Listen Now

“What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same and nothing that you did, mattered?”  “That about sums it up for me." Covid 19 has seen many of us feeling trapped in our own version of Groundhog Day. The calendar does tick over for us but the rhythm of our lives has been disrupted. The weeks lose their distinctiveness and one day bleeds into another.There are days when I have found it hard to be motivated because every single thing on my to do list could be done tomorrow. 

Poetry can give us an epiphany. A different perspective or sudden appreciation of understanding something in a new or clear way. Historical narrative can also give insight, sometimes through recorded observation, sometimes through myth and legend of how unexpected events or experiences brought an epiphany. Archimedes in his bath, Issac Newton heading the apple, Mendeleev’s periodic dream, Einstein on the street car in Bern all produced incredible new insights that shape our understanding of the world.  I know a number of wise men and women around the world who are seeking and still haven’t found what they are looking for. I pray that this will be the time when their thirst is quenched with living water.  I hope that in 2022 we will all be marked by this curiosity to know and experience more of the Lord and a fresh commitment and desire to act on what we know. Without curiosity we will not have an epiphany!

Projecting strength and preserving image can too easily become a fashion in leadership as well as design.  If we be obsess over our own perfection we will project unrealistic expectations on others and have no way to process failure or deal with trauma. This vulnerability and honesty is one of the things I appreciate about the Psalms.  The Psalms have been helpful in affirming the reality of help in struggle and the light of the Lord’s love through darkness.  While we do not know all that is coming or understand all that is going on we do have a choice about how we respond and that does impact and affect what happens next. Romanticised pietism will not prevail through adversity. The Psalms give a perspective of praise that is both realistic and real. If being battered by troubles punctures our pathetic perfectionism and breaks its tyranny we will be better off for it. God is with us and because of his mercy, grace and hope we are not demoralised or defeated.

Most of us get to a place where we can begin to coast, we have put in the hard yards to get up the hill and now we can free wheel the final stretch. We can hold onto what we’ve got and think it doesn’t matter if we make it or not, especially if we feel we are well over half way there.I am yet more thankful how the number 99 reminds me that there is further to go and more to do. 

Ministry is not a career. It is not better to be the pastor a large church in a city or a small rural parish, it is not more significant to be the President of an organisation or the junior administrator. The key thing is to serve and to use whatever platform you have to advance others and encourage their growth.

The relationship between the little guy and the son of encouragement is a fascinating example of leadership development and helpfully identifies some key issues around encouragement. I am struck by five of these lessons from The Barnabas Files. I will share three of these today and save two for tomorrow.

The soundtrack of my life has a playlist pressed through memories and reflects my loyalties, passions and choices. My songbook is full of my greatest hits, the archeology of my tastes reveals many clues to my identity.  What is different about this new song is that is sung to the Lord and it is for everybody. It is to be sung in the present but it’s melody is timeless. It is not for special days or occasions but is to be proclaimed day after day.

Paul and Silas endured all this. They could have asserted their rights as Roman Citizenship when they were being accused of being Jewish agitators subverting Roman law and order. But instead they gave up their rights and freedoms and endured suffering.  What happened to them was unfair but their response is shaped by their citizenship of heaven rather than that of Rome. Instead of being angry at their treatment and protesting they pray and rather than planning revenge or scheming to sue, they sing. In the darkness and pain, they turn to the Lord.

 What do you do in leadership when things do not pan out as you expected they might or you hoped they would? It is easier if there is someone to blame but harder when people are looking to you and wondering what is going on. We can have an easy out if “circumstances beyond our control” provide a ready excuse.  New beginnings are frequently fraught and change is always challenging but at least someone knows what is going on. I need the humility to give up on plan A and to not defend plan B but to look for the new opportunity that will I believe always open.

I do not remember as a child asking on car journeys if we were nearly there yet. But pretty much every hill I have ever climbed I get excited that the next ridge is going to be the top or at the very least will allow a peek of the peak and I become piqued when it is not. Discouragement only turns to defeat when we give up on the climb. A pause does not indicate doubt or despair but may in fact be an opportunity to enjoy the view. The encouragement in the hills is that while keeping going for the summit we can turn around and see how far we have come

The love and faithfulness of the Lord are to be proclaimed and celebrated from when we wake at dawn to when we sleep at night. Our worship responds to the Lord’s greatness, impressive work and superior knowledge.The thing I find helpful about this is that it expresses truths about God. The joy is not conjured from within but is rooted in the person and work of the Lord. My feelings change day by day and hour by hour. The Lord does not change. Better that I sing his melody in his key than hum my own dissonant tune. 

