BACK TO WORK

Last week I started a new/old job. Once again (in fact for the sixth time in my life) , I become the pastor of a local church, and last Sunday I preached there, not as a guest speaker, but as their pastor. Next Sunday, Feb 10, I will be officially installed at the Christian Fellowship Church in Waterloo and I will exchange ministry covenants with them.

On July 1, 2016, after 13 years of service in one church, and after over 40 years of  pastoral ministry, I began what I thought would be the beginning of the final chapter of my life – the time of blissful retirement. I have to admit that I looked forward to that.  I was tired and fully spent, wondering if I had anything left to give.  I enjoyed the prospect of being fully in control of my time – doing the things that I enjoy, and not having to do anything that I didn’t.  As far as ministry was concerned, I remembered the words of my mentor when I was a student intern, “it takes a lot of grace to begin ministry, and even more grace to know when to quit.”  Well I thought that moment had come.

The joy of ministry had never really left me.  I was determined to be involved by helping out in some way. I covered for pastors on vacation and took funerals when families who didn’t have a pastor called on me.  I volunteered to teach at a Bible School in Kenya for two 3 month terms in 2017 and 2018.  Last winter, spring and summer, I preached in a church that didn’t have a pastor.  People would say on their way out on Sundays, “could we call you out of retirement?”  I remember smiling and saying, “it would take a lot more than your call to get me to quit retirement.”  At the time my preparations for the trip to Africa were in full swing, and I was greatly looking forward to my assignment there.

And that is where the journey to the Christian Fellowship Church in Waterloo began.  While the months in Kenya were very busy, there was also much quiet time and room for prayer and contemplation.  It was there that I faced the question of what I would be doing when I return to Canada.  I had to ask myself whether I could justify NOT helping where there is a need that I could meet with the gifts that God has given me, and the health that He so graciously restored to me after last year’s cancer scare.  So the dialogue continued and the rest, as they say, is history.  The church has graciously consented that I serve them on a three-quarter time basis, a requirement that I requested to help me not to relapse into my workaholic tendencies.

So what about retirement?  The traditional age is 65.  In certain jobs that  age  is mandatory and people are forced to retire, even though they are able and willing to continue working.  Some face a pressure, that if they continue working, they are somehow taking work away from younger, less fortunate people who don’t have a job.  Then again, the financial realities of some make 65 unrealistic.  The previous Canadian government had started to push the retirement age to 67, something that the present government reversed.

And then there is the “Freedom 55” movement which refers to people whose ambition is to be financially independent by age 55 so that they can take an early retirement package.  While I don’t see anything wrong with that in principle, I have watched all too many people shift their lives,  spiritually and otherwise, into neutral when they retire too early.  A life of play and pleasure rather than hard work, or perhaps, in the best case scenario,  a life of humanitarian service, or work that is a labour of love.

And then we must not forget those who made great contributions to their community and their country at an age where others are traditionally retired.   Ronald Reagan, who had a colourful series of careers as an actor, then a motivational speaker and finally politician, including governor of California, was 70 years old when he became President of the United States and he served two terms.  Some of Canada’s Prime Ministers were also advanced in age when they were elected to office: John Diefenbaker was 62 when he was first elected in 1957; Lester Pearson was 66 in 1963.  Canada’s longest serving Prime Minister, William Lyon MacKenzie King was first elected  in 1921 at age 47, and was 74 when he left office in 1948.  Winston Churchill began his second term as British Prime Minister in 1951 at the age of 77.

These (and others) have shown that age does not preclude anyone from great accomplishments.  As a society that worships those with youthful energy, we need to remember that.   Years ago, when as a young man I was installed into one of my pastorates, an older, retired pastor gave a word of greeting.  He lamented the fact that seasoned ministers, after decades of gathering experience often are obliged to put down their work at a time when they are more equipped than ever to make meaningful contributions to the work of the church.  At the time, I did not think much of his comments, but now, after I am at the approximate age of that pastor, I know what he meant.

By this I do not want to suggest that as an old(er) pastor I have more to offer than someone younger.  If someone younger or more qualified were to appear, I would like to think that I would have the grace to step aside. And some day, there will come a time when I will step down, and step aside for good.  I’m just not ready to do that yet.

AFRICA SEEN THROUGH CANADIAN EYES

Actually it is Kenya I want to write about. Not everything about Kenya applies to all Africa, but some things do.  I have been there a total of three times in 2015, 2017, and 2018.  The last two visits were spent at a Bible College for a three month term as a volunteer teacher of Pastoral Theology and Biblical Preaching.  I make no pretence to be an expert on Africa, but I write about my impressions as I experienced them, and some things I have researched a little more to understand them better.

