Traditionally washed...

This weekend I watched the movie "PleasantVille," it's been a while since I've last seen it! It was definitely better then I remembered it...not that it's superb or anything...but it was alright. Throughout the movie I couldn't stop thinking about how much people hate change, especially when it comes to their traditions. Now, I realize that pretty much everyone hates and loves change (myself included)...but what do I mean by that? Well...change that is brought on by ourselves we like, because we are in control of it. However, changes that just happen to us (death of a love one, getting fired, getting sick, etc.) we hate, I think, because we have no control over the matter.
Enter tradition...traditions can often become our "religion." Traditions can often blind us of the truth and we can become so focused on the tradition itself that we lose sight of why we do that tradition to begin with. Now, I'm not saying that traditions are bad or not enjoyable, I certainly do love different traditions, however I think we are to be wary of them. The most prevalent example that I can think of occurs within churches. I have often found (from talking to various people) that congregations can be at risk when they start taking traditions too seriously. For example, why do we have to go to church twice on a Sunday. Now I know of some churches that it is strongly frowned upon to NOT go to church twice on a Sunday. However, when you talk to some of the various members that go to a church like that and you ask them why they go to church twice on Sunday, usually their response is, "It's just what we've always done!" Now, I'm not saying that there is anything that is wrong with going to church twice on Sundays, and if that's what your getting from this your completely missing the point. But I think that if we lose sight as to why we do various traditions within our church, and start "worshipping" that tradition then we, as a church are on the wrong path.

I used to play for a church band in university and we would sometimes go to other churches to lead worship. I remember in one church that we were playing at we ended the service with a slower song that really emphasized the sermon, and was a contemplative song for people to leave the service with. However, after the service a women came up to some members of our band and said that we should have ended the service with an upbeat song because that's what they always did. I really felt like saying, "really? That's what you got from that? {Enter explicit here}" Instead of focusing on the words of the song and how it related to the teaching she could only hear the tempo of the song, and through that decided that it was a poor song choice. Brutal..

Anyways...that's enough rants for today...have you stumbled across this sort of thing? Or is it just me??

Preston Manning and breakfast

So this morning I woke up really early and went to "The Third Annual Burlington Leadership Prayer Breakfast." A few things struck me as I sat in the massive Burlington Convention Center; 1) Holy Crap there is a lot of people here! 2) There were some very big names politically, Preston Manning! 3) How amazing is it that the Christian community of Burlington gets together to pray for the leaders of Burlington. The breakfast was great and the company even better, it was really nice to see some familiar faces from my old church!

The main speaker at this event was a past conservative leader Preston Manning. While he was being introduced I couldn't help but think, wow, this guy has seen it all. His talk was some advice on spiritual remedies to our economic turbulence. He had four main things that could aid us during these times; Knowledge, Decide, Prayer, Act.

Knowledge: We need to make sure that we are educated in our surroundings and that we know the Bible, as it can help us face some of these economic problems that we are facing.
Decide: We, as leaders, need to make Decisions. It is better to make a decision then to be undeceive and leave our fate to others.
Prayer: We need to pray for our leaders in the community and politically that they make good decisions and that they can see God's hand at work.
Act: Talk is cheap...we need to show what it is that we, as Christians, talk about by leading by example.

Afterwards I had a quick conversation with an old friend/colleague/mentor and he said that it was interesting that in our Canadian society there are many political leaders that have a Christian upbringing, but do not have the freedom/ability to express their beliefs. It was also said that the States are a bit different that way, there are signs with Bible verses and underneath them some business is advertising...it's amazing how different our cultures can be!

To sum it up, I had a great time at this breakfast, Preston Manning was a great speaker, he spoke with humour, zest, clarity, and compassion. He was entertaining and educational, and really made me realize the importance of leading spiritual lives and showing others that we are Christians by our actions, not always just our words. Like I said earlier, words are cheap, it's easy to spit out sentences of beliefs but it is quite another thing to live each day for Christ. I believe that we are all called to live each day for Him, and to be a light into our communities.

Who did you say you are?

So the other day I spent about 6-7 hours pretty much straight hanging out in Starbucks. In that time I met with 5 different friends (not all at once...). One of those friends I haven't seen in probably 2 years...crazy how time flies! I digress...I thought it was great to see people and sit and talk with them, all so different with so many different qualities and life experiences. I remember a conversation from years ago that really impacted my views on "friends." The gist of the conversation was that there are three types of relationships that you build in your life; Family, Friends, and Acquaintances.

