Becoming a People of Prayer: Transparency in Suffering and Celebration

This week we will be looking at the first part of a new sermon series on "Becoming a People of Prayer"

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. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.  He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favour granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

2 Corinthians 1:3-11 (TNIV)

A couple of weeks ago I threw a question up on this blog that I was hoping the Estevan Alliance Church family would respond to and start a discussion with me. The question was simply this: What does our pattern of congregational prayer say about EAC? In that post I did the most dangerous thing that any amateur blogger can do – I asked for feedback. Nothing keeps you as humble, and deflates your sense of self-importance as quick as soliciting feedback on a blog post – because if you go and look at that post today you will see a whopping one singular response to my question. Special thanks go out to Brian Zinchuk for keeping me from feeling like a total failure.

But even though I received very little feedback on the blog comments started trickling in through Facebook and emails and face-to-face conversations about people’s response to our practice of congregational prayer and sharing in the Sunday morning services. Some of the encouraging things I’ve heard from people include responses like:

“The prayer time is my favourite part of the worship service”

“I love hearing people share about what God is doing in their lives”

“I never would have known they were suffering without the sharing time. Now I know how to pray for them”

“I feel like this sort of thing really builds community”

Most of what I heard from you was exhilarating and encouraging but some other common threads started to emerge in the responses that weren’t as positive.  Specifically I heard from a number of you that there were some not-so-insignificant doubts about participating in such a prayer time and after consolidating the responses I think I’ve identified three main culprits that I want to address this week. Three lies that we are telling ourselves that keep us from fully engaging in corporate prayer the way I am convinced that Jesus wants us to engage.

Lie #1: My needs are too unimportant to bother the church with

Lie #2: My situation is too embarrassing to share in church

Lie #3: Sharing answered prayer is insensitive to those who are struggling with real needs

This Sunday join us as we explode these falsehoods with a healthy dose of God’s truth and learn together what it means to become a people of prayer.

The Pastor's iPod

I thought that if I was going to share with you some good books I was reading that I might as well pass onto you some good sermons I'm listening to as well. Of course I would always recommend that if you've missed a Sunday recently that you check out the sermons from the EAC pulpit available either on our website here, or through iTunes here.

These are just a few of the messages that have been provoking some intense thought as I've gone for evening walks over the past few weeks. Take a listen and let me know what you think.


Bishop William Willimon: The Flag and Cross, Cross and Flag
(July 1, 2001) iTunes Link

Bishop Willimon is a Methodist preacher from Alabama who has had a significant ministry to university students throughout his career as he served for a number of years as the Dean of the chapel of Duke University. This message is a wonderfully poignant rebuke of nationalism in the church from a noted American Southerner on the Fourth of July weekend. Not the person, not the setting one would expect to hear such a rebuke from. The genius of this message though was not how hard hitting it was (and it is) but how subversive it was in getting a congregation to an uncomfortable realization. He starts off with the Gospel (as any preacher should) but walks the listeners through a series of conflicts and resolutions that they cannot argue with that build to the logical conclusion at the end of his sermon. The critique of nationalism simultaneously comes out of left field and is at the same time the most logical extension and application of the teaching leading up to it. A very gutsy (and structurally faithful) message that challenges and surprises.

Pastor Mark Driscoll: Jesus on Money, Idolatry and Comedy
(May 29, 2011) iTunes Link

This is a recent installment in Mars Hill's long running series through Luke. It is Mark Driscoll's take on the well knows and often preached story of the rich young ruler. I personally have a lot of problems with some of Mark Driscoll's theology (nothing that borders on heresy - just that he and I see some significant things quite differently) however I found nothing to object to in this message. If anything this was one of the better messages on this text that I have ever heard. Driscoll is known for being a preacher who doesn't pull punches and in my opinion this is him at his best - faithfully getting to the core of the story and making a difficult call to obedience. I was particularly delighted with his final big idea in the message - the part about comedy. I won't spoil it for you but it was something that I have long believed but never worked to articulate. I'm going to be preaching on Stewardship this fall and I wouldn't be surprised at all if some of the ideas and observations from this message ended up in some of my sermons.

Rev. Steve Kerr: Lizards, Locusts and Loot
(June 6, 2011) Not on iTunes

Steve Kerr was the key note speaker at the biennial district conference of the Canadian Midwest District of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada (that's a mouthful!). It was actually his messages and encouragement that inspired me to launch into a series on stewardship this fall - and again, if you take the time to listen to this sermon (and the other one on the district website) you will undoubtedly hear some great ideas that I will unashamedly be stealing come this fall. What you should know first is that stewardship for Steve is not equal to tithing. This is not a message to make you feel guilty about giving (or not giving as the case may be) it's a message about being a good steward of what God has given to you. It's inspiring and convicting all at the same time and I'd highly recommend you listen to it.