1.  Religion in Kenya. In the 2009 census, 84.8% of the population identified itself as Christian.  Of these, 23.3% are Roman Catholic, and the rest are Protestant churches which include The Anglican Church of Kenya, The Africa Inland Church (AIC), Presbyterian, Reformed, Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, and Pentecostal churches.  Other groups that fall neither into the Roman Catholic or Protestant groups include the New Apostolic Church, Seventh Day Adventist Church, Jehovah’s Witnesses, United Pentecostal and Branhamism.  The Islamic faith was identified by 9.7% of the population. Only 2.5% said that they identified with “no” religion or faith. As you drive through the cities or the countryside,  you will notice the many churches of various sizes.  Architecturally some are impressive, but most are very primitive metal edifices.  Many are simply “store-front” operations.  I am told that it is not difficult in Kenya to start a new church of whatever description, which  raises the suspicion that many exist simply to make money. Many of these churches, arising like mushrooms out of the ground are led by men (or women) with  no academic credentials, and few qualifications other than being able to market their brand of religion as the “one true” faith.

The school that I worked at is a denominational school of the Africa Inland Church (AIC), which was founded by the Africa Inland Mission (AIM).  It is an evangelical denomination with a Presbyterian form of church government: local churches are led by pastors and elders; each church is represented in a regional presbytery known as the “District Council”, overseen by a bishop, and there is a national council for the national church, and led by a “presiding” bishop.

But it isn’t as simple as that. Most of the above mentioned religions were brought into Africa in general and therefore to Kenya, from elsewhere, either by various churches or missions organizations. There is also an indigenous religion, also known as “Traditional African Religion” which is often mixed in with either the Christian or Islamic religion. African society is still very tribal. People fiercely hold on to their tribal background and heritage, and often with it the religion of that tribe.  While describing indigenous religion is beyond the scope of this blog post, suffice it to say that it involves the belief in a supreme being, along with many other lessor deities.  The supreme being is thought to be unapproachable and disinterested in the affairs of human life.  So one consults a myriad of lessor deities and spirits, including the spirits of deceased ancestors.  Because Africans generally revere their ancestors, some will resort to the religious practice of those ancestors when in difficulty, and many see no contradiction in practising the Christian, or some other religion together with their tradition religion. This of course ignores Christianity’s claims of one exclusive God, who tolerates no other gods before or beside him. Christian churches who proclaim the God of the Bible are often faced with the challenge of dealing with or helping people who have opened themselves to other spirits.

2. Culture in Kenya.  North American feminists would not feel at home in Kenya.  Women have a very distinct place in African society, which becomes visible at the very latest when a woman wishes to marry.  While men and women date and fall in love in romantic relationships, if they wish to marry, the man needs to deal with the family of his intended bride and negotiate a bridal price which he must pay to the bride’s father and or family (the bridal price is often divided among relatives of the bride).   I was shocked to learn that this happens even in Christian families and weddings.  Seeing that through North American eyes, even I as a man am appalled by this reduction of a woman to a chattel that belongs to her father until marriage, when “ownership” is transferred to the husband. The women that I have talked to about this however don’t see it that way.  “This is the way we have always done it.”  Again, the issue is too complex to discuss here, but doing something because it has always been done that way is a poor reason for doing anything.  Despite this inequality, I was surprised to learn that while the church proclaims the biblical truth of the equality of men and women in Christ, and have managed to push back by allowing women to be pastors, it has not managed to change this bizarre wedding ritual.

Another cultural difference is polygamy.  It is legal for a man to have more than one wife at the same time, but  a woman cannot be married to more than one man. Having several wives, is a status symbol for men.  I was interested to learn that members of parliament in Kenya were demanding expense allowances for their additional wives or mistresses.  The Christian church however holds to the biblical value of one man and one woman for life.  However when polygamous men become Christians and join the church, they are asked to support their several wives but they are not allowed to marry additional ones. However, such men do not qualify for leadership in the church..

3. Politics. I am a political “junkie” and politics is my favourite spectator sport.  During my time in the previous year (2017) I experienced the “re-do” of the presidential election.  The incumbent president Oruhu Kenyatta had been re-elected, however the opposition challenged the outcome in court, claiming that the election had been rigged.  The Supreme Court of Kenya noted that there were in fact “irregularities” and declared the election null and void, requiring that Kenyans go back to the polls within 60 days.  That fell into the middle of our fall term at the Missionary College.  Kenyans are passionate about their politics, even to the point of violence. While there are political parties, tribal relations also come into play as to whom Kenyans will support and vote for.  Most citizens see themselves best served if the government is run by someone of “their” tribe, or one of us as it were. Many will stop at nothing to make that happen, even things like setting fire to polling booths to prevent people from voting.  Often there is more passion than reason in Kenyan politics.  For example, although the opposition had claimed that the outcome of the election was not valid, they opposed the do over election, saying that it is was not being properly run either. They urged people not to vote, and in many cases prevented voters from doing so, resulting in no returns sent in from many ridings.  Then of course, they refused to accept the new result, which again declared Kenyatta and his party the winners. So back to court they went, but this time the Supreme Court declared the second election to be valid.  Coming back to Canada, as I watch the bizarre things that happen in our Canadian federal and our Ontario provincial government, I still think I would rather live in Canada than Kenya when it comes to politics.

