71 minute read
MB Herald Digest | december 2023
More than sixty years of sharing the life & story of the Mennonite Brethren in Canada
Thinking anew about a yuletide posture
By Rev. Philip A. Gunther
VOLUME 62, NO. 12
CCMBC EXECUTIVE BOARD APPOINTS NATIONAL DIRECTOR
A SEASON OF TRUSTING GOD WITH OUR BROKENNESS
WHY AREN’T CANADIANS LISTENING TO CLERGY?
Mennonite Brethren Herald Digest is digitally published monthly by the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches, primarily for the use of its members, to build a Canadian MB community of faith.
We seek to 1) share the life and story of the church by nurturing relationships among members and engaging in dialogue and reflection; 2) teach and equip for ministry by reflecting MB theology, values, and heritage, and by sharing the good news; 3) enable communication by serving conference ministries and informing our members about the church and the world.
However, the opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of the church as a whole.
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ISSN: 0025-9349
The Mennonite Brethren Herald is a publication of Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches
Contents:
The voice of the MB Church in Canada
Carson Samson
CCMBC Executive Board appoints national director
An update from MCC in Palestine-Israel
Thinking anew about a yuletide Posture
Philip A. Gunther
Why aren't Canadians listening to Christian leaders?
Sam Reimer
From the editor
IN DARKNESS, WE WAIT
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:5
I hate waiting; I'm so impatient. As a kid, as Christmas drew near, I would snoop in every closet and under the beds, looking for my gifts. Most years, I knew what I was getting before the big day arrived. Sorry Mom, but it's true. The cat's out of the bag.
If only life were that simple now. Do you also look back and pine for simpler times? We all do. The past is safe—we've been there and done that. The present is hard—the most difficult place to live is now. The future for some means hope, but it is clouded for more than a few of us. We can't snoop around the corner to see what's in store for us to curb the anxiety.
And the darkness closes in day by day. Tens of thousands of lives have been lost since Israeli and Palestinian forces collided over Gaza on October 7. The Russia/Ukraine conflict wages on. Violence encircles the globe. If ever the world needed a Saviour, it's now.
We have been assured that the Messiah, who came to Earth as a childking, will return. Oh, how we long for that day. We can comfort ourselves by knowing that the Prince of Peace is on the way; he will return. In this issue's Advent feature, Phil Gunther says, "Ponder deeply the waiting of those who heard the prophecy of a coming Messiah. Their waiting was anchored to hope that God was about to do a new thing, a restorative, redeeming work. They waited for the revelation of a divinely wrought peace and joy. This hope yet to be fulfilled was worth waiting for."
We can be assured that Jesus is no stranger to the human heart. Says Leanne Janzen, "He knew a life of homelessness and relied on others' benevolence. He understands the grief of betrayal from his closest friends, of being mocked and harrassed. And of course he knows physical pain and the burden and consequence of our sin."
The Saviour of the World comes to save each one of us: the sinner, the afflicted, the anxious, the rich and the poor. And so, in the darkness, we wait. Come Lord Jesus, come.
May you find peace this Christmas,
Carson Samson
Communications Director
THE VOICE OF THE MB CHURCH IN CANADA
In black print on the cover of every issue of MB Herald Digest, you'll see, "More than sixty years of sharing the life & story of the Mennonite Brethren in Canada." Sixty-two years by my count, but don't take my word for it, by most accounts, I'm still new here.
In 2018, I joined the CCMBC communications team, and in that short time, so much has changed. Except for one thing: we remain the voice of the MB Church in Canada. In prosperous times and lean times, through harmony and discord, we strive to tell the story of the MB Church, hoping to unite us around a shared vision and experiences. We're in this together, no?
After five years in this role, I can reassess and take stock of where we've been and where we need to go. Partly, this is forced upon me. Some of you will know we are undergoing personnel changes. If you're not yet in the know, flip the page to our announcement of a new leader. Long-time staff members Elton DaSilva and Kara Friesen have moved on to positions outside of CCMBC, and we welcome Communications Assistant Leanne Janzen to our small team. As the adage goes, the only constant is change.
As 2024 approaches, we plan to bring storytelling to the forefront and discover new ways to share your life and story with others. We've been asking big questions:
Are our chosen platforms and models the right ones? Are they accessible to the full spectrum of readers?
What new platforms can we leverage?
What stories have we yet to uncover?
Why are we calling our magazine a Digest? We're publishing as many or more pages than we did back in our heyday.
We know that some things need to change to answer these questions and accomplish our mission effectively. We want to do more and do better, but there are financial and time limitations.
One immediate change we plan to make is to reduce the number of issues we send out in this "Digest" format from 12 to 6. We will publish in February and every two months after. At the end of 2024, we will reevaluate this model. I know "reduce" is not a well-liked word in this context. At first glance, it goes against everything laid out above.
The most common question we receive from readers is when we will return to the monthly printed format. I'm sorry, friends, I don't have an answer, but I suspect it may never happen. Only if we find ourselves in a very different place financially will we be able to return to that model. I empathize with those who still feel this loss. We feel that loss, too.
Here's another question: is MB Herald just a magazine?
We say no. So, we push ourselves to think outside the pages. Here are a few ways we plan to do this:
Taking a proactive approach to connecting with MBs and telling their stories
Leveraging our website and posting more frequently
Utilizing video and audio
Relaunching our long-hibernating podcast
Taking a more active role in online/social engagement
More effectively meeting the needs of our partners so that we can better tell their stories
Much of our current time is spent on the nuts and bolts of the design and layout of the digital magazine. We value this vehicle and wish to uphold our high presentation and content standards. The reduced publication schedule is required to maintain this and create the margin for all we hope to do. We don't assume this next phase will be seamless, and we are sure to experience growing pains. We also ask that you be patient and join us on this journey.
Please send your feedback, ideas and suggestions to me at carson.samson@mbchurches.ca.
We're in this together!
Carson Samson
Communications Director
CCMBC EXECUTIVE BOARD APPOINTS NATIONAL DIRECTOR
By unanimous decision of the CCMBC Executive Board, Cam Stuart has been appointed National Director for the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches. Cam is the Lead Pastor of Arnold Church in British Columbia and has been on the CCMBC Executive Board for several years, serving as Assistant Moderator and Interim Moderator since January of 2023.
Search team chair Michael Dick says, "Cam's three decades of pastoral leadership in our Conference, his knowledge of our national vision and ministries, as well as his doctoral research, which focused on developing healthy disciple-making church cultures and strategies for our local churches, make him an ideal candidate to lead our Conference effectively in the years to come."
Cam will complete his pastoral ministry at Arnold Church early in the New Year. He will assume the National Director role after a personal sabbatical on April 15, 2024.
NEW COMMUNICATION ASSISTANT JOINS THE CCMBC STAFF TEAM
CCMBC welcomes Leanne Janzen, who joined Liam Bull and Carson Samson on the communications team on November 14, 2023. Communications and Content Management Coordinator Holly Hannigan is on maternity leave until Summer 2024. Leanne will serve as a communications assistant, regular contributor, and editor to the Herald.
Leanne and her husband Michael Anderson live in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and attend Faith River Christian Fellowship where Michael serves as pastor. They have three children.
Leanne is an experienced writer, editor and content creator and has previously worked with Power to Change/Family Life Canada and Converge Media. She will be on staff in a part-time remote capacity.
Send story ideas to Leanne at leanne.janzen@mbchurches.ca
Need help subscribing to the online digest?
Email us at mbherald@ mbchurches.ca, or call 1-888-669-6575 and ask for Carson or Liam.
The Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches (CCMBC) seeks a full-time Executive Assistant based in Abbotsford, BC, or Winnipeg, Man. Reporting to the National Director, the Executive Assistant provides administrative support to the National Director, the CCMBC Executive Board, the National Ministry Team, the National Faith and Life Team, and CCMBC events.
Visit jobs.mbherald.com for the full posting with the role description.
CCMBC Legacy Fund Inc. (Legacy) is seeking a permanent, fulltime Accounting Analyst to join our team at our head office in Winnipeg. We offer competitive remuneration and a comprehensive benefits package including group health insurance and matching pension contributions.
