Real Life, Personally Revealed

Real Life, Personally Revealed —that is what our current series is about. The Bible says so much about so many things. Various Bible teachers ‘prove’ just about everything quoting different texts. Sincere people disagree on what the Bible teaches. And then there are the difficult texts: the command for holy war [genocide really] in the Old Testament; sanctioned polygamy; and harsh words on homosexual behaviour. Then there are the language idioms that are thousands of years old and God words spoken into those cultures which simply could not be applied today as cultural norms are so different. This raises the question of what are the universal truths and what are the time bound truths in the Bible?

Is the bible worth reading? Renowned aetheist Lemuel K. Washburn says no, “There is absolutely no information in the Bible that man can make any use of as he goes through life. The Bible is not a book of knowledge. It does not give instruction in … sciences… no help to labor.. useless as a political guide…” At Cap we have a different view. We recognize that the Bible is an ancient and complex book to understand. But we believe the word Jesus spoke that life is not found in food alone but in digesting words from God [Matt. 4:4]. In this series, Making sense of the Bible for Today we are going to take a look at the book of Romans and try and demonstrate how to make sense of a complex bible text for today. Stick with us through this series and see if you don’t emerge better able to find life in the universal truths of this ancient text.

(Mike Nichols)

Today we are pleased to bring to the community the Reverend TERRY LEBLANC. Terry is Mi’kmaq-Acadian. Terry is the director and founding chair of North American Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies and is completing a PhD (ABD) in Intercultural Studies. Terry speaks to our community about faith, justice, and first nations.

My People International’s mission statement is: To train and equip North Americans and other Indigenous people via the teachings of Jesus and to encourage spiritual life and the appropriate participation within the wider community of indigenous and other people who follow Jesus. See more at see more at www.mypeopleinternational.com/About.html

Asking God for a Fresh Start

Today we finish our devotional journey through the OT book of Lamentations in our series: Learning to Live in Lament and Hope. I particularly like the title of this series: Learning to Live in Lament and Hope.

Learning suggests that there are both things to unlearn and things to learn that will enable you to enjoy God and live a more redemptive life on this side of heaven. Lament and hope are in my estimation two “faith-life-skills” that when learned and practiced allow you to navigate the dark and hard experiences of life in a way that leads to life, rather than sucks life out of you. As we finish this series I want to add a third “faith-life-skill” to lament and hope and that is Asking God for a Fresh Start.

While I believe that learning to lament and learning to hope, via cold and broken hallelujah’s, are two basic skills for the God-formed life, they are incomplete without a third—and that is asking God for a fresh start. This trinity of lament; hope, and fresh start is in many ways the essence of redemptive living and all gifts of God by his Spirit to help us get on in this world.

Hope: A Cold and Broken Hallelujah

Scripture Text: Lamentations 3:19-33

Last week, our own Brian Dean introduced the Book of Lamentations to us and taught about the importance of lament, and the way it deepens our relationship with God and others. This week, as we continue in Lamentations, my assigned topic is hope. Next week, Mike teaches on making a fresh start. The problem is, lamenting, hoping and starting again are not stages as distinct from each other as our preaching calendar might suggest. Both the Book of Lamentations and our own lives tell us that our experience of grief is often a messy thing, sometimes even swinging from one extreme to the other. So, this morning as we consider what “hope” looks like in the Book of Lamentations, we see fundamentally, that it is a trust in the goodness of God even when our lives remain in ruins and our hearts remain broken. To paraphrase words from a favourite Leonard Cohen song, hope is less like a “victory march”, and more like a “cold and broken hallelujah”.

(Kim Pierrot)

Consolations & Desolations of 2011

It is our custom at CapChurch on the first Sunday of the year to thank God for our consolations from the past year; to lament our desolations and to commit our lives to God afresh for the year ahead. This year Brian Dean brings us our Consolations & Desolations sermon.

Do Not Fear

SCRIPTURE TEXT: ISAIAH 35:1-10

“Don’t be afraid.” When someone says this to you, does it serve to increase or decrease your anxiety? These are words that God speaks to his people throughout the Bible, and we find them today in Isaiah 35. And yet the call to “be strong” and “not fear” requires a bit of unpacking for us to hear it in the way it was intended, since it is linked here with images of God’s judgment.

