Golgotha, to his very death on a cross. And so, as we do this work, we are not alone. And it is for this reason that we can, even as Paul did in chains and subject to the trouble-making of others, rejoice. So as you journey on, go with the blessing of God: May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.  

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is Acts 2:1-24, 37-47. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube.  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca Dive In! What image for the Holy Spirit was used throughout this sermon? Have you ever experienced this work? Pay attention for it.  What was the first thing the Holy Spirit did? Consider how your own heart is. The Holy Spirit led the first Christian community to devote themselves to four things:                         Consider your devotion to each one. How might the Spirit be ‘blowing' your devotion to deepen How might we as a congregation grow in devoting ourselves to these?  

Brothers and sisters, here is what I want you to know. What has happened to me has actually helped to spread the good news. One thing has become clear. I am being held by chains because I am a witness for Christ. All the palace guards and everyone else know it. And because I am a prisoner, most of the believers have become bolder in the Lord. They now dare even more to preach the good news without fear (Philippians 1:12-14). It is easy to become discouraged. We confront a constant flood of bad news. On the day I'm writing this, the opening pages of the Hamilton Spectator include these headlines: wildfires, two dead, cop killer trial, suspicious home explosion, a shooting, several other deaths, increased tariffs, more on the conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and between Israel and Hamas. Quickly our horizon becomes clouded with nothing but bad news. We begin to despair. This is nothing new. The Philippians had their own flow of bad news. This new little Christian community was already under threat and ostracized from their pagan neighbours. Now news comes that their founding pastor, Paul, is in prison. If Paul was jailed—would they be next? Was following this Jesus worth it? Suffering, or the prolonged exposure to the suffering of others, can lead to despair and difficult questions. Fear creeps in. Trust erodes. In beginning his letter with prayers of thanks and joy for the Philippians, Paul attempts to cut the roots of this hopelessness. Now, he addresses the situation directly. Yes, he's in prison. But, “What has happened to me has actually helped to spread the good news.” These chains are not what they seem. They have become an opportunity for witness—an opportunity to live in the humble, self-giving way of Christ. God is using these chains for good. Others have taken notice. Many Christians in Rome—noticing the impact Paul's imprisonment is having--are now encouraged to proclaim the gospel. They are willing to take loses for Jesus, the one who gave everything up for them. Hopelessness, despair, and fear can always creep up on us. It is easy to become discouraged. Ironically, these chains offer us a different story. Paul lives in the power of Jesus, has everything he needs in Jesus. He proclaims a God who knows how to bring good out of the bad. A situation in which hope may have eroded becomes a launching pad for it. Because Jesus is alive, Paul does not need to fear death. Because Jesus is alive, Paul has a good word of hope and life to speak, even to his captors. Paul had already lost all things in Jesus, what more could Caesar do to him? In that situation, Paul was free to live for Jesus with joy and thanks, despite his chains. And he brought an uncommon hope to all. This utterly unexpected, counter-cultural witness to Jesus in the way of Jesus, is what turned heads and empowered the church. These verses come to us to encourage us. As Paul writes elsewhere: nothing can separate us from the love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38).  And as Jesus himself says: “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” So as with Paul in his chains, let us take heart today and do not be afraid—Jesus is with us, no matter the suffering we face. As you journey on, go with the blessing of God: May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:9-11). Paul, having expressed his prayerful gratitude for the Philippian church and demonstrated how it is that believers are called to love one another in spite of shared brokenness, in today's verses records for the church the very words of his intercessory prayer for them. His prayer contains several elements—that they would grow in love and knowledge, be filled with righteousness, and that all of this would be to the glory and praise of God. He begins with the request that their love “abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.” Paul has already, as we have explored, expressed the mutual love between himself and the Philippian church in Christ. And yet, he begins with a prayer for a further increase in love, this time for the sake of discernment. The love that Paul calls this church to is not just a warm and fuzzy feeling. It is a posture of the heart which must also be accompanied by wisdom so that it may be expressed rightly through what Paul describes as “pure and blameless.” However, Paul's prayer is not only about right behaviour. He prays that the church will be “filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.” It is through belief in Christ's righteousness and growing love for him and for one another, as discussed yesterday, that their lives will come to display the fruit of righteousness in what is pure and blameless. Chapters 2 and 3, the theological core of this letter, will go on to talk more about what the righteousness of Christ looks like, so stay tuned. Finally, Paul prays that this transformation in the community in Philippi would be “to the glory and praise of God.” With this, Paul indicates that there is a relationship between what the church does, what we believe, and how we praise God. In other words, Christian ethics, doctrine, and worship are all connected. When one of these elements is disregarded or disrupted in a church community, we feel its impact deeply. We will see Paul address related challenges in the Philippian community later in the letter.  You too can likely testify to this in your own experience with churches you have been a part of. When we are not sure what we believe about God, it can be hard to make decisions about how to live our lives. When ethical questions are pressing and divisive within a community, it can be hard to worship together on a Sunday morning. These are just a couple of examples, and solutions are not simple.  So where do we start? Well, with Paul, we are called to pray for our communities, that we may grow in love and discernment which will instruct us in the integration of our worship, belief, and practice. And we remember that in all of this, Christ walks with us. It is his righteousness with which we are filled. And it is his grace which gives us peace even as we do this work imperfectly, recalling Paul's earlier words that we can be confident that he, Christ, who has begun a good work in you, in us as his body, will carry it on to completion.  So as you journey on, go with the blessing of God: May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.  

It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:7-8) Yesterday, we heard about Paul's joyful, thankful attitude in prayer for the Philippians. Now, it appears that he needs to defend these attitudes -- “It is right for me to feel this way,” he begins. Always giving thanks, always praying with joy—it does sound a little too good to be true. Have you met such a church? I have seen my fair share of ‘irreconcilable' differences between Christians. Let's think about our fellow church members. Can we say about all of them: “I thank God every time I remember you…In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy…I have you in my heart…I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus”? The more Christians we get to know the more challenging this becomes. We cut each other off in the parking lot. We cut each other off when voicing our opinions at meetings. We make light of each other's pain; we stay away from people in pain. We make rude comments about each other online. The church is full of sinful, broken people (just like you and me). Most Christians can name a few in their own congregation that have caused frustration, anger, or hurt. And Paul wants us to partner in the gospel with people like that? -- judgmental hypocrites, insensitive leaders, short-sighted fanatics, culture warriors, political partisans? It's often easier to strike out on our own: to another church, to another denomination, to be spiritual but not religious – do our own thing with God. The Philippian church was full of sinful, broken people. Paul will allude to some of that. And yet, despite who they were, Paul writes these words of thanks and joy. Knowing some might not believe him, he gives his rationale -- “Because all of you share in God's grace with me.” In other words, “When I look at you—when I remember you—I don't think of all the wrinkles and stains—the sin spots. They're not the most important thing about you. When I look at you—I see the good work of God. I see the saints—the holy people of God in Christ Jesus who have believed in Him and so have received His grace to cover all their failures and faults. We share in that grace together. We share in that fellowship and partnership in the gospel, together. We share in the bonds of Christian love, together. And because of that—because you and I are in the heart of God and he in ours—you are in my heart as well.” Love covers over a multitude of sin (1 Peter 4:8). Such love comes from God. Only when we see this grace of God in others, when we see them as saints because the Spirit dwells in them, can we come to love them as we ourselves have been loved. It is in recognizing and sharing in the grace of God that we can give thanks for our fellow church members. Only then can we hold them in our hearts. May our eyes be open to the grace and face of Christ in our fellow Christians and in the church.  As you journey on, go with the blessing of God: May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:3-6). As Pastor Michael mentioned in yesterday's reflection, it was common for letters written in the ancient world to begin with a formulaic greeting, including an expression of gratitude. Paul's thanksgiving sections, often longer than other ancient letters, contain an encouragement for the believers which is also exhortative in nature, calling them to continue to live according to the pattern for which he is expressing thankfulness.  In the thanksgiving section of this letter to the church in Philippi, Paul–who is writing from prison–pens a letter that New Testament scholar NT Wright describes as “overflowing with effervescent joy” and “sparkling with the delight of family affection.” Part of the occasion for this letter and its joyful tone is Paul's gratitude for the Philippian church's financial aid of his ministry, what he describes in today's verses as their “partnership in the gospel.” However, this is not the whole story. Although Paul expresses joy on behalf of the Philippian church, it was not without its difficulties. It was a relatively small church, started in a Roman colony without a sizable Jewish population like some of the other churches Paul founded, and it experienced significant persecution, some of which is detailed in Luke's account of Paul's own experience there in Acts 16. And yet, Paul expresses his confidence in spite of his personal circumstances and those of the community to which he writes that God's work, begun among them through his ministry, would continue. His gratitude is both an encouragement and an exhortation to the church that they continue in this pattern, holding fast to their hope. What Paul models for the church in Philippi falls strangely on our ears. Perhaps you have heard stories of the persecuted church in other parts of the world. Or maybe you have seen the headlines in the news, but couldn't even bring yourself to contemplate the details. Maybe, although we here in the west do not face persecution like Paul and the Philippian church or like our siblings in Christ around the world today, perhaps you feel some anxiety about the place of the church in your context, wondering how to navigate your conviction that Christ is King when many around you aren't convinced. Certainly, in my time in Egypt, in close proximity to the Coptic Orthodox church which proudly declares itself the “Church of the Martyrs,” and where close friends of mine faced the threat of authorities, I struggled to read Paul's words in today's verses. Joy, gratitude, and confidence are not a natural response to the suffering of Christ's church. It's not a natural response to our own suffering, and indeed, it would be inappropriate if our only response to suffering was joy. We must wrestle with and deeply honour the reality of pain which is not God's intention for his people. And yet, it is critical that we note that Paul's words are addressed to a community of believers, bound together in their suffering for Christ. It is this too, then, and not only their financial contribution to Paul's ministry, which causes Paul to give thanks for their “partnership in the gospel.” Their suffering, the suffering of the church today, because of Christ's own suffering, becomes a mechanism by which we find identity in Christ and are transformed into a community of those worthy of partnership in witness to the truth of the gospel. It is this reality which allows Paul to pray with joy for the Philippian church, and which in turn allows us to pray in kind for ourselves as God's people and for those suffering for Christ with whom we are united around the world.  So go forth as people of joy and confidence, people of steadfast prayer for the suffering, in the hope of our Saviour, for “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”   