4. Every Day Life in Kenya.  This is what I have been asked about most often. Let me begin by saying that if you have money (and that is the key thing) you can buy anything in Kenya that you can get here in Canada. I’ll just mention the grocery store: when I went shopping I saw very little difference, except that some things were  in shorter supply, i.e. there was not as much variety.  But I was able to buy pretty much whatever I needed or wanted, in some cases even the same brand as at home.  It’s hard to say whether things are more expensive (gasoline or “petrol” as they call it definitely costs more), and other things cost less than they do here.  The currency in Kenya is the Kenya Shilling (kSH or KES).  Presently $1 CDN is worth 75.50 kSH).  I was able to use my Canadian Bank card to obtain Kenya Shillings in cash, or my VISA card to pay for things.

There were other things about every day life that seemed odd, or at least getting used to (such as traffic drives on the left side of the road, and cars have steering wheels on the right, roads can be terrible, electricity is a different voltage to name just a few).  On the other hand that very thing of electricity was a sign that we live in a global village.  My electronic devices that I had with me from home, all work on either our Canadian voltage and the African 240V. All I needed was an adaptor so the plugs would fit. However the frequent power outages were annoying!

There is one other thing about every day life that I found challenging, and that is having a different skin colour than everyone else. At the school where I taught I was the only white man on the campus, (until two more visitors came for graduation).  Most of the time that was not a problem. Nobody made me feel uncomfortable because I was different.  But I was annoyed by the misconception that white people from North America have lots of money.  I was hit up for money more than once and asked if I could “bless someone” with a financial gift.  One person asked me to bring him an iPhone from Canada. He was shocked to learn what that would cost, and had assumed they are easy to get “in your country”.  Some found it incomprehensible when I told them how hard we work for our money, and that while some people in North America are wealthy, most of us, especially those of us in ministry are not.

Well this is a longer post than usual, but even so I feel like have merely scratched the surface.  If anyone has questions, just send them my way and I will do what I can to answer.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ADVENT?

In my living room is an Advent wreath. It is a suspended from a table-top stand made by my father.  In years past the red ribbons suspended a wreath made of genuine evergreen branches.  The red candles would be lit beginning on the first Sunday of Advent, with one more on each of the four Sundays of Advent. As kids the Advent wreath fascinated us. It was a count down until Christmas, and the more candles were burning, the closer the big day was. I can remember that as a family we would sing “Advent” carols (not Christmas carols!) – at least not until the fourth Sunday.  This was all done in German, and the Advent carols came from a songbook called the “Singvögelein” (song bird) which was the songbook we used in Sunday School.

Advent means “Arrival”.  As kids the arrival that concerned us was Dec 24 and 25. As we matured, we learned that the Advent season represented the waiting time for Messiah’s appearance, and is a time of preparation for the celebration of the incarnation.  Since we live in New Testament times, Advent also reminds us of Jesus’ Second Coming, not as a babe in the manger, but in power and glory, and that we must be prepared for that event.

As kids we also each received an Advent calendar.  It had 24 doors on it, one for each day starting December 1.  Behind the door, when it was opened, a Bible verse, or a picture (or nowadays chocolate!) would be visible.  The door that was marked “24” was usually a double door behind which the nativity scene was visible.

In early church history, in other words in pre-reformation times, Advent was a solemn time of fasting and spiritual examination.  The fast was in anticipation of the feasting that took place at Christmas time.

Evangelical Christians have generally not paid much attention to Advent, but fortunately, that is changing.  In the church that I attend, we light an Advent candle on each Sunday of Advent.  I was glad to note that one of our pastors gave us an explanation of the meaning of Advent, as well as the meaning of that particular Sunday, as the Advent Sundays represent Hope–Peace–Joy–Love respectively.  Some churches change that order.  In liturgical churches each candle has a distinctive colour, although red is the choice of colour for some.  In our church the candles are blue.  I’m not sure why that colour was chosen, but blue does happen to be the new liturgical colour for Advent, to distinguish it from the purple or violet of lent.  Usually there is a somewhat larger white candle in the middle, which is lit either Christmas Eve, or Christmas Day.

As one raised in the free-church tradition, I never felt a need to be bound to the rigours of the liturgical calendar.  In other words rather than be restricted to preaching about the meaning of each particular Sunday, I felt free to preach whatever Scripture I was inspired to choose for a particular Sunday.  However the calendar is not without usefulness.  Observing Advent for example, helps me to build in my own life the joy of celebrating the Birth of Christ. The same applies to lent, the weeks that lead up to Easter.

At a time when Christmas music surrounds us from mid November, it might be useful to learn to anticipate and hope once again. In our home in which i grew up, the Christmas tree did not appear until about December 23 or so. We also did not throw it out to the curb on December 26 like many still do. It stayed up until mid January, or at least until the feast of the Epiphany was over.

Whatever your tradition might be, for today I will say Happy Advent.  But not yet Merry Christmas.  That comes later.

 

Lynching in Kenya

Spending time in Kenya for the third time has been as much a learning experience for me as it has been a time of  teaching.  Of course being here for only a few months does not in any way make me an expert, but mine is much more the view of an outsider looking in.

Some things that I have seen have impressed me, either positively or negatively. One of the latter things is the high rate of crime, the corruption even among law enforcement, and finally, just recently, the phenomenon of lynching – unlawfully taking someone’s life amidst some misguided form of “mob justice”.  It happened last weekend at a nearby university, but apparently it isn’t newsworthy; at least I saw no mention of it except on social media.