Visit jobs.mbherald.com for the full posting with the role description.
CCMBC Legacy Fund is seeking a Controller to join their team at their head office in Winnipeg. Primary responsibilities include leading and overseeing the activities of the Accounting department, handling financial reporting, budgeting, and internal controls, and spearheading automation projects of the Finance department and other process enhancement initiatives.
Visit jobs.mbherald.com for the full posting with the role description.
Also visit nelsonandkraft.com for more information on this position.
BY LEANNE JANZEN
Our oldest daughter was born in November, one month after moving to a new city. Though I was overjoyed she was finally here, I also felt isolated, depressed and in constant fear I would somehow break her. So as I heard the familiar story of Jesus’ birth throughout the season of Advent that year, I felt like I experienced it for the first time.
I thought about how anxious Mary must have been on the journey to Bethlehem, praying she wouldn’t give birth on the side of the road. And the despair she and Joseph must have felt when they realized there wasn’t even a place for them to stay when they arrived. And then, after the baby was born (which is terrifying enough in a hospital, I can’t imagine what it was like in a barn), feeling overwhelmed by a visit from strangers in the middle of the night—a pack of shepherds, no less. I took great comfort in knowing Jesus’ world included anxious, sleep-deprived and overwhelmed parents.
Anxious, weary, in despair, overwhelmed. How these feelings clash with the coziness, comfort and security we usually associate with Christmas.
Our culture loves to loudly celebrate the season. Flashing lights and brass bands declare it to be the most wonderful time of the year. Extravagance is encouraged and busy-ness is a state of being. Our expectations are high for the holidays: for giving and receiving the perfect gifts, for peace in our homes, for feeling loved.
Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. And he is at home with suffering
But Christmas isn’t always so merry. In fact, the season often highlights our brokenness. We may be experiencing debilitating grief due to the loss of a family member. Or be acutely aware of our singleness. Our physical or mental health may be deteriorating. We may feel swallowed up by our own economic reality. Our hearts may be shattered by helplessness as we think about the conflict in Gaza or Ukraine.
These feelings of sadness and anxiety are heightened when happiness seems like the only acceptable emotion.
Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. And he is at home with suffering—not only in his death but in his life. In his early years, his family fled King Herod’s murderous tyranny and lived as refugees in Egypt. During his ministry, he knew a life of homelessness and relied on others’ benevolence. He understands the grief of betrayal from his closest friends, of being mocked and harrassed. And of course he knows physical pain and the burden and consequence of our sin.
The amazing thing is that he’s not done with suffering. Even though he lived his life as a servant (Philippians 2:7), he literally wants us to unload on him:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
What an incredible God we serve. He suffers with us, he suffers for us. He wants us to trust him with our pain.
Advent requires us to remember back: to that incredible day when heaven came down, when Jesus entered our fragmented domain. But it also requires us to remember forward: to yearn for the day when God will live among us again, when “‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
Leanne Janzen lives in Saskatoon, SK and is a member of Faith River Christian Fellowship.
“It’s very grim”
An update from MCC in Palestine-Israel
“If something isn’t done quickly and aid is not let in, at the very bare minimum, you’re looking at … unacceptable growth in death toll,” says Seth Malone. Malone and his wife Sarah Funkhouser are MCC representatives for Jordan, Palestine and Israel. They gave an update on November 9, 2023 from Amman, Jordan. Prior to the invasion, they were in East Jerusalem in the neighbourhood of Beit Hanina (about 100 kilometers from Gaza).
Though MCC has significant material resources, Malone and Funkhouser state that if any relief kits were sent to Gaza, they would be picked apart and opened at the border under the guise of security.
“They are not letting aid in. There’s nothing left in Gaza,” says Malone.
“The death toll as of today is around 10,500 in Gaza, primarily attributed to the bombing,” says Funkhouser. Because Israel controls all supplies coming into Gaza, she says, there are serious risks of starvation, extreme dehydration and spread of infection due to unclean drinking water and lack of medical supplies. Hospitals are not being provided with fuel or medications.
“When you think about all these other effects, the risk of that death toll skyrocketing because of all these other issues, it’s very grim.”
MCC continues to partner with other organizations to provide humanitarian relief in the region. One partner, Al-Najd Developmental Forum (NDF) offered food baskets as well as non-food items to 250 families in northern Gaza (approximately 3,000 people in total).
NDF was also able to distribute bedding to affected families through a brand new building owned by the Orthodox Church. However this operation was short-lived. “We got the pictures of the distributions [on] one day and then the next day, we
hear that the centre was bombed. We don’t think anyone was killed…. It’s really hard to see when you get the [before] pictures and then you get the after. It’s really hard,” says Malone.
Funkhouser and Malone are also in contact with Near East Council of Churches (NECC) and MCC has been a longtime supporter of its vocational training program. Many families were taking shelter in one of the three churches in Gaza, and NECC was able to provide food for people who were sheltering there. However the compound was significantly damaged by an Israeli missile strike on October 19.
“Quite a number of people have died [as a result of the strike]. The Christian population in Palestine as a whole is extremely small, about one to two percent of the population…. It felt like just about everybody knew someone who was taking shelter in the church…. we have not been able to do any kind of response with NECC of course, after that happened,” Funkhouser says.
Their third partner is Culture and Free Thought Association (CFTA). MCC recently approved a plan to distribute cash transfers for 100 households (800 people) that are sheltering in Khan Younis. Because supplies are so limited, cash transfers can provide families with resources to be able to buy what is available, which hopefully sustains them until more aid is provided. Prior to the invasion, MCC supported CFTA’s trauma healing program for children and youth.
Malone and Funkhouser say the biggest need in Gaza is a ceasefire. “After a ceasefire, we must find a new, different, better way forward for peace,” says Funkhouser.
“The status quo was not good,” Malone says. “The status quo was that every few years Gaza would be bombed. And then every few years, we would rebuild Gaza. And then it would get bombed. The policy was called mowing down…. That is not peace—the absence of violence is not peace. When we talk about a just peace, this means that both peoples, whoever is living on the land, has the same rights. Everyone has the right to safety. Everyone has the right to self determination. Everyone has the right to live their lives at peace.”
Written with files from Mennonite Central Committee. Photo courtesy of Al-Najd Developmental Forum.
For more information on MCC’s response in Palestine-Israel and how to support their work, visit:
Humanitarian Coalition MCC (through their membership in Canadian Foodgrains Bank) is appealing for this disaster in partnership with the Humanitarian Coalition. The Humanitarian Coalition is a group of leading humanitarian organizations in Canada, including CFGB, that appeal together during a crisis.
MCC plans relief, advocates for just peace in Palestine and Israel
Q&R corner provides responses to questions that readers may have about CCMBC and its work collaborating with provincial MB conferences in areas of spiritual health and theology, leadership development, mission, and organizational health in order to achieve the overall mission: “To cultivate a community and culture of healthy disciple-making churches and ministries, faithfully joining Jesus in his mission.” If you would like to contribute a question, please send it to questions@mbchurches.ca
Please note that we will not be using your name in the MB Herald Digest in order to respect those who prefer anonymity. There may not be space to respond to every question—and sometimes we might not really have the ability or authority to respond to some questions (for example, those that relate more directly to one of our provincial MB conferences or to a local church leadership). We apologize in advance if we are unable to publish a response to your specific question.
1. I AM AWARE OF A FAMILY WITH A TRANS CHILD WHO HAS BEEN IN AN MB CHURCH FOR A VERY LONG TIME BUT WERE STRUGGLING WITH WHETHER THEY SHOULD STAY IN THAT CHURCH. THE LAST STRAW FOR THEM WAS IAIN PROVAN BEING INVITED TO SPEAK AT EQUIP. HOW DO YOU FEEL KNOWING THIS FAMILY HAS NOW LEFT THE MB CONFERENCE BECAUSE OF HOW PROVAN CONSIDERS THEM TO BE DANGEROUS TO THE CHURCH?
