The Thomas Question

The End

2007-05-17T12:14:00.001-05:00

The email devotional and other content will no longer be posted here.

Please visit the blog portion of our website at www.askthequestion.ca/blog/ for current updates as well as our podcast, special feature videos and other resources.

Does This Sound Right?

2007-05-10T06:30:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and you can also tune into our podcast.

I try to serve people in unusual ways wherever I go. It’s part of an attempt to “be the missing part” which is what I think Christians were meant to be. For example, whenever I see someone else’s baby smile at me, I try not to smile back. I want to be one of the few people willing to help them realize at their tender stage of life that they are not the center of the universe. The sooner they realize that, the better for all of us. It’s just one small way I try to help.

As another example, I try not to simply “beep” the horn when a driver has had a lapse of judgment or awareness in some way. Instead, I try to “help” them know for sure they’d made an error and be firmly resolved to “do better” in the future. A “beep” simply does not suffice. So I following them closely for a period of time with my horn applied in one long, blaring message which says “I want to help you be a better driver!” It’s just one of the many ways we can all help serve each other. Was that you I “helped” on the expressway this morning? I hope so.

Obviously this kind of thinking is more than a little “cracked”. But it’s not far off from some of the ways we attempt to self justify our strange or indulgent behavior. Pastors who were meant to be “lead-foot washers” end up surrounded by perks and exclusivity. “In order to be lead foot-washer,” they think to themselves, “I should be accorded some special privileges to get this most important job done.” That’s more than just a little ironic.

Another example has become a famously familiar phrase: “Just because I have to love you, doesn’t mean I have to like you.” The problem is, if we’re all truly open and honest, those two things include each other.

Given enough time, most of us can think of some truly imaginative ways to validate almost any habit or impulse. “It’s just the way I was made” is probably in the lead position. But when you read the words of Jesus (the red ones in your New Testament), it doesn’t take long before you get this sense that He knew this about us. In John 2:23 it says of Jesus that, “When He was in Jerusalem for the Passover festival, may believed in His name because they saw the signs that he was doing.” But then it says this in verse 24, “But Jesus on his part would not entrust Himself to them because He knew the heart of man…”

We are our own worst enemy, and the darker side of our human nature can take on the shape of whatever it’s poured it into. We can do the right thing for wrong reasons, the wrong thing for right reasons and then we can layer these things one upon another until we no longer know which is which. All of us are subject to our own “sweet talk”, and no one can “check the math” on your deepest thinking and self justification. Only you can “hold your feet” to the “fire” of change. Have you checked your deepest motives lately? Have you asked yourself tough questions? The adventure of change is worth it. Become a different person from the inside out and you may be surprised at how your possibilities are multiplied.

We’re in the midst of a series right now that grapples with these and other issues by asking the question, “What is true beauty?” So what is true beauty? What is worth wanting, chasing, building, having, protecting and desiring? What are the distractions that set a heart free? What are the urges we won’t have to fight – because they drag us closer to freedom and not further from it. If you missed last Sunday, you can visit our website for the new series intro or tune into the podcast.

Cheers,

Chris

LAST SUNDAY
True beauty, fighting fire with fire, the desires we don’t need to fight and the relationship between change and beauty.

THIS SUNDAY
Special guest Rick Hiebert – church planter, communicator, pastor, leader, motorcycle owner.

FROM THE NOT SO DISTANT PAST
From our series “Church Exposed”, remember: Christianity is meant to be activated, not simply thought about; it is best confirmed or disproved by acting on it, and the trigger for all this is kindness to God and kindness to others. We are attempting to be a church that’s pulled that trigger.

AN ANCIENT ART
You could think of each Sunday service as a 75 minute reprieve from your practice of Christianity. Then, at the end of each service, we get the chance to take up this ancient art all over again starting in the lobby. I hope to see you there.

An Idea about Gas Prices

2007-05-02T09:43:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

What causes stop and go traffic? You could call it the “multiplied tail light effect”. One person applies their brakes, then the next person (who’s traveling too quickly and following too closely) needs to apply their brakes aggressively. The person behind them (also traveling too quickly and following too closely) needs to apply their brakes even more aggressively and the lane comes to a halt. Now you have a stop and go traffic.

According to James Surowiecki in The Wisdom of Crowds, all of this would occur far less often if we simply slowed down and left a little more room between us and the car ahead. The flow of traffic would stabilize at a lower (but constant) speed, and we’d all move through choke points with far less aggravation. Which leads to a phrase I want to use: “if only”. “If only” we’d all slow down and back off, our world would be a much better place.

Now let’s allow ourselves a few more “if only’s”. If only we’d all switch to energy efficient light bulbs and turn a few of them off… If only we’d carpool, reduce, re-use and recycle… Just imagine. If only we could get one more hour of sleep… Imagine that…

And try this one for fun… Every once in a while, we get angry enough about the random, inexplicable nonsense of rising gas prices to organize a one day boycott. The problem is, we can’t do without the gas we didn’t buy. So the very next day, we go to the gas stations we boycotted and buy yesterday’s gas as well as today’s. All the while the oil executives giggle to themselves and think “Silly consumers! You’ll pay what I tell you to pay because you have nowhere else to go!” But if only we’d wake up just a little bit more and organize a slightly different kind of boycott. Let’s boycott one gas company for life and put them out of business. If only. Maybe then they’d listen!

There is a problem with “if only”, however, as I’m sure you’ve already guessed. “If only” just doesn’t happen very often. It’s because change – real, daily, sustained change – is tough. It’s so tough, in fact, that even the smallest things (like the one’s we’ve been talking about) lie just outside our collective grasp. If only…

So listen: real change occurs in small, gradual increments. Building a better world isn’t complicated, it’s just difficult. So be patient with yourself. You can be what you were made to be and you’ll get there over time. Just put one step in front of another and think of steps small enough that you can start taking them today.

Starting this Sunday, we’re spending the next several weeks looking for those things in life that represent “true beauty”. So what is beautiful? You can visit our website to see the new series intro video (it should be up in the next few days). And you can also contribute your own ideas, questions, comments, directions, opinions and suggestions. What do you think is beautiful? (just use info@askthequestion.ca).

I hope to see you there and I hope you bring someone with you.

Chris

LAST SUNDAY
The final segment in our series, “Church Exposed” searching for the “trigger” on our faith, our future and ancient Christianity. Tune into the podcast to catch up.

THIS SUNDAY
The first in our new series, “Beautiful”. Why should we care about “beauty” in the first place?

DO MORE THAN JUST CARE
Two Sundays ago, Rob and Tracy Dunham were with us to help lead in worship. They’re adopting a pair of siblings from over seas. There are few things more meaningful – and more Christ like – than to give someone else a chance at a whole other life. We contributed as a church and want to give you the chance as well. If you’d like to be involved, let us know (just use info@askthequestion.ca).

Stabety Stab

2007-04-26T09:59:00.000-05:00

Special Note: If you’re in our digital congregation, be sure to see the “news” section below.

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

I can’t say enough about the theme of last Sunday, so let me ease my neurosis with a few more “stabs” at it: progress (the fact that you’re moving) is more important than position (the fact of where you are in the journey). Let me say it another way: The fact that you took a step is more important than the size of it. After all, Jesus said His “Kingdom” is best understood by kids and sex trade workers (see Matthew 18:3 and 21:31). Why? We can only infer that it’s because (1) young people know they have something to learn and (2) “broken” people know they have something to fix. So, it’s better to be young, broken and open than wise, polished and “settled”. Progress is more important than position.

Think about it this way: a mortgage makes it possible for you to turn hundreds of much smaller steps into one giant purchase you could likely never make all at once. The same principle holds true for any large change or any great “dream” you hope for. They key is to find a way to break it into hundreds of smaller “payments” so you can start making it happen now. Progress is more important than position. Find a way to think of steps small enough that you can start taking them today and you’ll get there. Anything else is just wishful thinking.

Think about it this way: there are two ways to “build” a mountain (or a mountain sized change!). You can grab a shovel, decide to get it done and die trying to build it in a day. Or, you can drop off a single shovel full of dirt, as often as you can while on your way to other things. In other words, you build a small, daily, sustainable habit while on your way to other things, and one day you’re surprised at the mountain that’s come of it. It’s the same principle: the fact that you took a step is more important than the size of it.

Like I said at the beginning, I can’t say it enough. It’s like the race between the tortoise and the rabbit. Small steps actually taken beat huge leaps only ever thought about. Bury the bunny, embrace the turtle, take a step.

All of that was last Sunday, this Sunday we’ll take it a step further. So far this series has been about what as in what is a Christian, what is a church, what is the cross, “what”… This Sunday, we’ll round off the whole series (“Church Exposed”) with a look at how. If I could say only one thing to people at any stages of their journey, this would be it. Gee. No pressure.

I hope to see you there, and I hope you bring someone with you,

Chris

OUR DIGITAL CONGREGATION
Aka “the podcast crowd”… We’re rebuilding our website over the next few months because we’re serious about investing as much in you as we do in our local congregation. I’ve been continually surprised at what can come of these “digital connections”, from Carolynn who connected through facebook to say “hi” along with her friends listening in New Zealand, and Mike who found us online, listened to 5 podcasts and showed up last Sunday, and Phil who’s given some feedback on our upcoming series on “Beauty”, and the many more who’ve contacted us over the past months. Drop us a line – let us know your story – just use info@askthequestion.ca and let it be more than just a podcast.

WHAT COULD A CHURCH LOOK LIKE
I asked that question on April 1 (if you missed it, tune into our podcast) and I don’t want to let it go. Every time you extend yourself, you make change possible and the process of creating change is what turns life into an adventure. Let’s take a risk this fall… Could you dream with us? Could you help with the resources that make those dreams possible? When you give towards a dream, you “own” the outcome. Why not own it with us?

"Bloody"

2007-04-18T10:56:00.001-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

It’s important to stress this right off the top: nobody complained, this is not in response to criticism and I have no axe to grind. It’s something I want to talk about for my own reasons – and hopefully because this bit of transparency might show something about this Kingdom. I said “bloody” at least 5 times that my wife noticed this past Sunday. Not the worst verbal transgression, I’m sure, but also not something I’m crazy about, either. Far from doing it on purpose, this is just something that’s worked it’s way into my daily vernacular and I think it can serve as a microcosm for a discussion about change and journey.

So let me ask you something. Do you ever get tired of waiting for a new you to emerge? Sometimes I feel like I’m trapped in one of those whack-a-mole games you see on the midway at some county fair. You’re supposed to use a big sponge hammer to “whack” each mole back into it’s hole for a prize. The problem is, every time you knock one down, another takes it’s place. You could call it the “rat race of human change”. Focus on one thing and another pops up where you’re not looking. You end up trading one problem for another. Do you ever get tired of waiting for a new you to emerge?

I have a list of principles I cling to when it comes to the human journey and the desire for change. While in the context of my own introspection this week, I thought I’d share them with you.

First: it’s hard to separate who you are some of the time from who you are the rest of the time. The mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart. The words you think are the words you’ll find yourself saying when you’re guard is down or your energy is low or life simply does it’s thing. We all fancy ourselves capable of being able to operate in multiple modes. But in the spirit of James 5:12 (“Let your yes be yes and your no be no”), I think it’s desirable try to be one person all the time. Who you really are will poke it’s mole-ish head up whenever you’re not looking.

Second: that being said, we’re all on a journey and that journey will take one entire lifetime to complete. You can either be discourage by that and say “It’ll never end” or you can come to terms with it, turn it into an adventure and get on with the point of change that’s right in front of you. You can bet that God has an escalating agenda of change for you. It won’t stay the same. The
stakes will rise – and so will the challenge. What may be buried near the bottom of that agenda will eventually find it’s way to the top. It’s His gift to us. Len Sweet has called it “the gift of the struggle”. Have you found any gifts in your struggle? Can you trust God that they’re there?

Third: grace is the inexhaustible resource by which we will always have one more opportunity than we’ve used up. Well, almost. Let me qualify that: one more opportunity than we’ve used up as long as we haven’t moved into a pattern of open and wanton abuse. My understanding of grace is that there’s room for imperfection – there’s just not any room to treat it lightly. As long as we care to change and as long as we care to try, you’ll find one more opportunity than you’ve used up.

Let me end with a simple, direct quote from Galatians 6:9. “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.” Do you ever get tired of waiting for a new you to emerge? Don’t worry. It’s on the way.

This past Sunday was as important a message as we’ll ever get into regarding the vision of our church. It doesn’t matter if you ever come on a Sunday or not, you can still join us for the journey. Take a listen and see if it’s something you’re interested in.

Chris

LAST SUNDAY
As important a message as we’ll ever focus on when it comes to the vision of our church. What are your possibilities as a person and our possibilities a church? In fact, while we’re at it – what is a church anyway? If you missed it, you can tune into the podcast.

THIS SUNDAY
So far in this series, we’ve asked: what is a Christian, what is the cross and what is the church… This Sunday we’ll look at what you can do about it.

NEXT SERIES
Our next series starts in May and is entitled “Beautiful”. We’re looking for stories of things which you think capture true beauty. Hit reply and let us know.

Serendipity or Something Else?

2007-04-11T14:19:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

Dr. Spence Silver was the king of glue in his time (the late 1960’s). Working as one of 3M’s storied engineers, he set about the task of finding the next great strong-bonding glue, but failed. His new acrylate adhesive was described as both “flabby and weak”. Not the most desirable adjectives in the glue business – or many others for that matter.

What happened next, however, is a matter of story telling legend. All too often failure ends in itself. An unexpected outcome occurs and we stop in our disappointment and call it a “mistake” and a “waste of time” and go “back to the drawing board”. But in this case, failure led to breakthrough. Instead of hiding his failure, Dr. Spence shared it with co-worker Arthur Fry and Post-it notes were born. Who ever would have thought that for Dr. Spence and Arthur Fry, their career’s most important moment would be embedded in a single fortunate mistake?

It’s amazing what you can find, while on your way to other things, just as long as you have an open mind and open eyes. Sometimes what you aim at is a distraction and an impossibility. Sometimes your failures are the best things that could ever happen to you if you have the courage to turn them into something else.

Specifically, it makes me feel both daunted and assured when it comes to the prospect of my own future. I feel assured because it’s encouraging to think what you can turn a failure into. At the same time, I feel daunted because I also wonder how any of us can plan for the future when some of our most important breakthroughs will be the result of some serendipitous accident.

When you add faith to the mix, however, the dynamics are changed greatly. We no longer have to trust to chance or circumstance or “serendipity”. Instead, we can hope in a “loving arrangement” of possibilities around us.
http://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.photo.gifJesus says in Matthew 6:33 that we are to seek His Kingdom and His righteousness first, and then the other components of our lives will fall in line. We don’t have to hope for success or successful accidents. We can rely on the principles we choose along the way.

So I have a question for you. What if Christ embedded your life’s best outcomes on the other side of a set of moral choices? Dr. Spence and Arthur Fry found Post-it notes by accident. But what if our life’s biggest breakthroughs will come as a surprise on the other side of simply doing the “right” thing as often as we can? Who knows what life He may have in store for you as you seek to practice a life honoring others, telling the truth, finding compassion, protecting faith, all these things… We place so much emphasis on aiming at some dream dreamed – a grand destination. But maybe we ought to be aiming instead at the values we practice along the way. Just a thought.

This Sunday, we're continuing in our series on "Church Exposed". We looked last at what a church is and what a Christian is - we'll look next at what these things mean for us in particular at The Thomas Question. You can visit our website for directions or tune into the podcast through the week.

I hope to see you there and I hope you bring someone with you.

Chris

LAST SUNDAY
The shock of the cross and the invitation to live Easter today. Click here to tune into the podcast.

THIS SUNDAY
Why The Thomas Question?

BENEATH THE WORDS
The challenge has always been about meaning the stuff beneath the words. We’re seeking to build a church from the lobby out, based on community by a group of people who “mean it”. As a result, we value one step sincerely taken more than 3 dozen done in any other way.

What He Did Easter With

2007-04-04T11:28:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

I suppose it’s a natural side effect of what we’re all about as a church. We’re designed to be a point of connection between a normal life and the life that may be possible on the other side of Christ. As a result, a lot of our discussion has to do with the “why” of Christianity – as in why it deserves a second (and perhaps more passionate) consideration. However, there are times I find myself wanting to set the “why” discussion aside so we can simply dive into the “what” of Christianity. It’s what this series is all about.

This world view has absolutely taken me by storm over the past 18 years – and every day that storm builds a little. I can’t live, write, speak or get enough of it, and it’s such a potent philosophy that I feel it can more than speak for itself. This Sunday will be one of those Sundays when we set aside the “why” for the “what” – and there is perhaps no better Sunday on which to do it.

The Easter story is stunning when you move beyond a surface appreciation for the details of the story: Judas’ betrayal, Christ’s calm resolve, Peter’s emotional outburst, three hours of agony, the quite collapse of the disciples’ moral followed by that shocking Sunday morning turn of events. And perhaps the most stunning part is not so much what He did in the Easter story but what He did it with. He did it with a normal human life – one not unlike our own. Stunning.