Dr Robert Guy McKee has written an interesting report based on his study of what he calls a “human rights scandal”. In his paper he makes the following seven assertions about modern day lynchings in Kenya, that lynchings  (1) are common, (2) are cruel, (3) are committed for numerous alleged reasons—mostly for alleged crimes—but very rarely for reasons related either to race or to sexual orientation or gender identity, (4) are rarely prosecuted, (5) appear to have inequitable access to basic resources as one contributing cause, (6) are a major human rights scandal, and (7) will, until they become the exception rather than the rule, hinder Kenya’s development in the twenty-first century.Now lynching is not unfamiliar to North Americans.  The sad so called “frontier justice” of the 18th and 19th century are a dark chapter in our history. 

While North American lynchings were usually carried out by hanging or shooting, in Africa the methods are even more cruel: stoning, beating to death, or dousing a victim with gasoline (“petrol” here) and setting them ablaze.  By whatever method, lynching is just wrong because it denies the victim all of the fundamental rights of justice: the right to due process, the right to face one’s accusers and challenge the evidence that the accusers bring, the right to offer one’s own evidence of one’s innocence etc.  In a lynching, the mob that carries it out are the de facto prosecutors, judge, and executioner.  Because that is not justice, I will refrain from the term “mob justice” and just say lynching.

What particularly disturbs me also, are the outrageous number of lynchings that take place.  Between August 1996 to August 2013 a total of 1,500 persons were reported lynched in Kenya, as many as 543 in one year !

More disturbing: the reported “reasons” for lynching. The victims are people who are accused (not proven!) to have committed some type of crime: in the case of the lynching last weekend, the victim was accused of theft.  Lynching is all about anger and revenge.  In cases where a family suffered the murder of someone, and it is felt that the criminal justice system did not apprehend or did not seem to deal with the perpetrator appropriately, the family and or friends take matters into their own hands.

In my mind, there are questions that I cannot answer.  One is, how this human rights scandal is possible in a country like Kenya, that likes to number itself among the civilized nations of the world.  Kenyans like to claim that 80% of the people are Christians.  That is a number that is most certainly grossly inflated, unless you define “Christian” in the loosest of terms.  But if you define the term Christian the way Jesus does, “my sheep hear my voice,  I know them and they follow me” (John 10:27) then this number is not accurate notwithstanding the number of churches on almost every corner.

My second question is why the criminal justice system in Kenya is not able to stamp out these blatant crimes, for indeed lynching, the unlawful taking of a human life, is a crime.  Politicians have denounced this practice, but still it prevails.  I have some possible answers to this second question, and one of them is the wide-spread corruption that runs through virtually all levels of society, including the politicians, and the criminal justice system.  There is a saying, that I have heard often repeated here: “Kenya is 80% Christian, but 90% corrupt”. There is something wrong with that picture, and I suspect that there is more than a grain of truth to the saying.  The President of Kenya has made it a priority to stamp out corruption, but I wonder how much of that tough talk is like what our own politicians in Canada do:  to appear that they are doing something, while in fact doing very little.

Those who take the teachings of Christ seriously, will want to heed what He said about anger, that is at the root of lynching: “But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell” (Matt. 5:22 NIV).  And certainly for the follower of Christ, revenge will not play a part in his life.  In Romans 12:19 Paul says,  Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 

“Dear Diary”


On my bookshelf at home 12,176 km away in Canada (that’s 7,573 miles for you non-metrics) is a thick volume that I read a few years ago.  It is the published diary of Ronald Reagan, apparently  written while he lived in the White House as President of the United States.  One page even is a facsimile of his handwriting.  I remember at the time that it seemed exciting to read about the day to day musings of a man who was the most powerful man in the world.  But I am a skeptic of sorts.  I wonder how much of it was edited.  Are these really the thoughts that someone shared with nobody else?  Or how much of it, if any, was expressly written for posterity, or shall we say consciously written to an unseen audience?

There are other diaries of famous people who are long gone, in fact some of them became famous posthumously because of their diary. One of the most famous of these is the Diary Of Anne Frank.  It was written by a young girl while she was hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.  Both she and her parents perished in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945, but her diary survived and has been published in more than 60 languages.

Or in Canada we also have the published diaries of our longest serving Prime Minister, William Lyon MacKenzie King, covering several years.  Now his is a mixture of pedantic and outright boring stuff mixed with weird accounts of King’s conversations with his deceased mother and other occult séances that he was in the habit of attending.

I have kept a diary off and on throughout my life.  More off than on.  I started it in childhood, when we were taught that it was a good thing to do for self-discipline and other reasons that I don’t remember.  Those diaries are nowhere to be found.  In my adult life, I would start journaling, which is a little different from a diary.  Diaries are usually a daily affair, and can contain many details including what the weather was that day.  Journals tend to be a more expansive record of one’s thoughts.  In fact “journaling” is recommended for charting one’s spiritual progress, or one’s thought processes about a particular subject or decision that we are pondering.

Some people write a diary or journal as a deliberate legacy to leave behind for their children, or grandchildren.  While that might seem like a good idea, you will then probably be very selective about what you write there, and document only those things that you want your intended readers to know.  You will probably refrain from writing things that trouble you deeply, but would rather not share with your intended readers.

