Easter Sunday

Hallelujah Christ has risen!

Life after death. God is great.  God anthropormorphized, sent his Son Jesus.  Jesus was born in Bethlehem, escaped to Egypt  when King Herod was killing children. His birth was prophesied, espicially by Isaiah.  Wise men from the East, one from Ethiopia, came to celebrate his birth.  Miracles and awe. 

His father was a carpenter and he learned the carpenter trade. As a boy on return to Israel he debated with the learned men of his day and was clearly a gifted genius with profound depth and insight. His first miracle was to turn water into wine.  He was loving and kind.  In his 20’s he began to teach with knowledge of scripture that amazed the learned men of the day. He debated the most powerful. He was a threat to the status quo. He collected disciples, 12, fishermen and other working men, who followed him and who he taught. He cured the sick. He cast out demons which to the best of our understanding today would be curing mental illness.  His specialties were dermatology, ophthalmology and psychiatry. 

He was inclusive of all humans denying caste or outsider.  He appeared to know his personal future. He had a Last Supper with his disciples. He said the bread was his body and the wine was his blood and that human sacrifice must end as he was the last, freely given.  He would right the error of the world.  The error of the world was that it denied God and denied the spiritual nature of reality.  His message was Love. 

He said all Scripture could be summed up , Love God and  Love thy neighbour as thyself.  The government, local and international of the day, crucified him ,based on false allegation and lies.  His disciple Judas betrayed him for money.  Given the last chance to free a man, the people chose to free a warrior revolutionary rather than a peaceful man of God.  He said that if one accepted him he would be saved.  To be saved was to go directly to heaven. No hell. No purgatory. No lost soul. No ghost existence.  From this life to heaven.  

There were two other men being crucified. One was saved. Repenting, or acknowledging their error of thought,  ie putting their faith in the material world rather than the spiritual, he changed and accepted Jesus. 

 “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” Jesus said on the cross.  “Why God have you forsaken me?’  “It is done.”  

He was buried in a tomb and the women came to find the stone moved from the tomb.  An angel, gleaming white, told them he was gone.  The ladies went to tell the disciples.  Jesus met them in life one after another. Resurrected. He showed them the wounds on his hands. feet and side. Even doubting Thomas who would go on to lead the church of the Middle East and to India accepted the evidence.   Jesus rose into heaven.  

He had done miracles on earth, the loaves and fishes, healing lepers, curing the blind.  Now he had overcome death. He’d already saved a Centurion’s son and resurrected Lazarus. Now he was himself alive despite everyone seeing his death.  He had further told them what would occur.  It was as Isaiah had prophesied. He said he did this all for his father’s sake, that men would know God.  

The story of the life of Jesus was told in the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. 

Now the disciples went forth and carried this message of Love to the world.  Love and Truth.  As Christians we celebrate Easter Sunday as the day of Resurrection. 

Hallelujah! Christ is risen!  

CMDS 2017 - True Treasure, living gospel values in the medical community and culture at large, Pastor Dan MacDonald

Pastor Dan Macdonald: True Treasure , living gospel values in the medical community and culture at large

{I arrived late and missed the song that preceded this first plenary session of the day. I did however join near the end and heard the whole question and answer period, taking these brief notes to capture a sense of what the talk was on. I think this gives a taste of what goes on here.  I’ve been coming to Christian Medical and Dental Society Meetings for a number of years and as well as leading clinicians it’s not uncommon for pastors to be speakers.  Pastor Dan MacDonald was a lawyer before he went on to do a Masters of Divinity.  He is now senior pastor at Grace Toronto Church. He is an astute observer and outstanding speaker and obviously very spiritually blessed and devoted to his service.   (I had work to complete this morning then I walked from my hotel to this hotel , the long way, through Toronto of my childhood, a beautiful city, the financial and art districts. I lost track of time so enjoyed the walk and the beauty of this city.)}

How many of you are too busy?(All hands go up)How many of you are not busy?(5)
Your culture demands that doctor’s be busy.Our culture demands that a carpenter be busy.But demands a doctor be much more busy.
Referee for yourself.
When I looked at my own business and how I was building a practice,I saw that I was working more hours for more money and materialism was at the base of it.Ask about the spiritual principles
I know why I’m busy.I have an idol of respect and I want respect so do more work to get more respectI work in field of judges, lawyers, professionals all of who are busy
Ask yourself about your business? Is this what nurtures yourself spiritually as a Christian.