It reminds me of a kind of scene you often see in films like The Bourne Identity. Special agent Jason Bourne is always coming face to face with well equipped and highly trained “bad guys” while having less than ideal resources of his own. In one case, he faces a particularly nasty, knife wielding bad guy with nothing more than a ball point pen. At another place, he does the same thing, this time with nothing more than a tightly rolled magazine. As an audience we find ourselves stunned not so much by what he does (he wins, after all) but we find ourselves more amazed by what he does it with (ball point pens and tightly rolled magazines seem like a poor match for guns and knives).

So what do you think it means that Jesus “did” Easter with nothing more than one normal human life? After all, He was fully God but also fully man and tempted in every way as we are tempted. Yet in that one act over the course of a single weekend, He didn’t just alter history, He altered a whole universe of possibilities for you and I. And He did it with a normal human life – one not unlike our own. What do you think that means? What’s the message within the message? What’s the message to you?

Let’s get into it this Sunday. Join us for a one hour communion service starting with Starbucks at 9.45 (you can visit our website for directions) or tune into the podcast through the week.

I hope to see you there and I hope you bring someone with you.

Chris

CHURCH EXPOSED
For the next few weeks we’re looking at Christ, Christians, Christianity, churches, church plants and The Thomas Question from the inside out. What is the most honest voice about what all these things were meant to be. Join us!

FULLY DIGITAL CHURCH
We have a large and growing digital congregation which is as important to us as our local crowd. If that’s you – drop us a line (just hit reply). We are constantly talking about new ways we can connect with you and you with each other. If you feel particularly daring – say “Hi” through youtube. We’d love to know your name, your face and your story. Maybe you could even do announcements for us. If that’s you, let me know. Who knows where it will go?

GIVING
What does giving to a church plant do? It invests in ideas that are on the edge of what the church could become in the next 10 to 20 years. We are the R&D of the church world – the lab where new things are cooked up. We can try what more established churches cannot – we can risk what more established churches will not. We’ll be talking more about what a vision of the future could look like for us. Giving your time, attention, prayer and resources can make that vision come to pass.

Magic Lines

2007-03-28T16:06:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

It fascinates me that the largest outcomes are sometimes driven by the tiniest changes. For example an unstable mass of snow on a mountain top has an actual limit beyond which even a single snowflake or a puff of breeze (or a single careless footfall) will unleash an avalanche. Think of all the energy involved in all that snow unleashed by so small a thing as that. It can be tragic and terrifying.

We, too, have actual limits of our own which cannot be negotiated. Consider your own endurance. It’s not indefinite, which is another way of saying there is a line which represents “this far and not even one step further.” Having competed in endurance events for more than a decade, trust me – it exists!

We have phrases for these “moments”. We call them “breaking points” or “tipping points” or the “straw that broke the camel’s back”. The represent the point at which small changes accumulate to produce large scale change.
And the real problem is that we often don’t know the exact location of these lines until after we’ve crossed them. Like the moment when one too many harsh words are spoken and a relationship is changed for good.

Somehow we need more information and awareness than we are capable of. We need a larger perspective than can fit in a human mind. In short, we need someone with a God-sized perspective. The Jesus based life is way to not need to know the location of these lines. We can simply walk in tune with the principles laid out by the one who does know them. These principles are a protection against the unknown and the unknowable, the extreme and the permanent. They mark the edges of unseen cliffs we would otherwise barrel over. They help us know when to push ourselves and when to restrain ourselves. They are a way to know what truly matters – relationships, integrity, purpose. Consider life within His limits – it may change the way you look at everything.

This Sunday is as important a Sunday as we’ll have. It’s been some months since we’ve talked about our vision and values – so let’s do it. Let’s consider a compelling picture of what we could become 1, 2 and 5 years from now. The Sunday after that we’ll be having a slightly shorter 1 hour service with communion to celebrate Easter.

I hope to see you there and I hope you bring someone with you.

Chris

CHURCH EXPOSED
Our current series lasts until the end of April. What is church, what is The Thomas Question and what could we build if we set our minds to it?

BEAUTIFUL
Our next series begins in early May challenging assumptions about true beauty, a meaningful life and the struggle to make our most noble choices.

THE ANCIENT PATHS
Beginning this summer, a look back to the foundations of a spiritual life. What were the ancient truths that began this journey? How do we rediscover prayer, worship, and meaningful points of devotion in our own lives in the present?

YOUR VOICE
As always, we’re interested in input before and after each Sunday. If you have questions, comments, directions or feedback, hit reply or email us at info@askthequestion.ca and let it rip. As with our Deep Questions series, it only serves to add a layer of richness.

Seeing Well

2007-03-22T11:53:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

There are at least two ways we do our “looking”. Consider how you drive a car. It takes one kind of looking (out the windshield) to avoid
collisions and another kind of looking (at a map) to get where you’re going. The windshield helps us with here and now, the map helps us with there and then.

Now all of this hints at a potential problem. Too much “map” and you’ll hit telephone poles. Too much “windshield” and you’ll miss all the telephone poles on your way to nowhere in particular (at least you’ll get there in pristine condition). The challenge, as always, is to find the best balance between both.

Now how are these things true for your life as well as your car? In similar fashion, we need at least two kinds of awareness to move forward – both “here and now” as well as “there and then”. Some are so busy managing here and now that their ultimate destination will be a surprise to them – and sometimes a rude awakening. Years fly by without a thought. Others have their mind so far in the future the rest of their life will likely never catch up. Which do you struggle with?

Life is in part a test of guidance. How do we overcome immediate obstacles using available opportunities as we move toward ultimate ends? It’s not an easy thing in any way. You could say it’s like trying to thread a needle in one hand while you hold a hurricane in the other. But it’s a challenge you were made for. Why not thrive in the midst of it? What do you see out your windshield? What dreams fill the edges of your map?

Last Sunday was one approach to the case for faith. If you missed it, tune in to the podcast. This Sunday we have Rich Redman with us. Visit our website for directions and join us for Starbucks at 9:45.

Chris

CHURCH EXPOSED
Our current series lasts until the end of April. What is church, what is The Thomas Question and what could we build if we set our minds to it?

BEAUTIFUL
Our next series begins in early May challenging assumptions about true beauty, a meaningful life and the struggle to make our most noble choices.

THE ANCIENT PATHS
Beginning this summer, a look back to the foundations of a spiritual life. What were the ancient truths that began this journey? How do we rediscover prayer, worship, and meaningful points of devotion in our own lives in the present?

YOUR VOICE
As always, we’re interested in input before and after each Sunday. If you have questions, comments, directions or feedback, hit reply or email us at info@askthequestion.ca and let it rip. As with our Deep Questions series, it only serves to add a layer of richness.

Aiming Well

2007-03-14T10:23:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

March 15, 2007

One of my favorite concepts has to do with target practice. When you’re dealing with a moving target, you never actually shoot right at it. If you did, you’d “hit” an empty spot of air where the target used to be (“hit” is in quotes because you won’t actually “hit” anything). Instead, you pull your sights across the target and shoot just in front of it – at an empty spot of air where the target will be by the time your shot gets there. It’s called “leading the shot” and it has more to do with rhythm than anything else because.

Many will take a good chunk of their adult lives to figure out they need to do the same thing in life. It’s not enough to aim at what you do want right now because things are going to change – and they already are. You’re dealing with a moving target. By the time you get where you think you want to go, you may not want to be there any more because you will have changed along the way. In my own life I haven’t yet achieved the stuff I wanted when I was 25 and already things have changed. Specifically, my two girls have changed everything. So you’ve got to try to “lead the shot” and aim at what you will want by the time you get there. And that’s tough.

It seems our awareness always lags behind our experience. We figure this stuff out after the fact, when the “die” is already “cast”. Hindsight is 20/20. Foresight is 20/400 (which is legally blind). Common sense can tell us that many of the cliché’s we’ve heard are probably true. Quality relationships matter more than time and money. Moral power is more important than anything you can get by cheating your way to the top. And the 75 year old you, sitting in a rocking chair is going to care about a vastly different range of things than what you’re focusing on right now. We’ve got to “lead the shot”. The trick is – can these things become real enough for us to act on them now?

In truth, the really important stuff lies in between the things that feel really important right now. I recently wrote about this in my journal: “The true test of our lives is to develop a backdrop of quality life processes which turn into a set of Jesus-like reflexes over time”. All of which is a far cry from conquering my “to do list”, making lots of money and having a big career. Far more important than all that, will my kids feel my deep love for them or just hear about it?

Why not think long and hard on these things until your awareness of them appreciates to the point where it changes your decisions? Why not think long and hard about how you can “lead the shot” and aim at where your true life will be?

This Sunday I want to work with this analogy in a slightly different way as we begin a whole new series, “Church Exposed: What is the Thomas Question Anyway?”. If I could say anything to all of West Toronto about what we believe, this Sunday would be it. Join us. You can visit our website for directions or tune into the podcast through the week.

I hope to see you there,

Chris

LAST SUNDAY
The final message in our “Deep Questions” series, “Should we really be afraid of God?”

THIS SUNDAY
Church Exposed: What you didn’t know about those Sunday morning people and what they actually believe. Visit the website for directions or tune into the podcast through the week.

DVD’s ARE AVAILABLE
Most of the Deep Questions series, and everything from this point forward are becoming available. For those in our digital congregation, we can look into the cost of a mail based subscription. Let us know if you’re interested (just hit reply or email us at info@askthequestion.ca).

A LOOK AHEAD
March 25TH
Special guest Richard Redman

April 1ST
What could the Thomas Question look like 1, 2 and 5 years from now – and what can you do about it?

EMAIL DEVOTIONAL
If you’re not getting this email devotional, then how are you reading this right now?

JUST FOR KICKS
Dave Zak has done a lot of graphics design and video work for The Thomas Question. He recently finished a feature video for the Scripture Union - and he's also using it to enter Mark Burnett and Steven Spielberg's "On The Lot". He's done amazing work. We can all help him get noticed if you follow this link (http://films.thelot.com/films/30628), watch the video and vote for it. You'd be surprised what your click can do!

Giant Squid

2007-03-07T13:56:00.001-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

We know the giant squid exists because we find their indigestible beaks in the bellies of whales that have eaten them. That being said, we’ve also never actually seen one alive in it’s natural habitat. Funny, we think all the frontiers have been explored and we know most of what there is to know. But on our own planet there are still unexplored regions and undiscovered creatures. Anyway, back to the giant squid… We know it exists but we’ve never seen one alive in it’s natural habitat. Which leads to a principle: if you want to find something, you need to know where (and how) to look.

I have to admit that if I were God’s publicist, I’d recommend that He do things a bit differently. The almost complete absence of His public appearances is an obstacle many find too large to overcome. “God sightings” have been at a definite low for about the past 2,000 years. It is claimed that He shows up on Sunday mornings all over the world, but this is almost exclusively in the realm of a certain kind of person. A church person. And the can be (admittedly) a little crazy.

Many of the scriptures that have to do with God encounters seem to indicate He has at least one thing in common with the giant squid (for now, at least). His natural habitat is one we have a hard time accessing. For the past few weeks, I’ve been referencing a single scripture verse which is becoming more and more important to me all the time. Matthew 5:8 says “blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God”.

You are His habitat, you see, and purity makes that habitat “ideal”. Now purity us much more than just “good behavior”. It’s also about the goodness of our intentions. So somehow, our way of living can either throw Him into sharp relief or obscure Him almost entirely. In similar fashion, there are some paths which give a better display of a natural wonder like Victoria Falls, and some paths which leave too much foliage in the way. Are you on a path that even can provide a clear view of Him? Live to be the ideal habitat – live to make a God encounter more likely and you may be surprised…

It’s horrible to recommend your own “snake oil”, but the things we got into last Sunday about “guidance” are one of my favorite things to talk about. If you missed it, tune into the podcast. We’ve gotten a lot of interesting feedback so far. I’m as excited about the material for this Sunday, too as we wrestle with “Why is the ‘fear of the Lord’ the beginning of wisdom? Are we really supposed to fear what we also love?”

Hope to see you there,

Chris

DVD's
The first is done and will be available this Sunday. We're looking at getting it up on our website in the next month or two as well as a video podcast.

FEEDBACK
Did something come to you as you listened to some of the teaching at the Thomas Question? Even if it isn’t directly related, send it in. It keeps the conversation going and influences upcoming messages. Click submit and give us your thoughts.

DEEP QUESTIONS CONTINUED
We’ve had so much response from this past series where you submit the questions for a “remote controlled pulpit” that it’s going to be a feature of how we do things long term. Even in the midst of the so called “designed” series, your input matters. Send us your questions. We’d far rather focus on a great idea from you than blindly follow what’s been planned.

THIS SUNDAY
The “fear of the Lord”, driving off the edge of your imagination and what does a friendship with God really look like, anyway. Visit our website for directions or tune into the podcast. through the week.

JUST FOR KICKS
Dave Zak has done a lot of graphics design and video work for The Thomas Question. He recently finished a feature video for the Scripture Union - and he's also using it to enter Mark Burnett and Steven Spielberg's "On The Lot". He's done amazing work. We can all help him get noticed if you follow this link (http://films.thelot.com/films/30628), watch the video and vote for it. You'd be surprised what your click can do!

Jesus' Bones

2007-03-01T13:24:00.001-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

It’s unusual to find anyone in the Canadian media who’s less than violently opposed to anything Christ related. Seize this rare opportunity to enjoy Rex Murphy’s take on this past weekend’s Al Gore Oscar moments (click to follow the link). It tags nicely with something I wanted to address in today’s email devotional, so take a break, take a look and jump back here. Trust me, it’s worth it.

Rex is a favorite commentator of mine. I’ve been following this bit about Jesus’ bones, too, if only half heartedly. These things have always existed back to the hoax theories about Jesus not dying and reviving in the tomb to disciple/body snatchers hiding the corpse. I think God Himself ensures that we will always be force to make a gut choice between two destinies, two histories and two versions of the cross – one as folklore, one as fact.

The answer has always been a matter for our hearts, which is not to say it isn’t truth in the classic sense, only that our hearts are the habitat of all truth period. Would I hang my destiny and walk away from hope based on our best guess at a 2,000 year old set of bones? Not a chance. Especially given the groundswell of real time “data” in my own heart from as early as this morning’s devotional time. Anecdotal and subjective, I know, but no less real (experts not withstanding).

My only real embarrassment in all has been the Christian leaders flocking to TV studios in a mad panic to defend the sanctity of the Christian story. Their stammering half enflamed, half witted angry rebuttals speak louder than their words. It’s screams insecurity. They look afraid. They look as though a house of cards is crashing down around them. Maybe theirs is. If only we had the confidence to calmly cast half our attention towards this debate as though we’d seen it all before (because we have) and simply wait for the same eternal truths to make themselves known to those who look with the right inentions. These truths have always been something best explored with our whole selves, not just the less-than-half ourselves that is our rational mind played out on a chalk board.

These kinds of “revelations” never convert anyone in either direction, they only entrench people already decided on either side. The naturalists say, “see – we told you so”; the theists respond, “there you go again, making things up”. The vast majority of truly reasonable people know what to do with both voices – ignore them. They also know that an ancient historical truth can be mistaken for folklore and that ancient folklore can be argued as fact. We can help them by being honest and bringing them back to the original terms of this most important of life’s questions: in the beginning, there was either some one or some thing, your answer is a matter for your heart and God is a truth best encountered and uncovered rather than argued about.

As I said last Sunday – I know God is fully impossible. I’ve accepted it completely. I’m also very glad He never let that get to Him, bones or no bones.

This Sunday we’re dealing with questions about guidance – how do we get it, why do we want it and how does it work. Visit our website for directions or tune into the podcast through the week.

I hope to see you there,

Chris

DVD's
The first is done and will be available this Sunday. We're looking at getting it up on our website in the next month or two as well as a video podcast.

THE THOMAS LOBBY
I've got a brand new Sunday routine because my old way of doing things had me missing out on going to church myself. I've always had a passion to grow a church from the lobby out. So I'll be there from 9.30 on each Sunday, coffee in hand, ready to love life. Join me.

THIS SUNDAY
Guidance - what is it, why do we want it and how do we get it? You can visit our website for directions or tune into our podcast through the week.

Sin

2007-02-21T11:49:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

Few words are as loaded as the word “sin”. It’s taken to mean everything from isolated acts of behavior to a pervasive state of soul and comes packed with all sorts of emotional baggage. Some say smoking is sin. I know lots of people who’ve never smoked but who take sin to a whole new level.

Two critical things come to mind in my attempt to dust off this word, dial it back to it’s original meaning and restore it to usefulness. First comes the whole “feeling bad” part. Obviously, that’s unavoidable. But there are different kinds of “feeling bad”. 2 Corinthians 7:10 reads, “For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.” The test is the result. Feeling bad for it’s own sake is not going to move us in helpful directions.