The Pastor's Library

One of the things I try to do as a pastor is to carve intentional time out of my schedule for reading. I'm a firm believer that anyone who wants to seriously grow needs to be continually digesting and processing new information and seeking the wisdom of others who have studied longer, thought more deeply, and walked more closely with the Lord. Not every book I read is a slam dunk epiphany - in fact often times I'll read a book and walk away from the experience firm in my disagreement with the author, convinced that he or she has simply missed the boat on some fundamental issue, or taking umbrage with their application of a new and exciting truth. Even in those situations though I'm unable right now to think of a time when I didn't learn something valuable through the experience. To that end I want to share with you a few of the books that I have recently finished, and that I would recommend for you to consider getting your hands on a copy of for yourself.

A word of caveat though - just because I recommend a book does NOT mean I fully endorse EVERYTHING the author says, either in that book or elsewhere - but if I recommend it it does mean that I believe there is enough worthwhile material to make the exercise in reading and pondering an edifying experience for the believer. With that said here are the three books I most recently finished and would recommend:

Who Stole My Church

This is a book that tackles the issue in churches surrounding generational change in ministries and practice within an established church. The author, Gordon MacDonald, tells a fictional story of a small New England church on the brink of disaster as the pastor copes with the fall-out of a congregational meeting where what he thought was a slam-dunk proposal to modernize the sanctuary was unceremoniously shot down as the dam of resentment and misunderstanding from the established generations in the church finally broke, making a right mess of the pastor's plans.

Make no mistake - the author's main premise is that the church NEEDS to change and adapt to reach the younger generations - sometimes at great cost to the older ones so you can imagine my surprise when this book was given to me by one of the senior couples in our congregation with an encouragement to read it and learn from the message within. I was so encouraged by the maturity demonstrated by this couple in giving me a book like this that I had to bump it to the top of my reading list and see what all the fuss was about. After completing it and pondering it's message I would strongly say that this is a book that anyone who reaches an age where they start to feel marginalized in the church needs to read. It is a wonderful encouragement to both let go of things that hinder the Gospel being rooted and established in the next generation, but also to re-engage and dispel the lie that your years of ministry usefulness and fruitfulness have passed.

What makes the book wonderful though is that it is also a book for those of us in the younger generation to take seriously - because while the majority of the movement and concessions the author places on the shoulders of the senior generations - there is a strong rebuke in its pages for we 20 and 30 somethings who have failed to understand the lifetimes that have been invested by our elders in the institution of the church - and the real and significant hurts that we can inflict upon those people who we need to uphold and respect as the matriarchs and patriarchs of our fellowship. A book well worth reading.

Heresies and How to Avoid Them

I found this book through a Facebook message chain where a friend of mine was asking for advice on important books to add to his library. When I was asked I promptly added my two cents to the discussion and then did what any self-respecting pastor would do - I stuck around and stole the ideas from others to make up my own wish list. This book was recommend to him by my theology professor from my days in Bible College so I thought it would be worthwhile to pick up. I was right.

This book is not so much a cohesive treatise on heresies (false doctrines that deny the core truths of scripture) as it is a well put together collection of essays by different scholars on individual heresies that have effected the church throughout its history - as well as an account of how (and by whom) they were refuted. Not only is the book an easy to read primer on some very important theological concepts (the first four heresies covered deal with the human/divine nature of Christ - fundamental stuff) but it illustrates in a powerful way how most great heresies did not evolve out of a desire to upend the church, or overturn scriptural truth - but rather a desire to do the opposite.

The greatest warning I get out of this collection of essays is not a defense against any particular heresy, but the sober reminder that it is in our zeal to get things right that we often get them most wrong. Theology - most good theology that is - is a delicate balancing act between ideas that are often on the surface contradictory to each other (the most important example is that Christ is both fully God and fully human). When we become zealous for one of those truths to be primary rather than held in tension we lose something important and we begin the slide into heresy. The greatest heretics in church history were not vile antagonists but people who genuinely loved Jesus and loved the church and in their zeal went too far in one direction or the other (the first four chapters of this collection is literally like watching a swinging pendulum back and forth between extremes as each successive heresy tries to correct the extremes of the last). It's a dire warning to the church today in the age of internet critics, and celebrity pastors where we are apt to quickly react to theologies we find uncomfortable by running as fast  as we can in the other direction into what often is an equal, or worse distortion of the Gospel than we are reacting to.

And lastly...

