Here is a link to our premade Christmas Day service with a few carols and thoughts from Alan, Scott, Dave and Chris.
Christmas Day Service
Christmas Services
Our Christmas services this year will consist of: Christmas Eve Services 7pm Highland Park, Mission Heights, and Online (YouTube Link) Christmas Day Online (YouTube Link) Jan 1 Regular services at all sites at 10am
Have You Checked This Out?
Some of you may have seen the Questions program that Duff, Mike and Chris have been putting out over the past couple of years. Some of you may not have noticed or not checked it out yet. Our goal with Questions is to engage the church and non-churched people in thoughtful discussion around faith and […]
Worship Academy
Worship Academy is a group of courses aimed to help you develop your artistic abilities while finding ways to use them to enhance and encourage worship. Check out more here: gpchurchofchrist.com/worship-academy
Opportunities To Serve
Here are some of the areas we are still needing people to help in: Sunday School These roles require a background check and completion of our Vulnerable Persons Training Teachers Needed Class # Needed Preschool 1 Needed Grade 1-2 1 Needed Grade 3-4 1 Needed Grade 4-6 1 Needed Contact janeya@gpchurchofchrist.com for more info Youth […]
Where is the Evidence?
“Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.”
– James 2:18
I have always liked the book of James, mostly because it speaks to our need to have our faith expressed in real ways. Some have had issue with it because it seems to lean towards earning our faith by what we do. This however, is not the reality. The reality is that if we have faith, it must express itself in what we do and how we live. We cannot have (or rather do not have) faith when it exists only in our minds and hearts, it must spill over into our hands and feet. What we do (our deeds) are evidence of what we believe. If we profess the love and grace of Jesus, how then are we living it?
There is so much evidence of this in the bible. One of the main judgements God had against Israel was their exploitation and abuse of the weak and powerless. They were not reflecting the character of God in how they lived. They identified themselves as the chosen people of God, but then neglected the fact that they were called to represent God to the world. We too are called to be God’s representatives and reflect his character. How we interact with people in our workplaces, our schools, at the mall and online all must reflect our relationship with Jesus. That our relationship with Jesus that is so flooded with the knowledge and understanding of his grace that it overflows in us and oozes out of every aspect of who we are.
So the focus again needs to come off of us. It has to be on him. We cannot hope to live this out unless we are oriented and centered on Jesus. Our desire to make a difference in this world cannot be rooted in our effort, but rather in our desire to reveal who Jesus is as he fills us and his spirit moves in us. Our deeds are not about doing better or trying harder. The evidence of our faith is the deeds that pour out of us as we dwell in and live out who Jesus is.
If you have a minute read the entirety of James 2 here: James 2 Text
Are You Connected?
John 15: 4-5
“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
This has always been a passage that I appreciate. It reminds me that I need to stay connected to Jesus, and to be rooted in my faith. It reminds me that I am not the source and that it is Jesus in me that enables me to live and love as I should. It is not my strength, my will, or my dedication that enable me to “bear fruit”. It is my connection and relationship to Jesus that does. I draw strength, hope, joy, love from the true vine and as I take more and more of that into myself it begins to pour out of every aspect of my life.
There is one other aspect to this passage that I have overlooked in the past and that is that it is about US and not ME. All the “you’s” in this passage are plural. While this might not be a huge revelation to you, it is another reminder to me that I am not doing this alone. That Jesus calls us to do this together. We all grow together as we draw our lives upon Jesus. As Jesus works in each of us, he uses us to help encourage, mold and shape each other. It is a pretty unimpressive thing to see a plant where only one shoot or branch has sprouted, but to see a tree in full bloom is a thing of great beauty.
My hope in this:
1) You are able to remain strong in your connection to Jesus and experience a deepening of your relationship with him.
2) That you can have people whom you journey with as you grow and bear fruit together.
What Joy is Before You?
“looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” – Hebrews 12:2
I was struck by this verse today. I was struck by it because I realized that in face of uncertainty and difficulty there is a way to endure. That way is through realizing that there is something much greater ahead for me. That no problem, no obstacle, no struggle is greater than the love and hope I have in Jesus.
I needed to hear this again because unless I repeat it, I forget it. My hope becomes a trinket, a good luck charm. But in reminding myself firstly what God has done in and through Jesus, I can remember and see that there is so much more ahead of me. Jesus endured his suffering and shame, not because he had greater will or strength. Rather it was his dependence upon his father, and the knowledge that his plans and his ways are better. He took joy in carrying out his father’s will. In what God had planned for him.
What is God’s will? To buy back and restore his creation. To buy back and restore me. To buy back and restore you. The joy set before Jesus was the restoration of you and me. That what he was enduring was the pinnacle act in God’s plan to bring us into relationship with himself.
