Advent 2006

Hello all. So much for global warming. This balmy Pacific Island (Vancouver Island) is blanketed in snow and ice.

Advent begins this coming Sunday Dec 3rd.

COOL Berwick:

• Dec 3rd. We meet at Berwick at 9:30 for the Eucharist.
• Friday 15th we shall be holding a carol sing at 7pm in the Berwick foyer for the residents there.
• Sunday Dec 17th Service of 9 lessons and carols at 9:30 a.m

COOL Comox:

• Sunday evenings each week for potluck supper at 6pm at 1523 Eton Rd followed by Prayer and Praise plus Youth Quest series.

COOL Christmas:

• We join our Common Cause partners at Living Word Episcopal Church on Mission Hill in Courtenay for Christmas Eve.
• Their services that Sunday are 10 a.m. & 6p.m. and we shall join them for the 11pm "midnight mass" service with David celebrating.

Unpacking our Mission Statement - Fifth Instalment - Worship

Mission: To serve the people of the Comox Valley, introducing them to Jesus Christ, welcoming them into His family, equipping them to follow Christ's example, and loving Him with all that we are.

So far we have discussed how Jesus’ teaching can be summarized by two statements: the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, which give us the five purposes in our mission statement.

Great Commandment:
Mark 12:29-32 (New International Version)
29"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. 'There is no commandment greater than these."
Great Commission:
Matthew 28:19-20 (New International Version)
19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Today we look at the final part of our mission statement: loving God with all that we are. This is what worship, in its most comprehensive sense, means. Worship is at the heart of all that we do, as the most important of these purposes.

What is worship?
To worship something or someone is value them above everything else. It is to ascribe worth to them. We uses the concept in a non-religious sense when we ask what something is worth, or when we refer to the mayor as “his Worship” or we read about some “worthy fellow” in a story about merry England. Or when we say a soldier is worth his salt.

Reverence, awe, fear, wonder, and amazement are some of the feelings we may have when we participate in worship. Words we use to describe what we are doing include: exalt, glorify, magnify, praise, venerate, or revere. The highest of all of these terms is the worship which belongs to God alone. We may respect or revere humans we hold in high esteem but Christian worship is reserved for God.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Our worship should reflect the fact that we love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. What our preferred way is to worship God has a lot more to do with our personalities than with what is necessarily the right way to worship. Different denominations and traditions tend to emphasize or specialize in these different elements of worship. Some emphasize the mind, others the spirit. Heart speaks of emotion and enthusiasm. Soul refers to the core of our mortal beings. Mind speaks of the intellect and will. Strength reflects the physical part of us. Unlike some other religions and philosophies, Christians and Hebrew believers in God reject any dichotomy between the spiritual and material. God is Lord of both. In our Gospel passage today Jesus said God seeks those who will worship him in spirit and in truth. Truth is something we grasp with our minds as God illuminates our thinking. It also affects our emotions as we respond to it's truth, and it helps bring our spirits to life as his Spirit touches ours with the truth of his word.

At Church of Our Lord we try to bring a balance of these different aspects to our worship. We honour God’s Word, the Bible as we try to understand it with our minds and obey it with our strength. We are open to God’s Holy Spirit so that we can worship with our spirits or souls. We use our bodies to worship him as we sing, stand, sit or kneel, raise our hands or clap. We receive him spiritually by the physical act of eating bread and wine, when accompanied by faith.

What it is not:
Worship is not for our selves. It’s for our Saviour.
The Puritan Shorter Westminster Confession describes the purpose for which we are created as this: “the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” St Augustine wrote, “Thou hast made us for thyself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.” We are wired for worship. Worship of some sort of deity or some sort of spirituality is common to all cultures even though some have tried to stamp it out and it is no longer fashionable in Western Society to believe in God. Human beings are incorrigibly religious. We are made that way because God made us for himself. Worship does bring us benefits, but that is no why we do it.

Unlike some other spiritualities, we do not worship in order to appease him, or earn something, or to manipulate him through magic. We worship because he is worthy of it. We worship him because of who he is. We worship in response to what he has already done.
Worship is not for sissies. It’s a sacrifice.

Salvation is free. Christ has made the sacrifice on our behalf. There is no sacrifice we can make to earn our salvation. But that does not mean the Christian life will always be easy or that there is no cost to being a disciple of Jesus Christ. We love him because he first loved us. He calls us to love the same way, to follow in his steps.

Deitrich Bonhoeffer wrote from the Nazi prison: “when God calls a man, he bids him come and die.” For many Christians around the world, admitting one’s allegiance to Christ or worshiping him openly or meeting with other believers is a life-risking affair. Whether or not we shall ever be called to pay that price is something we don’t know. We do know however, that we are called to present ourselves, our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. Not just our words, or our time, talents and treasure but also ourselves – all of us.

