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

So how about that birth control, eh? “What, did he just say birth control?”  That’s right.  Glenda and I have recently been listening to a sermon by Mark Driscoll (Mars Hill Church) on Birth Control and to be honest, found it quite helpful.  This is clearly one of those real life issues that everyone (hopefully just married couples) thinks about but hardly ever wants to talk about.  Well, leave it to Mark Driscoll to talk about it, why he’ll talk on just about anything if it will help people learn how to follow Jesus in this world in which we live.

So that being said I would like to pass it on to you, those who choose to connect with The Joshua House.  This is just our part of our trying to be a church that helps people live their whole lives in glory to God.

Just click on the link below and listen or go to the church website above and look for it under the recent sermon series “Religion Saves and 9 Other Misconceptions.”

Also a warning, the content might not be suitable for the younger folk, so keep that in mind if you play it with kids listening in.

Sermon

Question and Answer Period

The Imam and the Pastor - Visited
With the smell of my dad’s Starbucks permeating the air, sitting next to a rather large man so I couldn’t cross my legs and having another big-headed man block my vision of the guest speakers, I was both dismayed and delighted at what I saw and heard at this speaking engagement involving the actual pastor and imam from the documentary The Imam and the Pastor.  I was dismayed at how few young people were present but I was delighted by what I heard from both Pastor Wuye and Imam Ashafa.  With our acting mayor and a councilor or two present, this was an event sponsored by our city council and one of its new initiatives called the Richmond Intercultural Strategic Plan and Work Program prepared by the Richmond Intercultural Advisory Committee.

Even after watching the film I was still very moved and impressed by both the passion and eloquence of these leaders in communicating their story of peace and cooperation even in the midst of major theological differences.  In our present-day postmodern, multicultural, pluralistic Canadian culture where Christians are usually seen as having some scary hidden agenda and Muslims of all kinds are being scrutinized for their religious connection to some very minor elements of dangerous fundamentalism (even Christianity has these elements too), I found the stories and lessons from these two men to be very timely and insightful.

It’s obvious that we don’t suffer from anywhere near the violent tensions of genocide found in Africa and other parts of the world, however, even with my short discussion with a woman of another worldview briefly after the event showed me that their is still a lot of misunderstanding and distrust amongst various people of differing beliefs and values.  So how can we continue to maintain a peaceful yet sincere co-existence and perhaps move to what one organizer called “beyond mere tolerance” of one another?  How can we truly be “peacemakers” as spoken about by Jesus without capitulating truth and our own convictions?  With our city asking these spiritual questions I don’t believe we as Christians can afford not to get involved.  

Here’s a short article in The Richmond News about The Pastor and the Imam speaking engagement that a few of us went to that took place this past Friday night at Richmond City Hall.

Expelled – The Movie
With the debate of Intelligent Design versus Darwinism heating up in America over the past couple of years, this spring a new movie-documentary looks to expose some of the issues surrounding the debate and some of the real-life censorship that has affected many scientists and professionals alike.

Expelled website
Just go to the “playground” to view a trailer.

Terra Nova Group
Date: Sunday, January 27th
Place: Co-op Common Room
Time:  5:30-7:15pm

Scripture
Acts 16 – Timothy of Good Reputation

Community in Prayer
Please call or e-mail us with any prayer requests you would like to have the church community praying for!

Upcoming Events
Imagination, Culture, and the Municipal Economy
Date: Thursday, January 24, 2008
Time: 7pm - 9:30 pm
Location: Richmond City Hall - Council Chambers
Admission: This is a free public lecture and seating is limited Please RSVP at 604 247-8320 or suzanne.greening@richmond.ca

“Advances in the economy, in scientific knowledge, in social demographics and in communications are transforming the way we live. With this transformation come momentous challenges – and momentous opportunities. These opportunities demand fresh resources of imagination and ingenuity and a profound re-examination of our social, economic and moral priorities. At the same time, more and more hard evidence is emerging regarding the important role that arts, culture and creative activity play in the economic prosperity and social well-being of municipalities. As we move from a resource-based society to one built on information and imagination, it is essential that we integrate imagination and creativity into the way we learn, and build creative activity into the fabric of all aspects of modern society.”

