Moderator

A prayer for achievable purposes.

“As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him.”
–Matthew 4:18 – 20

I have a friend who is deeply committed to Christ and who believes he is being called to serve his Lord in a creative, new, and large way. I encourage him to pursue this vision, but the whole thing seems stalled around specifics. Namely, there is a lack of concrete and measurable steps toward making this dream a reality, and until a defined starting point with clear objectives gets named, I fear my friend’s dream may never achieve reality. Most days, his example reminds me of the frustrations many of our congregations face, year in and year out. Simply put, without a concrete, measurable, strategic plan, how do we ever attain the goals that we hope to reach in our service to Jesus Christ, and how do we know when we’ve achieved them?

The world of commerce has understood for a very long time that objectives seldom get realized without a clear, simple plan. Many faithful, Christ – centred congregations are well – meaning in their devotion, yet short on achievables. Truth is, when we are uncertain of what our objectives for Christ’s kingdom truly are, it’s inevitable that any old road will get us to that uncertainty.

Conversely, a congregation can begin to find new hope and energy for faithful ministry when a specific plan with measurable objectives is developed. Such a plan is not built upon wishful thinking, but a common sense Spirit – driven process which takes into account the gifts that God has intentionally given us. Every congregation is different, primarily because each one has different gifts. When we direct those unique gifts toward focused ministries of hope, reconciliation and healing for human lives, remarkable possibilities can begin to emerge. And the reason for such success is because God continues to bless those who use their gifts wisely for enduring purposes.

Sometimes we stumble and fall as congregations when we dream too small. Sometimes, we dream too big and take on too much. When Jesus issued his call to those first disciples, he made the daunting seem achievable. “Follow me,” he said to those two brothers, and since he intended a ministry of “catching believers,” he figured two fishermen would have the talents to grasp the concept! Built upon their gifts, he began a movement that continues to grow. But if he had told them that day that they would be the foundation of a whole new order to be called “the church,” do you think their hearts would have been so eager? Instead, he invited them to explore first steps based upon their God – given abilities.

My prayer for our church in Canada is for a renewed sense of achievable purposes in every local congregation. Start small, but build it upon the gifts that are uniquely yours to offer those around you who long to be loved and cared for. And trust God’s Spirit!

“When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him,
“Are you the one who is to come,
or are we to wait for another?”
Jesus answered them, “Go and
tell John what you hear and see:
the blind receive their sight,
the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead
are raised, and the poor have
good news brought to them.”
—Matthew 11:2 – 5

As the 137th General Assembly drew to a close that Friday morning in London, Ont., I chose these verses from Matthew’s gospel as a final piece for reflection before calling for an adjournment and offering concluding prayers. It is and always has been for me one of the most compelling passages in all of the Bible, and it addresses, I believe, our contemporary hope for the church in profound ways.

Consider its honesty. The very same enthusiastic John who “leapt in his mother’s womb” when pregnant, young Mary was nearby, now struggles to be certain that his Messianic preparations have not been in vain. “Are you the one?” John asks. There is both apprehension and hope in his question, and he awaits a conclusive response.

The last time I was asked to verify who I was, I appealed to protocol and produced a passport. It displayed my name, my nationality, and for good measure, an accompanying photo of a man who appeared to be a humourless insomniac. Mercifully, it sufficed, as those things tend to for governments and institutions. But Jesus is not interested in making appeals to governments or institutions to validate his authority. No doubt, he could have told John that he was a verifiable descendent of King David, or even the one whom Isaiah spoke of in his prophecy. For John, that should be convincing enough, wouldn’t you think? But neither of those traditional criteria seem to matter to Jesus in this self – defining moment. Because for Jesus, what matters is hope. What matters is health. What matters is abundant life. What matters is people like you and me, scarred and scared, who long to be embraced and loved and set free from the burdens of daily hurt and despair.

Can our church discover again that we are never at our best as a tradition – bound institution, but rather as a powerful movement sharing Christ’s transforming grace? By the power of God’s Spirit, congregations of ordinary people can still do extraordinary things for the blessing of humanity, everyday!

When we grasp afresh that our priority mission in Christ is to address human hurts and hopes, and not matters of institutional maintenance, membership and money, we discover that these lesser things just fall in line. Turns out, healthy congregations go places they may never have imagined, and see encouragement and human blessing they only dreamed of! When we have the courage to truly cast our nets, we will indeed see Christ in our work.