So what difference does this make? For me, it is in getting my heart set upon the joy that lies before me. In fixing my eyes upon the hope and knowledge that God is restoring me. That I will one day along with all my brothers and sisters in Jesus stand before him and know peace, know joy and what it is means to be his child. If we can set our lives upon this joy that lies before us we can endure, we can scorn shame, we can find hope. We will find life that is rooted deeply in Jesus and the work he has done, and is still doing, to present us before his father as holy, blameless, free and restored. My prayer is that you can catch a glimpse of the joy that God has in store for you. If you want or need prayer I would love to pray for you or with you, send an email to chris@gpchurchofchrist.com.
When Was the Last Time?
When was the last time you felt a sense of wonder? of awe? It is easy to get so used to some things in our lives that we begin to take them for granted. From things like the sun rising everyday and taking your next breath. How can the seemingly ordinary, routine things of life become a source of joy and and amazement?
As with most things in our lives it begins with what we are focusing on. How are we seeing our world and the things in it?
I like the way G.K. Chesterton put it in his book Heretics: “Humility is the thing which is for ever renewing the earth and the stars. It is humility, and not duty which preserves the stars from wrong. from the unpardonable wrong of casual resignation; it is through humility that the most ancient heavens for us are fresh and strong. The curse that came before history has laid on us all a tendency to be weary of wonders. If we saw the sun for the first time it would be the most fearful and beautiful of meteors. Now that we see it for the hundredth time we call it, in the hideous and blasphemous phrase of Wordsworth ‘the light of common day’. We are inclined to increase our claims. We are inclined to demand six suns, to demand a blue sun, to demand a green sun. Humility is perpetually putting us back in the primal darkness. There all light is lightning, startling and instantaneous. Until we understand that original dark, we have neither sight nor expectation, we can give no hearty and childlike praise to the splendid sensationalism of things.”
As we get used to things we tend to become unimpressed with them. However, as we approach life with a greater sense of humility we can discover a new sense of wonder. We can see things with fresh eyes, hear with fresh ears. Our ability to wonder is connected to our ability to quiet ourselves and soak in the amazing nature of all that surrounds us. It is also about noticing. Once we can humble ourselves and slow down, we can then take in more details, more of what lies before us. It is true in relationships and it is true in how we appreciate our world. If we can allow ourselves time to appreciate the people in our lives and the world around us we can discover a refreshed sense of awe. We can then re-experience wonder and joy as we live our lives with renewed sight. If we open ourselves to this possibility we can find greater appreciation for this life that God has given us, the world he has created and the wonder and joy that comes with knowing such a faithful and loving father.
James 1:17
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
Is Jesus Enough?
I was thinking about my own relationship with Jesus and what could possibly change who He is to me. If my life was completely flipped upside down and nothing was going right, would it change how I relate to Him? When things are good I am thankful and happy. When things are bad I get negative. Either way I try to place the blame on something I must have done or I distance myself from Jesus.
I realized that if I am going to call myself a disciple of Jesus I need to have a relationship built on who he is, and not what he does for me. I need to understand how I walk with him is not contingent or dependent upon what I have to offer. Even on what he can do/has done for me. Is Jesus himself enough? Do I only want Jesus for what he has to offer me and how he can improve my life? We usually default to the answer of “no” or “of course not”. I feel that this is either because we are afraid to look at our lives in a more honest way, or we are afraid of what it might cost us. You see, as we let go of “regular” things and pursue Jesus, we might find we get asked to sacrifice, to give things up, to have less for ourselves. Less money, less power, less comfort, but more Jesus. How does that sound to you? On its face not very appealing, unless you’ve met Jesus. You see, to really know Jesus is to see what being human actually is. In Jesus we see real life, real freedom, real hope. Jesus didn’t do things the way the established order did. He made time for the insignificant, he honoured the lowly, he gave his time and energy to show people their worth. That is what Jesus has in store for us too. If we can learn to grab a hold of him first and foremost. Ask him to drag us around with him, we will begin to see things differently. Our yearning for a better car, a better job, better health, better friends. This will all fade as we begin to see more and more of who Jesus is. As such, we will also find ourselves giving more, sharing more, wanting less, getting deeper friendships. We will see our lives improve but most likely not in the way we would have wanted. As we make Jesus the centre of who we are, we will learn what it means to be human, and what it means to truly live.
So, if you find you are tired of where you are at, maybe it is time to get to know Jesus? To decide that he is enough, and let go of all the other things that cling to your soul. Maybe it is time to say, “Jesus you are enough”.
Matthew 6:33-34
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”