“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all God's holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:1-2). Daily editions of Wilderness Wanderings are back for the months of June and July. At Immanuel, we have hired Kyra Schat to work as a pastoral intern for these months, and she and I will reflect on the letter to the Philippians. Here is a meditation on the opening verses. In ancient days, there was a standard pattern used to begin a letter. Paul used that formula, making slight modifications whereby he offered hints of the issues to be addressed. In these opening verses, there are two things to note: the phrases, “servants of Christ Jesus” and, “holy people” (or saints). Paul uses the first phrase to describe himself and Timothy. The word servant, better rendered as slave. There is an unmistakable undertone of humility and submission in this self-description. Paul, nearing the end of his life, has served many years as an apostle, planted numerous churches, and in other letters heaped up his credentials. But here he willingly names himself a slave of Jesus Christ; nothing more. He models a humility which later he will urge the Philippians to follow. Although Paul is God's apostle, set apart and called by God to his task (Gal. 1:1, 15), and although Timothy is an approved co-worker with Paul in this important service (Phil. 2:22), Paul refuses to mention these high qualifications. Instead, he emphasizes their common role as slaves of Christ Jesus. On the other hand, he gives the leaders of the Philippian church their appropriate titles of dignity. In this small way, he shows concern not for his own interests but for the interests of others (cf. 2:4). This stands as an example for all Christians and particularly for church leaders. Life in the church is not about advancement, nor the gathering of titles and honours. Not then, and not now. In our churches, the difference between elders, deacons and pastors is not one of status. None of us should minimize our place in the church because of our role; nor should we seek applause or honours. He names the Christians “saints”, referring to their status as the people whom God has called and set apart as his community. It has nothing to do with our modern notion about being holier than others. Rather, it's a calling to live our lives according to the pattern laid out by Jesus, empowered by his Spirit. This term reminds us that we are united with one another not by our own decision but by God choosing us to be his treasured possession (cf. Ex. 19:5–6). We tend to miss this in our democratic society in which the individual has the ultimate choice, many of us choosing which church to belong to. In reality, we are brought together in Christ's blood and called to follow Christ together. This greeting hints at Paul's main concern: Christian unity. One critical means of achieving it: humility, placing the interests of others ahead of one's own. We should not claim the privileges that rightfully belong to us, but look out for the interests of others. As you journey on, go with the blessing of God, keeping your eyes on the humility of Christ Jesus: May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is ACts 1:1-14. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube.  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca Does it matter that Jesus ascended? What did you know about the meaning of his ascension before today's sermon? What is Luke's main point in recording Jesus' ascension? What are the two characteristics of Jesus' kingdom included in our text? Do you see them in our church? What can we do so that we might see them more? What characterizes citizens of Christ's kingdom? Think about what you could say if asked. What does Jesus say is the first task of the church?

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is John 20:24-29. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube.  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca How should we read this passage? Has there been a time of spiritual renewal in your life? Have there been times in which God has renewed his call in your life? Have there been lessons you learned along the way? In the past, Peter insisted he would follow Jesus no matter what. How have you been like him? How much have you depended on your own ‘spirituality' to be a Christian? In what way has Peter changed? On whom does he depend? When Jesus calls to be his disciples he also calls us to serve with him. How will you respond to Jesus' call, “Follow me!”?

A Sunday edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is Matthew 9:1-8.  Today's service was lead by our Friendship Ministry. It is best to very the whole sevvice. Here is the link: here on YouTube.  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is John 20:24-29. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube.  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca Dive In Questions How is this passage often preached? How was it preached today? In this passage, we learn that God is re-_______ our _____________ as his church. People become part of the body through the ___________ of the ___________ __________. Do you think some people are more important than others? Is this the right way to think about folks in the church? Who has placed people in the church? What is more important than spiritual gifts? How will you live this out in this body?

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is John 20:24-29. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube.  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is John 20:1-23. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube.  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca What do you want people to be like? Do you want to be the same kind of person? What “influencers” have shaped your mind? What experiences have shaped you? Which “influencers” transform us? How does growing a seed compare to being transformed?

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is John 20:1-23. To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube.  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is John 19:28-37.  To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube.  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is Luke 23:44-49. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube.  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca What does darkness mean to you? What does darkness represent in the Bible? Which ones resonate with you the most? Do any of them frighten you? Spend some time this week imagining what the folks about the cross experienced in that darkness? What does Jesus mean when he says, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit?” How are we encouraged by this? Also, spend time this week mediating on benefits of Christ's death reflected on in Romans 8. Memorize the songs of Psalm Sunday and sing/speak them regularly.

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is John 19:28-37. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube.  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca Why is valuable that Jesus is physically thirsty? How does John introduce Jesus' thirst? What does this say about Jesus? What does it say about his death on the cross? Jesus was thirsty for water. But he was thirsty for more too. What was it? Do you believe this about God? How does it change the way you live?

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is Mark 15:33-41. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube.  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca DIVE IN QUESTIONS? What do you see when you look at church buildings or cathedrals? What two things are often represented by cathedral architecture? “Why do they focus on the awful way he died?” How would you have answered this question before today's sermon? What have you done to stop sinning? How do you think about sin? How problematic is it?  Have you ever considered yourself cursed? Jesus took our curse upon himself. What does the cross make you think about? It is an awful way to die; yet does it not lead us to rejoice? What does it mean that the curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom?