Finally Feminist
John Stackhouse's treatise on the issue of the role of women in ministry and the problem of headship and authority. This small but wonderfully written volume was his attempt at presenting a better way forward in this debate that has divided churches and denominations all around the world. In the end I think his better way is far too close to the egalitarian way for many complementarian readers, it is a wonderful book for walking through the difficult texts and it presents a clear case for why the offices of the church should be equally accessible to both men and women.

A word of caution on any book covering this contentious issue - one would be wise to read an opinion that balances Stackhouse's perspective in order to fully understand the depth of this debate. I haven't finished it yet, but I am currently reading through a collection of essays entitled Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood edited by John Piper and Wayne Grudem which presents the other side of the issue in a well thought out way. I haven't finished it so I'm loathe to recommend it yet but if you feel so inclined, dive in but be warned that the language is a little more technical than in Stackhouse's book and thus takes a little more concentration to follow.

One of the best sections of this book however deals with a much more foundational issue than the gender debates - Stackhouse launches a compelling rebuke of Biblicism (the simple assertion that because the Bible says it it must be true. Case closed, debate over). His contention is that we can't be naive enough to actually believe that there is any way that we can assume objective authority on the meaning of a text to the disregarding of all other interpretations. To be sure, the Bible says "something" and so it must be true, debate over, case closed - but determining what that something is is not always as clear cut as people would like to believe. Any honest scholarship of the scriptures must begin in a position of humility, with the knowledge that men and women much wiser than we have been arguing over the meaning of some of these texts for many times longer than we have been alive and to assume that without the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit in the context of accountable Christian community - that we cannot claim any authority of interpretation. For my money, that section alone was worth the price of the book - but the rest of it is good too.

That's it for today. Hopefully some of you will take up the challenge and read some of these books yourself and then we can sit down over coffee and have a discussion about their content together.

Blessings,
Chris

What does prayer say about our church?

I went for a walk tonight in the hot late evening air and as is my custom when walking listened to a sermon that I had downloaded on iTunes. This evening I was listening to a message by Bishop William Willimon (Methodist preacher from Alabama) about keeping preaching fresh. The message was excellent and I'm putting it on file for future use whenever we get around to reviving the "preachers from the bleachers" program. The Bishop must have been preaching/lecturing at some sort of college chapel because after he concluded he engaged in a lengthy Q&A session with the congregation. It was unfortunate that the recording did not capture the questions from the floor so I was left to piece together the questions from the answers he offered, but one thing he said in passing caught my attention. He was telling an anecdotal story (about his son I believe, but I'm not sure on this part) where a young couple were judging churches they visited by how the congregational prayer time went.

The essence of the illustration was that this couple was looking for a church and they were trying to find one that fit with the values and priorities they held about what a church should be, and rather than rate the church on the preaching, or how friendly the greeters were, or whether there was childcare, or well marked exits - they evaluated the church on a singular criteria - what did they pray for?

My first reaction was "how odd and unorthodox" but as it sank in while I walked the idea made more and more sense to me. When a church comes together for congregational prayer what is prayed for, either on a prepared list that is researched and vetted by the pastors before the service, or in a model like ours where every Sunday the floor is opened to requests, says a lot about what the priorities of the church and it's leadership are. Are all the prayer requests of the same type? Are all the situations being prayed for dire? When we pray for the sick to we ask for healing, or simply comfort to endure? Is our prayer time marked by expressions of praise? Do the same people share every week or is there a diversity across generations, cultures, ethnicities, socio-economic strata, established members vs. newcomers and the like? What does our prayer say about Estevan Alliance Church?

There are things I absolutely love about our prayer times as a pastor. I love it when people have the courage to stand up and share something publicly that they have until that point been struggling with privately - to me that makes a statement that at Estevan Alliance Church we value authenticity, even when it's raw and painful. It also says that we believe in the power of a praying church more than we value our privacy, pride and dignity as individuals. That's something that gets me excited.

I love when people stand up and give thanks for answered prayer. Not only is it an encouragement that God is listening and powerful enough to do the things we ask for, but it causes us to pause and evaluate in our lives where God may have answered our prayers and we have neglected (as the brave person standing is doing) to acknowledge his goodness and faithfulness.

I love when people acknowledge God's goodness and faithfulness through the difficult seasons. I have told this story already to countless people already because it so moved me - but many of you may remember during what should have been the peak of seeding time this spring when the waters were keeping seemingly every farmer off the fields and every week we would be praying for warm dry weather, one of our farmers (if you were there you will undoubtedly remember who) stood up and gave God unconditional thanks for the many good years of farming that we in the Southeast of Saskatchewan have enjoyed over the last while. It wasn't in the sense that "God you always find a way to give us a good year so show up now and keep the streak running" it was in the vein of God has always taken care of us through years of plenty and years of little and no matter what we trust that he'll take care of us this year too. That single prayer request has continued to inspire me for a couple months now, and I believe says volumes about the character of this man, but also the culture of our church to invite and nurture that type of prayer.