2. SOMEONE ASKED ME A QUESTION THE OTHER DAY: DO THOSE WHO WANT CERTAIN MB CHURCHES OUT OF THE CONFERENCE CONSIDER THEM TO BE CHRISTIANS? THAT IS, DO THEY THINK PEOPLE IN THESE CHURCHES WILL BE IN HEAVEN WHEN WE ALL GET THERE? AND IF WE CAN EAT TOGETHER AT THE GREAT SUPPER OF THE LAMB IN HEAVEN, WHY CAN’T WE EAT TOGETHER HERE IN ON EARTH AS MEMBERS OF THE SAME DENOMINATION? J.
Thanks, J., for these two questions. I will try to explore them one at a time.
Question #1. Since your question refers to a family who has been part of our MB community for a long time and now has left, I want to express sadness for this loss to them as a family and their church as they both process saying goodbye. I hope that this family finds a positive spiritual home where they can serve and be ministered to.
But your question is specifically about how I and others responsible for Equip 2023 feel “knowing this family has left the MB conference because of how Provan considers them to be dangerous to the church?” There are several parts to my response:
Over any weekend across our Canadian family of local MB churches, there are individuals from other denominational churches who are coming to one of our MB churches for the first time. Some are leaving their former churches for all sorts of reasons to explore whether an MB church might become their new spiritual home. And of course, individuals are going in the other direction—and some, worst of all, are leaving churches with no intention of landing in any church community at all. The reasons for moving churches and denominations could be for significant theological or ethical reasons, for less weighty reasons (e.g., an absence of program options, a dislike of the shared service or preaching), or because of personal disappointment or relational pain.
Every decision that a local church makes concerning mission, vision, personnel, and program carries the risk of being the “last straw” that leads an individual or a family to leave. While all church leaders want to avoid this and are saddened when people leave, I don’t think that we can be driven by this fear—and even if we try to avoid every risk—it will still happen.
When it came to our planning for Equip 2023, inviting a speaker to address why healthy local churches need a biblical theology of sexual intimacy, birth sex, and gender expression certainly involved risk. Any speaker who addressed this question would undoubtedly produce fans and critics—and could easily be the last straw that would lead someone to leave our MB family. But refusing to address big questions being asked by our churches in order to avoid the possibility that some will find this a reason to leave, does not seem a great strategy either.
You have expressed that this family left specifically because of how Provan considers them to be dangerous to the church. If this is their reason, I respect that—but it is unfortunate that (what I would consider) false narratives have been passed around about what Provan is saying in his book Cuckoos in our Nest: Truth and Lies About Being Human (2023). Since Dr. Provan’s expertise as a biblical scholar is in the Old Testament, it is not surprising that the main part of his book describes a biblical theology of humanness largely based on the book of Genesis. He then explores what are some of the implications for ethics that this biblical theology has for Christians today (e.g., creation care, wealth, inclusion “in Christ,” education, etc.) before he finally addresses the metaphor that gives his book the title. Some varieties of the cuckoo species lay an egg in a nest made by another smaller bird who unknowingly nurtures it until it hatches. The baby cuckoo chick is fed by the surrogate parent, grows larger than the other hatchlings, and in some cases pushes them out of the nest altogether.
Provan uses this metaphor to suggest that the church is unwittingly welcoming, embracing, and feeding a number of “cuckoos” (not people but foreign ideas and philosophies) that are pushing out of the nest biblical theological ideas that should rightfully be there and need to be there for the faithful church to thrive. These foreign ideas are profoundly in conflict with a biblical theology of humanness yet we are letting them push out everything we believe (or have until now believed) that the Bible teaches us about being human.
Provan identifies some of these as the Follow the Science Cuckoo where science is given pride of place to tell us ultimate truths about who we are, why we are here, and what a meaningful life looks like, the Look Inside Yourself Cuckoo where we highlight truth as being found within ourselves based on what seems “natural” to us, and the Platonic Cuckoo where physical matter and physical bodies don’t really matter. I believe that Provan’s recommendation would be for church families to become much more aware of these benign-looking cultural ideas and recognize the serious threat that they are to displace our biblical theology and practice.
Now, while I do have some reservations about the metaphor of the “cuckoo” that Provan has chosen, I don’t believe that he intends us to start looking for individuals (or families) who need to be “kicked out of the nest.” (However, I do understand that some people could easily feel that this is what he is saying.)
Provan is doing what we would ask of any person trained in biblical studies—study Scripture carefully; help us understand what the Bible is saying about contentious topics today; and provide us with some sense of the relevance of this teaching for our churches today. Our task is to be a listening community that can test all of this together. (Table discussion groups were scheduled specifically to reflect and respond to Provan’s presentation at Equip.) While we might agree or disagree about the accuracy of Provan’s biblical theology of humanity, or his suggested applications for the church today, or about whether these cultural ideas (cuckoos) are as bad or foreign as he claims, nonetheless, he is doing in his book and his Equip presentation precisely what I would hope Christian scholars devote their time to in service to the church. He has provoked discussions about these questions across our national family. It is an important discussion to reflect on whether Christians who are changing their convictions about sexual intimacy, birth sex, and gender expression are changing because of finding new light in Scripture or whether they are changing because of having capitulated to foreign ideas that are so pervasive in our culture that they now seem to be natural and unquestionably right.
Question #2 is firstly about whether those who want certain MB churches out of the Conference consider the individuals in those churches to be Christians— and to “be in heaven when we all get there?” I cannot fully answer this question since I have not interviewed all the individuals in our various provincial conferences where this is happening—but I will do my best to answer it from my perspective.
I do not think there is any real benefit for us to judge groupings of individuals in a church around the question of whether they are or are not “Christians.” I am happy to leave that to the ultimate Judge who is both Love embodied, and King enthroned. However, within the category of “Christian” and those who self-identify as such, there are people at very different points on the spectrum of faithfulness to Jesus—and there are denominational groupings with very different understandings of what faithful Christian living looks like. So my first conclusion is that I would not recommend that we label as non-Christians those within (or formerly within) our MB church family with whom we disagree even if our disagreements are so significant that our shared denominational affiliation is at stake.
The real question is whether there ever comes a time when it is appropriate to “break fellowship” with other Christians—even when we are fully aware that there will be no breaking of fellowship among Christians in the new creation. All denominations exist today because of either their breaking of fellowship with the existing church or the existing church forcing them out. Anabaptism itself started way back in 1525 through breaking fellowship with other Christians, and our MB parents did the same in 1860. It seems that both groups did not deny the reality of the larger church’s Christian identity. If we assume that it is always inappropriate to break fellowship with other Christians, this should make all Christian denominational groupings question their very existence.
Every decision that a local church makes concerning mission, vision, personnel, and program carries the risk of being the “last straw” that leads an individual or a family to leave.
The New Testament does not directly address denominational separations, but it does seem to recommend the breaking of fellowship with individual Christians who have fallen into sin and even after careful process remain unwilling to pursue restoration (cf. Matt 18). New Testament church discipline is not firstly about declaring unrepentant members of the church to be non-Christians and then excluding them because of that but about the exclusion of unrepentant Christians with the hope that they will repent and return to full fellowship. While it is a difficult text, it might be that Paul is referring to this in 1 Corinthians 3:15 where a person’s “work” is burned up, but the person is saved “even though only as one escaping through the flames.”
So we have two situations where the breaking of fellowship with other Christians is not the ideal situation but a necessary reality. A denominational family today could advocate for the exclusion of a local church unwilling to live into what is understood as their shared convictions without claiming that the individuals in that local church are no longer Christians.
In conclusion, I don’t believe it is useful to question the Christian identity of those with whom we disagree. Instead, we should make every effort to maintain unity and live at peace with other Christians. However, this does not rule out as a last resort (and after much prayer and careful processing) the breaking of fellowship with a local congregation for moving away from covenantal obligations to the larger family.
Thanks again, J., for your challenging but important questions. I hope that this response will be helpful in some way.
Blessings and Shalom!