The psalmist tells us to give God a sacrifice of thanks and praise. There are times when worship comes effortlessly, when we are lost in wonder, love and praise. There are other times when we do not feel like worshiping. It is not hypocritical to do s at those times. It is in fact a sacrifice: it takes effort to worship when we are tired or cranky or feeling off-sorts. When we honour God on such occasions by approaching him anyway, we are often surprised by how our feelings follow along afterwards. At other times, God tests us through what St John of the Cross called “a dark night of the soul”, when God seems distant and we wonder why we bother. He wants us to trust him even when we don’t have the feelings. He is trust-worthy and worthy of our worship regardless of our feelings.

Worship is not for Sundays (only). It’s a seven-day a week activity.
Christian worship is not limited to a special day, a special time, a special building, nor even only when a special class of people is present. The Samaritan woman tried to draw Jesus into a religious controversy over whether the Jews were right about worshiping in Jerusalem or the Samaritans at Mount Gerazim. Jesus ignored that. He said “neither”. God is Spirit, implying that he is not confined geographically. We can worship him any time and anywhere. But we are to worship him in spirit and in truth. The early Christians worshiped in synagogues and the temple until they were expelled. They also met in homes, or rented rooms or in the open air or in the catacombs in Rome. The Celtic Christians worshiped in the open air, under trees, in simple church buildings. They had prayers for every occasion: milking cows, getting dressed, going to work etc.

We too can do what the medieval monk, Brother Lawrence, called “practicing the presence of God”. We can worship our Father Monday to Friday too, and in every situation.

Unpacking our Mission Statement – fourth instalment. Discipleship.

Mission To serve the people of the Comox Valley, introducing them to Jesus Christ, welcoming them into His family, equipping them to follow Christ's example, and loving Him with all that we are.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever.
Amen.

So far we have looked at Service, Evangelism and Fellowship. Today we look at what is means to be a disciple or follower of Jesus Christ. At COOL we want to be an authentic community which encourages each other to grow in maturity as followers of Jesus Christ, to discover the gifts he has given us and to use those gifts for him.

Jewish rabbis of the day used to teach their students or disciples in small groups. A person who wanted to learn from a rabbi would ask to become his disciple. If accepted, he would become part of a small group of followers who would spend all of their time with the rabbi, eating, travelling, studying, discussing the Jewish law etc. They would even share accommodation and spend all their waking moments together. They attempted even to walk and talk like their teacher. Jesus’ small band of closest followers was similar, except that he chose them.

A disciple is a follower or student, one who patterns his life on his teacher. The term comes from the same root as “discipline”. Just as an athlete or musician develops skills by practice and exercises, so to develop as a disciple of Christ involves practicing spiritual disciplines, such as regular prayer, scripture reading, participating in worship and times of solitude, silence, meditation on scripture etc. Peter tells us that Christ left us an example to follow in his steps. God’s intention is for us to become like Christ. And that we are to be partakers of the divine nature.

Jesus’ disciples noted that he was a person of prayer and so they asked him to teach them to pray as John the Baptizer had taught his disciples. He gave them what we know as “the Lord’s prayer “ as a template for our prayers.

The topic of Christian discipleship is an enormous one. While preparing for today I thought that we could use the Lord’s Prayer as a framework, especially as we were looking at this prayer during our adult and youth Bible studies this week.

Our Father in Heaven: Jesus introduced them to a relationship with God as Father. This expression is only used of God a few times in the Old Testament. Jesus’ relationship with God as “Abba” or “Daddy”, as we would say, was entirely novel. What Jesus enjoyed by his very nature as the eternal Son of God, we can enjoy by adoption and grace. He said to say ”Our Father”, indicating that, in Christ, we collectively are God’s children.

John 1: 12 tells us But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

Romans 8: 15 puts it this way: So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children.[h] Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”[i] 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory.

A disciple of Jesus is one who knows God as heavenly Father.

May your name be honoured: In Hebrew thought a person’s name represented who they were. To honour God’s name is to show him reverence and respect. It means not taking his name in vain or speaking disrespectfully of him. It means not bringing his name into disrepute, not being ashamed of him. Similarly we honour the name of Jesus and of the Holy Spirit.

A disciple of Jesus honours him.

Your Kingdom come:
Jesus constantly taught about the Kingdom of God. He indicated that in his own person the kingdom of God had arrived. He also said that the Kingdom was within or among them and that they could enter that kingdom by believing in him and being baptized. He further indicated that they were not to worry about material things. Matt 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

How many of you are familiar with the legend of Robin Hood and his merry men? Of maid Marion, Little John, Will Scarlet etc? Richard, the rightful king of England, was away on the Crusades and had been abducted on his way back through Europe. His brother, Prince John had usurped control of the Kingdom. Robin and his band of men in green were loyal to Richard the Lionheart. They were outlawed and hunted down but on Richard’s return they helped him regain the throne. The Christian community is like that merry band, longing for the return of King Jesus, facing danger for him and remaining loyal regardless of the apparent futility of it.