There are also things that can happen in a congregational prayer that make a pastor cringe. I get disappointed on Sundays when there is absolutely nothing redeeming to share during the prayer time - because in a congregation with an average attendance of somewhere around 200 I find it implausible bordering on impossible that all of our lives are that bad. Either we are a depressingly pessimistic and ungrateful people, or someone is to timid to share what God is calling them to share.

It also troubles me when people stand up and share an "unspoken request". It's not that I lack faith in God to answer such requests but I lack a belief in how the public sharing of something like that can build up the body of Christ. As much as I love it when we can share real, raw truths with each other while fostering a culture of authenticity where our christian "masks" come off on a Sunday morning, I'm mature enough to realize that some things may be too private for some people to share. If that is the nature of such a prayer request then I suggest it be shared with a smaller group rather than in a public forum. Sharing mysterious requests only serves to focus attention on the mystery rather than God and often leads to speculation far more embarrassing than the truth of the matter to begin with. Moreover what it says about our church is that we are not a safe place and highlights the fact that a small number of people are entitled to special knowledge of circumstances that others are not - and we're rubbing in their faces.

What  does our pattern of prayer say about our church? I'm going to go out on a limb here and ask for feedback on this matter. I've had a lousy track record on this blog of getting genuine interaction from anyone - even when the stats say I'm generating a lot of traffic - but I'll take the chance at rejection and ask anyways? What does our congregational prayer time say about Estevan Alliance Church. Hit up the comment button below and share your thoughts.

Until next time,
Chris

Jesus please change the world - even if you have to start with me

This post is not intended to be a completely flushed out thought process. It’s merely something that I’ve been ruminating on for a while now and felt like I needed to get it out there into the world for discussion and debate with the hopes of developing my own thoughts and convictions more thoroughly through the process. So for this post I would encourage those of you who read this blog from the perspective of one of my parishioners to bear with me as I try to articulate what God has been laying on my heart with the expectation that my position will probably need some honing in the future.

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about human rights. What constitutes a human right? Where do these rights come from? How does the exercise of my human rights affect or impinge upon the rights of others and who’s right is more right? It seems to me as a people we are becoming more and more obsessed with rights and making sure that ours our protected. The more magnanimous among us get wound up about the rights of others and how others still are denying them of those rights in the pursuit of their rights and best interests – but it seems everyone is concerned with making sure that rights are observed.

Lately it’s hit me in a number of poignant ways: First there were the different labour conflicts happening this spring/summer in my part of the world – workers talking about unfair wages, government subversion of the collective bargaining process and an undervaluing of professions. Meanwhile there was also a public backlash against organised labour by people complaining about their right to access timely medical care, for their kids to finish the school year, for their mail to arrive, etc (a lot of the Saskatchewan controversy had its roots in essential services legislation for some background for those living elsewhere).

Secondly there was the issue of same sex marriage as the state of New York became the sixth US state (and by far the largest) to allow the unions and once again the issue ignited even here in Canada (where it’s been legal for quite some time) over the conflict between the rights of the couples to marry and the rights of those performing marriages to act upon their conscience to not participate in them (a recent court ruling in Saskatchewan made it clear that for secular marriage commissioners, choice was an illusion –as a representative of the province they HAD to perform same sex marriages even if they found them morally objectionable on religious grounds).

And most recently as our nation celebrated its birthday (and three days later our neighbours to the south celebrated theirs) I took some time to ponder what the Canadian and American experience teach us about the issue of rights. What would Canada look like without the Charter of Rights and Freedoms? What would the USA be like were it not founded on the rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”? It all has gotten me wondering if we have any rights at all.

Now this is not one of those “choice is an illusion”, “we all live in the matrix”, “get out the tinfoil hats” sort of post. I’m not musing as to whether or not we are actually enjoying the rights we so desperately cling to – or if we are only led to believe that we are – I’m asking a bigger question: Is the concept of human rights an illusion in and of itself?

The more I study the Bible and think about what God says about our rights the more I realise that he is disconcertingly silent on the issue. When I do a search for the word “rights” on Biblegateway in my default TNIV translation I get 20 mentions in all of scripture – the vast majority of them dealing with the rights of an office, or the rights of the firstborn, or of a spouse in a family. Not inherent human rights – but conditional ones instead. If I take a look at a more literal translation like the NASB that frequency drops down to 10 instances, and if I look at a more historical translation like the KJV – translated before the enlightenment and the globalisation of this idea of intrinsic human rights – there are no instances found at all.