The other one has to do with two critical “wires” easily crossed in our thinking. Ancient Christianity is about rooting out the sinner inside yourself and the saint in everyone else. Too often it becomes about the opposite. In Matthew 7:3, Jesus challenges us to memorize a simple fact of perspective: log-sized flaws in us look like specks while speck-sized flaws in others look like logs. It’s a truth we’ll never be able to escape.

So what are they? Sins are dead ends. Empty paths. Unfulfilled promises birthed in the blinding heat of some initial flush of feeling. But it all comes to nothing. And then you wake up old, and used and forgotten and useless. Not even good for sin, anymore, because you don’t even have the zest of the young. It’s a pleasant tickle in our throat as we swallow slow acting poison. Sin has to do with motive as much as deed, our intentions as much as our actions.

Something to think about.

This Sunday, we’re continuing in our remote control pulpit answering questions you’ve been submitting (see below). Visit our website for directions or tune into our podcast through the week.

I hope to see you there,

Chris

THE THOMAS LOBBY
I've got a brand new Sunday routine because my old way of doing things had me missing out on going to church myself. I've always had a passion to grow a church from the lobby out. So I'll be there from 9.30 on each Sunday, coffee in hand, ready to love life. Join me.

CONNECTING
I’m getting asked how we connect more often with those in our “digital congregation”. Well, it may be crazy to publish an address on the web, but I guess I’m like that. Please don’t think you’re wasting my time or that it’s “special” to connect with a pastor. It isn’t. A pastor is a person with a job at a church. That’s all. I’m not hidden behind two secretaries and three layers of privilege (and never will be). Use the “contact us” page on our website or connect with me through MSN Messenger (cswiersma@hotmail.com). Let’s do it.

THIS SUNDAY
The other side of miracles. Last week we talked about finding faith without them, this week we'll talk about the role they still play today. You can visit our website for directions or tune into our podcast through the week.

Christ

2007-02-15T12:50:00.001-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

Our mind centers on what’s loud or what’s new. It’s the means by which it survives in a world which is simply too big to take it all in. It’s a filter. We’d be overloaded without it. Right now you’re surrounded by more sounds than just what your mind is focusing on. It moves some things to the front of the line (“Hey – what’s that? Could it be a threat? Something new?”) and other things far to the back (“Heard it before. Never mind.”). The problem is, not everything loud or new is worth focusing on. And some of what’s older and quieter is worth drilling deeper and deeper.

Consider Christ. Many of us are so familiar with the sound of that name that we immediately check it off a list at the back of our minds. “Heard that. Check. Move along.” Then we downgrade the intensity of our listening, not because we think He’s unimportant, but because we’ve reached a feeling of saturation. “Heard that. Check. Move along.” As though there could be nothing new or revolutionary, or something we’ve heard before but need to hear again at a much deeper level.

There’s a puzzling verse in Isaiah and again in Matthew 13 which effectively says this: our hearts can grow dull so that we are ever hearing but not understanding, ever seeing but not really perceiving. It means we can be looking right at a thing, but never really process what it means. It’s what happens when our mind rushes to familiarity too soon. “Heard that. Check. Move along.”

But have we really? Are we hearing without really understanding? Are we seeing without really perceiving? Should we override our mind’s aversion to familiarity and force it to re-center on Christ and consider Him all over again, as though for the first time? Consider Him, His legend, His story, His sayings. Consider all over again what it might mean as you go about your daily this-and-that.

Jesus appeared to two disciples walking on the Emmaus road and simply talked with them as they walked along. Later, after He’d left them, they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us… while He was talking to us…?” Could your heart burn, too?

Just a thought.

This Sunday we’ll be looking at the question, “Where have all the miracles gone?” Haven’t you ever wondered why it doesn’t feel like God does as much in our world as He did in Bible times? Is there an explanation? You can visit our website for directions or catch up by tuning into the podcast.

I hope to see you there and I hope you bring someone with you.

Chris

CONNECT
I’m getting asked how we connect more often with those in our “digital congregation”. Well, it may be crazy to publish an address on the web, but I guess I’m like that. Please don’t think you’re wasting my time or that it’s “special” to connect with a pastor. It isn’t. A pastor is a person with a job at a church. That’s all. I’m not hidden behind two secretaries and three layers of privilege (and never will be). Use the “contact us” page on our website or connect with me through MSN Messenger (cswiersma@hotmail.com). Let’s do it.

SICK OF IT (IN A GOOD WAY)
Like a kid at the end of a diving board for the first time, I’ve been thinking about it, moving towards it and almost done it a few times. Now I’m going to take the plunge. I’ve been aching over a new approach to teaching. And every Sunday, I almost try it but then lose my nerve. But I had a purpose in mind when we started this church and I’d like to see it through. “Pee or get off the pot” as my dad used to say. So this Sunday I’m going to pee. Or maybe I’ll get off the pot. Maybe you won’t be able to tell which I did (that’ll be worth a laugh).

WHERE DOES IT GO?
We’re also getting asked about funds as in “What do we do with them?” The short answer is operating expenditures. We run at a small surplus only because we receive a monthly subsidy. I’d love to move past that so the subsidy could go to start another church plant in Western Ontario. What makes a difference? Even an extra 20 bucks a month would help. If everyone in our local congregation did that, we’d have almost $20,000 more by the end of the year.

THIS SUNDAY
See devotional above. Hope to see you there. You can visit our website for directions or tune into our podcast through the week.

Useless

2007-02-07T11:33:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

They exist at such regular intervals along our life’s wall-space that our eyes hardly ever actually see them anymore. In fact, as an exercise, why not take a break from reading this and find the closest one to you right now – I’m speaking, of course, about a receptacle. It’s a small grouping of three holes, two of them slotted, one of them round; one set above another maybe 12 inches off the floor covered with a small plastic plate and they literally litter our lives. It’s the familiar face on 117 volts of alternating current and it’s the hub of life for all things electric.

Now as important as receptacles are – and as meager as our lives would be without them – they are absolutely nothing without the things we plug into them. No one ever had their life significantly improved by the installation of receptacles, alone. And of course, as is often the case, the vice is versa’d so to speak (I made that up based on “vice versa”, putting it in a kind of past tense – do you like it?)… The “vice” is “versa’d” in that all the things we plug into them are likewise completely useless on their own, as well. So, our lives are improved by receptacles AND the things we plug into them.

And now consider this: all the work you do and all the effort you expend and in fact, every choice you make in your life is as meaningless as an empty receptacle unless it is “plugged in” to some sense of purpose. Work is supposed to be a 117 volt source of change into which we plug some vision of the way things can be in the future. Have you thought much about that? Or are you a wonderful wall socket, full of potential, just sitting there, quietly buzzing, crackling with 117 volts of what could happen, if only you’d plug something into it. Work without purpose is meaningless.

So… What have you plugged into it?

This Sunday, we’re turning a corner into a new kind of question for our series, “Deep Questions, Messy Answers”. For the past 4 Sundays we’ve been dealing with issues of certainty (“What about Heaven and Hell”, “Is Jesus the Only Way” and “How can we be sure?”) and this Sunday we’ll start to focus on lifestyle questions with “Do you always get a second chance and if so, how many?”

I hope to see you there and I hope you bring someone with you (because the seats are starting to fill up!)

CSW

THIS SUNDAY
What about second chances? How many do you get? In what areas can you get them? What do you need to know? You can visit our website or tune into our podcast.

NEXT SUNDAY
Where have all the miracles gone?

YOU'LL KICK YOURSELF
6 months before I left Edmonton, I made a new connection with someone who'd been there all along. It really made me kick myself for not starting that relationship sooner. Just a thought.

BIG NEWS
Have you wondered if there is a plan? In between this and the next series, let’s talk about a vision for the next 6 months.

Ancient Bones

2007-02-01T12:13:00.001-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

Flipping through Discover magazine’s top 100 science breakthroughs of the past year, I came face to face with “Little Lucy” (she made it to number 37). She’s described as a “3-year-old female Australopithecus afarensis” and has become the oldest remains of a child “hominid” ever found. 3.3 million years is the estimate. She’ll become one more among many sets of bones which testify to an ancient mystery on a very old, very busy planet. Fascinating. What do you make of it? Do you think these skeleton’s are the imaginative improvisations of misguided paleontologists? Do you chalk the whole thing up as some elaborate and misguided bit of nonsense? Or are bones like these the work of the devil? (I could hardly even get myself to write that – but it’s out there, folks.)

I talk to literally hundreds of people each year – mostly young adults – who find their faith shaken in the face of these and other ancient mysteries for which they have been ill prepared. This past weekend’s conference in Edmonton was no exception. Sunday schools have given them a pat view of the universe based on felt board depictions of a blue-eyed Jew in long flowing robes and little else. That faith doesn’t so much crumble after high school or in University as it is torn limb from limb like a lamb among dinosaurs. Literally.

The problem isn’t that we haven’t tried to provide answers, because we have. It’s that we haven’t given them (or ourselves) a context for mystery and wonder. We’ve led them to believe there’s an answer for everything and we can find it. I find that idea at odds with the force of teaching in scripture on faith (Hebrews 11). I find it at odds with the concept of a God who is completely beyond us (Isaiah 55:8), a race of people “fearfully and wonderfully” made ((Psalm 139:14) and a universe that still takes our breath away even after we’ve stared into it for as far back as our collective memory goes. Who ever said it all needs to add up? Is that what faith is? Math? “Bean counting”? You just add it up? I think we should be finding things that don’t fit, and can’t be explained.

No doubt there are pastors who will be angry that I won’t provide some slick paragraph designed to cast doubt on the fields of archaeology and anthropology and expose every Museum bound stack of bones as some sort of fraud. Well I think THAT would be a fraud. I have a context for those things I can’t explain. I embrace the enigma. My faith budgets for mystery and I don’t need to have all the answers – and indeed some won’t be provided until after the fact anyway. Paul writes about a God-story that can look foolish and still be powerful (1 Corinthians 1:18). He also writes that the search for Him is not simply a matter of wisdom and signs (v 22) but faith – with parts of each but then a little beyond as well.

As a result of all this, we can join with the rest of the human race in drawing one huge exclamation mark behind the things we are uncovering through science and discovery and also celebrate the one who holds all the answers in Himself. We can look deep into the face of a mystery with unshaken faith and say simply, “wow – it really is amazing, isn’t it?”

This Sunday, we’ll be looking further into faith, certainty and these kinds of things with the question, “How can we be really sure?” This ends a triplet of questions which began on January 7th (you can visit our website or tune into our podcast.). Next Sunday we’ll be picking up a few questions in a totally different direction for the remainder of the series.

I hope to see you there, and I hope you bring someone with you.

CSW

REMOTE CONTROL PULPIT
For the first 6 weeks of the new year, the teaching segment is completely at your disposal. Have you ever wanted something said to the people you live and work beside? Have you ever wanted to ask a question of your own? The whole series will be available for free on CD and DVD so it can travel around. Hit reply to submit a question.

THIS SUNDAY
Rounding off a triplet of questions about certainty. We began with, “What about heaven and hell?”, then 2 Sundays ago, “Is Jesus the only way?” and next Sunday will be, “How can we really be sure?” You can visit our website or tune into our podcast.

NEXT SUNDAY
Good behavior, bad mistakes and second chances with the questions, “Do you always get a second chance? How far is too far? How do you know when you’ve gone there?”

ARE YOU SURE IT DOESN'T MATTER
The single hardest part in beginning any new endeavor is trying to convince people that the little things only they can do actually matter. Pray, invite, come. It’s how you build a great church.

BIG NEWS
Have you wondered if there is a plan? In between this and the next series, let’s talk about a vision for the next 6 months.

Are You Fully Awake?

2007-01-24T21:19:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

Technology has almost gotten to the place where it can completely enfold your senses. LCD screens are getting bigger, as have theater screens. Surround sound is old, optical cables are in. The latest generation of video consoles are nearly astounding in their realism. It makes one wonder what comes next. As the virtual world gets more and more real, the real world seems less and less appealing. After all – why live in the imperfect when you can completely customize the virtual? But with all the real living that’s possible for us – who really has time to invest in virtual living?

Then the morning news leaves off where my ipod takes over, email picks up where that leaves off, then the phone starts to ring, appointments pile up, time falls behind, errands accumulate… Before you know it, a blaze of activities, one begins before the others leave of. Books absorb us. Conversations distract us. All these things can “transport” us because our “thinking” is taken to some place else. They compress time because hours fly by. They demand our attention. But what is being taken from us? Are we choosing to apply our attention where it matters?

The wise advice of scripture is that we don’t “boast about tomorrow” (living too much in what hasn’t happened yet – James 4), nor do we live trapped in what’s already taken place (“forgetting what lies behind, we strain toward what’s ahead” – including both past successes and past victories – Philippians 3) and we avoid anything that would diminish our awareness in even the slightest way (“avoid drunkenness – it leads to debauchery” – Ephesians 5).

More and more, I’m convinced that you can string together a whole life of intermediate good things, distracting pleasures or really, really pressing and “important” things… One taking over from the other, so that they keep our minds off dreams, ultimate ends, great possibilities and being fully alive in any given moment. In fact, we can go day to day completely “occupied” without ever really even thinking at all.

In stark contrast to all this is the principle that we were made to be fully alive which is to be “awake”, “aware” and making choices. Yesterday mattered. It was important, not a place holder. It was meaningful for more than just another 24 hours spent en route to something else that would matter. And further more, some part of you died while it happened. So what did you trade it for? Did you really live yesterday? Did you live well? Because today is the beginning of a new chance to be fully alive and fully awake. What will you do with it?

We’ve been getting enough great questions for our current teaching series that I’d like to extend it to the end of February. This Sunday, we’ll take a break from our “Deep Questions” to take a look at spiritual awareness, “staying in the game” and some of what’s holding us back with Norm Bishop. You can tune into the podcast or visit our website for directions.

I hope you fully live each moment between now and then,

Chris

REMOTE CONTROL PULPIT
For the first 6 weeks of the new year, the teaching segment is completely at your disposal. Have you ever wanted something said to the people you live and work beside? Have you ever wanted to ask a question of your own? The whole series will be available for free on CD and DVD so it can travel around. Hit reply to submit a question.

THIS SUNDAY
Spiritual awareness, “staying in the game” and some of what may be holding you back with Norm Bishop.

NEXT SUNDAY
Rounding off a triplet of questions about certainty. Two Sundays ago was, “What about heaven and hell?”, last Sunday was, “Is Jesus the only way?” and next Sunday will be, “How can we really be sure?”

OUR DIGITAL CONGREGATION
There are several hundred people who are a part of the Thomas Question though they never set foot in our Oakville facility. Our digital congregation is as important to us as any of our local connections. Let us know how we can serve you better.

Pain and Beauty

2007-01-17T13:17:00.001-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

Have you ever noticed how a thin layer of ice can turn the most ordinary objects into other worldly examples of beauty? Yes, sadly, it’s true – southern Ontario has only just recently joined the rest of North America now firmly in the grip of winter. Monday’s ice storm may have burst our glorious little pocket of global warming but it also left an unpredictable layer of magic around each corner as it lights up trees and power lines and fence posts.

Here’s something to consider, however, about the beautiful scenes it provides. The very same thing which makes this picture beautiful, also killed more than 70 people along the way (according to the latest news reports). And such is the mixture of things – there is pain in beauty and sometimes beauty in pain. What is a boon to some is the end of all boons to another. And on the very same day, a bride can be praying for clear skies on her wedding and a farmer begging for storm clouds to feed dry fields. One will be elated at the other’s tragedy.

We know there are things which are beautiful and things which are painful, but we struggle to come to terms with things that are both. As an example, I spent years in an employment situation which did little more than gnaw at my insides on a daily basis. In fact, the only thing which kept me going was a stubborn refusal to quit without some sense of breakthrough or a some grand lesson learned. Eventually, I had to realize that life simply wasn’t long enough to spend a lot of time “peeing into hurricane force winds”. So I quit without a pronounced sense of either. It wasn’t until years after the fact that I began to see some of the beauty in what had occurred and the new kind of person the pain made possible. It doesn’t mean the pain wasn’t painful – it just means I was able to turn it into something else.

In The Problem of Pain, CS Lewis said pain shatters the illusion that all is well and “plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul.” Pain is feedback, it’s truth attempting to gnaw through the layers of stuff we’ve told ourselves instead. Every time you step on a sprained ankle, it shouts a desperate truth through your nerve endings, “Something is not right.” And even if that pain tell is just the truth that our lives will end, this world is not our friend and we were meant for something more – even in this regard, it can be beautiful in the end if we let us tell us it’s truth.

What is pain telling you? What could it tell you if you let it?

This Sunday we’re continuing our series “Deep Questions, Messy Answers” with a slight change to the order (you can visit our website or tune into our podcast.) The question, “Is Jesus Christ the only way?” was submitted this week as a follow up to last week’s teaching and I think it would be good to address them back-to-back. Remember, it’s not too late to submit your questions about God, life or other things that come to mind (hit reply).