Guest Speaker: Max Wyman, O.C., D.Litt (hon) - Mayor of the Village of Lions Bay and Chair of the Metro Vancouver Regional Cultural Task Force
Website: http://www.richmond.ca/news/2007city/1221luluseries.htm

Missions Fest 2008
“For Such a Time as This -
Destined to Make a Difference”
January 25–27, 2008
Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre
Website

Trinity Western University & The Centre for Entrepreneurial Leaders Presents
The Virtues of Business – Good Qualities Business has to offer and Good Qualities Business needs to flourish
Featuring Dr. Richard Higginson
Date: Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
Time: 12pm - 1:30pm
Location: Vancouver Club
Cost: $25/person (includes lunch buffet)

Date: Saturday, February 16th, 2008
Time: 8:30am - 10:00am
Location: TWU – Reimer Student Centre Dining Room First Floor
Cost: $25/person (includes continental breakfast)

To register and for more info visit website

Higginson’s work, dealing with the interplay between entrepreneurship and Christianity, has been an inspiration and encouragement to many Christians in business—proving that conversations about seeing business as a calling are engaging businessmen and academics all over the world.

“Virtues and vices are being inverted. Greed is good and sin to win: the gauntlet has well and truly been thrown down. How can Christianity meet this challenge?”
 
The Richmond Winter Festival
The second annual Richmond Winter Festival will feature two nights of fireworks, live music and celebration of winter. From playground to podium, easel to stage, the weekend activities and family fun will be held:

Date(s): Friday, February 8th, 2008
Saturday, February 9th, 2008
Location: Richmond City Hall, Granville Avenue, Brighouse Park
Admission: FREE
Website

In the spirit of our discussion last Sunday night on Advent I would like to pass along an Advent video that the wife of a former teacher of mine created for this Christian season.  May it inspire us all to worship more the one who is worthy this Christmas!  Some of you might think I’m being a little early on this…but have you seen the stores lately?  Although traditional Western Advent doesn’t start until December, Celtic and Eastern Orthodox Advent start in the middle of November.  I don’t think you can start too early to begin meditating on and preparing spiritually for both the remembrance of the incarnation of Jesus and the expectation of his second coming (two major themes for this time of year).

For the video click here and then press the "play" symbol

Enjoy with a cup of eggnog! 

Scary Movies and the Christian
Around Halloween I had some good conversations with different friends on the whole watching horror movies issue.  In the days surrounding Halloween, as I channel surfed my TV by repeatedly pressing my already severely indented “channel-up” button (from the several quadrillions of times I have pressed it over the years), I couldn’t help but come across scary movie after scary movie being served up on my already over-priced, non-digital cable package.  I know I’m not alone on this.  Now I do have to admit that over the years I personally have enjoyed many a scary movie, everything from Jaws, Halloween and The Thing (the 80’s one with Kurt Russell) back when I was a teenager right through to more contemporary tales like Wes Craven’s Scream series, M. Knight Shyamalan’s The Village and a recent rental I got called Disturbia.

But as a Christian who should always be discerning about what aspects of the world around me I let into my heart and mind what should I think about all these scary movies that make their way into our TV’s, movie rental stores and theaters?

That being said I would like to pass on another good article on this issue that again relates to our recent discussions as a church on our value of discerning, missional cultural engagement.  This one again is by Pastor Harleman of Mars Hill Church (pastor of film and theology) and looks more closely at the issue of the horror, gore and fear movie genre and the Christian life.

For the article click here

As a disclaimer I would like to say that there are actually some movies that I choose not to watch because I think they will be more harmful than helpful to my life as a Christian.  I should also say this can often include really bad romantic comedies, etc.  This is something that I have chosen to do because I, like Mars Hill and other culturally engaging churches, understand that movies are the modern preaching pulpits of our day.  So the question is, how are we both discerning and engaging with this most important culture-forming media of our time in Jesus’ name (Colossians 3:17)?