But diaries and journals present some problems.  The first is, that they could be read by others whom you didn’t intend, and most likely they will be, if the diary or journal is left behind when you die. Your diary will be part of the belongings that your executor needs to sort through, and dispose of.  It may well fall into the hands of someone whom you would not want to read what you have written.  If you are worried about that, then you will want to dispose of it while you are alive… either give it to someone whom you would like to have it, or destroy it.

 The second problem is that a diary can be used against you while you are alive, if you are ever charged with a criminal offense.  Although diaries and journals are private, they generally are admissible in court.  I have heard of more than one person who was convicted of a crime because of what they wrote in their diary. You say, “that’s not a problem because I didn’t do anything wrong?”  Well apparently even if you do not document a crime, the diary can still be used to trace your whereabouts by the events that you mention. So even if you feel like you want to kill someone – you might want to keep that sentiment to yourself.  And worse, what you have written is subject to interpretation by others – the interpretation of those who wish to use the diary against you, and the interpretation of the court or jury.

I haven’t yet decided what I will do with the sporadic diary/journal that I have kept; whether I will continue to write in it, or whether I will destroy it.  Since mine is a locked electronic file, I guess I can still edit it. For those who don’t keep a diary,  you’ve got nothing to worry about.  For those that do – it is something you might want to think about.

Pastors’ Appreciation Month

October is Pastors Appreciation Month. I’m not sure where we got that innovation from, but I suspect it is North America, for I have seen or heard no mention of it here in Africa.  Now I believe that everyone deserves to be appreciated for who they are and what they do.  But of course, we tend to put all that appreciation into nice neat little packages:  Mothers Day, Father’s Day, Children’s Day, Family Day, Secretaries Day, Nurses Day, and the list goes on and on.

Now the churches that observe Pastor’s Appreciation Day or Month, (and not all of them do) go about it different ways.  Sometimes there is a presentation during a worship service to the pastor and spouse, that may include flowers, comments by the chair of the official board, and maybe  a gift or a gift card or some such token.  I have heard about churches sending their pastor and spouse away on an exotic trip, possibly even the Holy Land, but I have never been the recipient of such a gift, nor would I feel comfortable receiving it.

However I wonder how many pastors sigh like many mothers on Mothers Day, and silently wish that some of these appreciative sentiments could be spread out through the year.  I’ve spoken to many mothers who say that the effusion of affection, the breakfast in bed, or the special flowers or gifts don’t mean a whole lot when you are taken for granted, or even forgotten the rest of the year.  How many lonely mothers receive no visits from their grown children throughout the year, and then get picked up from the nursing home on Mother’s Day to be taken to a sumptuous dinner that does more to soothe the conscience of the children than it does to bring joy to the mother. 

The same with pastors.  Showing appreciation should not be relegated to a particular Sunday or month. The cards (yes Christian bookstores have to make a living) are nice, and so are the gifts, but they are not absolutely necessary.

Something I have said to all of my congregations at one time or another is that the greatest honour and tribute that you can pay me is to walk in the ways of God, by putting into practice the things that you have heard me teach.  I don’t necessarily need the “lovely sermon Reverend” comment at the door, but I will accept anything that involves a simple ‘thank-you’ or ‘I appreciated what you said about  …. “.

Mind you, I’m not fishing for compliments.  I serve in a tradition (Baptist) where we have not only the freedom of the pulpit but the freedom of the pew.  In other words, it is your choice whether to accept or believe my message, and it is OK to disagree with me, and also to tell me so, or to engage me in discussion.  But there is a proper way to do that.  After the service at the church door is not the best time or place.  Why?  Because by the time I get there, I am tired. Preaching, whether you believe it or not is hard work.  The sudden increase and then loss of adrenalin makes you emotionally drained, and even vulnerable.  While I have always been willing to minister to peoples’ spiritual needs after  a service, and have been willing to stay as long as there are people wanting to see me, I never liked formal meetings after church in order to make difficult decisions.   And if you must speak to me about a disagreeable matter, then the best way is to make an appointment that suits us both so we can sit down and discuss whatever you have on your mind about my sermon or whatever issue you disagree with.  If you can’t come to my office, I will meet you at your home or wherever is convenient to you.  But sounding off on me at the door is unlikely to bring a good outcome for either of us.  I have been lambasted, even yelled at at the door for all kinds of things, that usually had nothing to do with my sermon.  Seriously.  A man once yelled at me because the air conditioning in the church was set too low for his comfort.  He was wearing shorts, and he shouted at me that he didn’t appreciate that the a/c was so cool that he couldn’t feel comfortable wearing shorts in his own church!

Appreciation that is genuine is welcome anytime, any month of the year, and yes pastors like anyone else are in need of it and usually respond favourably.  It doesn’t have to be elaborate or effusive either.  A genuine squeeze of the hand, a hug (if you go to a ‘hugging’ church), a short email sent after Sunday, can work wonders. 