In this, the second installment in our Advent series “What Are We Waiting For?” we get a glimpse of what it will be like when Jesus returns to this earth and how an understanding of this can change how we wait right now.

I Am The Way, the Truth and The Life

In this, the final sermon in the series we have called “The Seven Faces of Jesus”, we consider Jesus’ declaration: “I am the Way, the Truth, the Life”. While some take great comfort in Jesus’ words, others might wonder whether He isn’t being a tad exclusivistic when He declares himself to be the only way to the Father.

Hearing these important words in their proper gospel context helps us to understand more about what Jesus was actually claiming about Himself, and also what it actually means for us to follow in the “Jesus Way”.

I wonder if you have noticed a progression as we have moved through our series “The Seven Faces of Jesus”. Today, we consider Jesus’ claim: “I am the Vine”. This sentence finishes with Jesus making a statement about us as well: “you are the branches”. Jesus’ claims are becoming more confrontational as the weeks have gone by. It is no coincidence that as Jesus moves closer and closer to his death on the cross in John’s gospel, He makes claims that invite, perhaps even demand, a response from his listeners. If I accept that Jesus is the vine, then that makes each of us lowly branches. How do we feel about that? How does that change the way we live our lives, interact with Jesus, and with others? Today, we hear from Cory and Linda Smith as they share their reflections on this face of Jesus from John 15.

(Kim Pierrot)

By the way, did you know that the first gentile church after Christ’s resurrection was in the region where Uganda is located? Yes that is right. In Acts chapter 8 the Ethiopian Eunuch is converted and takes a scroll of Isaiah home to his native land just north of what is now Lake Victoria in Uganda. History tells us that his witness started a community of Christians. Some of the oldest churches are in this area. In meeting Moses you are meeting nearly 2000 years of Christian witness and heritage from this corner of God’s world. Cool!

This week’s sermon begins with an interview with Tony Strachan – a British World War II veteran and German POW – as we reflect on Remembrance Day and the sacrifices made for our country.

THE SEVEN FACES OF JESUS This week we come to one of the most important “I am” statements that Jesus made. Jesus said this in the context of bringing his friend Lazarus back to life, If death and taxes are the two things we know will be part of our lives, then this reality, “I am the one who raises the dead to life!” demands our attention. We see so much of who Jesus is in this episode. Here is the story in brief starting in John 11:22:

Martha said, “Master, if you’d been here, my brother wouldn’t have died…Jesus said, “Your brother will be raised up.” Martha replied, “I know that he will be raised up in the resurrection… “You don’t have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live…Do you believe this?” “Yes, Master. All along I have believed that you are the Messiah, the Son of God who comes into the world.” After saying this, she went to her sister Mary… “The Teacher is here and is asking for you.” …she jumped up and ran out to him…and fell at his feet, saying, “Master, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her sobbing and the Jews with her sobbing, a deep anger welled up within him. He said, “Where did you put him?” “Master, come and see,” they said. Now Jesus wept…anger again welling up within him… “Remove the stone.” …”Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
(Mike Nichols)

THE SEVEN FACES OF JESUS

Joel M. Hoffman, who holds a PhD in theoretical linguistics, has taught Bible in religious settings and translation theory at Brandeis University. He has published books and has a website called www.goddidntsaythat.com – Bible Translations and Mistranslations. Here is what he says about shepherd: To get started, here’s a question: which actor would you cast as a typical shepherd? When I think of a shepherd, I think of a scrawny man dressed in rags who spends more time with sheep than with people. In term of imagery, I might say, “as lonely as a shepherd,” or “as meager as a shepherd,” or “as ill-dressed as a shepherd.” (If you’re reading this and you are a shepherd, please forgive me!) So in terms of an actor, I think I’d pick Woody Allen. (And Mr. Allen, if you’re reading this, please forgive me; I still love your movies.) But we see a completely different set of images in the Bible. Shepherds were fierce, regal, and romantic. Back then, one might have said, “as brave as a shepherd,” “as strong as a shepherd,” or “or sexy as a shepherd.” So even though the Hebrew in Psalm 23 is ro’eh, and even though ro’eh literally means “shepherd,” I don’t think “The Lord is my shepherd” is a very good translation.