Even if we are to rule the KJV out of the equation and deal with strictly modern translations for an apples to apples comparison there are painfully few passages that affirm any sort of intrinsic set of human rights – the types that the American Founding Fathers held to be “self evident”.

The most common passages relate to our treatment of the poor and oppressed and they are found in the 31^st chapter of Proverbs. Here is the passage in question from the TNIV:

It is not for kings, Lemuel—

   it is not for kings to drink wine,

   not for rulers to crave beer,

lest they drink and forget what has been decreed,

   and deprive all the oppressed of their rights.

Let beer be for those who are perishing,

   wine for those who are in anguish!

Let them drink and forget their poverty

   and remember their misery no more.

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,

   for the rights of all who are destitute.

Speak up and judge fairly;

   defend the rights of the poor and needy.

In this passage, the word translated here as rights is more aptly described in Strong’s Concordance as the cause of the poor, or the plight of the poor – or in a legislative and executive context like this one speaking to a king – as LEGAL rights. Those rights extended to a person by adherence to the law. Not as intrinsic entitlements by virtue of our humanity.

And that’s where I think we go astray in our culture of rights. We confuse the language of rights with the much uglier and less polite language of entitlement. Entitlement is what we think we deserve. Entitlement is what we think that people/society/the world/the “man”/God OWES us. Whereas rights tickle the ears with ideas of justice and freedoms and fairness, entitlement sounds to us like self-preservation, isolationism and greed. The truth of the matter is that everything we have is a gift – an unmerited act of mercy from a God who loves us more than we deserve; that the Earth is the Lord’s and everything in it (Psalm 24:1) and that every good and perfect gift comes down to us from our Heavenly Father (James 1:17) not because we are entitled to it, not because we have a “right” to it, but because he loves us. God owes us nothing, and neither does anyone else.

So if we abandon the concept of human rights – of intrinsic entitlements based upon our human uniqueness (one could even argue based upon the image bearing nature of humanity) how do we keep from descending into an ever downward spiral of unchecked self-interest, exploitation and abuse? How do we acknowledge the special “value” of each person (and through the cross of Christ God affirms once and forever the immeasurable value he places on each and every human being) without conferring unbiblical “rights” to them? We need to abandon the language of rights in favour of the language of responsibility.

Responsibility fits much better with the Biblical narrative that rights do. From the very beginning in the Garden of Eden when God created Adam and Eve he gave them not rights – but responsibilities (Genesis 1:28. 2:15); the intrinsic answer to the question posed to God by Cain, “am I my brother’s keeper” is yes; the character of Boaz in the book of Ruth is contrasted with the unnamed Kinsmen Redeemer as one who would fulfil his responsibilities in marrying Ruth and caring for her and Naomi; the prophets constantly berate the people of God for not fulfilling their responsibilities to the poor, the widowed, the alien and the orphan; Jesus elaborates on the ethic of the Kingdom of God laying upon his followers a difficult and even at times burdensome list of responsibilities about how to care for one another; and Paul travels around to all the Gentile churches persuading them of their responsibilities to help the poor in the Jerusalem church with an offering.  I couldn’t begin to compile a list of all the places the Bible talks about our responsibilities to each other even if I tried – they are simply too many and too wide reaching.  Being a Christian is not about having rights that we defend, but about having responsibilities that we fulfil.

So what does that mean practically? In short – I don’t know.

We can’t just change the very foundations of western democracies overnight. The language of human rights and entitlements is not going away anytime soon. We can’t simply ignore the rights of others and pretend they are not there – the law of the land still stands and if any of you were paying attention during my Canada Day weekend sermon you’ll remember that as Christ followers we are obligated by God to observe and keep the laws of the land. What we can try to do though is live with the Biblical mindset that we are a people of responsibilities and not rights. We can live out the ethic even if the law does not affirm it. Consider what a world built around a Biblical ethic of responsibilities rather than rights would look like:

A rights based world focuses on doing the bare minimum for anyone else and making sure someone is doing the maximum possible for me – a responsibilities based world trusts in God to meet my needs and instead focuses on doing as much as possible for others.

 A rights based world promotes conflict because my rights are always more important than your rights, and when they clash someone has to win and someone has to lose –a responsibilities based world promotes cooperation and collaboration as we continually seek new ways to put the other person’s needs before our own (Philippians 2:3) and submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (Ephesians 5:21).

 A rights based world promotes a poverty-mentality where there are a limited number of resources and a finite quantity of manpower that must both be hoarded rather than shared – a responsibilities based world promotes an abundance mentality where there is always something to share with someone who has less than we do.