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is Luke 23:32-43. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube.  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca In this word from the cross, was Jesus just being a good son, or did he intend something more? Have you ever considered Jesus strange comments on the family? What kinds of things unite the congregation you are part of, whether Immanuel or another? Identify some things that draw our attention away from realizing our unity in Jesus? How can you live into the unity of the church this week? How will you be ‘the Lord's servant'? Do you believe that by his death on the cross Jesus dethrones the proud? Can your actions be guide by the hope that in the end all people will confess Jesus is Lord (cf. Phil. 2:11)?

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is Luke 23:32-43. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube.  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca What does Paradise mean to you? How did the sermon invite us to re-imagine it? Consider what ways you have acted like the folks around the cross. How do you see such actions played out in society today? What is indicated by the word ‘Today' as used in by Jesus on the cross? What happens when Jesus' touches us? How can the ‘Today' of the kingdom happen among us?

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is Luke 23:26-34. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube.  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca Where do we pick of the story of Jesus on the cross? What might it mean that those at the cross ‘did not know what they were doing'? Why is it so astonishing that Jesus comes to us with forgiveness? How do we usually approach people who have wronged us? Evaluate your response to someone who has done you wrong. What do thing think it means to forgive? Have you learned to practice it? What might be your next step? Forgiveness is not reconciliation. How can forgiveness open the door to reconciliation?

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)     Doxology is a fitting place to end this season of Wilderness Wanderings.  This will be the last of the devotions for a while—and certainly the last of mine (Pastor Anthony).  Perhaps Wilderness Wanderings will continue in time, but before turning to the season of Lent tomorrow, we simply give thanks to God for this good season of a unique ministry of daily devotions.   Doxology is a word that means “word of glory,” and in our usage as Christians, generally means we are giving those words of glory to God.  In the letter of Ephesians, this doxology circles us back to the beginning of the letter.  But doxologies are scattered liberally throughout the New Testament.   The word glory is scattered throughout the scriptures even more abundantly.  To name a few, we hear that God is a God of glory (Ephesians 1:17), his glory reveals who he is (John 1:14), God gives glory to Christ (1 Peter 1:21) and his people (Romans 2:10); Christians are transformed from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18); we are to do everything for God's glory (1 Corinthians 10:31) and give glory back to God (Ephesians 1:6). The new creation will reveal even more glory (Romans 8:18). “Glory” is one of those words that encompasses the whole of Christianity.  No doubt this is why the first question and answer of the Westminster Shorter Catechism says “man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.”   Today is the “fat Tuesday” before Lent—a day of feasting before the fasting that has more or less turned in popular culture to a day of glorifying ourselves and our worst desires.  Today is also the day of tariffs (or at least that's still how the news reads now)—a day when our attention is sucked up into politics and business as we struggle to understand just why exactly friendly neighbours need to be punching one another.  Today is also the final Wilderness Wanderings for a time—a marking of an ending of a season of ministry.    But here's the thing: no matter the day, no matter the news, no matter the grief, introspection, or self-glorification—each and every day is a day for doxology.  Why?  Because everything that Paul has written in the first three chapters remains true.  Despite American tariffs, is it still true that Christ has ultimately destroyed the dividing wall of hostility between peoples through his cross in his church?  Yes.  Despite our sorrows in parting, has God still blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ?  Yes.  Despite any self-glorification, is it still true that the most important thing about us is that we belong to God, having been created and redeemed to the praise not of our, but of his glory?  Yes.    The fact of Christ Jesus and his church, carrying on down through all the generations faithful and sure no matter what personal or global events raged—this fact is evidence enough of the power of God our Father, who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.   Join me then today—and every day—in giving glory to God.  In the good times and the bad, in plenty or in want, in life and in death—may God be glorified in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations.  Forever and ever.  Amen.     For the last time, go now with his blessing:   May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:17b-19). What roots and establishes us in love? As was said yesterday, it is Christ dwelling in our hearts through faith by the gift and power of the Spirit. This is our rooting and establishing in love. It is Christ's love that grounds us, embeds us firmly in the soil of God's reality, enabling us to grow. Established in the love of Christ, the journey of our lives now follows the trajectory of Paul's prayer: discovering more deeply what God has already given, namely, this love of Christ. This discovery is empowered only by the Triune God in the context of the Christian community. At times it is said, in rather trite ways, that it's all about love. Just love. Yet, trite though it may seem—it is also true. The love of God in Christ is everything.  Discipleship is a work of discovering this love more fully. It is a work of knowing Christ's love. Knowing not in a head-knowledge sort of way. Paul askes that we know the love of Christ in an intimate sort of way—the kind of knowing that comes through an unconditionally loving, committed, long-term relationship, like a good marriage. The task of Christian discipleship is to tangibly experience Christ's way of keeping this relationship of love with us, through things like his forgiveness for our failures, his commitment to us despite our foibles, his bearing with us in all situations, and his limitless gifts.  Of course, our knowing this love doesn't come only from our experience of relationship with Christ. It comes also through the “manifold wisdom of God” that places us in a church—a church full of diverse, divided, disagreeable folks—people from all walks of life, all different ethnicities, all different personalities, all different opinions, and social classes. To fully grasp the width, length, height, and depth of Christ's love—we must know that he also loves all these people; forgives them; is committed to them and gives his gifts also to them. Even though we may not see how to be reconciled with some of these gangly Christians—we must confront the fact that they too are rooted and established in Christ's love. We must confront the fact that they too have been reconciled to God and to us in the church! There are no longer any dividing walls that separate us, for Jesus removed them all in his cross.  To grasp the expansive love of Christ, we must face the reality of Christ's love for those Christians we deem unlovable. This recognition demands of us a deepening conversion to Christ: an ever deeper knowing of his infinitely expansive, unconditional agape love. Paul leaves us with a paradox here: he prays for a knowledge that surpasses knowledge. He asks that we might know something that is ultimately unknowable, or at least ungraspable by us finite human creatures. Yet in this journey of seeking to know the love of Christ that holds us and the church, the fullness of God slowly fills us up as we discover how truly established and enfolded in love we really are. For that, we need this doxology: Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:17-21).

This is the final sermon in our 2 Samuel series, and also Pastor Anthony's final message as a pastor at Immanuel.  The text is 2 Samuel 7 from the New International Version of the Bible.  Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection!  To see this sermon in the context of the farewell worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube.  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca  DIVE IN QUESTIONS 1. What stands out to you from hearing these verses?  Is God offering an invitation or a challenge to you through those words?  Take time to pray about it. 2. In what way was God hidden/veiled and mysterious to David?  In what ways can God be rather hidden or mysterious to us? 3. Given the ways that God is often hidden and mysterious to us, how do we often respond? How does this impact our prayers, how we make decisions, and how we do our work at home, school, or at our job? 4. Who is the story of 2 Samuel 7 about?  What do we learn about the main character here?  What good news is to be found?  5. How does this revelation of God change the way we go about our lives?  What does it call for in response from us? 6. How might that worshipful life of submission look in your own life this week?  