A disciple of Jesus is a citizen of God’s kingdom, an ambassador for the King, a member of the church which is an outpost or colony of the kingdom.

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven:

A disciple of Jesus surrenders his will to God, says “not my will but yours be done.”

Give us this day our daily bread

This is the only part of the Lord’s prayer which asks for something material. Bread is the staple food. Daily bread means essential nourishment enough for the day. While the Hebrews were in the wilderness during the Exodus God gave them manna from heaven enough for the day. Except on the day before the Sabbath they were only to collect enough for the day. Jesus taught his disciples total reliance on God. He also called himself the bread of heaven. He invites us to receive this bread at his table.

A disciple of Jesus relies on God for his needs and receives Jesus in the bread and wine of communion regularly.


Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us:

As creatures, we owe our creator a debt of obedience. Our rebellion incurs a debt, as it were, of what we owe him. Christ paid that debt by his perfect obedience as perfect man on our behalf. Through Jesus we have been offered forgiveness for our sin and a restored relationship with the Father.

A disciple of Jesus is one who knows he has been forgiven and who has learned the difficult lesson of forgiving others.


Lead us not into temptation (or save us from the time of trial)

God neither can be tempted himself nor tempts us. However, temptation is part of life. The same word is used for trial or testing and for temptation as temptation to do what is wrong is a test of our submission to God. He has promised us that we shall not be tempted beyond what we can bear.

We also have an advocate in heaven, Jesus, who was tempted in every way that we are so he is able to sympathise with our weaknesses and intercede for us before the throne of God. Christ gave us his example of resisting temptation.

A disciple of Jesus is one who faces trials in His strength, who avoids unnecessary temptation and who turns to God for forgiveness when he falls.

Deliver us from evil (or the evil one)

Christ has conquered death and evil by his crucifixion and resurrection. We have his promise that the gates of hell will not prevail against us.

A disciple of Jesus resists evil and has God’s promise that we shall overcome evil eventually.

We end the prayer as we begin, by worshipping God: For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

This brings us to the topic of worship which we shall be discussing next time when we look at “loving Him with all that we are.”

Unpacking our Mission Statement Third Installment: Fellowship

Mission To serve the people of the Comox Valley, introducing them to Jesus Christ, welcoming them into His family, equipping them to follow Christ's example, and loving Him with all that we are.

Readings: Ephesians 1: 3-14, Acts 2: 41-47, Mark 3:31-35,

Church of Our Lord is a Christian community serving the Comox Valley. We have been looking at our Mission Statement the past few weeks. So far we have discussed service to others and how to share the good news about Jesus in a natural way. Today we’re talking about what it means to become and enjoy being part of God’s family, the church, and the riches, rights and responsibilities that go along with that. There are many other metaphors for the church in Scripture: Body of Christ, Bride of Christ, a Temple made of living stones, a new person, the people of God, a royal priesthood, etc. One metaphor is that of a family. It was Jesus himself who taught us to call God our Father; he used the Aramaic word “Abba, meaning Daddy, when he spoke of God. We were not meant to be alone. God himself is a community: three-in-one, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When he made the first human being he said “it is not good for man to be alone.” We were meant for friendship with God and with others within the community of those who know him as Father through faith in his Son, Jesus.

We all have our own stories: depending on our different personalities and on our own experiences, we may approach or be drawn into this family through one of three different ways, though not necessarily in this order: belonging, believing, behaving.

Belonging: Some people need to experience what it means to be part of a loving, accepting community before they can be convinced of the truth of the Gospel: they need to belong before they believe or before their life-style changes.

Believing: Others have to be convinced of its truth before they will commit themselves. Some people approach the church firstly through intellectual questions. Often they need to come to the place where they accept that Christianity is not unreasonable. That believing in a creator, for instance, makes sense. Being a Christian is so much more than just giving mental assent to a list of doctrines, however, there are certain beliefs that we need to accept before we become Christians: “Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6), We need to understand that there is a God, that Jesus is God’s son and died for us, rose again from the dead and is coming back and so on. Certainly, as we mature in faith it becomes more important to absorb and become more committed to the truths contained in His Word, the Bible. But it is surprising how little we need to believe and how faltering our faith can be to begin with, yet God is still able to meet us and draw us into a relationship with him. If we are aware of our sinfulness, are willing to turn from it and desire to know him even a prayer such as “God, if there is a God, please reveal yourself to me”, if sincerely prayed, will be answered.

Behaving: Still others want to know what practical difference believing in God and being part of his family makes to themselves and to society before they will be persuaded to consider the truth claims Jesus made. We cannot expect people to pattern their lives on Christ until they have met him.
For a few pragmatic individuals, though, trying for a while to live as though it were true (eg praying daily, planning their day as though God were real, living out the golden rule because it makes sense etc) might persuade them that the Christian life-style does work. Of course, there is no way we can really live as Christ would have us do without his help, nor can we earn our way into a relationship with him, that is a free gift.