Persecution?Is it wrong to pray for persecution to go away.No But that was not all.In the New Testament they fled persecution.They had fear in Jerusalem and fled and spread the gospel.
Cultural ShiftShift away from Judea  Christian beliefs.All the old traditional culture believes are being denounced.The new academics are being turned to instead of the judges, lawyers, bankers and now doctors.
Technology is changing the worldNew arguments of medicine will be whether someone’s 30% machine is true.
As Christians we need to get together in the medical world and decide how we may face this new culture in a godly way.
Pessimism - feeling nothing we do can make a difference?
You are going to have to navigate the doctor patient relationship.Your fiduciary relationship with patients is not our mission fieldYour colleagues may be
When you you obey God and practice civil disobedience?When the culture asks you to sin, you obey God.When your culture asks you to kill babies you obey GodWhen your culture asks you to murder, you obey God.
Civil Disobedience needs to be more than doctors, engage your pastors and Christiens.There is a community that is being discriminated against.In Alabama the whole community marched.The Gay community enlisted the larger community The Jews came together.
We as Christians have been very bad at this Because we’ve been living in the remnants of the Judea Christian cultureWe Have not realized we are in a post Christian environmentWe need to learn in a Post Christian community what the Jews learned, the Gays learned, the Blacks learned, that we need solidarity
Ask for the courage to bear up under persecution.
Get your church involved in advocacy.
WitnessHow do you prepare yourselfWell I ask , how did you prepare to be doctorsYou readStart with water cooler advocacy Read “Reason for God”You don’t need the high level Christian apologeticsYou need to have ‘water cooler answers’  really simple well thought out books
Moving from comfortable pew Christianity to activists.
We must learn the courage to speak boldly.
I say there is no room in Christianity for complacency.If you think so then REPENT.
We have false gods-sex, power, status,
God is sovereign. The more people who share their faith the more people come to God.It’s numerical.
You sow where you are. You will reap there.
The guys who want you to be a good Jewish doctor will talk to you. They won’t talk to meYou can influence them. You can talk to them. Introduce them to Jesus.
I was a lawyer, I influenced a court clerk I worked with as a young doctor.

"I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief"

“Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid.  I asked our disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not."
“O unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “How long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?  Bring the boy to me”
“So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion.  He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.
Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”
“From childhood,” he answered.  “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him.  But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us."
“If you can?” said Jesus, “Everything is possible for him who believes."
Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief."
When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit, “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”
The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.”  But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.
After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?"
He replied,”This kind can come out only by prayer."
NIV  Study Bible,  Mark 18-29
I often think of mentors and what they have told me would make my life better or help me in my daily life.  Many have told me over the years the importance of daily reading off the Bible.  Dr. Willi Gutowski showed me this when I stayed with his family.  We were in the tropical paradise of Saipan. I had breakfast with his wife and he.  And daily at breakfast he read a passage from the Bible.  It had been a lifelong activity that had done him well.  Willi and Anita have all the outward success of human existence, loving family, love for each other, long history of work and service for others, as well as abundance.
It’s one thing to hear about things. It’s another to see them.  I loved reading Dr. Paul Johnson’s, “Intellectuals’ cause it showed so well the hypocrisy that is common in the world.  Dr. Carl Ridd, my early university Bible teacher lived a special life of a special man. I knew him in and out of the classroom and would that I knew him better. I counted it as a true blessing that this man took at interest in me in my twenties and kept in touch with me for nearly 20 years.  Not only did he teach me to read the Bible as great literature he introduced me to one of the greatest writings of the 20th century, Brothers Karamsov by Dostoyevsky.
There is little talk of morality today.  There is so much propaganda and knee jerk cowardly ‘consensus’ thinking. The herd instincts run strong. The goose step has returned. There is little independent thinking.  Yet people struggle on with leaders who are known more for their lies than their contributions.  It was not always such.  Individuals I have known decided their actions based less on narcissism or consumerism and more on right and wrong.
Dr. James Houston taught me to read the Bible as well. He was especially fond of Psalms.  He wrote a seminal work on Prayer but his main thrust was to ask about the person one was and wanted to be.  He used words like purpose, person, and meaning. He loved the inner world of the mystical saints of Christendom.  He was a gentleman and a wise man.  To him him and his wife together was to know love that had lasted long and run deep.  He now speaks so highly of his son but still revels in his work of teaching.
So I open my Bible and read this passage today.  Some say Mark is the oldest gospel record of the life of Jesus.  There are 4 Gospels and they are witness accounts of the life of Jesus. They’re followed by the Acts which tell of his disciples after Jesus is crucified by the authorities.  Then St. Paul, the Hebrew persecutor of the Christians is converted and joins with Peter and the others teaching the “Good News”.  For Good News is what Gospel means.  It was a story of personal relationship with God and that God was first and foremost love. Jesus taught that all the laws was to be understood in the key which was ,  love God and love your neighbour as yourself.
Reading this passage in Mark, I was touched by the phrase , “Oh unbelieving generation.”  Dr. Scott Peck believes this world is a kindergarten. We are hear to learn most that we must harness our thoughts and learn to focus them on loving rather than on fear and resentment.  I think an unbelieving generation isn’t limited to the time of Jesus in history but refers to this life.  The reason is simply that this generation, the one I am living in, seems so much and “unbelieving generation’.  But even there I know I must believe in this generation.  I feel for the human frustration of Jesus though.
And the father’s “If you can” resonated so well with my own approach to life, and belief and action.  “if you can’.  It’s all the little provisos.  It’s all the little legalisms that I myself couch my statements in and limit my belief with.  I’m like the father.  I’ve had Gilbert’s back to heal directly in my home and I’ve watched my own ‘tentative’ healing work.  I’m always saying ‘thy will be done’ not so much as to give credit to God but to create a back door if my own prayer and belief don’t work.
I hated that so called Christian song, “Even if the healing doesn’t come’ because it was itself negative.
Now I don’t want to be pollyanna. I know "if I have the faith of a mustard seed I can move a mountain."
Jesus says here, “Everything is possible to him who believes’.
But this passage hits it squarely with the father’s timeless statement that spoke to the very centre of my being.
“I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief”.  Now that could be tattooed on my forehead it is so me.
“I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief.”  That will be my prayer today.  “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief."
Then I like the casting out of the ‘evil spirit”.
“You deaf and dumb spirit.  I command you come out of him and never enter him again.”
I must remember this and say it over and over again in my mind in my day.  It has the feeling of the formulaic.
And I like the mystery of the final statement he makes to the disciples when they ask why they failed, “This kind can come out only by prayer”.  No doubt the disciples prayed. I certainly pray.  Yet there is something deep and meaningful in this simple sentence which speaks to the whole of the gospel.  “this kind can come out only by prayer.”
Oh well, now I must go to work and hopefully I’ll think of this all through my day, I want to walk in the light.  I want to know the joy that comes with know Jesus. I want to fill my day with service.  But most importantly “I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief"
“Because everything is possible to him who believes."

Ballet BC - Elton John

Tonight's ballet was a one in a million.  Emilene Molnar, artistic director of Ballet BC, welcomed Alberta Ballet to Vancouver. "Love Lies Bleeding"choreography and libretto by Jean Claude Maitre , featuring music of Sir Elton John and Bernie Taupin was a resounding success. Costume Design by Martine Bertrand was way over the top, just the way Elton would have liked it. Set design by Guaillame Lord was equally spectacular.  With all the glitz, verve and downright sexy show biz, the incredible form and style of the impressive dancers still shone through. "Rocket Man" was my favourite but then I've loved always loved the song. The  choreography and starlit dance  added a whole new dimension to my appreciation of the genius of Elton John and Taupin.  I'm sure the pas de dieux of two men was the most elegant I've seen in modern ballet.  I was almost in tears at the performance of "Someone saved my life tonight" It's a show not to miss. Packed audience tonight but another night to go with a few seats left.

http://www.balletbc.com/loveliesbleeding.html