Today, I invite you to ask Jesus a series of personal questions in response to his self-declarative “I am the Sheep Gate”. It seems like some good questions would be: How am I listening to your voice? Jesus where are you leading me?

THE SEVEN FACES OF JESUS

For the next seven weeks, we are going to put you at the party with Jesus across the room and you get to ask him the question—“Jesus, what makes you tick?” The short answer is seven “I Am”
statements Jesus told to people who came to him in a variety of situations. Many have heard the three option response to the question “Who is Jesus?” Either he is a liar, a lunatic or Lord. I think this series, The Seven Faces of Jesus, is for all of us—for those who have not yet answered the question for themselves and for those who have. This was a critical question for me in my 20’s. I was invited by my friends in university to explore the question.

Now in my 60’s, having lived 40 years with the answer “Jesus is my Saviour and Lord”, I ask a different question—“Lord, what’s happening in your kingdom today?” And, “what are we – you and me – up to today?” Wherever you are in your life journey, it will be valuable to look – for the first time, or again, at the seven faces of Jesus.

September is ―Unique Lives and Experiences of God
month at Cap. Drawing from the book of Genesis, we
will be reflecting on the life of Abraham, our father in
faith, and how he encountered God. We will also listen
to the life experiences of people from our own community,
hearing how God has been at work in their lives,
in both hidden and compelling ways. This morning,
as we consider the unthinkable choice God called Abraham
to make, we are fortunate to have James and Barbara Atkins
share their remarkable life story with us.

Text this morning: Gen 22:1-19 (Kim Pierrot)
“By examining as closely and as candidly as I could the
life that had come to seem to me in many ways a kind
of trap or dead-end street, I discovered that it really
wasn’t that at all…there is no event so commonplace
but that God is present within it always hiddenly,
always leaving you room to recognize him or not to
recognize him, but all the more fascinating because of
that, all the more compellingly and hauntingly.”
-Frederick Buechner, Now and Then

UNIQUE LIVES AND EXPERIENCES OF GOD:
GOD’S PROMISE (AND THE DELAY IN ITS
FULFILLMENT)
September is “Unique Lives and Experiences of God”
month at Cap. Drawing from the book of Genesis, we
will be reflecting on the life of Abraham, our father in
faith, and how he encountered God. We will also listen
to the life experiences of people from our own
community, hearing how God has been at work in their
lives, in both hidden and compelling ways.
This morning, we consider how God’s promises and His
delay in fulfilling those promises form a part of our
lives. We are fortunate to have Anita Wenman–gifted
worship leader, faithful friend and follower of Jesus–
sharing her story with us today.

Text is from Genesis 15 (Kim Pierrot)
“By examining as closely and as candidly as I could the
life that had come to seem to me in many ways a kind
of trap or dead-end street, I discovered that it really
wasn’t that at all…there is no event so commonplace
but that God is present within it always hiddenly,
always leaving you room to recognize him or not to
recognize him, but all the more fascinating because of
that, all the more compellingly and hauntingly.”
Frederick Buechner – “Now and Then”

UNIQUE LIVES AND EXPERIENCES OF GOD:
THE CALL September is “Unique Lives and
Experiences of God” month at Cap. Drawing from the
book of Genesis, we will be reflecting on the life of
Abraham, our father in faith, and how he encountered
God. We will also listen to the life experiences of
people from our own community, hearing how God has
been at work in their lives, in both hidden and
compelling ways.
This morning, we are privileged to have Jacob Penner,
our beloved elder emeritus, share parts of his life story
with us. His 90+ years of life have taught him a great
deal about courage, personal sacrifice, loving well, and
the faithfulness of God.
Text is from Genesis 11:27-12:9 (Kim Pierrot)
“By examining as closely and as candidly as I could the
life that had come to seem to me in many ways a kind
of trap or dead-end street, I discovered that it really
wasn’t that at all…there is no event so commonplace
but that God is present within it always hiddenly,
always leaving you room to recognize him or not to
recognize him, but all the more fascinating because of
that, all the more compellingly and hauntingly.”
Frederick Buechner, Now and Then

Today we are continuing with our study of the Mystery of
Christ from Colossians chapter 2: Here is the larger context for
the passage today from the Message:

You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re
deeply rooted in him…. You know your way around the faith.
Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the
subject and start living it!