We cannot expect people to change before coming to Christ but we can expect transformation after meeting him. One cannot have an encounter with the living God and be left unscathed. Growing into the family likeness is a process. As the saying goes: he loves us as we are but loves us too much to leave us the way we are.

Our hope for this fellowship is that it will be a welcoming place, where people can feel safe asking questions, experiencing a little of what it means to be part of a worshipping community, gradually coming to believe in the truth as the scriptures teach it, growing in faith, and learning how to follow Christ’s example together.

We can introduce our friends to Jesus in this kind of comfortable environment. One of the best ways to do this is through an informal course on basic Christianity, such as the Alpha course, where after a meal together and a video explaining various aspects of the Christian faith, folks can discuss questions and perhaps even learn to pray together. God has used courses like that to bring many people from all walks of life into a relationship with him.
As John’s gospel puts it: 12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—
Once we have understood the good news about Jesus, and responded to it, we become members of this community by faith, by trust in Christ, by baptism and receiving his Holy Spirit. We become new creatures, reborn or adopted into his family with all the privileges of being heirs to all the riches God has for us to inherit in Christ. And other Christians are our brothers and sisters.
There is a depth of fellowship that exists between believers in Jesus that cannot exist in any other sphere, although there are some secular settings where friendships can run very deeply: eg on a team that practices regularly together, in a small crew on a ship or in a small military unit. What these have in common is a common mission, purpose and allegiance, a hared experience in facing danger and overcoming obstacles together. Fellowship is deepest when we work together on common goals. In 1 John 15-7 we read
5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; In him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

Fellowship can only be deep when there is honesty, transparency and accountability to each other. These are best cultivated in small group settings such as a home fellowship, prayer partnership or cell group. At COOL we encourage people to be involved in small groups like that.

Next time we shall talk about becoming equipped to follow Christ’s example.

All Saints Day Video

Here is a brief video to commemorate All Saints' Day.

Unpacking our Mission Statement. Second Installment

Last time we talked about service. We ended with the observation that the greatest service we can offer anyone is to introduce them to Jesus Christ, which brings us to the second purpose within our mission statement:

Mission

To serve the people of the Comox Valley, introducing them to Jesus Christ, welcoming them into His family, equipping them to follow Christ's example, and loving Him with all that we are.

At this point we shall have a brief skit to illustrate what we mean:

Evangelism Skit Script.

Props: bench, bread, garbage can, crusts.
Scene: Park Bench. Beggar 1 sits on bench eating a loaf of delicious fresh bread. Poor Man approaches.

Poor Man: “Whatcha got there?”
Beggar 1: “Fresh bread from the new bakery up on First Street. It’s delicious. There’s plenty. Want some?”
Poor Man: “You’ve never worked a day in your life! Didja steal it?”
Beggar 1. “No. I smelled the fresh bread baking and looked in the window. A young baker there said he was minding his Father’s business and they’d just finished a batch from a new recipe. Did I want some? He said there was plenty more for anyone who was hungry.”
Poor Man: “I don’t accept charity. I’m going to earn my own dough. Heard there might be a job at the dump.” He leaves looking back hungrily.

Beggar 2 approaches.
Beggar 1 calls out: “Want some bread?”

Beggar 2: “Wow, that looks good. Where’d you get it?”
Beggar 1: “At Baker and Son on First. They’re giving it away.”
Beggar 2. “Can’t be any good then, if they’re giving it away. I’ll find my own bread.” He goes off rummaging in the garbage can for some crusts.

Beggar 3 comes by: “How come you’re looking so pleased with yourself?” he asks suspiciously.
Beggar 1, rubbing his stomach: “I’m so full I could burst. The Baker’s son gave me a whole loaf of fresh bread. Never tasted anything like it. Want some?”
Beggar 3, hands on hips: “I suppose you think you’re better than the rest of the neighbourhood now that you have your own supply of fresh bread?” Thinks better of it and adds, “ Mind you, I’m starving.” He sits down on the bench next to Beggar 1 and sniffs at the bread.
Beggar 1: “Here, have some. You’ll never know how good it is until you try it.”
Beggar 3: accepts and chews some bread appreciatively. “Wow, you’re right. This is great. Pity we can’t eat like this every day.”
Beggar 1. “We can. Come with me. I’ll introduce you to the young Baker. Once you’ve met him yourself you won’t have to take my word for it.

The two leave the park and head off to the bakery.

Introducing someone to Jesus is what is called in church language “evangelism” or “sharing the gospel”. Gospel comes from Old English “godspel” meaning “good news”. “Evangel” comes from the Greek evangelion which also means good news. C.H. Spurgeon referred to evangelism as “one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread”. Now, the term evangelism has received a bad rap from caricatures on TV, stereotypes in the media and the televangelist scandals, but nothing could be simpler than telling a friend about something that really IS good news and introducing them to someone you know and love intimately and whom you think they would enjoy getting to know if they had only met him for themselves.