I wanted to share a helpful interview with Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA.  He touches on the whole issue of clean vs. unclean in Christian/Church life today.  You’ll remember in our discussion on Sunday night on Acts 10 how I mentioned him in regards to this issue.  We certainly have a lot of unlearning and learning to do as God’s people today.

To view the 5 min. video just click here 

Living in a Co-op can really have its interesting moments.  Let’s say I’m chatting with someone I haven’t spoken with or seen for a long time.  It’s good to catch up and listen to how the other person is doing and all the changes that have occurred.  Almost always the conversation is pretty upbeat and we are both tempted to oversell how good things are actually going.  But that’s ok, there often isn’t time in these conversations to admit how things really are.  Somewhere along the line the question, “so where are you living these days?” comes up.  Now perhaps it shouldn’t really matter, but the reality is I can answer this question in one of two ways.  I can simply say I live in an area of northwest Richmond called Terra Nova.  For anyone who knows Richmond this will immediately conjure up images of the Fraser River meeting the ocean, strolling on the dyke with the scenic coastal mountains in the background, gated townhouse communities, people walking their little dogs that wear little dog reflective jackets that are nicer than mine, million dollar homes which you’d think were abandoned if you didn’t see people come out maybe once a year to either wash their Mercedes Benz or prune their prize-winning rose bushes. Many would probably also mention the Starbucks we have on the main corner which I think would win the skinniest Starbucks in the world award.  

Now I can leave it there and let people think I must be doing pretty well for myself for living in such a swank neighbourhood or I could share a little more by adding that I also happen to live in a Co-op.  I always add the part about living in a Co-op as well.  This has at times ended that part of the conversation because people in middle-upper class suburbia will often attach a stigma to Co-op housing by lumping it in with other forms of social housing.  I’m already used to this because people generally don’t know what to do when I tell them I’m a pastor either.  Sometimes, when our church gets missions teams up from the American south and I explain where we live and where we are doing church before they come, they think I’m talking about “the projects.”  But even many Canadians have many misconceptions about what Cooperative housing is as well.  So let me briefly explain:  Simply put, it is a community of people who have entered into a limited partnership with the government to create more affordable housing for those who need it and to bring together people of various income levels to live together in an intentionally cooperating community.  We have Ph.D’s, lawyers, pastors, single mothers, mechanics, construction workers and social workers all living in the same complex together.  Most pay a market rent which tends to be at most 90% of the rent prices in the neighbourhood and those who can’t afford that, around 1/3rd of the residents, also get further rent subsidies from the government.  Glenda and I thank God for this place because not only has it allowed us to stay in Richmond near our family in a time of incredulous real estate prices but it has also allowed us to live out our dream of creating intentional Christian community within an existing community here at the Co-op.  

Now I bring this all up because I have to be honest in saying that at times I am tempted to leave the part of our living in a Co-op out of such a conversation.  And my question is, why?  I think you’ll agree with me when I say it’s because we live in a world where most people are tempted to play favourites.  We tend to stick with those who are most like us and if someone doesn’t fit our particular sphere of culture, economic status, etc. we might not be as inclined to build a relationship with them.  This is a real problem today, as it was in the time of the New Testament.  On Sunday in Acts 10 we saw how God taught Peter (a Jew) that He doesn’t play favourites and was just as willing to give His Spirit to Gentile (non-Jewish) converts to Jesus as he was to Jewish converts to Jesus.  This was absolutely revolutionary to Peter who like all Jews was taught not to associate, or even eat a meal with Gentiles.  

Is this not still just as revolutionary today?

So my question for you is do you play favourites?  Or do you, like God, invite people of all ethnicities, socio economic levels, cultures, sub-cultures, age groups, religions, etc. into your life? 

God certainly doesn’t play favourites and neither should His people!

First let me say thanks to my fellow church planter Nick from Tapestry church in Calgary (part of our incarnational church network - The IIB Network) for passing this on.  It seems like we are both on a similar quest for the holy grail of figuring out how to be a missional church of Jesus followers in modern day Canadian suburbia.  Not as easy as you think!  The gospel both affirms and contradicts many values and lifestyles found in your average suburban community.  So where do we begin?