BASIC SPIRITUALITY – ‘Becoming a Wounded Healer’

This is the final topic in our ―Basic Spirituality
series. Basic Spirituality is about ―soul-life. At the
beginning of this series I contrasted Basic Spirituality with
Basic Christianity. Basic Christianity is about understanding
faith in Christ. Basic Spirituality is about living with Christ.
We believe that basic spirituality or soul life expresses
itself in at least three vivacities: Solitude, community,
and ministry. Becoming a wounded healer is about
ministry—giving away the life God has given to you so that
others may live.

The phrase ―wounded healer was used by Henri Nouwen
in the title of his book on ministry. He took the phrase
from the ancient Greek legend of Asclepius, a physician
who in identification of his own wounds creates a
sanctuary at Epidaurus in order to treat others.

In 2 Corinthians Paul writes: Praise be to the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion
and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our
troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with
the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also
our comfort abounds through Christ.
If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are
comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you
patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.

This is wounded healing. This is our topic today.

BASIC SPIRITUALITY – ‘With God in Our Skin’
Text: Psalm 139

“Here we sit, with our soul tucked away in
this marvelous luggage, mostly insensible to
the ways in which every spiritual practice
begins with the body.” Barbara Brown
Taylor, An Altar in the World
This morning, in our 4th installment of our
series on “Basic Spirituality”, we reflect on
the most beloved of Psalms, Psalm 139,
which is attributed to King David.
Shelley MacDonald-Lin will consider what it
means for each of us to be “fearfully and
wonderfully made” by a loving, ever-present
God who knows each of us intimately.

BASIC SPIRITUALITY – Transformation 101
This morning Andrea Smith continues our series on ‘Basic
Spirituality‘. Mike Nichols introduced our series with the
following thoughts a couple of weeks ago:
Barbara Brown Taylor writes in her book, An Altar in the
World “Human beings may separate things into as many
piles as we wish— separating spirit from flesh, sacred
from secular, church from world. But we should not be
surprised when God does not recognize the distinctions we
make between the two. Earth is so thick with divine
possibility that it is a wonder we can walk anywhere
without cracking our shins on altars.” Get it? Stated in the
positive, God is everywhere and it is impossible not to
bump into him. A person aware of this is someone I would
describe as ―awake to God‖ rather than ―asleep to God‖.
At this stage of my life I have different questions about
life with God—questions that I wish I had asked at the
beginning. For example, I began my Christian life from the
viewpoint of accomplishing something—so the question
was, How do I find God? Now I believe a better question is
How do I to let myself be found by God? or Who am I to
God? This sermon series on Basic Spirituality will ask the
better questions with the hopes that we will bump into
God everywhere we turn.

BASIC SPIRITUALITY – Transformation 101
This morning Andrea Smith continues our series on ‘Basic
Spirituality‘. Mike Nichols introduced our series with the
following thoughts a couple of weeks ago:
Barbara Brown Taylor writes in her book, An Altar in the
World “Human beings may separate things into as many
piles as we wish— separating spirit from flesh, sacred
from secular, church from world. But we should not be
surprised when God does not recognize the distinctions we
make between the two. Earth is so thick with divine
possibility that it is a wonder we can walk anywhere
without cracking our shins on altars.” Get it? Stated in the
positive, God is everywhere and it is impossible not to
bump into him. A person aware of this is someone I would
describe as ―awake to God‖ rather than ―asleep to God‖.
At this stage of my life I have different questions about
life with God—questions that I wish I had asked at the
beginning. For example, I began my Christian life from the
viewpoint of accomplishing something—so the question
was, How do I find God? Now I believe a better question is
How do I to let myself be found by God? or Who am I to
God? This sermon series on Basic Spirituality will ask the
better questions with the hopes that we will bump into
God everywhere we turn.

BASIC SPIRITUALITY – Attending to God’s Voice
The series we are currently in is called “Basic Spirituality”.
Another title for the same thing would be “soul-life”. Like
your body, your soul has “life” which needs nurture to
grow and give satisfaction to the rest of your being. Basic
Spirituality is about soul life. Last week I contrasted Basic
Spirituality with Basic Christianity. Basic Christianity is
about understanding faith in Christ. This too is important
and in other sermon series we‟ve addressed these basics.
Cap‟s Alpha course does an exceptional job at addressing
the relational realities and beliefs of the gospel of Christ
we embrace. My hope in this series is to build on the
foundation of faith and understanding you already have
and lead you into “soul life”.

