The Joshua House
a missional community of worship following Jesus...

General Info
Date: Saturday, December 30th
Time: 5-7:30pm
Where: Terra Nova Co-op common room

Please e-mail or call us by Friday, Dec.29th by noon to tell us if you are coming and if you would like to help bring something for dinner.

Dinner
The main course will be: Mexican Chicken Casserole
We still need: TBA

Children
Glenda

Study/Discussion
We are going to be watching a 25 min. video of a segment called "Seven Days" from CBC’s The National and then discussing it.  It is about a CBC journalist who goes and spends seven days with mostly southern American evangelical Christians.  I personally found it rather revealing and a good topic for discussion.

If you want more info on the segment or would like to watch it beforehand simply go to my last post called, The CBC visits Evangelical Christendom. 

Look forward to seeing you all!

The CBC has recently been airing a segment on The National every Tuesday for the past few weeks called, "Seven."  In it Mark Kelley (a CBC journalist) has been spending seven days with different groups of people to see how they live life.  This past Tuesday night they showed the segment where he goes to the southern U.S. to spend seven days with American evangelical Christians to find out what they believe and how they view life.

Although there can be tremendous differences between Canadian and American Evangelical Christians, I still personally found it very revealling and in most instances quite "on the money" in regards to the areas we really need to look hard and long at as a Christian movement.   If this is how those we are trying to connect with really see us then we might not be doing things quite as well as we thought.

Unfortunately, the only guy I liked being associated with was the guy from xxxchurch.com, they are a great ministry originating from California. 

The segment can be viewed in two parts by clicking on the links below for each one.  The total segment runs about 25 min. long.  I think you’ll need RealPlayer to view it.

Segment 1: "click here"

Segment 2: "click here"

I’d love your comments after you watch it. 

I wanted to pass on another great article from pastor James Harleman of Mars Hill Church.  I know, many of you are probably thinking I have some kind of church crush on Mars Hill Church with the amount of their stuff I pass on.  I’ll admit I do like a lot (not all) of the stuff they do.  But more than that, I subscribe to their media podcasts, because its free, and because they really do put out quality, God-honouring, relevant stuff.

That being said, I wanted to pass on this article called, Trapping Christmas that shares a bit of the history of the holiday and how Christians might view it in the midst of all our North American cultural trappings.

Let me know your thoughts about the article, perhaps we can learn from your thoughts and experiences as how to best honour Jesus in this time of egg nog, sweaty malls and Christmas sermons.

General Info
Date: Saturday, December 16th
Time: 5-7:30pm
Where: Terra Nova Co-op common room

Please e-mail or call us by Friday, Dec.15th by noon to tell us if you are coming and if you would like to help bring something for dinner.

Dinner
The main course will be: TBA
We still need: TBA

Children
Glenda

Study/Discussion
I know, some of you might not actually believe it, but it’s true!  This Saturday we will actually be taking a brief break from the Gospel of John so we can read from and talk about the Christmas Story as found in Luke 2:1-40.

I guess I really am a sucker for Christian tradition…good Christian tradition that is. 

Look forward to seeing you all!

The question in my Christian Theology class was: "Why is the Christian hope so significant for this life?"

Here was my answer:

I suppose the Christian hope is so significant because it is the answer to the world’s problems, or should I say Problem. Now yes, most people would agree that the world is full of problems, but not many would confess that they are part of the problem and even less would confess that not only are they part of the problem but that the problem is a part of who they are.

This is the age old battle in convincing people that they are sinners in need of repentance, forgiveness and redemption. Who wants to admit that in their heart of hearts they have been corrupted and that darkness lives in them? However, this is precisely what Jesus and the Christian faith tell us. It’s kind of like the person who knows something is physically wrong with them but they don’t want to go to the doctor out of fear that they will be told something is wrong with them. We humans really are a silly bunch aren’t we?

So where does this hope thing come in? The hope comes in when we realize that God has not left us to our own devices but has in fact provided Himself as a way out. How cool is that? He didn’t just show us (which He did), He didn’t just give us a formula to follow (although there is some of that, although I would call it more of a path to walk), He gave us Himself. We see this in creation especially in our being made in His image, we see in Jesus giving Himself on the cross for us, and we see this in the Holy Spirit of God which He gives us as we follow Him.

With Christmas around the corner, what greater hope is there for humanity than the "God with us," the name given to Jesus when he was born in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago, the name Emmanuel? God is with us, but are we with God?

Just my thoughts.

Powered by Qumana

This Friday I wanted to invite those who are interested to a night Out on the Town. A group of us will be going to The Richmond Nature Park for their 8th Annual Nature Comes to Light display (which is their polite way of saying Christmas Light display). We will meet @ 5:30pm in front of the entrance and go for a stroll in the cool night air through the somewhat spectacular winter land of lights. It probably will only take at the most 30 min. The cost is by donation I believe, which goes to the Richmond Fire Department or hospital burn unit, I’m not sure.

After, for those who can make it, we will drive over to Landsdowne Centre for some hot chocholate at Second Cup, or whoever sells warm, yummy drinks, and then we are going to take the kids on the Christmas train ride they have there by the food court. Dads can get pizza dogs at Orange Julius if they so choose, yummy…

If you want, you can come to one or both, it’s up to you. We will be at The Richmond Nature Park from about 5:30-6pm and at Landsdowne from about 6:15-7:30pm.

Let us know by e-mail if you can make it so we can look for you.

Powered by Qumana