I hope to see you there and I hope you bring someone with you,

CSW

REMOTE CONTROL PULPIT
For the first 6 weeks of the new year, the teaching segment is completely at your disposal. Have you ever wanted something said to the people you live and work beside? Have you ever wanted to ask a question of your own? The whole series will be available for free on CD and DVD so it can travel around. Hit reply to submit a question.

LAST SUNDAY
Heaven, hell and the good people from other religions. You can visit our website or tune into our podcast.

THIS SUNDAY
One last look from a slightly different angle, "Is Jesus Christ the only 'way'?"

CD's AND DVD's
The first batch of CD's and DVD's will be avaible mid way through the series and the second at the end of the series.

Astonishing by Accident

2007-01-10T10:30:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

We have done truly daunting things together without even trying. Consider the Library of Congress on Independence Avenue in Washington, DC. It’s the largest library in the world with more than 130 million items on 530 miles of shelves – which is enough to stretch from our theater in Oakville to Raleigh, North Carolina.

That may not seem all that impressive until you consider the density of information. How many hundreds of pages-per-inch of data does that represent? And it would take you more than a dozen hours to drive through all that information on 1-95, never mind how long it would take to compile and read even just a fraction of it. And how many person-hours does it represent in terms of the time it took to think it, write it, edit it and collect it? Truly astonishing.

Now if you set out to accomplish such a task ON PURPOSE – to accumulate such an astonishing array of information – I think it might break our minds to even think of it. How could you organize, resource and oversee such a mammoth undertaking? How could you inspire – on purpose – so many people to write so many things with such passion? Obviously, you couldn’t. But what is impossible for us to do intentionally and on purpose happens accidentally and all by itself as the human race simply goes about it’s business with millions of people asking and answering their questions and writing down their thoughts as they go. I think that sentence is worth thinking about. The accidents of how you actually live all the time trump the intentions of how you try to live only some of the time.

It’s the problem of litter in reverse. If you get a million people to do a thing only as large as tossing a single napkin out their window, it becomes an enormous problem. One that would cost us millions of dollars to clean up. In similar fashion, millions of people simply writing down their best thoughts has become the Library of Congress – a thing so large and mind boggling we couldn’t have done it intentionally.

I believe a similar dynamic applies in any Kingdom endeavor. Near impossible tasks can occur naturally and organically as a result of many people simply pursuing the Jesus based life with passion. What none of us could ever hope to accomplish strategically and intentionally will happen naturally when enough of us care enough about some piece of the Kingdom to write it on our bathroom mirror and attempt to live it out. All our “on purpose” sentences are like dust flakes compared to the mountain sized message of who we really are.

As a result, I think we sometimes put too much stock in what we hope to “engineer” in terms of impact. We think, “I’ll say this and do such and it will have this effect…” But the net effect of thousands of examples of sincere living would overwhelm such tiny isolated initiatives. The few sentences we design on purpose are drowned in the collective buzz of who we really are in every other way. So our best hope is to simply mean it – as often as we can – as much as we can – and as deeply as we can. Spread across many lives, this collective “noise” of sincere living would become a Library of Congress sized message about a whole other way to live life.

Just a thought…

We’re continuing our series answering the questions you’ve been asking (visit our website or tune into our podcast.), and this Sunday we’ll be focusing on heaven, hell and the good people from other religions. It’s not to late to submit your questions, so hit reply and let us have it. And for those of you who have been asking, there will be a 2 week delay in making the CD’s and DVD’s available – so be patient!

I hope to see you there, and I hope you bring someone with you.

CSW

REMOTE CONTROL PULPIT
For the first 6 weeks of the new year, the teaching segment is completely at your disposal. Have you ever wanted something said to the people you live and work beside? Have you ever wanted to ask a question of your own? The whole series will be available for free on CD and DVD so it can travel around. Hit reply to submit a question.

LAST SUNDAY
Jonah's whale, 6 days of creation and other improbable things explained... Visit our website or tune into our podcast.

THIS SUNDAY
Heaven, hell and the good people from other religions.

A SIDE NOTE
This past Sunday was our largest yet. To all who visited for the first time - we would love to be your church. To all of you not-so-new remember that the best kinds of churches are built from the lobby out. There are already more than a few "Thomas Question" stories about great relationships that began with a single handshake. Why not start another one?

The Other Resolution Part 2

2007-01-03T13:19:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

I want to take a risk by stating something emphatically. I think the single most important of all human resources is inspiration. Think about it. The burning inner energy to create some thing we’ve visualized is what precedes all great endeavors. Were it not for that initial picture of some “what if” coupled with a surge of desire, we never would have taken the first few steps.

You could make a strong case that this is the attribute which most links us to God’s image. After all, He is first and foremost The Creator. You could even take it a step further and say He is the embodiment of a loving, creative impulse.

With all these things in mind, I want to suggest that you are most like God when you are inspired. You are most like Him when you are capable of creating. What steps have you taken to create that kind of context in your life? Do you only ever get there infrequently or as a result of accidents you don’t understand? Or are you gradually collecting the principles and lessons which have helped you understand the “physics” of inspiration?

It’s a potentially arrogant thing to recommend your own messages, but I’d like to risk it. I stand behind last Sunday’s teaching because I think it’s something noticeably absent from our vocabulary of thought. We don’t take “rest” seriously, and too often, we don’t take them at all except as a last resort. That’s foolish. It’s like deciding you’ll only fill up your car once it’s already run out of gas and glided to a stop on the side of the road. That’s terribly inconvenient. And it often takes a long, empty, time-consuming walk to bring back a small bit of gas in a can. Not exactly a potent image of abundant living.

Perhaps one of the reasons our gospel has become a spray of chattering words is that our lives no longer burn with an obvious advantage – the heat of some other-worldly joy. I want to challenge you again as you take your first few tentative steps into a whole new year. Let’s give due consideration to the other kind of New Year’s resolution. What about a little “play” on purpose?

I’m renewing my resolve, all over again, to NOT make the choices that would have me dragging my sorry self through another year’s worth of a half-life.

This Sunday is the first in our new series for the new year focusing on the questions you’ve been asking and the question I’m going to start with is this: “Was a man named Jonah physically swallowed by a physical fish for 3 physical days?” Now before you say, “I’m just not into Jonah”, consider the rest of what this is about: the believability of God, the role of scripture and a place for miracle. It’s not to late to contribute your ideas (just hit reply).

Otherwise, I hope to see you there and I hope you bring someone with you.

CSW

BE HEARD
For the first 6 weeks of the new year, the teaching segment is completely at your disposal. Have you ever wanted something said to the people you live and work beside? Have you ever wanted to ask a question of your own? The whole series will be available for free on CD and DVD so it can travel around. Hit reply to submit a question.

LAST SUNDAY
Your life one year from now (see above)... Visit our website and tune into our podcast.

THIS SUNDAY
Jonah's whale, 6 days of creation and other improbable things.

THE RIGHT KIND OF CHURCH
It isn't one you go to - it is one you become. And it happens in the lobby. Church isn't a 75 minute ceremony, it's a chance to do life with people you care about. Do you go have a church?

Happy Holidays

2006-12-28T12:29:00.000-05:00

I ran across a quote I found particularly striking: "Sin is dysfunction. It is an unfulfilled promise birthed in the blinding heat of some initial flush of feeling, but then you wake up old and used and forgotten and useless. Sin is the pleasant tickle in our throat as we swallow poison."

It's not really fitting for the holidays, but food for thought none the less, and also related to one of the questions recently submitted for our new series starting January 7th entitled "Deep Questions, Messy Answers". The question was, "What is sin?"

We hope you have enjoyed your time over the holidays as much as Abby was in the attached picture. This Sunday we have a light brunch at 9.45 followed by a one hour service, "Your life one year from now". I hope to see you there and I hope you bring someone with you. Visit our website for directions or tune into the podcast through the week.

A special thanks again for your kindness to us over the holidays and your passion through this past year.

Cheers,

CSW

CUSTOM BUILT TEACHING SERIES
For the first 6 weeks of the new year, the teaching segment is completely at your disposal. Have you ever wanted something said to the people you live and work beside? Have you ever wanted to ask a question of your own? The whole series will be available for free on CD and DVD so it can travel around. Hit reply to submit a question.

LAST SUNDAY
The Other Christmas Story... Visit our website and tune into our podcast.

THIS SUNDAY
Your life one year from now, a whole new way to approach decisions and the reason you're alive

THE HOLIDAYS
Join us at 9.45 for a light brunch and a one hour service.

Eyes Wide Open

2006-12-21T10:26:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

Years ago I visited a friend who’s house backed onto a railway track in London, Ontario. And it was at some point during the odd hours of the first night – some unholy time like 2:36 or 3:01 or something like that that the train roared it’s way into the safe, quite place of my dreams and left me bolt upright with a racing heart. It was absolutely unbelievable to me that anyone could actually sleep through such a thing. But they did – and every night, too, and by my last night, so did I…

In The Magicians Nephew, CS Lewis describes a place wrapped in a thick, sleepy magic that lulls it’s occupants to daydream. It’s called “the wood between the worlds” and anyone arriving there almost immediately forgets where they came from, why they came and almost everything else of importance. It’s a place where it’s possible to sleep with your eyes wide open – and sleep your whole life long.

That’s become a favorite mental image for me, because I’ve wondered if such a place doesn’t exist around us right now. Do you remember where you came from, why you came and anything else of importance? Or is your life a steady drifting from one familiar thing to another without any real awareness? Are you fully awake? It’s truly amazing what we can learn to sleep through – even with our eyes wide open.

It’s the process of habituation which makes it possible. We have an amazing ability to adapt to a wide range of environments over time. We can get used to loud noises (IE trains), strange routines (IE shift work) and even the taste of a beverage which likely caused us to recoil the first time we tried it (IE coffee – and now you may even like it).

But this isn’t always a good thing, this ability to sleep while wide awake and tune almost anything out over time. It means we can sometimes get used the sounds of things we need to respond to. And what if the noise you’ve learned to “tune out” is something like a smoke alarm or a warning sign or even just the sound of a life gradually breaking down? People who live next to breath taking mountains often lose sight of them because it’s hard to have the same thing take your breath away every single day.

The reason I’d care to bring all this up the week before Christmas has to do with the very “reason for the season”. Why? Because I wonder what happens when you get used to the sound of a story or the sight of a manger or the very idea that God has been among us? Maybe we’ve heard it so many times we no longer hear it even when we’re listening… Maybe it’s become like a freight train we could sleep through… Maybe it’s a part of what we’ve forgotten in our “wood between the worlds”…

This Sunday I’d like to try to come to a familiar story with a brand new set of eyes and I invite you to do the same. There is another Christmas story that’s hardly ever told and I’d like to get into it. So let’s not merely hear this wildest tale of the last 2,000 years – this bit about God actually among us, as one of us – let’s not just hear it, let’s actually listen to it with a brand new set of ears (if we can find them).

I hope to see you there and I hope you bring someone with you.

…And one more thing… Monica and I would like to thank all of you for the kindness shown to us in the form of our “Christmas surprise” and at the same time wish you a very merry Christmas as well. This has become our church and a thing we look forward to each and every week…

Cheers,

CSW

CUSTOM BUILT TEACHING SERIES
For the first 6 weeks of the new year, the teaching segment is completely at your disposal. Have you ever wanted something said to the people you live and work beside? Have you ever wanted to ask a question of your own? The whole series will be available for free on CD and DVD so it can travel around. Hit reply to submit a question.

LAST SUNDAY
A final question: Is it really even actually possible to love someone in the God spot?... Visit our website and tune into our podcast.

THIS SUNDAY
The Other Christmas Story (see devotional above...)

THE HOLIDAYS
Join us at 9.45 for a light brunch and a one hour service for December 24th with "The Other Christmas Story" and December 31st with "Your Life One Year from Now".

The Other You

2006-12-13T20:04:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

The Sims™ is one of the larger video game franchises and it’s based on nothing more than ordinary life turned into a video game. It’s a “simulation” of life itself. You have a house, a job, a set of friends, whatever. Then you just make your choices and build a simulated life.

One may be left to wonder where is the appeal of an online 2 dimensional “copy” of a life you could actually live in real time. A life pictured seems a poor substitute for one lived. But whatever the game may lack in it’s ability wrap around you with real experiences it more than makes up for with this one little caveat: control. You can make a choice, click a mouse and have it executed. No other questions asked.

It may seem like a small thing – control – but imagine what your life could look like if it was as easy as programming a new pattern of choices and then have them carried out without argument, lapse of will or any other complication. Imagine if your choices were as easy as a mouth click. “Tomorrow morning, I will get out of bed one hour earlier and perform a daily exercise routine…” Or, “From now on, I’m going to read a book a week… Or say nice things… Or do my job with a bit more verve…” (Just roll with it).

I think it reveals a principle: that WE are our own complication in life. It’s not for lack of knowing what to do that we are as we are – it’s for a lack of ability to act on it. The Sims™ provide a reprieve – a chance to pretend you have it better. I’m not sure I want a chance to pretend.

The Bible asks in Proverbs 8:1, “Does not wisdom call, and understanding lift her voice?” It says in Deuteronomy 30:11 that what you need to know is not “…too difficult for you or out of reach…” It is not “…in heaven so that you have to ask, ‘Who will go up and get it for us…” Nor is it “…beyond the sea, that you have to say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us [and] get it…” No, it says, it is “…near you, in your mouth and in your heart that you may observe it.”

In it’s original context, that passage is about the lifestyle principles laid out in Deuteronomy, but I don’t think it’s a complete scandal to apply it to wisdom in general. Both scriptures seem to support the same idea: wisdom isn’t complicated. It “calls” aloud and it is “within our reach”. So again it seems that we are not held back for lack of knowing what to do. It must be something else.

I would suggest it’s the cost. The search for anything other than what’s obvious is usually undertaken from a desire to find something easier. Maybe that pursuit is costing us too much time. Could you build a better life online than the one you actually live? Wisdom calls aloud…

This Sunday is the final message in our “A Guide to the Satisfied Life” series and I’d like to end it with a strong question: is it even actually possible to really love the one in the God spot? Join us Sunday for Starbucks at 9:45 (visit our website for directions) or tune into the podcast through the week.

I hope to see you there, and I hope you bring someone with you.

CSW

CUSTOM BUILT TEACHING SERIES
For the first 6 weeks of the new year, the teaching segment is completely at your disposal. Have you ever wanted something said to the people you live and work beside? Have you ever wanted to ask a question of your own? The whole series will be available for free on CD and DVD so it can travel around. Hit reply to submit a question.

LAST SUNDAY
What are you turning your stuff into, what will matter most over time and what is the 76 year old you saying... Visit our website and tune into our podcast.

THIS SUNDAY
A final question: Is it really even actually possible to love someone in the God spot?

THE HOLIDAYS
December 24 and January 31 are both 1 hour services with a continental brunch buffet. December 24, "The Other Christmas Story" and the 31st, "Your Life One Year from Now".

You're Being Asked Right Now

2006-12-07T08:21:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

I’ve used this illustration before and can’t resist coming to it again because it tells itself so clearly. More than 30 years ago, two grocery chains faced the same critical question: “What will consumers want 10, 20 and 30 years from now”, and they came up with two very different answers. A&P decided it was price and they continued to offer a limited selection at the lowest price while Kroger decided we’d all want greater choice and began to build the first versions of the monstrous super stores we’ve all come to know so well. I don’t think you need to tell you who “won”. Kroger and the super stores.

For a long time, I’ve personally believed that most of what you really need to know could come as an easy answer to an obvious question if you just new who to ask. Kroger asked consumers, A&P didn’t. Don’t know what to wear? Ask Stacey and Clinton from TLC’s “What Not to Wear”. Got a job interview? Someone knows exactly how to impress your interviewer, be it a spouse or a co-worker or a secretary. Anyone on the “inside”, really. If you only knew who to ask.

And then this in particular… In 2nd-tier corner offices all over major downtown sectors, there are marketing VP’s straining their brains deep into the night trying to come up with the next great strategy to get you and I to shop with them instead of someone else. The thing is – you and I actually know what they’re trying so hard to figure out… If they’d only think to ask us instead of themselves.

As an aside, here, I can’t resist a rant just in case there are any of those marketing VP’s listening – so hey – how about a little customer service? You may think I need a slickly worded ad campaign about vitamin B1 infused this and that… But in truth, I’d gladly give ½ my soul and pay a 10% premium for retail staff that didn’t flee to the next isle whenever I looked like I had a question and might make a purchase… Wal Mart sells things cheap, but where do you go when you want things sold WELL? Or how about the customer service rep at a Canadian Tire store last week that made me wait at her till while she placed a personal call, then carefully counted a mountain of “funny money” and put it neatly in her tray before even beginning to consider the useless peon of a customer who dared interrupt her routine with a purchase… The only way there could have been more irony is if she would have done all this and THEN place a “Till Closed” sign in front of me. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Do you see what I’m saying? It’s hard for any of us to escape our perspective – unless we ask and listen for another point of view. I don’t want us to be a church that doesn’t ask. And I don’t want to be a church-nerd burning the midnight oil trying to come up with some slickly worded Sunday message that is too many steps removed from what you really need to hear. So, for the 6 weeks starting January 7, I want to let you ask the questions. It could take our Sunday’s past what just one or a few minds could do.

