Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Last Post of 2013

I won't be blogging again until January 1st 2014.
Have a wonderful time with your family and friends.
God Bless.

So Long to 2013 from Jib Jab



Even Rob Ford made the Jib Jab So Long to 2013 video!

Christmas Greetings from Jerusalem of Gold

Brian Kershisnik’s “Nativity”

I love using artwork to comment on Bible stories in my sermons. Donald Miller does an outstanding job doing both in a post about Brian Kershisnik’s painting called “Nativity”. Yes the painter did this work for the Latter Day Saints tabernacle in Salt Lake City Utah... but don't hold that against him, me or Donald. 

Defend Dignity Public Service Announcement



Here is a Public Service Announcement from Defend Dignity about the recent Supreme Court changes to the laws about prostitution in Canada. Please watch and participate.

Some "new to me" Christmas Poems

As a pastor i am constantly scouring my sources (Google mainly) for new material to use as illustrative or descriptive fodder for the next sermon or two or three that i have to deliver. Here are some Advent poems I found this year that i won't be using, but which i found very moving and beautiful.

Christmas Green by Scott Cairns 

Just now the earth recalls His stunning visitation. Now
the earth and scattered habitants attend to what is possible: that He
of a morning entered this, our meagered circumstance, and so
relit the fuse igniting life in them, igniting life in all the dim
surround. And look, the earth adopts a kindly áffect. Look,
we almost see our long estrangement from it overcome.
The air is scented with the prayer of pines, the earth is softened
for our brief embrace, the fuse continues bearing to all elements
a curative despite the grave, and here within our winter this,
the rising pulse, bears still the promise of our quickening.

Overshadowing by Scott Cairns 

Deep within the clay, and O my people
very deep within the wholly earthen
compound of our kind arrives of one clear,
star-illumined evening a spark igniting
once again the ember of our lately
banked noetic fire. She burns but she
is not consumed. The dew falls gently,
suffusing the pure fleece. Her human flesh
adorns its Lord, and lo, the wall comes down.
And -- do you feel the pulse? -- we all become
the kindled kindred of a King whose birth
thereafter bears to all a bright nativity.

CNBC's Art Cashin reading HIS version of "A Visit from St. Nicholas"



Twas the Night Before Christmas on Parliament Hill



Liberal MP Rodger Cuzner rekindles his holiday tradition in 2013 with a parody of Twas the Night Before Christmas aimed at the PM.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Dang those Apple Inc. people... they do it again and again and again.



Apple Inc. gets you to cry at an advertisement for their products by stressing not their technology nor style nor logo but the impact their technology can have on you, your life and your family. They are masters of selling the "1/4 inch hole" not the "1/4 inch drill bit" genius of advertising as referred to by Terry O'Reilly of Age of Persuasion and Under the Influence.

Christmas by the Numbers

This Advent I've been preaching a series of messages i've entitled "Christmas by the Numbers". Sundays 10am at 6009 Valley Way in Niagara Falls to come hear and see the next in the series.

We've been looking at the numbers 14, 2, 6 and 3 and the significance they have for the Christmas story and message.

The number 14 and Christmas - December 8th
14 generations from Abraham to David, from David to the exile and from the exile to Christ. 

The number 2 and Christmas - December 15th 

2 birth narratives … Matthew and Luke
2 years old and younger killed by Herod - Matthew 2:16
2 parents of faith for jesus… joseph and mary
2 angels to joseph… joseph matthew 1:20 and 2:13
2 journeys of Mary … to see Elizabeth and with Joseph to go to Bethlehem
2 groups of visitors to the mangerside… shepherds luke 2 and magi matthew 2
2 blessings in the temple… simeon and anna luke 2
2 songs about his coming… mary and zechariah’s luke 1
2 miraculuous births… John and Jesus

The number 6 and Christmas - December 22nd 

Elizabeth is in her 6th month when Mary is told of God's plan for her to have a child who would become the Son of God. Luke 1:26

The number 3 and Christmas - December 24th 

Matthew 2:11

Gold
Frankincense
Myrrh

@glengatecma is also singing We Have a Saviour by Hillsong as our 2013 Theme Song

CCD Staff's Christmas Carol Greeting

The staff of the Central Canadian District of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada singing "O Holy Night".

Publicly-funded Christian High School in Ontario - Eden High School

My daughter has in God's providence been given the opportunity to attend Eden HS in St. Catharines and participate in its great music program.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Jesus: Homeless or Homeowner?

Much is made of Jesus as a homeless person, particularly at Christmas.

It has to do with the climate... our middle-class consciences ... the Christmas story ("no room in the inn").