What is the Gospel?
(A)GOD who is totally perfect and complete in himself and who has no beginning or end, chose to create the universe. He is holy – which means he cannot tolerate evil, and he is loving, which means that he loves what he created, especially man.
(B) MAN was made in God’s image, to have a relationship of intimacy with God and to enjoy Him forever. He was appointed God’s vice-regent or steward to care for the Earth. He was give free will, which is the ability to choose between obeying God or going his own way in rebellion. The consequence of this rebellion was alienation from God and from other humans, a loss of innocence, and the loss of the potential for immortality. Sickness and death entered human experience. Each of us has inherited a bias towards evil. The image of God in us has not been eliminated but it is tarnished. We are incapable of restoring the relationship with God which we lost. We cannot earn it or buy it. We cannot save ourselves. Only someone who was both God and Man could bridge the gulf between God and Man.
(C) JESUS –both GOD and MAN. God himself became human in Jesus Christ, living a sinless life, and dying a blameless death, taking upon himself the punishment we deserve for our rebellion and conquering death by his resurrection. He offers to us the opportunity to call God our Father as he did, and to have the image of God restored. He has given us the gift of eternal life with him so that we need not fear death. When we come to faith in Christ he gives us his Holy Spirit to live within us to help us to grow more like him.

This is the gospel. That God was in Christ Jesus reconciling the world to himself. He has extended to us the same ministry of reconciliation, charging us with the responsibility to share this message with others until he returns. He called himself the bread of life and gave himself to us. We share that free gift of bread with others.

What are the barriers to sharing the gospel?
Canadians are polite people. We view religion as a private matter, something not to be discussed in public. We are naturally reticent to appear self-righteous, superior or discriminating and if we are, then that certainly is a deterrent to others. We are also afraid of what others will think of us, perhaps afraid of loss of reputation or how it might affect our friendships or careers if we are known to be serious about Christ. Or perhaps we are not convinced ourselves of the truth about Christ. We cannot pass on to others what we have not received ourselves.

The Christian faith is not something we have invented, earned or purchased. It is a free gift which we are privileged to have received and are obligated to pass on. Coming from that perspective there is no room for pride or self-righteousness, only gratitude. If you had discovered something absolutely marvelous that everyone needed, like the cure to cancer or the common cold, or a limitless source of food or wealth, wouldn’t it be natural to want to share that? So it is with the gospel.

Some people will reject what we say; they may not realize they are hungry just yet. Or they may be offended by the exclusive claims of Christ who stated that he is the Way, the Truth and the Life and the only route to the Father. They may not be prepared to receive a free gift, preferring to try to be good on their own. That does not wash with God.

How do we share the gospel and introduce people to Jesus?
Firstly, by our life-style. If knowing Jesus has transformed your life, then others will be interested in finding out why you are different, just as hungry people are drawn to the aroma of fresh baking.
Secondly by being ready to share what Jesus means to you. People can argue about theoretical concepts but they cannot negate your experience.
Thirdly, by inviting them to a course on basic Christianity such as the Alpha Course or Christianity Explained or Christianity Explored. Or inviting them to church or a small group that meets over a meal or a cup of coffee to discuss issues of life or God. Introducing people to Jesus overlaps with the next topic which is welcoming people into His family.

Unpacking Our Mission Statement: First instalment - SERVICE

Mission: To serve the people of the Comox Valley, introducing them to Jesus Christ, welcoming them into His family, equipping them to follow Christ's example, and loving Him with all that we are.

Jesus’ teaching can be summarized by two statements: the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

Great Commandment:
Mark 12:29-32 (New International Version)
29"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. 'There is no commandment greater than these."
Great Commission:
Matthew 28:19-20 (New International Version)
19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
From the Great Commandment we get the purposes of service (love your neighbour as yourself) and worship (love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength); from the Great Commission we get the other three purposes: evangelism (make disciples), fellowship (incorporation into the family of God through Baptism), and discipleship, (teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you). All that Jesus intended his church to be and do can be distilled into these five purposes. Of course, different churches might describe them differently or major on some more than others. However, balanced, authentic Christianity encompasses these five purposes: service, evangelism, fellowship, discipleship and worship (in the order found in our Mission Statement, though worship is at the heart of all that we do, as the most important of these purposes).
First Instalment
Today we talk about service: Amongst Christian churches there is a tendency to specialize: either emphasis spirituality (eg worship) or social action (eg the liberation theologians or social gospel movement). It is natural for some organizations’ or individuals‘ gifting to be weighted more in one direction or the other. However, biblically-faithful Christianity strives to hold all these purposes together. The Christian faith cannot be reduced to social action or good works. They are the practical out-working of the life of faith. Jesus is our example: the limitless demand of the crowds for miracles of healing and food-multiplication could have occupied all his time. He used his miracles as illustrations for his teaching about the Kingdom of God. Although he served to the point of exhaustion at times, he also left the crowds to concentrate on training his 12 disciples, and took time out to pray alone as well as going to the synagogue or temple for worship.