Ken Esau (National Faith & Life Director)
A journey into the Genesis creation account
PART 2:
THE DEATH OF THE GODS AND THE RISE OF SCIENCE
BY PIERRE GILBERT
The belief in the existence of supernatural powers that can be manipulated for one’s benefit is nearly as old as humanity itself. And for most of human history, men and women have feared those who claimed to have such powers.
Because such beliefs fundamentally distorted how humans were to relate to nature, they represented a critical threat to Israel’s survival as God’s people in the Promised Land. The Genesis creation account was, in great part, written to challenge the underlying worldview these beliefs reflected.
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (1) This simple sentence can best be compared to a cosmic divine “vacuum cleaner.” It represents a thundering declaration that freed human imagination of the multitude of divine entities that were believed to populate the universe.
For those who lived under the constant threat of hostile deities and desperately sought to gain some control over their destiny through magical incantations and rituals, the creation account’s opening sentence was earth shattering.
By draining the physical universe of its divine essence, this text annihilated the conceptual framework that made it possible to believe in magic. Magical rituals had no power in and of themselves. Magic was entirely contingent on the gods’ willingness to follow through on the various hopes and aspirations that triggered these appeals (fertility, protection, riches, love, etc.).
Although scholars have long held that ancient people believed that the effectiveness of magical incantations was contingent on the inherent power of the word, there is no evidence to support this assertion. Ancient NearEastern documents consistently link the efficacy of magical i ncantations, as well as curses and blessings to the intervention of the gods, not to some mysterious power of the spoken word.
By emptying the universe of its deities, the text annihilated the very existence of magical power and the possibility of manipulating it. By eliminating the gods, the text expunged nature of consciousness, thus proclaiming that a piece of wood is always and only a piece of wood, a most revolutionary concept that was, for example, at the very root of Isaiah’s sarcastic description of idols in Isaiah 44:13-19.
By erasing the very existence of the gods on whom the powers of magic depended, this text created the conditions that would eventually lead to the birth of empirical science.
Without the appearance of an authoritative text that challenges and undermines nature’s divine character, it is virtually impossible to conceive of a rigorous and fully developed scientific model. The reason for this is remarkably simple. To paraphrase the eminent French historian, Pierre Chaunu, you cannot investigate, analyze, or dissect what you worship and fear!
The creation account initiated a process of demythologization that characterized the physical universe as “object” rather than “subject.” In doing so, it set the stage for humanity to take its rightful place in the universe:
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground” (Gen. 1:26).
In the Mesopotamian worldview, nature was the seat of divine consciousness. As such it positioned nature at the top of the cosmic hierarchy and humanity at the bottom. In the creation account, the cosmic order is dramatically reversed. The physical universe is stripped of its divine consciousness thus allowing humans to take their proper place as self-determining agents and the creator’s co-rulers.
THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS AND GREEKS GAINED, FROM TIME TO TIME, GREAT INSIGHTS INTO THE NATURE OF REALITY, BUT THESE INSIGHTS NEVER LED TO THE COMPLETE ABANDONMENT OF IDOLATRY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF A FULLY INTEGRATED SCIENTIFIC MODEL.
Genesis 1 describes a world that is devoid of evil deities bent on disrupting human life. It is a world where nature and the divine are no longer one and the same. It describes a universe that ceases to be an object of worship and fear. Not only are the gods erased out of existence, the repeated allusions to the goodness of creation communicate that men and women live in a friendly universe.
By “friendly,” I do not mean to say that the universe is devoid of threats. Such a characterization would more properly denote the Garden of Eden, which was likely intended to function as an incubator for an emerging humanity. “Friendly” refers to an environment that is governed by predictable physical laws rather than hostile and unpredictable supernatural forces.
Without an authoritative declaration that radically challenges the deification of nature, it is nearly impossible to imagine, let alone propose, an alternative way of looking at reality. The ancient Egyptians and Greeks gained, from time to time, great insights into the nature of reality, but these insights never led to the complete abandonment of idolatry and the development of a fully integrated scientific model.
As a case in point, the Greek philosopher Aristarchus (ca. 310-230 BC) had, long before Copernicus, voiced the theory that the earth revolved around the sun. But because there was no broad cultural framework to receive and support his insight, Aristarchus’ discovery failed to give rise to the development of a scientific model. Such insights usually collapsed under the weight of the primitive worldview in which they emerged.
It was the Judeo-Christian tradition that in time provided the basic architecture for developing a worldview that could effectively support the scientific method. Astrophysicist and science historian, Christopher Kaiser, notes: “An operational faith in God as creator was a vital factor in the development of all branches of science until the late eighteenth century.” (2)
WHY DOES THIS MATTER?
First, as I demonstrate in “Further Reflections on Paul Hiebert’s ‘The Flaw of the Excluded Middle'”(3) for missionaries who work in traditional cultures, where belief in magic is often ubiquitous, direct exposure to the creation text may be, in the long run, the only effective way to bring about the transformation of the audience’s worldview.
Second, as Western culture becomes increasingly and rapidly post-Christian and more susceptible to adopting ways of thinking that may be more aptly described as precivilizational, a rediscovery of this magnificent text may offer an unexpected ray of light and hope in this encroaching darkness we find ourselves in.
PIERRE GILBERT is Associate Professor Emeritus at Canadian Mennonite University and the author of God Never Meant for Us to Die: The Emergence of Evil in the Light of the Genesis Creation Account (2020).
1 Unless otherwise indicated, all biblical citations are from the New International Version (2011).
2 Creation and the History of Science (London: Marshall Pickering; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1991], 273.
3 Pierre Gilbert, “Further Reflections on Paul Hiebert’s ‘The Flaw of the Excluded Middle’,” Direction 36 (2007): 206-218.
First Advent Sunday
A posture of waiting (Prophets)
Word: the biblical starting point
For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen! Isaiah 9:6-7 (NLT)
The day will come, says the Lord, when I will do for Israel and Judah all the good things I have promised them. In those days and at that time I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He will do what is just and right throughout the land. In that day Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this will be its name: "The Lord Is Our Righteousness.” Jeremiah 33:14-16 (NLT)
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf. The people of Israel will be abandoned to their enemies until the woman in labor gives birth. Then at last his fellow countrymen will return from exile to their own land. And he will stand to lead his flock with the Lord’s strength, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. Then his people will live there undisturbed, for he will be highly honored around the world. And he will be the source of peace. Micah 5:2-5a (NLT)
Wisdom: a guiding sentiment
“‘Wait on the Lord’ is a constant refrain in the Psalms, and it is a necessary word, for God often keeps us waiting. He is not in such a hurry as we are, and it is not his way to give more light on the future than we need for action in the present, or to guide us more than one step at a time. When in doubt, do nothing, but continue to wait on God. When action is needed, light will come.” J.I. Packer
Weave: an intertwining of experience or reflection and the biblical story
The prophets and those who heard their message of a coming Messiah were invited to a posture of waiting. It was hundreds of years later that Emmanuel would come to the world and walk among their descendants. Even though the people of Isaiah’s, Jeremiah’s and Micah’s time did not see the coming of the Lord in the person of Jesus, did not see the literal fulfillment of the prophet’s revelation, their waiting brought them hope for a better future, hope that their gloom would be lifted and that the joy of the Lord would return like the morning sunrise. There is an unmistakable intertwining in life, an interweaving between waiting and hope, waiting and faith. Waiting is a necessary and foundational ingredient in discipleship. There is no spiritual formation without it. Healthy spiritual formation does not happen in the rush. “Live slowly enough to be able to think deeply about God,” wrote theologian J.I. Packer. Scripture counsels the disciple of Jesus: “Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord” (Psalm 27:14 NLT).
In our hyper-instant culture, waiting is too often interpreted as a frustration we must bear, a punishment inflicted upon us or someone’s failure to meet our right to immediate self-centred, even narcissistic, gratification. During the Christmas season, the sense of rush and busyness overwhelms us, and we are robbed of peace. Instead of being refreshed and renewed during Advent, we become agitated and anxious. We need a revived perspective of mindfulness, being still—waiting.