It is the tradition of The PCC that the outgoing Moderator make a presentation to the General Assembly during the second sederunt. These are the remarks I made at that time and they serve as a fitting farewell to my loyal blog readers.

Rev. Dr. Herb Gale addresses the 136th General Assembly

I think everyone is aware that the theme I chose for my moderatorial year was growing the generosity of The Presbyterian Church in Canada. I invited people to help build a new Dayspring – the first missionary ship launched from New Glasgow, Nova Scotia in 1862. I christened the ship the HMS Generosity and invited Presbyterians of all ages from across Canada to lend their hands in building the ship and climbing on board as crew members, because I am convinced that it is through our generosity that we will move forward as congregations and as a denomination.

I shared some of the stories of generosity through my articles in the Record and on my moderator’s blog. I heard many more stories through the nine Moderator’s Roundtable Discussions I held across Canada, from Edmonton, Alberta, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Tiverton, Ontario, Montreal, Quebec, and Summerside, PEI. The challenges we face as a church are real: declining membership (especially among young families), an aging demographic, learning how to be church and do ministry in remote areas of the country and in rapidly changing times, and an overwhelming sense of exhaustion on the part of church leaders trying continue to do ministry with diminishing resources. I addressed this concern in my article for the May issue of the Record, which I entitled, “Fear of Running Out” – fear of running out of time, running out of money, running out of ideas, running out of leaders, running out of energy, running out of young people… you know, running out.
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This past Sunday, I received this email update from Lorna Ball, wife of Glenn Ball, our synod regional staff worker in Manitoba.  In my previous blog, I mentioned that Lorna was giving a tour of the local Military Museum in Brandon for the soldiers who had been helping with the sandbagging the previous week.   Her email speaks to the dedication of the Reservists and other volunteers and groups  in the community who are gladly “doing their duty” to help their neighbours.  I thought her comments should be shared with the rest of the church.

Herb
 
Many thanks indeed for your prayers and offering the prayers of the PCC to the communities in Manitoba that are suffering under the Great Flood of 2011.  These prayers are greatly appreciated.
 
Saturday night I was with the Reservists who are helping sandbag in Brandon MB  and Portage la Prairie. Read the rest of this entry →

We have all been following the news of the work being done to control the damage from flooding caused by historic water levels of the Assiniboine River in Manitoba.  This morning the government ordered the opening of a controlled breach of the dike located at the Hoop and Holler Bend on the Assiniboine River

Hoop and Holler Bend on Assiniboine River after the breach

southeast of Portage la Prairie, Manitoba.  The breach was made to reduce the level of flooding further downstream where more farms and residences would be affected.  Latest news reports indicate that there will be compensation for the homes and businesses affected by the controlled breach.  The Presbyterian Church in Canada has four congregations located in the flood area: First Church, Portage la Prairie, First Church and St Andrew’s Church in Brandon, and Melita Church in Melita, MB.  Today I contacted all four congregations and Rev. Glenn Ball, the synod staff worker, to get an update on what is happening in the area and to assure the congregations and communities of the prayers and support of the larger church.  What follows is a short summary of those conversations and a brief update on the situation in Brandon and the surrounding vicinity. Read the rest of this entry →

This year, Good Friday and Earth Day fall on the same day, April 22nd. At first glance that coincidence seems unfortunate. How can you celebrate Earth Day while reflecting on the death of Christ? Yet upon further reflection, I think it is a “fortunate coincidence,” for it provides preachers and worship leaders the opportunity to see Christ’s death and saving activity through new eyes. We tend to have a strictly anthropocentric view of Christ’s redemptive activity; and, of course, there is good reason for this. After all, we are human beings; and the good news of the gospel is that God loves us so much that God became a human being in Jesus Christ, and Christ died a very human death on the cross to save us from our sins. As 1st Timothy declares in words I have used often as an Assurance of Pardon: “The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1st Timothy 1:15). Yet, if we focus the gospel message strictly on what Christ does for “me” or even for “us,” we lose sight of the larger view, a view that includes all creation. Read the rest of this entry →

The Moderator's wife Shirley Gale wearing a prayer shawl from the members of First Presbyterian Church, Brandon