So… If you could hear a message on absolutely anything you like – anything in the world – what would it be? Consider the possibilities not just in terms of what this might mean for you, but also for the people you live and work beside. Why not ask them, too? And have you ever wanted something said to them – perhaps better than you could say it? Have you ever been asked something you didn’t know how to answer well? Let’s be a church that asks and listens.

As an example, here’s 2 of the few questions are already submitted: “What do we "do" with sincere, moral, seemingly "godly" people who do a better job at living than most Christians but who belong to another religion?” And, “What is deliverance and does it still happen today? And is that what we should all be trying for?”

Now let’s take this one step further and make the whole series available on CD for FREE in a fancy jacket so that even if you can’t get someone to come, you can still take the message to them. It’s just one more thing which could be like “menthos in the pop bottle”. Remember, it will be small steps actually taken which can lead to surprising outcomes over time. So hit reply, write your question and let it all begin.

Be the menthos!

Join us Sunday for Starbucks at 9:45 (visit our website for directions) or tune into the podcast through the week. I hope to see you there and I hope you bring someone with you.

CSW

THE WALLS
Don't be distracted by them. Our podcast goes out to over 870 people per week, so clearly our church involves more than just those that show up on Sunday. Let's learn to think like that right from the start.

ASK!
Click reply to submit a question for the series starting January 7th.

LAST SUNDAY
A Global Warming sized truth about how you look at OTHER PEOPLE. Visit our website and tune into our podcast.

THIS SUNDAY
What are you turning your stuff into, what will matter most over time and what is the 76 year old you saying...

AGAIN, A NOTE OF THANKS
Part of the message prep involved a look back over the last year and it left me wanting to say thanks. Every single thing you do - even the samllest things - even just showig up - all go into the mix to make our beginning possible.

Ask These Questions

2006-11-29T10:35:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

I’d be interested to know your honest answer to a simple question because I’d like to be able to include it in the message this Sunday: what’s the smartest thing you can think to do with 20 bucks? (Click reply - I really would love to know). I’m looking for anything from clever to obvious to amusing. As a sample, I’ve already received this brilliant reply from a few contacts I made in advance, “rechargeable batteries – you could always use a battery and these will last forever”. I like it.

Along side that and just for kicks, ask yourself another question – slowly – and with some actual thought – even deliberate thought (I’m loving hyphens today): what is the 76 year old you saying? Think about it. One day you will be “there” – on the other side of many of your life’s choices. By “other side” I mean “having MADE those choices” so you’re on the consequence side of them. Will it be “spilt milk” or “time well spent”? Will it be “I wish I did…” or “I’m glad I did…”

In the course of 5 years, you go from having all the time in the world (~27 years of age) to thinking you see the end of the game (at ~32 years of age when you think “only 15 years and I’m almost FIFTY! How did this happen to me?”). As an aside to our over-fifty readers – obviously life doesn’t end at 50, and everyone knows this intellectually – but it doesn’t mean I’m ready to be there before I absolutely have to!

Life is an issue of conversion – taking what you’ve got and turning into what you get, and turning that into something else. Time into money, money into stuff, stuff into junk and the cycle starts again. I’d like to challenge you about these cycles, these questions and the 76 year old you – and I feel like being un-churched about it (whatever that means). Join us Sunday for Starbucks at 9:45 (visit our website for directions) or tune into the podcast through the week.

So, again… Think about it. What is that 76 year old codger really saying?

I hope to see you there,

CSW

REPLIES
Again - I'd love to know your thoughts on our two questions. Click reply.

LAST SUNDAY
Change the way you view your SELF (to dramatic effect) because there is no "them". Visit our website and tune into our podcast.

THIS SUNDAY
What are you turning your stuff into, the value of other people and a step worth taking.

FYI
For the past few weeks, we've been consistently ranked in the top 75 religion/spirituality podcasts on Itunes North America.

A NOTE OF THANKS
Part of the message prep involved a look back over the last year and it left me wanting to say thanks. Every single thing you do - even the samllest things - even just showig up - all go into the mix to make our beginning possible.

Tough Bond Call

2006-11-23T11:43:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

While sitting in the theater watching Casino Royale this past weekend (which gets my vote for the best Bond, the best Bond film, and the best foot chase sequence in the history of film, period), we were getting to one of those moments when you sense a plot twist coming and I wanted to call it. Why? Because along with you and almost everyone else I know, I have an almost endless inner need to try to make myself look smart.

But here’s the thing: it only makes you look smart if you (1) call it before it’s obvious and (2) make the right call. So you’re left with this delicate balance of holding off long enough to be sure of your answer, but at the same time giving an answer while it’s still meaningful to do so…

Life can be like that. You never seem to get enough evidence so that life’s tough calls are obvious. I’m talking about reward-able choices. The only valuable decision is the one that DIDN’T make itself. If the answer was obvious, you don’t deserve a reward for making it. And I wonder how often are we waiting for our choices to be made for us – in life – by chance or circumstance or some chunk of wisdom that makes it all plain as day, and takes all the risk away? But if life was just math, even an idiot could learn to get the right answers. Which begs a question: what about life as a test of character?

I have a suggestion: you were MADE to make choices that won’t MAKE themselves. The risk is the point. I’ll even risk declaring a principle: the mistakes, misadventures and missteps of a courageous life are better than the best that can come from a life of un-made decisions. The point is not no-risk, the point is intelligent risk.

Jesus tells a story in Matthew chapter 25 about three servants taking three levels of risk. 2 take reasonable risks and earn a good return. The third servant takes no risk at all and simply keeps what he’s got. I’m sure you’re sensing the outcome. Even poor choices are deemed better than no choices at all.

I guess I’m trying to encourage you not to be afraid. Our best life is somewhere in between having all your blanks filled in and having too many left empty. The valuable decisions are the one’s that won’t make themselves but also were not “shots in the dark”. “Evidence” only takes us so far and then we must choose the remaining distance based on courage, intuition and faith.

Will you make the call? The next plot twist is just around the corner for you. The most important decisions won’t make themselves, but neither do you have to risk it all. Just express a little courage. It’s what we’re doing as a church right now: taking steps towards an outcome we can’t be sure of. Join us in the journey!

This Sunday we’re delving into the last part of our fall series, “A Guide to the Satisfied Life”. Need to catch up on missed Sundays? Visit our website and tune into our podcast. I hope to see you there and I hope you bring someone with you.

CSW

LAST SUNDAY
What can we put in our lives to dramatic effect (see above). Visit our website and tune into our podcast.

THIS SUNDAY
Change the way you view your SELF (to dramatic effect).

YOU AND YOUR "THING"
You don't build a great church with a few hero's. It's a few small decisions multiplied across many people. If we take small steps towards a thing that only God can do - and it happens - then those small things were well worth taking. Take a step. Become a great church with us. Be surprised at what it does. Be the Menthos!

Menthos, Again?

2006-11-16T10:41:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

We had two of our trusted volunteers perform the famous reaction so you could view it safely from a distance and showed the video on Sunday. Now we know it to be true - if you put a package of Menthos in a bottle of pop, you’ll get a surprising reaction. (See included pictures).

Over the past two Sundays, I’ve used that image to ask two questions: is there anything we could drop in our lives to produce a surprising effect, and is there anything we could drop in our church to surprising effect?

Jesus uses two similar images in Luke 13: a mustard seed and a batch of yeast. Both of them are small beginnings to a much larger outcome. So what is the catalyst in life and faith? What is the yeast – the mustard seed – the “menthos” in life’s pop bottle?

In terms of what we could drop in our church, it’s relatively easy: the Kingdom voice. Anything with even a tiny amount of Kingdom truth in it will produce a dramatic effect. It says in Isaiah 55 that the message of God will “not return void”. In other words – anything which expresses a Kingdom Voice will NOT have NO EFFECT (sorry for the double negative – better to say it this way, “it’s impossible that it will do nothing”).

In fact, it’s simply not possible to get a dose of the kingdom small enough that it will only have a mild effect. Think of the email devotional last week. The parable of the sower seems to indicate there are only two kinds of Christians: the one’s that won’t last, and the one’s that will produce a hundred times as much. There’s no middle ground – it’s either dramatic multiplication or gentle expiry. So again, it’s the same idea: it’s simply not possible to have a dose of the Kingdom low enough that it only has a mild effect.

Over the next two weeks – a small piece of that Kingdom voice is going into 1800 mail boxes in Oakville. You may say that’s no big thing, and you may be right. But it doesn’t need to be. A small thing in their mail box plus a small thing in our lobby (a group of people trying to actually mean it) will produce a dramatic effect. Trust me! I’ve already seen it once!

This next set of messages represent my best attempt to come to terms with both these questions: something we can put in our lives and something we can put in our church to produce a surprising effect – and they are one in the same. It will take us right through December 17 and it’s the hardest I’ve ever worked on a package of teaching. I trust you’ll find it challenging.

Be the Menthos!

Need to catch up on missed Sundays? Visit our website and tune into our podcast.

I hope to see you there, and I hope you bring someone with you.

CSW

LAST SUNDAY
How to Have a God - the rest of the story. If not a pet, then what? Visit our website and tune into our podcast.

THIS SUNDAY
What can we put in our lives to dramatic effect (see above).

THE PLAN
It's our first concerted effort to open our doors to Oakville - add your prayers and passion to it!

Hey - Thomas Question People

2006-11-10T18:41:00.000-05:00

You can help us send a more effective message as a church by filling out this online survey.

One of the ways we're trying to build a great church is by listening. Rather than assume we know all we need to know without even asking, we'd like to find out what's actually going on out there. And there's a team of McMaster students that are helping us do it.

It doesn't take long and it's mostly mouse clicks.

Click on the link below:

Online Survey

Thanks in advance,

CSW

The Shortest Email Devotional in the World Pt 2

2006-11-09T12:58:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

Let’s stick with this brief and to the point approach. I like it.

You can find the parable of the sower in Luke chapter 8 starting at verse 5. Jesus describes 4 things that happen as a sower scatters seed on the ground. In the first case the seeds never sprout, in the second they die quickly, in the third they die slowly and in the last case they produce a hundred times what was sown.

And then He said these 4 scenarios also describe what happens every time a person hears about a Jesus-based life because words are like seeds, too.

Now that’s a steep challenge – because even though there are 4 scenarios, there are only two possible outcomes. For every seed that’s sown, it either (1) doesn’t last or (2) produces a hundred times as much. Only two outcomes.

We always like to imagine there’s lost of room in between. But that’s the point. There isn’t. And if you ask me, I think the difference between them can be described in terms of the steps you take based on what you hear.

Something to think about.

Need to catch up on missed Sundays? Visit our website and tune into our podcast.

I hope to see you Sunday, and I hope you bring someone with you,

CSW

LAST SUNDAY
How to Have a God Part 1. There are some things too wild to become pets - and God might fit in that category, too. Visit our website and tune into our podcast.

THIS SUNDAY
How to Have a God - the rest of the story. If not a pet, then what?

6 TIMES 2
We haven't taken a single step, yet, to let Oakville know we exist. It's because we've been working on the inside of a great church first. But the time is coming. We'll need 6 teams of 2 people to take a simple first step. Why not you? Are you willing to try to produce a hundred times as much (see above)

BY WHAT YOU HAVE TO GIVE
Living to get is something you can't control. Living to give is something you can choose every day. Be part of giving a great church to someone else. Trying to get a great church for yourself is why so many people are so dissatisfied with their Sundays.

The Shortest Email Devotional in the World Pt 1

2006-11-02T09:16:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

I'm not being trite with this - or even time strapped. I just think we sometimes lose the power of a simple truth in the embroidery we wrap around it. So no embroidery. Just a simple admission: I realized this past week that most of my prayers could be summed up in this one sentence: "God, give me what I want to make my life easier." Is that also true for you?

Most of His passion for us can be summed up in this one sentence: "I long to give you all of what you need to make your life better." And our lives will be lived in the tension between those two very different interests: what we want to make it easy and what we need to make it better. Which do you choose?

Need to catch up on missed Sundays? Visit our website and tune into our podcast.

I hope to see you Sunday, and I hope you bring someone with you,

CSW

LAST SUNDAY
Are you fully invested? Your investment has the power to turn even the simplest things into more than you expect. How do you get fully invested? Visit our website and tune into our podcast.

THIS SUNDAY
How to Have a God and are you sure it's a God you've got?

6 TIMES 2
We haven't taken a single step, yet, to let Oakville know we exist. It's because we've been working on the inside of a great church first. But the time is coming. We'll need 6 teams of 2 people to take a simple first step. Why not you?

DON'T FORGET
There are thousands of great churches all over Canada for people who've already made up their minds. Let's be the single best destination for the even larger number of people who haven't.

IT'S ONLY WORDS

2006-10-25T12:36:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

What are the parts of a life that can’t be reduced to words? When you read about powerful experiences, how much of that power travels through words on a page? Robin Williams’ character in Good Will Hunting says it brilliantly, “You're an orphan, right?” He says to Matt Damon’s character, “Do you think I would presume to know the first thing about you because I read 'Oliver Twist'?”

Joe Simpson wrote Touching the Void about his narrow escape from death in the Andes mountains. I even hate how little that sentence conveys about the shocking story he somehow lived through. Just this week a good friend was trying to convey the rush of freefall from his recent skydiving trip. Somehow the phrase, “it was amazing” probably doesn’t convey much of what it actually felt like to fall from the sky at 130 mph for a few thousand feet. And even when it comes to experiences most of us have in common like falling in love – how much of your pain or joy or confusion about such powerful emotions can you squeeze through your mouth and into words and into someone else’s mind?

Our experiences are like a pacific ocean sized amount of stuff we feel on the inside – and words transfer about a thimble full at a time. We’ve all been frustrated at this rate of conversion. Words and thoughts are worth only small fractions of the actual experiences they represent – like trying to move a mountain one teaspoon at a time.

And I wonder in what way might our faith be like that – words only hinting at a huge torrent of meaning which lies underneath? After all, our faith is just a set of ideas, isn’t it? James writes about this same disconnect in James 2:14. When your faith is just a set of ideas – words in your mind – unmingled with actions and experiences and decisions and risks and initiatives, it lacks punch. We reduce a set of possible experiences to some mental affirmations. But we are moved most by the things we’ve lived through, not just thought about.

This Sunday I’d like to explore how we can activate our faith – and have it become more than just a set of nice ideas.

I hope to see you there, and I hope you bring someone with you.

CSW

Need to catch up on missed Sundays? Visit our website and tune into our podcast.

LAST SUNDAY
Have you told yourself the truth? Need to catch up? Visit our website and tune into our podcast.

THIS SUNDAY
Moving beyond just a bunch of good ideas.

COMING SOON
Let’s be a church that understands a method behind the madness. So let’s have dinner and talk about vision. We’ll do it in smaller numbers over lunch after church. More details to follow.

DON'T FORGET
You’re better than a poster, a commercial, or the most expensive marketing initiative. The single most important part of growing a great church is the sentence only you can say: “What are you doing Sunday and can I pick you up at 9?” Try it. You’ll see.

The Hero Shot

2006-10-17T14:28:00.000-05:00

It’s a plot point so common it’s almost more noticeable when absent: the hero gets shot and it’s time to dig the bullet out. This is the moment when the audience gets to squirm with inner agony as a wound is probed with fingers or pliers or the point of a pocket knife to remove the bullet before infection sets in. And it reveals a principle: sometimes you have to choose to do a bit of extra hurting now in order to prevent a whole world of pain later on.

I hope this doesn’t make you squeamish, but I feel the need to say it again in a slightly different way just to sharpen the point: sometimes you’ve got to deepen a wound and actually make it worse for the sake of how it could heal better later on. By it’s very nature – that’s got to be one of life’s most difficult decisions.

It’s a sentiment I can identify with more and more. I long to be matured – even if it means I must face some “maturing” experiences. I long to be changed – deeply, actually, honestly changed. Again, even if it means adjustment, correction or even the deep discomfort of having some projectile removed through a hole in my soul before infection sets in.

All of this requires a critical confrontation. You must be willing to digest the stark alternatives in front of you – to see the seriousness of your wound enough that you are willing to hurt your way out of it. Grim stuff, I know, but it’s a part of the architecture of life.

We talked this past Sunday about the power of a “confronted self” (you can listen for yourself through our podcast) and it’s the same kind of thing at work. Do you tell yourself the truth? Do you trim the stuff moving around in your heart – do you confront it? Because whatever grows unconfronted grows wild.