The wise disciple of Jesus understands waiting in light of faith in a sovereign God. Such a disciple recognizes that the Lord operates on his timetable, not ours; the Lord is never rushed or bound by our sense of schedule or calendar. A wise disciple knows he cannot bend the timing of God’s providence to align with earthly gait. Similarly, a wise disciple realizes the incredible value inherent in a space of waiting. The wise disciple sees waiting as a path to blessing.
As you enter into this season of Advent, ponder deeply the waiting of those who heard the prophecy of a coming Messiah. Their waiting was anchored to hope that God was about to do a new thing, a restorative, redeeming work. They waited for the revelation of a divinely wrought peace and joy. This hope yet to be fulfilled was worth waiting for.
Wrestle: pondering next steps
Consider how you can recapture some of that prophetic hope as you wait to celebrate the coming of Jesus. What is worth waiting for in your life? What personal value is there in waiting for God to act in your life and circumstance? What would an Advent steeped in a posture of waiting—waiting upon the Lord—look like? Feel like? Sound like?
Second Advent Sunday
A posture of welcoming (Elizabeth)
Word: the biblical starting point
A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.” Luke 1:39-45 (NLT)
Wisdom: a guiding sentiment
“In Christian hospitality, our homes are outposts of God’s kingdom.” John R. Prabhakar
Weave: an intertwining of experience or reflection and the biblical story
The mother of John the Baptist, Elizabeth, welcomed the mother of Jesus, Mary, into her home. This was a family visit as Elizabeth and Mary were cousins. To welcome someone into your home or life is to tangibly receive them with approval, kindness and trust. It is an act of gladness, even joy. In Old English parlance, “welcome” conveyed the sense of “one’s arrival being pleasing.” Mary’s arrival into Elizabeth’s home was an experience of gladness and honour; even the unborn John the Baptist “jumped for joy” in Elizabeth’s womb.
Hospitality—welcoming others into our homes and lives—experienced a huge blow during the two years of COVID restrictions. Sadly, much of that has not returned to any sense of normalcy more than a year after these same restrictions were lifted. Even within the Christian community, hospitality took a direct hit. As a current practice, it lumbers along. Scripture instructs me that hospitality to both fellow believers and strangers is a fundamental means of gospel witness.
Welcoming others into our homes and lives creates a space for living out and sharing the good news of Jesus. Hospitality is an act of love and grace, both gospel virtues intertwined with the incarnation of Jesus (John 3:16). Our divinely welcoming and hospitable Father calls us to imitate him (Ephesians 5:1-2). Welcoming people into our personal faith and life places is a genuinely powerful, life-transforming space for edification and evangelism. Here trust is established, and defenses are lowered. Here respect is developed and hearts are opened. Hospitality signals that strangers can become friends and friends can become fellow disciples of Jesus.
Wrestle: pondering next steps
How do you understand welcoming and hospitality? What is its role in your life as a disciple of Jesus who encounters opportunities to receive family, friends, strangers, believers and unbelievers into your personal faith and life spaces? During Advent, no doubt you will have events and gatherings to celebrate the season, but how many of them will be deliberate efforts to bring people into an experience of gospel expression? Elizabeth welcomed Mary (and the unborn Jesus) into her home. The result was both joy and blessing. What would an Advent steeped in a posture of welcoming—of hospitality—look like? Feel like? Sound like?
Third Advent Sunday
A posture of wondering (Mary)
Word: the biblical starting point
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David.
The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. Luke 1:26-38 (NIV)
Wisdom: a guiding sentiment
“Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.” Socrates
Weave: an intertwining of experience or reflection and the biblical story
Rightly so, Mary’s reaction to the presence and message of the angel Gabriel was both one of being troubled (fearful, actually) and one of wondering (pondering, discerning). Is this really happening? Am I in danger? How do I respond? Who am I that you would take notice of me? It was Mary’s wondering that caught my interest. Mary pondered, engaged in discerning, the KJV Bible reads that Mary “cast [about] in her mind” what this experience was all about. Gabriel responds directly to Mary’s two reactions: “do not be afraid” and “you have found favour with God.” Gabriel then reveals God’s incarnational plan, a work that would include her. Mary responds in obedience once she understood the call upon her life.
There is no better season than Advent to engage in wondering. Advent moves us toward, points us to, has us consider the miracle of the incarnation—God coming to the earth he created to live among us. For me, the description of the incarnation in Max Lucado’s book, God Came Near, awakens my imagination to the mystifying magnitude of this miracle: “God entered the world as a baby. A baby in a manger, in a stable of animals…. Majesty in the midst of the mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of a teenager and in the presence of a carpenter…. The omnipotent, in one instant, made himself breakable. He who had been spirit became pierceable. He who was larger than the universe became an embryo…. God as fetus. Holiness sleeping in a womb. The Creator of life being created….” “The Maker of all things shrank down, down, down, so small as to become an ovum, a single fertilized egg barely visible to the naked eye….” “God came near….”
Wrestle: pondering next steps
God has created us with the capacity to wonder, to ponder, to reflect. Wondering and exercising our imagination operate in us in tandem. We are hardpressed to find space to do either. How much does kingdom impact and growth depend on our employment of these divinely-appointed gifts? What happens in our hearts, to our degree of passion for gospel witness, when we create space to wonder, for example, about the depth of the love of God as seen in the incarnation of Christ? What would an Advent steeped in a posture of wondering like Mary did—a casting about a matter in our mind the things of God—look like? Feel like? Sound like?
Fourth Advent Sunday
A posture of weighing (Joseph)
Word: the biblical starting point
This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly. As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:
“Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”
When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus. Matthew 1:18-25 (NLT)
Wisdom: a guiding sentiment
“True discernment means not only distinguishing the right from the wrong; it means distinguishing the primary from the secondary, the essential from the indifferent, and the permanent from the transient. And, yes, it means distinguishing between the good and the better, and even between the better and the best.” Sinclair B. Ferguson
Weave: an intertwining of experience or reflection and the biblical story
Joseph had a plan in light of his circumstances. Engaged to a woman who was pregnant, a woman who claimed this supernatural gravidity was a blessing of God, a woman who testified that she was carrying the Messiah. I think Joseph was like most of us, trying to be the best person he could be when faced with incredibly difficult and unforeseen circumstances. He wanted to honour God. He must have wondered how this would play out in his religiously conservative family and community? How well did he know Mary? The circumstances were just too much to bear and rationalize. Before his encounter with an angel of the Lord, he had weighed all the possible outcomes and made a decision—break the engagement quietly in a manner that protected Mary as much as possible. He had weighed his relationship with Mary and found it without a good future. He found it wanting—needing, in fact—a supernatural redemption. To make a long story short, he received such a redemption in a supernatural revelation about Mary (her innocence) and the child she was carrying (Immanuel), and the Holy Spirit’s role in it all. Joseph discovered that his weighing of all the circumstances did not genuinely include Mary’s own testimony of God’s hand in this pregnancy. The “scale” he used was tethered to an earthly paradigm and not a heavenly one. In the end, as Scripture recounts, Joseph married Mary and honoured her role as the physical ark of God’s son.
Wrestle: pondering next steps
Advent is a great space for weighing; an opportunity for consciously and deliberately evaluating your journey to the celebration of Christ’s birth. Too many in the faith community stumble, bumble and rumble toward Christmas Day and then lament that the season was maddening. Poor planning for the season of Advent most likely equals an apathetic experience of it; a poor posture of the heart toward the Spirit during Advent usually equals an anemic divine encounter. Based upon my experience, I sense that a disciple’s best approach to celebrating the birth of King Jesus is to, like Joseph, deliberately weigh all the things one is presently doing or planning and set aside those that will detract from a meaningful encounter with this part of God’s grand salvation story. What do I need to stop doing, do differently or start doing in order for me to become more like Jesus during what remains of this Advent season? C.S. Lewis said, “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” And so, what needs weighing in my life? What personal value is there in weighing the remainder of my Advent plans or lack of them? What would weighing my priorities even look like? Feel like? Sound like?
Merry Christmas!
A posture of worshipping (Angels, Shepherds, Magi, Simeon)
Word: the biblical starting point
That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior— yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.
Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” Luke 2:8-14 (NLT)
When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, "Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherd’s story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them. Luke 2:15-20 (NLT)
Eight days later, when the baby was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel even before he was conceived. Then it was time for their purification offering, as required by the law of Moses after the birth of a child; so his parents took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. The law of the Lord says, "If a woman’s first child is a boy, he must be dedicated to the Lord." So they offered the sacrifice required in the law of the Lord—‘either a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.’ Luke 2:21-24 (NLT)
At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying, “Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace, as you have promised. I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all people. He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!” Luke 2:25-32 (NLT)
Wisdom: a guiding sentiment
“We are called not simply to communicate the gospel to nonbelievers; we must also intentionally celebrate the gospel before them.” Timothy Keller
Weave: an intertwining of experience or reflection and the biblical story
An encounter with the Christ child resulted in worship. Scripture recounts that the angels, shepherds, magi, Simeon and Anna, all of them, bowed their hearts to the newborn king, the Messiah spoken of by the prophets. It was a celebration of hope, peace and joy birthed from the divine spring of God’s cosmic redemptive plan—specifically, his gift of salvation for humankind. Scripture gives us a snapshot of the worship that took place at Christ’s birth and shortly afterwards. There is much left unsaid. I would love to know what happened, but not recounted. What did their worship literally look like? What were they thinking? What was their heart telling them? What emotions did they demonstrate? What was transformed in their life after their encounter with the Christ child?
Recently, my wife and I embarked on a road trip to the Grand Canyon. I had heard stories, seen pictures and videos of this land feature, but when I physically stood and surveyed this amazing creation of God, my heart exploded into worship. I could do nothing less. The vastness of this canyon, its vibrant colours, its beautiful contours, all of it was breath-taking, spellbinding. My understanding of God’s power and creativity was forever changed when I saw this wonder wrought by the Sovereign’s word. My worship was enriched and my faith enhanced. I wonder if these ancient worshippers could even begin to grasp who it was that lay in the manger or was carried in the arms of Mary. Here was the “I am.”
The word “Christmas” (“Cristenmaesse” in middle English meaning “Christ’s Mass”) is imbued with an inherent call to worship. Christmas is to be a sacrosanct space for the worship of Emmanuel. Over time, the faith community has heaped upon this time, intended for praise and veneration, earthly and carnal practices. We have buried what is to be holy and sacred under so much that is ungodly and self-serving. Sadly, your Christmas may be far from being a life-transforming encounter with the King of kings. However, it does not have to continue to be that. Once again quoting C.S. Lewis: “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
Wrestle: pondering next steps
So, it’s Christmas Day and you wish it was more—more focused on Jesus, more focused on worship, more fixed on heavenly, eternal things. If you're breathing, you have an opportunity to reboot your Christmas day. Don’t aim for the moon and upend everything you had previously set in motion. Rather, choose a space of time (an afternoon, an hour) and infuse it solely with worship. In that space, why not reclaim the essence of that which made that first Christmas an experience for the unbridled worship of Jesus? Let me help you get started by suggesting that you reflect on, and then sing, the hymn “For He Alone Is worthy.” Jesus would be pleased.
“For he alone is worthy, for he alone is worthy, for he alone is worthy, Christ the Lord.
“We’ll give him all the glory, we’ll give him all the glory, we’ll give him all the glory, Christ the Lord.
Oh, come let us adore him, oh, come let us adore him, oh, come let us adore him, Christ the Lord.”
REV. PHILIP A GUNTHER is director of ministry for the Saskatchewan Conference of MB Churches
Moments in prayer
DECEMBER 2023
HOLY SPIRIT—FILL US WITH YOUR WISDOM
OPPOSITION AROSE, HOWEVER, FROM MEMBERS OF THE SYNAGOGUE OF THE FREEDMEN (AS IT WAS CALLED)—JEWS OF CYRENE AND ALEXANDRIA AS WELL AS THE PROVINCES OF CILICIA AND ASIA—WHO BEGAN TO ARGUE WITH STEPHEN. BUT THEY COULD NOT STAND UP AGAINST THE WISDOM THE SPIRIT GAVE HIM AS HE SPOKE. (ACTS 6:9-10)
IF ANY OF YOU LACKS WISDOM, YOU SHOULD ASK GOD, WHO GIVES GENEROUSLY TO ALL WITHOUT FINDING FAULT, AND IT WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU. (JAMES 1:5)
Our prayer for the month of December is for the Holy Spirit to fill us with wisdom (sophia). While wisdom is not specifically named in the fruit of the Spirit list found in Galatians 5:22-23, it is clearly a gift given by the Spirit to equip believers (Acts 6:9-10; 1 Corinthians 12:7-8). When wisdom is used in the Scriptures, it can sometimes refer to human intelligence or knowledge, but it can also describe supreme intellect that is gifted by God. In the case of Stephen, the wisdom that he received from the Spirit gave him words that could not be matched by the people to whom he spoke (Acts 6:9-10).
As a child, I was taught that praying for wisdom is always a fitting request. While I did not know it at the time, this very instruction is also a suitable example of wisdom for two reasons: this teaching comes from God, and wisdom demands action.
In the book of James, we read that those who pray for wisdom will receive it in abundance (James 1:5). The measure to which we receive wisdom amounts to the measure of our humility. Praying for wisdom demands humility because it is an act that admits personal inadequacy. Asking for wisdom demonstrates that our current perspective is not enough. The only way to receive wisdom is by submitting ourselves to God’s wisdom, which is a willful act of surrender. This does not mean that we fully discredit our own thoughts or feelings, but that we loosen the grip on our understanding so that we are ready to embrace the wisdom that God will reveal to us. Humility is a prerequisite to wisdom.
Praying for wisdom is undoubtedly important, but wisdom cannot be fully realized until we choose to act. Wisdom is not an exercise in mental awareness. Wisdom is not solitary ponderings. If we wish to experience God’s wisdom and understanding, it can only be through the pathway of faithful action.
“Who is wise and understanding among you?” James asks aloud. “Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom” (James 3:13). To live by wisdom is to live by the fruit of the Spirit; it is to express God’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
For the month of December, let’s invite the Holy Spirit to fill us with wisdom. Let us live by the instruction that James encourages us to pray: Lord, we lack wisdom. Please give us your wisdom so that we can better understand ourselves and this world. And as you reveal your wisdom to us, please give us the courage to follow you in faithful obedience.
CONSIDER:
In what areas of my life have I become overconfident in my own knowledge and abilities? How might I humble myself so I can genuinely pray for and pursue God’s wisdom?
How well am I acting upon the wisdom that God has revealed to me? How can I live with courage to receive God’s wisdom with obedient action?
PRAY WORDS OF INVITATION AND WELCOME TO THE HOLY SPIRIT FOR YOUR OWN HEART:
Welcome Holy Spirit! Come and fill me today!
Welcome Holy Spirit! Saturate my life with your wisdom and understanding!
Welcome Holy Spirit! Remind me that my perspective is often flawed and nearsighted. Equip me with your wisdom so I can better understand and respond to the situations I am facing today.
PRAY WORDS OF INVITATION AND WELCOME FOR THE CHURCH:
Welcome Holy Spirit! May our church be filled with your glorious wisdom!
Welcome Holy Spirit! May our church family be known for its reliance on God’s wisdom and may that wisdom show itself in how we live!
Welcome Holy Spirit! May you entrust our church with opportunities to demonstrate your wisdom as we walk with our neighbours and offer them listening ears and faithful counsel.
KEITH REED attends North Langley Community Church (Langley, BC), is the Director of Ministry Support for MB Seminary and is part of the National Faith and Life Team.
Why aren’t Canadians listening to Christian leaders?
The changing cultural current
BY SAM REIMER
Anglican Bishop Franklin Smith was telling me about his experience in Canada and how it differed from his experience in Britain. Not only was there less tolerance for conservative Anglicans, he averred, but a recent experience with a young front-desk clerk at a Canadian hotel showed him that Christendom was dying in Canada, at least among the younger generation:
I booked into a hotel and I went into the hotel and I said, “Room for Franklin Smith?” and eventually she said, “No.” And I said, “Oh,” and she said, “Well, hang on a minute. Was your first name Bishop?”