It was 8:00 o’clock in the morning. I was staying with The Rev. Glenn and Lorna Ball in Brandon, Manitoba. Glenn is the regional staff person in Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario and had helped organize my trip to visit congregations and presbyteries in Manitoba. Glenn and I were just getting ready to head out the door for a tour of the Brandon area and then travel to Winnipeg for the Presbytery of Winnipeg’s meeting at St. James’ Church in Winnipeg. Suddenly the doorbell rang. “Who could be at the door this early in the morning?” I wondered. Read the rest of this entry →

Today is the first day of Lent.  Lent is a period of forty days that begins with Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter Sunday.  Because Sunday is the day of resurrection, Sundays are not included in calculating the days of Lent.  The forty days are reminiscent of Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness when he fasted and prayed to become prepared for the arduous ministry to which God had called him.  The forty days of Lent are intended to provide followers of Christ a similar time for reflection, repentance and prayer to enable us to live more authentic Christian lives and to enter more fully into the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection.  

In keeping with the spirit of the season, many Christians often adopt spiritual disciplines such as fasting during their Lenten journey. When we normally think of a Lenten discipline, we usually think of giving up something, for example giving up meat for Lent or giving up desserts.   The idea is to give up something we value or enjoy to help us appreciate them more deeply and to grow closer to One who graciously gives them.   This is what lies behind the ancient tradition of fasting during Lent. 

While there is certainly a great deal of merit in such acts of self denial, I have found in my own life that when I have practiced such disciplines I often become more preoccupied with myself rather than less so, which seems a bit counterproductive.  That is why I have decided to do an alternative sort of spiritual discipline this Lent.  Rather than give up something during Lent, I have decided to give something each day during Lent.  That is, I have decided to be more intentional about practicing generosity during this Lenten season.  Each day during Lent, I will do some sort of intentional act of self giving. I’m not sure what those acts will be – I’m planning on figuring it out as I go along – but each day I resolve to do some act of grace (i.e. an unexpected, undeserved, and unconditional gift of love) that I wouldn’t normally do and see what happens as a result.  An example of such an act that I still remember with fondness was a road trip I took with some classmates during my university days.  While we were driving along a toll road, we decided to pay twice as much at each toll booth as was required, telling the toll booth attendant that the extra money was to pay for the toll of the car behind us.  That one simple act transformed the paying of tolls from something we all resented into a kind of happy game that I have never forgotten. 

The acts I choose may be large or small, open or hidden, for someone I know or for a complete stranger.  Who knows, I may end up doing more than one act on any given day – after all, God offers us any number of possibilities to practice generosity in any given day, and I’ve discovered from my own experience that giving is often fun.  So why limit myself to just one act of generosity a day?  But I am going to commit myself to one act a day, and I am going to keep a journal of my Lenten journey into generosity so that I can have a record of what I learn along the way.   I can’t think of a better way to follow in the path of him whose entire life was one continuous act of self-giving love and who didn’t say, “It is finished,” until he had finally given himself completely away as he was offering his life on the cross.  

By the way, my first act of generosity is to make this pledge and share it with you.  I invite anyone who would like to join me in my Lenten discipline to do so. I would like to call our group the Kenosis Fellowship.  Kenosis is the Greek word for “emptying” – a key theological term used to describe Christ’s way of self-giving love.  In Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi, Paul gives this advice:

Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.  Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God as something to be exploited (or grasped), but emptied himself taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:4-8)

So I invite you on this first day of Lent to become part of the Kenosis Fellowship and pledge yourself to doing at least one act of generosity that you would normally not do each day during Lent.  Be creative and have fun.   I would also invite you to keep a daily journal of your experiences, and if you feel so moved to share some of your experiences on this website.  And maybe as an act of generosity you can invite someone else to join the fellowship.  Oh, by the way, don’t feel it’s too late to become part of the Kenosis Fellowship if you decide to join half way through Lent, or even during Holy Week.  It will just mean you will have a little less time to enjoy the journey!

It is already being called many things – “the People’s Revolution,”  “the Facebook Revolution,” “the Dignity Revolution,” etc.  Only time will tell what eventually emerges out of the eighteen days of protest that toppled Egypt’s dictator of thirty years, Hosni Mubarak.  But whatever happens, we know that we have been watching, not just enthralling news clips, but history in the making.  A dictator’s iron grip on his people has been pried loose as hundreds of thousands of Egyptians have flooded into the streets to add their voices to a call for freedom.  Then on Friday, February 11^th, their cries for freedom turned into cries of victory after Mubarak’s resignation was announced:  “I am Egyptian!” the crowds chanted in exultation, “I have toppled Hosni!”