COOL’s Mission: To serve the people of the Comox Valley, introducing them to Jesus Christ, welcoming them into His family, equipping them to follow Christ's example, and loving Him with all that we are.

Readings: Micah 6:6-8, Philippians 2:2-13, John 13:1-17, Luke 22:24-27. Let us look at the example of Jesus.


1. Jesus knew the SOURCE of his authority and power. That is why he spent so much time in prayer, before every major decision and when most exhausted from ministry.
2. Jesus did not let the world or culture of his day SET his agenda. He refused to let them force him into the role of revolutionary or earthly king in rebellion against Rome. The church should likewise be involved in social justice issues without allowing the political special interest groups to determine what the church’s position should be.
3. Jesus left an example to follow in his STEPS.

• Jesus served without self-pity: he knew he was about to be betrayed, yet he washed Judas’s feet along with the others; he knew he was about to die for them yet he put their needs first. He continued to teach them despite his own impending suffering. He modelled a new kind of leadership: servant-leadership. Christian service means serving when you’d rather not. When it is inconvenient.
• Jesus served despite the unworthiness of his disciples. Judas would betray him. Peter would deny him. The others would abandon him. He did not ask them to clean up their act or to fully understand his teaching before he would serve them. He did not ask them to prove themselves worthy of his service. They did not earn it. Christian service means loving the unlovely, as God has loved us.
• Jesus served without arrogance. He had been God from all eternity, yet he humbled himself to take on the role of the most menial slave and to die the most degrading death Rome inflicted on slaves and traitors. Christian service means serving with humility but without condescension.


One of the first things the early church did after Pentecost was to select a group of seven men to look after the needs of the Greek-speaking widows as they were being neglected by the Hebrew Christians (Acts 6:1-6). From this arose the order of deacons or the diaconate. Deacon or diakonos means servant. Diakonia means service. These words are used in multiple occasions in the New Testament, sometimes in a non-official sense, sometimes of government officials (much in the same way we speak of government Ministers in Cabinet), sometimes the apostles called themselves deacons. The word is occasionally used of Christ himself. Every presbyter or bishop first has to be a deacon; this emphasises the service aspect of Christian ministry. There was no social welfare in the first century: it was up to the family or the church to look after the poor or those who had nobody to support them. Orders of virgins and widows, deacons and deaconesses were enrolled to serve the needs of church members and the poor. The qualifications for deacons were very similar to those required for bishops (1 Timothy 3), indicating that the church did not regard service to be a secondary matter for those who were less spiritual.

There was a division of labour according to vocation and gifting: the apostles’ role was chiefly to teach the faith, start new churches and oversee them, as is the role of their successors, the bishops. The deacons chiefly had the role of looking after the material needs of the believers. Nevertheless, as the church developed, deacons also had liturgical and teaching roles. Stephen was the first martyr. Phillip was an evangelist as well as a deacon. The apostles also were concerned for the well-being of the poor: Paul and his closest assistants raised money from amongst the other churches to help aid the poor in Jerusalem during a famine, for example. We cannot use the excuse that because our gifting is washing dishes we don’t need to share our faith with our friends and neighbours, or, that because we are gifted at preaching we have no responsibility to the poor or suffering.

Throughout history practical service has been part of the ministry of the church. Christians were known for taking in orphaned or abandoned children. Some sold themselves into slavery to share the gospel with slaves or risked leprosy to minister to lepers. Monastic orders founded the first hospices or hospitals. The evangelical revival in the Church of England during the 18th and 19th centuries was accompanied by an outpouring of concern for social issues such as child labour, factory conditions, prison reform, alcoholism and slavery. It was evangelical Christians who brought about the end of slavery within the British Empire. The 19th century missionary movement combined educational and medical missions alongside preaching the gospel. Unfortunately, during the 20th century, social concern and faithfulness to scripture tended to be separated as what used to be called the mainline churches promoted social justice while fundamentalist churches concentrated on the evangelism and doctrinal purity. This is a false dichotomy.

We serve because the Father expects it, the Son modelled it and the Spirit equips us for it.

How should we serve? We can serve with our time, talents and treasure. This coming week think about how you could use your time, your talents or your treasure to serve others in Christ’s name. He said even a gift of cold water in his name is as though we did it for him.

Examples of how COOL members serve:
Africa Community Technical Services, a non-profit which provides clean water and other development projects in Africa.
Compassion: sponsoring needy children in the third world.
Habitat for Humanity: building houses for people who could not otherwise afford them.
L’Arche: friendship in community for mentally challenged adults.
Order of St Luke: healing prayer.
Sonshine Lunch-club soup kitchen.
St Joseph’s Hospital: healthcare for the community.
Transplant Society
Tutoring
Visiting Extended Care Unit
Youth Unlimited.