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (Ephesians 3:16-17).   The letter to the Ephesians is steeped in prayer. Paul begins with prayer, ends by calling the church to join him in prayer, and here in the middle, prays. As we discovered yesterday, Paul is on his knees in this prayer. It's a posture of humility, recognizing that God is both the giver of every good gift, and the most consequential actor and authority in any of our lives. Today we begin to discover what Paul is praying for.  All these big themes have been coursing through the letter about God's grace in Christ that creates the world, saves us, and reconciles us as a disparate humanity into a single, diverse, yet unified church.  Now Paul prays quite simply that we will have the faith to believe it's true.  That we will have the power, not to do great things for God, but simply to hold space in our hearts for Christ to dwell there.  Paul is on to something.  This is indeed the very hardest of things to do. It is easy to do great deeds for God.  Go on a mission trip, fund a building campaign, make a big and vocal stand on principle, start an organization, or make pilgrimage to a big Christian site, rally, conference, or retreat.  The extreme things are all pretty easy to do—we just go flat out, push ourselves to the end, and voila, there we are.  What is much harder to do is to simply believe. Our inner beings are often not strong enough to hold space for this Christ and this faith.  Our innermost being is most often filled with anxiety for the future, our children, our health, our work, the church, our country, and the state of the world.  Fear, cynicism, mistrust, jealousy, fears, ambivalence, regret, and despondency are far more often what lines the walls of our inner being than the strength of the Spirit and faith in Christ. So many of the things we hear or watch seem to suggest that this world and our lives are quite beyond hope or salvation.  How then can we rest in any assurance that all these good words Paul has preached thus far can be true? Left to ourselves, we can't.  Faith is a gift of God.  Paul knows this and so he cuts his proofs and proclamations short to get down on his knees and pray that the God who has begun this good work in Christ will see it through to completion in us.  He prays that our inner being might be strengthened by God himself through the power of the Spirit, that our hearts might be made ready to house a true faith in Christ.  Even more: to house Christ himself. Today as we read these words of Ephesians 3—we join that prayer.  May God indeed dispel the shadows of fear and mistrust within us, strengthening us instead to be people of faith in whom Christ makes his home.   As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:   Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)  

For this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name (Ephesians 3:14-15). Concerning prayer, there are two questions or complaints that come my way regularly: “I don't know what to pray for” and “My prayers are short, I think they should be longer.” My response to the second complaint is to shrug my shoulders saying, “Don't worry about it.” Then I quote Jesus who specifically said, “God is not impressed by long prayers” (that's my paraphrase of Matthew 6:7). There are a few longish prayers in the Bible; most, like the one our text is from, are quite short. In answer to the second complaint, I point people towards the Bible: read the prayers in the Bible as your own. Offer them to God. If you ponder them, they will fuel your imagination. Consider with me our text which begins “For this reason…” If you have jumped in halfway through this letter, this is your invitation to start at the beginning to discover what Paul is referencing. He has been exploring the great cosmic scope of God's redemption plan in Christ. Often, we limit this to human souls, suggesting that God offers Jesus as an escape route from this world. But Paul will have none of that. In the cross, God reconciles all people into a new community which we know as the church. This fellowship is the show piece of God's saving work, demonstrating his wisdom before all the powers of the world. Here are reasons for praise and adoration, for thanksgiving and delight, for petition and pleading. Then he says, “I kneel before the father”. Thus, kneeling in prayer has a good Biblical foundation. Of course, it is not the only posture given in scripture. Laying face down gets more press. But the actual posture is not of greatest import. What matters is the posture of the soul, heart and mind. We can start praying with any number of postures: anger, frustration, boredom. Yet, if we are paying attention to what we are doing, namely, addressing God, somehow prayer always brings us to our knees, the work of the Spirit, no doubt. When we address God, we tend to relax into submission. From this place of submission, we discover ourselves on our father's lap. He cares for us. He loves us. It matters to him that we are angry, or frustrated, or bored. He holds us until we come to that place of trust and rest again. We discover that despite the negative postures with which we have entered prayer, attitudes which often bring shame, our father has held on to us. He has not turned away from us. Soon, we discover that we are not the only ones he is concerned about. He loves all his people. So, we look around and see some rejoicing and we share our father's joy. We see others in pain, having been abused, bodies riddled with disease, carrying the brokenness their own sins have caused. We find ourselves grieving right along with our father. And we pray for them. We see his church hands raised in adoration, broken by division, puffed up with pride, indifferent to the mission given, and in other places carrying it out gracefully. Some of his children resisting the reconciliation of the cross. We feel his sorrow for these children. We petition and plead for the Spirit to sanctify; to descend in power; to do his work. We see friends and family running away from our father or indifferent to his invitations. From our place of submission, prayers for them leak out of us. That they would head his entreaties, that they would stop running. Before the father, we discover there is so much to pray for. And we conclude with, Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:17-21).

In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory. (Ephesians 3:12-13)   Today we come back to earth from the cosmic scope of the heavenly realms.  We are to understand that God's power is both displayed and is sovereign over the heavenly realms.  That is enough.  The rest of the story is here—in the manifold wisdom of God's grace displayed in the church by the mystery of the cross.  The church that God has made is not a flat uniformity where everyone is crushed into sameness, no—it is a manifold wisdom we see here: a unity in and of diversity.  This is the “peace” that has been made through Christ in the Church.  No one is flattened, everyone is reconciled.  Given all this—the fact of God's Sovereign rule over everything, including the heavenly realms, the fact of the cross of Christ that breaks down dividing walls and reconciles a disparate and diverse humanity into a single, colourful church, and given the fact that in Christ there is now peace between God and humanity and the possibility of peace between people as well—given all this, we can pray.  That's a lot of great and grand things to rattle off only to tell us that we can pray.  Was it really worth all the fuss?  That's a lot of planning and heavy lifting on God's part over thousands of years.  Is the point of it all just to get a conversation going? Maybe it is that way.  In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, there was nothing—all was empty and formless.  Then God spoke.  And when God spoke—all of creation burst forth into life and colour, substance and form, noise and light.  When God spoke: creation responded.  A conversation began.  The word of the King had its effect and did not return to him empty.  At least, not until Adam and Eve broke the conversation. Since that day—humanity has not always or even often responded to the words that God speaks.  Creation likewise has become tongue-tied and no longer responds with the vitality and goodness that it once did.  But God was not content to leave the conversation broken nor the relationship forsaken.  God spoke his clearest word in the conversation through Jesus—in human form.  He took all our ill responses, barbs, criticisms, jeers, and violence on himself and put them to death.  In his new life, a fresh start begins.  In our own experience we know that the simple everyday stuff of relationships and conversations can be the very hardest things to navigate.  We respond with hurtful words and actions, or ingest hurtful words and actions from others.  We puzzle about how to respond.  Mistrust, bitterness, cynicism, distance, and even violence form.  These are precisely the sorts of sins and breakings of shalom that Jesus took on himself and put to death so that forgiveness and reconciliation might result.  Paul, likewise as a minister of this good news of Jesus, takes these sins and sufferings on himself—putting them to death in the death of Christ he bears so that forgiveness, grace, and the good news of Christ might be seen and heard through him. As recipients of this grace, we are called to the same.  This is our glory: to enter the conversation with God in freedom and confidence because of Jesus, receiving the power of his death and life that reconciles us to him and others.  When we give or receive hurts or barbs in our relationships and conversations with others, we put them to death in his death so that we might speak a word of confession or forgiveness in his name.  Slowly, the conversation begins afresh.  Humanity and creation begin to respond to the Creator in freedom and confidence, and to one another again too.  Prayer is that foundational to our reality.  How will you respond today?  God has spoken to you.  Will you respond?  Will you come before him in freedom and confidence today?   As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:   Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)  