I said, “Yeah, well, no.” She said, “Well, we’ve got a room for a Bishop Franklin Smith.” And I said, “Well, that’s me.” And she said, “Well, how can it be? You said your first name wasn’t Bishop,” and I said, “It’s my title.” She said, “Well, what sort of a title is that?” And I said, “It just means I can move diagonally on a chess board.”
Not only are Canadians, particularly younger Canadians, increasingly ignorant of the basics of Christianity, they are avoiding it. Only about one in ten Canadians attend a congregation weekly, and fewer read their Bibles.
Worse, Christianity and Christian clergy are viewed negatively by many Canadians. According to a conservative Presbyterian pastor in the Maritimes, “If you are a clergyman in Canada, up until fairly recently, I think, there’s a certain cultural acceptability or credibility…But [now]…if I tell someone I’m an evangelical pastor, its almost like telling them I’m in the Klan.” Among the 125 evangelical clergy and active laity that I interviewed in Canada and Britain, there was agreement that the culture was not friendly to Christians nor conducive to Christian discipleship. Christian clergy used to be respected in Canada, and Canadians listened when they spoke. Not anymore. Why? What changed?
A lot. 60 years ago, the anti-establishment sentiments of the 1960s and 1970s undermined the legitimacy of religious, economic and political leaders, and those sentiments continue today. More recently, Christianity’s image has been marred by the clergy scandals and sexual abuse that have come to light. The role Christian denominations played in indigenous residential schools means that Christianity is often viewed as colonial and oppressive. Conservative views on same-sex marriage and sexuality leads to accusations of homo- and trans-phobia as the salience of sexual/gender identities grow and the salience of religious identities decline. In Franklin’s words, Christians who hold conservative positions on issues like same-sex marriage are thought to have “rocks for brains.”
THE SHIFT TO INTERNAL AUTHORITY
Yet, I suggest that much of what causes clergy-handwringing—declining attendance and bible reading, liberal ethics, distrust of clergy—are surface symptoms of a much deeper, glacial shift in Western culture. I call this the shift from an external locus of authority to an internal locus of authority. Prior to the boomer generation and the 1960s, most Canadians deferred to external authorities. That is, they believed what their clergy told them theologically and they generally adhered to the expectations of their religious group. They deferred to political leaders, and even went to war, because they saw governmental authority as legitimate. They did what their boss at work told them to. And while rebellious teens exist across generations, pre-boomers generally accepted the guidance of their parents and their school teachers. Among more recent generations, however, external authority is increasingly suspect. No longer are parents, priests, pastors, and politicians assumed to have the right to tell me who I am, what I should believe or what I should do. I am expected to find my own truth, to discover who I am, to find my own path. I am my own authority. The locus of authority is now inside me, not external to me.
To be clear, this shift is not because younger generations are resisting conformity to “the world,” nor are they necessarily more discerning. Rather, they are conforming to cultural expectations when they embrace an internal locus of authority. Society dictates to them that they are an original, so no one can tell them what they should do or be. They have to follow what their own heart tells them. Their journey is unique to them. The culture says that each person must find their true self. And society presents them with more options than ever. Their
religious affiliation, schooling and occupation, political party, gender identity, sexual orientation, geographic location, configurations of partnering and parenting, are increasingly open. Those who blindly follow the expectations of external authorities are failing in their responsibility to find their own path.
IMPLICATIONS OF INTERNAL AUTHORITY FOR THE CHURCH
Let’s unpack what this move toward internal authority means for churches and clergy. First, clergy and parents often find that their voices are being drowned out by the myriad of messages youth and young adults are internalizing. Teachers, professors and friends influence in ways that are incompatible with what the church is saying; but increasingly, the majority of messages are mediated through a screen. Social media, YouTube, blogs, music, movies, TV shows, and other media promote diverse values, piped via wireless internet into the “command centre” of the youth’s bedroom, away from the prying eyes of parents. A few clergy I interviewed noted that an hour on Sunday does not inoculate parishioners against absorbing unbiblical influences from dozens of hours on secular media. Even church-going youth (and their parents!) have secular worldviews. For some reason, the “algorithmic authority” on which these online messages are based is not viewed as external authority, as youth seem to think they are somehow making up their own mind about what they believe and do.
Second, if the persons in the pew have bought into the culturally scripted internal authority paradigm, then they will feel free to deviate from orthodoxy and orthopraxy, as defined by denominational authorities. After all, they are responsible to find out what they believe for themselves, based on what they sense internally. Preachers, working from an external authority paradigm, cannot understand why laity do not follow the clear teachings of the Bible, the very words of God. To lay persons with internal authority, such expectations do not register. “Of course,” they say to themselves, “preachers are supposed to say things like that. But I have to find my own truth. Let them be them and believe what they want, but I have to be me.” Clergy can faithfully teach and preach the Word of God, but it does not stick unless it resonates with the person’s intuitive sense of what is right for them.
Third, it is hard to pass on the faith to those with internal authority. If each person has to discover for themselves what they believe, value, and who they are, and if following the path of another is abdicating responsibility, then youth assume that they should not be pressured to tow the party line. In fact, since discovering one’s authentic self is difficult—a journey filled with obstacles and nay-sayers—then it is unkind (to the extreme) for others to be non-affirming of the beliefs, values and identities one discovers and internalizes.
Fourth and finally, if internal authority is based on what one senses in their heart, then how one “feels” has inflated authority. People are paying attention to their intuitive sense of whether a situation feels right or a person makes them feel good. Friends, partners, even church communities, will be measured partly by their therapeutic value. Those with internal authority believe they can “sense” whether or not someone is a good person. Morality is based increasingly on an inner sense of right and wrong. Churches (or any other voluntary organization) are useful to the degree that it adds to my personal sense of wellbeing. When that is no longer the case, I should leave. After all, I am on my own private journey toward wholeness. One should expect ecclesial loyalty to be low.
THERE IS STILL HOPE FOR CHRISTIANITY IN CANADA
I am suggesting that the greatest obstacle to Christian discipleship in Canada is this move from external to internal authority. It is hard for Canadians to accept the Lordship of Christ (an external authority) in their lives if they embrace internal authority. However, there is still hope, even if the culture is not always supportive of clergy goals.
First, not all laity have embraced an internal locus of authority. In reality, the polar opposites of fully embracing external authority or internal authority have always existed along a continuum, with most people in between these extremes. Those who are actively involved in a church probably have more external authority, and those who rarely attend or are younger probably lean toward more internal authority. Still, about three-quarters of the regularly-attending evangelical laypeople I interviewed showed evidence of internal authority. The key for clergy is to help them realize that the society around them is not neutral; it is like a great river whose current is pulling them in the direction of internal authority.
Second, clergy (and parents and teachers) can increase their influence on their laity (or youth or students) by forming stable, warm relationships with them. If Canadians are increasingly listening to what they sense in their heart, then warm relationships are the key to their hearts. If they sense that you are authentic, caring, and want them to flourish, then your voice can rise above the cacophony of messages they receive virtually and in-person. Even if your time with them is dwarfed by their time online, your words can have added weight. And, let’s not forget that the Holy Spirit helps when we pray.
Yes, fewer Canadians are listening to clergy, not only because they are distracted by online stimuli but also because they are less likely to enter a church. Most feel the church cannot help them in their private journey toward inner peace. Increasingly, they look to counsellors and online influencers to help them find wholeness. Yet, even a private journey can benefit from some guidance along the way, and people still sense that they have spiritual needs and desire community support. This is where the clergy and the church can step in.
SAM REIMER is Professor of Sociology at Crandall University in Moncton, New Brunswick. His new book Caught in the Current: British and Canadian Evangelicals in an Age of Self-Spirituality (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2023) develops the argument presented here.