Family: Family would include your immediate family (maybe some of your extended as well) as well as your close friends. Pretty much anyone that you are really close with and love as if they were your family. The kind of people you would extend a hand in any situation to help them.

Friends: Friends are those people that you would normally call friends or acquaintances but aren't really that close too. You probably have a surface level "friendship" with them, that could include people you have known for years, co-workers, etc. These people you probably have known for a while, but you could do without them (even though they are fun to be around!)

Acquaintances: These would be your connections and such. Your lawyer, real estate agent (pick Mark Nyman!!), bartender, whoever. These are people that you maybe went to high school with years ago, you know what I'm getting at.

While at Starbucks we talked about the various things in life, and one thing my friend said time and time again, "you just have to be who you are" (maybe not a direct quote...). Such a simple statement but yet there is so much truth to it. How many people do you know that are one way around certain people, and then a completely different person around others. I know a few of them and they really confuse/piss me off! Why? Because they are not being true to who they are and what they are all about. I can understand a bit if your going through puberty and trying to figure yourself out...but really...come on...who are you trying to fool?

Anyways, that quote really just made me excited about genuine people, and how much that I love talking to genuine people that are not afraid to be themselves. Well....I've rambled enough today....peace....and enjoy our God's life today....happy Easter!

Community vs. individual

So it's been almost a year since Gina and I moved to Cambridge. Since that we've been searching for a new church family(since our old one is a 40 min. drive) and we still really haven't come up with one. It's brutal searching for a new church, but kind of funny at the same time. I used to be the outreach coordinator at our old church and one of the things on my list of things to do was evaluate the welcoming aspect of the church. So going into new churches I find myself analyzing different approaches that are being done at these churches. Part of the difficulty of searching for a new church is that Gina and I only have 2 weekends off together every 2 months. So if you do the math that's about 12 Sundays out of the past year that we've been able to go to a church together. However, if you factor in vacations, different events (baptisms), laziness, etc. we probably really have only gone "church shopping" maybe 7 times. That's not much in one year, and I think we've only checked out about 5 different churches in the area...

This has been very frustrating for us because it is like we are in limbo within our own community. We don't really "belong" at our old church and we have no sense of belonging to a new church. I didn't really think at the beginning that this search was going to take such a toll on us, especially from a belonging point of view. Odd isn't it?

So this past Sunday I went with a friend to Cambridge Community Church which is really close to my house. Once we sat down a man in front of us turned around and introduced himself, and I was a bit taken a back, this was actually the first time someone engaged me in a conversation while visiting one of these churches. After the service he thanked us for coming and encouraged us to come back again for a more "alternative" service. Also, a man noticed while we were sitting that we did not have a bulletin and came and offered us his. Amazing isn't it? Such little things make a huge difference.

This whole concept of "church shopping" has been very questioning to me. What denomination should we go to? What about their worship music? Teachings? What is really valuable to us within a church? These have been some of the questions that have been going through my mind...and then I began asking questions whether or not these questions are really acceptable questions...is it a little selfish of me to be putting my needs for worship before God's needs for me? Maybe...I still haven't figured that out yet...

However, I will say this, just before we left our old church we joined a small group from that church. It has been an incredible experience and has really helped with our "sense of belonging" in this limbo period. Sure we don't always feel like driving 30 min. to get there but once we are there we enjoy it. It's amazing what a community can do for you!!

In Conflict

Lately I've been thinking about how I address problems...conflicts that I have in my own life... so how do I deal with them? Do I run and hide from them, confront them head-on, wait until they are going to blow up, etc.? I think I do a bit of all of these...I run and hide from them, or ignore them when I don't think that they are too big of a deal (which those can eventually build and blow up into something big), I confront them head-on, especially if it is a work situation where conflict needs to be dealt with right away (I feel at least...) and sometimes I wait until they blow up!

I guess the better question is how we approach conflict when we are in conflict. What I mean by that is do we yell, swear, curse at the person? Or do we use a gentle, firm voice? Does our body language match what we are saying? Or are we using it to intimidate the other person?

I am trying to deal with conflict better, sometimes it eats at me and eats at me until I can't take it anymore. But I will try...I hope I can succeed....how do you deal with conflict?

dogs and tats...

So...it's been a busy week...tattoo and dog...we got a dog this week....actually just this past wed. and then we had to get our shots and everything...she is just over 6 weeks old...and an adorable little fatty....here's a couple pictures of the tat and dog...oh...and her name is harley...

this is little harley...

and the new tattoo...