His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord (Ephesians 3:10-11). For many of us, when we think of Christ's work of salvation, we think of individual souls being saved. We think of personal conversion stories. But when Paul writes about the mystery of the gospel, he expounds on the church. The result of the preaching of Christ's unsearchable riches and mystery is the birth and growth of the church. Gentiles and Jews embraced the gospel, were converted, and found themselves joint members of the family of God and the body of Christ. The church is central to the redemption project of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It was happening as Paul wrote. The mystery that God revealed to him was taking concrete shape before people's eyes. And in this new community, this new multi-racial humanity, the wisdom of God was being displayed. People could see it with their eyes. Indeed, the coming into existence of the church as a community of saved and reconciled people is a public demonstration of God's power, grace, and wisdom. God's mighty resurrection power, his immeasurable grace and kindness, and his manifold wisdom were on display as people once separated by language, custom, politics and religion were forged into a new community through the anvil of the cross. The word for manifold means many-coloured, and was used to describe flowers, crowns, embroidered clothe and woven carpets. The church as a multi-racial, multi-cultural community is like a beautiful tapestry. Its members come from a wide range of colourful backgrounds. No other human community resembles it. Its diversity and harmony are unique. It is God's new society. And the many-coloured fellowship of the church reflects the many-coloured wisdom of God. So then, as the gospel spreads throughout the world, this new and variegated Christian community blossoms. It is as if a great drama is being enacted. History is the theatre, the world is the stage, and the church members in every land are the actors. God himself has written the play and he directs and produces it. Act by act, scene by scene the story continues to unfold. But where is the audience? The audience are the cosmic intelligences, the principalities, and powers in the heavenly places. We are to think of them as spectators of the drama of salvation. Thus, the history of the Christian church becomes a graduate school for these spiritual beings. Beyond this we cannot say much about what these spiritual beings are. We just don't know. As the creation reveals God's glory to humans, the church reveals God's glory to these beings. We cannot see them, but they can see us. They watch fascinated as they see Gentiles and Jews being incorporated in the new society as equals. Indeed, they learn from the composition of the church not only the manifold wisdom of God but also his eternal purposes. This purpose he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in the arena of history, through his death and resurrection, the gift of His Spirit, the preaching of the gospel and the emergence of the church. Who these beings are is not important. What is important is that we understand what God is doing. We must recon with the truth that the church is central to God's grand design for history. God has a purpose for the church, she is the showpiece through which he reveals his power, grace, and wisdom. And all who believe in Jesus Christ become part of this great intergalactic drama. It may not always appear that there is much power, grace, or wisdom in the church. But know this, God has no other plan. And he will work until all those rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms have bent the knee before the Son and declared him, Lord. Then this doxology will be complete: Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:17-21).

I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all the Lord's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things (Ephesians 3:7-9).   This passage undermines a common misunderstanding of grace in the Christian church. In fact, it reveals, that we have shrunk grace down to something that we can manage. But it does not belong to us. It belongs to God. So we must allow him to define what grace is, what it means, and what it does. For many Christians, we understand grace simply and only as something that we receive from God. It is limited to the forgiveness of sins and the “get out of jail free” card that permits us to escape this world into heaven someday. Its like grandmother's fine china: as a precious possession, it remains locked up in the china cabinet for display and safe keeping. But rarely does it take up a place at the dinner table where life happens. God's grace is much more than that. It enlists us. Paul was made a servant because of “the gift of God's grace.” The gift obligates and equips. Grace in this verse does not relate to Paul's salvation, but to his ministry. Through grace he became a servant of the gospel. Grace connects us to Christ and to each other, but it also enlists and empowers us in the ministry of Christ. Grace always brings responsibility. Paul alluded to this earlier, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith… For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (2:8a,10). In our text, we are told how it worked in Paul's life. Paul viewed himself as a steward of the grace given him. His ministry to the Gentiles was unique, but all Christians are to be stewards of grace. All who have received grace should extend it to others. This becomes the main theme in chapter 4, where Paul writes, “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it” (4:7). Peter puts it rather bluntly, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10). To receive grace is to be taken into its service. Grace connects, enlists, and empowers. It will not allow us to be passive, for it is God's power at work in us. Do we think ourselves not good enough or worthy enough to serve in this way?  Paul anticipates the objection. “Although I am less than the least of all the Lord's people, this grace was given me…” Paul says. He perhaps felt he should have been rejected because he persecuted the church, but God chose him anyway—a choice not based on his ability, but on God's grace. Anything he accomplished was a result of the power of God at work in him. What is the stewarding service that God's grace enlists you in today?  The answer is the same as the answer to the question of what you will do or did do today.  Nothing in this world moves or works without God's gracious gifts, provisions, and salvations animating it—these being “the boundless riches of Christ.” The breath we breathe is the breath of God. The skills, know-how, curiosities, and passion we deploy in our work, home, volunteering, and schooling are gifts of God. The world in which we live is his creation. In other words: everything you do is already knee deep in the world of God's grace. The only question is how will your life today reveal a God-attentive stewardship of all that grace?  How will the grace you've received serve his glory?  The fine china is already on the table: God put it there—use it!   As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:   Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)  

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text 2 Samuel 5. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube.  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca 1. What does home mean to you? What does it mean to be at rest? How these ideas used in today's text? 2. Why does David want to build a temple? Why does God say no? 3. What great things do you want to do for God? How do we sometimes get in God's way? How is God building in your life? In the life of our church?  4. When we get too full of ourselves and our plans for God, what should we do? 5. What does it look like when you sit before God? 6. What might deference, doxology and demand sound like in your prayers?

For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:1-6).   Most Bible scholars believe that, with verse 1, Paul intended to begin his prayer which concludes the chapter. But he interrupts himself to write about the role he's been given in God's great work of redemption. Because of this role, he has become a prisoner in a Roman jail. Imprisonment is no big deal for him, it simply offers a different venue by which to carry out the mission he has been given. Paul's role of administering God's grace is his concern in these verses. He calls it “the mystery of Christ.” This mystery is what all those saints in the litany of faith from Hebrews 11 were looking forward to. It is something that used to be hidden, but which now in Christ has been revealed.   This ‘mystery of Christ' has to do with these Gentiles (non-Israelites). What God has revealed is that in Christ these Gentiles are now included in God's great work of redemption.  That is, the work begun in and through Israel as recorded in the Old Testament.  To know what God is doing in Christ, we need to be familiar with that story. But, of course, the fact that the Gentiles were going to benefit was already known long ago. God had promised Abraham, “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3). So, what new thing did Paul learn? The very same thing that all of us learn at the heart of the Christian faith: that in the cross of Christ, all things are reconciled, including Jews and Gentiles.  When Paul says the word “mystery,” he very often means “the cross of Christ.”  When Christ tore down the “dividing wall of hostility” through his cross—he not only took the penalty for our sin and defeated death—he also joined once disparate peoples together.  In his cross, he overcame great divisions.  The people of God is now composed of both Abraham's descendants and everyone else who believes.  They all become “the church” together. In an age in which division perforates the church, it is important for us to hear this message of the gospel. The divisions we feel are not primarily about Jews and Gentiles (though that has recently arisen again as a point of contention)—but about politics, ethics, and national identities.  But no matter ones' politics, ethics, or national identities—all those who come to Christ in faith are nevertheless made into one body.  Through the gospel of the cross of Christ, we all become “heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.” We are, therefore, to live unity. We are not asked to like other Christians, to be like them, or agree with them—but simply to recognize that humbling fact that we are one with them as sharers of the same Lord and the same benefits. This is indeed a great mystery.  But it is the mystery of the cross, the mystery we have been given.  May God's kingdom come and will be done—even in this, on earth as it is in heaven.   As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:   Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)  

In Christ Jesus the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit (Ephesians 2:21-22). What images come to mind when you hear the word ‘church'? For many, it's a building, such as the one at 61 Mohawk Road West, Hamilton, where the Immanuel congregation, which I pastor, gathers to worship God on Sundays, where we go for mid-week ministries and meetings. After all, we often refer to such a building as ‘our church'. We invest ourselves into that building and the things that happen there. Time, money, talents are all committed to ensure that things continue to run as smoothly as possible. For others, the word church summons up images of people. The ones who sit around us on Sundays. Those that we have become friends with over the years, maybe some we grew up with. Some have walked with us in tough times. Others were our teachers in spiritual things. They nurtured our faith; they helped us grow as Christians. Yet for others, church conjures up difficult images. Disappointment from being neglected in a time of need. Rejected because we walked away at one time. Shame for not measuring up. Or deep hurt from being used or abused by those in authority. Though it may seem all put together on the outside, often the church has dark stains hiding underneath the carpet. Such are the things that the word church suggests to us. Yet in today's text we are invited to view the church from a different perspective. To see what lies behind the building, beyond the people, deeper than the dark stains that deeply damage the church's witness. We are often tempted to believe that our time, talent, and treasure are what hold the church together and keeps her going. As useful and necessary as these are, it is Christ Jesus that binds and sustains the church. It is not primarily the preachers that bring in the people, it is Jesus. It is Jesus who builds his church. Even though we will continue to say, ‘my church', and ‘your church', we must recognize that these phrases are inaccurate. The church, the congregation, does not belong to us, nor to the pastors. People may come and go from our fellowship and church buildings will continue to be built and sold for other purposes. Despite the apparent transitory nature of things, Christ holds his church together. In our text, notice that we Christians are not doing anything. All the action belongs to Christ, and to God. The church is not primarily what we do, but what God does to us and for us, she is the grand work of God. Five passive verbs are used to tell us how we get included in the action: we are brought near (13), the Spirit gives us access (18), we are built upon the foundation (20), we are joined together (21), we are built together (22). When we are pulled into the action, it is God who pulls us in. Already now, despite all our imperfections and distorted power plays and wrangling over the most minor issues, we are being gathered as the temple of God; the Holy Spirit already lives within the church.  The church is much more than what meets the eye, it is more than the building and more than the people. It is the work of Christ, who is ‘growing up' a people who worship him, a people who are learning to follow his Word and Spirit, a people who increasingly live under the sway of his kingdom. People who are not static, but people who are maturing, who begin as acorns and grow to be oak trees. It is not our actions but God's that are most important in the church. There is far more to the church then what we see. Like an iceberg, we only see the tip. We see the people, the buildings, the programs, but underneath, far larger and for more important and influential is the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The church is not a building. Rather, we are the building material Christ is using to build his church. It is the place where God welcomes us home. Next time you hear the word church, imagine that. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21).