BASIC SPIRITUALITY – Waking Up to God
Barbara Brown Taylor writes in her book, An Altar in the World
“Human beings may separate things into as many piles as
we wish— separating spirit from flesh, sacred from
secular, church from world. But we should not be
surprised when God does not recognize the distinctions we
make between the two. Earth is so thick with divine
possibility that it is a wonder we can walk anywhere
without cracking our shins on altars.” Get it? Stated in the
positive, God is everywhere and it is impossible not to
bump into him. A person aware of this is someone I would
describe as ―awake to God‖ rather than ―asleep to God‖.
When I first became a Christian I was given a book to read
called Basic Christianity by John Stott. It was an important
book for me. It has become a classic introduction to
understanding what Christianity is all about. I wish I had
also been given a book entitled Basic Spirituality on what
living with God is all about. At this stage of my life I have
different questions about life with God—questions that I
wish I had asked at the beginning. For example, I began my
Christian life from the viewpoint of accomplishing
something—so the question was, How do I find God? Now I
believe a better question is How do I to let myself be
found by God? or Who am I to God? This sermon series on
Basic Spirituality will ask the better questions with the
hopes that we will bump into God everywhere we turn.
Today: Waking Up to God.

JUSTICE SUNDAY

Today is Cap’s annual Justice Sunday where we focus on Standing with the Oppressed to Face Injustices. For 2011 The Cap Justice Hub has focused on two issues: human trafficking and Cap’s Justice Discovery
trip/mission to Gitsegukla that you will hear about this morning. Cap’s own Natalie Siewert works with Servants Anonymous whose mission is to get young girls off the street. Cap’s own Barb Atkins advocates for women on Vancouver’s downtown east side as the director of women’s ministries at Union Gospel Mission. All these people and ministries are worthy of our support.

In preparation for justice Sunday I reread the call to do Justice given by Amos to Israel and their love of form over substance. These are remarkable words—and in the Message translation/paraphrase they have both a ring and a sting to them for today’s church.
Amos 5:21-24 in the Message: “I can’t stand your religious meetings. I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions. I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making. I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang to me? Do you know what I want? I want justice—oceans of it. I want fairness—rivers of it. That’s what I want. That’s all I want.

JUSTICE SUNDAY
Last week we talked about running from God. Jonah made his decision to run from God out of anger that God would even consider revealing himself to the Ninevites; out of discouragement that he was being asked to give up a prejudice against his enemies, and out of mourning over the loss of his neighbours and homeland at the hand of the Assyrians. In worship Kim asked us in the style of a twelve-step meeting if we identified with Jonah to say ―I’m like Jonah because… How did you answer that question? I found myself like Jonah wanting to make sure that God’s mercy did not come to those I consider unworthy. The book of Jonah starts and ends with questions. One of the questions at the beginning is, “What have you done?” (The sailors knew Jonah was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.) I think this is a prophetic question—―what have you done?‖ when you try to alter the mercy of God. In many ways Jonah’s story is the story of ancient Israel and the modern church—we try to keep the unworthy away from God. One test of how we measure up to Jonah is to ask what we think of when we think of God being angry. Who is God most likely to be angry at – terrible sinners out there in the world? Maybe. But the book of Jonah is not alone in encouraging us not to be so sure.

JONAH REVISITED: HOW TO RUN FROM GOD
I have to say from the outset of this two week series on Jonah Revisited, that there are some things I really like about Jonah. Yes he is set up as a negative example. Yet I find a perverse comfort in the portrayal of Jonah as a reluctant, withdrawn and stubborn type who doesn’t get outside his box much. I identify with that. Jonah was never quite ready to go to Nineveh. By contrast people all over the Bible are getting up and going— in the OT Abraham and Sarah move out on a promise. Moses heads for Egypt with nothing but a shepherd’s crook and Aaron to write his sermons. Elijah stands defiant, facing four hundred and fifty Baal prophets but not Jonah. In the NT Fishermen are dropping their nets, tax collectors are forgetting about credit and debit; others are leaving their parents behind; Paul changes his whole way of thinking and acting because of meeting Jesus and then travels the Mediterranean witnessing about Christ—but not Jonah. Jonah stands on the dock with tickets for Tarshish—he is resisting God’s call—and he has his reasons. Even after the Nineveh experience Jonah is still stubborn—Jonah’s redemptive life is admittedly moving slowly—and I identify with that. There is a lot to learn or relearn here.