 A rights based world promotes sloth and laziness among many because they believe they are entitled to help when they are actually capable of helping themselves and others – a responsibilities based world promotes industriousness and sacrifice where we work hard to contribute and care for the less able.

This may all sound like pie-in-the-sky idealism at its most abstract and least helpful but it’s something that God has been consistently speaking to me about lately. Perhaps it’s only for my own personal edification (I can get caught up in an entitlement mentality as much as the next person) but I don’t feel like it is. So I’m sharing it with all of you in the blogosphere and inviting you to dialogue with me. Tell me what you think – where you think I’ve missed the boat, where you think I’ve misunderstood the Scriptures, where you think it just won’t work and where you find yourself in agreement with what I’ve shared (I need to hear those words too J ). Let’s talk about this and see if we can do a little something to change the world one person at a time.

How the world will end

I read an article yesterday about the dominance of the iPad in the tablet market and how among many of the things it does best - one of the keys to success has been it's "toddler-friendliness". I have to admit I scoffed at the idea when I first read it. The author's premise was that the iPad (and iOS - the iPad, iPod touch and iPhone operating system) is designed to be so simple and user-intuitive that even small children can learn to use it effectively. I scoffed... until I saw this:

This must be the most insidious part of Steve Jobs' master plan to take over the world. The iGeneration has arrived. :)

Chris

And now some excitement

Around 7:30pm this evening contractions took a jump toward the regular 5 minute mark. Intensity was up, length was increasing and I was ordered to start packing the bags to get ready for a return trip to the general. Around 8:15 we made the decision to leave and the rest as they say is history.

We arrived at the hospital sometime around 8:30 and labour came on fast and furious - too fast for any drugs, or an epidural - this baby wanted to be born and she was going to come into the world the old fashioned way. After lots of work and a tense 60 minutes of labour, at precisely 9:27 Regina time we welcomed into the world our third child, a beautiful baby girl named Penelope Beverley Jane Smith. Beverley for my mother, Jane for Jo's mother (it's actually Patricia Jane - but with Penelope already starting with a "P" we opted for a middle name tribute) and Penelope (which will probably be often shortened to Penny) just because we really liked the name.

Everyone is doing well and is very tired. Even Penelope is sleeping well (YAY!) Talk to you all soon.

Chris and Jo

An unusually usual day

This morning was not like the previous two at all. 

Unlike Wednesday and Thursday when we were expecting a call from the hospital and had everything cleaned, packed and ready to go; unlike the previous two days when everyone was showered, dressed and fed and waiting for the phone to ring - today was not like that at all.

Today I woke up as usual just before 7:00, and as usual I walked down to the basement to check my email and Facebook before having my morning shower. As usual by the time I came back up stairs the boys were groggily watching Disney Junior in the living room in their pajamas. As usual there was a mess in the kitchen from where Harry tried to get himself a snack before Mommy or Daddy could help him. As usual Jo was still in bed listening either for my footsteps to signal she could doze knowing someone was with the kids or for the sound of fighting between brothers signaling that she would need to get up an intervene. As usual, nothing unusual was going on.

I had made the decision the night before that I wasn't going to continue to waste my precious vacation time waiting around for a call from the hospital when it would be much more useful to our family once that call had come and our daughter had arrived. So this morning, as usual I was getting ready for work.

What was unusual this morning was the fact that our phones weren't working. We have phone through our cable company and it seems that someone while digging yesterday for some construction project of unknown origins or intent had cut our cable line rendering our home phone useless. What was unusual this morning was that I decided to go for a long walk before heading to work to clear my head of the previous couple of days of frustration and perhaps to spend some quality time with God before getting back to the grind. What was unusual this morning was that for the first day in weeks we weren't all geared up and ready to have a baby.

So I went for my morning walk, enjoying a beautiful summer morning and I got about half a block away from my house when my phone rang. It was Jo - the hospital called and they wanted us in right away, and it all started again.

By the time we got everything organised and out the door, and dropped off the boys and started toward Regina it was about 8:30 We got to the hospital around 11:00 and started to go through the motions of getting induced. By 1:30 the deed was done and now we're waiting; waiting for labour to start; waiting for something to change; waiting for the usual to become considerably more unusual.

If at first you don't succeed...

7:35AM - Episode 2: A New Hope
Well it's baby day part two today and we're again waiting for a call from the General in Regina. Today is going to be different, I can feel it. Everyone woke up in good moods this morning, we managed to mostly save the house from the natural disaster that is my two sons yesterday so clean-up this morning is a breeze, and I have a fresh sense of optimism about what the day holds.