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. (Ephesians 2:19-20)   If you recall from last week, Paul reminded these gentiles in Ephesus of how they were once defined by all the things they were not: “Not-Jews” “Uncircumcised.” “Separate from Christ.” “Excluded from citizenship.” “Foreigners to the covenants of the promise.” “Without hope.” “Without God in the world.”  Seven negative identity markers covering all the things that the Ephesians were not.  How many of us define ourselves this way—by our deficiencies, by what we are not or by what we do not have?  “Not skinny enough.”  “Excluded from the property market of our peers.”  “Not part of the group.”  “Don't belong.”  “Not enough money.”  “Not what she has.”  “Not what he can do.”  “Not happy.”  “Without the right job.”  Many of us do this.  It is much easier to see what's lacking in our lives than to see all the things we do, in fact, have. How many of us define our experience of church the same way?  By what it isn't?  “Not welcoming enough.” “Not my style.” “Not progressive enough.” “Not conservative enough.” “Not loving enough.” “Not serving enough.” “Not enough money.” “Not enough volunteers.” “Not the right programs.” “Not diverse enough.” “Not doing enough.” “Without all the people who used to attend.” “Without hope.” Our eyes get good at seeing the things we pay attention to.  And what we human people tend to pay the most attention to are all the things that aren't there.  The things that should be better, fuller, faster, more pleasing, and more aligned to our values, but aren't.  As Christians, this simply is the wrong way to see the world.  It is an immature way of using our capacity of attention. Paul will have none of it.  In Jesus Christ, neither we nor the church are defined any longer by what we are not, but instead, by what we are.  We are defined by what he has made us to be.  So Paul now begins rattling off the positive identities we have received in Christ through the peace and salvation he has given.  We are “fellow citizens.” “With God's people.” “Members of his household.” “Built on the foundation of those faithful ones who have gone before throughout the generations, including Jesus Christ himself.”  We are to train our attention on the unseen things, yes.  But not the unseen things that are missing.  Our eyes are to be trained for the unseen things that are there: reality as it really is.  Like a Holy Spirit stirring about, forming Christ in us.  A God who has always provided and will continue to do so out of his Creation of abundance.  A living Lord who beckons us to see his gifts that are abundantly more than all we could ask or imagine.  If we are to live Christian lives, we need to know who and what we are, not what we aren't.  And we need to know what the church is too, rather than what it isn't.  The church is the place where we citizens of God's household and Kingdom gather to train our eyes to see the unseen reality of a living God at work, making us ever more fully into who we already are in Jesus Christ: giving us every good gift with which to bless this world along the way.   As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:   Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)

He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit (Ephesians 2:17-18). Jesus is our peace. He has done it. He has destroyed the barriers and dividing walls of hostility, putting them to death in his cross. And not only the barriers that stand between us people who are often harboring hostile feelings toward one another—but also the barriers between us and God. In his flesh, he has forged all of us into one single, new humanity, and reconciled us to God through the cross.  Through our Prince of Peace, we have been brought near both to God and to one another—no matter the diversity or hostility that might still separate us. Foreigners and citizens, Catholics and Protestants, estranged family members, folks with differing political leanings—no matter: all who are in Christ have been made one and the most significant word about our relationships is spoken by him— “Peace.” This peace is a grace God has worked into us. Our calling is to work it out in our daily living. That is why later we read about lifestyle, words and actions—working this peace into our lives till it becomes natural. Jesus does not force us into this peace. He comes and preaches it. Offers it. And like a Sunday sermon—no one is obligated to take it, agree, or do anything with it. Jesus will not coerce us into working out what he has worked in by his grace. Otherwise, it wouldn't be grace, just another form of slavery. Remember that Jesus did not create peace in Jerusalem by overthrowing the Roman occupiers and taking control of the city, enforcing his kingdom and its peace on the population. Rather, he created peace by taking all their violence and hostilities upon himself as they cursed, condemned, whipped, and crucified him. In Luke's telling, Jesus weeps over Jerusalem, saying “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes” (Lk 19:42).  But note what Jesus did do: he came to Jerusalem and preached his kingdom of peace. They rejected it and killed him. But peace was made all the same—it happened through the cross, through the putting to death of these hostilities. And on the other side—the possibility for a new, peace-laden resurrection life. Jesus again came and preached his kingdom of peace, even to those who had betrayed and abandoned him. Jesus continues to come preaching peace to all, both far away and near, offering his new life. The peace of Christ is on offer. Will you accept it? If we receive and believe that Jesus really has accomplished a peace between God and us and everyone else—then by the Spirit, the working out of this peace that has been worked in will transform us and all our relationships.  And, because the source of this peace is in Christ, it is an inexhaustible gift. It continually flows from his life into our lives through the power of the Spirit, and from us into the lives of others—enough of it always, to cover every new hostility and division. As Isaiah puts it in some of our favourite Advent verses: “Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end” (Isaiah 9:7). Hard to believe. Certainly. But listen: God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us. Glory to God in the church! Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus! Glory down all the generations! Glory through all millennia! Amen (Ephesians 3:20-21 MSG).