Just moments after Mubarak’s resignation, we received the following email at Church Offices from Rev. Sameh Hanna, who is serving Kasr El Dobara Evangelical Church in Cairo.  Rev. Hanna was ordained in The Presbyterian Church in Canada in 2007; but after serving the Arabic Outreach Mission in Toronto, he felt called to return to his native Egypt with his wife, Nevine, and their two daughters. Little could he have imagined what God had in store for him and his family.  His church is located just off Tahrir Square, the heart of the protests and the epicentre of the liberation movement.

This is Rev. Hanna’s email:

Dear prayer warriors,

Thank-you for the many e-mails/calls we’ve received asking about us in Egypt. We are a blessed family to know that you are praying for us and our people. As many of you know, our church is located in Tahrir Square (where the demonstrations have been taking place) in the downtown. We are safe, but there is still a curfew in the evening hours. The food supply is good: it is easily available but it is getting very expensive. Please continue to pray that the Lord will intervene, and that a peaceful resolution will be implemented.

I would like to share with you encouraging news. Last Sunday I led a worship in Tahrir Square with our worship team. We sang a few songs asking God to bless Egypt, some read scripture and others prayed in public. It was received very well by Muslims and their leaders (see attached photos).

We meet daily for three hours in different homes in Cairo to pray for our country and for the Egyptian people. We cannot open the church because of its location;  however, everyone is encouraged that we are together. After praying and sharing, we started to think of how we can minister during this crisis and we did the following:

• Two groups of our young people went to clean and collect the garbage from streets; each group had about 110 people.
• Some people visited the police stations to tell the police officers “Welcome back!” and that we appreciated their services. We gave them flowers as an expression of the love of Christ, and their response has been very positive.
• Another group has been distributing food in several poor areas of town.

Even so, the current situation is very dangerous and unpredictable. We have been encouraged to see our sovereign Lord help us through this and we are confident it will turn out for the greater progress of the gospel.

So as you watch the TV news reports and witness the turmoil in Egypt, let it stir us to pray for the advance of the gospel. Let it also move us to say to God, “Here we are. Send us into the chaos and pain. Use us to make disciples of all nations.”

Praise God for His goodness and sovereignty!

Please pray for our beloved Egypt and God’s intervention; for our church in Cairo that is encouraging members of its congregations to volunteer at hospitals in need of nurses and to help elderly people; and for peace in the minds and hearts of the Egyptians, as the future is uncertain.

Pray also that God will provide some financial support for those in need. We are collecting funds to attend to the needs of those who didn’t receive their paychecks — banks have been closed for a long time and are now open only for a few hours a day.

As I am finishing this email, President Mubarak is submitting his resignation.

Blessings,

Sameh Hanna

I would invite the church in Canada to continue to pray for the people of Egypt as they seek to build a more democratic nation and to pray for people such as Sameh Hanna and the members of his congregation who are seeking to minister in Christ’s name in the midst of the chaos around them.  And as we watch our TV and computer screens in the days ahead, know that God’s people are on the ground in the midst of the turmoil.  And know this, too: we are not just passive spectators as we watch what is happening in Egypt.  We are partners in prayer – “Prayer Warriors,” Rev. Hanna calls us.  So let us add our voices to those of our Egyptian brothers and sisters in Egypt as we call on our God to exercise his sovereign power – a power God uses, not to lord it over us, but to set all people free to use their gifts for the common good.

As I get older, I find that one of the most important aspects of the Advent and Christmas seasons is the place of music. Unfortunately, I find fewer and fewer radio stations that actually play the carols telling the true Christmas story. More and more, all I hear on the radio are songs like “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” or “Rock around the Christmas Tree” or “White Christmas.” Seldom do I hear the carols that speak to the real meaning of Christmas: “O Little Town of Bethlehem” or “It Came upon a Midnight Clear” or my wife, Shirley’s, favourite, “O Holy Night.” Now don’t get me wrong, I like singing “Jingle Bells” and many of the other secular songs as much as anyone, and I still laugh out loud when listening to “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” (I even downloaded it to my smart phone). But what my soul aches for and soars with are the great carols (both ancient and modern) of the season, for in their harmonies and lyrics I discover true “tidings of comfort and joy” – a comfort and joy that abide even when my heart is breaking or my spirit is numb from having too much “stuff” in my life.
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