This article first appeared in the July/August 2023 issue of Faith Today
Finish lines
NANCY MARGARET (HIEBERT) DYCK
With heavy hearts, the family announces Nancy’s death, Aug. 4, 2023, after a courageous 9-month journey with cancer. Nancy was the cherished wife of David for 40 years; dear mother of Andrew, Samuel (Olivia), and Joel; loving daughter to William and Pauline Hiebert [d. 2021]; devoted sister to Alan (Kirsi), Brenda (Phil), and Janet (Dave). Nancy was born in Kitchener, Ont., and at 15, she trusted in the saving grace of Jesus and was baptized. As a child, she discovered the beauty of music and began taking violin, piano, and voice lessons. In youth choir, she met David Dyck, and they were married in 1983. They were members of the Kitchener MB Church, and after completing teacher’s college, Nancy and David spent 2 years serving with Mennonite Brethren Mission and Services in Hyderabad, India. These were formative years, and when they returned to Canada, Nancy began her teaching career in Waterloo County. Three years later they moved to California where Nancy was employed as a choir director, an English teacher at Fresno Pacific University, and student at Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary. When David graduated from seminary in 1992, he was called to pastor Lendrum MB Church in Edmonton and Nancy found work as an elementary music teacher. Three years later, she experienced her deepest joy when she became a mother, first to Andrew David in 1995, then Samuel James in 1997, and then Joel Cameron 1999. Nancy devoted the next decade to creating a loving home for her family. She also studied choral conducting at the University of Alberta, sang in community choirs, taught elementary school, and served in ministry at Lendrum MB Church. After 15 years, the family moved to Leamington, Ont. Again, Nancy reinvented herself and began Miss Nancy’s Music Studio. Through piano lessons and early childhood music classes, she shared her love of music with hundreds of young children. She directed the Soli Deo Gloria singers in over 25 concerts. In November 2022, Nancy began the hardest journey of her life. She had surgery to remove a brain tumour and was diagnosed with terminal cancer. No matter how hard she fought, the disease stole more and more of her precious life. Her loved ones’ hearts were crushed when she took her final breath and left their aching arms. They now give thanks for her beautiful life: her cheerful spirit, boundless energy, radiant smile, tender heart, determined parenting, servant heart, and, most of all, her undying faith in God that kept her going through all life’s joys and sorrows. The funeral service is available to view here.
Birth: February 21, 1961
Birthplace: Kitchener, Ont.
Death: August 4, 2023
Parents: William & Pauline Hiebert
Married: David Dyck, 1983
Family: David; children Andrew, Samuel (Olivia), Joel; her father; siblings Alan (Kirsi), Brenda (Phil), Janet (Dave)
Church: Kitchener (Ont.) MB; Lendrum MB, Edmonton
JESSE GABRIEL MATTIES
Jesse Gabriel Matties was born in Winnipeg on February 15, 1991, and died suddenly in Ottawa on December 19, 2022, of a severe reaction to CAR-T Cell cancer therapy. Jesse was bigger than life in almost every way. He was a loving, gentle, generous, and compassionate young man with an inventive and creative spirit. Jesse reflected the kind heart of Jesus with everyone he met. Nature was a happy place for Jesse. He shared that with Reyna, the love of his life. Whether hiking and exploring waterfalls around Hamilton, or canoeing (thanks, Manitoba Pioneer Camp) in provincial and national parks, Jesse loved to explore. Jesse’s most precious legacy was his gift for friendship. Jesse made people feel welcome and accepted, treating everyone with dignity and respect. There is no theological explanation for Jesse’s death. He didn’t die for a reason. But he lived for many reasons. His compassion will live on. His hugs will live on. His inventive and creative spirit will live on. His love will live on. In Winnipeg Jesse attended Glenelm Elementary School and Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute, from where he graduated in 2009. He attended Canadian Mennonite University for a year and the University of Waterloo for two years. He was a member of the River East MB Church, Winnipeg, where he was baptized on May 27, 2007. He ran his own roofing business in Hamilton for a few years before discovering his love for the electrician’s craft. He was working toward becoming a licensed electrician at Mohawk College and was apprenticing at GEM Electric. Jesse met Reyna Abigail Peters in high school band class, where they both played French horn. They were married on August 26, 2012. Their son Rhye Nelson Matties was born in Hamilton on September 29, 2022. Jesse’s beloved family members include Reyna, their son Rhye Nelson, his parents Gordon and Lorraine (Nix) Matties, his sister Zoe Matties (Tim Cruickshank), his parents-in-law Darryl and Shirley (Dyck) Peters, siblings-in-law Cyprian Peters (Jessica) and niece Noa, Leah Peters, and grandparents-in-law Ernie and Elfrieda (Engbrecht) Peters. He was loved by many aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. He is predeceased by his grandparents Henry and Mary (Reimer) Matties, Nelson and Amy (Beeching) Nix, and Abe and Helena (Hildebrand) Dyck. The family is grateful for the compassionate care Jesse received at the Juravinski Cancer Centre in Hamilton, and the General and Civic Hospitals in Ottawa.
Birth: February 15, 1991
Birthplace: Winnipeg, Man.
Death: December 19, 2022
Parents: Gordon & Lorraine (Nix) Matties
Married: Reyna Abigail Peters, Aug. 26, 2012
Family: Reyna; son Rhye Nelson; parents Gordon & Lorraine; sister Zoe (Tim Cruickshank); parents-in-law Darryl & Shirley Peters; siblings-in-law Cyprian Peters (Jessica), Leah Peters; niece Noa; grandparents-in-law Ernie & Elfrieda Peters
Baptism: River East MB, Winnipeg, May 27, 2007
KATIE HELEN TOSEY
Katie was a humble and dedicated disciple whose impact far exceeded her quiet demeanor. A behind-thescenes force, she left school at age 15 to help her mother care for her bustling family of 14 children. After moving to Vancouver in 1954, Katie became a dedicated wife and mother. At work, she was not only a cashier, secretary, bookkeeper, and office manager, but also a business partner and mentor to both employees and family. She eventually found herself managing the family business, Famous Foods. Her generosity was evident in her sponsorship of Brentwood Park Alliance Church’s youth group, interns, seniors, and missionaries, offering financial support and practical assistance. A grandmother with a knack for creativity, Katie sewed, baked, and cooked with love, delighting in crafting costumes and perfecting recipes to satisfy the taste buds of her cherished granddaughters and nieces. During her time at Seton Villa, Katie took on the role of coordinating weekly church services, introducing the joy of hymn singing to her peers. Her thoughtful touch extended to purchasing large print hymnals, ensuring everyone could join in. In later years she embraced the opportunity to tutor a Chinese immigrant, guiding not only her original student but also his wife and school-aged daughter. Katie’s servant’s heart knew no bounds, and her dedication to supporting her extended family was a testament to her selflessness. Blessed to have her as a mom, grandmother, and friend, her loved ones remember Katie for her unwavering faith in Christ, which both guided her actions and was her solace. Rest in peace, dear Katie, until we meet again.
Birth: June 7, 1930 Birthplace: Yarrow, B.C.
Death: November 11, 2023
Parents: Jacob & Agatha (Buhler) Nikkel Married: Joseph Anthony Tosey, 1962 [d. Sept 3, 1975]
Family: son Joseph Peter Robert (Judy); granddaughters Rachel (Tobyn) Unger, Danielle; great-grandchildren Caleb, Elijah, Nathan, Ramona; stepdaughters Elizabeth (Fiorenzo) Benincasa [d.], Irene (Jack) Campbell [d.]; stepgrandchildren; siblings Clara Martins, Dorothy, Victoria (Dan) Onysyk, Ruth (Ed) Willms, Irene (Henry) Redekopp, Art, Ken (Ann), Mary (John) Schmidt [d.], Abraham James “Jim” [d.] (Tina), Jacob “Jack” [d.] (Sedonia “Donna”), John Victor [d.] (Anne), Ervan George [d.], Rosella Rempel [d.]; brothers-inlaw Peter Tosi [d.] (Caterina), Henry Martins [d.]
Church: Brentwood Park Alliance Church, Burnaby, B.C.
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A moment in time
HAMMERSTEIN (GERMANY), 1929
A Christmas celebration that the people of Hammerstein hosted for refugees.
Courtesy of the Mennonite Archival Information Database