The passage cited to support the homeless-Jesus image is most often Matthew 8:20: "Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

Jesus said this in response to a man indicating that he was willing to follow Jesus wherever he went. It is actually part of a couplet of encounters between men with excuses - either voiced or implied - that Jesus challenges who don't -seemingly - end up following him.

The point in favour of the homeless-Jesus picture painted by this one encounter is that it does occur in the Galilean region. In fact it occurs in Matthew immediately after Jesus was specifically in Capernaum healing Peter's mother in law.

So if we are to take Jesus' words at face value then one is left asking the question "How can Jesus claim to have no where to lay his head, if he occupies/owns a home just around the lake from where he makes the statement?"

The homeless-Jesus idea is powerfully portrayed in Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz's statute which sits outside Regis College on the sidewalk in Toronto, Ontario.


Lots of pastors - of course - have taken this image to heart and go spend a night on the street around Christmas and then use their experiences to talk to their congregations about the realities of poverty in their community. Matthew 25 powerfully resonates with this idea of Jesus being the one we truly serve when we visit the imprisoned, feed the hungry, clothe the naked or care for the sick. 

Andrew Murray Quote for Week of December 15th

This week Andrew Murray's quote echoes what my good friend and colleague Brent Farquhar is often saying: We don't pray for things, we bring about things by prayer.

"It is by prayer, by unceasing striving in prayer that this grace must be sought for the Church." page 85

Monday, December 16, 2013

@glengatecma Men's Carolling Night - Thursday December 19th 4:30pm

Gentlemen... here is the schedule for the Carolling night on Thursday December 19th. If you can't meet us at the church at 4:30pm. No problem. Just catch up with us at one of our many locations that night and join in!

4:30pm Meet at the Church 6009 Valley Way

5:00pm Community Kitchen on St. Lawerence

5:45pm Eventide on Jepson

6:30pm Queenston Place on Valley Way

7:15pm Group 1 - Valley Park Lodge (beside Queenston Place)
or
Group 2 - Lundy’s Manor on Lundy's Lane west of Montrose

8:00pm Residences of Valley Way 6009 Valley Way

ALL MEN WELCOME





Thoughtful Christmas Message from the US President of the C&MA


John Stumbo video blog – MESSAGE No. 5 – December 2013 from The Alliance on Vimeo.

The Future of Detroit?

My childhood was spent listening to, visiting, watching and the city of Detroit. Its demise is very hard to imagine and handle. Detroit manufactured cars but it also spawned countless other innovations and companies... two of which are mentioned below.

2 personal stories... My mother tells the story of - as a teenager growing up in Kingsville, ON - getting on a bus in her old clothes and travelling by public transit over the bridge to shop at Hudson's in Detroit. There her girlfriends would shop and enjoy a Vernor's ginger ale. She tells about taking the elevator to the entirely refrigerated 8th floor which was exclusively used to sell fur coats. They would get off the elevator, be given a loaner fur and then tour around the floor trying on coats and feeling like a million bucks. Once their shopping adventures were done, they would put on their new clothes, clip off the tags, throw their old clothes out (to avoid paying the duty) and ride the bus home to Kingsville.

The 2nd story is my own. My father was a sales rep of some description for Canadian Fram in Chatham, ON and he received tickets to go see the Toronto Maple Leafs play the Detroit Red Wings in old Olympia Arena. Our tickets were right beside the Visitor's bench on folding chairs, if you can imagine. My mother was so worried about her hockey-loving son getting hit with a puck or a stick that she brought a towel... and every time the play came near she would lift the towel in front of my face to protect me. Needless to say i found it hard to watch my heroes Lanny MacDonald and Mike Palmeteer play with my Mother's towel in front of me every time the play came near. Mom...

Here is a hopeful presentation about what's next for America's largest bankrupt city.


Thursday, December 12, 2013

WestJet Christmas Miracle: Santa's bloopers



17,000,000 views of the real WestJet Christmas Miracle. Here's the blooper real. Some funny stuff here.

Randon Israel 2013 pics

Communion Service with Dr. Charles and Hillary Price in the courtyard of The Garden Tomb in East Jerusalem, Israel. 

we saw this crew making a movie. 


The "beautiful" mosaic that adorns facade of the Antonio Barluzzi's Church of All Nations in the Garden of Gethsamane. 

The Temple Institute in Jerusalem is "ready" to rebuild the 3rd Temple. Here on display within view of The Western Wall but shrouded by 2 olive trees for modesty's sake. 

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

My Grandfather in Israel

Here is a picture i was sent with the caption on the back about my grandfather "at Sea of Galilee near Tiberius. Taken by a friend"