Finally, Pope Benedict is reported to have said that the greatest service one can do for someone is to introduce them to Jesus Christ. Next time we shall look at how to do that.

Acknowledgements: To Rick Warren, author of Purpose Driven Church and Purpose Driven Life and to Timothy Keller, author of Ministries of Mercy, The Call of the Jericho Road.

COOL Services Fall 2006

Church of Our Lord Services for Fall 2006 9:30 am alternate Sundays

September 24th Berwick Comox Valley, Comox Ave, Comox 9:30 am Holy Communion
October 8th “
October 22nd “
November 5th “
November 19th “
December 3rd “
December 17th “

Other Services/Studies


Youth discussion group will meet at Eton Rd on Sundays for supper at 6pm followed by their Bible study.

Marriage Course is Sunday evenings at Comox Pentecostal Church 7pm.

YFC/YU Discipleship Team meet at Eton Rd on Tuesdays at 3:30-5 pm

Youth Unlimited meets Wednesdays 7pm at St George’s United Church together with YFC/COOL Adult Bible Study 8-9pm.

Sundays at COOL

Thanks to everyone who helped make the first public service of COOL at Berwick Sunday 13th August a memorable occasion. We were delighted to be joined by Josh and Katie Wilton of St Simon's North Vancouver.

Sunday 20th David will be celebrating the eucharist at Living Word Episcopal Church (our Common Cause partner congregation of the Reformed Episcopal Church in Courtenay) for their 10am service. Sunday evening at 5 House Church meets for Communion at the Bowlers' new home 1523 Eton Rd in Comox. Supper at six followed by discussion.

We return to Berwick for the 9:30 a.m. service on Sunday 27th August.

A reminder: The Marriage Course begins Sunday evenings September 10th.

Stay tuned for info on the youth group.

The Marriage Course How to build a healthy marriage that lasts a lifetime

Join COOL Comox and Comox Pentecostal Church (CPC) in the Marriage COurse this Fall. Starting September 10th at CPC with a candle-light dinner, the course runs eight weeks for couples who wish to build a stronger and healthier marriage.

For information and registration contact CPC 339-4536.

Co-ordinators: Claire and Cal Farnell for CPC, David and Jannice Bowler, Cynthia and Martin Davies for COOL.

COOL Celebration this Summer plus Fall Term events.

Advance Notice:

1. Beginning 13th August at 9:30 a.m. we shall be launching public worship with Holy Communion. Services will be held in the chapel/multi-purpose room at Berwick on Comox Ave accross the road from Comox Quay. Everyone is welcome. A Regent College seminarian, Josh Wilton, New-comers pastor at St Simon's North Vancouver, will be our first speaker. We intend initially holding services there twice per month in the morning alternating with house church at 5pm.

2. In September we partner with Comox Pentecostal Church to hold an 8 week Marriage Course at 6pm Sunday evenings At CPC on Guthrie.This will be in place of House Church for those weeks. The Marriage Course is an excellent resource for strengthening communication in marriage and should be of benefit for any couple. It is not a counselling course for troubled marriages, though those can benefit too.

3. After Labour Day, Youth Unlimited launches the new term. We expect to be partnering with Youth For Christ to hold Bible Studies for adult volunteers and parents of teens at Y.U. at 8 pm on Wednesdays at St George's United Church in Courtenay. Other adults welcome too.

Sunday August 6th 10:30 a.m. Joint Open Air Service

This Sunday there will be a Valley-wide joint service at Marina Park instead of the usual services. There will be no evening Eucharist, supper and discussion.

Sunday at Five, July 16th, 2006

This Sunday we meet at Martin and Cynthia Davies' house for Communion at 5pm followed by supper at 6 and the beginning of a series of discussions on St Paul's letter to the Christians at Ephesus. ("Ephesians"). If you have time, you might like to read through Ephesians in a modern translation.

Halftime Report

Here is and interesting article on a banker and his family making a difference in Rwanda.

August long weekend Combined Open AIr Service

Once again we will be holding our Nautical Days service at 10:30 am on Sunday, August 6th in the Comox Marina Park. We will be focusing on Heart and Health and will be taking up an offering for St. Joseph’s Hospital.

This is a joint venture with the other churches of the Comox Valley.

Sunday 2nd July

Happy Canada Day everyone. Thanks to all those who participated in the confirmation service last night (June 30th). It was great and we all enjoyed hearing Bishop Lyons of Bolivia. Special thanks to the congregation of Living Word Episcopal (REC) Church who allowed us to worship in their facility.

Tomorrow, Sunday 2nd, we shall share a Latin American Potluck and Central America slide show at the Bowlers'.

The rest of the summer we shall meet at the Davies' home.

Confirmation Service for Church of Our Lord, Comox Valley, Friday June 30th, 2006

The Right Rev Frank Lyons, Anglican Bishop of Bolivia, will be visiting COOL on the weekend of June 30th to share with us about the work of the South American Missionary Society (SAMS).