This Sunday, we’re continuing in this theme by looking at three critical confrontations Christ faced before His public ministry began – and perhaps three critical confrontations we all must make on our way to The Satisfied Life.

Hope to see you there and I hope you bring someone with you.

CSW

LAST SUNDAY
Life unconfronted grows wild, and your ears and nose never stop growing. Hear why this matters. You can listen on our podcast or visit our website.

THIS SUNDAY
3 critical confrontations we all have to make.

DON'T FORGET
Tell someone about the Thomas Question, our podcast or the website. You never know.

The Prickly Part

2006-10-11T13:27:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

Does the 2 year old you ever really go away? Consider that it takes only 8 verses in Luke chapter 4 for the crowd around Jesus to go from hanging on every word to hanging Him from a cliff. In only 8 verses – starting in verse 22 with “…all were… wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips” (NASB) to verse 29 with “…drove Him out of the city… to the brow of the hill… in order to throw Him down…” (NASB)

That’s quite a transformation, don’t you think? And they don’t take long to get there. One would wonder if this was a crowd of adults or 2 year olds. But before we’re too hard on them, let’s be honest with ourselves. All of this shouldn’t make us wonder at how crazy that generation was – maybe it should make us wonder how crazy we all are. This is about human nature, not “them”. And I’m just not sure the 2 year old you ever really goes away.

Let’s be honest about something: we want the God we want, maybe not the God that is. The good news of Christianity is a potential happy ending for all of us. The prickly part has to do with a critical confrontation with your “self” – or more particularly the 2 year old part of your self. Some of what He has to say will have us hanging on every word, and some of what He has to say will have us wanting to dangle Him from a cliff. Those two compulsions may be separated from each other by only a few minutes at a time.

So when’s the last time you felt that latter – the “prickly” part? Because if you can’t remember, then maybe it’s time to ask yourself if you’re really listening…

Just a thought.

This Sunday we’re continuing in our series “A Guide to the Satisfied Life” (you can catch up through our podcast) with a look at some of the “prickly” parts of what we may need to hear. Join us for Starbucks at 9.45 and compelling conversation at 10.

CSW

LAST SUNDAY
Sometimes history can shift with nothing more than the effort it takes to flick a switch - or pull a trigger. We need to come to terms with change. You can listen on our podcast or visit our website.

THIS SUNDAY
One of life's critical confrontations, how to "prune" your "self" and the prickly part of God.

DON'T FORGET
Tell someone about the Thomas Question, our podcast or the website. You never know.

Wisdom and Rest

2006-09-27T20:06:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

I’d like to change the format of these email devotionals, if I might. Since this is supposed to be a quick-pass weekly thought, I’d like to shorten them and make them more specific. As always, I’m open to feedback. I Hope you enjoy…

I’ve pulled something out of one of my journal entries from last September. We’d just begun the process of settling into our new home after our cross Canada move and I was feeling inundated with the actual “lurking just beneath the surface” work of starting a church. Feeling tugged in a thousand directions while only able to move in one or two, I found myself trying to balance input and output to make sure my life wasn’t driven into the ground. These words are coming back to me as I start to feel some of the same pressures right now. Here’s what I wrote:

“Self care and self serving are two very different things though they can often look exactly the same. Self serving is it’s own end. Self care is a strategic investment so as to be able to make a contribution, again, in turn. Remember, Jesus… “withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself…” (Matthew 14:13)”

I think it’s wise to consider something about your personality: which excess are you more prone to? Time on or time off? Giving or resting? Input or output? Caring for yourself in the context of a higher purpose is just another form of serving others. It’s different phases of the same activity, and a truly wise person knows when and how to move between them. Such a person cares for themselves so that they can care for others.

Ecclesiastes talks about how a dull ax places requires more skill. So by extension – why not sharpen it? It takes greater skill to extract the same output from a life that is gradually wearing down (so by extension… why not sharpen that?). However, pampering yourself for the sake of how it feels is an equally dysfunctional situation. So: over use is a dull ax because one never takes the time to sharpen it. The other extreme is an over-sharp ax because one has never actually used it.

Which are you?

We’re probing this and related issues in “A Guide to the Satisfied Life” on Sundays. I hope to see you there, and I hope you bring someone with you.

CSW

LAST SUNDAY
“Losing yourself in someone else’s story” as a first step to the satisfied life. After all, a need met and a need forgotten both feel exactly the same. But one is much easier to achieve than the other. You can listen through our podcast. You can listen on our podcast or visit our website.

THIS SUNDAY
Grappling with uncertainty, a case for faith and a snapshot of marriage.

THE HIDDEN PART OF EACH SUNDAY
Beneath the service and behind the scenes, every Sunday, there is a close knit team of 4 or 5 people who make the church possible. They grow closer by working together, sharing a coffee and no small amount of laughter as they set up and tear down. Don’t just go to the church – be the church. Email us at info@askthequestion.ca to join a growing community of leaders who’ve found the joy of serving.

DON'T FORGET
Tell someone about the Thomas Question, our podcast or the website. You never know.

Freedom

2006-09-20T16:17:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

This is a bit longer and more abstract, but worth reading (I think).

Let me start with a question. What is freedom? Is it a decision? Is free will an ability ingrained in us like moving or breathing or blinking our eyes? Can we choose it in a single step? We can make choices – or at least we feel like we can – of this there can be no doubt. It’s the idea which underpins our justice system. We hold you responsible for your choices because we believe you are responsible for them. But I wonder if this is all we need to know. After all, do you make all the choices you want to make? Is it as easy as simply deciding – and then it happens? What about the five pounds or the five bad habits you’ve chosen to be rid of at least a hundred times already?

At least twice in scripture we catch of whiff of something otherwise. In 1 Corinthians 8:9, we find out that the exercise of our freedom can be an impediment to someone else and in Galatians 5.1, we find out that certain exercises our freedom can diminish it in us. And certainly you are aware that you sometimes have more control over yourself than at other times. Freedom is starting to seem a whole lot more complicated. And I must admit that I’m fascinated with the stuff that lies beneath our personal freedom – and makes it possible.

Consider what you’d be like after a week without food and shelter. Consider what you’d be like at the end of any period of extreme deprivation. What would it do to your constitution? Your appetites would rule you in a way that left your freedom completely drowned out – at least for the moment. So it seems that some choices leave us with less freedom at the end of them. Like a choice to go for a whole week without food.

On the other hand, at moments when most of our needs are met and our minds are uncluttered with heavy compulsions, we can exercise great clarity of thought and have a high degree of control over ourselves. Large choices can come easily to us in an atmosphere like that. 30 minutes after I get out of bed, I feel like I can take on the whole world. So clearly some choices – those that meet our basic needs – can lead to greater personal freedom.

So maybe freedom is a state – like health is a state. It’s a condition affected by many choices. So it’s not so much any one thing you do, but it’s the effect of many things you do averaged over time. I can think of a single choice you can make which would diminish your health (any sport involving the word “extreme” as a qualifier as an example), but I can’t think of a matching single choice that could multiply your health (unless it was a pill you needed to address a specific condition – like high blood pressure or a single choice to have a daily habit – but that’s not one choice, is it?).

No, it seems that the state of our health is decided by many individual choices made over longer periods of time. So I wonder if the level of our personal freedom – the state of being able to make larger choices and more of them – is somehow just like that. Clearly the “satisfied life” has more benefits than just what it makes you feel in any given moment.

This Sunday we’re starting a whole new series entitled, “A Guide to the Satisfied Life” and we’ll start by taking a look at personal freedom. I hope to see you there and I hope you bring someone with you.

CSW

COMMUNION
Monica and I did it last week – and we highly recommend it. Communion didn’t start out as a small part of a church service involving plastic cups and plastic tasting wafers. It started as a meal with friends that became a symbol of a Kingdom. So we had some people for dinner, left a chair at the table empty (we’ll tell you why on Sunday) and experienced the thing Jesus chose as a symbol of heaven. Try it this fall at The Thomas Question.

LAST SUNDAY
The Problem with a Dream. You can listen on our podcast or visit our website.

THIS SUNDAY
A Guide to the Satisfied Life: The Thing About Freedom.

NEXT SUNDAY
A Guide to the Satisfied Life: The Things to use your Freedom For.

DON'T FORGET
Tell someone about the Thomas Question, our podcast or the website. You never know.

The History of Licorice - Or Things Like It

2006-09-13T14:43:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website.

There’s a fascinating chapter in Eric Schlosser’s book, Fast Food Nation that talks about the little known heartland of the flavor industry which is responsible for making most of what you taste, taste like it tastes (see “Why the Fries Taste so Good” starting on p. 111). You may be interested to know that “the aroma of food can be responsible for as much as 90 percent of it’s flavor” and “a nose can detect aromas present in quantities of a few parts per trillion – an amount equivalent to 0.000000000003 percent.” And how about this, “The chemical that provides the dominant flavor of bell pepper can be tasted in amounts as low as 0.02 parts per billion; one drop is sufficient to add flavor to five average size swimming pools.” Shocking. Truly.

Taste – our experience of flavor – is a form of direct stimulation from which we can derive pleasure. Obviously. We can only assume it was intended to be a compliment to nutrition – to give us a tactile motive for eating. So far so good. But candy – and in particular, for me, red licorice – is a means of attempting manufacture bite sized explosions of flavor for the sake of flavor alone. They are engineered to be irresistible, and to send a signal to our brains, “this is good” when in fact, it’s really anything but. It’s a chemical lie! And I wonder – what is the effect of “unlinking” taste from nutrition so that we crave a level of flavor you just don’t find in nature?

In fact, it begs a whole series of questions related to “things meant to be taken in lock step with each other”. Think interlocking gears. For example: sex in step with love, inhaling matched to exhaling, death control (ie extended health care) matching birth control (ie to prevent a population explosion). And what about material abundance matching spiritual significance (so it leads to generosity not just wild consumption), and investments made in the environment to match the constant withdrawals we are making with smoke stacks and exhaust pipes? Or repentance matched with forgiveness so it doesn’t lead to license; and finally, dreams matched with action so it doesn’t lead to distraction.

I suppose, given the option, who wouldn’t choose to simply feel good by a shorter and shorter route. But at a certain point, eventually, that would just lead to a narcotic, wouldn’t it? Clearly we were made for something more than just taste. What about substance?

Last Sunday I began a two part series on dreams, purpose and passion with “The Power of a Dream”. This Sunday, I’d like to present the other half of what you need to know about building an authentic adventure instead of just chasing fantasies with “The Problem of a dream.” Are your dreams all “taste”? Or are they substance, too?

If you missed this past Sunday, you can visit our website. and catch up on this or any other message.

I hope to see you there, and I hope you bring someone with you,

CSW

LAST SUNDAY
The Power of a Dream. You can listen on our podcast or visit our website.

THIS SUNDAY
The Problem With a Dream.

NEXT SUNDAY
A whole new series: "A Guide to the Satisfied Life".

COMMUNION A BIT DIFFERENT
The first communion was dinner in a home among friends and Jesus said He’d never do it that way again until we were all back together again. We’re challenging you to have communion this fall in your homes. Invite someone you know and someone you don’t – and leave a chair empty to remind you of how it all began. More details available on Sundays.

DON'T FORGET
Tell someone about the Thomas Question, our podcast or the website. You never know.

She Actually Honestly Tries

2006-09-06T23:58:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website.

Forgive the writer if this is a bit more personal and an anecdotal than usual, but I think it serves the point well. When my 2 year old daughter sees something of interest high in the sky, be it a cluster of balloons or a helicopter or a passing jet, she actually tries to reach it – and I find that endlessly remarkable. Clearly she has no sense of space and distance. It puts her in a state where she’s completely unhindered by fact, and as a result, she really believes she might be able to reach them. And she doesn’t just believe it a little, extending her arms as part of some long shot gesture that was never really expected to work. Instead, with great enthusiasm and a glint in her eye, she’ll stretch with her fingers and toes extended – at times straining with effort. Sometimes she’ll ask me to help her get the last inch or two she thinks she needs to close the distance. I was with her once when she actually tried to touch the moon.

What a thing it must be to be able to believe on such a scale – and believe deeply enough that it makes you try with great enthusiasm. You may think it a fanciful waste of time, and in some ways it is (at least when it comes to reaching the moon with your finger tips). But on the other hand it can have great value to be caught up in simple enthusiasm for something you see just beyond your reach. After all, who knows?

We have to remember that childhood is a special state – and it’s a condition endorsed by God. “These kids get a lot of things right,” He says in my own translation of Mark 10.14. After all, let’s consider our own lives over the last 10 or 15 years. When you were 5, you could sing, and dance, and draw and play any kind of sport along with just about anything else your teachers and parents would let you try. Now have you added to that list or taken away from it?

So when I see Gracie reaching for something which is clearly hundreds if not thousands of feet away, I quietly cheer her on. Sure it’s preposterous. But in it’s own way, it’s also a powerful thing. Oh to believe on that scale because that belief pushes her to try. At this stage of her life, her default posture is to try things first and be proven wrong later – and she has so little baggage to get in the way that she’s game for almost anything. She can believe. Have you added to that state or lost it completely? Growing up can often feel like a process of giving up. Is that what it’s become?

This Sunday, I’m going to start a new series on the power of a dream and a transforming vision. I’d love to see you there – and it would be great if you could bring someone with you.

CSW

LAST SUNDAY
The last in our series on 8 sentences to begin your next step. You can listen to the whole series on our podcast or visit our website.

THIS SUNDAY
The power of a dream.

NEXT SUNDAY
The problem with a dream.

DON'T FORGET
We’ve worked hard to create a church that creates value for the people you live and work beside. Let them know we exist and let us know how we can do it better.

Progress is Dirty

2006-08-30T13:48:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website.

www.worldometers.info falls into the category of truly neat websites which are worth a visit. It can give you an idea of the staggering amount of activity going on throughout our planet at any given moment. Births, deaths, hectares of forest lost, CO2 emissions, numbers of books published, etc, all of the numbers dancing wildly before your eyes. Particularly frightening is the section on the environment about a third of the way down. It gives an impression of alarm, to be sure. One can be left asking, “How long is this sustainable?” It’s almost like where in the cockpit of planet earth staring at gauges on a dashboard which have us on a collision course with something ominous. There’s no two ways around it. Progress is dirty, costly, wasteful and impossible to sustain at this pace.

Lester Brown reports that at the current rate, the Chinese economy will generate as much per person income as in the United States. It can be easy to feel happy for them – any movement away from poverty is a good thing. But what if they choose to live a North American lifestyle with their new found wealth as is the dream of so many around the world? Well, the results would be too disastrous to imagine. Their grain consumption alone would equal 2/3rds of the current world harvest. They would consume twice as much paper as is now produced and 10% more than the total world production of oil at current levels. And should they adopt the North American habit of having 3 cars for every 4 people, there would be 1.1 billion cars in China alone, which is well beyond the current world fleet of 800 million cars. Progress is dirty, costly, wasteful and impossible to sustain at this pace.

Two weeks ago, I said something in our Sunday service and it keeps coming back to me in my own life: “A need met and a need forgotten both feel the same.” Think about that. You can either meet your “needs” or forget your “needs”. And how much more efficient is the latter? Our pattern of wild consumption looks and feels like gluttony if you just take enough of a step back from it to see it objectively. We don’t just buy cars – we borrow huge sums in outrageous ways in order to buy shiny new cars. And what difference does it really make? (My friends will think I’m only writing this out of bitterness associated with our recent purchase of a station wagon – and they may be right).

We must look like terribly desperate people to be gobbling up so much. How much time does it take for an anticipated, shiny new purchase to make it’s way to the bottom of a closet and then the bottom of a landfill? Jesus imagined a vastly different and far more rewarding lifestyle for us. Maybe what we all need is a “stuff” diet in a big way.

Starting September 24th we’ll be diving into a whole new train of thought about the satisfied life and what it looks like. All with a single, over arching emphasis: how do we extract more genuine fulfillment with far less goose-chasing and resource-wasting. Is there a way we can sustain the state of being fulfilled without a sea of purchases to sustain it? True freedom isn’t having everything you need to feel good, rather, it’s not needing much of anything to feel good, at all, in the first place.

Invite someone to lunch this Sunday and bring them to The Thomas Question first. I hope to see you there,

CSW

LAST SUNDAY
The final message in our series on small, intentional steps to an actual practice of ancient Christianity. The focus of each week has been a single sentence you can carry with you as you go. Much of what we’ve looked at so far has been about how to do your life better. This final installment will have a much more intensively spiritual message, because, after all, the Christian life is about Christ. Listen to the whole series on our podcast or visit or website.

WE CAN NEVER DO THIS
Many of Jesus’ analogies about the Kingdom have a single thing in common: they anticipate an investment first and a reward later. Think of his agricultural analogies, the image of casting a net and that of building a house on rock or sand. It means Jesus, Christianity and church can never be a purely mental exercise. So don’t just ask yourself if you’ve experienced God lately, ask yourself if you’ve taken the kind of steps that could position you to experience God lately because they go hand in hand. And we’d love it if you would take a step at the Thomas Question. Who knows? Maybe in the process of building a great church for someone else, you may just find you give yourself The Kingdom.