And finally, remember this.  Pastors are human.  They have bad days like everyone else does.  You have no idea what he might be going through at the moment.  His work involves so much more than what you see and hear on Sunday morning.  So go ahead.  Express appreciation to your pastor. Do it any month of the year.  And don’t wait until his farewell Sunday.
Continue reading Pastors’ Appreciation Month

LOVING CITIES AND PLACES

 Usually when we say or hear the word “love” our thoughts go to a person or group of people. Although we also “love” our cornflakes or a host of other things, its not the same thing.  But what about an emotional attachment, for lack of a better word, to a place, like a country, or a town or city.

A few years ago while I was living in Calgary, Alberta, a fellow pastor moved from Kelowna to one of my neighbouring church in Calgary. He was a friend whom I knew previously, and I looked forward to having him in the same city.  And indeed the time that we were together, involved not only some duties that we shared between our two churches, but also a lot of fun lunches and good fellowship.  My friend told me how hard it was for him to leave Kelowna.  He described a special ritual that he developed for himself: on the day before leaving town, he made a special effort to visit all of his favourite places in the city, including of course the lakeshore from which he would launch his boat for fishing.  He said that he stood at each of these various places, and silently said “good-bye”.  There was an attachment because special memories were associated with each of those places.  His experience intrigued me.  He really did love Kelowna a lot, and it turned out that he went back there ….  To retire and to die.

In the Bible we read that Jesus “approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes”. (Luke 19:41)  Of course one can argue that it was the people living in that city that tugged at his heart, but sometimes we can regard a city and its inhabitants as one and the same,  even as we refer to ourselves as “Torontonians” or whatever city we live in.  And Jesus expressed some thoughts and feelings for some other cities as well: “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes“. (Matt. 11:21)

So I thought about the places where I have lived and worked, especially the places where I was engaged in ministry.  I won’t mention them all, but my first pastorate was in Toronto, which is about an hour east of where I grew up.  Toronto was the “big” city … the one we went to in order to get or experience anything we couldn’t get in Kitchener.  Now I was the pastor of a church there, and I arrived in the year that the CN Tower was completed.  But I didn’t really enjoy living in that city. It was no fun trying to visit my parishioners who were scattered all over that vast city. I didn’t enjoy the smog and the rush-hour traffic that usually began at 3:00 pm.

My next place of ministry was in Kitchener, my home town, and I soon found out what Jesus meant when He said that a prophet is without honour in his home town. Then later on, I spent a few years in a small town that I didn’t like.  It was an “old money” kind of town where new-comers were viewed with suspicion, and they clearly let you know that “you are not from here.”  The church is well over 100 years old and change of any kind was anathema there. I didn’t last long in that town.  My final 13 years of ministry were in Hamilton, Ont which is known for a lot of things, mainly steel.  Also a famous university, whose medical school is renowned.  Our church was located in walking distance from that church, and over the years some really neat contacts were made with students, and eventually we even had some doctoral candidates, and even a faculty number in the congregation.  Now Hamilton was a city that I never liked, prior to coming there.  Growing up, it was just a short drive from Kitchener, and so occasionally as a family we would go there, mainly for church events.  The one way streets used to drive us crazy.  But nevertheless I was eventually called to serve there, and I experienced something that I hadn’t in any of the previous cities – the church and the city grew on me.  Living there was actually quite enjoyable.  And I intentionally cultivated that, because by then I had learned that you can’t really be effective in a place that you don’t like, whether that is in a particular job, or a locale. And it prepared me for what was to follow.

I am now in Africa, in Kenya to be exact, for the third time.  The first time was a 10 day visit before moving on to Cameroon and then last year and this year a 3 month season of teaching, and some preaching too.  Now if someone would have told me that say five years ago, I would never have believed it.  For one thing, Africa was never a drawing card for me.  The things that we learned about Africa in Social Studies, and in Geography classes at school were things that I hated:  snakes, bugs and other strange animals, hot climate, and more.  But God has his way of dealing with His servants, and asking them where they would “like” to go is not one of them.  More than once in my ministry have I served in places where I didn’t want to be, or at least would not have chosen.  When I confessed this in my first sermon on African soil in 2015, I received applause.  And from that moment on, I began to love the Kenyan people who have been and are so gracious and friendly. And the more I get to know them and learn about them, the more I love them.  Now there are many things to adjust to while living here, but I choose to remind myself that this trip is not about me and my preferences, likes, and desires.  I want to be effective in the things I am called to do, so I put my feelings aside.  Faith is more important than feelings, and if we are faithful, sometimes God lets the feelings follow.

 

 

Living With Cancer

Over three decades ago, I buried the wife of my predecessor in the church that I was the pastor of at the time.  This woman was a larger than life personality, with a spirituality that few could aspire to.  When her cancer diagnosis became common knowledge in the congregation,  she said, “I refuse to live with cancer, I live with Jesus”.  Being a young pastor still figuring out a lot of things about life, I thought that was an amazing statement.  She repeated this so often that that it made a deep impression on people.  Of course I incorporated this statement into her memorial service, because I knew that she would want to be remembered that way.

However, when I received my own cancer diagnosis earlier this year, I knew that I could not say that.  Not because I don’t live with Jesus, for I do, but because I also knew that I would HAVE to live with cancer from now on.   Although at the moment I am deemed to be cancer-free, I was told by my doctors that “once you have cancer, you have cancer”.  It will almost certainly return at some time.  I need to be regularly monitored and checked.  It is a reality that is the new normal for me.