He will be the celebrant and preacher at a confirmation service to be held at Living Word Episcopal Church (Location: St Andrew's Pioneer Church, Mission Hill, Courtenay, BC on the 19a highway leading out of Courtenay towards Campbell River)at 7pm on Friday June 30th 2006. Come and worship with us.

Sunday at Five, June 25th, 2006

For the rest of the summer we intend to offer the Lord's Supper at 5pm for anyone who wishes to attend. This will be followed by potluck at 6pm and a discussion or study at 7pm.

At the end of August we intend to launch public worship in Comox on Sunday mornings, details to follow. We will be running small groups/housechurch/marriage course etc this fall, probably Sunday evenings, and Bible study on Wednesday evenings in co-operation with Youth For Christ. Stay tuned!

Discipleship team on Tuesdays will resume in September along with Youth Unlimited Underground on Wednesdays.

Please pray for the summer Youth Unlimited camps: for strength for the leaders,safety for all, and for young people to respond to God's Spirit.

LONDON: I've found God, says man who cracked the genome

LONDON: I've found God, says man who cracked the genome

By Steven Swinford
The Sunday Times
June 11, 2006

THE scientist who led the team that cracked the human genome is to publish a book explaining why he now believes in the existence of God and is convinced that miracles are real.

Francis Collins, the director of the US National Human Genome Research Institute, claims there is a rational basis for a creator and that scientific discoveries bring man "closer to God".

His book, The Language of God, to be published in September, will reopen the age-old debate about the relationship between science and faith. "One of the great tragedies of our time is this impression that has been created that science and religion have to be at war," said Collins, 56.

"I don't see that as necessary at all and I think it is deeply disappointing that the shrill voices that occupy the extremes of this spectrum have dominated the stage for the past 20 years."

For Collins, unravelling the human genome did not create a conflict in his mind. Instead, it allowed him to "glimpse at the workings of God".

"When you make a breakthrough it is a moment of scientific exhilaration because you have been on this search and seem to have found it," he said. "But it is also a moment where I at least feel closeness to the creator in the sense of having now perceived something that no human knew before but God knew all along.

"When you have for the first time in front of you this 3.1 billion-letter instruction book that conveys all kinds of information and all kinds of mystery about humankind, you can't survey that going through page after page without a sense of awe. I can't help but look at those pages and have a vague sense that this is giving me a glimpse of God's mind."

Collins joins a line of scientists whose research deepened their belief in God. Isaac Newton, whose discovery of the laws of gravity reshaped our understanding of the universe, said: "This most beautiful system could only proceed from the dominion of an intelligent and powerful being."

Although Einstein revolutionised our thinking about time, gravity and the conversion of matter to energy, he believed the universe had a creator. "I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details," he said. However Galileo was famously questioned by the inquisition and put on trial in 1633 for the "heresy" of claiming that the earth moved around the sun.

Among Collins's most controversial beliefs is that of "theistic evolution", which claims natural selection is the tool that God chose to create man. In his version of the theory, he argues that man will not evolve further.

"I see God's hand at work through the mechanism of evolution. If God chose to create human beings in his image and decided that the mechanism of evolution was an elegant way to accomplish that goal, who are we to say that is not the way," he says.

"Scientifically, the forces of evolution by natural selection have been profoundly affected for humankind by the changes in culture and environment and the expansion of the human species to 6 billion members. So what you see is pretty much what you get."

Collins was an atheist until the age of 27, when as a young doctor he was impressed by the strength that faith gave to some of his most critical patients.

"They had terrible diseases from which they were probably not going to escape, and yet instead of railing at God they seemed to lean on their faith as a source of great comfort and reassurance," he said. "That was interesting, puzzling and unsettling."

He decided to visit a Methodist minister and was given a copy of C S Lewis's Mere Christianity, which argues that God is a rational possibility. The book transformed his life. "It was an argument I was not prepared to hear," he said. "I was very happy with the idea that God didn't exist, and had no interest in me. And yet at the same time, I could not turn away."

His epiphany came when he went hiking through the Cascade Mountains in Washington state. He said: "It was a beautiful afternoon and suddenly the remarkable beauty of creation around me was so overwhelming, I felt, 'I cannot resist this another moment'."

Collins believes that science cannot be used to refute the existence of God because it is confined to the "natural" world. In this light he believes miracles are a real possibility. "If one is willing to accept the existence of God or some supernatural force outside nature then it is not a logical problem to admit that, occasionally, a supernatural force might stage an invasion," he says.

END

The Truth About Da Vinci

The best-selling whodunit "The DaVinci Code" by Dan Brown is an intriguing novel which raises a number of questions for many readers who may not be aware of its many inaccuracies. This Sunday at five we meet at the Bowlers for supper and a 120 minute video /discussion entitled the "DaVinci Code Deception". Please feel free to come and to invite friends. It is worth knowing something about this polular book and how to examine its claims intelligently. The linked website also has some information which may interest you.