SEPTEMBER 10 & 17
These will be great Sundays to bring anyone you can think of. We’ll be looking at the power of a dream and the problem with a dream – both of them having to do with passion, adventure and the life you could be living. It’s something almost anyone can identify with. I can almost guarantee they will go home surprised at what they’ve heard.

Leprosy Didn't Have to Kill Him

2006-08-24T05:34:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website.

Follow this link to see this Sunday's video clip.

I recently watched the directors cut of Kingdom of Heaven and found myself completely absorbed in the story. What a difference Ridley Scott’s extra hour of footage makes. The sad plight of Jerusalem’s king is one of the most tragic figures I’ve seen in film recently. Disfigured by leprosy in it’s final stages, the king wears a silver mask and bandages to minimize the greater distraction his wounds would cause.

It left me thinking on some of leprosy’s ironies – particularly the realization that the cure has always existed (it’s a fairly simple antibiotic). It just took us centuries to find it. Think about that. I’m willing to venture that Jerusalem’s king died within reach of that cure, if he had only known the necessary combination of the necessary substances. Right now other cures are possible for what ails us, too, but we haven’t figured those out yet, either.

All of that leaves me wondering how many of us are limited only by our knowledge and imagination not by the extent of what is actually possible around us. Are our limits around us or inside us? Are we limited by what’s possible or simply by the knowledge of how to make it so? At any rate, I didn’t intend to take this illustration where it’s going, so let me get back to my outline.

One of my passions has always been to find a way to reconnect pulpit and pew, sanctuary and sidewalk. Pastors often lock themselves away in their studies surrounded by books and unseen promptings and they cook up a sea of words for Sunday – all kinds of advice about a life they no longer live – the life on the other side of the platform – the life you live right now. It can be all too easy to speak only from the world you know. But I’ve always suspected that other great cures and breakthroughs can be made from new combinations of what we already have. In my case, I’ve always assumed it could come from listening. I greatly desire what no book can tell me as I’m locked away in my office – and that’s what you’re actually thinking, facing and doing.

So what’s it like to be you? What’s the most moving spiritual experience you’ve ever had? What doubts do you struggle with? What’s it like to attend church? What’s the single greatest ongoing contributor to your spiritual growth? What questions hold you firmly in their grasp? What is the hardest part of Christianity to accept or believe or practice? What’s the most moving part of our faith? And what are the things that seem to matter most to the people you live and work beside? What do your conversations with them entail? If you could say one thing to the entire world about what you believe, what would it be?

By the way, I didn’t ask any of those questions rhetorically. All you need to do is hit “reply” and I’ll receive it. This devotional is read by a little more than 300 people each week and I would love to have a little more than 300 replies to go through in prepping for our next series which starts September 10th. Imagine a platform touched by 300 voices. That’s the kind of living research you can’t pull from the shelf of some book store.

I think the Kingdom exists best in the mix of a single book (the Bible) and a sea of great conversations between people trying to “figure their stuff out”. Imagine a pulpit in close connection with all that! Give me the other part of this equation – your part – and I’ll do my best.

Starting September 10th, we are endeavoring to connect directly with the people you live and work beside. We’d love it if you can bring someone. And if not, we’re taking steps to make it possible for you to bring it to them in better ways. You can connect me to that world by simply hitting reply and stabbing at a few of those questions. What you write down won’t seem profound to you because you live with it all the time. But, then, the stuff that became the antibiotics that cured leprosy didn’t grab our attention until less than a hundred years ago, either…

I hope to see you there – and I hope you bring someone with you.

CSW

LAST SUNDAY
We’ve received a lot of feedback from last Sunday as we looked into the unexpected side of giving. Make the switch from consumer to producer. Hear how and why on our Podcast.

TAKE A STEP
Two weeks ago, we talked about how you don’t need to be a hero – you just need to take a step. This past Sunday, we talked about what a step could look like. It doesn’t take a few hero’s doing huge things to get it done. Hero’s a few and far between. It takes a thousand people doing simple things they really mean – like shaking a hand or tearing down the speaker stands. Listen to our Podcast to hear why giving doesn’t just give away. It may simply be another kind of getting.

STARTING SEPTEMBER 10
See devotional above.

LABOUR DAY
Join us for a slightly shorter 1 hour service and then take someone to lunch.

The Other Life You Could Have Lived

2006-08-17T09:57:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website.

I apologize for the length as it’s a bit longer than I prefer, but it’s also something I feel very strongly about.

It’s easy to wonder why it seems like the path to inner significance is a different journey than the one that leads to outward acclaim. Why aren’t true hero’s making basketball-star-salaries (no offense to the basketball stars)? It’s easy to wonder why these journeys seem so far apart because we long for them to be the same on such a deep level that it almost seems like we were made for them to be the same. We bandy the phrase, “that’s not fair” as though the very fabric of the universe was offended along with us. And it’s human nature that for as long as these two aspects are kept apart (inner significance and outer acclaim) that even after you’ve chosen one of these paths you may find yourself looking with longing at some aspect of the other journey you could have chosen. It seems like we’re doomed with the tendency to see greener grasses everywhere we look.

There was a man who touched on these issues when he said to Jesus in Luke 9.16, “‘I will follow you, Lord; but let me say farewell to those at my home’”. And Jesus’ reply can seem uncharacteristically firm: “No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God.” Boom. There is no soft appeal clause at the end, no typical “grace” escape, just a difficult admission that the Kingdom does not include a place for “rear view mirror distractions”.

Do you look back? Do you look with longing on some aspects of the other life you could have chosen or could still choose again? I must admit this verse has terrified me for long phases of my journey with Christ. At times I’ve felt like I didn’t just look back, I stared back with intense longing. Not because I regretted anything about Jesus but because I think all of us are prone to the fantasy of “both”: that we could have Christ and the best parts of the other journey, too.

What we are experiencing is nothing more than Eden’s wound. Perfection occurs when we have the inner journey match outer acclaim, when true hero’s are also handsomely rewarded, when those “at the top” also deserve to be there. But that’s what we lost on the way out of the garden – the connection between the two. And for as long as we’re alive, those two paths will be far enough apart that one cannot adequately span the distance between them and keep “one foot on each”.

So I realized recently that heaven is what I really want – or at least the state we will be in once we get there. I want those two things back in lock step where they belong: the inner and the outer. I want heaven – not the whispy clouds with harp strumming cherubs – I want the journey restored to it’s intended holistic state: work and reward put back in proper ratio’s. I want heaven – I just don’t know it as such. I want the thing twisted into the image of a BMW, a crisp suit and a look of importance, but I want it to be for real.

However, I’ve also come to realize that for as long as we’re alive, the image doesn’t contain what’s whispered in it, and image is our problem. We were made in God’s but chose our own in Eden. It’s why we’re image obsessed – we want to fix the wound. Ever since that moment, the look of importance can be separated from the substance beneath it. And that’s the paradox: one can either have the look of significance or the significance, itself. And Christ, in gentleness, is trying to tell us that we only have the capacity to choose one.

So which will we choose?

Join us this Sunday for Starbucks at 9:45 and we’ll get into this and a little more besides. Visit our website for directions. I hope to see you there – and I hope you bring someone with you.

CSW

LAST SUNDAY
Another single sentence to focus on every day as you seek to build an intentional practice of Christianity: “You don’t need to be a hero, you just need to take a step.” You can listen to this message and the rest of the series by visiting our website or subscribing to our podcast..

THIS SUNDAY
In North America, we’re addicted to fossil fuels. As a source of energy, they don’t come much cheaper than simply burning oil or gas. But we’re also finding out that it’s not quite as easy as it once seemed. So what’s the energy source that drives you from the inside and might there be a better “bang for your buck”? Jesus taught about an alternative source of energy. This Sunday, we’ll talk about how to find it.

STARTING SEPTEMBER 10
We’ll be your voice. Help us find the things you long to say to those you live and work beside. Then we’ll start to say them on September 10th. We’ll be announcing more details on Sunday and through the email devotional.

The Physics of Time and the Future in the Past

2006-08-09T16:22:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website.

If I can pull this off in three reasonable paragraphs, it will be something worthy of note. And if I can't, well, you won't be reading it because I'll write something else. At any rate, I bought a book recently because of a single sentence. On page 141 of The View from the Center of the Universe it says this, "Much of our future already exists - it just hasn't gotten here yet." I thought it was brilliant and it crystallized something in my mind which has been turning over in there for some time.

Now the author's happen to be using that sentence to describe a special relationship between space and time. Let me use one of their examples. Because of the distance between us and the sun it takes a full 8 minutes for it's light to get here. And it also means you never seen the sun as it IS, but only as it WAS - 8 minutes ago. And in a strange kind of way, it also means we never really see the present. We only see the past - and it also means the future has already happened. Even when you look at the light switch across the room - you're not seeing it as it is. You're seeing as it was some fraction of a second ago.

Why do I care about all this? Because I think it's a fantastic analogy for something I've been encountering over and over again in Proverbs. It's about integrity and how the end of a thing is sown at the beginning. "The righteousness of the blameless keeps their ways straight, but the wicked fall by their own wickedness" (Proverbs 11.5). It means that a die is cast at the very first step in any decision. The integrity of our choices determines the outcome. And like a stream making it's way to the ocean (sorry for mixing analogies), it may take a long and meandering route but it will still get there. It means, like the sun, it may take some number of minutes, hours, days or years, to see the outcome - to see what's already happened - but it was there all along.

That's it. Three paragraphs and I'm happy with it. I have a sentence in my daily journal I read every morning and it says, "Character is a deep conviction that anything outside integrity simply won't work." So again, in the words of these authors, much of our future already exists - it just hasn't gotten here yet. I hope that will serve as a challenge to you in the choices you're making right now.

Join us this Sunday in our new location in the Encore Cinema's on Speers Road just East of Dorval Drive. Visit our website for directions.

I hope to see you Sunday and I hope you bring someone with you,

CSW

LAST SUNDAY
Another of our 8 small steps you can actually take toward Ancient Christianity: find the free prize inside. You can listen to this message and the rest of the series by visiting our website or subscribing to our podcast..

THIS SUNDAY
There's a red wire and a black wire in most every device that uses energy. Get those wires wrong and nothing else will work. I'd like to talk another kind of critical switch we all need to make.

OUR NEW FACILITY
This past Sunday was our first service in the Encore Cinema's on Speers Road. Join us this Sunday at 9.45 for Starbucks. Visit our website for directions.

I'M WORKING THROUGH THE LIST
If you signed up, don't worry, it's happening.

A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
A few of us have been working on an idea for a fall series that is about more than just a topic we pick and tell you about. We'll be making an announcement about it this Sunday in preparation for the fall.

Have You Thought About Your Own End?

2006-08-03T17:13:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website.

It may be a difficult thing to accept because so many of us are at a place where our mortality is only theoretical, but it would be foolish not to try to understand what it means. One day you will end. In the words of James Fowler, “This body, this mind, this lived and living myth… will cease to be. The tide of life that propels me with such force will cease and I – this “I” taken so much for granted by “me” – will no longer walk this earth.”

I know we are all somehow vaguely aware on an intellectual level that many of the things we care about on a day to day basis won’t really matter in the bigger picture of our life as a whole. We wouldn’t die to do many of the things we do while we’re dying. Think about that sentence. You wouldn’t die to do most of what you’re doing. But you’re dying while you do it. Shouldn’t we make ourselves more aware of what this might mean?

Most of the people who find out that they only have a fixed amount of time left to live were already dying before they were told this sad news. A process had already begun and had existed for some time. And they only thing they lost was their illusion that they had a lot more time. I remember reading an article in a newspaper about a woman receiving cancer treatment and the reporter asked her, “What’s it like to live every day knowing that you’re dying?” She responded with a question of her own, “What’s it like to live every day thinking that you’re not?”

It’s no secret that it’s purpose that matters most. The secret is to find a way to find a way to feel the need to act on it now. The secret is to find a way to turn down the volume on that deep and pervading sense that we will all, always have “more time”.

So what do you stand for? What do you want your life’s energy converted into? The steps we take to please ourselves turn our life’s energy into something that is within us – a sensation which turns into a memory – and it evaporates with us, leaving no residue in it’s wake. It could be said of many people after they are gone that they, “Lived for a while and pleased themselves…”

Purpose begins at the point where our life’s energy is used to touch someone else. When you touch someone else you’ve made a “noise” outside yourself – you have created something that can outlast you. In a very real way, you transcend your own mortality. As I said this past Sunday, when it comes to us and our so-called needs, maybe the key is not so much how do we meet them – because this is a daunting task and may not even be possible because it seems that they never end. Maybe the issue is how do we forget them, instead, because the effect is the same (to listen in visit our podcast online). A need met and a need forgotten both go to the same place in our minds where we no longer feel them.

It’s a brilliant challenge from an ancient teacher: use what time you have to touch someone else and you may just find that you set yourself free along the way.

Just a thought.

Join us this Sunday in our new location in the Encore Cinema’s on Speers Road just East of Dorval Drive. Visit our website for directions.

I hope to see you there,

CSW

THIS SUNDAY
“Be the one that Comes Back Part II”. On the outskirts of a village 2,000 years ago, 10 lepers were healed. Only 1 came back to say thanks. What did the other 9 miss? Our first service at our new location on Speers road. Visit our website for directions.

I’D LIKE TO MEET AS MANY OF YOU AS ARE WILLING
Before we left our last location, I indicated I would love the chance to have coffee and talk life before September. I just need to know if you’re willing and how to get ahold of you. Email me at info@askthequestion.ca.

WE’RE MOVING THIS SUNDAY (AUGUST 6TH)
Don’t forget! We’ve been bounced around and so far we’ve stayed in tact. Just one more time and we’re done. Visit our website for directions.

Put This on your Bathroom Mirror

2006-07-26T15:27:00.000-05:00

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website.

I love it that I received an email this week from a friend at the Thomas Question and it wasn’t signed “regards” or “cheers” or “let me know” or “take care”. Instead, it was signed “bury the bunny” because that was our key phrase two Sundays ago. (In case you weren’t there it goes something like this: the turtle always wins, so bury the bunny, and Jesus said in the parable of the mustard seed that small seeds actually planted can grow to become the largest plants in your garden – so bury the bunny!)

But even more than that, I’ve been wondering what it would be like to be radically “on the same page” as a group of people trying to build an intentional, sustainable, deliberate practice of Christianity in their lives. It saddens me that Christianity has become something that you “are” apart from what you “do” much like your race is something that you simply “are”. I wonder what would happen if we “reset” our system, reminded ourselves that Christianity is a set of deep convictions attached to a lifestyle art, and began to take small steps to actively practice it.

There’s something known as the “training effect” in athletics. It’s what happens when you subject your body to very specific kinds of stress as part of a strategy to increase performance. Ten to fourteen days later, your body has grown back stronger (or so you hope). This reminds me of the scripture verse where Paul says, “I don’t run like a man running aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air…” In other words, he’s saying, “I don’t do things that don’t matter. I have a strategy. I’m after the training effect.”

I really want to challenge you to participate with us in these small steps to actual change. Build your own spiritual training effect. Make a list to put on your bathroom mirror. Make the steps small enough that you can actually do them. Make them significant enough that they will actually matter, and then turn them into small seeds actually planted. Let’s not be like one running aimlessly – with no pattern or strategy or “training effect’. Rather, let’s put some method to the madness. We’ve seen what happens when we hope for better days and take what comes as an accident of that hope. We’ve seen what happens when we vaguely “try hard”. Now let’s see what happens when we try smart.

Last Sunday, I talked to you about the difference between true and magnetic north. Magnetic north is an observed value and it’s 700 km away from true north. True north, on the other hand, is a calculated value and you can only find it if you try. All of this makes me wonder in what other way our “gages” might be wrong. In what other directions are you being pulled 700 km off the true course? Truth is not a reflex, our eyes don’t tell us all we need to know, and you are always some part wrong. Always. So correct for true north. We need great conversations with people we trust to find out in what ways we are wrong, and we need something like scripture to show us ways in which we are all wrong.

This Sunday we’ll be looking at the two layers of actually knowing people well.

To catch up on any of these messages, feel free to visit our podcast. And remember, you don’t need an Ipod to do so! You just need a computer (and if you don’t have one, then how are you reading this?)

So until then, bury the bunny, correct for true north, bring someone with you, and I hope to see you there.

CSW

THIS SUNDAY
Our last Sunday at the Homewood Suites before we move into our new long-term location on Speers Road. Visit our website for directions. Help us keep everyone informed by spreading the word.

NEXT SUNDAY
Our first service on Speers Road. We’ll be continuing the same teaching series, but we’ll be adding a new musical component. Feel free to visit our website for directions.