Everyone who has cancer, lives and deals with it differently.  In the case of the pastors’ wife that I referred to, the congregation was made privy to all of the details: the chemotherapy, the radiation, the loss of hair, and other side-effects:  we heard all of this and more during the weekly updates that her husband gave during prayer meeting.  As the end drew near, these updates became more and more difficult to hear as the church vicariously suffered with one of the pillars of the saints.

I was determined that this would not be my way of “living with cancer”.  I have always been a very private person, something that has been difficult while living in the fishbowl of ministry.   Just how “transparent” do we need to be?  Does everything that we live through and suffer through need to be on the plate of public consumption?  Even those in ministry are of different opinions on this.  One household-recognition televangelist began a blog about his cancer journey, where his innermost thoughts and experiences were there on the internet for all to consume. I do not criticize such expressions; all I am saying is that this not me. I have my own way, and I don’t expect everyone to agree or even understand that.

When word about my cancer got out, people that have not been in touch with me for many years, all of a sudden wanted to visit me.  Others, whom I knew but were not particularly close to wanted answers to questions like what kind of cancer?  How far a long is it? Did they get it all?  Will you need chemo?  Others asked diplomatically (or not so) how long I have left to live.

I answered some of those questions for some people.  But it was on a “need to know” basis.  Of course my family, and others very close to me do know the answers to most of those questions.  I told them because  of our relationship and the level of our closeness.
I also posted a message on FACEBOOK in which I mentioned some of the the platitudes, religious or otherwise  that I didn’t want to hear, especially from  folk who all too often think they know everything.

So why am I writing all this?  Because based on available statistics, every one of us either knows somebody who has or has had cancer,  or will be affected by cancer at some time in our life.  According to the Canadian Cancer Society,

  • 206,200 new cancer diagnoses and 80,800 deaths from cancer occurred in Canada in 2017.
  • Lung, colorectal, breast, and prostate cancer accounted for about half of all cancer diagnoses and deaths.
  • About 1 in 2 Canadians will develop cancer in their lifetimes and 1 in 4 will die of the disease.
  • 60% of Canadians diagnosed with cancer will survive at least 5 years after their diagnosis.

For you American friends, the American Cancer Society provides relevant data for the USA.

Due to medical advances made over the years, a cancer diagnosis is no longer automatically a death sentence.  However early detection is essential, and in that regard I consider myself very blessed and fortunate.  Mine was detected after a routine test, as I had no symptoms.  Often it is too late when symptoms appear.

How do you deal with people you know who have cancer?  For one thing, don’t write us off.  Treat us like normal human beings, and if you don’t know what to say, don’t say anything.  For example, on the Sunday before I went into the hospital for surgery, someone after church with a tearful expression pointed upwards and said, “Isn’t it nice to know where we are going?”  (You can’t make this stuff up).  I didn’t know what to reply, so I didn’t.

Secondly and finally for today, respect peoples’ rights to privacy.  It is a difficult thing as a patient to process this type of information.  If somebody needs help doing so, they will let you know.   If you are particularly close to someone in this situation, then letting them know that you are available is the best thing you can do.

CONVERSIONS AND CONVERTING

Recently I became friends with someone who calls themselves an atheist. The person knows who I am and what my convictions are. The new friend asked me, “are you going to try and covert me”? I answered that I had never converted anybody.

I was thinking of an incident, whether actual or apocryphal, from the life of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the 19th century preacher. It is said that he was out for a walk one day when he came across a drunken man lying in the gutter. He stopped and spoke to the man, and as he bent down over him, was startled that the man addressed him by name. Asking the man from where he knew his name, he answered, “you converted me some three years ago.” To which Spurgeon is said to have replied, “And that is the tragedy, that I converted you. Had you been spiritually converted you would not be where you are now.”

Now conversions happen all the time. People convert from one faith to another. Some do it out of convenience, such as to make it easier to marry someone from a different faith. Others might do it because of some emotional influence in their life, or at worst being brow-beaten by some persistent argument.

Conversion can be a dangerous proposition. People who live in countries dominated by Islam, are often sentenced to death for “converting” from the Islamic to the Christian or some other faith. This inconvenient truth is often denied, but the fact is well documented.

Conversion to Christianity has always been a dangerous affair at some time and place or another. From the earliest days, Christians were persecuted and martyred. The first persecution came from those who professed the Jewish faith and the first victim was Stephen. Since the day of Stephen, a crimson trail of blood has flown through all time, even to the present day. No matter how hard and cruel the persecution, neither the Roman government (who first persecuted and then made Christianity the state religion), nor communism, nor Islam will eradicate the Christian faith.

Sadly, Christians are not innocent from persecuting those who disagree with them. The bloody crusades are a dark blemish in the history of the church. At various other times, Catholics have persecuted Protestants, and vice versa.
When the Pilgrim Fathers, who left British shores to flee religious persecution in their homeland settled on North American shores, what did they do? They made the same mistake by persecuting others who did not share their views.