Here is a take on Ten Ways to be the People of God in Suburbia by Chris Smith.  Clearly not a comprehensive list but perhaps a decent place to start.

I love coffee, as many of you probably know, and so I am often found drifting into coffee shops for my occasional caffeine fix.  There is one coffee shop near my house that Glenda and I sometimes go to with Ethan and Taia on our walks to the park or the supermarket.  It amazes me how often I see parents in there with their children just trying to get their coffee only to find that getting your stroller through that shop is like trying to put on a pair of jeans you wore when you were in high school.  Could these coffee shops be any smaller?  The odd time Ethan gets a little excited and gets in the way of the hip yuppie trying to put some cane sugar in his half-caff, espresso macchiato or perhaps he gets a cold stare from an independent older lady for interrupting her quiet time with her O (Oprah) magazine.  All in all, it can be a pretty trying experience just wanting to get some decent coffee while out for a stroll with your kids.  The other day a friend of mine showed me a new coffee shop down on Commercial Drive where their church community occasionally meets.  It is a family friendly coffee shop with wide isles, big tables and a toy/play area.  How cool is that?

Overall, I have to say, trying to start a new church where basically half our congregation is children under the age of four has been challenging to say the least.  I think even the whole issue of raising children in general in our culture is one that many people often struggle with.  Although our city has made some great strides in trying to make itself more kid and family friendly, there continues to be at times a quiet undertone out there that crying, screaming children just aren’t that welcome in certain circles.  How are things different in our churches?  How do we really view children?  Are they really a blessing or are we often times tempted to see them more as a pain, getting in the way of what we would rather be doing?

“But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” (Luke 18:16)

“Then he said to them, "Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all–he is the greatest.” (Luke 9:48)

Pray that we would truly see children as Jesus sees them, as a treasure from the Lord and as a taste of His Kingdom.

Following Jesus means recognizing him as Lord, Messiah, and Rabbi. As Lord, everything was made through Jesus and finds its ultimate purpose in him as the apex of God’s glory and grace. Jesus is God, "The One", the King, and in him is Life. As Messiah, he’s also the one who has come to put the world right again. He became one of us and through his life and by the cross defeated evil, sin and death once and for all. Finally, Jesus is our Rabbi as we become his student-apprentices and enroll ourselves into the Jesus school of life. With a joyful seriousness we immerse ourselves in the spiritual practices of Jesus such as silence, solitude, meditation, prayer, study, service, celebration, confession, etc. Moreover, as the "quintessential human" Jesus shows us what it means to be fully human as he calls us to walk with Him today as bringers of the Kingdom of God to all creation. This Kingdom primarily is not a place we go to when we die but rather the rule of God in our hearts today working its way out into eternity. It leads us to love a spouse well, raise children well, study well, face adversity well, manage businesses and finances well, form community life well, reach out to those on the margins well, share the message of Jesus well and die well.

Scriptures: Matthew 11:28-30; 23:10; 28:18-20; Luke 6:40; 9:23; John 10:10; 14:6; 17:3-4; 20:16, 28, 31; Romans 8:29; 1 Corinthians 10:31; 11:1; 1 Peter 2:21

Going through the bible book by book, chapter by chapter we often don’t have time to hear all the comments and questions we individually have as we approach the text.  However, we can use this space to continue the conversation amongst ourselves and anyone else interested by our posting of comments.  Moreover, I want to pass on the questions that I personally prepare each week for discussion in our group and personal study and reflection of the chapter.

Here are last Sundays for Acts 4:

1. (v.11) Why does Peter compare Jesus to the capstone (cornerstone) of a building project?  What exactly is Jesus the capstone of?  What does this mean for you?
2. (v.16-17) After witnessing such a miracle of God why do the Jewish leaders still try to cover it up?  How are we sometimes like the Jewish leaders today?  How do we sometimes try to cover up truth, even as Christians?
3. This portrait of the early church as an unselfish community is captivating and inspiring.  How do we, in our time, respond as they did in theirs?
• How do we speak boldly?
• How do we bring healing and miracles in God’s name?
• How do we join together with one heart and mind?
• How do we relinquish our possessions?