Today we've decided to take a little more active role in seeing this done. We called the hospital last night and made sure they had a cell number for Jo and this morning around 8:30 we're heading to Regina in faith that we're getting called in. If by some unfortunate stroke of circumstance we get bumped again I plan on marching into Jo's doctor's office and demanding that he do something or give us an induction order for the Estevan Hospital. This baby is coming today come hell or high water (and I live in Estevan so we've already dealt with high water this year). Anyhow, I should go and finish getting ready so we can get on the road on time. As with yesterday I'll keep this updated throughout the day with news and developments. I need to find out what's going on down the hall - Jack is running around opening all the doors wishing imaginary people a "Happy Valentine's Day". (???)

10:00AM - Still no word
Stopped in Weyburn to call the hospital. They day that there are 3 inductions ahead of Jo on the priority list and that they can only do three at a time. We're supposed to call when we leave the city to see where they are at but once again it doesn't look good. We're going to call our specialist and see if we can get in to see him today now. Please pray that there is room for us.

3:00PM - Full circle 
We're heading back to Estevan after being bumped again, and told simultaneously that tomorrow looks doubtful as well. Apparently, despite the fact that Joanna's sick enough to be required to have the baby 2 hours away in Regina for some reason, she's not sick enough to have any sort of priority on the induction list!?! We are so confused by all that's going on. We're now on our way back to Estevan to see our family doctor because Jo is 10 days overdue and hasn't seen a doctor in a week now. Which isn't supposed to happen.

6:00PM - Back to waiting
So, no news on any front. We're still waiting. Who knows at this point when it will be. I'm thinking of going back to the office tomorrow to get my mind off of things and preserve some vacation days for when the baby actually shows up. Besides the disappointment of not getting induced we also had to cancel an appointment for our car today in Regina that would have seen our long awaited cruise control installed (anyone who heard my sermon last week will know how much I need that in the Fiesta) because we couldn't wait around for it to be completed before booking it back to Estevan for the next appointment. I think I'm going to can these baby watch blogs for now and just post something up when it actually happens - whenever that will be.

Sorry for stringing you all along for a second day in a row.

Blogging through Baby day

This is the best way I know to keep everyone abreast of what's going on today. I know that many of you are curious and concerned about Jo and the as-of-yet unnamed baby girl - so I thought I'd take the opportunity throughout the day to blog through developments as they happen. What I'll be doing is continually updating this post rather than creating a new post for every development. Check back often as you get curious.

7:45AM - Excited
Awake, alert, showered, dressed and ready to face an exciting day. Last night Jo gave me one final gift before our daughter arrives. She told me to sleep in the basement. I know part of this was because she wanted the freedom to watch television in bed when she was up multiple times throughout the night as she has been for the past month or so - but the larger part was that she wanted me to have an uninterrupted night of sleep for the first time in weeks (and the last time in months I imagine). I woke this morning feeling well-rested and alert for the first time in recent memory.

Right now everyone is dressed, the house is cleaned, the cars are packed with overnight bags for Jo and I and overnight bags for the boys as they will soon be dropped off at a friend's place for the next couple of days while we're in Regina. Last night I finally installed the new infant car seat into the vehicle we're taking to Regina and I'm sitting here now with my Starbucks Cappuccino (thank you Tassimo) waiting for the phone to ring to get things moving.

We are scheduled for an induction today, and with Joanna's cyst issues she is high on the priority list for one - but in the world of maternity wards where anything can change in a moments notice, nothing is guaranteed until it happens. We've been told to expect a phone call from the hospital sometime before or around 9:00 telling us what time to make an appearance. I'm also waiting for a call from Sasktel telling us when someone is coming around to install a new internet gateway/router to correct a problem with our not-so-high-speed internet. The race is on to see who calls first.

We'll keep you posted.

9:55AM - Frustrated
When 9:25 rolled around and we hadn't heard from the hospital yet (or Sasktel for that matter) we decided we should call and make sure we hadn't slipped through the cracks. Jo called and was told that she shouldn't expect to be induced today. No real explanation was given other than it being implied that they wouldn't have time for her. Now Jo is upset, the boys are cranky because they've been looking forward all morning to go and play at our friend's house and I'm trying to control my frustration with the fact that nobody seems to be taking Jo's condition seriously.