MISSIONS SUNDAY
We welcome Marnie Mitchell to share from Jeremiah 1 on the theme of “Watching and Waiting” and what it is to be First Nations, Christian, Canadian, and thoughtful. Marnie will speak to us as a Cowichan who grew up on and off of reserve, and who feels like she doesn’t belong to either. But she knows where she does belong: as a daughter of the King, a wife of a good man, and a mom to two amazing daughters, all of whom have taught her a lot about patience, faithfulness, and grace. Her passion is to see how God will unfold restoration among her First Nation’s people.

Marnie and her husband Peter have worked with The Salvation Army for the past
twelve years focusing on inclusion or what Marnie calls “a ministry of Others.”

WELCOME BACK !!!
Our Bufukhula team has returned home from their trip to Uganda. Welcome home Linda Byrnes, Ross McKenzie, Mike Nichols, Andrea Smith, Christy Adams, Greg Howard, Michaela Jamieson, Linda Willey & Helen Wall. Mike Nichols will bring us the message today, and we will hear from some of the other team members as they reflect on their experience. We are thankful to this exceptional group for representing us in our partnership with the people and community of Bufukhula.

EXPECTING
This has been such a rich ―History Month here at CapChurch! Two weeks ago, Sarah Williams began a series of three devotional reflections on history. Using Hebrews 11 as a foundational text, we have talked about―remembering as a basis for identity in the community of faith, and at how ―listening to the past reshapes our experience in the present. Today, on Sarah’s final Sunday with us, she will consider what it means to allow our shared history to fuel our ―expecting of what God will do in the future.

Last week we embarked together on the first of three devotional reflections on history. Using Hebrews 11 as a
foundational text we talked about the importance of remembering as a basis for identity in the community of
faith. This morning we will return to Hebrews and look at how our understanding of the present can be reshaped as we learn to listen the past and to anticipate the future.

This morning we are pleased to welcome Sarah Williams to preach at CapChurch. Sarah and her husband Paul joined the Regent College faculty in 2005, where she is a professor in Church History. A specialist in the field of nineteenthand twentieth-century social and cultural history, she is especially interested in the relationship
between religion and culture. We look forward to having her with us for the next three Sundays as she brings together both her love of God’s Word and of church history.

The novelist, Frederick Buechner, once wondered what would happen if God, instead of depending upon
our faith, decided to give us a proof–something scientific, something tangible, that would be beyond
the shadow of a doubt. “Suppose that God were to take the great, dim river of the Milky Way, brighten it
up a little and then rearrange it so that… written out in letters light years tall … I REALLY EXIST. Buechner
thinks the reaction would be dramatic–for a little while –until “I REALLY EXIST,” became a normal part of
nature. Our deepest need according to Buechner is not proof that there is a God somewhere who exists or
evidence that a resurrection happened some time ago in history, but a God who is right here, knee-deep in
the mud and mire of human existence. We need a risen Christ who comes to us every day to give life and
hope. That is a God who comes not in evidence but in the relationship of trust we call faith. God cannot be
seen when we draw a line in the sand and say, “Give me proof or I don’t step over the line.” God is
experienced by those who step over the line in trust. When we do, our eyes are opened; we encounter
Christ and the power of his presence. This is the risen Christ we worship today.

This morning, as a culmination of our Lenten series, we look at Jesus, who lived the quintessential ―good
life before God, a life of continually remembering who his Father was, a life of both loving God, and keeping the law. But Jesus is more than a good role model to us. Today, on Palm Sunday, we reflect on the notion that Jesus fulfills the very heart of the law not simply through His living, but through His dying for us.

Phil 2:5-11

If, as Mike preached several weeks ago, we follow Christ for more reasons than simply the promise of the afterlife, then how are we to live this life? How do we connect what we believe and how we live out our Christian faith that goes beyond “do’s” and “don’ts”? This Lenten season we will turn to the book of Deuteronomy, what some call the “heartbeat of the Old Testament”, to begin to answer this practical question as to what it means to live the “good life” that God intends for us.