PODCASTERS
We’d love to be more than just a sound file. Especially those of you who don’t live close by. We’re experimenting with some new ideas about new ways to think about the church. You can help us by emailing us at info@askthequestion.ca to let us know where you live, how long you’ve been listening and how you found out about it.

I’D LIKE TO MEET AS MANY OF YOU AS ARE WILLING
Before we left our last location, I indicated I would love the chance to have coffee and talk life before September. I just need to know if you’re willing and how to get ahold of you. Email me at info@askthequestion.ca.

WE’RE MOVING FOR SUNDAY AUGUST 6TH
Don’t forget! We’ve been bounced around and so far we’ve stayed in tact. Just one more time and we’re done. Visit our website for directions.

What they never told You about North

2006-07-20T14:40:00.000-05:00

There’s something very important you need to know about a compass if you ever need to use one. Contrary to what you may think, compasses do not point North – at least not “true” north. Instead, they point to a location which is currently just northwest of Hudson’s Bay approximately 700 kilometers from the north pole. Oh, and it also moves a little bit every year, too. It’s currently moving west by as much as a degree per year in some places. Oh and one more thing, it’s also affected by magnetic storms from time to time.

All of this means, according to a government of Canada website, that a person on a canoe trip in the Northwest Territories can find their compass in error by as much as 2 degrees a little more than 1 day in 4. And in addition to that, even on those slightly less than 3 out of 4 good days, their compass still isn’t pointing north, anyways – it’s pointing to that magic spot some 700 km away from true north.

So true is not an observed value – it’s a calculated value. Which means you must make some observations and then calculate for distortion to come up with something closer to the truth. All of which makes me wonder what other distortions I may be subject to with my myriad of other navigational aids and not even know it. My perception, my judgment, my values, my common sense, anything I see with my eyes, anything that feels as real and as obvious as an “N” for north on a compass. How do I adjust for true “truth” instead of just true “north”?

Thankfully, we are not alone. The Kingdom of God is an “adjustment of values”. It is a statement of differences between what seems to matter and what actually does. And just like any map that’s worth it’s paper has a graphic on it which shows you the difference between true and magnetic north, the Kingdom has a set of values that help us separate the things that seem good from the things that truly are.

For example, money seems to matter (that’s like magnetic north), but it’s actually freedom we really want (that’s true north). Getting seems to matter (that’s magnetic north), giving actually leads to more (that’s true north). Right now seems more important (that’s magnetic north), but eternity actually will be much more so over time (that’s true north).

In what other ways may we need to adjust our guidance system? I’d like to talk about it more this Sunday.

We hope to see you there,

CSW

WE’RE DOING IT
Just like athletes go into “training” and strive to find a pattern of activities designed to matter, we’re taking the next 7 weeks to focus on small intentional steps we can actually take instead of the big, huge things we only ever seem to think about. Move toward your future, your potential, your God and your next step.

NEW FACILITY AUGUST 6TH
We’re moving again (because that’s what we do, right?). it’s 6 kilometers east of our original location to the Encore Cinema’s on Speers Rd between Dorval and Trafalgar (see our website for directions). We’ve been given access to the main auditorium for at least the next year. Our first Sunday in this new location will be AUGUST 6th. Our service times remain the same: 9.45 am for Starbucks coffee and a 10.00 am start. Make the move with us! We’re looking forward to the chance to re-focus on becoming a church instead of scrambling over un-found real estate.

IN THE MEAN TIME
In the mean time, we have 2 Sundays left at the Homewood Suites on Burloak just south of the QEW (visit our website for directions). Join us for a unique atmosphere and a chance to experience a slightly different approach.

LAST SUNDAY
The first of 8 sentences to put on your bathroom mirror: “bury the bunny”. Check out our podcast for details.

THIS SUNDAY
A deeper look at the difference between true and magnetic north and what it might mean for the many decisions you make.

ONE MORE TIME
The teaching from last Sunday was designed to set the tone for the step that’s right in front of us as a church and it’s a great challenge about the difference between Sunday church and the thing that led to it in the first place. Listen in through our podcast.

We hope to see you there,

CSW

A Baby Arrives!

2006-07-13T21:22:00.000-05:00

SEE OUR WEBSITE FOR AN IMPORTANT FACILITY UPDATE. (Our issue may be at an end - scroll below!)

A seed is a fascinating part of life. Consider this startling truth: any tree large enough to tower over us and defy a hundred years of wind and rain was packed into a thing no larger than an acorn in the beginning. In fact, that’s what an acorn is: a tree waiting to happen. It’s a tiny package which contains everything required to start a process that builds a tree out of dirt. And you can carry it in your pocket. You can flick it with a finger. And for some number of years, even as that tree begins to grow, you could master it with nothing more than a hedge trimmer or a sharp knife or even your bare hands. But over time that acorn-sized package that you could once flick with a finger will become strong enough to shift the foundation of a house and hold you – and a dozen others like you – in it’s branches. And all of it from something no larger than an acorn. A seed is a fascinating part of life.

At 7:18 am this morning, after a few courageous pushes, the next addition to our family, Abigail, stepped into her place in this world. At this point in her story, she is just the first few tentative steps from her acorn-sized beginning. At this point in her story, she can still become almost anything. A whole web of possibilities is spread out before her like the many branches of a tree. What people will she know? What successes will she celebrate? What places will she visit? What fears will she harbor? What kind of person will her journey make her? This tiny package will collect a lifetime’s worth of memories and experiences. This is a truly fascinating point in her journey.

These are powerful principles. Can we gain the ability to see the tree in the acorn, the “man” in the “boy”, or the Nobel laureate in the finger-painting child? It’s the lesson of the seed. Life is not so much about the big things around us, but those small acorn-sized beginnings that preceded them. It’s one of Jesus’ favorite analogies for the Kingdom. Any outcome would not be possible without a humble beginning because a seed is all you get at the start. Can that change the way you look at this point in your story, right now?

Our church is nothing more than a step or two from an acorn sized package of ideas right now. A huge web of possibilities is spread out before us, and this is our point of maximum possibility. Like my one-day old daughter, at this point in our story as a church, we can still become almost anything. But it’s something we have to choose to see. It’s the lesson of the seed. Our next chapter begins this Sunday at 10 am at the Homewood Suites (visit our website for directions). Be part of the journey.

We hope to see you there.

CSW

Click to listen to our podcast.

IMPORTANT FACILITY UPDATE
The 6 weeks has become 3! Many thanks to all who’ve “ached” through our many ups and downs. This process has been daunting at times. We took a courageous step in giving up our contract at Silver City because we felt it was the best “big picture” thing to do in the midst of a difficult situation even though we had no immediate backup plan. It serves as a kind of confirmation that a surprising opportunity has emerged in it’s place with better options for kids ministries, a better meeting space for our Sunday services and equipment storage as a bonus. Our first Sunday in the new facility will be August 6th. We’ll make an official announcement with all the details in our service this Sunday. We hope to see you there!

LAST SUNDAY
Our last Sunday at Silver City focusing on a potential “launch sequence” for unleashing the rest of a great church. You can listen to the service from our website.

THIS SUNDAY
The first in our “6 weeks of a slightly different service”. We’re meeting at the Homewood Suites on Burloak just south of the QEW (visit our website for directions). We believe this will be a critical part of the “acorn sized beginning” of our next chapter (see devotional above). It’s something we’ve talked about at length over the past two Sundays (you can listen for yourself on our podcast). We’ve got the 90 minutes on a Sunday up and running – now help us with the “launch sequence” to unleash the rest of a great church.

The Thomas Question Next Step Research Project, Saabs and Fighter Jets

2006-07-04T07:34:00.000-05:00

Any process is defined by the creative limits of the individuals involved in it. As an example, consider what would happen if you took a group of people that normally designed fighter jets and asked them to build a car. You’d get an entirely different perspective. And according to Saab USA, this is exactly what you get when you buy one of their cars because the company was founded by 16 aircraft engineers. So last fall they launched a "Born from Jets" marketing campaign that features fighter jets and automobiles side by side to emphasize the point. Their message is, "We build fighter jets. Imagine what we can do with cars."

Consider another example: 5 times a day, every day, all over the world, more than a billion Muslims need to know where Mecca is so they can face it when they pray. How handy is it that one over-seas cell phone manufacturer has models which include 5 daily prayer alarms and a built-in compass which points the way? It’s a feature you’d only think to include if you got close enough to another culture to gain a whole new perspective.

It’s a simple idea. New products come from new perspectives, and that can only happen when we include more people in the process and really listen to each other. It’s the only way to build phones with features you would not think to include and cars with a bit of fighter jet in them.

Now what about church? It’s something you build in a different way than cars and cell phones, but it’s still something you build. And I wonder who we are listening to? I wonder what other perspectives might be out there? Church is often built by church leaders to look like a church because that's what a church looks like. And only then do they ask, "Now how do we involve more people in it?" Pastors develop sermons to look like sermons because that's what sermons look like and only then do they ask, “Now how do I make it sound relevant?” But what about new perspectives? What about yours? When is the last time we sat down together, church attenders and church leaders, to ask ourselves, “how have things changed? And how should that change the church?”

Well, rather than build it first and ask those questions later, I’d rather ask them now. Some of the best ideas I’ve ever encountered came from great conversations in a coffee shop when nothing else was planned. And then I’m scribbling furiously on napkins to capture some idea that emerged while we were just doing life and talking to each other. So I wonder what would happen if we just talked, outside of a usual Sunday format, about the honest issues, questions and messes we all live with? What I’m looking for is a new perspective: yours.

Sunday services are great, but this is about building the rest of a great church (this is something I talked about at length last Sunday, visit www.askthequestion.ca to hear it on our podcast). We’re designing 6 one hour Sunday morning experiences to explore new perspectives with you. We think it’s something you won’t want to miss. It starts with some Starbucks on Sunday July 16 at 10:00 am at the Homewood Suites on Burloak just south of the QEW in Oakville.

We hope to see you there and we hope you'll journey with us.

CSW

The Lines We Hide Behind

2006-06-01T11:54:00.000-05:00

The following is our email devotional you can subscribe to at www.askthequestion.ca. It will be followed up by a podcast teaching from this coming Sunday.

DON’T FORGET our new service time and location!

Simon Wiesenthal was a young Jew imprisoned in a Nazi death camp during the Holocaust. One day, while on a work detail outside a hospital, he was asked to accompany a nurse to the side of a dying German SS officer. What happened next forms the basis of a book he wrote years after the fact entitled “The Sunflower”. For several hours that afternoon he sat and listened to the terrible confessions of the dying officer who then asked to be forgiven.

What would you have done?

Grace is something we know to be noble – but we also struggle to come to terms with it’s limits (if there are any). Are there situations which go beyond the limits of grace? Can we ever be in a situation where we need to forgive someone else more than we need to be forgiven, ourselves? Can grace ever be reckless? Can withholding grace ever be appropriate?

I guess it all depends on where you draw the line – and on which side of it you find yourself. So where do you draw the line? To go back to our original question, if you were Simon, what would you have done?

This Sunday I’d like to challenge some of your thinking about grace, forgiveness and where you draw that line. And I’ll also let you know what Simon chose to do...

CSW

Disregard the previous post

2006-05-25T19:19:00.000-05:00

The Thomas Question

Sorry all, please disregard the previous post it is meant for another blog. My appologies.....

Jim

Script

2006-05-25T19:09:00.000-05:00

sorry all.....wrong blog to post at......stupid blogs

2006-05-17T12:39:00.000-05:00

Collaboration for Sunday May 21-06

2006-05-16T11:20:00.000-05:00

Inventory: The Stuff We Choose to Keep

Consider the power of a symbol. It’s a small thing taken to represent very large concepts. Consider the American Flag. What it means depends on who’s eyes you use. What does it mean to an American? What does it mean to a Canadian? What does it mean to a Palestinian? It’s a pattern of stars and stripes in three colors that move some to tears of patriotic pride, and others to tears of rage… All from a shape… A pattern.

Now consider where the power of a symbol comes from: us. We build our symbols by the way we tell our stories and the way we organize our experiences. We infuse them with meaning, and then we are impacted by them, in turn. It’s like a feedback loop. WE make the first noise (we infuse it with meaning), then the symbol sends it back to us, amplified. Which adds to the “noise” and starts the process again all over again, confirming what we were looking for in the first place. Maybe racism is a feedback loop. Maybe an unhealthy faith is, too...

Here’s another way to think about it. Our days are really a process of wandering around having experiences, from which we draw conclusions. We project those conclusions forward into expectations into which we then jam our experiences, which further deepens our conclusions. And on and on it goes...

So our lives are deeply impacted by the way we tell our stories. After all, we don’t tell the whole thing. We edit it down to those important parts (the symbols). Our lives are shaped by the things we choose to keep and the things we choose to release. So what are your symbols?

What we really need is something to break the “feedback loop”, an interruption, a correction, an infusion of truth.

How does this stuff intersect with ordinary life?

What comes to mind as you read it?

What should we do about it?

Why should your average person really care?

I’d love to know your thoughts.

Collaboration for Sunday April 30

2006-04-25T06:54:00.000-05:00

Too Bad You Went Curling...

How do we "manage" the complexity of the future?

Let's say you choose to take up curling for kicks and you form a deep friendship with someone you meet. They introduce you to the person that becomes your spouse, and your first born eventually develops a breakthrough technology in telecommunications. Wow. Good thing you decided to go curling.

Except that, had you only known, simply going parachuting just once, on the same day instead, would have put you in relationship with another lovely person who could have become your spouse and the third child from that marriage would end up stumbling on a breakthrough treatment for a whole group of cancers – saving tens of thousands of lives.

Too bad you went curling.

Now what are you doing this afternoon?

Now consider this. One of the most successful assassination plots against Adolf Hitler failed only because he cut a speech short for fear that the fog would make his return flight to Berlin impossible. The bomb exploded 13 minutes after he left the building.

If only the bomb builder had read the weather forecast and shortened the fuse. How many hundreds of thousands would have been spared?

How do we manage the complexity of the future?

Supplement to the post below RE April 16

2006-04-05T06:16:00.000-05:00

I wonder what creates more “problems” for us as we view the past: what actually happened, or how we choose to think about it. Apart from the interpretive layer we place over top of the events of the past, there isn’t much energy in them. But when we add a sense of “injustice” or “ought not to be” or “I can’t believe this happened to me” or “where is God” or "how can my life continue", all of a sudden the issue is invested with great importance.

I wonder if we generate the means of emotional friction by the weight we attach to such things.

So maybe it’s not so much the stuff that’s happened to us as it is the way we’ve chosen to think about it. And maybe that’s true for a lot more than just pain. Even success is open to interpretation. Some look at it in a way that makes them grateful to God (they credit Him for some role in their success), while some look it as proof that they don’t need God (they see only that their success depended on themselves).

Two lives exactly the same could be cause for two very different conclusions about God, life and the lot we’ve been given.

Online Collaboration for the Message on April 16

2006-03-27T15:09:00.000-05:00

"PAST"

A friend of mine has a fabulous one-liner: “You’ve always heard it said that God loves you and wants to give you a wonderful life, but what if I told you He just loves you?”

April 16th is Easter Sunday, which is our day to reflect on the meaning of the cross. Aside from the usual themes: how difficult is the price God paid for us, how loving is our God to go so far, how needful was our condition, etc.; I’m fascinated with the other side of “love”. I’ve titled this message "Past", because I want us to look at our track record. How successful have we been in building a life worth living by choosing what we’ve wanted in the past? Is what you WANTED still what you WANT now that you've got it?

CS Lewis writes about the difference between “love” and “niceness”, and concludes that most of us what “niceness” when we say we want “love”. Think about this when you consider the cross: if He would do all that to Himself for our benefit, what might He be willing to do to us for our own benefit?

The obviously “good” news of the cross is what sells. But what about the part of the “good” news that starts out feeling quite “bad”? What about the God that leaves some people in their wheel chairs? After all, Jesus Christ didn’t die to give you the life you wanted. He died to save you from it. Think about that – He died to save you from the life you wanted - and died to give you the life you wouldn't have known to ask for.

So this is not a God that always FEELS nice. This is a God that always IS LOVING. Sometimes love disciplines. Sometimes it spanks. Sometimes love hurts. Sometimes it hurts so much we want to shut it off. This is the God that wants to make you BETTER, not just happier. After all, ice cream makes you happy. But eat enough of it and it won't be about happiness anymore. This is the God that says, "no", sometimes, to our hearts deepest wish.

What kind of God is this? This is the God that so reveres our freedom and right to choose that He’ll actually honor that some will choose hell. I’m thinking of answering the question “What did God die to save you from?” I have some scriptures in mine, but don’t want to share them yet and ‘blind’ the process with my own thoughts.

How are you reacting to all this? What do you think? What did He die to save us from? What does love mean? What kind of God is this? What’s the other side of love, good news and the cross we celebrate on Easter? Can you think of examples for the kinds of things running through your mind? Where do we see dynamics like this at work in the world around us? How do we encounter stuff like this in life outside the church?