Today marks Canada’s first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It is long overdue. The date was picked to coincide with Orange Shirt Day an indigenous grass roots initiative honouring the lost children and the survivors of Canada’s Residential Schools system. Recent discoveries of unmarked children’s graves in the grounds of a number of former residential schools has brought this shameful history into the spotlight but it only confirms what many indigenous people have been saying for years.Today is a day to listen and understand the truth of what happened and its enduring impact. Without truth there can be no reconciliation. It is also a day to embrace and celebrate indigenous culture, express solidarity and advocate for action. Inequality, injustice, abuse, violence and discrimination continue to be present realities for many indigenous people. As a newcomer to Canada I am still listening and trying to learn. 

“Courage isn't having the strength to go on - it is going on when you don't have strength.” Like soldiers we often cannot see how the battle is progressing, our immediate experience in the conflict can be encouraging or depressing, frightening or exhilarating. The call is to keep going, to join in suffering and endure. We do not have the luxury of questioning why the advance is not going better, complaining about our mission or longing for civilian life.  

We do not spend time and give to people because of their potential. We do not engage in student ministry primarily because we are working with the leaders of tomorrow but because we care about the youth of today. In the economy of God many of these young men and women will have a growing influence but we can never predict what the future holds. Our primary motivation is not strategic significance but love. Some acts of kindness and generosity have implications through the generations.

I do not expect to see either my children or my parents all the time but I do not enjoy not seeing being able to see them at all. The problem with having family scattered around the globe is that it tends to be a famine or a feast. Paul writing to the Philippians tells them that he has learned the secret of being content in every situation. He is commenting on his circumstances but doing so in the context of an important relationship that had been interrupted and has now been restored. The recipe for contentment that Paul is talking about is not circumstantial. He has experienced both times of plenty and of need. He is familiar with the famine and the feast. I find it much easier to be happy with my lot in times of abundance. 

Little Canada was founded by Jean-Louis Brenninkmeijer an immigrant who had a vision to build a model world inspired by a visit to Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg. He reached out to model railway clubs to try to find people with the skills to develop the idea. He met Dave MacLean a civil engineer who had a life long passion for model railways. I am always interested in the collaboration that can emerge when people with vision have the humility to recognise their limitations and seek specialist help and technical expertise. In this case their shared enthusiasm has grown a community that has opened a world.

One of the things which I have remarked on during this long and difficult pandemic is that we are all in the same storm but we are not all in the same boat. The impact of covid 19 has varied enormously through geographic, ethnicity, personal circumstance and life stage. We are particularly concerned about the disproportionate impact of the past two years on young people, especially those in their mid-teens to early twenties. While COVID interrupted life in some way for all of us, it has deprived many young people of experiences that will never come their way again. We are committed to finding more opportunities to reach those we have missed and to bless those who have missed out.The gospels remind us that faith can grow in the middle of storms when we encounter Jesus. 

 From our earliest experience of teams being picked in the playground at school we learn that being big, fast, strong, skilful, funny or popular are the qualities that get you chosen. God’s selection process does not follow the same pattern. Today I am thankful for the grace of God. I am grateful that God’s choice is not based on my qualifications but is rooted in his great love. I am thankful that being unqualified is not the same as being disqualified. I appreciate being called into a team and the privilege of playing together. If by some chance we are involved in some thing of significance in our lives and service, the credit for that belongs to the one who chose us. If it all goes wrong and our best efforts turn to custard we have one who is well able to handle that as well.

I have very mixed feelings as we come to the start of another year. 2021 has not been an easy year for many of us. There have been highlights and celebrations of course and we give thanks for these. But for me the year has been overshadowed by disruption, disappointment, deception, division and despair.I pray that as we enter 2022 we will know the Lord’s mercy, truth, light and power and that this will frame our perspective as we go forward together.And that we will not lose heart.

The Niagara Falls are breathtaking but white water can also be scaryI have spent a little bit of time on the Amazon. It is a lot wider than the Niagara River and 20% of the fresh water in the world flows through it. As the Amazon meanders it continually adjusts it’s course so that charts are out of date almost as soon as they are published. On flatter land water tends to follow the line of least resistance but at times of changes in elevation or the headwaters in the mountains it behaves differently. When under pressure the river has drive, direction and depth.