Deuteronomy 14:22 – 28
Deuteronomy 15: 1 – 11
Deuteronomy 26: 1 – 11

How we find out who we really are when God chooses us – from Deuteronomy 7:7-9

If, as Mike preached several weeks ago, we follow Christ for more reasons than simply the promise of the afterlife, then how are we to live this life? How do we connect what we believe and how we live out our Christian faith that goes beyond “dos” and “don’ts”? This Lenten season we will turn to the book of Deuteronomy, what some call the “heartbeat of the Old Testament”, to begin to answer this practical question as to what it means to live the “good life” that God intends for us.

If, as Mike preached several weeks ago, we follow Christ for more reasons than simply the promise of the afterlife, then how are we to live this life? How do we connect what we believe and how we live out our Christian faith that goes beyond the “dos” and “don’ts”?This Lenten season we will turn to the book of Deuteronomy, what some call the “heartbeat of the Old Testament”, to begin to answer this practical question as to what it means to live the “good life” that God intends for us.

If, as Mike preached several weeks ago,
we follow Christ for more reasons than
simply the promise of the afterlife, then
how are we to live this life? How do we
connect what we believe and how we live
out our Christian faith that goes beyond
“dos” and “don’ts”? This Lenten season
we will turn to the book of Deuteronomy,
what some call the “heartbeat of the Old
Testament”, to begin to answer this
practical question as to what it means to
live the “good life” that God intends for

GOD AND THE REALLY BROKEN WORLD
or IS GOD REALLY GOOD ALL THE TIME?
Every Sunday when we release the
children and youth we say the same call
and response:
God is good . . . all the time.
All the time . . . God is good.
It is not just something we say for the
sake of the children – Is it?
What does that statement mean to you?
What do you think of when it is said?
Do you say it? Is it harder to say some
days? Do you believe it is true?
Is God really good? All of the time?
We live in a world that is seriously messed
up – a place where God’s goodness is not
always obvious and our personal
experiences often stand in the face of
that statement.
Is God really good, all the time?

WRATH FROM A LOVING GOD?

What happens when you read passages like
this in the Bible: “The Son of man will send
his angels, and they will gather out of his
kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers,
and throw them into the furnace of fire;
there men will weep and gnash their teeth.
Then the righteous will shine like the sun in
the kingdom of their Father.” (Matthew 13 :41-
43.)? It is hard not to see that the wrath of
God or the judgement of God is part of the
Bible’s portrayal, not only of Jesus, but of
God.

After one of the sermons in this series, “If I
could ask God just one question”, one Capper
asked me essentially if Cap’s preaching over-
emphasized God’s love and de-emphasized
God’s judgement. That was a good question!
Many Bible readers could say that Cap is too
sentimental about the loving-kindness of God
and that we forget God is exacting as well as
loving. It is fine to surrender “fire and
brimstone” notions of hell but if we overlook
divine judgment/punishment we distort the
Christian faith. Other would say, “ok, I see
your point but then how do you reconcile
God’s wrath with God’s character?”

Today we will open the topic, “Wrath from a
loving God?” and look for some perspectives
to think through this question.

TODAY’S QUESTION: Heaven, what the
hell? Or, is getting into heaven the
primary reason for “accepting Jesus”?

Here are some lines from one of the most
famous sermons of the 1750’s, Sinners in the
Hands of an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards:
O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are
in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and
bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that
you are held over in the hand of that God,
whose wrath is provoked and incensed as
much against you, as against many of the
damned in hell. You hang by a slender
thread, with the flames of divine wrath
flashing about it, and ready every moment to
singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have
no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to
lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep
off the flames of wrath, nothing of your
own, nothing that you ever have done,
nothing that you can do, to induce God to
spare you one moment… Therefore, let
every one that is out of Christ, now awake
and fly from the wrath to come.

