Communion Reformation

Here's the document from Pastor Shawn explaining a bit about our Communion Reformation. Communion Reformation 09

Quotes from "Blue Like Jazz"

Here are a couple of the quotes I referenced from Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz:

"Living in community made me realize one of my faults: I was addicted to myself. All I thought about was myself. The only think I really cared about was myself. I had very little concept of love, altruism, or sacrifice. I discovered that my mind is like a radio that picks up only one station, the one that plays me: K-DON, all Don, all the time."

*****

"It's like in that movie About a Boy where Nick Horby's chief character, played by Hugh Grant, believes that life is a play about himself, that all other characters are only acting minor roles in a story that centers around him. My life felt like that. Life was a story about me because I was in every scene. In fact, I was the only one in every scene. I was everywhere I went. If somebody walked into my scene, it would frustrate me because they were disrupting the general theme of the play, namely my comfort or glory. Other people were flat characters in my movie, lifeless characters. Sometimes I would have scenes with them, dialogue, and they would speak their lines, and I would speak mine. But the movie, the grand movie stretching from Adam to the Antichrist, was about me. I wouldn't have told you that at the time, but that is the way I lived."

*****

"The most difficult lie I have ever contended with is this: Life is a story about me."

*****

"No rut in the mid is so deep as the one that says I am the world, the world belongs to me, all people are characters in my play. There is no addiction so powerful as self-addiction."

Session #5: The Fall & The Bad News of Christianity

Lesson 5 (the Bad News)

Our problem in evangelism...

"Our problem in evangelism is not that we don't have enough information--it is that we don't know how to be ourselves. We forget we are called to be witnesses to what we have seen and know, not to what we don't know. The key is authenticity and obedience, not a doctorate in theology. We haven't grasped that it really is okay for us to be who we are, when we are with non-Christians, even if we don't have all the answers to their questions or if our knowledge of Scripture is limited."

Rebecca Manley Pippert
Out of the Salt-shaker & into the World

Session #4: The Fall

Lesson 4 (the Fall)

Not the Way It's Supposed to Be

We've made reference to a book by Cornelius Plantinga entitled, Not the Way It's Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin. Here's a link to it on Amazon.ca.

Good article on calling & vocation

During our class on vocation, I referenced an article by Gene Edward Veith in which he said, "'Justification by faith alone'is surely the most important contribution of the Reformation. The second most important, arguably, is the 'doctrine of vocation.'"

Here's a link to that article. Enjoy!

Greg Koukl in Calgary this weekend....

Hey Folks,

I wanted to let you know that Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason will be in Calgary this weekend. Greg is an international speaker & talk show host specializing in defending the faith. He is also the author of Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions. Faith Beyond Reason is sponsoring a series of talks, training workshops & a debate at the University of Calgary this weekend.

Here is a listing of the weekend's activities:

Friday, October 23rd, 2009
“Is it Intolerant to Say Jesus is the Only Way?”
Mount Royal University - Jenkins Theatre
(9 am – 11 am)
Greg Koukl will speak to students at Mount Royal University about the claim that it is intolerant to say only one religious view is right. But Greg points out that not all religious claims can be true because they contradict each other.He also points out that religion can’t just be based on how it makes us feelbut whether or not it is true. Community members are also welcome.

.....

Friday, October 23rd, 2009
“Ambassadors for Christ: Why Christians Need to have a Faith Beyond Belief”
Clergy and Ministry Workers’ Lunch
(12 pm – 2:30 pm)
Greg Koukl will speak to clergy and ministry workers about the unique challenges and opportunities in reaching our postmodern generation. As a former pastor,Greg will delve into what church workers in particular need to do to equip their congregations to be good ambassadors for the kingdom of God.

.....

Friday, October 23rd, 2009
“Ice Cream is not Insulin”
A Youth Event
(7 pm – 10 pm)
This event is geared towards, youth, youth pastors and parents to help them understand what kind of culture youth are dealing with. Greg will examine how we can help young people embrace the truth of the gospel.

.....

Saturday, October 24th, 2009
Ambassador Training Sessions
(9 am – 2:30 pm)
A detailed and informative way to learn about the Christian worldview and how to defend that view in our culture. Christians will be trained to be good ambassadors for Christ: equipped with the right knowledge, trained to share that knowledge wisely and challenged to embody the right character.

.....

Saturday, October 24th, 2009
“Do moral truths exist?”
Rm. ICT 102 , University of Calgary
(7 pm – 10 pm)
Join Greg as he debates Prof. John Baker, a philosophy professor from U of Calgary. This event is co-sponsored by the U of Calgary Freethinkers. For more details check out: www.calgarydebate.ca

.....

Sunday, October 25th, 2009
Full Gospel Tabernacle Sunday AM service
(10 am – 12 pm)
Join our host church's Sunday morning service. Greg Koukl's talk will be part of a series at the church on how Christians can defend and articulate their faith.

.....

Sunday, October 25th, 2009
“Where do we go from here?”
Sunday Volunteer Lunch
(12:30 pm – 3 pm)
After hearing Greg Koukl speak during the weekend, we'll challenge volunteers and others about what we should do locally to help create Christian ambassadors.
Hosted by Faith Builder International Church
Calgary Saddle Ridge Community Hall 7614 - 42nd Street NE.

.....

*Note: All events will be held at the Full Gospel Tabernacle, unless otherwise indicated.
Events are free but a free-will offering will be taken.

Full Gospel Tabernacle
155 Falconridge Cres NE, Calgary, Alberta T3J 1Z9
fullgospeltabernacle.org Let me know if you plan on making any of the activities. I will be at some of them and would love to connect with you if you are going.

Session #3: Vocation

Understanding My Story in Light of God's Story
Part II: Vocation
Lesson 3 Vocation)

Session #2: Creation

Understanding My Story in Light of God's Story
Part 1: Creation
Lesson 2 (Creation & Vocation)

Three Cheers for Apatheism???

In our class, we mentioned that everyone is engaged in evangelism, even when they would adamantly insist that they were not. Here's a link to the article we mentioned in our class by Jonathan Rauch entitled, "Let It Be: Three Cheers for Apatheism." He writes,

It came to me recently in a blinding vision that I am an apatheist. Well, "blinding vision" may be an overstatement. "Wine-induced haze" might be more strictly accurate. This was after a couple of glasses of merlot, when someone asked me about my religion. "Atheist," I was about to say, but I stopped myself. "I used to call myself an atheist," I said, "and I still don't believe in God, but the larger truth is that it has been years since I really cared one way or another. I'm" -- that was when it hit me -- "an ... apatheist!"

And so he started on his crusade to convert the world to apatheism.

Read the article, and then reflect on these questions...

• The author writes, "...apatheism is an attitude, not a belief system." Do you buy that? What if the Christian were to tell him that 'Christianity is an attitude, not a belief system'?
  
  
• Note how the author is anything but apathetic when it comes to religious belief. He not only states his personal beliefs, but contends that the world would be a better place if everyone converted to his belief system: "I BELIEVE that the rise of apatheism is to be celebrated as nothing less than a major civilizational advance....best of all would be a world generously leavened with apatheists"
  
  
• And what do you make of his contention that many Christians are closet apatheists?

  I have Christian friends who organize their lives around an intense and personal relationship with God, but who betray no sign of caring that I am an unrepentantly atheistic Jewish homosexual. They are exponents, at least, of the second, more important part of apatheism: the part that doesn't mind what other people think about God

And here's one more example that I critiqued on my own blog.

Session #1: The Great Commission

The Great Commission:
What's That Got To Do With Us?
Lesson 1 (Jesus, The Kingdom, And US)