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. (Ephesians 2:14-16) Can Christians claim to be people of peace? Some say that Christians are the problem, having created many conflicts. From the crusades to colonial campaigns, from the bloody religious wars during the reformation to residential schools in recent memory—we Christians have little track record to draw on when it comes to peace. It's true that in many places and times, Christians have not been agents of peace and reconciliation. Not even in our own lives. Today is Valentine's Day. Even for many Jesus' followers, it's a bitter and lonely day. Broken relationships and divorce litter our families too. How often have you or I not added bricks to the walls of hostility that divide us from others? Even our efforts at good produce unintended harms more often than we would like. Can we say anything when it comes to peace? Are we just as much part of the problem as the next person? But if we, followers of the Prince of Peace, cannot talk about peace, who can?  It is an important question. Violence continues to erupt all around us, embodied in wars in Gaza, Ukraine and many other places. Can we speak peace into these situations, tainted though our actions have been? Can we speak a word of reconciliation—of forgiveness or confession—among relationships that are broken and breaking, even though we ourselves have helped fortify walls of hostility? When it comes to these questions, Paul helps us out. At the beginning of this chapter, he reminds us that left to ourselves, we are dead in our transgressions. Our history is littered with sin, discord, and division.  Thankfully however, peace does not begin with us. It begins with God. Christ accomplishes it. He is our peace. He is the one who tears down the dividing walls of hostility and destroys the barriers. He is the one who unites deeply divided ethnic groups into one new humanity within his church.  And he does it through his cross where all the hostilities we can muster are put to death—whether the hostilities of our past, present, or future. All of them die in the death of Christ on the cross. His victory over human hostility is total. None of it survives, such that what remains, is peace. The peace he gives, he gives freely to all, as a gift of this new resurrection life. This is the reality in Christ which will be seen fully at his second coming. For now, though, amidst the continuing hostilities of our lives and world, take heart that we Christians can still speak of peace. The way we do it is not by pointing to ourselves, but to Jesus—reminding ourselves and others that “he is our peace.” Of course, we must do so with humility. Confession and repentance are also requirements. For if Christians will not humble themselves in confession and repentance, who will? Where Jesus' resurrection life is present among us, glimpses of that peace shine through. As you journey on, go with the blessing of God first given in this letter: May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)—remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:11-13)   Wilderness Wanderings will be wrapping up soon as I (Pastor Anthony) take a call to Orillia.  So: in these final installments, we will be reflecting on the letter to the Ephesians—particularly those verses that lead us into Paul's prayer from the end of chapter 3. In some ways, the verses from today's text are a repeat of the verses that began the chapter where Paul wrote “you were dead in your transgressions and sins.”  Paul begins with the past tense in both places to heighten the contrast: because in Christ, things look a lot different! The point Paul was making at the beginning of the chapter was about death and life, sin and salvation.  But now he begins to work his way into the implications—what does it mean to practice this resurrection life we've been given?  Firstly, it means working out the grace that God has worked into us.  That's what the verses before this describe.  But it also comes with a change in status and relationship. Here Paul comes with a litany of things that the Ephesians were and weren't before Jesus entered the picture:  “Gentiles.”  “Uncircumcised.”  “Separate from Christ.”  “Excluded from citizenship.”  “Foreigners to the covenants of the promise.”  “Without hope.”  “Without God in the world.”  Of course, what one realizes is that this list only makes sense from the point of view of an insider to all these things, that is, a Jewish person.  Pious Jews were accustomed to praying a daily prayer of thanks to God for not being created as a gentile.  The Temple courts, likewise, were divided into inner and outer courts.  One for gentiles on the outside, and one for Jews on the inside.  Gentiles could not pass through the dividing wall on the penalty of death.  Warnings were posted in Greek and Latin to make sure they knew.  Hostilities ran hot between insiders and outsiders.  As they did at some level between many different ethnic groups. But here's the thing—Jesus tears down all these ethnic hostilities and barriers.  He strips these believing gentiles of all their former disqualifications.  Not only that, he has the audacity to bring these gentiles who were once far away—not just into the inner court, but into the very presence of God!  He tears the veil to the Holy of Holies and by his own blood, invites them right in!  This is not merely an interesting point of ancient history or Biblical research.  It is emblematic of something much deeper.  In his cross, Jesus shatters all ethnic and national boundaries inside his church.  Not just then, but also today.  And not firstly by giving courses on EDI or anti-racism to tell us of our biases or how to treat one another.  No, it begins more subversively than that.  Jesus begins simply by bringing those who were once far away, near.  Near enough that we all have to encounter one another and contend with the fact that we're all now siblings of the same saved family on the same basis: faith in Jesus. Together in the presence of Jesus, stuck now with hated enemies, immigrants, and foreign outcasts who have become our sisters and brothers: this is where transformation into the life of resurrection begins.  Will you submit to the encounter?    As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:     May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.

For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart (Hebrews 12:2b-3). What images come to mind when you hear (or read) the name ‘Jesus'? A little lad hanging onto his mother's leg in the marketplace, unnerved by all the noise, smells and people? A teen learning trades from his father? A dusty-footed traveller wandering the paths of Judea and Galilee followed by a gaggle of uncomprehending disciples? A preacher sitting in a boat? A feeder of thousands? A healer of the sick? A shepherd of his flock? An innocent person, arrested, tried and crucified? Or resurrected appearing to his bewildered disciples who in hiding? All valid images. All valid portraits of Jesus, our Lord and Saviour. But coming towards the end of his letter, our author wants us to see something different, to focus our attention not on Jesus' humiliation, but on his glory. Not because his humiliation was not important, nor because it doesn't have great value for our faith and life and contemplation. He draws our attention to the truth that Jesus was able to endure all these humiliations because he knew that at the end of the race there was joy. What joy? The joy of redemption of course, not his own but ours. In Luke 10, Jesus sees Satan fall from heaven and is filled with joy, while in Luke 15, when Jesus tells stories of the lost being found, the finders are all filled with joy. Those finders represent God in the parables. Jesus was willing to endure the agony of humiliation, suffering and death because he knew that this was the road to bring us and the entire cosmos back into communion with God. And because he finished his race, shouldering the humiliation, he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. It is this final image of Jesus in his glory and power that our author draws to our attention now. Jesus is the firstfruits of the new creation, he is the guarantee that we will be glorified too. We have a whole crowd of witnesses cheering us on, but it is not to them that we should look. No, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus. He is the prize. We see him, there, on the throne, nail scarred hands, sword pierced body, the crown of glory not hiding where the thorns pierced him. In his encouragement to us not to grow weary or lose heart, our author does not point us to the great cloud of witnesses, but rather to this one. But it is not his battle wounds that draw our attention, its his joy. The joy that radiates from his face draws us on. Today, we might struggle. Today, we might be weary of the bills that need paying. Today, we might be weary of the brokenness we feel in our hearts and see in the lives of others. Today, we might be burdened with the endless slaughter of innocents in our world. Today, we are called to self-denial and humility, to sacrifice, to resisting the world and self even unto death. Dying is the way of the disciple. Jesus would not have us ignore all that. But his joy draws us forward, it keeps us in the fight. It keeps us doing the right thing in the right way, just like Jesus did. His joy enables us to suffer for his cause today. His joy tells us that someday, we will be enveloped in that joy. Someday, all of creation will be filled to overflowing with that joy. For now, we look at Him, we hear him speak, we do what he says, we follow where He leads, we trust he will provide. Looking to him and his love, till our hearts burn with it. We see him beckoning us on. His eyes are fixed on us, radiating joy, delighting in us. He is drawing us to himself, leading and perfecting our faith, changing us into his likeness from glory to glory. As you journey on, go with the blessing of God first given in this letter: Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. (Hebrews 12:1-2a)   Peer pressure is a thing.  So is personal determination.  The author of Hebrews draws on both, cheering us on to faith in the race of life. Of course, peer pressure and personal determination can also undercut faith when they run the wrong way.  For instance, while there are many benefits of strong Christian institutions—there can also be drawbacks.  A common story in the Christian schools is one where a group of friends pushes the limits of acceptable behaviour when it comes to bullying or partying.  They look around at one another and encourage one another on: I won't tell if you don't tell.  We're all good Christians here, and aren't Christians permitted to be strong, have fun, etc.?  As one group begins to push the boundaries of what constitutes acceptable Christian character and behavior, others follow suit.  This is a negative form of Christian witness: a witness that erodes character, perseverance, and faith among the community of believers.  I ought to add that it does not just happen at school.  Our personal determination can also flag.  It is exhausting to fight for the good against the wrong, to take personal stands of integrity against issues, whether big or mundane, not to mention the quieter internal battles against sin and despair.  Our resolve can be cut short in a thousand ways: some of us have strong internal critics that hamper our confidence in stepping forward in faith, others of us are worn out, grieving, or discouraged, others still are impacted by the seasonal blues.  Great athletes tell us that endurance and perseverance in a long race is ultimately about the mental resolve to keep going and push through.  There are many reasons that's hard to do, even more so when the peer pressure we feel invites us to consider giving up. Enter the book of Hebrews.  Over chapter 11, we have been reminded that our lives participate in a much longer and larger story: the story of God in, through, and among his people.  It is the story of Creation.  The story of Able, Noah, and Abraham.  The story of Sarah and Rahab.  It is ultimately the story that culminates in the good news of Jesus—his birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension.  We await the end of the story at Jesus' second coming to set all things right and make all things new.  But until then we participate in the story by living our own lives of faith. As we do, the writer invites us to listen to the cheers of those who have gone before us.  We have a larger community than just those who surround us at school, work, or in our friend group.  It is none less than Abraham and Sarah cheering us on from the crowd, together with all sorts of lesser known saints—perhaps even some of those that you have known from this life.  Those dearly loved ones of ours who ran the race before them—faults, foibles, and faith all wrapped together.  They cheer us on, encourage us, and continue to speak to us through their example of how to fight the good fight and finish the race.  That's the kind of peer pressure we need—a positive pressure that carries us forward through hard times and hard choices of personal character and integrity that keeps Jesus ever in the fore. We are not to look at how difficult the race is, how loud the voices to give up and give in are, nor how limited our own resources and desire to keep going.  Instead, we are to keep our head up and our eyes trained on Jesus.  This, we are told, is enough.  Because Jesus is not just the one we run to.  No: he also run this race and by his help we are enabled to run it to.    As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:   Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.  