HOW DO WE LIVE BY FAITH WHEN
GOD IS HIDDEN?
The Psalmist questioned God with these
words, “My eyes fail, looking for your promise;
“When will you comfort me?” [Psalm 119:82].
For this Psalmist, God was the Hidden Other.
His timetable was incomprehensible. How do
we live by faith when God is hidden? For
people who want God in their life the
„absence of God‟ or His hiddenness can be a
crisis.
For theologians the Hidden God is not a crisis
but a point of debate. There can be only one
sense in which God is „hidden‟: he does not
present human beings with (or at least
presents very few of them with) unmistakable
evidence of his existence in the form of „signs
and wonders‟.
The atheist goes one further. His argument is
that:
1) God wants people to know about him,
2) Reasonable people don‟t know about him,
3) Therefore, He isn‟t there to be found.
Today Mike speaks to those who identify with
the Psalmist.

IF I COULD ASK GOD JUST ONE QUESTION
In his story, The Ball and the Cross, GK Chesterton
has his character Turnbull [T] (who is an atheist)
ask a person in an asylum [G] (who thinks he is God
and who has offered to be the atheist‘s second in a
duel) some questions:
[T] I don’t like having God for my second.”
[G] “In my position I am not used to having my
favours refused. Do you know who I am?”
[T] “Yes, you are God – why do we have two sets of
teeth?”
[G] “Teeth?” spluttered the genteel lunatic, “teeth?”
[T] “Yes, why does teething hurt? Why do growing
pains hurt? Why are measles catching? Why does a
rose have thorns? Why do rhinoceroses have horns?
Why is the horn on the top of the nose? . . . I’ve
often wanted to meet you to hold you accountable
for all the idiocy and cruelty of this muddled and
meaningless world of yours. You make a hundred
seeds and only one bears fruit. You make a million
worlds and only one seems inhabited. What do you
mean by it, eh? What do you mean by it? . . . A girl
had the toothache . . . You gave it her. Fifty sailors
were drowned . . . You scuttled their ship. What
have you got to say for yourself, eh?”
In our new series If I Could Ask God Just One
Question we are going to ask some tough questions
and see what God has to say for himself.

Consolations and Desolations of 2010:
Our Pilgrimage

It is our practice at Cap to spend the
first Sunday of the New Year reflecting
on the previous year’s “best” and “worst”
and sharing them with each other. As
we carry on that tradition this morning,
we will also briefly consider Psalm 84,
and what it means to find God in both
the peaks and valleys of our lives.

THE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS
The Bible tells us that ―God is with us
at Christmas time. But which kind of
God is with us?
A God who dominates us with power?
A God who chooses some people and
not others to be His friends?
A God who only hangs out with holy
people?
Which kind of God? That is the question
that lies at this heart of this year‘s
Advent series.

THE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS
The Bible tells us that ―God is with us‖
at Christmas time. But which kind of
God is with us?
A God who dominates us with power?
A God who chooses some people and
not others to be His friends?
A God who only hangs out with holy
people?
Which kind of God? That is the question
that lies at this heart of this year‘s
Advent series.

THE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS
The Bible tells us that “God is with us”
at Christmas time. But which kind of
God is with us?
A God who dominates us with power?
A God who chooses some people and
not others to be His friends?
A God who only hangs out with holy
people?
Which kind of God? That is the question
that lies at this heart of this year‟s
Advent series.

This is our final study in Overcoming Arrested Development. During this study we have told you clearly what maturity is not: it is not about perfection, nor depth of knowledge, nor development of your potential, nor something you or I are very good at. Maturity is your redemptive story lived out best in community as you respond to God’s call on your life. Hopefully
you heard us say enough times that you will remember that when God’s call and your response are balanced or have equal weight, God considers that you are mature — still on the road, but mature. Today we look at how far the
call of God extends into your life; does maturity have anything to do with sorting out your sexuality, your use of stimulants, your use of money, your way of relating to people, how you stand for good rather than collude with evil? Well, yes. What might the Holy Spirit coming to you wish to work on in particular? That is what you get to answer today.

This morning, as we continue in our study of the Book of Ephesians and reflect on what it means to be mature in Christ, we will talk about prayer’s role in the maturing process.Consider the words of theologian Markus Barth in his insightful commentary on the Book of Ephesians:
―All that the epistle has to say about faith and life is wrapped up in the form of prayer. It is actually said to God and the Ephesians at the same time . . . When someone argues with you or tries to persuade you of something, he mayor may not exert power over you. But when he has prayed and is praying for you, his relationship to you and yours to him are different.