But back to conversion. A true conversion to Christianity, or to be more accurate, a conversion to CHRIST, is a life changing event. The most famous example in the Bible is the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, who later became the Apostle Paul. Saul was a leader of the Jewish faith, a man learned in the Hebrew Scriptures, a leading person in the party of the Pharisees. As the influence of the Christian witness and faith spread, he sought permission to arrest people and bring them to Jerusalem to face justice. It was during such a mission, that God intervened on the Road to Damascus, and we read the story of Saul’s “conversion”.  Saul’s life was never the same. He became a passionate defender of those whom he had persecuted.  He planted churches in areas where pagan (non-Jewish) religions had dominated. Many of his writings are part of the New Testament portion of our Bible.

There have been some notable conversions in modern times, and I will mention two of the most well known. One is C.S.LEWIS, who is known for his literary works such as THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA and books like The Screwtape Letters and Mere Christianity. Lewis was raised in a religious family that attended the Church of Ireland. He became an atheist at age 15.  During his early adult life he participated  in the occult.  He eventually returned to Christianity, having been influenced by arguments with his Oxford colleague and Christian friend. J.R.R. Tolkien.   Lewis converted to Christianity in 1931, following a long discussion and late-night walk with  Tolkien and and another close friends He records making a specific commitment to Christian belief while on his way to the zoo with his brother. He became a member of the Anglican Church (The Church of England)  – somewhat to the disappointment of Tolkien, who had hoped that he would join the Catholic Church. Following his conversion he became a writer of numerous books, both fiction and non-fiction.  Many of them are a defence of Christianity. 

Another more recent convert from atheism is Lee Strobel, a former law journalist with the Chicago Tribune. He says that he began calling himself an atheist as a teenager and that he “loathed Christianity”.   His wife’s conversion to Christianity was actually the catalyst that brought the couple to the brink of divorce.  However after two years of intense research using his investigative skills as a former journalist for The Chicago Trubune, and consulting more than 12 leading biblical theologians, scholars and experts, Strobel learned that the Christian creed was solid and he converted to Christianity decades ago. Since then he has been a  writer and teacher of the Christian faith. One of his best books is The Case For Christ, and a later sequel The Case for Miracles. Both books are best-sellers.

Mind you, conversion works both ways.  One of the most well-known conversions from Christianity to atheism in the 20th century was Charles Templeton. He once was a close friend of Billy Graham, in fact the two worked together in the Youth For Christ movement, in Graham’s early days. Templeton was also a prolific author, and his works reflected his faith or lack thereof throughout his life.

How do conversions happen?  Not as a result of slick marketing or human persuasion.  A true conversion is a change of conviction, where someone changes their opinion about something they formerly held true and now take a different position.  Atheists (who deny the existence of God) and Agnostics (who question the existence of God) generally fall into one of two categories.  There are those who have intellectual reasons that they have carefully reasoned and thought through, and there are those who have what I call emotional reasons.  Perhaps they are angry with some religious leader, or disappointed in how they were treated by those who belong to the particular religion.  Or perhaps they had a shallow emotional experience and embraced a position that they do not fully understand. When somebody tells me that they don’t believe in God or Christianity because “there are so many contradictions in the Bible”, I generally ask them which contradiction  troubles them most. Usually they cannot name a single one, but simply are repeating a mantra that they have heard from others.  Or they bring up issues that the Bible does address, but they lack any kind of understanding as to how the Scriptures are to be understood.

But I have also encountered people who are true spiritual seekers.  They really want to know what is true and what is not, and they genuinely search for answers.  We must never brush such people aside.  Like Jesus did, we ought to sit down with them, regardless of what social class they belong to and listen to their questions, engage them in their thought processes, and and give reasoned explanations instead of platitudes.   But conversion?  That is up them, and only them.  Deep in their heart they must decide.  It still happens today.

Another View …

What we see in life depends where we are looking from.  This blog is a new blog because I have again changed my position, which will no doubt change what I see and how I respond to it.

In the early 1990’s I wrote a newspaper columned entitled VIEWPOINT, which ran once a week in the local newspaper where I then lived … a small town in which I was the pastor of one of the churches.  Then came the internet and the opportunity to write blogs, and I was again living in a larger city and pastor of a church there.  So I had a blog entitled PASTOR DIETER’S VIEWPOINT.

Now I am retired, living in yet another city (my hometown Kitchener, Ontario actually) and travel from time to time.  So what is different this time  about the blog?  While the opinions that I have expressed in the past have always been my own, they needed to some extent to be rather guarded.  For example I had to be careful about politics.  I was employed by churches that were registered charities, and in Canada registered charities can not engage in politics.  So I treated my blog as if I were in the pulpit … I bit my tongue about my political opinions.  I no longer have that restraint…

I am adjusting to being on “the other side” of the pulpit, namely in the pew. The view is very different on either side. The view from the pew is more critical.  I wonder if everyone is as critical – or is it just those who once were behind the pulpit and now in the pew are unnecessarily hard on the one who is at the front?  I don’t know. I’m still figuring that out. What also complicates matters is that I still preach from time to time, and so I commute as it were, between the pulpit and the pew.

In any case, something that I have always done, is tell it like… well I was about to say tell it like it is, but a more humble way would be to tell it like I see it.

WP2Social Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com