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect (Hebrews 11:39-40). The whole book of Hebrews has been heading towards the conclusion of this chapter. The Old Testament saints had something, but we have something better. They received a promise, but we have received what God promised to them. They received some small promises, such as the land God promised to Abraham and descendants too many to count. But the main promise they did not receive. But to fully grasp our author's intent, we need peek ahead. After this we read, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles…In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood” (12:1, 4). Its about our struggle against sin. The letter begins with Jesus, who “after he had provided purification for sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven” (1:3). This great promise of Jesus Christ, his redemption and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the better promises of the better covenant, the saints of old did not receive. They died in faith, not having received the promises, only seeing them from afar. Yet, in faith they struggled against sin. But our resources for that struggle are far superior. Our author uses two words to describe the new covenant in Christ: better and perfect. The word “better” occurs 13 times in this letter. Jesus has inherited a better name; he has brought us a better hope; he is the deposit of a better covenant presented in better promises sealed with his blood; in Him we have the better country, a heavenly one. To them God spoke through the prophets; to us through his Son. To them he offered the rest of Canaan; to us the rest of God. Their high priest was a man who died; ours is a priest for.ever. Their sanctuary was on earth; ours is the true sanctuary in heaven. Their sacrifices did not bring cleansing; the sacrifice of Jesus makes our hearts new by the Spirit; even our consciences are cleansed. They worshipped before an earthly tent; we have access into the very presence and love of the Father. God has indeed provided something better for us: the blood of Jesus and his continuing presence through the Holy Spirit. The better thing God has provided is summarized in the word perfection; a term used 14 times. It comes from the ancient Greek term for "purpose" or "end." It does not mean sinless, even though that is on the horizon. It refers to God's ultimate plan and purpose for us which is accomplished in Christ. Paul offers us this, “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in [Christ], and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross…But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish…” (Colossians 1:19-20, 22). In Christ, we are being made holy through the Spirit's power. We have many more resources for the struggle against sin than the saints who lived before Jesus. Therefore, keep up the struggle. Don't give up. Don't be lazy. Don't be faithless. God is perfecting us in Christ. As you journey on, go with the blessing of God first given in this letter: Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

An extended Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text comes from 2 Samuel 6 from the New International Version of the Bible.  Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection!  To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube.  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca    DIVE IN QUESTIONS 1. What stands out to you from hearing these verses?  Is God offering an invitation or a challenge to you through those words?  Take time to pray about it. 2. How does the word for peace (Shalom/Salam) get used in the names found in the books of Samuel?  What do we learn about peace through the way these peace-names are used? 3. Read the previous story of the Ark from 1 Samuel 4-6 sometime. What (either from your reading or Pastor Anthony reminding us in the sermon) is similar about the way Israel dealt with the ark and the LORD who was seated upon then and now in 2 Sam 6? 4. What are the ways in which we can attempt to “use” God as a dead religious totem rather than submit to him as our living LORD with whom we are in relationship? 5. What does a life of worshipful submission to the name of Lord Almighty look like from 1 Samuel 6? 6. How might that worshipful life of submission look in your own life this week?  

Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. (Hebrews 11:35-38)   Pastor Michael referred to the first half of this long paragraph yesterday—the part where everything goes really pretty well.  Kingdoms are conquered, justice is administered, swords are sheathed, women receive back their dead, resurrected.  Faith gives witness to God's strength in the midst of our weakness, and what incredible things he can do! But now the paragraph turns.  The story of faith is not always a story of triumph in the near term.  Sometimes it looks a lot more like God's silence or human sadness, hardship, and death.  We heard yesterday of women who received back their dead: like the widow at Zarephath whose son was raised by Elijah (1 Kgs 17:17–24), or the Shunemite woman, whose son was raised by Elisha (2 Kgs 4:18–37).  Now we hear of those who were tortured and refused release--those who ultimately died a martyrs death so that they might receive “an even better resurrection” (2 Maccabees 7).  Not a resurrection within this life, like the sons of the women mentioned above received.  Those young men would die again at the end of their natural lives.  But a better resurrection—the resurrection from the dead when Jesus returns and death is no more.  A resurrection after the end of our mortal lives.  This is the better resurrection.  We desire and often think the life of faith should be one of fighting and winning our battles in the strength of the Lord right here and now.  Despite all the well marketed books, podcasts, social media content, and lovely contemporary Christian Music anthems to that effect—the Bible simply doesn't substantiate a faith that finds its victory in this life.  The victory is a faith that holds on to God, even if it doesn't come with a shred of earthly benefit.  Faith holds on to God, trusting that God alone is enough. The victory is his business, not ours.  He himself will bring the final victory over sin, death and evil—in his time—whether in this life or the next. As CS Lewis once put it in The Screwtape Letters on the pen of a senior demon writing to a younger one: “Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”    These people of faith in God alone who trust and obey despite all else—they, the ones who go about “in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated,” they are the ones of whom it is said: “the world was not worthy of them.”  By the grace of God, may we be found in their number.     As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:     May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.  

And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. (Hebrews 11:32-35a). As Jericho's walls fell, the first period of Israel's history closes. Its time to speed up the story. Our author rattles off a few prominent names of judges, kings, and prophets, recalling what faith both produced and suffered. He wants us to see that under and behind and within all the outward events recorded, there lived faith in God. History is the record of what God has done through and for those who trusted Him. Notice how much faith accomplished: kingdoms conquered, justice established, lions quieted, flames stilled, swords sheathed. See also that among those mentioned in these verses, few are remembered for their strong faith. Their faith was faltering and feeble. Maybe Jesus was thinking of them when he told his disciples that with faith the size of a mustard seed, they could move mountains. Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah were hardly shining examples of godly folk. Yet, they make the list. How encouraging for us who have a faltering faith. We see that God does not promise the faithful a life free from difficulty and danger. Rather, faith is called into exercise when human resources are exhausted and danger looms. We would never learn to know either God or ourselves as His children through a life of ease. Trials can accomplish two things. They give us the opportunity of honouring God by waiting for him in trust and they give God the opportunity of showing how faithful He is in watching over His children, working for and in us. In difficult times our hearts are drawn towards our heavenly father, in dependence and humility and trust. When we face hardship God can reveal in our open heart all the tenderness and all the saving power of His love. Suffering is the school of faith; it is the place where Christians grow spiritually. It is also true that selfishness is the death of faith. When we seek to be strong in faith, for the sake of our own comfort and goodness and power, we will fail. Gideon and Barak, David and Samuel, were all people who lived for their nation and God's cause in it. They were God's chosen instruments for doing His redeeming work in His people. Likewise, when in our weakness, we give ourselves to God and others, we have the right to claim God's mighty help. Faith is not so that we can reap benefits for ourselves from God. Rather, it is for the advancement of Christ's kingdom and the building up of his church. What a work there is to be done! Our involvement in God's church, in his mission beyond it, in our fight against injustice in society and the workplace, in promoting the welfare of all in our schools and public spaces, in our struggle against sin in our own hearts, faith is needed. In all those places and more, weak Christians become heroes of faith as we learn to trust in God to subdue kingdoms, to work righteousness, to obtain promises! Let us offer ourselves to God for the struggle. As you journey on, go with the blessing of God: May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.