I know I have no right to presume I know what I'm talking about here - the teenager life guarding at our local rec centre has more medical training than I do - but it certainly feels like those in our medical system either don't understand the amount of pain and discomfort my wife is in - and has been in for a long time now - or they simply don't care. I know all the pat-answers about how pregnancy is difficult and how every pregnancy is different but the people giving those pat answers don't see Joanna suffering day in and day out. They don't see the fact that on her best day she's in chronic pain, and on her worst day she can't even function. They don't see the fact that over the last month she's been getting maybe four hours of sleep per night - and even that is regularly interrupted. They don't see the how crushing it has been emotionally to be told for close to three weeks now that things are progressing well and that she should have the baby any day - and still this morning to wake up pregnant. They don't understand how much we needed this induction to happen today - for our family's emotional well-being (forgetting for a moment how much Joanna needed it for her physical well-being). We have had so many people over the course of this journey who have been so compassionate and understanding and helpful to Joanna and our family - why is it that those who have the power to bring this season to a close seem to be so reluctant to do anything.

I know I'm probably being grossly unfair to the staff at the hospital in Regina who made the decision to bump us today; in all likelihood there was a good reason from their perspective why our situation wasn't a high enough priority. They can only base their judgments on what they know - I just wish they understood more what the delay is doing to us. This is going to be a difficult day. I can only pray that tomorrow goes better.

5:35PM - Acceptance

Well after processing a whole world of emotions today I have come to terms with the waiting game again. Some time, some chocolate a visit from a friend and the generosity of some other friends (thanks for the yummy supper) have helped us get through the day. Along the way I thank God for small blessings - like another day to focus on parenting the two wonderful children that we have without the distraction of the third; like taking a day off work and resting up for what will undoubtedly be a busy season ahead with a newborn; like learning from my boys how to make blue body paint out of sidewalk chalk and a sprinkler.

We'll go through the preparations again tonight and get ourselves ready for the big day tomorrow and pray that in this case the second time is a charm and that July seventh is the birth date of our baby girl.

See you all tomorrow,
Chris

We stand on guard for thee

Happy Canada Day everyone! On Sunday I want to talk to you a little bit about how to be a Canadian AND a Christian at the same time – I want to illuminate the real dangers of Christian nationalism (even when that nation is as benign as our home and native land) and instead propose a different way of celebrating our country’s birthday this year – in a way that both glorifies and honours (that’s honours with a u) Christ. Being a Canadian is a great privillege, people from all over the world are desperate to become one. The problem is that most of us who are born here lack the basic understanding of what it is that makes us Canadian in the first place. You see it’s not where you’re born, it’s not what’s on your passport – it’s our shared culture that binds us together as a nation – and whether you’re just getting to know it or you’ve grown up with it your entire life it’s good to know the shared experiences that make us who we are. Here are a few examples of what I mean:

You know you’re Canadian when... (shamelessly stolen and compiled by many different similar lists yo can find on Google)

1.       With a straight face, you refer to the Canadian dollar as the loonie and wonder why there isn't a 5 dollar coin yet.

2.       You're pretty sure you can see Alex Trebek smirking when Jeopardy contestants get the "Canada questions" wrong. Even if you weren't sure of the answer yourself, you consider yourself a hundred times smarter than the idiots who always guess, "What is .. uh, Toronto?

3.       You use a red pen on your non-Canadian textbooks and fill in the missing 'u's from labor, honor, and color.

4.       You know what happens in the Evergreen Forest when Bert Raccoon wakes up. 

5.       You know the French equivalents of "free," "prize" and "no sugar added," thanks to your extensive education from bilingual cereal packaging.

6.       You're proud that Captain Kirk came from Montreal.

7.       You understand the sentence, "Could you please pass me a serviette, I just spilled my poutine on the chesterfield"

8.       You have Canadian Tire money in your kitchen drawers.

9.       You know that Mounties "don't always look like that."

10.   You know that Casey and Finnegan are not a Celtic musical group.

11.   You have an Inuit carving by your bedside with the rationale, "what's good enough protection for the Prime Minister is good enough for me!" 

12.   You pronounce it “Zed” not “Zee” and you don’t give a rip if it doesn’t rhyme with your ABC’s or anything else.

I of course present that list in jest – but the fact remains that it is what we share that makes us a nation. The land, the culture, the history, the way of life that is unique to everywhere else on this planet – those things are what bind us together as a people. In Canada we talk a lot about rights, about the human rights that every single human being is entitled to in this great country but I think that what binds us together more than rights are our responsibilities – and it saddens me that you don’t hear enough about them anymore these days. It’s not about what we have – but what we have to do. It’s not about what we get, but how we get to serve. It’s not about who we are, but who we’re called to be.

The refrain of our national anthem echoes this reality – whenever we sing along at a hockey game, or tear up during a gold medal presentation during the Olympics – or even stand and acknowledge the national anthem at the beginning of a school day we make the following declaration:

God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee

This weekend we are going to explore just how God would want you to go about fulfilling that oath that you have made to our nation. 

Join us this Sunday as we learn what it means to stand on guard for Canada